the archer, regulus black

24- together

irl!

"AGAIN," REGULUS SAID.

"you're awfully bossy for someone in your position." gracie eyed him but complied.

"again, please," he smiled as the album came back on.

gracie had been listening to a the beetles album when regulus joined her in the library. it had become a daily thing: gracie would look up to regulus dropping all of his things on the table. then they would study. sometimes they talked, sometimes not. 

today, he asked her about the music she was listening to and accepted an offered earbud to join. he clearly liked the album.

"i like the little bells in 'in my life,'" regulus declared. 

"me too," gracie nodded, "now please be quiet so i can finish this assignment."

"who's bossy now?" he mumbled, going back to his own work.

they'd been friendly for nearly two weeks now, and it shocked all of their friends. barty and evan even went to the point of spying on them to make sure that they weren't lying. they returned to their common room both shocked and please and informed pandora that the idea of traveling together for the holidays was very much possible. 

"are you coming to the slytherin party tomorrow?" regulus asked later.

"evan and barty are making me go, but i only agreed to stay for a little bit."

he nodded, "that's good."

"good?" gracie stared at him. "that i'll only be there for a bit? did you ask to make sure i wasn't going?"

"no, no!" regulus' eyes widened, "it's good that you're coming! i meant it's good that they got you to come."

"oh," gracie relaxed in her chair and tilted, "why do you want me to go?"

the slytherin stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. because i want to spend time with you, he thought. 

"you know, we're working on being friendly for everyone so i'm just- yeah." he sputtered.

"being friendly doesn't mean going to parties together. we just need to tolerate each other. do you mean you want to be friends again?"

regulus stared again before nodding, "yeah."

"okay."

---

he was walking her back to her dorm again when gracie paused.

"what?" he asked.

"there's this cat," she started, "a black one that always comes to my dorm, around this time usually. i don't see him though."

regulus shifted on his feet, "maybe he's with his owner now, or maybe he already got into your room."

"perhaps," she nodded, "okay that makes sense, let's continue."

they continued the rest of the way in silence before gracie offered a smile and entered her common room. 

regulus quickly found an empty alcove to transform into his animagus form and return to the common room so the next ravenclaw could let him in. a first year came after a few minutes and didn't even notice the cat slip in between his legs. 

he quickly climbed the stairs of the girls dormitory and clawed on the familiar door. gracie opened it immediately, smiling when she saw him.

"hello, milo," she leaned down to pick him up, "i was looking for you earlier."

➵➵➵

c speaks!

okay this is short but a little update is better than no update

the senioritis is hitting so hard i don't want to do anything at all

:))