Wisps of her jet black hair were framing her face like a shadowy halo, and her giant jumper was hanging off a shoulder as she worked. There were books scattered in an arc around her, and her wand was stuck in the largest one, holding her place in it.

It had been a very long day for Miss Emmeline Vance.

The scratching of her quill on the parchment stopped, and she leaned back, frowning. She bit her lip, and opened an exceptionally ratty book and thumbed through it. 'Water, water…' she muttered to herself, and resisted the urge to bang her head against something. This essay was going to be the absolute death of her. It nearly had been the first time she wrote it, but having to go back and redo the research…

It was bloody torture.

Emma swore if she ever discovered who had stolen her bookbag, she would string them up by their toes until the blood pooled so thoroughly in their brains that the only coherent word they would ever speak again was 'Charms.' Yes, that was the mood she was in. Her frown deepened as she stared at the pathetic lines on the parchment. This was hopeless. With a groan, her head plopped into her hands.

If all that wasn't bad enough, she had fought with Alecto. Not that she had minded tearing the blonde idiot a new one, but the manipulative bitch had dragged Regulus into the middle of it, effectively breaking the Great and Sacred Code of Bitch Fighting. It still riled her thinking about how she had to defend herself to Reg for something that was entirely not her fault.

But perhaps what upset her more is that, deep down, she knew Alecto was right. She had been incapable of denying the fact her feelings for Reg did run deeper than the average friendship. What they were, exactly, she didn't know. But there was just something...different about her life when she was with him. Not that he would ever know, especially not now. He seemed genuinely happy with the tart, and as much as it killed her, she was his friend. And what made him happy…

Well, it didn't make her happy, but she swallowed it anyway.

It was all shit.

She blinked, and looked up at the clock. Quarter past. It was a quarter past two in the morning, and she had five inches of a one and a half foot long essay completed. 'You're late,' she said to the air, and laughed humorlessly before looking down once more at her essay in resignation. Who was she kidding? Help or no help, she was doomed.

At that moment, the door swung open. Emma jumped, and looked around. Regulus was leaning on the doorframe, a smug look on his face. 'How the hell did you manage to get up here without me?' She asked, cocking an eyebrow at her friend. He was still in his uniform, but in classic Reg fashion, it was an utter mess. She swore at times he didn't know how to button things properly for all they stayed buttoned. She swallowed imperceptibly as he walked into the room and plopped down on her bed. Okay, yes, Reg did have that effect on her. But it was manageable. He looked up and met her eyes, and her eyes narrowed slightly as he smiled mischievously. 'One, I can't tell you that, because then you'd fix the chink in the spell, and I wouldn't be able to get up here any more, and two, aren't you afraid we're going to wake someone up?' He was kicking off his shoes now, and Emma rolled her eyes, a small smile growing on her face. 'I muffled them all, and their curtains keep out most of the light. We're fine.'

'Aw, so useful,' he said, giving her a poke. She squeaked, and smacked his hand away. He just laughed, and leaned against the footboard, his feet stretching in her direction. She pursed her lips, and looked down at the black socked feet so near her parchment. The toes wiggled defiantly. A crooked smile found its way on her face, and she grabbed a toe quicker than Regulus could pull it away. 'Hey! That's mine,' he said, trying to pull his foot back, but Emma just held on, and picked up her quill with her other hand.

'Now, where was I? Oh, of course. Severing Charms.' Her smirk got even more evil, and she gave Reg's toe a squeeze. "Whatever shall I practise on?'

'Hardy har, Emmy.' She laughed, and allowed him to pull his foot away from her hand.

'That's what you get for nearly putting it on my essay,' she said, not looking up from her work. As she looked at the parchment, she felt the initial high of Reg's presence fade, and worry settled into her chest like a blanket. 'Now, are you going to help me, or not?'

"Definitely. So, Charms. They're...charming?'

Emma groaned, and wrinkled her nose. 'Hilarious.'

"Okay, fine. It's on…' He frowned. 'What's it on again?'

'Reg, you just did this essay.'

The memory came back to him, and he smiled. 'Oh, that one. Er, well, I did mine on the Charms that showed up in the last fifty years. What period are you looking at?' Emmeline blinked, and bit her lip. She could feel her cheeks heating. 'Emmy?'

'firtcentrybesea.' Reg looked at her, his brows knit in confusion.

'What did you say? What that a date?'

'First century B.C., all right?'

There was a pause, then Reg burst out laughing. 'You are such an overachiever, Emmy. Really.' He shook his head and picked up one of her books, thumbing through it. His eyebrows rose. 'No wonder this essay's kicking your tail. Is this even English?'

Emma glared and snatched the book out of his hands. 'It's...mostly English. Stop laughing at me.' He smirked, and reassumed his lounging position as she continued her work.

