Sinfully Yours, R.A.B.

18 December, 1972

It had begun to snow about three weeks ago. The first snowfall happened in the middle of Regulus' muggle studies class and everyone ran to the window to watch it fall to the ground. It was incredibly uneventful for Regulus, but- out of all things- he liked the way it smelt. He was never one way or the other on the topic of winter. His brother hated it, and he had come to learn so did his new best friend.

"It is so cold I think I might just burst into tears!" Emmeline cried out.

As per usual now, they were sitting in their claimed breakfast spots but neither sat facing the tables. They annoyingly blocked the walkway as Emmeline hunched over wrapping her arms around her legs hoping to conserve her body heat while Regulus casually sat with his legs stretched out. He would occasionally brush his legs against hers to help her feel warm.

She was still leaning over herself when she raised her head slightly looking Regulus directly in the eyes and said," I want your blood." While her hair was held back with her wand, strand of long, sleek, black hair fell in front of her face.

"Excuse me?!" Regulus face went from resting to bewildered in mere milliseconds.

They held eye contact for a moment and then burst into a massive fit of giggles.

"You're mental!" Regulus howled while Emme rushed to explain herself.

"I meant!" she couldn't even continue her sentence as she took another look at Regulus' laughing face and began to laugh herself. She found it funny the way his face contorted and his laugh wasn't an actually laugh. It would start off with a genuine loud burst but the sound would disappear from the air as did the air in Regulus' lungs and he was more just wheezing.

His hair had gotten longer since when they first met. She had offered to cut it for him, with the reasoning that she was a professional because her mother taught her how to cut her fathers hair, and that she's being doing that since she was seven. Regulus immediately refused, telling her he only let his mom cut his hair his entire life and he wasn't ready for someone else to make sure it was the right length. For now he let it be and found that if he showered before breakfast and suffered through wet hair in the winter, the air would dry it in a way that made it curly and floated perfectly over his shoulders. It would flatten and follow the path of his hands every time he ran his fingers through it during the day but nevertheless it always looked effortlessly perfect.

Emmeline hated how often in a day she would feel jealous over Regulus.

"I just meant that you like aren't cold! You have warm blood is all!" She nearly squeaked from embarrassment and laughed away her own negative thoughts- he was her best friend.

Regulus snorted and with a playful roll of his eyes he knocked his knee into Emmeline's," yeah and you would like to drain me of it." She didn't bother to respond to him, they just shared another look and chuckled lowly and their eyes darted around the room.

Regulus' eyes went to the Gryffindor table across the room. He hadn't spoken to Sirius in about a week but Sirius probably hasn't notice. Similarly, both Emmeline and Regulus have concluded that Lily certainly hadn't noticed how little time she spends with them. Over the last few weeks Lily's daily breakfast rants became every other day to even weekly events, till now, she hasn't had a meal with them nor spent any time with them since the start of December.

Regulus was crushed. He missed his friend and his brother. Regulus unfortunately also missed one melanin loaded, curly haired, glasses wearing, quidditch playing, immensely popular James Potter.

Everywhere Regulus went the second year Quidditch prodigy was there mocking. Okay maybe he wasn't mocking Regulus, but his aura was. It was his presence that set Regulus' skin on fire. It was the way Regulus could feel James' hands around his back when James was across the castle. Regulus liked to sink into his bed with his mind on the feeling of James' chest against his cheek.