︰୨୧・꒱ ────sixth year: sunday or never
ᥫ᭡
⌜ • ° + ° • ⌝
summary ::
athena suspects she's falling out of love with james. things between athena and regulus's rivalry get physical. a partnered project is set and ... yikes.
notes ::
thank you for the reads so far!
⌞ ° • + • ° ⌟
"and you're kissin' to cut through the gloom„
7th september 1977,
"you going?"
rumours of a slytherin party were in the air. it was supposed to be for 'back to school', but it's been more than a week since school started.
james and athena were discussing the party in the gryffindor common rooms. like always, james snuck her in.
"might be," james responded. "don't know about remus, though, it's a full moon. and i think sirius will be taking care of him. so it'll just be me and peter."
"and me," marlene butted in. "me, mary and 'cas are coming, too. so will lily, i assume."
"panda coming?" james asked athena. she nodded.
james shifted and rested his back against the sofa behind him. he let athena lay her head on his lap and he began playing with her hair.
"you looked pretty pissed yesterday," he said, slightly pouting his lips. athena huffed and rolled her eyes.
"fucking regulus again," she moaned. "he said some shot about my mum. he's sick."
james massaged her forehead and nodded, "he's a dickhead. don't let it bother you too much, though."
she sat up and he kissed her suddenly. her heart raced under his touch, but she didn't feel the same sparks that she did years ago. she kissed him back, and she scoffed to feel something but it still felt off to her.
smiling, james pulled off and traced her face with his fingers.
"what's wrong?" he asked, startled at her expression.
"nothing," she lied. staring at his beautiful eyes made her feel guilty for even thinking that.
thinking that, maybe, they were falling out of love and she didn't like him anymore. or maybe it was just a stupid thought. it's not that easy to 'fall out of love.'
"heyy!" she said suddenly. "let's ... wear matching outfits to the party. if we're going. make everyone think we're cool."
"we are cool," he laughed. she laughed back and rolled her eyes.
"keep telling yourself that, james."
keeping her head hanging low, athena walked back to the ravenclaw common rooms. she kept turning her head around to see if anyone was nearby.
her hair fell to her shoulders as she pulled her hair tie out and dark, curly locks shaped her face. she tucked her hair behind her ear and kept walking.
she heard someone walking down the other corridor and looked up. when she turned the corner and entered it, her heart dropped to her stomach.
mulciber, nott, yaxley and ... regulus. of course.
just her luck.
she quickly untucked her hair and let it cover her face, in hopes that they wouldn't recognise her.
"oi, jenkins!"
nott's voice rang through her ears.
heart beating, she pulled her skirt down to her knees. she heard shuffling of feet and the three of them cornered her.
"you're out late?" yaxley said. "what you doin'?"
"bet she's meeting up with the potter boy," mulciber laughed, his laugh raspy and croaky. "or she's just met up with the potter boy."
"did you, gorgeous?" nott asked. she took a deep breath. "what'd you do with him? i want every detail."
athena clenched her fists, the urge to punch him rising.
"fuck off," she said. "i just want to get back to my dorm."
finally, a voice from behind them spoke up.
"we've got places to be. leave her alone. she's not worth it, boys."
regulus's voice.
athena's jaw clenched at the thought of him. the other three boys backed up and walked away from her. she faced regulus and they locked eye contact.
"are you the leader of all of them, black?" athena asked. he laughed, obviously attempting at confidence. "i'll take that as a yes. please do me a favour and control your dogs."
checks flushing in red, regulus snatched her wrist and clenched it, extremely hard. athena couldn't help but whimper at the sudden movement. embarrassment rushed through her as she heard the other boys laugh.
"fucking talk to me like that one more time," he spat. "i dare you."
"control. your. dogs."
his grip on her wrist tightened and she didn't make a noise this time, she only glared at him, barely blinking.
"i'm waiting," she said. "make a move, hit me, do whatever you threatened to do."
regulus was silent.
"that's what i fucking thought. you coward," she hissed.
her wrist slipped out of his grip and she curled her fists.
athena smiled at him, pulled her arm back and threw a punch at his face which knocked him backwards. he toppled into the wall and wiped the blood from his lip.
"oh. you fucking slut," he drawled, examining the blood on his fingers. "you're going to wish you didn't do that."
"all bark and no bite," athena called, while running away from them. she flipped him off one more time before turning the corner.
stupid thoughts rushed to her mind...
that's more excitement i've ever got that with james in our relationship, she told herself. instantly, guilt washed over her and her heart sank.
why would she compare someone as vile and cruel as regulus to someone as caring and thoughtful as james?
athena shook the thoughts away and entered the ravenclaw common rooms. her knuckles began to ache as she carefully opened the door of her dorm room.
entering the bathroom, she ran her hand under cold water and sighed in relief.
"athena?" pandora called out. athena turned around and saw her best friend standing in the doorway of the bathroom. "your hands look injured... what happened?"
"nothing, i — um..." she was running out of excuses. she had to tell panda the truth. besides, that's her best friend. they tell each other everything. "i— uhm.. i punched regulus black."
pandora laughed. "that's funny. i wish you would. now, why are you actually hurt?"
"no, panda, i actually did," athena said. "i got mad at him and punched his face. i cut open his lip. you'll see tomorrow i'm class. you'll know i'm not joking."
the blonde girl stared at her best friend, "no way."
"i'm going to bed."
athena hugged pandora, kissing her hair, and walked past, switching them bathroom light off.
in the dark, she slipped her clothes off and slept in her bra and shorts. her fingers ran in circles on her stomach as she relived the moment when she punched regulus's nothing will give her as much adrenaline as that. nothing..
