RISE OF THE FALL | R.B.

XXII.

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter World belongs to J.K. Rowling.

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CHAPTER XXII.

Reia magically curled her brown hair into pretty waves and pinned up a strand with a bobby pin to keep her hair out of her face.

She wrapped her Slytherin scarf around her neck.

She had chosen to not wear her uniform today, on her date with Regulus Black.

She had instead chosen to wear a black dress which reached just below her knees, and the only uniform item she'd chosen to wear was her scarf.

The only makeup she'd chosen to put on was a pale pink lipstick, and she'd put her hair in a half-up-half-down style, which she quite liked.

"You look great, Rei," Josie reassured her, "You don't need to keep on staring at yourself in the mirror like you're having a dramatic internal monologue."

"I'm just making sure everything's...good," Reia muttered, finally turning away from the mirror and pulling her bag over her shoulder, "I look okay, don't I?"

"Why do you care so much about your appearance all of a sudden, anyway?" Narcissa asked, sitting up from where she was laying on her bed.

"Well, I know I'm not ugly," Reia said, furrowing her brows, "But I'm not naturally gorgeous like you, Cissy."

And it was true—Reia doubted that anybody was as naturally beautiful as Narcissa Black, with her white-blonde hair, fair skin, blue eyes and beautiful facial features.

"That's true," Josie agreed, "But Reia, you look beautiful too—you don't need to worry about it. Regulus has literally already seen you through sickness and through health, and you two aren't even married yet."

Reia froze, "Married?"

"Yeah, we all know—,"

"It's not the point," Narcissa interrupted Josie, before smiling at Reia and saying, "It's okay, Rei. Don't worry about it. When and where is he meeting you, again?"

"In the Common Room, in about ten minutes," Reia said nervously, "You think it'll be okay?"

"I can't believe you've never been on a date before," Josie said, "You'd think that Reia Hope Lupin—the popular Slytherin girl—would've already gone on a date by the time of her Seventh Year."

"It's not like Reia hasn't been asked," Narcissa said with a light laugh, "Remember the time when McLaggen tried asking her out and Reia told him 'no', and he continued chasing after her throughout all of our Fifth Year, until he finally got together with a Ravenclaw girl."

"Oh, don't remind me," Reia sighed, "It was terrible."

Josie shrugged, "Well, you dealt with it well."

"Yeah," Reia said sarcastically, "He got so annoying I just got tired of saying 'no'."

"I swear you and Regulus have just been waiting for each other—he's only been on one date in his entire life that I know of," Narcissa said with a smile, "And I know him pretty well, considering we're cousins and we pretty much grew up together. Anyway, the last date he went on was when he was eight, and it was the most awkward thing that I'd ever witnessed."

"You were there?" Josie frowned, "Must've been horrible for you."

"Oh, yeah, it was bad," Narcissa said with a laugh, "I mean, they never saw each other ever again after the date, but...well, now that I think back, it was also kind of cute. He invited me to watch them from a distance as they went on their 'date' in their living room—he wanted me to watch them so that he'd always know I was there. He kept on glancing back at me during their date—so much so that I think the girl he was on the date with got a bit confused as to why he kept on turning back to look at an empty white wall. I was hiding behind it, just so you know," She added.

"Aww," Reia said with a smirk, "How cute of him."

"That is kind of adorable," Josie said with a grin, "Anyway, Reia; have you ever kissed anybody?"

"I don't remember," Reia furrowed her brows, "I don't think so, though. Though I might have, when I was really small—I don't remember, I don't really know."

"Well, you better be prepared to kiss Reg," Narcissa said teasingly.

Reia rolled her eyes, "Whatever, Narcissa. I'll 'be prepared to kiss Reg' if it even happens."

There was a moment of calm silence between the three girls.

"Well," Reia said, finally shattering the silence, "I better be going now. See you both later."

***

"You're beautiful, you know that, right?" Regulus said with a grin as he took Reia's hand and led her out of the Common Room.

"I know, I know," Reia said jokingly, "You've told me before."

"I better have," Regulus said.

There was a long silence after that—and it was strangely awkward, as though neither of them knew how exactly to treat the other now that they were on a date—and weren't just going to Hogsmeade as friends with all of the others.

"I don't want you to feel uncomfortable," Reia said at last.

"I'm not," Regulus said, shaking his head, "I'm just a little unsure as to what to do."

"Then don't be," Reia said with a smile, "Just don't think about it. We can just treat each other like we always do. We can just be like we always are—we're two best friends who are on a date together."

"Romantic, isn't it?" Regulus said jokingly, smiling as he put an arm around Reia's shoulders.

"Well, it will be if we make it that way," Reia smirked at him.

Regulus laughed and said, "You do like me, don't you?"

"Like, like like?"

"You just said the word 'like' three times," Regulus said, raising his eyebrows, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Reia said loudly, "that I fancy you, and I'm asking to know if you fancy me too."

Regulus grinned and met her eyes as he said, "Oh, of course I do fancy you, Reia. Why else would I have agreed to go on a date with you? I wouldn't do it just to play with your feelings. You know me. I'm not like that."

"Of course," Reia said, a smile spreading across her lips, "I just wanted to make sure. Because, well, I like you too, Reggie."

Regulus sighed, "Do you have to call me Reggie?"

"Oh, come on," Reia said with a laugh, "It's cute!"

He just sighed again, but he was smiling as the two of them continued on their path to Hogsmeade.

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it.

Do vote and comment to let me know if you did, and if you're interested you can also check out my other stories, which you can find on my profile.

Well, thanks for reading~

Cya <3