𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞 || 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

Chapter 17

Monday 10th November, 1976

I arrived at the Great Hall just as prefect duty started, relieved I wasn't late. I walked over to Regulus who had already started walking, intending to do our rounds, and hurried to catch up to him. As soon as I got a look at his face I knew something had changed between us.

He was distant, a mask covering his face as he walked, not even sparing me a glance. I was surprised to find how disappointed that made me as I realised I had been sort of excited to see him tonight, thinking we'd be planning our prank. Instead Regulus seemed to be content to ignoring me. Too bad I wasn't content with him ignoring me.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice. We had just gotton onto somewhat neutral ground, and then he had to go and ruin it with this mood of his.

"Nothing," Regulus answered. There was a beat of silence before, "I'm assuming the prank's off?"

"Wait, what?" I asked, stopping in my tracks. Regulus stopped too, turning to look at me while keeping his face carefully blank. "Why would you say that?"

Surprise briefly flashed across his face before it disappeared as Regulus gained control of his emotions once more.

"I saw you talking to your brother at dinner and assumed you forgave him and his friends," Regulus explained shortly.

"That doesn't mean I don't still want to prank them," I replied.

"So the prank is still on?"

"Definitely."

The rest of the night went smoother, with Regulus being less standoffish and more engaged in the conversation. We also managed to set a date for when we were going to put the prank into action. December 1st in a few weeks.

We'd nearly finished our rounds when Regulus came up with an offer. He seemed a bit nervous about it, his expression hesitant, but I blinked and the hesitance was gone, making me wonder if I'd actually seen it or not.

"If you wanted, we could study together after school," Regulus said. "For the Transfiguration assignment."

"That would be good," I agreed, smiling slightly.

We finished our rounds and bid goodbye to one another, and as I walked away, I decided to ignore the butterflies in my stomach as I thought about Regulus's offer.

. . .

Tuesday 11th November, 1976

The next day all I could think of was the study session with Regulus after school. I didn't know why I was obsessing over it. It was just studying, and with Regulus of all people. There was no need for me to be counting down the hours until classes finished, and yet that's what I found myself doing during lunch as I waited until I could study with Regulus.

"Hey, Y/n, want to join us on a trip to Honeydukes tonight?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

I knew about the secret passageway to Hogsmeade, and I knew about James's invisibility cloak, as we'd had multiple sneaky trips to Hogsmeade over the years. We hadn't all snuck out in a while though, and while I wanted to, I already had plans.

"Sorry, I can't," I declined. "I'm studying with Regulus."

"Poor you," Sirius commented sympathetically, ruffling my hair.

I swatted his hand away, rolling my eyes, when I realised I'd rather go to this study session with Regulus than sneak out with the marauders, so there was no need for Sirius's sympathy. I didn't tell him this, of course, because he wouldn't have understood. I didn't even understand it myself. How could I have gone from despising Regulus Black with every fibre of my being to being excited to hang out with him later today?