Ultimatums

Chapter 40

Persephone tapped her quill against her spare parchment.

It was the Transfiguration theory paper, and she had finished five minutes ago with twenty left. She noticed Hermione staring intently at Regulus across the hall, and when Persephone shifted her gaze toward him, she saw the boy smirking at his hands. Persephone could only assume that they were practicing their Legilimency. She smiled softly. Persephone also noticed girls looking at the boy and not at all at their papers. Not that Regulus cared.

Avery was still scribbling away at his essay, ink blotting everywhere. Rosier chuckled at his boyfriend, rocking back and forth on his chair with ease. Persephone herself was doodling on her spare parchment, sketching the way Regulus's hair fell, the way Avery's hand flexed with fatigue, the way Hermione's face scrunched in concentration as she tried to put whatever image she was thinking of in Regulus's mind.

The time ticked on, and soon McGonagall was standing at the front of the hall. "Quills down! Quills down!" She made her way down the aisles the papers flying off the desk and following in her wake, "Sit in silence whilst I collect your essays... Congratulations Seventh Years, that was your final NEWT exam. You may dismiss yourselves"

Persephone made her way to Hermione's desk, breaking her focus.

"What? The exam is over? Well... I didn't even realise..." she said dazedly.

Her friend smirked "Ah yes, well I'm not surprised. You seemed captivated by our Reg"

"Who was captivated by me?"

Regulus stood behind them with Avery and Rosier. The group started to walk out of the hall and into the sunny courtyard.

"Nita. I wonder what sort of images she was showing you for both of you to have such dreamy smiles?"

A pale blush danced across Regulus's cheeks, and Hermione looked away.

"Oh I wish we could do that Rose" Avery said in a slightly whiny tone, clinging to his arm.

Rosier shuddered and shook him off "I'm glad you can't. Who knows what you'd come up with"

The group sat by the Black Lake. Persephone dipped her yellow painted toes in the water, and the rest of them looked at her as if she'd committed something quite scandalous.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing, Sephy?" Rosier asked in his soft voice. "Do you want to lose a limb to the Squid?"

Persephone retracted her toes quickly, "What do you mean?"

"Or the mermaids?" Avery continued.

"Perhaps the grindylows?" Hermione grinned.

Regulus rolled his eyes at them as Persephone scrambled away from the edge. He crouched down next to her, placing a hand to her shoulder and stilling her "Sephy, they're joking. The creatures that live in the lake don't come to the surface. There's nothing to worry about"

He glared at the three, and they hung their heads slightly. Though none apologised ( a habit knocked out of them by Slytherin house), they each removed their shoes and dropped their feet in the dirty water.

It was silent for a while, before Avery asked "What did you get for paragraph five? The one about what incantation changes hair?"

Regulus answered immediately "Crinus Muto" 

He raised his wand and flicked his wrist. The ends of  Hermione's hair began to fade to a light lavender reaching upwards. She made no effort to change it back.

"Shit" Avery muttered.

Persephone smacked the back of his overgrown auburn locks. "There are first years about!"

"Fuck the -"

"Oi!" She protested.

Avery wailed "I've failed my NEWTs have some compassion Persey"

"Never call me that again" she stuck out her tongue and cringed.

A quarrel started to arise amongst the group of first years on the opposite side of the lake.  A boy with long, dark red hair was singled out from the rest.

"Gryffindors" Rosier notified, his face twisted into an iconic sneer. "Merlin, I hate them. The younger ones specifically. They're so rude"

"You're acting like you're the most courteous wizard in England" Persephone scoffed. "Might I remind you of the time you shoved a second year Ravenclaw down the stairs because 'they were taking too long'"

"I had an important class" Rosier protested, though in reality he was heading for dinner. It was curry night and so Rosier thought it was rather justifiable.

"Want to have some fun?" Hermione asked, standing up and heading over without waiting for anyone.

Regulus followed her as he usually did, and Rosier went along too. Avery stayed back with Persephone, the pair skimming rocks.

By the time they'd reached the first years, the red haired boy was on the floor. Hermione bent down, her hair shielding them both. "Whats your name, kid?" she whispered.

"Bill. Bill Weasley"

She nodded and straightened, helping him up. Then she schooled her face into an expression of familiarity. Hermione wrapped her arm around his shoulder, the boys standing on either side of them. Bill tried his hardest not to seem confused.

"Hey. How are you all? Friends of our Bill?" she asked naturally.

The tallest boy scowled "Who are you?"

He had the confidence, but the Muggle hair cut and braces gave him away. He had dark coloured freckles covering half his face, and small squinty eyes.

Hermione shook her head and laughed drily. She tilted her head to the side and said "Rosier, I believe you were right. Gryffindors nowadays really do lack manners"

Before the kid could speak again, she continued "But I'll introduce myself. Hermione Potter. This is my boyfriend Regulus Black, and my good friend Evan Rosier."

She gave a Cheshire grin as a wave of recognition became apparent.

"So what's the problem?" Regulus asked softly, an eyebrow raised.

None of the children dared speak. They looked amongst eachother, trying to think of an excuse. One of them betrayed the group by looking at the sleeves of Bill's shirt, rolled up to try and hide the fact that it was five sizes too big. Hermione took a good look at the boy, and realised that the entirety of his uniform didn't quite fit him or was frayed.

Well, he was a Weasley. The family had four children at the moment, and another was rumoured to be on the way. They couldn't possibly afford proper uniform with the income Mr Weasley had.

"Ah, I see" she said. "Billy, why didn't you say something sooner? Your mother doesn't know Madam Malkin's gave you the wrong uniform? Well let me fix that"

Hermione lifted her hand and stroked it through the air. Purple wisps flew over to him, losing themselves in the fabric. The sleeves shortened, the frayed ends of the trousers cut themselves. She even cut the hair out of his eyes, making it fall stylishly at Bill's shoulders.

Looking him over like an older sister, she nodded to herself.

"I'll see you around, Bill." she smiled at him, before turning on her heel and marching back. But as she did, she sent little sparks at the Gryffindors, hitting at their backs and burning little holes through the cloth.

Regulus took off his watch. It was an expensive one, and so when he became seventeen, all his relatives bought him something identical or similar. He put it on Bill's wrist and smiled down at him slightly. It came off as more of a smirk. "Here, mate" he whispered. "Thats worth more than  their houses, I bet, combined. Don't let them get you down"

Rosier ruffled his hair, and the two men went off to follow Hermione. Something they imagined they'd be doing for the rest of their lives.