Jondrette Girl | Regulus A. Black [2] ( ON HOLD)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

If there was one thing Éponine excelled in, it was overanalysing everything that had happened recently. Since the attack on Sirius and James, she couldn't help but go over every single detail that had led up to that moment. Naturally, she blamed herself, knowing that she hadn't been the one to attack Sirius or James personally, but they had gone to the Grimmauld Place on her word. She swore to the moon and back that Regulus had seen the error of his ways and was willing to change because he made it sound so convincing.

The way he cried with regret over what he had done, the sound of his voice when he promised her that he was going to try and make things right. None of it made sense that he would go right back to the Grimmauld Place to prepare for an attack. Perhaps there were clear signs that Éponine had missed completely, too naive for her own good, wrapped up in a daydream of being together with Regulus again.

He had used her emotions against her and played her like a harp.

How could she have been so foolish? After a year had gone by where the two hadn't said a word to each other, Éponine actually believed that Regulus had miraculously changed his ways. In reality, he got close to her again, enough that she revealed just enough information so that he could use it against her. The fact that there was a threat of being thrown to a group of men as if she were a piece of meat, it was one of the hardest things for her to swallow.

Regulus knew the fear she had towards Ernest Nott, how Bellatrix had threatened her with something similar, and he had used it as a form of inspiration. Had she been the one to go to Grimmauld Place as he invited her to, she could only imagine the nightmare that awaited her.

And to make matters worse, the more she spoke with Sirius after he woke up in St Mungo's, she learned that Regulus had never sent a letter in the first place. Sirius never claimed to get one and  Éponine could only remember how Regulus told her, he had sent one out after the disastrous trip to Hogsmeade, only not to receive a reply from his older brother. At the time, she had been so prone to believing Regulus, thinking that Sirius was ignoring their letters due to his feelings being hurt.

He admitted to getting Éponine's letters, apologising for not writing back to her, but there hadn't been one from Regulus.

Eventually, she couldn't even talk to Sirius anymore for a couple of days. She was beyond relieved that he was alright, him and James making a full recovery in no time. But everything he had said back in Hogsmeade continued to echo in her mind, and while she wasn't angry at Sirius for being right, she hated herself for being wrong.

She had been so sure of Regulus making the right choices, she had been so willing to defend him, even against those she had come to care so much about if they weren't willing to support him, and for what?

Unable to face the majority of her loved ones, Éponine found herself spending the day in the company of Gian as Christmas approached.