Chapter 3
Thorn was sitting at Gryffindor table for dinner when Professor McGonagall walked over and reminded her about her detention. "The pair of Ravenclaw prefects tell me that you have a detention tonight, Miss Hallo. – You too, Miss Connors." She added when Morghana sat down beside Thorn.
"Yes Professor." Thorn replied.
"Who else has detention?" Morghana asked in a low voice. McGonagall gave her a surprised look but gave her an answer.
"You will serve your detention with Miss Yaslana, Mr Black and Mr Zeeman of Slytherin."
"Great." Morghana replied sarcastically. "Nobody else?"
"It seems" McGonagall told her, raising an eyebrow, "That everybody else has had the sense to behave themselves so soon within the term."
"I find that hard to believe…" Morghana said, glancing over at Sirius and James who were seated nearby. McGonagall's lip twitched as she also glanced at them.
"As do I." she said softly before she walked away.
"Why do we have to spend more time with those evil sons of bitches!" Morghana complained loudly as Artemis and Larne arrived to sit with them. Thorn was about to reply to tell Morghana that Aeshire wasn't evil when she was distracted by Regulus walking into the hall. She watched as he headed over to sit by Aeshire and then was approached by Slughorn, Thorn assumed he was being reminded about his detention as she and Morghana had been.
"There's Zeeman." Artemis said to her friends, nodding her head at the doors. Thorn looked over to see him walk in and head towards Regulus and Aeshire.
"Fantastic." Morghana snarled.
"You know…" Larne mused "You could look at it from a purely female point of view, and just appreciate the view… because to be honest… those two are damn good to look at." Morghana looked over at Slytherin table critically.
"Well," she said, "If you ignore the fact that they are both evil Slytherin sons of bitches who deserve to be hexed out of existence, and only focus on the physical aspects… then I guess Zeeman is passable." here she tilted her head, her eyes still on Slytherin table. "But Black… It's a pity he doesn't look more like his brother… he's not as good-looking as Sirius."
"What's
that got to do with anything?"
Thorn demanded, surprised at the vehemence in her own voice. So, it
seemed, were her friends. They just stared at her for a few moments
before Morghana raised an eyebrow.
"Uhm… Thorn?" she asked.
"Uhmm…" Thorn began fiddling with her hair, looking at the table in front of her "Yeah, I... uhh… no idea." She muttered. It was the truth, she had no idea why she had said that.
"Perhaps you've damaged yourself always defending Slytherins?" Morghana laughed. Thorn gave a weak smile.
"You know what's interesting though…" Larne mused again, still watching the Slytherins "He has a better voice than Sirius." Thorn, Artemis, Morghana and even Peter Pettigrew nearby all stared at Larne. "Well he does!" she said loudly. "Have you heard him speak?"
"Not really." Morghana replied, while Artemis shook her head "He's kinda quiet."
"I have." Thorn said softly.
"Well?" Larne asked. Thorn thought about the conversation she'd had with Regulus that morning. She hadn't noticed at the time because she'd been so nervous, thinking he might hex her, but now that she thought about it, he did have a rather lovely voice.
"Yeah." She agreed "His voice is pretty nice."
"-Whatever." Morghana said dismissively, "I can tell you that Zeeman has a damn annoying voice."
"Is it his voice that's annoying?" Thorn asked "Or are you just irritated when he speaks?"
"…That might be it." Morghana admitted with a grin.
"Thought it might be." Thorn replied with a grin of her own.
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"What do you think they'll have us doing for detention?" Vulcan asked Regulus as he tore into a large slab of what appeared to be beef, with great enthusiasm.
"Haven't the foggiest." Regulus told him, watching his friend with what came close to revulsion.
"It'll be bad." Aeshire said "I heard that we'll be under the power of Filch."
"Oh you're kidding!" Vulcan snarled in disgust "I can't stand having that filthy squib telling me what to do… I mean, how dare he presume to think that he can order me about!"
