𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 - regulus black

chapter ninety two

As February arrived, the snow was still falling on Hogwarts, the weather was still as cold as January's and the amount of homework for the seventh years was still as huge. And for once, Adena was quite relieved to attend Slug Club. It was finally a good distraction from homework which she had no motivation to do on that evening. Eugenia and her were walking down the hallway. The redhead girl felt somehow excited and it was no surprise for the brunette since she had been complaining about homework for weeks. Upon entering the room, Slughorn welcomed them and they took place at their usual sits. Adena by Regulus' side with Barty Crouch and Rabastan Lestrange on his other side and Eugenia took a seat between Adena and a sixth year Hufflepuff the brunette could never remember the name. She had heard about him, but she had forgotten his name, or wasn't listening. However what she knew was that Eugenia also took a liking in him.

"Nice dress," commented Regulus and Adena snickered. Regulus was so rarely giving that kind of compliments and she couldn't help but laugh since she had worn that dress at the year-end party organized by his family and he clearly had recognized it. She just grinned at him before turning her head the other way when she heard Eugenia talking to the Hufflepuff boy. Her smile widened.

More people started coming in, welcomed by Slughorn and soon the dinner began. As always, Adena was already lost in her thoughts as soon as their teacher started rambling about anything and everything, sometimes interacting with his students. Surprisingly, he directed his conversation towards Adena at some point and she looked up at him, a little confused.

"I recently discovered you and the young Arsene Dubois are relatives. It was a great surprise to know that. I can guess where he got his potions skills," chuckled the joyful man.

"Oh? Really? It's true Arsene's a good student."

"Yeah. And from what I heard from the other students, he's good at many more things, and loves to discover. Definitely someone I should add to this club."

"I'm sure it'll please him a lot, sir."

"I hope he'll become such a model student like you Miss Winsten and have a great career."

"I think he might enroll into Quidditch in the future. I've played with him before and he's really talented for his age," suddenly said Regulus.

The teacher turned his surprise-filled eyes towards the new speaker, Adena doing the same, and chuckled again. "Is that so? I shouldn't be too happy about Slytherin having concurrence then."

He continued talking left and right to other students. The brunette leaned on the side to quietly say these words to her boyfriend, sounding rather pleased, "You really like Arsene. Promoting him even. That's kind."

When he turned to face her, she had a small but happy grin displayed on her lips. "I think... I even consider him as a little brother at this point."

"He thinks the same. You know he really looks up to you," she added, and he nodded. Of course, he knew. Nobody could miss the admirative glint in Arsene's eyes whenever Regulus would do something awesome at Quidditch or would help him complete an exercise the blonde boy hadn't understood. And such admiration coming from the young boy was far from being displeasing for him. They became much closer than she would have expected, spending actual time together, interacting with each other even when Adena was not there. The girl felt really happy when hearing about this, knowing how Regulus was going past his boundaries as a supporter of the pure blood supremacy. He was definitely more open, even to her friends. And she was glad. No, she did not try to change him, she didn't even expect him to have friendly encounters with her comrades, he only chose it himself. She liked to see him discover other people and evolving in this positive way.