When I sat next to Regulus in class the next day there was no longer a weird tension. There was no more question about what this was. Regulus Black liked me, and I liked him. As dangerous and as stupid as it was, I like Regulus Black. Marlene batted him on the head for making a mess in our room when she entered.
We'd spent the whole night gathering them up and trying to tie them together. When we finished we had the biggest bouquet we'd ever seen. Lily swore it had to be over two hundred flowers. We ended up splitting it into five or six bouquets so we could tie them off and place them around the room.
Regulus looked over at me and grinned.
"You liked my present?" He asked, I smiled.
"It was a pain in the ass to clean up." I replied, he stifled a laugh.
"Noted. Next time I'll send them pre-bouqueted." He licked the smile off his lips as Sirius walked in with James and faced forward. I felt the smile drop from my face and bit my lip.
"Vix! Who the hell sent you a million roses?" Sirius badgered from behind me, I turned to face him.
"They're carnations you git. They're from dad, for making good marks." I lied.
"Dad never sends me flowers." James whined.
"You never make good marks." I replied, he shrugged.
"Hey, what should I get Effie for Christmas?" Sirius asked, I shrugged. I saw Regulus tense up.
"She wants another bottle of that perfume, take Vix with you she'll sniff it out." James replied. Slughorn walked in to start class and cut our conversation short. I looked over at Regulus, who just faced forward the whole time, jaw clenched like he was holding something back. Peter slid me a note half way through class, asking if I was alright in his awful handwriting. I just nodded to him while he shot me a look. Class eventually ended and Regulus was gone without another word. I left class with Sirius while he planned our trip to Hogsmead.
"Can I have the map?" I asked as we reached the common room, he looked at me confused but complied and handed it over. I opened it up and stared at the pages.
"Who are you looking for?" I ignored the question. Lily was with Severus in the library. James was in his dorm with Peter, Marlene and Remus were in the hall. Me and Sirius the common room. I saw people I'd never spoken to before, but not Regulus.
"Why does Regulus not show up?" I asked, Sirius looked at me confused.
"Everyone shows up Vix. That's the point." I handed him the map. He scanned it throughly before looking at me. I tilted my head.
"Er, maybe he's not in the castle?" He tried. I nodded. "He used to spend a lot of time by Black Lake. What's this about?"
"I was just thinking, in all the times I've used the map, we've never been able to see him. It's like he doesn't exist."
"Do you often search for my brother on the map?" He joked, I smiled.
"No, I just thought of it earlier. I mean it's weird right? We can see everyone but him?" He shrugged as I closed the map.
"Maybe it's a protection charm." He offered, I tilted my head in response. "Seriously though will you come with me to get your mum a present?"
That was how I ended up bobbing in and out of shops with Sirius, even after we'd found mum's perfume she wanted. He was determined to make mum's holiday perfect with us. This was the first time I'd seen Sirius excited about Christmas. The last one we'd spent together we had to pull him out of his room. He was grumpy and distant the whole time. I just thought he didn't like the holiday.
We finally sat down in Honeyduke's and he stared at me for a moment.
"What?" I asked.
"Do you still have a thing for me?" He asked, I choked on my hot chocolate. I stared back at him for a long while.
"Are you thick?" I asked, he smirked.
"Maybe."
"Sirius, I literally washed my mouth out with soap after we kissed. I scraped my teeth on a bar of soap. You did the same." He laughed.
"That feels dramatic looking back."
"It had to be done." I replied with a shiver. He smiled again. "Why do you ask?"
"I think I might like you, Vix." I rolled my eyes. First year me would have killed to hear him say that.
"No you don't."
"I could."
"You don't. Cut the shit."
"I think I like someone, but I'm not sure." He said after a long beat. I stared at him trying to figure out who.
"Well, I don't know a single girl who isn't enamored with Sirius Black."
"It's not a girl."
"Then he probably fawns after you too."
"I don't think he does." He stated down at his own hot chocolate. I grabbed his hand.
"I can tell you from personal experience, you don't have the slightest clue when someone likes you." I joked, he laughed and squeezed my hand.
"How do you know you like someone?" He asked. I thought about it for a moment. I thought of Regulus. How absolutely mad me made me, even when I thought I couldn't stand him. I thought about the first time we really spoke and I went to bed with butterflies. I thought about the jealousy I harbored deep down when I saw him and Marlene getting closer. I thought about how I just wanted to be near him, how I craved to know him.
"They make you absolutely mad, everything reminds you of them, you want to be around them all the time. Suddenly everything good, is them and everything bad is something they could solve." I replied, he nodded grimly. "So who is the poor git?"
"Oh yeah, no, you don't get to know that."
🗡️🗡️🗡️
"What're you doing for the holidays?" Regulus asked as he laid with his head on my stomach. I peered down at him with a furrowed brow.
"Going to my parents? Are you not?" I asked.
"Going to your parents? I imagine not, mine would kill me." He joked. I rolled my eyes.
"You're a bloody idiot. What're you doing?"
"Christmas is just another reminder Walburga and Orion have kids. I'll probably just hide out at Narcissa and Andromeda's."
"I mean, you could come to mine." I offered, he smiled up at me.
"You're adorable, you thought I was joking when I said they'd kill me."
"I know you weren't." He propped himself up on his knees and leaned in my face with a goofy grin. I smiled back
"Oh so you want me dead. Gee, thanks Potter. Here I was thinking we'd made headway in this little thing." He replied sarcastically as he leaned in to kiss me. I laughed against the kiss as he smiled. "Can't believe my own girlfriend wants me dead." His face went red right after he said it. He looked away to try and collect himself while I smiled.
"Your what?" I asked, he shook his head.
"Nothing."
"What ever happened to you never dating a Potter, a blood traitor, the enemy." I teased as I climbed into his lap, he looked up at me. His cheeks so red I thought they might burn me if I touched them. He messed with the sleeve that covered his hand between us. I tilted his chin up.
"I'm starting to think I'd do just about anything for you, Potter."
"Well, I should hope so. I'm your girlfriend." He smiled and pressed his lips to mine.
