Raven - Regulus Black

Chapter 2: Him

Regulus Black. Of course, I ran into him, of all people. He looked down at me to meet my gaze, his eyes picking up my shock, but having none of their own.

I stared up at him, noticing certain features of him that I hadn't noticed before. Hidden behind his cocky grin was a pale face, a strand of his messy raven hair hanging over his forehead. I had never really looked at him, and I guess I had never noticed how... handsome he was. I looked over his pale face, almost drowning in his blue-grey eyes. I thought that they reminded me of the sea on a rainy day, misty and distant, but still unmistakably blue. 

And then there was his smirk, his awfully, irresistibly, handsome smirk, and for the first time, I could see why he had girls falling at his feet every day, and sleeping in his bed every other night, not unlike his brother. Except he was an asshole, unlike his brother. And even though I knew this, I couldn't get that stupid smirk out of my head.

I picked up every tiny detail on his face, including a tiny, faded, reddish line that skimmed across his left cheekbone, narrowly missing his eye. It was a scar, an old one at that, but a scar nonetheless. It was so faint that had I not been standing right in front of him, I would have missed it entirely. My eyes kept tracing over the scar when his voice finally snapped me out of the trance.

"Like what we see, do we?" He said. He crossed his arms and slightly leaned back on his right leg, matching the conceited smile on his face, though I noticed his eyes didn't seem to match.

I cocked my head slightly and smiled sweetly at him before raising my middle finger. "Go suck a dick, Black. If you're done suffocating me with your own arrogance, that is."

He ran his tongue over his top teeth and tutted at me mockingly. "Well now Miss Potter, that's no way to talk to your superiors, is it," he tapped his Prefect badge. "besides, the only person who's gonna be sucking a dick is you sucking min-"

I kicked his shin and he winced slightly. "Cocky git," I mumbled under my breath, not caring whether he heard it or not. Apparently, he did, and he responded to it by throwing insults at me, most of them being about me being a blood traitor, something that I was fairly used to now, after having had to put up with that title being thrown at me by Slytherins for the past six years. I decided to voice my opinion on the unoriginality of the insults, mostly just to piss him off even more.

"Really Black, you couldn't think of anything more creative than 'blood traitor'," I interrupted him calling me a bitch, "It's honestly pathetic. I thought you Slytherins were meant to be good at insulting people. You know, with the cunning and whatnot, I would've thought you'd have been able to come up with a quick comeback."

His eyes narrowed at me in anger, and if looks could kill, I'd be 6 ft under. Except I'm not. And looks can't kill. So the daggers in those cold, grey orbs just sat there, pointing at me, but not doing anything. 

But then he smirked. Good God, why did he have to do that? Why now? He may be a cocky prat, but his goddamn smirk could take me back a step. Not because I had a silly little schoolgirl crush on him. Not because I like him, which I don't, but just because he was him. 

But yet I had never felt any sort of whatever this was towards him. Not that it is anything. But just that I had always loathed him. Not hated him, but loathed. Yes, he definitely shared the same haughty looks as Sirius, but I either I had never noticed it properly, or he had changed. But still. He was an asshole, and I wasn't going to fall for him. 

"Well with that sarcastic attitude you could certainly be in Slytherin." 

I didn't realize how much the suspense was killing me before he said that. I guess I was waiting for him to explode, or just some sort of reaction, but I was somewhat surprised at the lack of annoyance he displayed. Never mind. Don't care. I didn't really know how to reply, so I just said

"Now that you've finished being a snarky prick, am I free to go?" 

He stared me down. 

"Does it matter whether I say no?"

"Nope." And with that, I turned tail and walked back to the compartment.

***

Cara wasn't in a better mood, not having any food. I felt bad for that. After my run-in with Regulus, I had completely forgotten about the actual reason I left the compartment. I sat in silence for the rest of the journey, hearing Cara and Maya chat, but not really listening. My mind was elsewhere. Where that elsewhere was, I don't know. But it was anywhere but inside that train compartment. Inside our bubble.

*****

After the train, after the Feast, after everything, I was finally back in Hogwarts. My home away from home. It was nice to be back, but lying in my bed didn't give me as much peace of mind as I had hoped for. 

Listening to the gentle breathing of the other girls, I kept replaying the conversation I had with the younger Black today. There was just something different about him, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it. Maybe it was the war. We were all affected by the war. Everyone was on edge, scared of what they would find, hoping they wouldn't come home and find a skull and a serpent hanging in the sky over their house. 

But I assumed that Regulus was a bit more involved with the other side of the war, because of his family. But it was anyone's guess. Maybe I was just going crazy. Still. My mind wandered, and I fell asleep thinking of the silvery-blue orbs that had stared into mine not five hours ago.

*****

After school started, it was back to the routine we were all so used to. Breakfast, classes, lunch, classes, homework, study, dinner, study, sleep. Not much fun to be had for NEWT students. Except for the weekends.

 We partied, we drank, we smoked. Whatever, whenever, wherever, we didn't care. The older students just wanted to blow off some steam, and we found a way to do it. Never mind the hangovers or generally incessant drama caused by the high levels of teenage hormones. Just pop on a record (usually David Bowie or Fleetwood Mac), down a few shots of fire whiskey (that shit burns though), and get pissed.

Luckily Slytherin was hosting a party that Friday night, and although they usually tried to hex a weaker looking Gryffindor in the corridors, everyone would be plastered enough not to give a single shit if bloody Dumbledore started dancing with them. So it was settled. Cara, Maya and I would sneak into the Slytherin common room at 10 pm on Friday night.

"Yeah well that sounds like a great load of fun Beth, but there's just one tiny itsy bitsy problem." Cara said

"And what might that be?" I asked.

"How the fuck are we meant to get into the Slytherin common room? We need the password for that, remember?" Cara sighed

"Dearest Cara May Barnard," I began mockingly.

"Who the fuck is Cara May Barnard? That's not my name, you bloody tosser." Cara rolled her eyes at me.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but that's not the point. What I was saying before I was interrupted was that I thought you were supposed to be in Ravenclaw, silly. Who do I know who can easily tell us how to find a secret passageway through the castle?"

"Oooohhhhh. I get it now. Marauders."

"Exactly. I'll send a letter to my brother to see if they can help."

So I did exactly that. On the way up to the owlery, I passed Regulus. He smirked and nodded at me. I smirked back. I didn't see him until the party.