𝓐𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓶 |𝓢𝓲𝓻𝓲𝓾𝓼 𝓑𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓴|

Chapter 6

After getting dressed Laura headed out through the nearly empty corridor, the insides of the Great Hall mostly consisted of first and second years. She sat down on her regular seat on the Slytherin table, serving herself some breakfast before taking a book out. After a while, as Laura was having her breakfast whilst reading, Regulus sat down beside her. She realized his presence alright but didn't acknowledge it, so Regulus cleared his throat in an attempt to break the uncomfortable silence. "I had to work on a few assignments I had quite a lot left to do as I hadn't been able to get much done during the week. I was in the library and I lost track of time" he said as Laura flipped onto the next page of whatever book she was reading and with only an "Oh". Regulus looked down after his fail attempt and then said "Will you let me make it up to you though? I know I haven't been around much" he said again his eyes looking at Laura pleadingly. The girl looked at him from her book noticing her best friend's face was a mix of guilt and hope "What do you mean?" she asked trying not to sound too eager. "Oh well we can go to Hogsmeade and I will get you anything you want from Honeydukes even if it costs me all my saved allowance from the last eight years," he said Laura couldn't help but smile at her best friend's words after all he was just a fourteen year old trying to live up to his family's impossible expectations. "Please?" he asked again and Laura closed her book "Fine," she said and trying her best not to smile seeing the latter's face light up "Great!" he said and stood up as he started rushing away and then jogged back to where she was sitting "I'll meet you in twenty minutes then?" he said "Fifteen minutes and outside the corridor, you don't have to dress up for me princess" Laura teased. Regulus rolled his eyes as he walked out of the great hall. Laura finished her breakfast smiling and then she went to her dorm and put on a varsity jacket and headed outside. As she walked towards the corridor she saw Regulus waiting anxiously wearing a pair of dress pants a white shirt under a green sweater. Laura walked towards him smiling as she gently tapped his shoulder "Shall we?" she said as Regulus looked back at her and nodded smiling.

Laura eagerly looked around, Hogsmeade sure looked different than it did three years ago. Regulus on the other hand used to go to Hogsmeade every once in a while, so he seemed to know his way around as he escorted her to Honeydukes. Laura stared at the brightly coloured store it smelled like sweets and candies and taffies. When they walked in Laura could swear there had to be over a thousand different kinds of treats."So what do you want?" Regulus asked smirking quite proud of himself, Laura looked at him then at the various ranges of sweets to choose from. After a lot of thinking, she decided to just go with a good ol' chocolate bar, "I'll take a chocolate bar" Laura told her best friend who was busy rummaging through a shelf of chocolate frogs. Regulus' head whipped around as a hand clapped on his shoulder "Hey brother, fancy seeing you here" Sirius Black beamed at the latter. His friends were busy looting the store, Regulus shrugged his brothers hand off with a stern look on his face. The smile was wiped away from Sirius' face, but only momentarily as he continued, his sly smile was visible once again "Oh, looks like you have a date" he said gesturing his head towards Laura who had her hands crossed as she rolled her eyes. "Not a date," Regulus said through gritted teeth as he quickly paid for Laura's chocolate bar and looked at her motioning towards the door. She sighed as she opened the door and walked out Regulus walked out too. "Sorry about that," he mumbled looking at his feet as he continued to walk away from the stores. Laura shook her head "Nothing for you to be sorry about" she said, Regulus, however, continued to look down. In an effort to cheer him up Laura said "How about we get some butterbeer?" Regulus looked at her "Oh okay" he said now changing his direction and starting to walk towards The Three Broomsticks. Seeing that the suggestion didn't cheer him up as Regulus continued to look down and sulk, Laura groaned "Good Salazar, would you just smile" she said nudging him with her shoulder. Regulus rolled his eyes then flashed a cheeky grin "There, happy?" he asked"Very," Laura said laughing as they both walked inside the store. Which was very packed but they managed to get an empty table towards the back. Regulus ordered two butterbeers then sat down, Laura wanted to talk to him about his brother but she knew it was something he was not very comfortable talking about. So she just fidgeted with her fingers, Regulus was silent too there was some tension building up. "Reg?" asked Laura as the latter hummed in response, his eyes fixated outside the window. Laura looked out too, and what a beautiful scene it was; golden, red and orange leaves scattered around the ground, happy faces could be spotted all over the place smiling carelessly. Laura sighed looking at Regulus, who was too focused on the outside to notice, she remembered clearly how they had first met.