origami. . . REGULUS BLACK

eight.

CHAPTER EIGHT
The Ball
February 16th, 1979.

Mallory was completely nervous at the thought of seeing Regulus Black again. They had not seen each other nor talked since the dinner and now they had been summoned by Moody. Her coat hugged her body as her heels echoed through the quiet street. After the dinner, Mallory had decided to be more sophisticated, more pure-blood in a way. After selling herself as a perfect and chic pure-blood, she couldn't be seen as herself outside anymore.

Pushing the door to a random room that Moody had rented in the Leaky Cauldron, she shrieked at the sight of Regulus. Urgently, she checked her watch to see if she was late or not but to her surprise, she was five minutes early.

"He's not here yet," he notified her as she sat down. "I arrived five minutes ago."

"Oh."

She made a mental note to arrive at least ten minutes early to meetings now. Mallory hated being the second person to step in the room, she hated the looks and having to talk.

"You look—" Regulus paused, cocking his head to the side. "Different," he concluded as she rolled her eyes.

"I'm not different, Black. I just have to blend better in the pure-blood community after the dinner."

He smiled softly, or at least she thought it was a smile, "My mother did really enjoy your presence."

"I noticed."

"Mallory..." he started but was cut off by the door flying open, he sat down rapidly and Mallory hadn't realised he had tried to approach her. "Moody."

"Black," the man greeted, then turned his head towards Mallory. "Abbott."

As usual, she offered him a cocky and toothy smile, "Hi," she breathed out, somehow relieved to see a familiar face with whom she got along. "Nice haircut."

Moody grunted, waving a careless hand, "How was the dinner, mmh?"

"Brilliant," Mallory said. "She likes me."

"Ah, that's good, that's good. Black?"

Regulus cleared his throat, "I have to take Mallory to a ball tomorrow night. It's at the Malfoy manor."

"Perfect. All is well," he said, glancing at Mallory. "Good job, Abbott. Now I'll leave you two and we'll see each other in a week, is that right?" They both hummed as they watched him go away.

Mallory and Regulus were now alone and had no idea how to overcome the awkward atmosphere that had settled in. Mallory was looking out of the window, trying her best to not look at him–even though every inch of her was dying to just face him. Regulus, on his side, laid eyes on her the entire time. He watched how her eyes fluttered very slowly, how she licked her lips here and there and how her leg bounced up and down.

"I have to admit something," he started, breaking the silence. "I didn't tell everything I knew to Alastor Moody."

Mallory frowned, "Why?"

Regulus offered a soft shrug, kissing his top teeth, "I do not particularly trust him," he admitted, leaning closer to her and Mallory swore she could feel his breath on her arm. "But I trust you so I will reveal to you what I hid from your mentor."

"Sod off, Black," she muttered with a roll of eyes. "If you trust me so why do yo–"

He cut her off, running a hand through his hair, "The Dark Lord requested my house elf, Kreacher. He didn't tell me why."

"What do you mean?"

Regulus ran a hand through his hair again, "He—we were at a meeting and he was required to use a house-elf, I volunteered."