"Ease up." Aeshire said in a bored tone "You've got all evening to complain yet. And where the hell is Zane?"
Regulus tuned out to Vulcan's replies and instead found himself looking across the hall at Gryffindor table. Something was wrong with Thorn, she was staring at the table intently, her hand fiddling with her hair while all her friends appeared to be staring at her. Regulus wondered what the problem was, it didn't seem to be too serious however, as a few moments later Thorn looked up and things appeared to return to normal.
"What's up?" Vulcan asked, punching Regulus in the arm.
"Nothing." Regulus replied quickly, looking down at his plate, but Vulcan wasn't fooled.
"Why were you looking over at Gryffindor table?" he asked in a low voice, looking across there himself. "…at that half-blood Connors and her friends…?"
"…I was just trying to remember which ones we have detention with." Regulus lied.
"The half-blood and the blood-traitor." Vulcan said disgustedly. Regulus raised an eyebrow.
"Morghana Connors and Thorn." Aeshire explained. Regulus already knew that, but he nodded slowly anyway as if in thanks.
"You know what I don't get…" Aeshire said to Vulcan. "Why do you like Connors less than Peyton? Connors is at least half-blood…"
"Where as Peyton is a mudblood?" Vulcan asked.
"Yeah."
"Well… Peyton has never challenged me." He replied thoughtfully "Where as it seems that Connors doesn't know her place… so I'll just have to show her."
"An interesting philosophy." Regulus said.
"Yeah, maybe we'll get the chance to fling a few hexes during detention." Vulcan replied hopefully.
"You hex Thorn and I'll rip your balls off." Aeshire told him. Vulcan turned his sapphire eyes on her.
"You have to stop sticking up for that blood-traitor." He told her in an annoyed tone.
"You call her that again, and I'll dive across this table and drive my knife through your throat so hard it'll shatter your spinal cord." Aeshire replied, unaffected. Vulcan raised an eyebrow.
Regulus grinned until he was distracted by a seventh year Ravenclaw guy who had just crossed the hall and had walked along Gryffindor table until he was behind Thorn. The guy then leant down and whispered something in her ear. Regulus watched, wanting to hex the guy, as he saw the way Thorn straightened in her chair, her eyes widened slightly and her entire face changed, all humour dying from her eyes. "-who's that?" Regulus asked.
"Oh." Aeshire said darkly when she saw who he meant. "Jared Levine. He's Thorn's ex." She cast the Ravenclaw a filthy look before looking back to her dinner. Regulus nodded, but he wasn't done yet.
"What's his deal?" he asked Aeshire.
"Pure-blood." She told him "Old family. Wanted Thorn for her family connections and status." Here Aeshire looked up at Regulus. "He tricked her, made her fall for him, hard. Then, she found out he was fucking half the girls in the school."
"That's what you get for being a …" Vulcan caught the look in Aeshire's eyes and the words died in his throat. Aeshire then continued her story.
"Thorn tried to end it with him, but Levine didn't see the problem, you see. He wouldn't take no for an answer." Regulus was just about to ask her what she meant by that when Slughorn appeared beside them and told them that it was time for their detention.
"Filch is waiting for you in the trophy room." Slughorn said with a smile. The three of them got to their feet, Vulcan muttering beneath his breath. Slughorn gave them another smile before he turned and left the hall ahead of them.
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Thorn and Morghana turned up to detention just after the Slytherins. Morghana having suggested that they didn't want them there for much longer before them, as they might set up some kind of booby trap. Thorn had gone along with it to shut her friend up. They walked into the trophy room to see the three Slytherins standing just inside the door. Thorn felt Morghana shift so she could grab her wand, but put a hand on her friend's arm. "It's fine." She said softly. Morghana muttered something under her breath and moved so she was standing away from Thorn so she had space if such an attack occurred. Thorn smiled when Aeshire grinned at her.
