Her voice rings through the halls like a bell. Trilling the sweet song that fills the void. Can I find her in the darkness that surrounds me? Will she see me? Her hair, like a glowing fire, burns through my soul. With eyes like hers, she should be Slytherin.
He wasn't a poet, but the first time Regulus Black saw Lily Evans the beginning of Fifth Year, the words tore through him like a wildfire . His Potions essay forgotten, Regulus wrote the words as they came to him. The freshly sharpened eagle quill whispered across the soft vellum he had been using. So lost in thought was he, that he nearly jumped out of his skin when the subject of his fascination was standing in front of the table he was using.
"Excuse me, but are you done with this one?" her voice came out softer than he had heard it before. He didn't share classes with the Seventh Year, so any time they were near each other it was usually when she was yelling at his prat brother, or any combination of his prat friends. She had a fiery temper, that matched her flaming auburn hair. Her voice was soft, but just as bossy as he remembered.
"Oh, I'm sorry." He flushed a bit when he looked up at her. His eyes must have been glowing like molten silver, and he kind of wanted to crawl into a dark hole right then. But, then, a smile crossed over her face.
"I didn't know it was you," she said matter of a factly, "aren't you a year or two behind me? What do you need with this Advanced Potions book? This is NEWT level material."
"Two years; and, yes, it is NEWT level material. I have been working with Slughorn since Fourth Year on a more one-on-one basis. My, um, current class is not as challenging as I would like so he offered me private lessons." His cheeks were burning when he finished. No other person on the planet elicited this reaction from his body. It was like he was falling into a ring of fire. From the top of his ears to his toes, he could feel the fire of his magic reaching out for hers.
"Back in Fourth Year?" Her eyebrows shot up at that. A look somewhere between impressed and disbelief crossed her porcelain face. "He wouldn't begin working with me until after my OWLs came back with Exceeds Expectations."
"Yes, well I don't know about you, but he's been assigning me extra projects for a while now," Regulus said. The smugness in his tone came out unbidden, and he quickly cleared his throat and began rearranging the papers on the desk.
"What is that?" she asked, her head swiveled at an odd angle in an attempt to decipher the tight loops and flourishes on the vellum.
"That's nothing. Just a bit of rubbish I scrawled while listening to Professor Sprout." he said, grabbing at it before she could see his poetic musings.
"Well," Lily said, "be that as it may. I need this book for classwork, and not extracurricular activities. How much longer will you be using it?" She couldn't help but be impressed by his studiousness, but she still needed the volume for herself.
His face dropped a little, knowing they were done with the short conversation. "You can have it," he passed the tome over to her. "I'll just work on my Transfiguration essay."
"Thank you, Regulus." He had seen more smiles in the last few minutes speaking with Lily, as he had seen all summer long. He missed his prat brother. But, he really wanted to see more of Lily Evans. He would need to speak with Professor Slughorn about setting up a study group with upperclassmen.
The Houses Competition
Hufflepuff -Prefect
Drabble - WC 634
Prompt: [song] Ring of Fire
A/N —I listened to the song and thought about those first moments of "love" when you are so consumed that you feel like you are on fire. How everyone becomes a poet and wants to see a better part of themselves reflected back by the other person.