Don't Tell Anyone About This | Regulus Black

Chapter Seven

"Alright, you're dismissed." Professor Mcgonagall announced to the class before adding, "Remember to have your essays completed for next week. Thank you."

Nera remained sat in her seat, not quite sure what to do with herself. Lazily, she tucked parchment away in her bag one sheet at a time. Even that was too much effort for her on that particular day.
Fate seemed to have dealt Nera an unfair hand as even the dismal rain and stormy sky was matching her foul mood.

"When I get a higher mark in this essay, we'll definitively know that I'm the smartest." Regulus quipped cheekily as he tugged his bag over his shoulder and looked over towards Nera's desk.

She didn't respond and remained staring at her blank desk.

"Oi. Stark." He clicked his fingers to gain her attention, "You in the real world today?"

Nera pushed her textbook into her bag and finally buttoned it up but still, her mind was wandering elsewhere - deep in her subconscious.

Regulus stepped towards her, frowning slightly as he waved a hand in front of her face, "Nerezza. Did you hear me? I said I was going to get a better mark than you... Are you alright?"

She blinked and suddenly blurred out, "Huh?" As she looked up at him.
"Did you hear anything I just said to you?" He asked with a sigh.

"Sorry? No. What were you saying?" Nera asked, though didn't entirely care to hear the response.

"It doesn't matter." Regulus shook his head, "What is going on with you?" Whilst the two of them didn't like each other, Regulus did greatly enjoy it when the two of them would harmlessly bicker or argue at the end of lessons, or when they'd show off about having done well in something.
It was almost disheartening that Nera was not interested in doing anything of the sort at the moment.

Finally, Nera stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder. "It's nothing."

"Oh, go on. I won't make fun. Or tell anybody, for that matter." He crossed his finger over his heart, hoping to sway the girl into revealing what was going on. Regulus wasn't really sure why he cared. Perhaps he was just bored.

"Fine." She sighed, "It's nothing interesting, so don't complain when you realise it's nothing." She warned.
Regulus smiled, "I won't."

Nera tugged a letter out of the inside pocket of her robes. "I can't go home for Christmas. My dad is travelling away for this research thing and... I've got to stay here for the holidays."

"Oh," He said, "Well that's not a big deal."
"I told you so." She reminded him.

He scoffed, "No. No, that's not what I meant. I mean staying at Hogwarts for the holidays isn't that bad. It's quite nice."
"You go home every Christmas, what do you know?"

"Not every. I stayed over Christmas during my first year and I'm staying this Christmas too." Regulus shrugged slightly, "It's fine. Why are you so bothered?"

For a moment, he was very caught out by the fact that he genuinely cared. He wanted to know what was affecting Nera in such a way. He couldn't fathom why someone would be so down on the fact that they didn't have to go home for the holidays. Though, Regulus reminded himself, it was possible that his intrigue in Nera was just because there wasn't a lot else going on.

"It's-" He was watching the girl as she opened her mouth and began to explain, and he was watching her as she clamped her jaw shut when the classroom door opened.

"There you are, Black!" Selwyn announced rather contentedly as the door slammed open and he stormed into the room.
Regulus groaned slightly, stepping away from Nera's desk and turning to his friend, "What do you want?"

"It's quidditch practice. I've been looking for you before heading down to the pitch." He explained, and then caught sight of the girl, "What are you doing here, Stark?" He asked.

She replied, "I was just leaving."

"Well don't come near me." Selwyn stepped to the side, as if he expected being muggle born to be contagious.
Nera muttered something inaudible under her breath as she made her way over to leave the classroom.

Regulus pinched the bridge of his nose, "You're unbelievably annoying, Selwyn."

"Ha! What?" He scoffed bitterly, then glanced over at Nera as he asked, "Don't tell me you're friends with the mudblood?"
Regulus replied bitterly, "No, I'm not friends with the... Her. That doesn't mean you're not annoying though. Get a shift on then, if we've got to go to practice."

Nera had been lingering near the door whilst the two boys spoke, waiting for Selwyn to move so she could actually pass by and leave. Then as Regulus urged Selwyn to leave with him, he glanced over at her and flashed the tiniest trace of a smile.

In the split second where Selwyn had left the room but Regulus was still inside, she quipped, "Be careful on your boom. Wouldn't want to end up eating dirt like you did in second year."

He laughed, "You'd have to catch me before you could jinx me. I'm a lot faster now."
And he was gone and the door had closed behind him.

"Huh." Nera spoke to herself as the door softly closed and she was left alone in the classroom. Something had clearly changed in Regulus over the summer, because he never would have tried to have a normal conversation with her before. It was as if the whole world had been turned upside down - Regulus was being considerate and the popular Edgar Bones was trying to be her friend.

"Maybe the world is just going crazy." Nera muttered under her breath as she finally left the classroom and walked, alone, down the corridor and back towards her common room.
But once again, Nera was confronted with her more peculiarity.

"Nera! Over here!" Ada Ostrowski greeted with a huge grin as she waved for the girl to join her at one of the tables in the Gryffindor common room.
After an initial moment of hesitation in which Nera supposed she'd been mistaken for someone else with the exact same name, she joined the girl.

"I've been completely, um, drowning in work. It all came out of nowhere today, I swear" Ada spoke as she gestured to the mountains of books and stacks of parchments she was surrounded by.
Nera let out a slight laugh, "I knew this year would be rough, but I didn't know it would be this rough."

"I don't suppose you'd have a little time to help me with some... What's... Transfiguracja-oh! Transfiguration." Ada stumbled over her words, "This studying is already frying my brain, if you can't tell."

"Sure, of course. Let me go get my books." She said, and turned to begin her ascent to their dormitory. In those few moments alone, where Nera was collecting her Transfiguration work, she thought about how different her life had become already. She paused for a minute and went to look at herself in the mirror above the sink in the bathroom. Tucking some hair behind her ear, Nera found herself smiling. It was nice that good things seemed to be happening for her.

She stared into the mirror at the glasses perched on her nose and hated how they looked. She'd always hated wearing glasses, no matter what they looked like. As her smile was replaced with a small frown, she removed the glasses and placed them gently on top of her head. Upon closer inspection she noticed faint red markings across the bridge of her nose - left behind by wearing her glasses for so long.

It was weird how something as insignificant as that could have such a large effect on her mood.

Nera put her glasses back on. She wanted to cover the markings on her nose. Besides, what difference did it make what she looked like? It wasn't like there was anybody she had to look particularly nice for.

"Which chapter of the textbook are you on?" Nera asked as she arrived back down in the common room, placed her books on the table, and sat beside Ada.
The blonde laughed and admitted, "I haven't started it. We can begin anywhere you want."
"Why don't we start at the beginning?"
"Probably wise."