I sat with Moony as he finished To Kill a Mockingbird. I had my feet in his lap while he finished the last few pages.
"Are you going to bring it up?" He asked. I looked at him confused while he continued to read. I watched his eyes dart across the page. When he finished, he closed the book and looked back at me.
"Oh don't play dumb Vix." He raised his eyebrows with a smile. I shook my head.
"I really wish I was playing."
"You want to talk about what happened last night. You brought your book, you haven't read. Your feet are in my lap but they haven't stopped kicking. You keep biting that little corner of your lip, do I need to go on?"
"Alright, yeah. I guess I do. Why is James being such a prick?"
"To be devil's advocate for a moment, you did fully disappear from the party while you were with him and turn up being carried by Regulus Black."
"He left me first!" I defended myself. Moony laughed lowly.
"Dude, I'm with you. He shouldn't have punched Black, but I also know he's been freaking out over your friendship with him this whole time. Ever since Rosier and Crouch said whatever about you turning into a Black he's been worried they're scheming against us." I huffed. "You can't say you haven't thought about it Vix."
"I have, and then I spent time with Regulus and I realized that maybe he's not as bad as we try to make him out to be. I mean he's just like Sirius, but his humor is drier and he doesn't smile as much." Moony smiled at me.
"You're going to do whatever you want, it's who you are. I'm with you no matter what. James is going to do whatever he wants, it's who he is. You two were raised awfully headstrong." I laughed as I kicked at his arm. He pinned my legs down and laughed. A beat of silence went by before I spoke again.
"I'm not gonna leave you guys behind because I'm branching outside of the group." He nodded.
"I know."
"Nothing changes."
"Nothing ever changes when it comes to us."
🗡️🗡️🗡️
I laid on the floor of the astronomy tower, my bag behind my head and the Count of Monte Cristo open above my head. I wasn't even halfway through the book by the time Regulus walked in. He said nothing, he just lifted my head, moved my bag and laid it back down in his lap. He then kissed my forehead and opened a book of his own. I smiled up at him. He grinned down at me.
We laid like that for a while, just the two of us reading with no words. Every so often he'd scratch my head or we'd readjust and get comfortable. Over halfway through I closed my book and gazed up at him. He finished his chapter and looked down at me.
"How's your eye?" I asked, he chuckled lowly.
"Doesn't hurt too bad." He replied, I smiled. The outer-corner was a deep reddish purple. Under his eye was puffy, but not as dark.
"I'm sorry my brother rocked your shit." I said with a little smile I tried to hold back. He glared down at me.
"Firstly, your brother did not rock my shit. He caught me off guard and somehow pushed me down a flight of stairs. He didn't even hit me that hard, it felt like a smack, but his elbow went into my eye when we fell." I laughed as he explained it all to me. He finally cracked a smile.
"Well then I'm sorry my brother accidentally elbowed you in the eye." I joked, he shook his head.
"I'd let him do it again if it meant I got to sit with you like this forever." He kissed my head again. I reached up and pulled him back down to me by the back of his neck.
