X —— swan-diving & stars
🦢
QUIDDITCH CREPT UP ON FIANNA the week afterwards, after she sat down at breakfast Monday morning and was greeted with Georgia going, "So, we're going to practice every night this week, to prepare for Saturday." Fianna had blinked, and then smiled, pretending she remembered the Quidditch game they had that weekend.
Like, yeah, she's had a lot of things on, but that didn't mean she felt any less awful, completely forgetting Quidditch, when her best friend's the captain of the team. So she trudged over to the Quidditch pitches after her last lesson, tying her hair up and practising her swan-dives (ironic, right, her best move is called that?) for a couple of hours.
As they finished up, they passed the Slytherin team, about to start their practice. Fianna found herself scanning the flurry of green uniforms for her Slytherin — and as she realised that was what she was doing (and that she thought of that boy as her Slytherin), he appeared in front of her.
"Fancy seeing you here," says Regulus, quietly.
Behind him, Barty Crouch Jr. and Evan Rosier smirk. Rebecca Mulciber, the captain of the Slytherin team and sister of a Death Eater (and famous bully of the younger years), wades past the boys, and looks Fianna up-and-down. Although everyone over the age of twelve is taller than Fianna, Rebecca's particularly tall, which makes Fianna frown, trying not to show intimidation... She feels a bit like a small dog standing up to a Great Dane, though.
"Let's hope your swan-dives are good enough for Saturday, Lupin," says Mulciber. "I've told Black not to go easy on you."
"I didn't expect him to," says Fianna, rolling her eyes.
Georgia places a hand on Fianna, and says softly, "I'll wait for you, yeah?"
Fianna nods, as Georgia walks past with the rest of the Gryffindor team. Prewett looks over his shoulder, too, scowling as he passes one of the Slytherin Chasers. Regulus awkwardly glances over at his team; Fianna looks over, too, feeling as if the air on the pitch has gotten colder. Uncomfortable and unwanted, Fianna steps to the side.
"I'll see you later," says Fianna.
She's about to walk away, but realises the lack of affection might be seen as weird. Hesitantly, she leans forwards, kissing Regulus on the cheek.
"See you then," he mumbles, and Fianna swears he starts to blush.
Fianna hurries herself off the pitch, convinced she'll have a Quaffle to the head if she's around any longer. As she reaches Georgia, she spots her talking to Pandora. Fianna tries not to smirk.
"Oh, hey," says Pandora. "I like to watch them play sometimes. The thestrals live nearby so I bring them apples when this gets boring."
"Thestrals?" says Georgia.
"Oh, they're very cool, but all of my friends say they can't see them. I think Reggie's lying, though," says Pandora, and glances at Fianna. Fianna freezes for a second, before remembering that people would look at her when mentioning him, because he's meant to be her boyfriend. There's no underlying reason for it, she thinks, calming herself down about God knows what. "I can show you sometime, if you'd like?"
She's saying this to Georgia, who's eyes light up.
"Yeah, that would be nice," says Georgia. "Maybe I'll see them too."
"Perhaps," says Pandora. "I don't know why they don't show up for everyone... But oh well. I best find a seat now, but I'll see you soon. Good luck for Saturday."
The two girls smile at Pandora, before walking back towards school. Fianna links arms with Georgia, hoping she can steal some of Georgia's warmth, and she smiles softly. "You know, she might like you back," says Fianna. "Being invited to a quiet area just off campus sounds a lot like... something to me."
"Oh, because you'd know all about that?" says Georgia, raising an eyebrow.
Fianna feels bitterly single again, but to pretend she's madly in love she goes, "Ha, ha. No comment."
"Sure, sure," says Georgia. "You've been sneaking off more than usual the last couple of weeks..."
"I—"
"I don't have an issue with it," says Georgia. "But please don't get pregnant before the end of term. I don't want to get a new roommate this late into the game. What if they're smelly?"
Fianna snorts. "I promise I won't get pregnant," she says — a promise rather easy to guarantee, considering she isn't actually dating the boy everyone thinks she's sleeping with. For some reason, though, this comment leaves a bitter taste on her tongue, as if she feels spiteful about something...
She just isn't sure what.
