Spare. REGULUS BLACK

chapter six

chapter six, the pain of the rain

" that night you were talkin', false prophets and profits. "
us. - gracie abrams ft. taylor swift

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The first half of the week went by in a blur of annoying Potions classes spent with Barty, Herbology lessons spent sitting between Pandora and Gerry who got along fantastically, Ancient Runes with Alys, and Divination with Xenophilous. At lunch she sat with Regulus in mostly silence, and at nights she curled into her bed with her romance novels and dreamed of having the love she read about inked into the books pages.

Thursday was a very busy day for the Breton girl. A prove-what-you-remember test in Muggle Studies ( which Veronika thought was just about the most useless class to ever exist ), Quidditch tryouts at four, the Prefect meeting at seven, she needed to write back to her mother, and her essay on the benefits of Wolfsbane was due the following day and she'd be lying if she said she had started writing it. To put it shortly, Veronika had woken up going a million miles a minute at five that morning and wasn't going to get slow down anytime soon.

She had showered, blown out her hair ( !!! ), painted her face with her creams and powders, dressed in her robes, spritzed her perfume on her wrists and neck, and had managed to skirt by with enough time to grab a muffin and tea for breakfast. Alys and Gerry, too, were up that morning which was a nice reprieve. Veronika hadn't gotten to hang out with her friends all week, not since the night she'd given them the details about her betrothal. She had missed her comrades.

"I hate the idea of pushing curfew back," Gerry was saying that morning, around a mouthful of porridge.

"I don't," Alys said, a little snarky for it hardly being eight AM.

Gerry sighed deeply, dropping her spoon with a clank against her bowl. "It's getting so bad out there. I just want everyone safe."

Veronika nodded, though she tended to agree more with Alys on the matter. Hogwarts was always busy, even at nine o'clock at night, and having the students' curfew be nine - well, Veronika saw herself sending loads of students to detention for it. Besides, Veronika felt a bit like everyone was being dramatic about the state of the wizarding world. Sure, the Dark Lord was no knight in shining armor, but it's not like he was going to burst into Hogwarts and kill everyone inside. He dealt with those who stood in his way. Veronika didn't think that murder was the best way to go about it, but she could kind of see where he was coming from.

"Stupid Black," Gerry grumped.

Veronika arched a brow and a small smile appeared on her face. "He's not that bad."

Gerry hummed in response, making a show taking a sip of tea and swallowing before changing the subject. "It's about time we all get going, then. McGongall won't be too happy with me if I'm late."

"You say that like you've been late before," Alys said with a quizzical look towards the blonde girl. "Ger, hun, I think you'd fall out and die if you were late for class."

"Not all of us can be as laid back as you are Alys," Veronika mused, standing from her seat and stepping out into the pathway between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables

"I think it's - oh look."

Veronika looked. Waltzing - and she did mean waltzing - into the Great Hall was none other than Regulus Black, trailed by none other than the Rosier twins. Much to Veronika's pleasure the little Crouch boy was no where to be seen. If the poor girl had to see him outside of her Potions period, and so early in the morning, she thought she might cry. It wasn't that Barty was a bad guy, he was just a little more on the obnoxious side than not. He talked her ear off the entirety of Potions, earning the two of them multiple disapproving looks from Slughorn.