Don't Tell Anyone About This | Regulus Black

Chapter Fifteen

The first rays of sunlight were daring to stretch across the rolling hills of the Hogwarts grounds, some were even bold enough to grace the water of the lake in a glorious shimmer.
Unknown to most people, this particular view was only possible from the Astronomy Tower. Even the towering reach of the Ravenclaw Tower didn't quite have the same angle of the picturesque landscape that offered a warm hug of comfort to Nerezza Stark.

Nera wished more than anything else in the world to be back with her father. She wanted to be sat beside him on the swinging seat in their garden as they quietly read their own books and listened to the hum of wildlife all around them. She could perfectly imagine the sent of flowering honeysuckle in their garden, and the sounds of the small chaffinches that nested underneath the eaves edge of the roof. She could hear her father's chuckle when he read something humorous, or sigh when he spotted a grammar error or something he disagreed with.

At that moment, Nera wished she could be playing the piano in her living room whilst her dad marked papers at his desk. In her mind she could picture herself finishing a song and turning around, the absence of music would immediately cause her dad to halt his work and look towards his daughter. Nera wanted to be able to ask him what to do - to seek his advice.

After some careful consideration, Nera was now quite certain that Edgar Bones had asked her out - or had at least tried to. This panicked the girl as she didn't know what this would mean for their friendship.
Thankfully, he wasn't the kind of person to put any pressure on her, but that didn't do much to calm her nerves. Nera could put more than enough pressure on herself. In a desperate bid to avoid bumping into Edgar around the castle, and to circumvent possibly being asked out more explicitly, Nera had decided to seek refuge up the Astronomy Tower.
She'd been so anxious, in fact, that she'd risen before anyone else in the dormitory, and had even skipped breakfast.

"What are you doing here?"

Oh no. Had Nera's plan really failed so quickly?

She spun around on her heels and, thankfully, it wasn't Edgar. However, it was Regulus Black.

"I-er-why?"
Regulus frowned, "Why, what?"
"I don't know." Nera blushed, "I'm just... Here at the moment. Is that a problem?"

Regulus paused, as if thinking about it for a moment, and then concluded, "No."

Not that anybody knew, or at least nobody did know until that moment, but Regulus often took to the Astronomy Tower to get some peace and quiet. It was a habit he'd adopted since returning to Hogwarts that autumn, and something he didn't necessarily want interrupted.

"Did everything get sorted in the end?" Regulus inquired. He dug his hands into his pockets and lingered awkwardly in the middle of the room.

Nera had been thinking that she could probably leave. It would be awkward to do so as soon as he turned up though, and she couldn't easily slip past him as he stood in the way.
Then the idea of leaving completely disappeared from her mind as she looked up at him and asked, "What?"

He clarified, taking a few steps further into the room, "Everything with the Bones boy."
"Oh." She replied, "Yeah, I guess. It's-it's alright."

"Good." He quietly responded as he scuffed his shoe against the ground.

Nera turned back around to look out of the window at the marvellous view before her. Somehow, in the moment she'd turned away, the scenery had grown even more beautiful under the early sunlight.
She fiddled with her fingers clasped in front of her, and asked, with her back still turned, "I never asked you why you even got involved in the situation. You warned me against Edgar, and then you told me not to trust Delilah..."