𝔄𝔟𝔯𝔞 𝔎𝔢𝔡𝔞𝔳𝔯𝔞 ~ ᴹᴬᴿᴬᵁᴰᴱᴿˢ ᴱᴿᴬ {R.A.B.} {J.P}

[030]~ 𝒜𝓋𝑜𝒾𝒹𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝒦𝑒𝓎

"And lastly; Zirk, Felicity." Mcgonagall called out. The last young first year made her way up to the sorting hat nervously.

She sat on the stool as the hat covered her head. She looked out at the four tables, not having a group of other uncertain first years to keep her attention on. Dorcas tilted her head. "It must suck to be the last one."

Odessa absentmindedly looked over to the Gryffindor table, seeing the marauders whispering feverishly. They were most likely betting where the girl would end up.
Her attention returned to the first year on the stool. What would she be? Something about her didn't feel fitting of a Slytherin. She really wanted to say Gryffindor, but from the look on the kid's face, she didn't seem right for that either.

"Hufflepuff!" The hat yelled out to the crowd. Odessa smiled. That would work. The little girl's grin grew wide as she trotted off towards the Hufflepuff table; the table Odessa suddenly recalled she should be sitting at.

She was called out of her thoughts by a familiar warmth atop her head. She looked over to Regulus as he slid his hand gently down her hair. "Go sit with those fools if you miss them so much." He shooed her sarcastically.

She held her hands in her lap. "Sorry if I have overstayed my welcome." She apologized. Regulus looked at the girl, dumbfounded.

"You don't actually think he'd ever shoo you away, do you?" Evan asked her in disbelief, speaking the words Regulus was too shocked to spit out himself.

She shrugged, "I would not blame you if you ever did." the girl looked back over to the Hufflepuff table. "I should be getting back to them, though." She stood, preparing to leave when he caught her wrist.

She turned back to look at his pleading face. "You'll come back around later though, right?" He asked. Regulus had plenty to do, but today, right now he just wanted her company.

Odessa bit her lip. "I have a lot of things I need to get done right now." She tried to dismiss.

"Come on Reg, give the girl room to breathe." Evan joked.

Regulus rolled his eyes and kissed the top of Odessa's hand. "I'll see you later; even if I have to go searching for you myself." He joked.

Regulus had a lot of things he had to do. Odessa not showing up to school would have messed up all of those things. Despite that, she actually played very little into why he needed her there. Truthfully, he needed as much time alone as possible.

But his breath of relief when he finally saw her that morning was not solely because his plans could still go ahead. He couldn't pretend there was no truth to Pandora's taunts. He smirked as he turned his attention away from the retreating girl and back to his friends.
His plans could wait a few days; he deserved a bit of time to just relax with the girl who always kept him entertained.

With her hand still in his- the only thing keeping her from wisping away to her allocated table- he though back on how peculiarly she had been acting. Regulus quickly realized he could label his desire to spend time with Merlin's heir as something beneficial. She had not shut him out entirely, but compared to how they left off at the start of the summer; it was a huge step back. He needed some time to break down the walls she seemed to have built back up around herself. He needed to get close to her once again.
If not for him, then for the Dark Lord.

"Sure, perhaps we can-"

"With the sorting ceremony out of the way, surely we must all be eager to dig into the feast." Dumbledore began to announce. "But before we do that, there are a few more noteworthy announcements to make."

"Take a seat, Odie. This'll probably be a while." Pandora insisted.

The Hufflepuff looked back to the boy still gently grasping her wrist. Regulus shrugged with a sly smile. "Or you can keep standing there. Surely the attention's not too much." He teased.