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....THE FIRST HOGSMEADE trip of the new year came a little bit later than it had other years. Usually the students could maneuver a trip during Valentines weekend but with the current rise of Dark powers outside of Hogwarts, precautions had to be made.
So now that the day of the long-awaited trip had arrived, every student in the castle had donned their coats and hats and were now gathered in the Entrance Hall, ready to leave.
Well, every student except for Regulus.
Around two weeks ago, Jackie had noticed his behavior veering off into a new state of detachment from the group. Where he would usually sit with them during meals, the boy had swiftly changed to eating alone or worse, eating with Malfoy and his cronies. She had gotten questions from the girls and had questions for him of her own but he never stuck around long enough for her to ask.
It was like the old Regulus had returned, with the same fully fledged affliction for solitude. He disappeared off to some unknown corner of the castle every night and never appeared for their usual evening study sessions. He had gone so far as to swap seats in Astronomy so he didn't have to talk to her. He had even bailed on prefect rounds and Jackie had to fetch Lily to help instead.
Jackie couldn't deny that it hurt. Of course she never showed this outwardly but inside, she wondered what could have happened to make him avoid her and the other girls like the plague. He had kissed her and sent her pretty poems and then, out of the blue, had discarded her without any explanation.
Had it been any other boy, Jackie would have been furious but alas, Regulus had become a point of weakness for her and she couldn't bring herself to grow properly vexed.
Of course it also didn't help that over the past two weeks, she had consistently woken up in cold terrified sweats in the middle of the night. Her headaches had gotten progressively worse and she was sure to face another vision soon.
Nevertheless, she had never let a boy or her visions affect her mood before and she wasn't going to start now.
For that reason, she was now marching down the path to Hogsmeade village, linked arm-in-arm with Benny.
