𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞 || 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

Chapter 36

Monday 18th January, 1977

My Sunday was spent with Regulus and his friend's, hanging out in Regulus's dorm, abandoned classrooms; really just anywhere we could find that hid us from people. It was Charms class, students talking to one another in hushed tones, practising charms, or in a few people's cases, asleep on their desk. I sat next to Regulus like usual, our knees touching under the desk as idle chatter passed between the two of us.

"Do your friends like me?" I asked suddenly, feeling a wave of self-consciousness wash over me. Regulus's friends were important to him, so I wanted to make a good impression, but I wasn't sure if I'd managed that. I was a Gryffindor, their rival house, as well as a 'blood traitor' in Barty's words. That made it a bit difficult to make a good impression, since they were already set to hate me before they even met me.

If Regulus was surprised by my question he didn't show it, answering it as best as he could. "Well, Avery loves you. If he wasn't gay I'd be a bit concerned he'd try to steal you away from me. He probably will anyway. Pandora's happy with you, says you have a good aura or whatever. Evan doesn't dislike you, but you are still a Gryffindor, and Evan hates Gryffindors. Barty..."

"Doesn't like me," I finished.

Regulus placed his hand on my knee. "Hey, don't worry about it, yeah? Barty will come around. He's just a stubborn twat."

I smiled and nodded, but in reality my doubts were only growing. I knew the concept of pureblood superiority would have eventually gotton in our way, but I didn't expect it to arrive so early, and by Regulus's friend as well. That was the real reason Barty didn't like me; because I was a blood traitor, because I didn't believe that I was better than others just because of my ancestry.

"We've got patrol tonight," I said, changing the subject.

Regulus gave a little groan, letting his head rest against the desk in defeat. "We do, don't we? Do we have to go?" Regulus upright, a mischievous look in his eyes. "Could we skive off? It would be so much better if we could."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "We've got to do it."

Regulus let out a dramatic sigh, and I was reminded of his brother. For how much they claimed to hate each other, they were both much more alike than they realised. I smiled and felt the want to kiss Regulus surge up inside me. I couldn't though, obviously, so I settled for holding his hand under the desk.

Regulus looked at me, a small smile gracing his face. I returned it, and we continue class hand in hand. Unfortunately the class had to end eventually, and when it did we went to our next class separately, sitting across the room from one another. The next class was the same, and then it was lunch, a relief from the constant pressure of O.W.L.s all our classes carried.

"You don't hang out with us anymore," James complained as he sat down next to me.

"Yeah, we miss you," Sirius added.

I rolled my eyes. "I have other friends, you know."

Sirius gasped, placing his hand to his chest. "How dare you!"

I snorted at Sirius's antics, but realised he was right. I hadn't been hanging out with the marauders as often as I used to, now that I had a boyfriend. I decided to try to spend more time with them, because they were also my friends and were important to me.

After lunch was Potions with the Slytherins. Professor Slughorn told us to break up into groups of 6 to make the newest potion we were learning about, as it was said to be very complicated. I waited until most people had chosen their groups before joining Regulus's table with Evan, Barty, Avery, and Pandora, hoping I didn't create any suspicion with joining his group.