A/N: Please know I have read the books. In canon, I know that Regulus and Sirius are about two years apart. HOWEVER, I will do an age adjustment for the purpose of this story so that Regulus is a fifth year and Georgie will not look like a creep.
Scary Conversation by Slow Moves
"Shit, shit, shit, I'm so sorry," I said, grabbing my toiletries basket and trying to leave. Sirius, being a whole foot taller than me (my being only five feet tall), blocked my way. Surprisingly, he was emotionless.
"You hair looks nice," he commented while looking at it. This remark was rather benign, despite his behavior earlier.
He was still blocking my way.
"It's dry. You already take your shower? Can I join you this time?"
There he was. The inappropriate Sirius I (barely) knew. Accustomed to, I would think the better word choice to be.
"Shove off," I growled. He smirked again, and it was just as mean as it was in the kitchens.
"Of course, my Cornish pixie," he sneered, finally letting me through. Wand in hand, I bolted.
"So, you walked in on him?" The next morning, my best friend Leila Kaplan was scandalized.
"No, you twit! I walked into the wrong bathroom," I said, correcting her for probably the tenth time. Leila shot me a disbelieving look.
"I did! It was dark and we actually live in the castle so I didn't think I would need the lights," I said. Leila laughed at me.
"Yeah, sure, of course, Georgie," she said mockingly. I stuck my tongue out at her, irritated that she didn't believe me. She responded in kind by pushing me off the Ravenclaw bench.
"Gryffindor down! Gryffindor down!" I shouted. The surrounding Ravenclaws chuckled at me. They were used to me and Leila's antics.
"Don't worry, Cornish pixie, I'm coming to save you."
Leila laughed as I hurried to pick myself up so Sirius wouldn't have a reason to talk to or touch me after yesterday's incident.
His face seemed to be set in a blank mask when he got to me. Around us, girls whispered.
He was too fit and had too nice of hair to be a mortal person and to talk to me, not going to lie.
He smirked at me before bending down to whisper, "You left your bath products basket in the boys' lavatory. I've put them back." He was so close his hair fell out of place and tickled my face.
I jerked away from him. His closeness and the mere fact his hair was tickling my face felt inappropriate. "Where did you-"
But he had already turned away. I groaned and stuck my tongue out at him. Prat.
"I hope you end up together," Leila teased. I made a face at her.
"I don't. I've no idea where he's been or who he's slept with-"
Leila snorted. "How do you know if he even sticks around to even sleep?"
"Class, I've decided to do something a little different today," Professor Slughorn announced as soon as we had filed into the room. Lily and Severus Snape looked stricken; probably didn't want to be separated in the only class where James couldn't harass the two of them. Remus, who looked even worse than awful, made a noise that sounded like "Please, no, have mercy."
While Severus and Lily were fine and dandy with each other, they were the only Gryffindor and Slytherin that got along. Sirius was in this relatively small class, and so was his brother Regulus. Finney Chaisson, Kerry Stevens, and Precia Rolfsone, too. Leila, Tristan Riccio, and Geoffrey Kauffman were the Ravenclaws. Kimberly Hart and Dean Davis were the only Hufflepuffs. Sirius usually sat with Tristan, Geoffrey, and Dean, while Leila, Kimberly, Remus, and I sat with each other. It made Sirius slightly irritated that Remus chose my company over his. Serves him right.
"I have decided that we are going to change up our seating arrangements!" Slughorn sounded so pleased with himself.
"Um, Professor, why? I mean, why have you decided that? We're perfectly fine the way we are now," I asked before I could stop myself. There were murmurs of agreement, and I made eye contact with Lily from the table over. She mouthed a thank you, and I swear I even saw Severus nod.
"Well, Ms. Paredes-"
"There haven't been...scuffles either," piped in Kimberly.
"-and Ms. Smart-"
"It's Hart," Kimberly growled back. Remus and I cracked a smile at her irritation, but Slughorn continued on as if Kimberly hadn't said a thing.
"-we're going to be working on a personality-altering potion called Cupiditas."
Immediately, Lily's hand shot up into the air.
"Professor, is this a love potion?"
Slughorn shook his head. "That would be rather dangerous to brew in a class of teenagers, wouldn't it?"
A few people tittered.
"Like I said before, Cupiditas is a personality-altering potion. It makes someone a little more confident or outgoing, and more inclined to show romantic interest, real or fake, towards another person."
"So, this is basically a flirtation potion, Professor?" Regulus spoke, and his voice sounded a lot like Sirius's. There was something missing in it, though, and it was replaced with something else. The light-hearted, joking quality in Sirius's voice was replaced by coldness in Regulus's, I think.
"Precisely, Mr. Black," Slughorn nodded.
"...why are you having us brew this, Professor? This is dangerous," Dean said nervously.
"Because, Mr. Mavis, this potion is very difficult to make. This is a good group activity because it will help everyone with communication. Like Ms. Smart said, there haven't been any scuffles; I would like to keep it that way. Should one occur and especially in this period in this room, so many things could go wrong." The reason we were going to make this potion surprised me; it was rather deep and rather responsible of Slughorn to assign something like this. It was alarming. I just hoped he picked the right people to go together. If he didn't, so many things could go wrong, indeed.
"You will be working in pairs I will choose."
Remus made his awkward noise again, and I squeezed his hand. To comfort him, of course, but also to get him to stop making that awkward noise of his.
"Ms. Evans and Mr. Riccio."
I envied her. Tristan was pretty cute.
"Ms. Rolfstone and Mr. Kauffman."
Precia was alright enough for a Slytherin. She mostly kept to herself; Geoffrey should consider himself lucky.
"Ms. Smart and Mr. Chaisson."
Kimberly whimpered as she got up to join Finney. I'd be whimpering too if I had to work on a flirting potion with Fidgety Hands Finney.
"Ms. Kaftan and Mr. Snape."
Leila narrowed her eyes at Slughorn before waving at Severus. He nodded respectfully. They had an odd friendship. Not as odd as his with Lily's, but odd.
"Ms. Paredes and Mr. Black."
I sighed, but Lily of all people saved me.
"Which one, Professor?"
"Which one indeed, Ms. Evans. Let's make it...Regulus."
I didn't know which was worse. A Black I barely knew, and only that he was disrespectful and demeaning, or one I didn't know at all.
As I tried to pick my stuff up from the floor, I felt someone trying to walk over me.
"DON'T-"
It's unsuccessful as that someone tripped over me. No one laughed though, so it's probably someone incredibly serious or incredibly scary.
I realized it's both when I started to apologize and was met with narrowed, frigid light blue eyes.
Don't I ever do anything right?
