speak now | regulus black

16

sparks fly – taylor swift

"my mind forgets to remind me

you're a bad idea."

♡

The week following spring break passed by in a flash. And soon enough, the Hogwarts Quidditch team travelled to Spain.

The game was happening on Saturday afternoon so they practised in the morning, a practice which Sofia spent agonising over whether she should go over to Regulus and wish him a happy birthday. On the one hand, it didn't seem like he wanted to make a big deal out of it, and on the other, she really wanted to.

She decided to wait in the end. If she brought attention to the fact that it was his birthday, their teammates would probably try to extend well wishes awkwardly and Sofia very much doubted Regulus would want that.

She sat with her Spanish friends Javi and Luis during lunch. Javi looked happy to see her and had greeted her like an old friend even though they had only interacted for a couple of days months back when Spain had played at Hogwarts. It was nice.

Sofia finally gathered the courage to go up to Regulus after lunch was over.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Sofia asked as Regulus sat on the lunch table not too far from her.

Regulus looked around for a moment. Obviously not used to Sofia approaching him out in public. He nodded and stood.

Sofia led him outside to the greenhouses, where there was a nice seating area. Sofia sat cross-legged, facing Regulus and set her handbag down in front of her.

"Um, happy birthday," Sofia said.

Regulus nodded once. "Thanks."

Sofia opened her bag. "So... um, I wanted to get you something but I didn't know if that would be okay since we're not really... you know. But in the end, I did get you a little something."

"You didn't have to get me anything."

Sofia smiled. "Well, I know I didn't have to but I wanted to. It's nothing, really. I just... you are never going to let this go but I'm actually a pretty good baker."

Regulus's brows went up.

Sofia felt her neck heat up. "I kind of had to learn to bake since I have three younger siblings and my mum cannot make a cake, and I don't know... I kind of like it. It reminds me of potion-making a little bit, baking. So anyway..."

She rummaged through her bag, whose insides had been magically expanded and pulled out a small round cake with green frosting and a happy birthday across it.

Regulus frowned as he looked at the cake and then back at Sofia. "You... made this?"

Sofia nodded. "I wasn't sure what flavour you liked but since you seemed to like strawberry ice cream, I figured to make vanilla sponge and strawberry jam filling."

"I haven't had a birthday cake since I was five or so," he said, almost absent-mindedly.

Sofia's heart squeezed. She knew the same was true for Sirius, but the difference with him was that he'd started getting birthday cakes again the very first year he had started Hogwarts. "Well... I hope this one can live up to expectations."

She stuck a few candles on the cake and waved her wand. "I'm not singing you happy birthday by myself, so, make a wish."

He smiled and blew out the candles.