What's In a Name? | Regulus Black | Marauders Era

10

"Burke!" Regulus was striding after Malia as she walked through the hallways, her Charms textbook open in her hands. She didn't look up from what she was reading as the boy fell into step beside her, "Going to Charms? Brilliant, me too." she could hear the cheerfulness in his voice (which she wasn't exactly used to) and hummed softly in agreement so he didn't accuse her of ignoring him, which she really wanted to do. "We have a test today. I haven't studied, this topic is easy enough, don't you think?" when he didn't get an answer he sidled closer to her, "Have you revised, Malia?"

"No, I'm reading about the Knitting Charm for my own personal enjoyment." she muttered sarcastically, her electric blue eyes leaving the page for the shortest of seconds to meet Regulus' as he shrugged.

"Maybe Thrifter finally rubbed off on you." he defended himself good-naturedly and Malia breathed a laugh,

"If Juno rubbed off on me I'd be top of the class without having to try."

"You are." Regulus said and Malia frowned ever so slightly before turning to look at him, "Apart from me of course."

"Of course." she muttered, observing Regulus' face and trying to ignore the sound of her own name every time she accidentally looked into his eyes - this was annoyingly often because that particular shade of ice blue was very entrancing.

"I'm surprised Calippo isn't as smart as you, all things considered." Regulus continued and Malia felt her eyes narrow,

"Watch what you say about Dia, Black." she said, eyes going back to her book as Regulus began to shake his head,

"I didn't mean anything by it, Calippo just seems to take a while to understand things. In theory based lessons anyway, she excells in Care or Magical Creatures and Herbology, doesn't she?"

"And Divination." Malia mumbled and she heard Regulus click his fingers,

"Yes, I thought I was missing one."

"I wasn't aware you payed that much attention to Dia's capabilities in lessons." Malia realised she kept reading the same line in her textbook and closed it, her gaze still focused ahead of her though it shifted to Regulus' dark hair and perfect bone structure more than she would have liked.

"I don't especially." Regulus shrugged, a hint of a smirk on his face, "I suppose it's because she's always beside you." he nudged her side with his hip and she rolled her eyes with a smile,

"Aren't I a lucky girl?"

"Exceedingly." he nodded, his tongue running across his top teeth as he observed her, his eyes sneakily moving up and down her body. That morning, when she had rolled up her skirt more than usual, applied slightly more makeup, curled her hair and spritzed herself with a generous amount of her honeysuckle perfume, she had told herself it was simply because she had woken up earlier enough to do so, not because she wanted to torture Regulus Black. The pair of them finally reached the Charms classroom, the last to arrive. Everyone looked at them as they sauntered in, Malia's eyes ahead and a smirk on her lips as Regulus continued to stare at her, his bottom lip caged between his teeth.

"Just in time." Flitwick piped up from the front, "Miss Burke, Mr Black, please take your seats so we can begin with today's test."

<><><>

Bailey was still feeling guilty. Sirius had long since forgiven her for her rogue comment about Regulus but she didn't seem to believe him when he told her so. As she and her three friends sat with the Maruaders in the Gryffindor Common Room, she was quiet...well, quieter than usual. She tended to appreciate the banter and quick wit of her other friends but she wouldn't join in, that day, she didn't say anything at all. They had a particular seating arrangement when they were all together. Dia, Malia, Sirius and James sat on the sofa (in that order), Peter sat on a chair dragged over from the nearest table, Remus sat in the armchair with Juno on one of the arms and Bailey sat on the floor, leaning against Malia's legs with someone usually playing with her hair. Bailey liked where she sat, she could see everyone and was close enough without feeling overwhelmed by all of the people. It was also easy for her to leave the room if she needed any air. Her friends knew of her anxiety and one of them would usually come out after her to sit with her as she calmed down. It didn't happen much but too much noise tended to scare her a little bit. And noise wasn't hard come by when it came to the Marauders and Dia Calippo.

"You okay, Bails?" Remus nudged her gently with his foot, bringing her out of her thoughts, "You haven't said much today." everyone was looking at her and her cheeks went pink as she peeked a look at Sirius,

"Yeah, I'm okay." she said quietly and she saw Sirius frown,

"Bailey," he leant forward and she kept her eyes downward, biting her lip and playing with her hands, "Do you still think I'm angry at you?" he asked softly and Bailey hesitated before she nodded her head, her brown eyes flicking up to meet Sirius' grey ones. Sirius sighed softly and grabbed her hand, pulling her up and dragging her towards the boys dormitories. As soon as they disappeared James let out a low whistle,

"Lucky Bailey." he smirked and the others laughed, Dia and Malia sharing a look as they imagined the shocked look on Bailey's face when she realised she was in Sirius' bedroom.

"He's made his way through the whole group at this point." Remus grinned, his hands tapping a rhythm on Juno's legs that were stretched across him. "Girls wise anyway."

"Not Mali." James pointed out but Malia looked away, her hand going to her hair as Dia stifled a laugh. "What!?" James leant forward and stared at her as Dia giggled behind her hand. "When?!"

"Last year." Malia turned back to him and bit her cheek to stop herself laughing at the shock on his face. "At that party, we were drunk and ended up...well, you know what we ended up doing."

"Fuck off!" Remus laughed from his chair and James' mouth stayed open,

"I thought that only happened with me." he said quietly and Dia's laughter deepened, tears leaking out the corner of her eyes as Juno turned away to hide his amusement. "That was last year as well." James continued and Malia shrugged,

"Looks like I have a habit of drunkenly sleeping with my boy mates."

"Apparently." Remus said under his breath and James' head whipped over to him so fast his glasses flew off,

"You too?!" he screeched and Dia fell off the sofa because she was laughing so hard,

"She- she's worse than me!" she squeaked through her hysterics and Malia smirked at Remus as he ran a hand through his hair,

"Guess when." he muttered and James covered his face with his hands,

"Last fucking year."

"Who was the best?" Juno asked with a cheeky grin and Dia sounded like she was dying as she slammed her hand against the floor. Malia smirked, putting a finger to her chin in thought.

"Honestly," she began and Remus and James leant forward in anticipation, James sneaking glances at Remus through narrowed eyes, "Including foreplay or-"

"I CAN'T BREATHE!" Dia rolled around on the floor and Juno giggled softly into his hand and the two other boys stared intently at Malia,

"Remus."

"FUCK OFF!"

"YES!"

"I'M GONNA PEE!"

i like dis.