Don't Tell Anyone About This | Regulus Black

Chapter Six

"You're utterly insufferable."

"Right back at you."

That what the extent of the conversation between Nerezza and Regulus as they walked past each other in the corridor one morning. That was all it took. And after they'd passed each other, both of them snickered. Both of them unaware of the other's similar reaction.

"This school is riddled with mudbloods, I'm telling you." Rosier complained, "There weren't this many when we started at Hogwarts."

"Maybe Dumbledore is doing it just to spite you." Avery suggested, nudging Regulus gently in the side to garner his attention.

Rosier gasped, "Do you think so?"
"Oh, yes," Regulus chimed in, "Dumbledore has deliberately gone out of his way to invite more mudbloods to Hogwarts just to spite you, Rosier. Did you not know the Headmaster has it out for you, specifically?"

"Oh, you're taking the mick?"
"Ding! Ding! Ding!" Avery tapped his finger to his nose and let out a boisterous laugh as Rosier flushed a vibrant red shade.

At the other end of the corridor, Nera was meeting up again with Ada Ostrowski. The two girls had been rather hitting it off as of late. Nera thought it was brilliant how direct Ada was all of the time - she said what she thought, and always with carefully chosen words that she meant.

"You better have brought snacks." Ada said with a cheeky grin as she exited her last class of the day.
Nera reached into her bag and pulled out a couple bags of crisps and several chocolate bars.
Ada suddenly laughed with glee, "Oh this is about to be the highlight of my day!"

Nera snickered, "Not because I'm here though. Only because of the snacks."
Ada slung her arm around her new friend's shoulders and responded, with a perfectly straight expression, "But of course."

As they began wandering down the corridor together, Ada lifted her arm off of Nera and, out of the blue, mused, "Isn't it weird how many of the students here have such a fascination with... Blood status?"

If Nera had been about to swallow a drink, she was sure that would have been a moment where she'd spit it out.
"Where-where did that come from?" She asked and then cleared her throat with a cough.
Ada paused in thought for a moment, then replied, "My brain."

"That's not exactly what I meant." Nera admitted. Aside from a few people in her hometown, Nera had never held a proper conversation with someone who wasn't from the United Kingdom, and so she hadn't ever thought about the language and cultural barriers present. Particularly for someone communicating in a second language.

Ada suddenly laughed, "Of course I know what you meant. I'm not a complete idiot."
Nera blushed at her own faux pas - embarrassed by what her initial thoughts had been.

Continuing on, Ada explained, "It used to be very similar in eastern Europe. Well, it was a lot worse years ago. I think after the horrors of the war, and... Well the state the muggles were left in, in particular, the concept of even asking someone's blood status was almost completely abandoned."
"Really?" Nera was completely shocked.
"Yeah," She nodded, "Of course I don't speak for everyone. But at Beauxbatons, it was considered rude to ask. It's so normal here, though."

"I know. I don't like it." Nera confessed.

"I don't blame you. Those ones in the... The green. Sorry, what are they called? Slitherings?" Ada frowned as she searched through her memories for the correct word.
Nera corrected, "Slytherins."
"Ah! Yes! Well they are dreadfully biased. The ones I spoke to, anyway. Didn't even ask my name. They just wanted to know I wasn't a muggle born."

Finally the two girls had reached the Great Hall. They wandered down the central path between the tables, and then sat down at a point where they had adequate enough space from all of the nearby groups.

As Ada pulled open a bag of crisps, she added further to her thoughts. "It's a shame they're not good people. It's always the good looking ones that are shallow."
Nera had, up until this moment, been staring at the two chocolate bars in front of her and deliberating which one she wanted to eat. Upon hearing Ada's comment, she immediately transferred her attention to her friend.
"Good looking?" She asked with a frown.

Ada only hummed in response before she began eating her crisps.
"Are you still talking about the Slytherins?"
"Yes, quite." She replied with a mouthful of food. Nera waited until she'd swallowed, and then Ada added, "Rosier is particularly handsome... Though I fear not entirely all there." She tapped her temple, "And the really tall one is quite good too. He looks almost like a statue. I haven't heard him speak though - his voice might ruin his look, I don't know."

Nera thought for a moment, and then said, "The tall one? Oh, you don't mean Regulus, do you?"
"Probably." Ada shrugged, "I don't know his name. Do you not agree?"

Suddenly, Nera became quite flustered. She felt a heat rise to her cheeks as she searched through her head quickly for an answer. "I-I don't... I don't know." It was true. Nera had never thought about it. Nera had very rarely considered anyone in that frame of mind.

"Oh..." Ada caught on, "Have you never talked about boys before? Sorry." She noticed Nera's blush growing, "At Beauxbatons, my sister and her friends would talk about boys nonstop. I was never really that interested, but I suppose now that's all I know to talk about."

"No, I've never talked about boys before." Nera said, with a mild hint of embarrassment.
Ada then said something quite remarkable, "I'm surprised. I would have thought the boys would have been obsessed with you - you're stunning."

Nera raised a hand to her cheek to mask the deep shade of red her face had turned to. She had no clue what to say in response.
"Anyway." Ada brushed past it as if it hadn't meant anything, "What we really need to do is plan what we're going to do in Hogsmeade."

It was hard to even keep up with the conversation anymore. Nera was still thinking about what Ada had said before.
"I'm sorry." She spluttered, "I-I... What?"
"Hogsmeade." Ada reiterated, "Everyone talks about how great it is and I need to experience it. I'm slightly worried it's been... Over exaggerated, though."
Nera snickered, "Oh, most definitely."

"Oh, no..." Ada sighed, "Is it dreadfully boring? Rundown? Scary?"
Nera paused and thought for a moment. She saw, as she hesitated, that Ada was becoming more nervous and frantic. She laughed, "No. It is nice - quaint. You probably don't need to plan a day there, though. I think you could cover everything in an afternoon."

And so their chat progressed to the limited choices of how to spend their time in Hogsmeade at the next available opportunity. Ada blazed through conversation topics faster than Nera could even keep up. It reminded her of listening to the ramblings of her father back home - particularly when he was stressed whilst marking student papers or when complaining about mismanagement in his department.
It was almost comforting to be reminded of her home life - especially because Ada wasn't even aware of this effect,

As the afternoon progressed, Nera found herself falling into a similar pattern. She was spending less of her attention trying to keep up with Ada's erratic thought processes, and more and more of her attention was drifting back to their earlier conversation.

It's always the good looking ones that are shallow... The really tall one... He looks almost like a statue... I would have thought the boys would have been obsessed with you - you're stunning...

On the surface, there wasn't anything particularly important or exciting about that. Nera just couldn't get it out of her head. It was the kind of conversation that she'd always imagined teenager girls in large friendship groups had. Nera had never experienced it though, and now she had.
It was still only early in the academic year, and it felt as though things for Nera had already changed an extraordinary amount. Though Nera had no clue that this was just the beginning of what was to unfold for her.

What Nera did know, however, was that she was finally feeling like she had a friend. Someone that made her laugh and who she could confide in. And now Nera found herself wondering how she could have gone so long without a friend.