speak now | regulus black

13

falling – florence + the machine

"sometimes i wish for falling, i wish for the release

...

it's only when i hit the ground that causes all the grief"

♡

Sofia must've fallen asleep because when she opened her eyes again she was snuggled up to Regulus and she shivered as snowflakes fell on her skin.

Regulus shifted and sat up beside her, still close enough to provide some body heat though. Sofia flushed as she remembered the snogging session they'd engaged in right before she fell asleep.

"We can't stay here all night, the heating spells aren't enough. You're shivering, and it's starting to snow," he said.

Sofia wrapped her arms around herself. "Maybe you should send out that distress signal. Maybe the wards you put up will protect us if any predators happen to notice us."

"Are you sure?"

Sofia nodded.

Regulus raised his wand and sent out a flurry of red sparks from his wand. Then he turned to her and rubbed her arms up and down to give her some warmth. And they waited.

Sofia checked her wristwatch. It was almost four in the morning.

She started to think no one was coming after a half-hour passed. She had burrowed into Regulus again, her only source of warmth. He almost provided enough warmth that she wished they could stay like that for longer.

Then she heard leaves rustling and a large figure emerged from the trees. Hagrid.

Sofia sighed in relief. Then she saw the much smaller figure next to Hagrid. Filch.

Hagrid hurried towards them. "Bess? What are you two doing out here? Are you alright?"

There was genuine concern in his voice. Unlike Filch, who just glared at them.

"Does that man not sleep?" Regulus whispered to Sofia, nodding towards Filch.

Sofia smiled.

Hagrid reached them and looked them both over for injuries.

"We're okay, Hagrid," said Sofia. "Just lost."

"You were lucky Mr Filch was patrolling outside, saw your signal, and came to get me."

Hagrid offered Sofia a hand and she stood.

"Come on, let's get you inside. You must be freezing out here," Hagrid said.

"Not so fast," Filch blocked their path, still snarling. "Empty your pockets."

Sofia tensed. She discreetly slipped the vial of venom out of her bag. "Why?"

"I said empty your pockets!"

She made a show of removing the strap of her bag over her head and slipped the vial into her shirt. She handed her bag over.

Filch rummaged through it. He held out the Marauder's Map. It looked like a regular piece of blank parchment though. "What is this?"

"It's a piece of parchment," Sofia said, matter-of-fact.

Filch glared at her. "You expect me to believe you snuck in here with only a blank piece of parchment? What is this?"

"It's just parchment! I was going to do some homework!"