"About time." Came the low gravely voice of Filch as he moved towards them. "I have different jobs for you. So you'll be working in groups." Thorn felt Morghana shift closer to her, but Filch saw this and gave a kind of half laugh. "I don't think so." He said "I don't want any time wasters chatting for half the night." He waved his hand, motioning for Thorn and Morghana to move over to the group of Slytherins. "Hurry up, we don't have all night." He said when Morghana began moving as slowly as she could.
Thorn headed towards Aeshire and then turned so she was facing Filch, suppressing a grin as she though that simple movement was something Morghana would have never have done, she'd turned leaving Aeshire and Regulus at her back. Morghana would never allow Slytherins at her back, and looking over at Morghana, she saw her friend raising an eyebrow at her, trying to tell her something. Thorn just shook her head then turned her dark eyes on Filch who was now standing before them, looking carefully at them each in turn. "You'll be working in groups that I choose, and I'll be choosing them so that there will be more work and less chat done. Understand?" They all nodded silently. Thorn let out an inward sigh. This was going to be bad she just knew it. "Now," Filch said, "You two…" he pointed at Morghana and Vulcan Zeeman, "Will be patrolling the halls on this floor removing chewing gum and other things that Peeves has stuck in keyholes."
"Uhm… I don't think that's a good idea." Thorn said, stepping forward when she saw Morghana's eyes widen. Filch turned on her so fast Thorn thought he was going to hit her. She stepped back into Aeshire and Regulus, in shock, stepping on someone's foot, she didn't know which.
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Regulus watched Filch cautiously. He had thought the caretaker was about to strike Thorn, and it appeared she had thought the same as she had stepped back into Aeshire and himself so quickly it wasn't funny. He noticed Aeshire wince and looked down to see Thorn had stepped on her foot, however their attention was then focused intently upon Filch who moved very slowly forward to speak to Thorn. "Don't think it's a good idea?" he asked softly.
"No." Thorn said in a small voice. "I don't." Regulus understood that. Connors and Vulcan clearly hated each other. Vulcan had just been looking for an excuse and an opportunity to hex Connors, and now Filch was delivering her directly into his hands.
"Well, girlie." Filch growled "I've got news for you. I make the rules here. You may be used to giving orders at home, having everyone do whatever you say, but not here. This is my turf and what I say goes." He stepped back and looked over at Vulcan and Connors, he then pointed at a bucket by the door. "Put what you find in there." He looked at them for a moment and when neither of them moved he asked sharply "What are you waiting for?" Vulcan looked over at Regulus and smirked. Regulus just looked back without showing a thing on his face. He saw Connors give Thorn a pleading look before she followed Vulcan out the door, picking up the bucket he had ignored, as she went.
"That is so not good." Regulus heard Thorn mutter under her breath before Filch turned on the three of them.
"You three will be rearranging this entire room." He said. "I want every trophy moved. –without magic." He added with a smile. "You will move every one, and arrange them so that the room looks good, I don't want you just throwing them anywhere."
Regulus looked around the room. He was mental. There had to be thousands of trophies in the room. It would take forever. Filch then turned and left the room without another comment. "He wasn't kidding." Aeshire said quietly. "He's out of his mind."
"What's the point in this?" Regulus asked, looking around the room again. "It's probably been this way for hundreds of years. Why does he want us to change it?"
"He probably spent all holidays cleaning the castle." Thorn replied "There's probably nothing else for us to do." Regulus looked down at her. She was staring around at all of the trophies with wide eyes, no doubt wondering what time they would eventually finish with this.
"Alright, time for introductions." Aeshire said. "Reggie, this is…"
"Rose Hallo, yes, I know." He replied with a smile.
"Okay, and Thorn, This is Regulus Black."
"I know." Thorn said with a grin at Aeshire. Aeshire gave a mock sigh.
"Well, then, what do you need me for?" she asked, throwing her arms in the air.
"An extra pair of hands." Regulus told her with another smile, as he handed her the trophy that was nearest at hand.
"Great, I feel real loved," Aeshire replied.
