Wednesday 13th January, 1977
Regulus and I passed our Transfiguration project with flying colours. Professor McGonagall was very impressed with how much work we'd done, especially when we'd performed the Animagus transformation spell on her, changing her from her cat Animagus form to her human one.
It was lunch and I was recounting our presentation to my friends.
"And now I just have to pass O.W.L.s," I finished.
Sirius grabbed my shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "You did great. I have the utmost faith in you for O.W.L.s."
I smiled, looking down and feeling my cheeks heat up as the others on the table voiced their agreement.
The rest of the day passed rather quickly, and I decided to spend my last class, a free period, in the library doing my homework. I worked diligently, determined to finish this essay for Defence Against the Dark Arts before the day finished. I had just finished my fourth paragraph when footsteps headed towards my table caught my attention.
Lifting my head up, I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face when I found Regulus walking towards me. When he noticed my gaze, his lips curved into a smirk and he continued his walk towards me at a leisurely pace, keeping his eyes on me at all times.
I waited eagerly for him to reach my table, foot tapping the floor impatiently, only for Regulus to take a sudden turn and disappear into one of the many aisles in the library. I frowned, confused, until I remembered that other people existed. Looking at Regulus, everything else always seemed to fade away and I had completely forgotten that we were supposed to be a secret.
Feeling my cheeks heat, I quickly left my desk and headed for the aisle Regulus disappeared behind, my homework laying forgotten on the table. I walked through the shelves, expecting to find Regulus waiting for me, that familiar smirk curled on his face, possibly leaning against one of the shelves, but no one was there.
I frowned, feeling myself deflate a little as my eyes scanned the dead end of the aisle in front of me, only for there to be no Regulus Black in sight. I looked around, wondering where he could have gone, when I felt two arms wrap firmly around my waist. I smiled as I felt Regulus's lips brush me cheek before placing his head in the crook of my neck, his black hair tickling my face.
"Hello," I said quietly.
"Hi," Regulus mumbled into my skin.
I hesitated before speaking, noticing the way Regulus seemed to be hiding himself in the curve of my neck. His shoulders were tense, and I didn't want to say anything that could potentially make things worse, so I stayed quiet, knowing my presence was help enough.
And it was. Slowly, Regulus's shoulders drooped as he relaxed, breathing more deeply, his arms holding my waist loosening just a little bit more with every passing second. I waited until Regulus pulled back before I turned around to look at him.
"You okay?" I asked as my eyes scanned his face. There were bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, but there were always bags under his eyes. His hair was a bit more tousled than normal, his curls looking less tamed and more like my brother's constant mess he calls hair, though not even close to that level of dishevelment.
Regulus gave me a small smile as he answered. "I am now. I was just having a bad day and missed you."
His words, how freely he said them, warmed me inside out. I couldn't help but grab his tie and tug him closer to which Regulus grinned and complied eagerly, pressing himself up against me. Satisfied with the lack of space, I tilted my head upwards, Regulus doing the same, and our lips met with a sigh, pleased to be reunited once more.
"Do you want to do something fun?" Regulus mumbled against my mouth.
I pulled away, raising an eyebrow. "Something fun?"
Regulus rolled his eyes, giving me a gentle shove as he took a few steps back and let out a huff. "Not that type of fun, at least not right now."
"Then what sort of fun were you thinking of?"
Regulus grinned, excitement shining in his eyes as he held out his hand for me to take. I did so immediately, almost instinctively, and Regulus's grin widened. "You'll see."
. . .
Wednesday 13th January, 1977
"This is not my idea of fun."
Regulus let out a gasp, pressing a hand to his chest and I rolled my eyes. The Black brothers could be so dramatic when they wanted to.
"You don't like ice-skating?" Regulus questioned as we made our way to a more secluded part of the frozen over lake.
I sighed, knowing I was going to have to share yet another embarrassing confession with my boyfriend. "It's not that I don't like it, per say. It's just that I... don't know how. And I don't like falling over on the cold ice all the time."
