Better - The Marauders

SIXTY

- Chapter Sixty -
"Grab a cloak, Regulus, we're going to a muggle village."

"I'm so sorry, Reg."

This had to be about the hundredth time those words had come out of Elladora's mouth since she and Regulus Black had boarded the Hogwarts Express to go home for the Easter holidays. It was like she had become a broken record, saying the same thing over and over again for she could positively not stop apologising for her faults. The guilt was weighing her down no matter how many times she expressed her apologies to not only Regulus, but to her bedroom ceiling where she feared the dead man was scowling down at her worthless piece of wasted life.

All feeling of guilt, anguish and sorrow made her stomach twist unpleasantly like she was going to start being sick at any given moment. It wasn't a nice feeling and she was sure she had never felt it before, maybe at separate times but certainly not all at once like she was feeling now.

After the events that had occurred yesterday, no more was said to the teenagers who her occupying the Hargreaves Manor for the time being and they were left alone to themselves. In each other's company of course but never knowing what to say. Regulus retired to his own bed later on and knocked on her door again the next morning so they could continue their wallowing together.

Normally, the Hargreaves parents would never have dreamed of letting Elladora be alone in a room with someone let alone a boy but now it seemed as though they couldn't care less. Her father and Sebastian were the only people of the male gender that had entered her room before these troubling times but now Regulus Black seemed quite acquainted with the bay window seat. Every now and then they would speak but it was mostly silence, Elladora staring at her the ceiling of her bed and Regulus staring outside of her window, both wishing to be anywhere but where they were.

"Stop saying that." Regulus chastised, pressing his forehead against the glass and closing his eyes tiredly at her words. He had heard it a lot and wished for her to say it no more, he couldn't accept her apologies when there is no need for her to apologise to begin with.

"Sorry."

"Elladora!"

"Right." She nodded, shutting her mouth before another word could slip out of it unwillingly. The clock that stood opposite her bed ticked annoyingly, reminding her that it was almost half past ten in the morning, not that she needed to be anywhere but she was thankful for a peaceful morning.

"Children."

Until then. Both teenagers sat up from their positions, Regulus taking his head away from the window and turning it towards Elladora's bedroom as he straightened up and watched as the girl on the bed immediately scrambled out of her lying position and instead sat graciously with her legs crossed and her posture the same as always. She gulped slightly as her door opened with a creak and Orion Black stepped in.