metanoia ~ regulus black

just friends

Transfiguration last thing on a Wednesday was torture, Professor Mcgonagall refused to accept that the class would never get any work done this close to dinner and continued to push them to transfigure their flowers into fish.

Cassie and her Gryffindor friend sat in the corner of the big classroom with their wands pointed at their petal filled bowls pretending to be working.

"Just talk to him!" Freya Hartley urged Cassie, "Nothing will change if you don't."

Freya was one of those people you felt comfortable sharing things with, she gave good advice and she wasn't one to talk about other people's business. This meant that despite the fact they weren't close she was the only one that Cassie had told her Regulus problems to. Not the whole story obviously, Cassie was also not one to talk about other people's business.

"But do you really think speaking to him would help anything?" Cassie asked, unsure.

"I really do. Obviously I don't know the whole story, but whatever happened between you in the Christmas break was three or four months ago now. If you're still thinking about him then it's time to stop avoiding your problems." Freya said wisely. The bell for the end of the day rung in the middle of her sentence. "Perfect there's the bell - you can catch him now." She said smirking.

"What right now?" Said Cassie, gathering up her things.

"Yes right now. And you better tell me all about it in class on Friday." Freya grinned, "Now go!"

"I'm going, I'm going," Cassie said, drawing out her words before exiting the room, waving at her friend as she went.

She headed to the bottom of a set of stairs where she knew Regulus would come out of soon, he had divination last period on Wednesdays. She was nervous to talk to him, she wasn't sure if it really was a good idea but she just tried to keep Freya's encouraging words running through her mind.

He came out of the stairs and turned the opposite direction, not seeing her. He was walking alone to Cassie's luck. She walked up behind him and reached up to tap him on the shoulder. He whipped around and her touch and looked down at her.

"Wanna go do something fun?" She said, mimicking the first time she had asked him to spend time with her.

His eyes lit up as he caught on to what she was getting at, "Depends," he said quietly, remembering the first time they hung out.

"On what?" She continued the repeated conversation.

He leaned a little closer, so she could her him over the noise of the crowded corridor, "On what your idea of fun is,"

"Let's go," she smiled softly, taking his large hand in hers and dragging him through the corridors, down to where the kitchens and the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room was.

"Where are we going?" Regulus asked tentatively, as much as he was enjoying her holding his hand he was truly confused by the situation.

"My room," Cassie answered nervously, she didn't want it to seem like she was making a move on him, "To talk," she added.

"But nobody from another house has been in the Hufflepuff common room for over a thousand years," Regulus said, baffled.

"You're not as smart as I thought you were if you believe that." Cassie said cheekily, "Of course people have brought in their friends from other houses." She said before stopping in-front of a stack of barrels. "Close your eyes please." She said softly.

The gentle and caring tone in her voice made him do exactly as she asked without questioning it. He heard her tap something in a strange rhythm and he was led into a dimly lit tunnel. She said he could open his eyes and when he did he was looking out into the Hufflepuff common room. He thought it was much less grand than the Slytherin one, but it looked more like a home, the Hufflepuff common room looked like life and comfort and friendship.

"It's nice in here," he remarked.

"It's lovely," Cassie agreed, she had grown used to the common room over the years but she still appreciated it. She gestured for him to follow her into one of the tunnels leading off, some of the Hufflepuffs looked their way but none objected to him being there, they simply smiled or waved. Regulus smiled back, a little awkwardly. He was surprised by the complete acceptance of a Slytherin in their safe space, he was sure that had Cassie been a Gryffindor or a Ravenclaw his reception would've been very different.

Shortly after turning off into the tunnel they reached a door, Cassie opened it and walked through, Regulus close behind her.

"I like your room," Regulus commented, looking around at her dormitory, there were three four poster beds, the areas surrounding the separate beds were all decorated differently but it was clear which one was Cassie's. The bed had flowers and ivy painted all over the wooded posts, there were posters for different bands all over the walls near and lots of photos stuck up off her and her friends.

The most common people in the photos were the Marauders, Mateo, Lucy and Alice.

"There's one of Evan?" Regulus said questioningly, as he saw a photo of Evan and girl he recognised, he was almost sure her name was Lucy, playing poker next to the black lake.

"There's two of Evan," said Cassie pointing to a photo Regulus hadn't noticed yet. It was of Regulus and Evan, they were standing happily next to eachother, Regulus' arm slung around his best friend. It was from New Year, he remembered Cassie taking the photo.

His heart warmed at the fact he was on her wall, he wondered if she ever looked at it and thought of him, he surely would if there was a photo of her on his wall. He went quiet but he couldn't hide the smile on his face. Cassie sat down on a chair she had pulled up from a desk in the corner of the room and gestured for him to sit on her bed.

"So how was poker?" Cassie asked casually, u sure of what to say. She didn't really want to address the elephant in the room.

"Oh," said Regulus, seeming surprised, "It was good, Evan won. Pretty sure he cheated though."

"Hm, good." She said happily, she was glad Evan had kept his promise.

The room went a little quiet again, Regulus was looking around, avoiding her gaze. His eyes landed on a pile of parchment that was stacked up on her bedside table, when he examined it closer he saw what looked like a poem on the top bit of parchment. He reached for it but she snatched it away and stashed it out of sight before he could read any more.

"You write poems?" He asked, interested, add that to the list of things he thought about when he couldn't distract himself.

"No." She said, "They're songs."

"I never knew you write songs,"

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me," Cassie said casually.

"Care to tell me any of them?" Said regulus with his eyebrow raised.

"I don't really hate you," Cassie said after considering his question for a while, "I was lying when I said that."

Regulus demeanour brighter significantly when she said this, his body became less tense, his eyes sparkled and the smallest of smiles appeared on his elegant face, "I hoped you were lying,"

"Listen, are you good to not talk about everything? I miss having you around and I'm sick of things being awkward." Cassie said, straight to the point.

Regulus looked up at her from his relaxed position on her bed, "The feelings are mutual," he said, his smile growing larger by the second.

"So... friends?" Cassie asked, biting her lip nervously.

"Friends." Regulus nodded, he was unsure of what she really meant by friends. As far as he was aware they were never really just friends but he was willing to go with it if it meant he could have her back in his life.