Don't Tell Anyone About This | Regulus Black

Chapter Nine

The Slytherin common room was dungeon-like in its appearance. The long room, with low-hanging ceilings, extended partly beneath the Black Lake. Every now and again, the giant squid of the lake could be spotted swimming past. The deep lake water cast a greenish hue over the bare stone walls, elaborate mantelpiece, and sparse furnishings of arm chairs.

Regulus sat in one of the plush, high-backed arm chairs, staring down at the long-extinguished fireplace. He'd never been a fan of his common room. The cold atmosphere of the place, and the tapestries of Medieval Slytherins looking over him, did not at all make the boy feel at ease. In fact, the common room reminded him of Grimmauld Place. Over the past years he had grown to despise the house he'd grown up in - filled with shadows and history and heirlooms from relatives that would never have approved of him. What was worst of all, even worse than the memories of family arguments throughout the halls, was the knowledge that one day he'd be the one to inherit it.

"Alright, Black?"
Regulus lifted his head to see Avery arriving into the common room from the dormitory. Behind him were Mulciber and Rosier, who were chatting amongst themselves about something.

Regulus only hummed in response. He didn't particularly want to be drawn into conversation.

"Well I'm having a horrible time." Avery continued as he collapsed down into the more battered armchair that stood opposite Regulus. He continued, "You left me with these two numbskulls, and I can feel my brain cells killing themselves."
Sensing the eyes of the other boy on him, waiting for a reply, Regulus let out a forced chuckle.

Whilst Avery did want to ask his old friend what was up with him, he couldn't quite bring himself to. Avery had long been taught by his parents about the importance of understanding where various pureblood families stood within society. The Black family was very much near the top, and it was favourable to stay on the right side of them. Therefore, he didn't want to risk getting near any potentially tumultuous conversation topics.
Besides, Avery was fairly sure Regulus' odd moods could be blamed on his brother's actions over the summer, and there was no way Avery could risk anything other than denouncing Sirius.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Rosier interjected, "I don't care for you grouping me in with him." He jabbed his thumb in Mulciber's direction.
Mulciber frowned, "What is that supposed to mean?"
Rosier scoffed, "The fact that you don't know is the problem."
"What?" Mulciber frowned in thorough confusion.
Rosier retorted, "You're stupider than I am."

Regulus muttered, "Not by much though."

Only Avery heard this, and he let out a snort in response.

The fifth year Slytherin boys were the only ones in the common room, apart from a couple of second year students that were huddled over a desk in the far corner of the room silently studying.
This delicate balance was quickly shattered as the door to the common room smoothly swung open and in walked Delilah Parkinson. The tall, brunette girl spotted the group of boys from her year and wandered slowly over to them. When her eyes landed on Regulus Black, her expression lit up into a smile.

"Parkinson... What's up?" Avery asked as he flashed a crooked grin.
"Not a lot." She replied as she twirled a strand of dark hair around her index finger and lingered beside Regulus' chair, "What about you guys?"

"Awful." Mulciber complained, "Some third year was supposed to do my Defence Against the Dark Arts essay for me, but he didn't, and now I don't have anything to hand in for tomorrow's lesson."
Rosier quipped, "Shouldn't you be working on it now then?"
"Why would I do that?"

Rosier, completely dumbfounded, turned to the others with his mouth open and eyebrows raised. Avery raised a hand to mask his snickering as Delilah smiled slightly and blushed.

"How are you, Regulus?" Delilah asked in a quieter voice.
He replied, "Fine."

"Don't be shy, mate." Avery egged on.
Delilah let out an airy giggle, "Shy? What does he have to be shy about?"
"Nothing." Regulus shook his head, "Avery is an idiot."
Delilah laughed again and perched on the arm of the chair Regulus sat in. "Trust me, I know." She beamed.

Avery scoffed in a lighthearted manner, "Come on, that Hufflepuff you used to date made even Mulciber look like a scholar."

"Edgar?" Delilah's voice rose slightly and she flicked her hair behind her shoulders, "He was... A temporary thing."
Regulus didn't believe that at all. Well, he did believe it was a temporary thing. There was no way Delilah's parents would approve of her actually dating the Hufflepuff boy. Regardless, Regulus very much believed that Delilah was still pining after Edgar, and was quite possibly trying to make him jealous.

"Black, d'you hear that?"
Avery snapped Regulus out of his thoughts.
"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I said Parkinson could probably benefit from someone a bit cooler, don't you think?" Avery cheekily raised an eyebrow.
Regulus didn't quite know what that was supposed to imply. It was quickly made obvious though, when Delilah asked, "You're very cool, aren't you, Regulus? Suave and... Effortless. Are you on the quidditch team this year?"

Avery interjected again, "His position is so solid they don't even make him try out for it anymore."

Delilah gasped, "Is that actually true?"
"Well..." Regulus didn't really want to admit it, he'd never been one to show off about quidditch, "Yeah... It is."
"Wow!" She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I think I need to head off." Regulus rose to his feet abruptly, almost knocking Delilah off her delicate balance, "I've got work to do."

"What? Really? Oh don't be a bore." Avery complained, though he'd clearly recognised the signs in his friend that Regulus was quite opposed to being in the company of Delilah Parkinson. That didn't stop him wanting to test the waters though, wanting to see if Regulus would come around to a bit of flirting with the obviously gorgeous girl.

Regulus barely turned around as he made his way towards the staircase up to the boy's dormitory, but called back, "Sorry, see you around."
And that was that - shut down.

Avery had been correct, Regulus wasn't at all a fan of Delilah Parkinson. He found the girl quite off putting - it was common knowledge that the girl was partial to lying, particularly if she thought it would gain her popularity.

For some reason, as Regulus lay back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, he found his mind wandering to Nerezza Stark. It wasn't that he liked the girl, because he didn't. It was just that there was no contest between Nerezza and Delilah.
Nerezza was undeniably very clever, and she never boasted or showed off about it - apart from to Regulus, but he didn't mind that so much. Delilah was often shallow and rude, and still found things to show off about.
Delilah altered her personality depending on who she was around, whilst Nerezza was consistently herself and never worried or apologised for not fitting in. Regulus couldn't help admiring that.

"Urgh!" Regulus groaned as he rolled over and buried his face into his pillow, "What's wrong with me?" He complained.

There were so many people he could have thought of that were better than Delilah Parkinson. Why did Nerezza Stark pop into his head? Why had she been on his mind consistently the past few weeks?
After a while, Regulus simply put it down to the fact that she was his academic competition, and it was the year of the OWL exams. That had to be it.

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a/n
delilah parkinson is not pansy parkinson's mother - she is a young cousin of pansy parkinson's mother