After a few minutes of Emmeline reading, then scratching down a sentence, and reading, and the scratching down another sentence, Reg cleared his throat. 'So, er, I want you help you. What can I do?'

Emma finished a sentence before looking up at him. 'Hm? Oh, um, d'you want to try and find the passage on Wizarding agricultural spells that were used on Argos? It should be in…' She picked up a leather-bound book with green vines etched on it and pushed it in his hands, 'here.' She looked back down at the parchment, smiling slightly to see that she was making progress, if slow progress.

There was a brief moment of silence before, 'Emmy?'

'Hm?'

'This...this is in Greek.'

She looked up at him, not understanding. What was the problem? 'So? Translate it.'

Reg frowned, looking in slight irritation at her. 'Oh, yes, I'll just pick up a dead language in a few minutes. Emmy, you're insane.'

She looked at him for a second before pulling her wand out of the giant book, being sure to keep her place with her finger. She pointed it at the book, and muttered an incantation. 'Done.' She smiled cheekily at him. 'Covered that last week in class. In preparation for this essay. Remember?'

'Nope.'

'Cool.'

He glared, and she just smiled before continuing to work on the essay. She felt him squirming, and looked up over her book to see Regulus repositioning himself on her bed so he was lying down on his side, the book resting in front of him. She chuckled quietly. Things were just more entertaining with Reg around. More comfortable, too. Homey.

Emma pulled her focus back to her essay, and bent her head to read the small print of a book. She felt herself slip into her easy work mode and find the rhythm of essay writing with Reg. Granted, normally he had an essay to write himself, and the usual groans of confusion and terror were absent that night, but still. This setting was something she was used to.

About thirty minutes later, Emma reached the Agriculture section of her paper and realised Reg had not given her the passage he was looking for. 'Reg, really. It's in English now, what's–' She looked up, and stopped abruptly. A smile spread over her face at what she saw, and she shook her head.

He was totally out, his head resting on his arms, the book still open to the same page it had been the last time she had looked at it. Emma covered her mouth, trying not to wake him with her laugh. It was just so…

Cute.

It was absolutely adorable, and that was not something Reg did all the time. Seeing him fast asleep, sprawled over her bed, books splayed about, was something that simply made her chest expand. She didn't think there was enough room in her for the affection she held for him. They were...He was...the greatest thing in her life, bar none. No one had the ability to make her smile the way he did. It was something that both worried and elated her. Emma shook her head, and reached over to pick up the book. 'Some help you are,' she whispered, before flipping through to the passage she needed herself. Finding it, she began to read.

'...and so Thymian, the one responsible for the harvesting of grain, lifted his wand, and uttered the words that would free the–'

A noise pulled Emma sharply out of the book, and she looked up with a frown. He was...Oh Lord. Regulus snored once more, and Emma buried her head in her hands with a groan. 'How am I supposed to concentrate if you keep sounding like the Hogwarts Express?'

A snore answered her.

Once again, Emma just...laughed, shoving a fist into her mouth to keep from waking him. Or...should she wake him? He was snoring. Loudly. And she had work to do. But he looked so peaceful... 'FIne,' she said, 'I'll leave you be, only because I know I will give you hell for this basically for the rest of our lives.' She sighed, and continued her work, attempting to shove out the sounds of his snores. Eventually, she fell into a rhythm in her writing that almost matched the pattern of his breathing. Read, write, think, write, read, write...think...write...read...

Emma's eyes flew open, and she sat up, blinking as the words on the page tried to come into focus. She'd fallen asleep. She groaned and looked up at the clock, and her eyes widened when she saw what it said. Surely her very tired mind was playing tricks on her. It was nearly six o'clock. She looked down at the essay. Then back at the clock. Then back down at the essay, biting her lip. She'd gotten through most of it….There was only around four inches left…and she had class the next morning. As she was debating whether or not to continue on or call it a night, the duvet beneath her books moved, and she barely caught one before it went crashing to the floor. She looked up, and saw Reg had burrowed beneath part of it at some point. A frown was creasing his forehead, and he kept trying to pull it farther over himself. At the same time, a huge yawn was pulled from her, and she was left staring blankly at Regulus, a slight frown creasing her forehead.

That was it for Emma. She shut her books quietly, stacking them beside her bed, and scrambled under the duvet. Now came the fun part. Not only was Reg covering himself in it, but he was also lying on it a bit. Carefully, she tugged it out from underneath him, and he sighed as the fluffy blanket settled over the top of him.

Emma yawned, and put out the lamp on her bedside table, and curled up. Once she was settled, she smiled slightly. He was like a big, grumpy space heater.

Regulus Black was asleep in her bed.

She'd regret letting him stay in the morning.

She was really too tired to care.

Emmy drifted off to sleep to the sound of snoring, a small smile on her face.