🦢
... AND SHE STILL isn't sure, as she walks down for dinner, freshly showered and changed out of her muddy Quidditch uniform. She's got a few spare pairs of the Gryffindor uniform, and one saved for game days, ensuring she's always got a clean uniform on hand. Her hair feels frizzy from the shower's steam, though, so she's left it up in a bun, wearing an old sweatshirt with jeans.
"Hey," says Prewett, as Fianna sits down opposite him, and Georgia beside him. "I was talking to Professor Fawley at lunch, and he's up for a Duelling Club. He said he can't supervise, though — something about Death Eaters targeting him?"
"I mean, if they think our Defence teacher is giving us extra lessons...?"
"Yeah, but isn't that the point of the club?" says Prewett.
Fianna sighs. "Well, yeah..."
"Do you need a teacher supervising?" says Georgia.
"Well, not exactly — just an adult watching over us," says Prewett. "Health and safety, apparently."
"Because wizards love suing people," says Fianna, rolling her eyes.
Georgia helps herself to some roast vegetables, as she goes, "Well, maybe you could get an ex-student to help out?" Fianna's eyes light up, but before she can excitedly agree, Georgia adds, "Hasn't Remus always wanted to teach?"
"Won't that look too... Order-sponsored, though?" says Fianna, twisting her lips. "I don't want anyone to feel excluded—"
"You want to teach Death Eaters self-defence?" says Prewett.
"I want to teach self-defence to anyone who wants it," says Fianna. "And I know Remus wants to teach, but I don't want to get him in trouble for being too close to teaching kids duelling — and anyway, I just don't think it's fair to create a club where one house will one-hundred-percent refuse to go because of who's leading it. Gryffindor or Order member, they'll refuse, and for them to lose out on life-saving duelling practice... It isn't right."
Prewett doesn't look impressed, and Georgia frowns, like she understands what Fianna means, but she doesn't want to agree. Fianna uncomfortably shifts in her seat, starting to eat the tomato pasta on her plate.
"OK... So, how about you get Remus and someone else to help out?" says Georgia. "Someone that would appease the Slytherins."
Prewett scoffs. "Like who?"
Fianna sighs. "Salome might agree."
"Oh, fuck that," says Prewett, shaking his head.
"OK, so what?" says Fianna, glaring. "What if there's someone in Slytherin that, for some reason or another, needs to fight for their life in the upcoming years, and they lose and they die because they didn't feel welcome to go to our duelling club? We have Defence, yeah, but Fawley has to be careful so he doesn't get into trouble with the wrong people — it isn't enough, it isn't a strong enough base to keep someone safe." She stands up, spotting Regulus at the Slytherin table. "I'm not agreeing to this unless everyone feels welcome."
Fianna picks up her plate, and marches across the hall, planting herself opposite Regulus. He looks up at her, his eyes widening.
"What are you—?"
"Prewett's pissed me off," says Fianna. "He thinks all Slytherins should die — and yeah, maybe some people are dickheads and should die, but the same goes for every house and I don't think it's fair to cancel out an entire house just because of a couple of cunts—"
Barty Crouch Jr. — who she now realises was sitting next to Regulus — whistles.
"Fuckin' hell," he says.
Regulus clears his throat. "Um... everyone, you know Fianna."
"Howdy," she grumbles, eating her pasta.
"I know I never have an issue with hating Prewett, but also... what are you on about?"
"Duelling Club," says Fianna.
"You're thinking of starting that back up?" says Rosier, who's apparently beside her.
Fianna nods. "But no teachers want to get involved — I think it's a whole Order-Death Eater situation... People trying to stay neutral, I guess," she says, carefully avoiding Regulus' gaze. "We need at least one grown-up involved, so my best friend suggested my brother, because he does want to be a teacher one day so this would be great experience for him — but would you guys go, to a Duelling Club ran by Remus Lupin?"
"Fuck no," says Crouch.
Regulus sighs. "I avoid all reminders of my brother, so no."
Fianna raises an eyebrow, and thinks, what am I, then?
