As the Stars align ( Regulus Black )

Thirty-One: Act

I walked through the halls of Hogwarts with no one by my side. I was surrounded by people yet none of them took any notice of me. I suppose that I am not worth noting if I don't have any of my friends with me. Ir maybe all the commotion had simply died down. They were focused on someone else now, which I was more then thankful for.

I clutched my bag tightly as I maneuvered through the masses of students, wanting to get from one point to the next. I had a free period now, so I had no rush to get to another point, but the fact that so many people were around me made me walk fast.

I had almost reached the courtyard, just outside of the clocktower, where I wanted to read a bit.

A loud crashing ripped me out of my focus. I looked back while still walking. The error of that dawned me when I ran into someone. I was about to fall on my ass when that someone grabbed my waist. I grabbed at anything that I could get ahold of to steady myself, which so happened to be that someones collar.

Regulus stared at me with an intensity that made a shiver run down my spine.

"Hello Red" Regulus greeted. I ripped myself out of the trance when I realised that he was still holing me and that I was still holding him. I pushed away from him and took a few steps back. "Still not talking to me?"

"Why would I?" I asked him as I straightened my posture "You obviously think very little of me"

"Sometimes I think so highly of you that it scares me" Regulus answered way too quickly for my liking. I had a feeling that he had gone through every answer I could give him and had thought of the very perfect thing to reply.

"Your words tell me one thing but your actions tell another story" I scoffed.

"I know it was a stupid thing to say" he admitted "And I apologised for it" he looked at his feet and then back at me, like a puppy sitting in the rain "At least I didn't call you Mudblood again"

The very little urge to forgive him that I felt vanished in a matter of seconds. I pulled my mouth into a straight line and glared at the Slytherin.

"I have better things to do" I told him and whipped around. I could only walk a few steps before I froze. The huge doors to the courtyard had opened and a perfectly dressed woman stepped inside. She was in her early fourties' and had grey hairs streaking through her otherwise so Red mane. I recognised her immediately.

I turned back to Regulus with panic in my eyes. I took his arm and pulled him around the closest corner.

"I need your help" I peeked my head around the corner and saw that the woman was talking to some students. When I looked back Regulus had an equally smug and confused look on his face.

"Oh now you want my help?" He raised his eyebrows "seconds ago you didn't even want my apologies"

"Fucking hell, Reg. I forgive you okay?" my heart was pumping "Just help me"

Regulus looked like he realised that this was not the situation to tease or play with me. He looked very serious all of sudden. He nodded his head while I peaked around the corner once more.

"What do you need?" He asked with an eerily calm voice. It was the kind of voice that made me feeling like I could ask him to kill someone and he would do it without hesitation.

"I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend for a bit" I spoke way to quickly.

"What?" Regulus asked

"I need you to pre-" he cut me off

"I heard what you said, red" he scoffed "I just don't understand why you would need me to do that"

"It's a long story"