Regulus Black x reader (NOT SO ENEMIES)

Chapter 14: Christmas (part three)

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It was finally the day of Narcissia and Lucius's engagement party. Y/n was so excited to see Ellie and Cayden. She wanted to get to know them even more.
"Reg, aren't you so excited!." Y/n asked.
Regulus was laying on her bed, just staring at the ceiling.
"Not really. Don't expect Sissy or Lucius to act the same as they did the last time you saw them," he said. "They're going to be under watch all night. They can't slip up. Actually, we all will be under watch,"
Y/n let out an oh when she realized. She flopped on the bed and threw her legs over his.
"What do you think about dragons?" Y/n asked.
"What?" He laughed. "That's so random,"
"I know, but seriously, what do you think about them?"
"I don't know, they're cool I guess. Kind of terrifying, but cool,"
"I wish I could touch a dragon," y/n sighed.
"Sometimes, I don't understand your thought process,"
Miranda, the maid, came up and knocked on the door.
"Mr. Black, Ms. Potter, your presence is needed in the foyer in an hour," Miranda said. "Mr. Black, I understand you have your suit ready, Ms. Potter, your dress is in the closet. Your guests are coming up now,"
She bowed and walked away.
"I just remembered that Ellie and Cayden think we're dating," y/n sighed,
"So you're my girlfriend for the night?" Regulus asked.
A second later, Ellie and Cayden walked in.
"There they are!" Ellie ran up and gave y/n a hug.
Cayden and Regulus greeted each other and Ellie shooed them out of the room.
"Girls only," Ellie closed the door on the boys.
Regulus and Cayden went to Regulus's room to get ready. Regulus hadn't been in his room the whole break. He had only slept in y/n's room.
"So how was your break?" Cayden asked as they started getting ready.
"Uh, pretty good, it was just y/n and I most of the time," Regulus admitted.
"That must've been fun," Cayden gave him a knowing look.
"Dude," Regulus paused. "We're not really dating. It was just too awkward to explain that we're just friends at the Three Broomsticks,"
"Yeah, we know," Cayden laughed. "But we're trying to help y'all. You obviously like each other. We're just speeding up the process,"
"I-I don't like her..." Regulus denied.
"Yeah right," he scoffed. "Where'd you get that suit?"
Regulus was wearing the suit that y/n had gotten him for Christmas.
"Y/n," he said before realizing. "Oh, shut up,"
They finished getting ready, bickering about who was right. Obviously, Cayden was right, but Regulus didn't want to admit it until he knew how y/n felt. They went down into the foyer and waited for the girls to come down to go into the ballroom.
Y/n looked at herself in the mirror one last time.
"Are you sure I don't look stupid. Because I feel stupid," Y/n said.
Her dress was a sleeveless dark green dress that pooled on the floor slightly. She was given long, lace, black gloves that covered the majority of her arms.
"Don't worry, you look stunning," she smiled.
Her outfit was a long sleeve black jumpsuit that looked slightly like a dress from afar. There were tons of small lace details all over the jumpsuit.
"I'm worried they're going to stare," she worried.
Ellie grabbed her shoulders and smiled at her.
"Let them stare," she said. "Now let's go,"
They walked down the staircase and y/n smiled when she saw that Regulus was wearing the suit she gave him. He held out his arm and she took it and they started walking towards the ballroom, Ellie and Cayden trailing behind.
They entered the ballroom and y/n was overwhelmed by all of the people there. Y/n tried to hide her awe as she looked around at the magnificent decorations. She could feel Regulus tense up at all of the people he knew there.
Y/n looked over and saw his face was grim. As they walked around the room, Regulus introducing her to the guests, y/n felt herself paint a fake persona around herself. She was hiding her personality. This was how Regulus felt his whole life and y/n sadly realized that.
She observed his actions, how he let out a breath after leaving each person he talked to. His grip on her arm had been loose and carefree at the beginning but he had tensed up so much that they were locked together. Not that y/n minded.
"Do you mind if we take a walk in the garden, Regulus?" Y/n asked, using his full name to interrupt an extremely dry conversation between Regulus and some random pureblood.
"Ah, he's, this must be boring talk for a woman to listen to," the man looked at her as if she were dumb before turning to Regulus. "Take your girlfriend outside,"
Y/n wanted to explode at the man and rip his organs out but she just smiled politely and tugged on Regulus's suit. He led her outside and they walked out into the cold gardens to escape the watchful eyes of the guests. Y/n kept the silence between them, letting Regulus regain himself.
"Thank you," he mumbled, still sounding sour.
"What's wrong?" Y/n asked, worried that she had missed something.
"I was supposed to be saving you from the boredom of tonight, not the other way around," he grumbled.
Y/n stifled a laugh. He was mad that he wasn't the heroic one that day.
"Want me to go back in there and have you come in and save me?" She joked.
"No way, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Well maybe some people," he sat down on a bench. "You're a natural in there. How did you know just what to say to everyone?"
"I'm very good at talking to insufferable people I don't like," Y/n sat down next to him.
"Well, I hope you're not referring to me," he huffed, jokingly.
"You were the exact person I had in mind," y/n wrapped her arms around his own arm.
Regulus hesitantly leaned into the touch. Y/n wanted to ask what he was thinking about but she knew she would get some bullshit answer.
"You look beautiful tonight," Regulus told her.
"So do you, Reg," she told her best friend.
