August | Hermione Granger x OFC

Chapter Eighty-Two

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"You were friends with Regulus Black," Robyn started simply, watching Nadir carefully as they sat together in the drawing room, the massive Black family tapestry acting as their backdrop. She glanced to the image of Regulus as she spoke.

"Indeed..." Nadir said thoughtfully, nibbling on a Bertie Bott's bean.

"So? What happened?"

"Lots happened," he said vaguely, then made a face. "Hm. Brussels sprouts. Not my favourite."

"Me neither," said Robyn honestly, thinking of all the times Winnie had made her eat the offensive vegetable, and— "Wait, stop distracting me," she huffed.

He gasped as if shocked, "I would never."

"Okay..." she sang, "then answer my questions."

"Curious little Ravenclaw, you are."

"You're literally doing it again! So," she continued before he could say otherwise. He held his hands up in defeat. "Regulus became a Death Eater when he was sixteen, right?"

Nadir cringed. "How do you even know that?"

"I know many things," she said, just as vague as he had been previously.

"Curious little Ravenclaw," he repeated. "Okay. He became a Death Eater."

"You don't seem like the type to be friends with a Death Eater."

"Yes, well. I stopped speaking to him when he became one, didn't I?"

"Did you?"

"I did."

"Okay." That made more sense to her. "But surely he was always...you know, a blood supremacist and...whatnot."

"Indeed. And so was I."

That did not make sense to her. Nadir? A blood supremacist? She just couldn't see it.

"You?"

"Unfortunately, yes. When you're conditioned to think a certain way, it's hard to see otherwise. I'm sure you agree. But I did – saw the error in my ways, and was rehabilitated with the help of a few others," he admitted.

Robyn wanted to laugh at his wording. It reminded her of Operation: Rehabilitate Rosie. They were basically the same person, weren't they? She liked to think so.

"Who were the others?" she wondered.

He smiled, "You're familiar with a few," and pointed downwards to where the lounge was.

She smiled back, surprised. "Sirius and Remus?"

"And James. Can't forget James."

She nodded. "Harry's father."

"That's the one."

"I can't imagine they'd put up with you- you know, if you were openly a bigot..."

"I wasn't, not really. Not a lot of us were exactly upfront about it – it was the kind of thing you talked about in private. Although, it wasn't a secret that we Slytherins didn't like Muggle-borns...Well, one of us did, but that's a story for another time. But for me, I was never really into the whole 'Muggle-borns are inferior' thing. So when Voldemort started recruiting, and my brother—" he cringed again, and so did she, "tried recruiting me on Voldemort's behalf...well, that's when I got the courage to go to Dumbledore for help. Can't imagine what my life would be like if I didn't."