"But that's exactly my point," says Fianna. "So I suggested we have Remus and I could speak to Salome—"
"Salome hates our brothers, though," says Regulus, his eyes boring into Fianna's. She knows he's panicking, because Salome shouldn't really be given an all-access-pass to Hogwarts, but who else is there? Surely the devil they know is better than one they don't?
Rosier shrugs. "She might do it for that reason, though."
"I don't know..." says Regulus.
"Don't be such a pussy, Reg," says Crouch, making Fianna wince. "I think she'd do it."
Rosier rolls his eyes. "You just want her around again."
"Yeah, and what?" says Crouch. "Every fit girl at this school is either a Gryffindor or taken."
Regulus sits up, frowning. "I think that's a you-problem?"
Fianna smiles.
"Anyway, this is beside the point," says Crouch. "Lupin, I think inviting Salome would be a great idea... And the idea of her possibly killing your brother sounds like great entertainment."
Fianna's starting to feel uncomfortable now.
"OK... Well... I'll have to persuade Prewett some more," says Fianna, trying to quickly eat her dinner so she can leave. "Your opinion is super important me, though, so I really appreciate you weighing in on this."
Crouch, the sarcasm flying over his head, nods. "You're welcome."
Fianna looks up, and notices Regulus smirking.
"I, uh, have got some homework to do," says Fianna, the second she swallows her last mouthful. "But, um, thanks for letting me sit with you guys... The Slytherin table isn't so bad after all."
Regulus smiles softly. "It has a better view than yours."
"Your view's always me, so it's always a good one," says Fianna, rolling her eyes.
Rosier starts to laugh, and Fianna gets up, climbing out from the bench.
"Fee, are you going to the library?" says Regulus.
"I might," says Fianna.
"I'll come with," says Regulus. "I need to finish my Potions homework off."
Crouch snorts. "Sure thing, Reggie."
Regulus nudges Crouch's shoulder, before standing up.
They meet at the end of the table, walking towards the entrance, but before they can leave, Georgia appears. Fianna frowns at her, and Georgia sighs.
"OK, I'm sorry I didn't follow... but there's no fucking way I'm sitting with them," says Georgia, nodding towards Regulus' friends.
Fianna shrugs. "Fair. Crouch thinks pussies are weak."
Georgia groans. "I bet I'd cope better with a kick to the crotch than he would," she says, and Fianna nods in agreement. "But anyway. Prewett's starting to come around to the idea... You know what he's like though. Maybe ease him into the idea tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I'll try..." says Fianna. "Reg's friends did agree, though. They wouldn't go if it was Remus running the club."
Georgia gives Fianna a look. "Yeah, that isn't a bad thing, though."
Both Fianna and Regulus stay quiet for a moment; Fianna agrees, and she knows Regulus will agree to a certain extent, but neither can visibly agree. Either Fianna agrees and puts her whole fake-relationship into question (because how can she dislike Death Eaters when she's dating one?), or Regulus agrees and his loyalties are outed. It's a lose-lose.
"OK... So we're going to go to the library," says Fianna.
Georgia narrows her eyes. "Hmm... stay safe."
Fianna grimaces, as Georgia goes to sit back down with Prewett. She glances over at Regulus, who looks just as uncomfortable.
"Maybe we actually have homework to do," says Regulus.
"Yeah, how to destroy a you-know-what," says Fianna.
They start walking through the castle, towards the Astronomy Tower. As they pass other students, Fianna swiftly takes hold of Regulus' hand, trying to play the part. But, weirdly, her body feels strange touching his — she can't explain it, because it's always felt uncomfortable, but now, she feels particularly on-edge, her heart racing for some reason...
As they reach the tower's door, Fianna turns to Regulus.
"Also, you avoid all reminders of your brother? What am I, then?"
Regulus shrugs. "You're a whole different thing... I don't know."
Fianna frowns, and he moves past her, opening the door for her. As she steps inside, he closes the door behind them, checking it's locked. Fianna looks back at him, her brain feeling muddled again. He keeps on saying such weird things, she thinks.
"I think we need to go over some ground rules," says Fianna, as they reach the top of the tower. "For the Quidditch game on Saturday."
Regulus nods. "OK, like what?"
"Well... I don't think we should try to let the other win—"
"You would let me win?" says Regulus, raising his eyebrow.
