Astronomy

Eighteen: Regulus

    Eve was sitting on the edge of the couch in the Slytherin common room, her legs bouncing excitedly up and down. Leo was next to her, and they were talking about the upcoming dance that was being held at Hogwarts in January, which was exactly one month away.
    Reggie sat and watched them. He loved sneaking his friends into his common room, and it had become incredibly obvious that Leo and Eve had developed feelings for each other, and now they were saying they would go to the dance together as friends. Reggie had been wondering which one of them would crack first for awhile now. He watched Leo smile as Eve talked about what color dress she was thinking of getting for the dance.
    "Maybe a green one," Eve considered. "Or blue. What about you, Reggie? Are you going to wear a green tie?"
    "I'm not sure I'm going to go," he said after a moment. "You two are going together and I don't want to follow you guys around all night. I'd rather read anyways."
"Absolutely not!" Eve shook her head. "You have to come. I can ask my friends if any of them need a date?"
Reggie knew that Leo liked Eve, and that Eve liked Leo, and he didn't want to awkwardly third wheel all night with a date he didn't even know. Plus, that wouldn't be who he actually wanted to go with.
    "You could always ask someone," Leo suggested. "Who could you ask?"
    "No one," Reggie said. "I just told you I'm not going."
    Eve swung her legs up under her and grabbed a blanket from the couch. "And we just told you that you are coming." She shivered. "Why is your common room so cold?" she mumbled.
    "Fine," Reggie said just to make them be quiet. He knew better than to argue with his friends, especially Eve, because she would just go on until he agreed to whatever she was talking about.
    Eve nervously tapped the couch and smiled. "Are you going to ask James?"
    Reggie felt his heart drop down into his stomach, if that was possible. "What do you mean?" He didn't mean to sound defensive, but it came out like he was defending his life.
    Eve raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. I see you guys talk to each other a lot. And look at each other a lot. And hang out a lot."
    "You should ask him," Leo said cautiously. "You guys do talk a lot."
    "We're friends," Reggie mumbled. He picked at his chair cushion. "And I like girls."
    No one said anything for a minute, and Reggie looked up to see Eve holding back a laugh and Leo looking very disappointed.
    Reggie frowned. "Maybe I'll ask Ivy." As soon as the words leave his mouth. he's not sure why he said it. He didn't want to ask Ivy. Why would she? She was loud and popular, which was everything James was, but she wasn't James.
    The room fell quiet again, but a different type of silence. This time it was more of a shocked silence.
    Leo looked over at Reggie. "Do you mean that Slytherin girl?"
    "Yes," Reggie nodded. "She's actually quite nice, if you talk to her."
    Eve and Leo glance at each other and both nod, trying to be supportive.
    "You should ask her," Eve said. "If that's who you want to go with."
    It wasn't. "It is," he assured her. "And maybe I will."
***
Reggie felt sick to his stomach the next day as he made his way down the hallway to the Slytherin corridor, where Ivy always hung out before breakfast.
He just had to stay calm. If he could stay calm, he could get to the common room before he freaked out and turned around. If he stayed calm, he could find Ivy before he decided against it. If he stayed calm, he could ask her to go to the dance with him.
He found her just as she was getting up to leave. He quickly walked over to her.
"Morning, Ivy," he said. He's surprised by how energetic it sounded, as if this was what he wanted to be doing.
"Hey Regulus," she said.
"Mind if I walk you to breakfast?"
"Go ahead," she said, peering at him oddly. Regulus wasn't surprised at this, because he and Ivy only spoke occasionally, although sometimes they both found themselves awake in the common room late at night as neither of them could sleep.
"Are you going to the dance?" He blurted out. "The one next month?"
A look of realization fell across her face and she smiled. "Maybe. I don't have a date, though."
Reggie appreciated that she knew what was coming. He even knew that he shouldn't feel nervous, because it was a well known thing around Hogwarts that the Black brothers were incredibly good looking. Reggie had had girls following him around from the first day of school, whispering things like "Sirius's brother... it must just be in their genes." He wasn't sure why everyone thought this, because in his opinion, he and Sirius both looked near dead. They were both extremely pale, with high cheekbones and dark hair.
He cleared his throat and forced a small smile. "Would you want to go together? To the dance?"
Ivy smiled and nodded. "Yes! That would be great!" She opened the door of the great hall for the two of them. "I was thinking of getting a pink dress, or maybe a light blue one? What do you think? Or maybe a green one?"
Reggie forced another smile and followed Eve into the great hall. "Maybe green, for Slytherin."
"Good idea," she said. "Come sit with me and my friends!"
Before he could object she led him towards her friends, who were all watching them. He sighed and followed her over.
He couldn't help but wondering what he had just gotten himself into.