Imagines- Harry Potter

Second Choice | R.B

Regulus Black was poison. He was the most robust alcohol and the deepest ocean. He was toxic, addicting, and filled with secrets. He was quiet, cynical, and secretive.

He was the definition of everyone's least favorite.

Regulus wasn't ever the favorite. He was never the first choice. He was never the symphony that brought a smile to people's faces.

He was a last resort.

Until he met her.

Granted, in the beginning, he thought she was quite annoying. Professor Slughorn made her sit beside him for a partner's project. She stuck to him like a tick on a dog. Regulus never spoke to her, but she talked to him. Y/n wrote little things on the margins of his parchment, which Regulus thought was frustrating. All his Potions notes now had stupid sayings on the side or little doodles. But he couldn't find the heart to tell her off.

Regulus was a creature of habit. Since his first year, he had been going to the Astronomy Tower at midnight to stare at the night sky. When he became Prefect, it became even easier to do so. His black shoes made a clicking noise as he made his way to the tower. His dark brown messenger bag was slung around him and swayed with his movements. His white button-up was wrinkled, pants covered in cat hair from a neighboring Slytherin familiar, and tie loosened around his neck. The silver glinted in the yellow light.

The stairs to the Tower were stone and narrow. His shoes echoed through the narrow hallway. Regulus opened the wooden door and was greeted with a gust of cold wind. His hair swept back with the strong breath of air, and he shut the door behind him quietly. The tower was a cylinder with railings on the edge, telescopes around the outlook for when class was in session. Regulus sat down on the concrete allowing the wind to take over his hair and cool his face.

He pulled his notes from his bag, placing them on his lap. His hand held up his chin as he peered down at the Potions notes he had written with raven ink. Flint eyes stared at his calligraphy writing, and ebony hair was put behind his ear. His porcelain skin began to chill, but he continued to reread the parchment laid out in front of him. He couldn't help but let his eyes travel to the grey ink on the margins of his notes complimenting his hair, eyes, or writing.

Every day she found something to compliment him with. He couldn't fathom how she could do it. Regulus looked at himself in the mirror every morning while tying his tie and didn't see anything but a disappointment. The disappointment of a son, of a brother, of a person. He didn't get grades like Sirius. He wasn't ruthless like his parents. He wasn't an extrovert, wasn't an overachiever, wasn't a prodigy, and definitely couldn't be a death eater.

Sirius had girls trailing him wherever he went. Girls wouldn't come within ten feet of Regulus. Y/n was the exception. He could recognize her writing from miles away. It was always in a silvery grey, with a remarkable resemblance to the Times New Roman font. If it had been anyone else, they would've stayed as far from Regulus as possible. But she wasn't scared. From what he had gathered, she was a half-blood and loved muggle London.

She would tell him all about her adventures, and Regulus would pretend not to listen but later would write in a journal everything she had said. The week before fifth year ended, she had been going on about a muggle book. Her aunt had sent her a book that Y/n hadn't been able to obtain before going to Hogwarts, but now that she had read it, Y/n wasn't quiet about it. Regulus wrote down the book name and the author discretely in the bottom right corner of his notes.

That summer, Regulus sent Andromeda an owl asking if she could find the book. A week later, Regulus had obtained the book. Over a month, he had read it over ten times. The cover was cracked, as was the spine. Inside he had written his thoughts with his favorite quill. He dog-eared pages and underlined his favorite quotes. In the back cover, he wrote about his life, about Sirius leaving, about his parents thinking he wasn't worthy of being a death eater, about always being second to Sirius. Within two hours, the back cover was filled with what felt like Regulus' whole life story.