Secret lovers - Regulus Black / short story

C h a p t e r F i v e

"We can't continue this Reg... They're too close to finding out... I'm surprised they didn't get it already, they must be really blind or really stupid, because what just happened was very obvious but I'm glad they didn't. It sill means we have to slow down."

"What do you mean slow down?"

"We could get caught any day! Now my brother knows there's someone in my life, your brother knows for you as well, they're not going to stop wanting to know who it is, for each of us, and you know my brother will kill you if he finds out."

"Julie are you saying you want to break up with me?"

"No I'm saying I don't want to have a dead boyfriend. I just want us to stop seeing each other as much as we used to, and not hang out too much."

"People think we're friends! Why couldn't we hang out?"

"I'm sorry Reggie, but this is the best thing to do. It hurts but we have to. We must." Julianna kisses her beloved on the cheek and walks away.

"Julie! Julie! Ju-" Regulus sighs and goes back to his common room with the saddest face he ever had.

-

A week passed, Regulus and Julianna haven't talked at all, they would both hang out with Severus but they weren't talking to each other, just some looks here and then. They were sad, and nobody noticed because of what Regulus said at the party. James and Sirius weren't paying attention to their sibling, giving them space, but mostly silence and peace. During the holidays, Julia stayed very quiet, her parents thought that she was tired because of school, James didn't really pay attention, he was goofing around with Sirius, talking about Lily, always Lily. But Sirius did notice that something was off. He realised that ever since the party, Julianna has been acting lonely, sad and unmotivated. She wasn't smiling much, just to be polite, it was Christmas after all, her favorite time of the year and she was happy to see her family. But she couldn't think of anything else but Regulus. She told him she wanted to slow things down, but they've been pushing each other away, both scared to do the first step. Sirius couldn't possibly know about all of this, but he knew that Julia was not in a cheerful, Chrismtas-ish state of mind. He didn't say anything of course, he kept his thoughts to himself, she wasn't his sister, even if he always acted like a big brother. And he knew what kind of person she was, and she wasn't the type to go talk to someone about her problems, and most certainly not Black.

When they got back to school, he found his brother in the same state as Little Potter, and that's when it finally hit him. He finally understood what everyone was too blind to see. Putting all the pieces back together, the sneaking around, the things said at the party, the way both of them had been acting since then. He decided to go talk to James, as he was his best friend, and Julianna's brother.

"Hey James! Can I talk to you?" He says walking in the Gryffindor common room to his friend sitting in front of the fire with some students. "It's kind of important."

"Sure Padfoot!" He stands up and follows Sirius in a more quiet place. "What's up?"

"It's about your sister, and my brother."

"What about them?"

"Remember the conversation after our Christmas party? When Julianna said she was in love with someone, and Reggie said the same?"

"Yes of course, then he yelled at us saying we should drop it and leave them alone."

"I figured why."

"What do you mean?"

"You really don't get it by now? Julianna is in love with someone, she won't tell us who. My brother is in love with someone, he won't tell us who then practically begs us not to dig deeper into it? It's actually kind of obvious, I can't believe we haven't noticed sooner."