She was in the library after dinner, just as she said she would be. In fact, I was the one who was late. And she told me so as soon as I found her, huddled in the corner of a row of books.
"You're late," she said coolly, as if I hadn't realized.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Keller," I replied in the same manner. She glared up at me with her grey eyes, but they did not look angry as she had obviously hoped they would. They looked kind and somewhat sad.
"No need to beg, Mr. Black," she said softly, turning back to look through the spines of several books. When she found one particularly appealing, she would take it out gently and open the cover, flip through several pages, and hand it to me to look through. I was uninterested in many of the books, rarely telling her, though.
We stayed there for a long time, looking through what seemed like thousands of books. She and I rarely talked, being too occupied with the immense volumes of charms. But every now and then, our eyes would meet and I could almost see her soul through those eyes. I wondered if she could see mine the same way, and if she could, what she would find there.
Over time, the library got very quiet, but neither Noelle nor I seemed to notice until I glanced at my wrist watch and saw that it was quite late.
"Miss Keller," I said, trying to remain calm, "do you have an idea how late the library stays open?"
"Around eight-thirty or so. Why do you ask?" She seemed unaware of how much time we had spent looking through books. I felt my left eye twitch involuntarily. It was past ten o'clock.
"We might want to get going, then," I said a bit hoarsely, pulling her arm away from the spine of a book. She turned around and frowned at me, her eyes questioning. I pulled out my watch once again and showed it to her. Her eyes widened and her face paled.
"We need out get out of here," she breathed, grabbing my wrist and pulling me towards the door to the library. It was locked. I walked forward to bang on the door and yell for help, but she held me back. "Filtch'll get us," she whispered. "We're stuck."
I turned to her with eyes full of agony. "Please tell me you're kidding," I said quietly but insistently. She shook her head slowly and pressed her back up against the wall, sliding down until she was in a sitting position. I did the same next to her.
"You realize, of course, that this is all your fault," I said. She made a gagging noise and turned her head to stare incredulously at me.
"My fault?" she said in a furious whisper. "If you had said something sooner, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
"Don't give me some lame excuse!" I said in the same tone. "You're the one who insisted on looking through every book imaginable!"
She turned away from me, her shoulders slightly hunched. All hostility I had felt melted away like snow would on a warm spring day. I put a gently hand on her shoulder and she turned back towards me. Her eyes were watery and red. Our eyes met and we both had the same expression on our faces. An expression of sorrow and fear of what was yet to come, but a warmth that was inexplicable.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, my hand still on her shoulder. "This is entirely my fault. I'm sorry."
I took my hand off her shoulder and placed it on her hand that was resting on her knee. "It's okay," was all I could manage.
I couldn't explain myself around her. It was as if our emotions were linked somehow. She showed what she felt so openly, it was as if she trusted everyone with her emotions and they had no way to deal with them but take them on themselves. She was different than anyone I had ever met, of that I am certain.
We stayed silent for awhile; the only light was coming from the dying flame of the oil lamp Noelle had placed beside her. It made eerie shadows of her eyelashes on the wall beyond.
"Do you know when the library opens tomorrow, Miss Keller?" I asked.
After a long pause, she replied: "Around nine, I believe; and please, call me Noelle."
I nodded. "As you wish, Noelle." She smiled through her tears and I smiled along with her. Slowly, she turned herself towards me.
"Regulus—do you mind if I call you that?" she asked quietly.
"Not at all," I said. "In fact, I've gotten bored with our formal language. It's nice to know I'm conversing with another human being and not a teacher." I smiled at her and she smiled back. I couldn't carry on like that with a Slytherin; only a Ravenclaw girl would be willing to talk to me like that.
"Yes, well, Regulus," she said, "I'm sorry about what happened, but, since we're stuck here as it is, shouldn't we still be working on our project?"
I frowned with a slight trace of disgust. "That project doesn't seem to agree with me for some unknown reason," I said, yawning.
"Or is it the library that doesn't agree with you; I've noticed that that seems to be the case with the Black family," she muttered, a smile playing on her lips. I shot her a quick, sarcastic glare, but she continued to smile. "Yes," she whispered, "I believe that's the case."
"Just keep telling yourself that, Noelle," I said, smirking and closing my eyes, leaning back against the wall. "Just keep telling yourself."
She laughed quietly. "Don't worry, I will."
Author's note: Yay, second chapter! Thanks for the reviews, although I really would like to see more. They make me happy! So…review and continue to read, please!
~Salty