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Thorn grinned as she watched the light banter between Aeshire and Regulus. She was only really half surprised by it, because she'd seen that side of Aeshire before, but she hadn't pinned Regulus as the laughing joking kind before. More proof that you couldn't always count on Hogwarts gossip.
"Hey," she said, stepping forward just as Regulus had finished clearing off one single shelf. "Have we decided what we're going to do to it all?"
"Well," Regulus replied, looking around at her "He just wants redecoration, right? – so, I guess we could just arrange them neatly in patterns on different shelves to what we got them from."
"Makes sense." Thorn replied, eyeing a dusty cabinet in the corner. "Does anybody ever come in here apart from detention?" she asked mildly.
"Not that I'm aware of." Regulus replied absently as the door opened and Slughorn walked in.
"Miss Yaslana. You will need to accompany me to the Hospital Wing, it concerns Mr Vincent."
"Zane? Why? Is he okay?" Aeshire asked desperately, as she put the trophy she was holding back on the shelf and hurrying across the room towards her head of house.
"Come with me." He replied, and led her out of the room.
"That doesn't sound good." Regulus said gently, as the door closed after Aeshire. Thorn nodded her agreement, wondering what had happened to Aeshire's boyfriend, and if Aeshire would be alright.
"Okay." Regulus said briskly, clasping his hands together. "If I take all the trophies down and pass them to you, we can do this shelf first?" he asked, waving a hand at the cabinet he was standing in front of.
"Sure." Thorn said, stepping forward. Regulus smiled at her for a second before he quickly looked back to the cabinet. Thorn stood waiting while he reached up to the top shelf, stretching – she never could have reached. "It'd be easier with magic, huh…" she said lightly. Regulus smiled again, pulling two trophies down as he did so, and handing them to her with a soft
"Yeah."
"We'll manage." She replied, taking the trophies and then bending and setting them on the floor.
"You know," Regulus said, reaching back up to the top shelf. "Neither of us should be here."
"Why?" Thorn asked, taking the trophies he held out to her.
"Because," he replied, "Neither of us were involved in that fight." Thorn looked around at him.
"Weren't you?" she asked. "Oh…"
"I got there about ten seconds before you did." He told her softly.
"Oh… sorry." Thorn said gently.
"For what?" he asked, glancing at her as he reached for more trophies.
"I… I just assumed you were." She replied, watching him.
"…because I'm in Slytherin?" Regulus asked casually.
"No!" she replied hastily, "Uhm… most of my family was in Slytherin, and Aeshire is one of my best friends. Slytherin has nothing to do with it."
"My reputation?" he asked, turning to face her and holding more trophies out to her. Thorn didn't know where to look. She knew she should meet his eyes, but was almost afraid to, in case she had insulted him when he'd been nothing but nice to her. She looked at the trophies he was holding out to her as she reached out to take them, they were for services to the school from about a hundred years earlier.
"Well… well, I didn't really know you…" she tried to explain.
"And now?" he asked softly. Thorn stood, holding the trophies and looking at him.
"Well, I still don't know you really…" she replied.
"But?" he asked with a smile.
"…but, you're…" Thorn looked away, searching for the words she needed.
"…I'm…?" Regulus pressed, still smiling.
"…not what I expected." Thorn finished, looking back at him. Regulus just looked at her for a few moments, after which he nodded
"You've reviewed your opinion of me?" he asked.
"Um…" Thorn muttered, daring to look up and meet his eyes. "I guess so, yes." She said honestly. She had indeed changed her opinion of him after their conversation that morning. She put the two trophies on the floor and stood up, twisting a strand of her black hair nervously.
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Regulus watched her stand up, obviously uneasy. "Don't worry." He said gently, "I'm not chastising you."
"Yeah… okay. Nah, I don't blame you. I judged you unfairly."