They sat like that for a minute, a strange aura clouding the air. Y/n wondered if this is what they would always have to do. Hide how they were, how they felt, about muggles. About each other.
His parents accepted her as Regulus's friend, but would they accept them together? Or would Regulus be disowned from the Black family for liking a Gryffindor like her. Did he even like her?
"You're overthinking again," Regulus poked the side of her head.
"How'd you know?" Y/n asked nervously.
"You're playing with your hands," he pointed out.
Y/n looked down, having not noticed that she was doing that.
"Oh," she said. "Do I always do that?"
She didn't expect Regulus to answer. Having asked it as more of a rhetorical question.
"Yeah, among other things," he smiled.
Y/n was touched that he noticed. He had never said anything about it before. She wondered if he paid attention to anything else. Like how she always looked at him during class or how she only smiled around him. How she had loved their prank wars, using it as an excuse to keep his attention on her.
"There it is again," he laughed, grabbing her hands. "What are you even thinking about right now?"
He stared into her eyes, awaiting an answer. He saw her brain process what she wanted to say. What she wanted him to know.
"I used to read to escape my life," she admitted, changing the subject.
"What do you mean? Why did you need an escape?" She knew his voice wasn't meant to be rude or condescending but it felt that way to her.
"I'm not a Potter," she looked at him, dead in the eyes.
"Y/n, what are you talking about," he half laughed, expecting her to break out a smile and say she was joking.
When he didn't get an answer, he got worried.
"Y/n, what do you mean?" His voice was exasperated.
Y/n looked him in the eyes. She trusted him.
"They don't know I know, my parents, I mean. I found out right before first year," y/n said. "When I received my letter to Hogwarts,"
Regulus waited for her to continue and watched as she sighed, keeping herself composed.
"My letter said it was intended for y/n Rowle. I was so confused but my parents just took the letter and said it was a mistake and sent a letter to Professor Dumbledore to inform him that I was in fact, a Potter," she said. "They tried to deny that it ever happened, shutting me out more than normal,"
"That summer, they spent more of their time with James, barely paying me mind. They figured that I was okay as long as I had my books," she continued. "So I used that as my escape. I read and read all summer. I continued that when I got to Hogwarts, engrossing myself with books. I was trying to find any information on the Rowle family that I could,"
Regulus watched as she played with his hands, instead of her own, and spoke her story.
"I didn't want to believe it. No book had any memory of the Rowle family. I even asked Dumbledore about it and he shut me out. But in a book I found in the restricted section, there was a source dating many years back of a Damocles Rowle. I looked at his picture in the book and he looked just like me,"
"It makes sense, now that I think about it. I was always loved at home and in no way did they neglect me. But I didn't fit in," she finished her story. "I wasn't their child. Which is why it hurt even more when they accepted Sirius so quickly. I spent my whole life trying to prove to them that I was a good kid. Their kid. And they never fully understood me,"
"Y/n," Regulus said, a comforting tone.
"But they accepted him. James accepted him as a brother faster than he accepted me as a sister. I think he knows," y/n looked at him. "Did you know he hated me for the first seven years of my life? Full circle, huh, now he hates me again,"
"Y/n, I'm so sorry," he hugged her. "You don't deserve any of that,"
"You're the first person I've ever told," y/n hugged him back.
"Do your parents know?"
Y/n shook her head and took a deep breath.
"Should we head back in?" She asked.
"Nah, let's walk around for a little bit more,"
Regulus stood off and offered y/n his hand. She took it with a small smile and they started walking around the garden.
"Have you ever found any family?" Regulus asked, hesitantly.
"Yeah, there's a family in Sweden. They have twin boys who go to Drumstrang," she said. "From what I can tell, they're my brothers,"
"Do you want to meet them?"
"I mean, maybe? I don't know," she shrugged. "I like where I am right now,"
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"I like the people I'm around. I wish things were better between me and James. But I'm happy," she kept her face straight forward. "You make me happy,"
Regulus was taken aback by her statement. He grabbed her hand and linked their fingers together. Was this a good time for him to pop the question? Yes. Did he do it? No. Instead, they continued their walk around the garden.
Regulus had walked these gardens a hundred times before. But every time y/n pointed out something she liked, it felt like it was his first time seeing it. She helped him see everything in a new light.
"Oh! Look at that owl!" Y/n pointed out.
"Y/n, we see owls all the time," Regulus laughed.
"Yeah, but never in their natural habitat,"
"I don't think my garden is an owls natural habitat,"
"I want a garden when I grow up," y/n said. "A big garden, like this one, but with cherry trees. I like cherry trees. Oh, and lots on peonies,"
"I didn't know you were a plant person,"
"I'm not," she laughed. "I've killed a plant in like a span of a week of getting it. I need someone to help me keep them alive,"
"I'm pretty good at taking care of plants," Regulus said.
"We could be plant parents!" Y/n grinned. "Let's get a plant!"
"It'll have to be something small that we can keep in one of our dorm rooms,"
"We'll find the perfect plant,"
"I just realized that we completely ditched Ellie and Cayden," Regulus said.
"They're probably off snogging somewhere," y/n laughed.
"Regulus, Y/n, I've been looking for you," Orion said. "There are some people I want you to meet,"
The pair walked with Orion back up to the ball room and y/n's former chilled body was overwhelmed with the heat of all of the bodies in the room. Y/n and Regulus were introduced to many more people that night but y/n could tell that Regulus's former tenseness was gone.
That night, when they got back to y/n's room after a long night, they fell asleep happily in each other's arms.
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