My thoughts were a blur, I was muttering angrily to myself in a mixture of fury, regret, and downright dissapointment as I stormed away from the prefect's bathroom for the fifth time that week. At this point, I didn't really give a shit if any the teachers heard me. I didn't really care about anything anymore. Why couldn't we have just one night without fighting? Why couldn't everything go perfectly like the night we first got together? Why couldn't he just get over himself for a second?

But of course, it is Regulus Black we're talking about. Self-centered git extrordinare. And I knew my anger wouldn't last. Just like always, I knew I would be the one apologizing the next morning during our before-breakfast secret kiss in the downstairs broom cupboard.

I was so tired of secrets. My whole life has become nothing but a huge pile of secrets. The biggest one being my relationship.

Why couldn't I be one of those normal, happy guys with a pretty girlfriend and a bunch of cool friends? Like those Marauders. They always seem thrilled about thier lives. Every single effing second of them.

But. Of course. I'm not one of those guys. I'm Florean Fortescue. I'm a fifth year Ravenclaw, I'm not super cool, and I care more about grades than probably even the teachers do. Also, unlike the Marauders, I don't have a bunch of friends and a pretty girlfriend. In fact, I'm pretty unpopular, and am madly in love with Sirius Black's younger brother. And that's where the secrets got started. With Regulus.

I can sort of understand his need for keeping me a secret, as much as it aggravates me. He's one of those guys. He's on the Slytherin Quidditch team, has more friends than god, and everyone thinks he's single. So there's still room in there for that pretty girlfriend. And where do I fit in to that? Well, it all started with us crashing Sirius's 16th birthday party. A few drinks, and a couple hours of eyeing each other across the room later, we were in the prefect's bathroom and, well..you know. (but that's a different story). After that Regulus and I had secretly become boyfriends. Turned out we had more in common than you'd think. Funny how those things work out, huh?

But anyway, the thing is that I'm not one of those guys. And the way things are going, I'm never going to be one. And tomorrow I'll be leaving for Christmas break, just after yet another fight with Regulus. About the stupidest thing, too! Shower curtains. We had gotten in to an argument over our preferance of shower curtains, and single-handedly ruined our last night together before break. What an IDIOTIC thing to do.

But that isn't the only thing that had me boiling that night. Because not only does Regulus keep me a secret from everyone at Hogwarts, but his own family as well. That argument had once again gotten opened up after we were both already pissed about shower curtains. I, of course, had already told my parents. Having already came out to them at age 13, they weren't shocked. Only they did seem a bit iffy about my choice in men, thinking that there was no possible way I could be happy with someone in the Black family. (I'm not a pureblood, see, wich is half the reason Reg is so set to keep me in the dark until we die) So, what I had been thinking was that maybe he could finally sit everyone down this Christmas and have a talk with them, just to let out some of the ever-growing secrets. And he. Blew. Up.

And so there I was, stomping loudly down the corridors toward my common room, having had very minimal loving with my boyfriend before (once again) the arguments started. I was paying no attention at all to anything around me, and before I knew it, I had walked right into someone. My heart gave a lurch. If it was a teacher, I was dead.

But it was Reg.

And he was crying. I sort of stood there in shock. I had never seen him cry before. He was always to damn proud to let out any kind of emotion.

"I'm sorry, Flor," he said, and pulled me into an extra tight hug.
"...It's..It's alright, Reg, don't worry about it," I said, hugging back.

"Please don't leave me. You're the only one who understands. You're the only one that cares enough to," he was sobbing now, I could barely understand what he was saying.

"I wasn't ever planning on leaving, love," I said, trying to sound comforting in my shock.

And we just stood there for a while, holding each other, Regulus crying into my shoulder, me whispering reasurring things to him.

Finally, he let go. He wiped the tears off his eyes and shook his long hair away from his face.

"I'm such an idiot," he muttered.

"No, you're not, darling, " I said, leaning over and kissing him, "Everyone has those moments. I paused for a moment, thinking. "Come with me."

Regulus gave me a puzzled look. I took his hand and walked with him down the corridor. We walked until we'd reached a large painting of a bowl of fruit.

"...You're going to fuck me with house-elves watching?" Regulus said, sounding completely confused.

"No," I rolled my eyes. I reached over and tickled the pear on the painting, making it laugh and causing the hidden door behind it to open, letting us into the kitchens. It was so late there weren't even any house-elves around. They were all out cleaning the castle. Still holding Reg's hand I led him over to the gaint refrigerator, opened it, and dug around until I found a container of ice cream. I went over to a drawer and pulled out a spoon, and handed them both to Reg.

"This will make you feel better," I said, smiling at him.

We sat down at one of the tables, and Reg opened the ice cream and ate some. He instantly seemed a lot calmer.

"What made you think of ice cream?" he asked, getting another spoonful of it.

"I don't know, just a hunch I guess. I know how much you like it," I said.

"I've always loved ice cream," Reg said thoughtfully, "..But not nearly as much as I love you." he kissed me.

"I love you too, Reg," I said, and took his spoon to eat some myself,

We sat there for a while, eating and talking. There was absolutely no hint of the anger I'd felt only a half hour before. After about ten minutes, Regulus said something that shocked me even more than seeing him cry.

"Florean..I want you to come stay with me for a while during break."

"..Really? But what about your parents and Sirius?"
"Who cares about them? My parents are too busy worrying about Sirius being a dissapointment, and Sirius is as good as gone," he said.

"..I would really like that, actually, staying with you."

Regulus smiled and got some more ice cream on the spoon. He reached over and fed it to me.

We kissed again, and this time we didn't let go. I pulled him into my arms and just sat there, kissing and holding him close to me. He tasted like raspberries. (by the way, I never realized how much that flavor could turn someone on until then. Just a little tidbit of information there...) I never felt so in love with him than I did at that very moment, kissing him in the kitchens and eating ice cream...

So yeah, I'm not one of those popular guys with a bunch of super cool friends. I don't play Quidditch, and I certainly don't fail every class just to not seem like a nerd. But as far as the pretty girlfriend goes..I'd choose Regulus Black over any girl in Hogwarts any day.

He's the one secret I wouldn't mind keeping for a million years.