Rabbits and Rattlesnakes [Regulus Black/OC/Tom Riddle ]

Chapter 2

It was in January 1978 when I spoke to him for the first time. I had known who he was of course, we were both Slytherins in the same year, but we had always differed in interests. I knew his brother better than I knew him. Sirius was easier to get to know, always laughing and flirting. Regulus was... quiet. However condescending that seems it was the truth. But something had changed. When I saw him in the dining hall that first morning back I immediately noticed it. He was still quiet, understated, but there was a new found air of purpose around him. I watched as he stared at other students with a determined eye. It was almost as if he knew something the rest of us didn't, like there was some private joke being played out in the privacy of his mind. It dawned on me that he didn't just fit a few of the categories I had been searching for, but almost all of them. I found him later that same day sitting under the whomping willow, whispering to himself as he wrote in a book. I stood behind him for a moment or two before realising he was too absorbed in his own company to realise I was there. I looked down and saw a twig. Perfect. The snap of the wood under my foot startled him more than I had anticipated, and he jumped dramatically onto his feet.

"I'm so sorry!" I lifted my arms up as I noticed his extended wand. My eyes wandered back up to his and I was struck by the depth of them. They were so dark, yet wide like a scared rabbit.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." I whispered making him lower his wand. He nodded slowly, his dark floppy hair caressing his cheeks. He slowly sat back down, turning to face the whomping willow again. I stood there, uncertain of what to do next.

"Can I help you with something?" His tone was flat and harsh, and I realised I hadn't ever really heard him speak before.

"I wanted to see if you were alright?" His back twitched, his head turning slightly to one side.

"Why?" I hadn't expected the encounter to be so back-handed, and I felt a slight flush of embarrassment at the fact I'd just presumed he'd be rather excited to talk to me.

"Because..." I walk around him and turned to look down at him. "You're sitting alone under a tree." A small curve of his lips. That's what changed everything. From that moment on I knew I had him.

"And what's wrong with sitting alone under a tree? Have you ever tried it?" I shook my head, my eyes flickering to the patch of grass next to him.

"Well you should." He smiled, but just as I was about to bend my knees he spoke again. "There's a lovely big oak just over there." He pointed. I smiled sweetly, my mind filling with hexes, before gently setting myself down next to him.

"Don't even try compare the willow to a boring old oak Regulus. If I'm to sit under a tree it at least has to be one that might swoop down and kill me at any moment." I felt his gaze brush over my body, my school skirt rising above my knees as I laid myself down next him.

"You know my name?" He asked gently, turning back to writing in his book.

"Of course I know your name, we're in the same house?"

"But that doesn't mean we know each other, does it Eloise?" I found the sound of my name on his lips strange, but oddly exciting. He had said so few names in his time at Hogwarts, but there he was staring at me with the aftertaste of my name on his tongue.

"A name doesn't mean anything really. It took one second for me to learn yours our first day, but it's taken nearly six years for me to use it."

"So why did you? What's changed?" I thought for a moment, despite his persistent eye contact pressuring me. I felt out of water, something very unfamiliar to me.

"You." I watched his eyebrows twitch slightly, telling me that I was on to something. "Me." I looked back up at the willow, feeling the cold ground under my back. "Things change don't they? We have to grow up some time." For the first time in a long time I had given an honest answer. Slowly I felt Regulus lower himself next to me and for a few ethereal minutes we lay side by side, our skin tingling with the winter breeze.

"So, you want to get to know me?" His warm breath puffed into the icy air above us.

"If you'll let me." I flickered my eyes to him, his clear-cut side profile making my stomach clench slightly.

"Let's see how long you last."