We stopped walking as we arrived at our destination, a part of the frozen over lake that was partly covered by trees and bush, far away from the castle as we could go without going into the Forbidden Forest, which was not something I was up for the moment. Of course, we'd still have to keep an eye out for any students wanting to ice-skate, but since it was in the middle of a weekday where most kids were either in class or studying, we decided we were reasonably safe.
"That's okay," Regulus said, handing me a pair of ice-skates. "I'll teach you."
I found I actually liked the idea of him teaching me, and so I took the ice-skates without complaint and put them on. It was only when I was faced with actually getting on the ice that I faltered. It felt so daunting. So big and slippery and cold. I didn't want to make a fool of myself in front of my boyfriend, and yet here we were. At least when I was dancing the floor was dry beneath my feet.
I remembered when I went ice-skating with my family, all four of us geared up from our puffy snow jackets to the shiny new ice-skates on our feet. I'd been so excited to ice skate, thinking I'd be able to do all the twirls and spins the figure skaters could. As soon as I'd placed my foot on the ice and tried to move, though, I realised that was not going to be happening. Instead, the world had been turned upside down as I slipped, falling on my back hard and hitting my head against the ice. I'd been 11 then and had been too scared to brave the frozen waters ever again, the vivid memory of being concussed holding me back.
"Hey, Y/n, it's okay," Regulus said, noticing me fear. "We don't have to do this- "
"I want to," I said firmly, cutting him off. "I just- I need your help."
Regulus nodded and was instantly by my side, holding out his arm for me to take, which I did so gratefully. Slowly, we inched our way towards the lake until my foot was hovering over the ice, waiting to be placed down. I took a deep breath and did just that, feeling my heart thud in my chest all the while. I squeezed my eyes shut and moved to place my other foot on the ice, only to feel myself slipping, the feeling familiar even after all these years.
Oh no.
I didn't get to freak out for long though, because then there was a solid weight behind me, keeping my upright. I opened my eyes, noticing Regulus behind me, making sure I didn't fall, and let out a loud breath of relief.
"Thank you," I said quietly.
"Always," was his answer.
I took a deep breath and tried moving again, keeping a tight grip on Regulus all the while. When I didn't slip I felt like cheering, a smile blooming on my cheeks as I moved further and further away from my starting point without tumbling over. Obviously most of this was thanks to Regulus keeping me upright, but I felt proud of myself nonetheless.
With some careful, slow manoeuvring, I managed to turn around to face Regulus, grinning at him madly. Regulus smiled softly back at me, admiring my happiness like it was something he wanted to cherish forever. Like I was something he wanted to cherish forever.
"So, how do I skate properly then?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, "because so far I've just been hobbling around like an old lady."
Regulus laughed, his eyes shining, and he took my hands in his. "It's like dancing," he said, before spinning me into a twirl. I gasped, caught off guard, and stumbled when I came back around, but Regulus was there to catch me. "Except on ice."
I rolled my eyes. "Wow, real helpful, because I'm a natural at dancing."
Regulus rolled his eyes along with me. "Okay then. Take it this way. You've been taking steps, as if walking, but to skate you need to glide."
Regulus let go of my hands to show a demonstration and I only just managed to resist the urge to reach out for him. I was balancing very precariously on my own, but I was balancing nonetheless. I watched as Regulus moved away from me and starting skating around me, moving his feet in smooth, graceful glides. He was beautiful as he skated, elegant even, and it was obvious he'd been doing it for a while. He finished his demonstration off with a complicated spin that had him briefly in the air before landing back down on the ice without even wobbling.
"What was that?" I breathed when Regulus arrived back in front of me.
Regulus smiled, pleased with my astonishment. "It's called a triple salchow. A complicated move."
"It's impressive," I said.
Regulus only smiled in response.
After that Regulus stayed with me, teaching me how to glide. At first it was horrible, and we both fell down on multiple occasions, but slowly we reached the point where we could glide leisurely around the lake, hand in hand, which was what we were doing now, always careful to keep out of the eyeline of Hogwarts of course.
"You know, there's a lake in the Forbidden Forest me and my friends go to sometimes," Regulus commented as we changed direction rather swiftly in order to avoid going out into the open. "It would be frozen over now, and away from any prying eyes, if you want to go."