"Absolutely not—"
"Oh, so you think I'd let you win—?"
"I did not say—"
"Yeah, but you did," says Regulus. "I can't believe you think I'd let you win, like some lovesick fool—"
Fianna puts her hands over her face. "You're so annoying."
"OK, so we can't let the other win," says Regulus, sitting down next to the railing. The sky is clear tonight, and Fianna can see the moon and stars sitting daintily in the sky. "Is that it?"
"Well, that's the main one," says Fianna. "I can't cope with Rebecca Mulciber saying I cheated if you go easy on me—"
Regulus sighs. "She won't, she's really not that bad—"
"What do you mean?" says Fianna, quietly.
"She can be nice, that's all," says Regulus.
Fianna looks at Regulus oddly. "What does that mean?"
Regulus pauses for a second. "Well, we dated briefly last year and—"
"You dated her?" says Fianna, sending him a look of disgust. "That troll?"
"I'd hardly call her a troll—"
"Face, no, but personality, attitude, soul — absolutely! She's horrible! The only superlative she'd win would be biggest bully, but we can't have a yearbook. Why? Oh, yeah, because awful, classist, purist meanies like her would think it's too muggle!"
"It is too muggle," says Regulus, confused. "Where has this come from? Did you not know?"
"Clearly not. I didn't used to pay attention to you," says Fianna. "I'm disgusted. You do realise our relationship, even though it is very fake, has put me in the same group as her—?"
Regulus starts laughing, which makes Fianna pause.
"Why are you laughing?" she asks.
He looks up, and goes, "Are you jealous?"
Fianna freezes. "... Why would I be jealous?"
Regulus shrugs. "I don't know. You're acting like it, though."
"I'm just... distraught. She made fun of me all of first year because I had acne and didn't know how to cover it up," says Fianna, scowling at him. "Remus and Sirius had to walk me to my classes, to make sure she wouldn't come up to me."
"Well... that's certainly nice of my brother," says Regulus.
Fianna crosses her arms. "You can hardly accuse me of being jealous, when you thought there was something going on between me and Sirius. Or every time you've seen Prewett—"
"I just think Prewett's a prat," says Regulus. "Is that a crime?"
"No," says Fianna. "And I think the same about Mulciber."
"I see," says Regulus. "So, our ground rules for Quidditch are what? To be, in your words, meanies to each other?"
"No," she says, glaring. "To treat each other like any other opponent."
"OK," says Regulus. "And what happens when one of us wins? I presume you have a party like we do? Do we invite the other, or not?"
"Maybe we can see how we're feeling," says Fianna. "You might be sore, trying to keep up with me."
Regulus smiles softly. "Oh, will I?"
"Can't find a better Seeker at swan-diving than me," says Fianna, finally sitting down. She digs out their copy of Secrets of the Darkest Art from her bag, and opens to the Horcrux chapter, which she bookmarked with an old piece of ribbon, and then dog-eared for good measure (and in case she was in desperate need of a hair accessory). "You know, this book is freaky, but some bits are interesting."
"Oh, yeah?" says Regulus, taking his usual position, lying down and looking up at the stars, as melodramatic as a Black can be. "What are you corrupting your soul with?"
"I'm scared of doing that, so I've only read about some of the potions and creatures," says Fianna. "Do you know what Inferius are? They're like, zombies. And there's a potion in here that makes you essentially hallucinate yourself to death—"
Regulus sits up, and takes the book from her hands. "No more Dark Arts for you."
"What?" says Fianna, frowning.
"This book is banned for a reason," he says. "Even if you think you're only reading the tame parts, you're still absorbing it..."
"I'll be fine," says Fianna. "I promise I won't read any more, aside from the Horcrux stuff... Although the Horcrux stuff is kind-of pointless to us anyway, so I don't know how much more use we'll even get out of this."
"What do you mean, it's pointless?"
"Well, it tells you how to make one, not how to find You-Know-Who's one," says Fianna. "Like, there's directions on how to find one, but I don't know where we're going to start looking for something, especially when people tend to keep their Horcruxes hidden away or close to them..."
Regulus frowns. "We might be able to coax it out of Kreacher. Does it say how to destroy one?"
