Black Rose [Regulus Black]

36 - happy spells & glowing portkeys

When Alessandra opened the door, for once, she kind of expected to see Sirius there. It had been just over a month since he'd dropped by that day on his birthday. He had been too quiet, but maybe it was because his relationship with his brother was doing well. She knew because she could see it in Regulus' face everytime Sirius was brought up — there wasn't complete acceptance or even love, but there wasn't vehement dislike either.

Progress.

She wondered what prompted Sirius to knock on her door on a random Saturday, even worrying that something may have happened between the brothers and he ran to her to get it fixed.

"Yes?" she asked hesitantly.

He smiled at her. It wasn't a full-blown grin like the one he always wore, or even a cocky smirk. It was a small, genuine albeit awkward smile that reminded her so much of Regulus that she felt like she'd been knocked over.

It was concerning how much she missed Regulus when they'd seen each other just two days ago.

"Dumbledore asked me to give you this," he pulled out a note and a glove from within his pocket and placed it within her hands, and she eyed them warily. The note wasn't written on paper, but a slightly rougher material, and she could see traces of ink on it. The glove was old and frayed along the edges, and something (she was afraid of asking) had bitten half of the middle finger off.

"What's this?"

"Note has instructions, glove is a Portkey."

"Yeah, I totally know what that is."

"Reggie hasn't told you what a portkey is yet?" Astonishment crossed his face.

She made a choking sound that was a cross between a laugh and a gasp. "Reggie?"

"Yes, your boyfriend."

"He's not my- you know what, just come in, don't want you to freeze your arse out there."

Sirius grinned as she ushered him in, and she raised an eyebrow in question. "This is the first time you've willingly let me into your house."

"Hmm, I wonder why."

"Me too," Sirius flopped onto her couch ungracefully. "You should've done this earlier. Look, even the Sun's coming out because I'm here!"

Surely enough, there were sunrays peeking out from behind the grey winter clouds.

"Probably to incinerate us all because you arrived."

"One could even say that... he turned hot to impress me?"

"Oh, spare me," she rolled her eyes. "Do you want something to eat?"

"Yeah, biscuits. They were so good the last time..." his voice faltered as he remembered.

"The time you broke into my house and ate nearly all my food?"

He had the balls to nod, no stutter or shame on his face. "Yes."

She rolled her eyes and flicked her wrist, and the biscuit tin appeared on the table. She made a mental note to ask Reg for some more because she was running low.

When she snapped out of her grocery reverie, she noticed Sirius gaping at her.

"What?"

"You can do wandless magic?"

Shit. She forgot it was supposed to be a secret. "You will not tell anybody about this."

He stared at her for a long, hard moment, and then nodded.

"Really, Sirius." The worst-case scenarios were popping into her mind, all of which were starting with Sirius telling someone and ending with either her or Regulus dead. "Do not tell anybody about it."