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

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Éponine didn't tell anyone about her encounter with Regulus at the Grimmauld Place, too embarrassed and hurt by what had taken place. She was sure if she told Sirius or any of her friends that she had foolishly decided to give Regulus the benefit of the doubt one last time, they would question her sanity and scold her for her stupidity. It was true as she looked back on it, it had been completely stupid for her to venture to the Grimmauld Place alone after what had happened to James and Sirius, but she couldn't help herself. It hadn't been enough to hear it come from Sirius and James, she had to see it with her own eyes.

And where had that gotten her?

Crying in the bathroom as she healed the boils that blemished her face. By using one of her greatest adolescent insecurities against her again, Regulus made his true feelings clear and Éponine felt completely sidelined by it all. She had been so sure that Regulus was on the right path to make better decisions, but it all had been a trick. And while Sirius would never dare to rub it in her face, she could only think of how he had called it all back in Hogsmeade.

She hated the feeling of being wrong and she hated the feeling of being manipulated.

While she waited for the boils to disappear in her old room at the Potter home, everyone believed she just needed time to herself to wrap her head around the events and gave her some space. But once she stopped feeling sorry for herself, her hurrt was replaced with anger and she couldn't decide whether she was angrier with herself or with Regulus.

Either way, when Christmas came around, Éponine didn't find herself in the mood to celebrate the holidays. She knew she should have been thankful that James and Sirius had made a speedy recovery and were able to be released much to the relief of everyone. It was agreed that everyone was going to be at the Potter home to spend Christmas together, so Éponine forced herself to brave a smile so she didn't bring the mood down.

She helped Fleamont in the kitchen when it came to checking on the Christmas dinner, only half listening to the conversations that were taking place in the sitting room. Besides James and Sirius, Remus and Lily, along with Peter had gathered talking and laughing as if nothing had ever happened. But Éponine noticed how close Lily sat next to James, watching him closely to see if he was in any pain, and Peter and Remus usually jumped to their feet to assist if Sirius or James said they were about to do something.

Eventually, even just standing around in the kitchen became too overwhelming and Éponine claimed she needed to step outside because she was feeling too warm. As soon as she stepped outside of the Potter home, a blast of cold wind greeted her and she was almost tempted to turn right around and go back inside. Instead, she settled on the couple of the steps and allowed the silence of the outside to surround her.

Already her thoughts were travelling to the future, wondering what was going to happen when it was time to return to Hogwarts? She had to assume that Sirius and James were going to report what happened to the Ministry at the very least, and if that was the case, would they go after Regulus? It would be difficult for him to lie his way out of it considering he was branded by the Dark Mark. And by some bizarre chance that he was allowed to return to Hogwarts, how awkward was that going to be?

She wondered how aware Dumbledore was everything going on among the student body? Did he know about Regulus and other students carrying the Dark Mark and pledging their allegiance to the Dark Lord? And if he did, why didn't he kick them out of the school? Was it to monitor their activities and make sure they weren't up to something? Éponine could understand that aspect but what she didn't understand was why Dumbledore had allowed Regulus to become Head Boy if he was aware of what was going on?