Unrequited (Regulus Black)

Chapter 12

As I exit through the door, I frantically look around in both directions until I hear footsteps from around the corner. I just barely catch a glimpse of him before he steps through a door, which I begin walking towards. To my amazement, the walls suddenly start to close around the door nearly making it disappear. I ran to it without thinking, barely getting to grab the handle before it fully disappeared. As my hand touches it, the walls start to creep back up and reveal the door in its entirety. I stand there, dumbfounded for a moment before looking around and hesitantly opening it and walking in. I close the door behind me and begin to take in the huge, echoey room in front of me which is filled with countless trinkets, turning back around when I hear the wall close around the door behind me. Yet again, I find myself wondering what I'm doing before starting to walk around. My echoing footsteps fill the room, and I start to think that maybe I was seeing wrong. It feels like I'm alone in here. I stop when I see a trophy cup which for some reason I can't look away from.

"You shouldn't be here," I feel a voice whisper in my ear as I reach out to the cup, instantly causing me to jump back. I look up to see Regulus staring at me sternly, no emotion obvious on his face.

"W-what is this place?" I stutter.

"You don't need to know that," he states, looking around.

"You know I'll just figure it out on my own."

He stares at me for a minute before sighing. "This is the room of requirement. It comes out when someone really needs it for something. I just don't understand why it opened for you."

"I needed to talk to you."

"That can't be it. It has to be something important to the person entering."

"What's so important to you?"

He stares at me again for a moment before turning to grab the cup I was looking at, ignoring the question. "You might as well tell me what you needed to."

"You know what I'm going to ask. I saw you watching me talk to Slughorn from the doorway."

"Potions is a waste of my time," he says, not making eye contact.

"I'm not stupid, Regulus," I defend.

"I know," he sighs. "Please, just leave it alone."

"I can't."

"Why not?" he turns to me for a minute, sadness evident in his expression. "You think I'm going to do something bad, don't you?"

"What? No, I wasn't thinking that I-"

"Yeah, right," he shakes his head, facing the floor. "Kaia, I... I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want you dealing with all this. I need you to stay away from me."

"Dealing with what?" I ask, shakily.

"I'm trying to protect you, alright!" he nearly shouts. "There are things that you don't understand. Things you shouldn't have to understand."

"Then make me understand! I'm not a child, Regulus."

"Must you make this so difficult?"

"Why do you care about what happens to me, anyway?"

"I don't know! I just do," he bursts out, looking up at me and breathing heavily. 

We stare at each other for a minute in silence before he looks down at his watch and nearly jumps. 

"Listen to me carefully," he grabs me by both my shoulders. "I know you're not gonna leave this alone, but you need to get out of here. Now.  It'll make more sense one day.'