"Not really," I said. "I don't find myself wanting to die today."
"That's nearly exactly what Avery said when we first went inside," Regulus snickered. "Barty and Evan teased him relentlessly for it." There was fondness in his voice as he talked, one so surprising I found myself at a loss for words, suddenly overcome with the realisation that Regulus liked his friends.
It sounded absolutely ridiculous, I know, but I'd always assumed Regulus only hung out with his friends to fit in, not really connecting or caring for any of them, because he was the only decent person in Slytherin. Upon closer inspection, it was completely foolish for me to think that way, hating the whole of Slytherin house and only making an exception for my boyfriend. I'd seen firsthand that not all Slytherins were horrible, and yet instead of looking into that more closely I made the ignorant decision to ignore what was right in front of me; that not all Slytherin's fell into the mean, rude, pureblood obsessed stereotype that I'd been taught from my brother and his friends.
I felt an overbearing sense of guilt at my realisation. Of course he had friends, and of course he liked them. I had been naïve, oblivious, purposefully ignoring the fact that if Regulus was good, other Slytherins could be too. It clashed with my beliefs, the ones influenced by not only my brother and his friends, but majority of Gryffindor; that Slytherins were bad, unjust, and just no good. That wasn't true and I felt stupid for ever thinking that, and shameful that it took me so long to realise the truth. I wanted to make up for it, to open myself up to the idea of more Slytherins that weren't evil, even though it was a foreign idea and I was very apprehensive about it.
"Tell me about your friends," I said.
Regulus looked at me, puzzled. "What?"
"Your friends," I said. "Tell me about them."
Regulus was obviously still confused, but he obeyed nonetheless, talking about his friends with such passion, such love, another wave of guilt washed over me. There was Evan Rosier, the troublemaker, the joker, the 'mischievous little shit that could give my brother a run for his money' as Regulus put it. Then there was Bartemius Crouch Jr, Barty for short, who was Evan's partner in crime. He was mean 'but in a nice way', and was incredibly smart, as well as sarcastic. Caius Avery, who preferred to go by Avery, was the golden retriever of the group. He was 'the dumb funny gay friend who we all collectively adopted'. Lastly, there was Pandora, the confident, calm, sort of strange one who was often found spaced out, deep in thought, or trying to take care of all of them like the mother hen she was.
"They sound lovely," I said, before hesitantly adding, "if you want, you can tell them about us."
Regulus looked at me, surprised. In fact, he was so shocked he actually stopped skating, causing me to wobble and hold onto him for dear life.
"Are you sure?" Regulus asked worriedly, "because the main reason I haven't told them is they can be a bit... much. I don't want them to do or say anything that could scare you away-"
I interrupted him with a kiss, pressing my mouth against his. When I pulled away, I spoke. "I'm sure."
Regulus smiled and leaned in for another kiss, and another one, until he surged forward scoop me in his arms, which would have gone well if we weren't on ice, and I found myself slipping, grabbing onto him and taking him down with me.
We tumbled to the floor and took one look at each other, both of us sprawled out on the ice in awkward angles and started laughing. Regulus scooched over to where I managed to sit upright and continued what we started when we were standing, his hands moving everywhere as his mouth moved against mine.
Eventually we got off the floor and lake, taking off our ice-skates and trudging up to the castle together. I bid him goodbye when we reached the Great Hall, careful to make it look stiff and awkward when in reality it was anything but, and made my way to the Gryffindor table, sitting down next to my friends.
"Where were you all day?" James questioned when he noticed me.
"Oh, um, outside," I said, shrugging.
James looked at me incredulously, as did Sirius, while Lily grinned at me, and Remus stared on in suspicion. He was close to figuring it out, so Regulus and I would need to be more careful in the future, because today certainly wasn't that careful.
Even so, I didn't regret any of it in the slightest. It had been a wonderful day, and I was eager to spend another one like it with Regulus. More than one, really. I was ready to spend all of them with Regulus.
Merlin, I had fallen hard for him, hadn't I?
A/N:
do i know avery is a little shit in the books who can die? yes. is he like that in this story? no.