＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚
Regulus had just shut his eyes for the night when he felt someone appear at the foot of his bed. He didn't have to open his eyes to know who it was.
"How can I help you, Rabastan?"
"Rosier had been bouncing around saying some interesting stuff," claimed Rabastan, and Regulus could practically hear the laughter in his voice.
"Uh huh? Like what?"
"You're hooking up with Rune?"
Regulus folded his arms over his stomach. "Yeah."
From the silence of his best friend, he knew Rabastan didn't fall for it.
"What are you doing, Reg?"
"I'm going to take Rune Westwood on a date this weekend." He sat up just enough to see his friend standing over him.
Rabastan stared at him and said, "I don't know what you two are doing, but you're going to fall in love with her."
Before he could properly finish, Regulus had sent his pillow flying at his head.
"Don't make me laugh, Rab. It's Rune! It's just a little bit of fun."
Rabastan threw the pillow back at Regulus as he shook his head. "Exactly, Reggie. It's Rune."
Regulus lay back down on the bed. "I'll be fine."
"Sleep well, Reg. I'll wake you up early tomorrow so we can find you an outfit for your hot Valentines Day date," snickered Rabastan.
"Piss off, Rab." Regulus would have sent another pillow flying at him if he hadn't scurried out of the room in time.
***
Rune had never been on a date before.
She realized too late that she was wasting her first one on a date that wasn't even real.
The thought had kept her up for too long the night before and she wanted to scream when she saw the dark circles under her eyes that morning.
But the thing that made her want to scream the most was that her first (and possibly only) date in the world was with Regulus Black.
The one person she'd sworn enmity to.
The thought kept ringing in the back of her mind as she was getting ready.
She was wearing makeup- for Regulus Black.
Doing her hair- for Regulus Black.
Picking her best outfit- for Regulus Black.
If she had to meet herself from a month ago and find this out about herself, she would have probably died from asphyxiation caused by laughing at herself.
That would have meant her death was also for Regulus Black.
"Stop!" she said aloud, while pointing at herself in the mirror. "Stop it, Rune. It's for yourself. Not him!"
Sure, her mind replied, mocking her.
"Unbelievable," she said, hitting her forehead with her eyelash curler. "You're sabotaging yourself, Rune."
She stood up and did a quick twirl to check herself in the mirror.
She was wearing patterned flared bottoms with a pink sweater. Her hair sat in loose curls and were pushed out of her face with a cutesy heart headband.
"All dressed up," she said, with a smile. Her brain added on the 'for Regulus Black'.
She grabbed her coat from her bed and threw it over her outfit and then she was on her way down to the Common Room before she could decide she wasn't going to go through with it.
She nearly heaved in relief when she saw that Regulus was already there waiting.
Unfortunately, he was waiting by engaging in a game of Wizard's Chess with Rabastan.
Rune walked up to them and cleared her throat.
Rabastan looked up first and tried, "Hi, Rune. How are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you talking to me or lying to me?" She gave him a roll of her eyes before turning her full attention to Regulus who was setting up the Chess pieces for whoever was going to play next.
"Hi, Reggie," she said, in an obvious attempt to get him to look at her.
At that, Regulus looked up at her. She waited for him to react.
She'd spent the entire morning getting ready.
For him.
"You ready to go, blondie?" he asked.
She frowned. "How do I look?"
Rabastan coughed as Regulus swallowed hard. "Hmm?"
She took a step back and spun around. "How do I look?"
"You look..." Regulus seemed to be trying to say something, but Rune heard none of the words actually come out of his mouth. "You look..."
"Pretty?" offered Rabastan, in a whispered voice. It was loud enough for Rune to hear but the message didn't quite reach Regulus because he kept opening and closing his mouth like a fish.
"Got it," said Rune, doing her best not to sigh in disappointment. "Speechless."
"Mmh yeah," stammered Regulus. "Wordless even. Sentence-less actually."
"Shut up and let's go," she deadpanned.
"Absolutely," replied Regulus, getting up and walking straight to the exit of the Common Room.
Rune stared after him, sneering slightly. It was going to be a long afternoon.
***
Regulus and Rune had never been in silence.
Even if they were always at each other's throats, they at least had something to say.
But both of them sat silently across each other in Madam Puddifoot's tea shop, glancing everywhere but at each other.
Above them, hovered a golden cherub, which had sprinkled pink confetti on them thrice already.
They had only been sitting there for five minutes.
Rune grimaced when she realized that more than half of the couples were holding hands or snogging.
She was in a frilly, pink nightmare that was laced with bows.
Just as the bell tinkled tunefully, Regulus said something.
"Huh?" she asked.
"This is going terribly."
"Oh... Yes, it is."
While nearly knocking over the table next to them, Madam Puddifoot arrived at their table.
"What can I get for this lovely couple?" she asked happily.
"Tea," they both said in unison.
"Oh!" she said chirpily. "You must be really in love!"
As if tea wasn't the most popular drink after water.
"This is probably your worst date," commented Rune. She subconsciously took a napkin and began splitting its ends.
"It is."
She sneered at him. Sure, she had said it, but she hadn't expected him to agree.
"It's probably your worst too," he retaliated.
"I don't know," she said quietly. "I have nothing to compare it to."
She saw his eyes widen just enough for her to know she had taken him by surprise.
He looked at her questioningly. "What about your monthly expeditions?"
She scoffed. "I know you're smart enough to figure out that there's an actual necessary problem I'm leaving for. That's probably why you've stopped pestering me about it."
"I have my theories. Doesn't mean you're not engaging in other activities when you're out," he said with an arrogance that he had to have practiced for it to be so apparent.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "If you think I'm such a common gnome, why did you agree to do this with me?"
He focused on the rose vase in the center of their table as he said, "You offered to help me study. I need to perfect all my O.W. L's."
And then they were in silence again.
Rune looked at the clock. Barely ten minutes had gone by.
"Rabastan saw us. I reckon we can call it a day now," she suggested.
"Thank Merlin," murmured Regulus.
He stood up and threw 20 galleons on the table for the tea that hadn't even arrived yet.
Rune stared at him wondering if she should say something.
She decided she should.
"Thanks for the tea we didn't stay long enough to drink."
As he adjusted the collar of his coat, he looked at her in confusion. He was sure that was a passive aggressive statement from her.
"Do you want to wait for—?"
"No," she sneered before turning and marching out of the shop.
Rune walked the path out of Hogsmeade Village and back to Hogwarts grounds, questioning her sanity because why in the world had she thought going out with Regulus Black was the best solution she could come up with.
She was deep in her thoughts when she heard a cry of help from the distance followed by hushes.
"Mind your own business, Rune," she tried to convince herself.
But at the sound of taunting laughter, she pulled her wand out and followed the sound.