𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞 || 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

Chapter 33

Monday 11th January, 1977

I sat in Charms class on Monday morning after a week of being back at school. Next to me sat Regulus Black, my boyfriend, whose knee was currently pressed against my own as we shared a secret smile. We'd gotton better at keeping our relationship a secret, and I found it thrilling to hide it, to keep it something between us and no one else.

During the rest of the holidays, Regulus and I had escaped to our secret spot nearly every day. I still couldn't believe all of it was happening; it felt too good to be true. After the holidays we couldn't escape to one another all the time, so we had to improvise. We gave notes to each other with snide remarks, making everyone think cruel, snarky remarks lay inside the parchment when in reality they were little notes, asking about the others day, whether they were enjoying class or not, telling them how much they missed them even though they were right next to each other.

Charms class was the only time we could talk publicly without seeming suspicious, which was a bit of a downer, but we managed. It was a bit fun, actually, pretending to hate each other when we felt anything but hatred towards one another. There were always hidden meanings to the insults, messages only we could understand. We didn't need to pretend much now though, because it was Charms, and everyone else was too busy with their own work to bother watching us.

"I'm not sure whether Lily and James are together or not," I said. Regulus raised an eyebrow gesturing me to go on. "So, they both like each other, right? And they've been spending more time together, just the two of them, and they went to the dance together, but I haven't been given confirmation from either of them that they actually got together."

"Sounds like you're in a bit of a predicament," Regulus mused.

I rolled my eyes at his tone. "I am. I don't want to ask them, because that might scare them off, but I want to know if they're together or not."

"Why?"

"Because I want to know."

Regulus laughed. "But why do you want to know? Why is it so important to know?"

I shrugged in answer, not sure myself. Maybe it was because I wanted my brother and friend to be happy, and being together would make them both happy, so I just wanted confirmation that they were together. Or maybe I'm just nosy and want to know what's going on in my friend's and brother's love lives.

"Does Lily know about us?" Regulus asked after a few moments of silence.

I winced. "Um, maybe? In my defence she found out. I didn't tell her. Or well, I did, but she already knew something was up and was interrogating me and it was scary."

Regulus let out a disbelieving laugh. "Two weeks and she already found out? We must be shit at this secret thing."

"Uhm, it was actually less than twenty four hours when she found out-"

"Less than twenty-four hours?" Regulus repeated incredulously. "How is that even possible?"

"I don't know." I sighed, resting my head against my desk. Even though we had gotton better at hiding our relationship, that first failure will always be painful to remember. Not even a day after we'd gotton together.

Regulus's hand intertwined with mine under the table and I looked up at him, seeing a small smile on his face, barely there, yet it was there, and it was for me. I returned the smile and we continued on talking, never letting go of the others hand.

Eventually the bell rang and we had to leave each other, so Regulus whispered goodbye into my ear and I stormed off like he had said something horrible, desperately fighting the smile threatening to appear. My next class passed by in a blur, and before I knew it lunch had arrived.

I sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Remus, noting Lily and James sitting in front of us, closer than necessary. I raised my eyebrows at them in question and they both looked away, blushes forming on their faces. Remus and I shared a look.

"How are O.W.L.s treating you, Y/n?" Sirius asked when he sat down on Remus's other side.

I groaned in response, trying to keep the sobs at bay. "Horrible. They've been giving me so much work since Christmas break. You'd think we had O.W.L.s next week from the amount of homework I have to do."

"Oh, I remember that," Peter said with a grimace. "I was about ready to quit school altogether."

"We all were," Mary said, joining the conversation as she sat down, Marlene right behind her.

"You'll survive," Lily assured me.

I doubted that, judging from how overwhelmed I felt and the fact that it was only January. Still, I didn't argue, and soon lunch was over, forcing me to go to my next class which happened to be Transfiguration.

During the class, Professor McGonagall reminded us that we had our presentation in a week, the one we had been working on for about two months. Regulus and I had already finished everything, and had even learnt the spell that could transfigure Animagus into their human forms. We weren't sitting together this class, as it would have been too risky, but we did glance at each other every so often, sending playful glares and winks to one another.

After school we had Prefect duty and met each other at the Great Hall, like normal. We walked through the halls together, hands clasped as we swung them between us. There was idle chatter between us, nothing serious or that demanded all our attention. It was peaceful.

That peace was ruined when two boys came stumbling around the corner, laughing and whispering to one another. Regulus's hand was gone from mine in an instant and I was left with a feeling of emptiness. Those feelings were quickly forgotten when I recognised the two boys, and I sighed as James and Sirius came to a sudden stop in front of us.

Regulus sneered as he looked at his brother, Sirius glaring at Regulus in return. I could see through them both easily. It was obvious they both loved each other, and just used masks to hide their feelings. I wished they didn't; it was so damaging to the other.

"Okay boys, you need to go to bed," I said, taking charge of the situation. "Now."

"Oh come on," James pleaded. "We were just on our way to the kitchens-"

I gave James a stern look and he stopped speaking. "Bed. Now. Or I'll take points away."

James sent me a dirty look, grumbling under his breath, but he started walking away nonetheless, dragging Sirius along with him. When they had safely turned the corner and were out of sight, I turned to Regulus, wondering if he was okay.

He seemed affected by the mere sight of his brother, eyes downcast as some of the happiness he'd been feeling mere moments earlier disappeared. I grabbed his hand, grabbing his attention in the process, and gave him a soft smile. He returned it, and we continued walking our patrol, hand in hand.

A/N:

this was a short chapter so i decided to post it now. (i will still be posting on friday dw)

also, if you didn't notice, i made the meme at the start of the chapter. if you wanna see the other stuff i've made, you can find me at loonylupinblack3 on tumblr :)