sugar {regulus black}

eleven

Aurora didn't dare to look at Florence the next day, and the next one, and the next one. She didn't talk to her at all in one week, and when the rest of her friends asked her what had happened, she simply claimed that she was stressed because of exams. 

She felt awful, she believed she was a terrible person. She didn't even know how she managed to focus on her exams, she also didn't know how she passed any of them.

She hated Regulus for the effect he had on her, and she hated herself for her mental weakness.

She was told by Evelynn to go to Hogsmeade with her the same day Florence and Regulus had their date, but she declined. She did not want to meet them and face her demons. She preferred to stay in the astronomy tower. She spent the whole day there, hoping no one would look for her. She had met her goal, she had not come across any students that day.

What she didn't know was that Florence was waiting for her in their dorm. She seemed sad, and also a bit angry.

''Hey.'' Aurora said while entering the room, praying that Florence was so tired that she didn't want to talk - she no longer knew what excuse to make to avoid her.

''Can we talk?'' Florence said ''Come on, exams are over and you don't have to study anymore. It'll be five minutes, I swear.''

Aurora thought about it, Florence seemed like she really needed someone to talk to, and if she had waited until 2am for Aurora to arrive, she guessed she was pretty needy.

With a sigh, she nodded.

''Alright, what do you need?''

''Not here, I don't want to wake them up.'' Florence said, pointing with her head to the two girls dozing next to her ''Can we go to the common room?''

''Yeah, sure.'' they didn't say anything else. They walked down the stairs and sat on one of the couches in front of the fire ''What's wrong? You don't seem so happy, did something happen?''

''Well, um... I... I don't know where to start.''

''Is it about your date with Black?''

Florence nodded and started to play with her rings on her left hand.

''It was great, really. He took me to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop and we had a great time, he's a really good guy.''

''But...?''

Florence gathered what little courage her body could muster and looked her in the eye.

''Has something happened between you and Regulus? Something sentimental? I mean, have you ever had a romantic relationship with Regulus?'' she asked.

That stumped Aurora. What had happened on that date that made Florence think that way?

''What? No! No, of course not. How could I? I hate him, I would never be in a relationship with him.'' other than casual sex, and she had decided that was never going to happen again ''Why are you asking me that?''

''I don't know, I was just wondering.''

''Flo, honey, what happened on that date?''

''He went on and on about you all day, there was a moment when I thought maybe he was doing it to see my reaction or something, but his eyes were sparkling in a way I've never seen before and it made me wonder if at some point you two had some kind of romantic relationship and now you don't and that's why you hate him.

      »It sounds stupid, I know, but I just couldn't help thinking about it; he was talking about you as if he hadn't forgotten you. He asked me how your exams went, why you weren't going to quidditch matches, how you were doing, if you were sleeping well, and so on. And since you don't stop talking about how much you hate him either, it made me wonder if maybe you haven't forgotten him either and want to convince yourself that you no longer love him.''

Aurora got furious. How could he do something like that? She was sure he did it just to cause some sort of problem between Florence and her. They had never dated before, she was adamant that she would not date or go on dates. What happened months before was just an accident, an accident that was repeated a few times and that had tied her to him. But there weren't any feelings involved, they just got drunk on the "last party of the year" a year before, started arguing, and ended up on Regulus' bed.

Then they argued about what had happened, and between one insult and another, they ended up together again, this time in the Potions classroom. And, argument after argument, they always ended up in a different part of the castle. But that wasn't going to happen again, she told herself every time she had to get dressed again, while Regulus watched her with a smirk.

''No, Flo, I never dated Regulus Black. And I don't hate him because we're not together, I hate him because he's a jerk that thinks he's better than anyone and because he gets on my nerves every time he gets the chance. But I don't feel anything romantic towards him, nor does he. He probably just did that in order to create some sort of argument between us because he just wants to destroy me.''

Florence sighed with rellief.

''Oh, okay, yeah, that's what I thought. I... I'm sorry I thought something like that, I'm stupid.''

''No, you're not. It's his fault.'' Florence smiled and kept quiet for a minute ''So... Apart from that, the date went well?''

''Oh, yes, it went awesome.''

Florence ended up talking for two hours about her date, and even though Aurora didn't quite want to hear about it, she faked to be interested in what her friend was saying.

She let Florence's words slip from one ear to the other. She could hear her, but she wasn't listening to anything she was saying. She was only thinking of every possible way to confront Regulus about the date and how to kill him without anyone suspecting her. He had tried to create an argument between two friends, and he was going to pay dearly for it.

gracie van dien as florence rosier.