" regulus, I don't think we are going to be able to make this potion. It is incredibly complex and one of the ingredients isn't even listed!" I groaned as I read one of the more advanced potions books in the library.
Regulus looked at me and then at the book I was reading.
"What does the book say about the missing ingredient" he asked.
"All it says is that it is a plant," I said.
This is ridiculous. Why isn't the ingredient listed in the textbooks!
Regulus took the book from my hands and read it over. After about a minute he began to smile and then laugh.
"Y/n the ingredient is mentioned. It's Wolfsbane. You have just been overthinking it"
I began to turn red. How could I have been so stupid, of course, it was Wolfsbane. It was literally in the name of the potion.
I put my head in my hands and groaned.
"I am such an idiot!" I Cried out.
Regulus leaned over and put his hand on my back.
"You're not an idiot y/n. I mean, you are an idiot but not because of this. You are just tired and stressed, so you overlooked the obvious. It's completely okay" he said in a gentle and calm voice.
I picked up my head and glared at him.
"Did you just call me an idiot" I grumbled
Regulus threw his head back in a laugh, and as much as I tried not to, I began to laugh with him.
He had such an infectious laugh. I kind of wished he did it more often.
"Alright, I think it's time to stop for the night, you seem to be getting a little bit hangry." Regulus chuckled
I jokingly began to pout.
"Fine" I sighed.
As I began to pack up our things I took a look at my watch.
It was 10:30!
"Fuck!" I groaned
Regulus looked at me with a confused look on his face.
"What?" He questioned.
" it's 10:30. Dinner ended over an hour ago" I groaned into my hands.
"Damn, that sucks, I was kind of hungry," Regulus said while patting his stomach.
I looked up and took a deep breath.
"It's fine, I will just sneak into the kitchen again," I said passively as I picked up my book bag.
Reguluses head snapped in my direction.
I turned to look at him and saw a shocked look on his face.
"You know how to sneak into the kitchen?" Regulus questioned.
I looked at Regulus with an uninterested expression.
"Yeah, I have been sneaking in there since first year." I casually explained.
I thought it was common knowledge.
Regulus just kept looking at me, dumbfounded.
"So your telling me that every time I went to bed hungry because I missed dinner, I could have just snuck into the kitchen," he asked so I replied with a simple
"Yes"
Reguluses jaw dropped.
"You are taking me there right now" Regulus demanded.
I began to smirk.
"What's the magic word" I said in a singsong voice.
Regulus grumbled.
"Please," he said through gritted teeth.
I looked at him with a cheeky grin.
"Alright, meet me outside of the great hall at eleven, then I will show you"
—————————————
I leaned against the wall outside of the great hall while I waited for Regulus to show up.
At about 11:05 I saw Regulus run around the corner to meet me.
I raised my eyebrow and looked at him.
"You're late," I said
Regulus just waved his hand as if to say whatever.
"Okay, where do we go now," Regulus asked.
I leaned off the wall and walked over to a different wall. I tapped on it and revealed a downward staircase.
I looked back to see Regulus, who had a look of pure shock on his face.
"How do you know about this" he asked in awe.
I looked at him and began to snicker, I put one hand up and the other behind my back.
"I solemnly swear that I am often up to no good," I said, changing up the phrase you use to use the marauders map.
Regulus who obviously wouldn't understand just looked at me like I was crazy.
I put my hand down and let out a sigh.
"You wouldn't know but I just made a clever joke."
Regulus just continued to look at me strangely.
I began walking down the stairs and Regulus soon followed me.
Once I was in the small hallway that the stairs led to I turned to Regulus.
" What I am about to do makes a lot of noise so we need to be very quiet afterward to make sure we don't wake anyone up, do you understand?" I asked regulus.
He nodded his head.
I gave a thumbs-up and continued down the hallway.
Once we reached the end I began feeling around on the wall.
Once I had found the correct brick I pushed it and the wall opened.
I didn't even have to look back at Regulus to know he was probably in awe of what he just saw.
There were so many secrets that this castle held and sometimes it was amazing to figure some of them out. For him, this was one of those secrets.
As I walked through the opening in the wall I made sure to check the kitchen for any house elves.
Luckily it seemed that there were none so I walked in.
I quickly walked to the back of the kitchen and opened up the freezer.
I looked back at Regulus and whispered to him asking what his favorite ice cream flavor was.
"Black cherry" he responded.
Honestly, I was not surprised.
I checked inside and low and behold there was some black cherry in the corner.
I went and grabbed it and brought it out of the freezer.
I then grabbed two spoons and gave one to Regulus.
We both began to chow down on the ice cream like we had never eaten it before.
"So, you read a lot right?" I asked regulus
"Yes I do" he responded with a slight chuckle.
"What kinds of books do you read," I asked genuinely curious.
Regulus thought for a second before answering
"I mostly read textbooks, but I also enjoy classic muggle novels like Little Women or Romeo and Juliet, I prefer the tragedies more than anything else, to be honest," Regulus said.
I got butterflies in my stomach. He loves to read, and they are classic books written by muggles. What on earth was Sirius saying about Regulus being too occupied with blood status.
"What kind of books do you like?" Regulus asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"I like fiction, but I particularly enjoy futuristic novels like Dune. It came out a couple of years ago, 65' I think, but it is incredibly interesting." I began.
Regulus just looked at me with an expression I couldn't explain.
Suddenly his hand was reaching for my face.
What is he doing!
Is he going to-
His thumb brushed something off of the corner of my mouth.
My heart jumped.
Regulus sat back and I began to blush.
"Sorry, you had some ice cream on your mouth," he said casually.
My mind was racing a million miles an hour.
"So what is Dune about" regulus asked me.
I was drawing a blank. Regulus had just made my brain malfunction.
Ah!
"Uh. Well, what is Little Women about?" I asked trying to make him talk instead of me.
Regulus just smiled.
He had a very nice smile.
Suddenly I heard a noise. I quickly turned my head and saw an elf walking into the kitchen.
Shit.
I grabbed regulus by the hand and ducked.
Before Regulus could try and say anything I put my hand on his mouth and mouthed a sh to him.
He got what I meant.
This wasn't the first time I had almost gotten caught before but it was the first time I didn't have the invisibility cloak with me.
As the elf walked further into the room I scurried with regulus to the opposite side of the island that was in the middle of the kitchen.
As I looked around I watched as the elf looked at the icecream that was open on the table.
Shit, he knows we are here.
I realized that this was our only chance.
While still holding onto Reguluses hand I ran for the exit.
After we left I didn't even look back to see if we were being followed.
I kept running until both me and regulus were back where we started. In Front of the great hall.
Both me and regulus were panting heavily.
Regulus looked at me with wide eyes
"Y/n, you are crazy." He said.
I felt a little bad until he continued,
"And that was fucking awesome"
I couldn't help but blush.
I continued to look at him until I noticed something, we were still holding hands.
I quickly pulled my hand away before saying.
"I had fun tonight"
Regulus looked back at me and then smiled.
"Me too"
We both just looked at each other for a minute before we parted ways and headed back to our dorms.