"Not completely." He replied, feeling bad now that she was apologising to him for nothing. "I've been involved in things like that before. I just wasn't yesterday." Thorn looked up at him, and he could clearly see in her eyes that she was trying to fit that piece of information into the new profile she had formed of him. He almost wished he hadn't said anything, and had have let her keep her good opinion of him.
"Well, then, why did you stop your friend from hexing me?" she asked. Regulus blinked. He had not been expecting that question.
"…I don't know." He replied honestly. Thorn raised an eyebrow.
"You must have some idea." She replied.
"Not really." Regulus said, running a hand through his black hair. "You came in, and I saw that Vulcan was about to hex you… and so I stopped him." Thorn smiled at him.
"You make no sense." She told him lightly. Regulus smiled gently at her, wondering why she hadn't drawn her wand. She'd just found out, from him directly, that he'd been involved in random attacks on people from her own house and she hadn't drawn her wand to defend herself. Why?
"You aren't afraid of me?" he asked in a low voice. Thorn shook her head, looking at him.
"Should I be?" she asked. Regulus looked back at her silently for a few moments before he shook his head.
"No." he told her. Thorn smiled brightly at him for a second.
"Well, then, isn't that nice." She gestured back at the cabinet they were working on. "Shall we do this?"
Regulus drew his wand, watching out of the corner of his eye, to see Thorn's reaction as he did so. He suppressed a smile when he saw her watching him carefully, but she didn't freak out or go for her own wand. He waved his wand at the cabinet and directed all the trophies to the ground, effectively clearing the entire cabinet.
"Regulus…" Thorn hissed, glancing at the door. "He said 'without magic'. They have spells that tell them when we use magic…"
"Not Filch." Regulus replied with a charming smile at her. "He's a squib. He'll never know."
"A Squib?" Thorn asked, surprised. "Really? How do you know?"
"Think about it." He replied, clearing off the next cabinet with a wave of his wand. "Have you ever seen him use magic?"
"…actually, no." Thorn said, shaking her head after a moment's consideration. Regulus watched her, pleased that he'd told her something she found so interesting. "No wonder he's so cranky." Thorn was saying "The poor man has to watch students learning magic every day when it's something that he will never be able to do."
"It's an explanation." Regulus agreed, intrigued by the fact that she was expressing pity for a man who was so horrid to her and all other students unfortunate enough to cross his path.
"It's quite sad, actually." Thorn said "He must be so lonely."
"…I wouldn't feel too sorry for him." Regulus replied "Rumour has it he used to torture students." Thorn blinked.
"Literally?" she asked.
"Yeah, did all kinds of things to them." He told her. Thorn looked thoroughly disturbed. "It's really not that hard to believe. You do get the sense of it from him, I mean, you thought he was going to hit you earlier…"
"Yeah…" Thorn breathed. "He does give off the vibe…"
Regulus nodded in agreement as he turned to the next cabinet, about to clear it off, however, Thorn had grabbed his wrist stoping him. He looked down, surprised. "Perhaps we should deal with the trophies we have already. It might look suspicious if he pops in to check on us."
"You're right." Regulus replied. "Too much done too soon." Thorn nodded, releasing his wrist. Regulus looked at his wrist where her hand had been, wondering if he was imagining the tingling skin. When he looked back up, she had her wand out and was arranging several trophies into patterns on one of the empty shelves. Once she had done with that she turned around towards him again. Regulus didn't know why he did it, but he wanted to know, and so he just asked. "I saw Jared Levine talking to you earlier… you kind of looked uncomfortable, what did he say?"
"I'm sorry," Thorn said quickly "I have to use the bathroom." She turned and hurried out the door before he could say another word. Regulus watched her leave, wondering if what she had said was true or if she was escaping from the conversation he had just started. He supposed it would undoubtedly be a sensitive topic considering Aeshire had said that Thorn had fallen for Levine hard, and Regulus wished he'd had more tact in asking his question, or perhaps he just should not have brought the Ravenclaw up at all. He hoped he hadn't upset her too much.
Disclaimer; I am not J.K.
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