O Beija-Flor - Regulus Black (Complete)

XXXVIII -

IMPORTANT CHAPTER PLOT-WISE (AND A BIT MORE). DO LEAVE A COMMENT AND ASK ANY QUESTIONS THAT MIGHT COME.

"Harry and his friends are lucky that they're underage," Sirius said, sipping his tea on the breakfast table. "With the trial coming, at least they'll be away from prying eyes. Only their memories will be important, so they won't have to go there."

"It's certainly relieving that they don't need to go there," Remus agreed, reaching for a toast on Sirius' plate, who didn't even move, just letting him do whatever he wanted.

"A trial is a lot of stress," agreed Cecilia, sipping her coffee. "A child shouldn't go through it."

With that, they all agreed, but none felt the same thing that Cecilia felt. She remembered how scared she had been with those people staring at her, a grown-man telling everybody that she lying and that she was a cruel and messed up, and she had no strength to say otherwise. She remembered how alone she had felt up there, staring at her crying sister and her distant mother. Harry, Hermione and Ron didn't need that – they didn't need the feeling of exposition that they would be thrown under if they were to be present-witnesses.

Regulus' eyes met hers and he smiled weakly, somehow knowing exactly what she was thinking. He was having a bad day, and he did not reach for her hand, ever so close to his on the table. She didn't smile back at him, just looked away.

"If you wish to leave and stay in the Burrow for today, I'd completely understand, Cecilia, don't worry," Sirius said. "Mister Harvey will come this afternoon, and he's expected to stay the whole day, perhaps even dine here. I'm sure that it's difficult to you to go through a trial again."

"It is not," she said, shaking her head. "I want to be lawyer. I can do this. I can learn if I stay here."

"I don't know if this case would be the best to learn from, Cecilia, it's... very heavy," Remus said.

"I'm quite aware of it," she dismissed. "I lived with the only survivor of the case, remember? Harry Potter and his very talkative friends? Ring any bells at all?"

Regulus turned to look at her once more, but she didn't even turn to look at him in return.

Something had changed in the last week that they were there. Cecilia seemed more distant from everything and everyone, always with a book, but the pages wouldn't turn; her thoughts were more important than anything else for the time being as she stared at the yellowish pages with disinterest. Not even him playing the sonata seemed to pry her away from the library and into the music room as she had done that other day. But most of all, Cecilia seemed distant from him.

He went through several reason in his mind, searching for the answer of what he had done wrong and the only thing he could think of was the whole talk of virginity, but she hadn't even given the chance to apologise, so he assumed she wanted distance. He kept himself away, giving her space to come to him if she wished, but not going after her – the door of music room was always slightly ajar (a step back from the completely closed, and sometimes even locked, doors that he kept when younger) and his bedroom door was usually wide open as he read in there the books that he walked by her in the library to get. And yet nothing had come from it.

By the time Thomas Harvey, Sirius lawyer, had gotten to the house accompanied by Dumbledore and Moody, Cecilia was already waiting for them with tea that Kreacher had done in the library, having transfigured one of the chairs into a small coffee table near the sofas.

According to Regulus' mind, the only flaw in Mister Thomas Harvey was how young he was. With just twenty-four years of age, he looked younger than he actually was and his inexperience was odd, but Dumbledore had insisted on choosing him either way, for he had won every case he had ever accepted to be in. Though his handsome face was slightly distracting to Regulus (he always had a small weakness for blonde boys, after all), he seemed serious enough.