You Only Live Once

CHAPTER 17

About an hour later, the heavy atmosphere of the party shifted again. A house-elf appeared at Theo's side, and after a brief exchange, it was clear that his parents requested his presence. They had business to discuss—the kind of dark, adult business that involved hushed tones and "colleagues" who didn't smile with their eyes. Before he left the sanctuary of the garden, Theo leaned down, his breath warm against Mira's ear. He whispered a hurried "I can't come back to you" before he was pulled away into the house. He was gone before she could even process the words, let alone find a way to reply.

Left alone in the biting December cold, the magic of their dance and their shared secrets began to fade. Mira pulled her knees to her chest, the fabric of her dress bunching up around her heels. She sat there on the damp grass, looking miserably at the blades of green illuminated by the light spilling from the windows. She felt small and incredibly out of place.

"You could come back inside, you know"

Regulus's voice cut through the silence. He was standing by the stone steps, looking down at her with a familiar sense of annoyance etched onto his face. He looked every bit the perfect Black heir in his formal robes, but his eyes were restless.

"Really? I didn't know. Thank you, Reg, for this life-changing information" she replied. She didn't look up, instead feigning deep admiration for his intellect by nodding mockingly at the grass.

"For being such a little shit, I'm going to keep you some company" he announced. He didn't wait for an invitation. He crossed the small patch of lawn and took the seat Theo had occupied just moments before, dropping onto the grass beside her.

Mira just shook her head and returned to her silent vigil, watching the frost begin to form on the garden statues. Ever since their trip to Hogsmeade earlier in the term, Mira and Regulus had been unable to stop bickering. It had become their primary mode of communication. If they were in a room together, the air was almost always filled with sharp retorts and biting sarcasm. It had reached a point where Pandora had started calling them the "sassy monsters," and she would usually leave the room the moment either of them uttered a word to the other—even if it was something as mundane as asking to pass the salt.

Mira had only ever known comfortable silence with a few people in her life, and Regulus Black certainly wasn't one of them. Silence with him usually felt like the calm before a storm. So, when he just sat there next to her, staring out into the dark garden without saying a word, she couldn't help but wonder if Christmas miracles actually existed. The quiet stretched on for several minutes, unusual and heavy. When she finally turned her head to see what had actually managed to shut him up, she found him already looking at her. His expression was uncharacteristically sad, though he quickly masked it with a neutral look when he noticed her raised eyebrows.

"I'm just thinking of the best way to tell you" he explained with a casual shrug. He turned his attention back to the night sky, his jaw tight.

"Tell me what?" Mira questioned. Her curiosity was piqued, and the sudden shift in his energy made her nervous. Seeing as he was stubbornly refusing to look at her or answer, Mira shifted her position. She grabbed the silk of her dress, moving her knees so she was sitting directly in front of him, forcing him to acknowledge her. "Tell me what, Reg?"

He looked at her then, a long, weary sigh escaping him.

"You know he's engaged, right? He'll get married the moment he's out of school. You're wasting your time"

The words were blunt, intended to sting, but Mira didn't flinch. She already knew about the engagement. In fact, she found the arrangement convenient in a twisted sort of way. It meant there was an expiration date. There would be no future expectations, no messy long-term promises, and no pressure to fit into a world she didn't belong in. What she didn't understand was why Regulus seemed so personally offended by it. He sounded bitter, as if her choices were a personal slight against him.