King Of My Heart | R. BLACK

4 | antagonizing teamwork

"Longbottom, Lockheart, you're together," Slughorn announced as he pointed at a table toward the front. Trevor's eyes widened in fear as he reluctantly made his way over to the assigned table, America following after him with narrowed eyes.

"Harrington, you're with Crabbe," he said before pointing at a new table, "Yes, right there. Perfect. Jasper, Maribel, thank you."

"Barty Crouch Jr," he spoke up and the boy immediately turned to Regulus with a nod. They both started toward an empty table when he said, "You're with Daisy Jonas."

Barty scowled at this, "I'm not working with that mud-"

"Watch it, asshat," Angela warned, her wand drawn within seconds. The other Gryffindor's in the room were on guard as well. "Say it and watch what happens."

He turned to face her, stalking over to her with a sneer, "You don't scare me, blood traitor."

She stood up straight, looking him straight in the eye, "Blood status means nothing when you're all talk and no game, Crouch. Why don't you show me all the stuff he's taught you? Go on, then. Give it a shot."

"That's enough," Slughorn spoke up but it was clear nobody was listening. Or nobody cared.

Barty raised his wand but was prevented from acting when someone placed their hand on his forearm. "Not now," Regulus suggested as his gaze flickered over to Angela's for the briefest moment before moving back to his friend, "Not here."

He scowled but ultimately dropped his arm. He pointed at the girl, "This isn't over."

She raised her hands slightly, "Name a time and a place and I'll be there."

"Enough!" Slughorn exclaimed, much louder this time. The classroom fell silent as he addressed the class. "As I was saying," he cleared his throat, "Crouch, you're with Jonas." Daisy paled significantly and Angela reached out, squeezing her hand in comfort. "And that leaves Potter and Black."

Angela made her way over the last free table but Regulus remained rooted in place. "Mr. Black," Slughorn said, "Is there an issue?"

Regulus shook his head quickly, "No. Of course not, sir." He made his way to the table and sat down next to the girl, ignoring the looks his Slytherin mates shot him.

"Get to work," he suggested, "If you have any questions, feel free to ask. You have two hours."

"That was a stupid thing for you to do," Regulus informed her as he sorted through the ingredients. "He would have done it."

"And I would have stopped him."

"You don't know that," he hissed under his breath. "You're playing with fire."

"Am I?" she inquired as she turned the burner on. "Because I thought I was playing with snakes."

He narrowed his eyes on her, flipping the burner back off, "And that goes to show, you don't understand what you're messing with."

"I know exactly what I'm doing, Reggie," she informed him and his head shot up. He glanced around quickly before his eyes landed on her again, "Relax. No one can hear us. I cast a silencing charm around us."

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "When did you do that?"

"When you weren't paying attention," she replied simply. "As I was saying," she continued, chopping up the required root, "I know what I'm doing."

"Do you?" he inquired as he took the knife from her. She huffed at this as he continued, "Because I don't think you do."

"Well, I was cutting this root," she said pointedly, gesturing to the half cut ingredient in front of her, "And now you're wasting our time."

"Angela," he said and this seemed to peak her interest. Never in the going on five years of knowing him had he ever called her by her first name. She looked up at him, "Don't antagonize him. I promise, you will lose."

She scoffed, snatching the knife back from him, "You underestimate my skills." She glanced over at the potions textbook, "Pass me the wormwood."

"Your skill level means nothing when faced against Dark magic you don't understand," he said pointedly, passing her the wormwood.

"And you understand it?"

"Better than you do."

"Then teach me," she suggested and his head shot up.

He looked around but then remembered the silencing spell she had put up, "What?"

"You heard me," she said with a roll of her eyes. She placed the knife down and turned to look at him, "Teach me."

"I'm not going to teach you Dark magic," he informed her.

"And why not?"

"Because you're-" he shook his head. "Well, because I don't like you."

Her lip quirked upward at this, "If you don't like me, why do you care whether I egg your friend on or not?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly before returning to the work. "I don't care about you," Regulus said after some time had passed.

"Okay."

"My brother does."

"And you care about your brother?"

"No."

She snorted, "You're a terrible liar, with or without the Pinocchio Potion."

"Pinocchio?"

She rolled her eyes, "Purebloods and their inability to understand muggle references."

"You're a pureblood," he reminded her.

"I'm a born blood traitor," she corrected, "According to you lot, that makes all the difference in the world. I may as well be muggle born. Because apparently that's the worst thing you could be in a world filled with-"

She cringed internally as she focused on the potion, hopeful that he hadn't noticed her abrupt cut off. He had. He stopped his work and turned to look at her, "Filled with what?"

"Nothing," she shook her head quickly but he noticed the way her gaze darted to his left forearm for a moment.

"Oh, you mean Death Eaters," he repeated after a moment of silence. She said nothing in response and he tapped his fingers against the table. After a moment, he pushed both of his sleeves up to reveal his completely bare forearms. He focused on the potion as he worked, "I'm not one of them. Not yet."

She glanced over at his arm for a moment before turning to the next page in the textbook, following the instructions and stirring the potion carefully. "Not yet?" she inquired, glancing back at the book for the next instruction.

"I'm not sixteen."

"There's an age requirement?" she asked. "Didn't think he was the type to care what age the army he created consisted of."

"And Dumbledore does?" Regulus countered.

"Dumbledore is a flawed man," she admitted. "Because he is just that. A man. He's human and he certainly is not perfect. The difference between the Headmaster and your gang leader is that Dumbledore would never kill someone because he believed their blood to be impure."

Regulus glanced over at his text book and then at the potion as he pulled his sleeves back down. The potion turned from a pale lilac color to a clear color, "I think it's done."

She nodded in agreement, "I think you're right." She pulled her wand out and waved it, probably lowering the silencing spell. She raised her hand, ignoring Regulus who was watching her as they waited for the Professor to check their work.

Slughorn approached them and looked down at the potion. He smiled as he looked between the two. "It's perfect," he nodded approvingly, "You two make quite the team."