I've had this planned for a few days now and only...2 hours ago did I decide to write it. I just like having so many multi-chapters to write all at the same time. Anyway, it's an au (as usual) but it's set in the Harry Potter universe. Basically a crossover. If you're confused, it'll all be explained at some point. But yeah, hope you like it :)

She's exhausted. Feet aching from standing too long in heels, eyes heavy from being awake too long, even her cheeks hurts from constantly having to smile and be happy and look like she was enjoying the evening, which she hadn't. Far from it.

Somewhere behind her, Snow rattles on happily and lively, retelling her everything about the night (which she already knew, Regina having spent the evening keeping a close eye on her) Telling her of all the things James had said to her; all the compliments he gave her about her dress and her hair and just about everything else. Regina's not really listening, though. She loves her little sister, would do anything for the girl, but there are times when Regina would love it if she just shut up, didn't speak, didn't rattle on about things Regina already knew (or didn't care about) Either way, she wanted it to stop.

"...and then he asked me to dance!" the girls says, green eyes lighting up as she tells her story. "James! He asked me to dance! Me!" She swivvles on the chair, facing the mirror as Regina stands behind her and begins taking the clips out of Snow's hair.

"That's great, Snow." she says, voice clearly tired as she shows no emotion to the girl. She should probably change that, she thinks. Pretend she cares, pretend she's interested in what her sister has to say, but she isn't and she's sick of pretending, it's what she's done all night.

Snow doesn't notice, though, carries on talking as Regina pushes her finger through the girl's hair.

The night could have been worse, Regina reasons. Yes, it involved her being on her best behaviour, her mother watching who she interacted with, deliberately pushing someone in her way when she saw that Regina had spent too long not talking to anyone. Years ago, these people had meant nothing. They were just that, people. Important people, yes, from important families, but they had no meaning to Regina- they were just a way for Cora to get her daughter out there, known, talking to people. But now everyone was planned. Every guest they invited was planned. Only the best could come, only the best some suitable people for Cora's oldest daughter was invited.

Regina had began dreading these days. Days when laughing and talking and even dancing became less of a way to pass the time, when it became more monitored. It began back when she turned fifteen, when Mother had organised this gigantic party for her, invited anyone who was anyone to it and Regina had been on the none the wiser then. Laughed and joked with the people who came up to her, twirled around with them. They weren't all bad, most of them had been put in the same situation as her after all, so she never blamed them, would never blame them, was pleasant and nice to them, answered the questioned they asked and asked her own questions. It was only afterwards, talking down the corridor did he hear a glimpse of the conversation inside her father's study. Words like marriage and engagement and in a few years time popping up and it had all made sense to Regina from there on, the party, the people, the boys that came up to her. All had been orchestrated by Mother and said boys' fathers. She'd opened the door slightly, wanting and not wanting to hear more. Saw her father in the corner, excluded from the circle that had gathered around his table, watched how he quietly observed while Mother talked about selling her, like she was some horse to be won in a bet. Maybe he tried to speak, maybe he didn't, but Regina knew her future had been planned from that moment. Maybe it had always been planned. And the thought made her want to throw up.

Parties were never viewed in the same way. Maybe she became more distant, more weary of those around her, tried not to show too much interest in any one. She didn't want to be married to these people. These people were horrible, they're families were horrible, with their views...views that Cora had tried instilling into her, how they were better, more powerful than the Muggles who lived just outside their house. But the views didn't take, wouldn't go in, not as she sat staring out of her window, watching the Muggle world below her while in here, her room cleaned itself, beds made themselves, house elves trotted about, magic practically alive and breathing, watching as that boy rides past on his two wheeled contraption (a bike she remembers reading somewhere) throwing the Muggle newspaper at doors, oblivious to her and the house squeezed between the middle two. She just stares, those pureblooded wizard opinions, ones that she's supposed to follow run through her head and she wonders if they're true. Wonders if Muggles are inferior, stupider, less worthy…

"Are you going back?"

She's pulled back into the present by Snow's voice, green eyes staring back at brown ones and Regina wonders if she had that glossy, far away look on her face. If she did, she really needs to work on that, stop making her thoughts so noticeable, anyone can use it against her.

"What was that, Snow?" Her fingers presume their motion of combing through Snow's hair, having stopped when Regina slipped away.

"Hogwarts," the girl repeats. "Are you going back?"

Regina sighs. How much she wants to, so much. The thought of that freedom, even if it was only for two more years. Impossible, though. Mother would never let her go back. Would question what purpose Regina had going back there. She'd already completed her O. , received high marks on all of them, she had no business going back to do N.E. . Why would you need all those, Regina? She could hear her mother asking.

Snow doesn't wait for her answer, though, continues talking and, oh Merlin how much this girl can talk!

"I'm going back, obviously." she says, hands fidgeting with the clips Regina throws down on the vanity and Regina has the impulses to tell her to stop it, fidgeting his distracting, even weak, a habit her little sister needs to hurry up and break, but she leaves it. It's just them in her room, no harm will be caused.

"It's so tiring at times," she continues and Regina forces her eyes not to roll. Tiring, she thinks. You're only in your third year. "Sometimes I don't want to go back. Sometimes I want to ask Mummy what's the point. I don't need exams. One day I'll be married to James and he won't care if I'm clever or stupid."

Regina pauses her combing. Stares at her thirteen year old sister through the mirror. She feels a gush of bile rise in her throat, stomach swirling. How could she possible think that? Think of marriage and leaving Hogwarts. Here's Regina, wishing she could go back and completely opposite, Snow; wishing she could leave.

It scares her. Snow's too young, too naive. She doesn't understand the world yet, Regina hasn't taught her everything she needs to know about it.

And that's what Regina ends up putting it down to. Snow's too naive. Too clueless. One day she'll learn to appreciate her freedom, just as Regina did when she overheard that conversation that night.

"You don't know." Regina says, trying to keep her voice even and her hands still combing through Snow's hair. "Maybe one day James will. Maybe one day he'll want you to be clever and have good grades." Regina knows that'll never happen. This James probably couldn't give two anything whether Snow went to school or not, but still, Snow shouldn't want to throw her studies and education away. Not yet.

Snow scrunches her face at her, and again, Regina has the urge to tell her not to. But then that'd just be hypocritical- she's lost count of the amount of times she's also pulled that same face.

"Why would he want that?" the girl asks.

Regina thinks of giving up, leaving it for the night. She's too exhausted, too achy to pretend to her sister that everything the girl's just said isn't true. So all she says is, "I don't know, Snow. I'm not him." Pulling away, Snow hops off the chair, wishes Regina a goodnight and slips from the room and into her own, careful not to wake anyone.

Regina stares at the space that Snow's just left, catches a glimpse at herself in the mirror. She can hardly recognise herself. Hair twisted and pulled up, face lost in a sea of powder and Merlin knows what else, compact into a dress she can barely breathe in. She sighs, trying not to get wrapped until in Snow's words about wanting to leave Hogwarts, leave the freedom she doesn't know she's been giving, and begins to pull her clips out, letting the curls tumble down.

Two more years she could have if she gets up the courage to ask her mother if she can stay at Hogwarts. Two more years of freedom, away from this house. She might not have many friends at school, her name making people stay clear of her, weary of her, but at least it's better than this place.

With the last of the clips out, the powder scrubbed off, and finally able to breathe, she climbs into bed, blowing out the candle, and lays there, rehearsing the words over and over again, careful that each is planned, the right words said, otherwise this could end badly. Very badly.

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