***
8th september 1977,
buzzing with the chatter of back-to-school gossip, the great hall was full of students eating their breakfast.
athena sat next to pandora on the ravenclaw table, staring at james at the gryffindor table. he was talking to lily evans, the girl he used to like before dating athena.
her heart sank a little as she watched lily laugh at a joke that he made. behind the ravenclaw table was the slytherin table. athena shifted in her seat uncomfortably as the voices of slytherin boys entered her earshot. she didn't need to turn around to know it was nott shouting insults at her.
but she still turned around and glared at him. as her eyes bounced from each boy to the other, she noticed that regulus wasn't there yet. she turned back around to pandora and informed her about it.
"it's weird, he's always with them," athena said. "usually, he's the one leading that stupid gang of them."
pandora shrugged it off, "it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal. since when did you even care about regulus black?"
"i don't," athena spat. "i hate him more than anyone in this whole school. i just feel like something isn't right."
"who cares? he's probably hiding out in a bathroom trying to get rid of the cut on his lip that you gave him last night."
pandora began eating her breakfast again and visibly gushed as xeno sat across from her and athena. annoyed by his presence, athena groaned and dropped her head into her hands, staring at james and lily again.
"oi, black!" someone shouted from behind her. must be dolohov. his disgusting voice was extremely recognisable. "how's your lip?"
the whole slytherin table burst into laughter from behind athena. everyone, including hufflepuff and gryffindor, turned around to see what they were laughing at.
athena noticed regulus's mouth, a scar running up through his bottom lip. a small lang of guilt hit her as she saw how embarrassed he looked. the guilt soon faded when she realised that he started it. there was nothing to feel guilty about.
"is that the mark that your little 'slut' gave you?" mulciber barked. more laughter.
athena stuffed the last of her breakfast into her mouth and stood up, leaving pandora and xeno.
"i'm going to class," athena said to pandora, who was barely listening. "i'll see you there."
"yeah! see you," pandora smiled, blushing at xeno. athena wanted to gag. even her and james never acted like that in their relationship.
she chucked her coat around herself and walked out of the great hall. at the spied she was walking at, she could've been running. she knew that if she stayed there, she would've just drawn attention to herself.
athena stood outside of astronomy, her first class of the day, with her hands in her coat pockets. a cold breeze went through the castle and went running down her spine, making her shiver.
"tina!"
at the sound of james's voice, athena's head whipped round and her face lit up at the sight of him.
"hi," she said, walking up to him and wrapping her arms around him. he kissed her neck as they hugged and ran his hand up and down her back.
"how are you?" he asked. athena shrugged.
"could be better.." she said. james took her hand and kissed it.
"i wish i had time to talk, but i've got a class soon—"
"i know," athena interrupted. "you go. i'll be fine. i've got panda."
"okay, okay," james said. "i'll see you after classes, though. i love you!"
as he ran away, athena shouted back, "love you too.."
people from her class began to queue up, waiting to go inside. athena looked out for pandora, eager for her to arrive before the slytherin boys.
thankfully, pandora walked over to class and went to stand next to athena. athena sighed in relief and hugged the blonde.
"thank merlin you got before the boys," athena said. "it's only nine o'clock and i've already had enough of them."
"yeah," pandora laughed. "you're welcome."
professor sinistra let the class in and athena sat at her empty table. she was partnered up with regulus, because their star signs were compatible. professor sinistra said that cancers and leos were most compatible and regulus was a cancer while athena was a leo.
athena was turned around and talking to nora parkinson when regulus and nott walked in together. nott still had a smirk on his face from previously making fun of regulus. athena turned back round to face the front and held in a laugh as she stared at regulus's embarrassed face and cut lip.
nott went and sat at his table and regulus sat next to athena. he glared at her as he sat down, his jaw clenched. athena retuned the favour and shifted in her seat so they weren't facing each other.
at the end of the lesson, they were assigned with a partner project. they had to both study stats and constellations for the whole month, and make predictions for next month. together.
great.
as the class walked out of the classroom, regulus stopped athena.
"look, we're going to have to meet at least once a week," he said. "so can we just ignore our hatred for each other until we finish this project?"
athena snorted. when regulus didn't say anything, her eyebrows knitted together and formed a confused expression on her face.
"you're serious?"
"dead serious," he said. "i'm not going to let my grades drop because of some stupid rivalry between us. we have to do the projects whether you like it or not."
"the 'rivalry' isn't stupid," athena said. "you simply hate me because i'm not pureblood. oh yeah, and you're friends with some disgusting animals who think it's funny to cat-call."
"i've never done it to you," regulus said.
"you called me a slut!"
"you punched me!"
"because you grabbed my wrist!"
"because you called my friends dogs!"
"because they are!"
regulus was stunned. he stayed silent.
athena took a deep breath in, "we're going to have to do this project separately and combine it at the end of the month. we'll be risking our grades, but that's a risk i'm willing to take. because i'd rather fail astronomy than work with you."
"that's because you don't give a fuck about your education, jenkins," regulus snarled. "but i do. so we can continue to hate each other, but we will complete this project. properly."
athena grunted.
"i'll meet you at the tower this saturday. at eight. that's when the sun will finish setting," he said.
"that's the night of the party," she said. "let's do it sunday instead."
"no," he shot.
"sunday or never," she shot back.
"fine. i'll see you at sunday at eight."
athena finally nodded and walked off, seeking pandora.
⌜ • ° + ° • ⌝
song at the start ::
knee socks by arctic monkeys.
⌞ ° • + • ° ⌟