"It says they're virtually invincible," says Fianna. "Unless we have, like, the Sword of Gryffindor, we're fucked."
"My family might have something, hidden away somewhere," says Regulus.
"As powerful as the Sword of Gryffindor?" says Fianna.
Regulus gives her a dirty look. "My family are hoarders, so maybe."
Fianna scoffs. "OK... So what's our plan of action? We try to find something to destroy a Horcrux, and we try to speak to Kreacher?"
"My parents visit France every Halloween," says Regulus. "If we wait until then, we can Apparate to my house, and we'll have all day to work on Kreacher. No one else will be around, so we can have a look around for anything like the Gryffindor Sword. We might need to get our friends to play along, but that shouldn't be too tricky..."
They think we're fucking anyway, Fianna thinks.
"Maybe we should brew some Polyjuice Potion," says Fianna. "Then if it's taking ages, we can get Georgia and Pandora to go downstairs to the hall and walk around for a bit, pretend to be us, and then disappear again. Then the teachers will have seen us, so they won't suspect anything?"
"Yeah, that's good thinking," says Regulus. "OK... So I guess, for now, there isn't much to do."
"I suppose so," says Fianna, and her heart sinks, at the realisation they don't really need to meet up this frequently for a while. Or, at least, spend this much time together privately. As long as the world thinks they're in love, they don't need to be wasting evenings together, if they don't need to do anything Horcrux-related. "So... I guess we don't need to do this for a while."
Regulus pauses, and then goes, "I never said that."
Fianna looks across at him, feeling as if she could melt.
"I might just be saying that, so you're sleepy all week and lose your edge on Saturday," he says, starting to smile.
She reaches forwards and nudges his knee. "Twat," she says.
"That's no way of speaking to your boyfriend," he says.
Fianna rolls her eyes, and jokes, "Go and find Mulciber, then."
"You're so touchy," he says. "On a serious note, I wouldn't, anyway. The second I realised my parents would love her, I lost interest."
"Was that your first realisation you didn't want to be a Death Eater?" says Fianna.
"I think I'd been feeling like that for a while," says Regulus, looking back up at the stars. "I didn't want to admit it, though, until what happened to Kreacher this summer. And I suppose seeing you most days at that cafe made me think of my brother, and in turn, what he stands for."
Now, Fianna knows he didn't mean, I changed because of you in that kind of way, but also... doesn't that sound a little suspicious? Fianna avoids his gaze for a moment — because she can feel his eyes boring into her soul again — whilst she tries to comprehend his comment. I decided I didn't want to be a Death Eater, partly because of you. Is this her being delusional? But, then, why is she reading into it like that when she definitely does not feel anything ro—
"What about you? Are you going to join the Order, once you finish school?"
Fianna snaps back out of her panic, and glances at him. He's since returned his gaze to the sky, as if trying to play it cool. "Probably," she says. "I mean, I agree with them, and my brother's in it... I don't want to just sit around during all of this."
"Well, if we destroy the Horcrux, you will have done something," he says.
"Yeah, but we might be vastly underestimating how difficult it's going to be, to destroy this thing," says Fianna. "What if it takes us years to figure this out? I don't want to just sit around and not do other things to help, because I know I'm doing something secretly."
"I don't think we can get away with fake-dating for years," says Regulus, quietly.
Fianna frowns. She wasn't even thinking about that.
"Well," she says, "I suppose if we try to speak to Kreacher soon, and hunt down something that could destroy a Horcrux, we'll still be scheduled to break up for Christmas."
Regulus doesn't reply for a minute. He doesn't look over at her once, either, and she wonders if he's doing the same thing she was doing earlier, refusing to return his gaze. Eventually, he sighs, and goes, "Yeah, I'm sure we'll still be able to meet our target breakup."
An awkward silence falls upon them both, until they slowly start to talk about school instead. But Fianna can't shake the thought of how strange that was. First he says he still wants to spend time without her, even though there's no requirement for it, and then he gets weird about their agreed split? She doesn't understand him.
Regulus Black is so weird, she thinks, grumpily wishing she wasn't spending this much time thinking about him.
so much angst for 2 people not in love hmm
(hope u enjoyed hehe lmk what you thought xxx)