Well hello there all :) so, it got to 10! Whoop whoop! actually, there's 11! happy days! So I'm uploading now as a little thank you gift. hope you enjoy!
It's two a.m., feelin' like I just lost a friend
Hope you know this ain't easy, easy for me
And we know it's never simple, never easy
Never a clean break, no one here to save me - Breathe, Taylor Swift
Chapter 7
"And then, they had this list with Most snoggable girls on it!" Tabitha was filling Lily in on the things she had found out while with the Marauders the other day. Lily laughed and shook her head.
"Wow. I always knew they were weird." Tabbi laughed and took a bite out of her food. Lily then brought up some potions homework that was due in the next day and Tabbi groaned.
"Oh great. I haven't done that. I should go do that now, do you mind Lily?" Lily smiled.
"No it's fine. I actually need to go talk to Amos anyway." Tabbi wiggled her eyebrows at Lily who blushed slightly.
"Oh really? Well have fun." She winked then got up before Lily could whack her. She made her way out of the Great Hall and walked straight into someone and would have fallen over if the hadn't grabbed her. She looked up to apologise and met the eyes of Regulus Black. He steadied her then let go of her waist and took a step back. Tabbi brushed herself off and then smiled at Regulus.
"We really should stop bumping into each other like this Thorne, or I'm going to start thinking you're stalking me."
"Maybe I am." Tabbi smirked which made Regulus smile.
"I couldn't say I would mind." The dimples were back which made Tabbi's smile grow.
"Are you flirting with me Mr Black?" She asked and Regulus laughed.
"Very full of yourself aren't you?" Tabbi laughed too.
"It comes with being a Gryffindor." Regulus shook his head slightly.
"No, it comes with being very pretty." He looked at her seriously so she knew he wasn't making a joke. She blushed slightly and smiled. "I actually had something to ask you." Tabbi nodded for him to continue. Regulus leant against the wall and crossed his arms. "Well, I've been getting slightly bogged down with work and, well, I'm failing Defense. Professor Trent has insisted I get a tutor, and he recommended you." Tabbi was surprised. She didn't think any teacher would think of her as a good influence on someone else! She was also surprised that Regulus was actually asking for help.
"Erm, sure. If you want." Regulus smiled again.
"Great, when should we start?" Tabbi shrugged.
"Umm, how about tomorrow at 7 in the Defense class room?"
"Ok, see you then Miss Thorne." Regulus did a little bow and made his way into the Great Hall. Tabbi was still in slight shock from what had happened. She then made her way to Gryffindor Tower deep in thought.
That night Tabbi lay still in her bed, going over all her encounters with Regulus. Could they be considered friends? No, not yet. She thought. But they would be soon. And all the flirty comments were leading to something. She groaned silently. This was just another secret she had to keep from her friends to add to the list. When she had finally fallen asleep she dived into a terrifying nightmare. When she was finally able to wake herself up, her heart was pounding and she was covered in sweat. Also she had that familiar feeling of dry tears covering her face. Tabitha took a few calming breaths and relaxed slightly in her bed. But she knew there was no point trying to get back to sleep here, so she got up silently and crept out of her room to the boy's.
When Tabitha got there she nudged the door open and found the room in complete darkness. She shuffled into the room, careful not to wake anyone, then made her way to James' bed. It was so dark she could only see the outline of his sleeping form. His chest was rising and falling slowly so she knew he was asleep. Tabbi flicked the covers up and crawled in, trying not to wake him. When she had settled into the edge of the bed, she was pulled close to him, and he held her by the waist. She frowned at this, then turned and didn't see the familiar brown eyes of James looking at her, but instead the very drowsy ones of Sirius. They looked at each other for a while, Tabbi too upset to bother starting an argument and Sirius too tired.
"Why are you in my bed Thorne?" He whispered groggily.
"I'm sorry. I though you were James." She mumbled back.
"Wha-?" He didn't bother finishing the sentence though as he took in her tear stained face and pale complexion. Instead he just pulled Tabbi closer and held her. Tabbi just sighed and closed her eyes. After that, she forgot it was Sirius Black she was curled up with in bed. Instead, she just relaxed and enjoyed a peaceful night of sleep she wouldn't have otherwise gotten.
The next morning Tabbi was awoken by a shout. "Tabbi?" She opened her eyes sleepily and looked up into the face of the person standing over her. "Tab, what are you doing in Sirius' bed?" James asked and she frowned.
"What did I hear about Tabbi and Sirius?" Remus asked from presumably the other side of the room.
"She's in his bed!" James said loudly back. Tabbi groaned and closed her eyes again, hoping that had all been a dream. She felt someone nudging her and she groaned again.
"5 minutes Lily!" She said without opening her eyes.
"As much as I would love to be the girl who Prongs spends hours stalking, I'm not Evans." A voice said softly near Tabbi's ear. She finally sat up and took in her surroundings. James and Remus were standing by the bed and Sirius was laying beside her.
"Damn. I was hoping that was a dream." She said and rubbed her face.
"So you dream about me do you?" Sirius asked with a wink.
"Piss off Black."
"Wait, what actually happened?" James asked and Tabbi sighed.
"It's a long story."
"Did you sleep with him?" Remus asked, shocked and something else. Hurt maybe? Tabbi shook her head quickly.
"No! Well, not like that. We just slept in the same bed." At their confused looks she sighed again then ran her fingers through her hair. "I, well, I had a nightmare and came to just sleep with James but then I got into Sirius' bed by mistake and then I couldn't be bothered to get out again so I just sort of fell asleep there." She said in a rush. James and Remus were frowning slightly, but Sirius was just grinning.
"You just called me Sirius." He said smugly.
"So? That's your name isn't it?" Tabbi mentally scolded herself for her slip up. Sirius shrugged, not wiping the smug smile off his face.
"Wait, what I don't get is why would you come to sleep with James?" Remus asked.
"Erm, I just do that when I have nightmares." Tabbi didn't look them in the eye. She had just had to admit that she had nightmares regularly. That wasn't something she wanted them knowing.
"So you've been coming in here for 5 years without us knowing?" Sirius asked and she shrugged.
"You guys are deep sleepers. Well, I erm better get back cos Lily's gonna be freaking out." Tabbi then climbed out of the bed and made her way past James and Remus towards the door. Before she walked through it, Sirius shouted out;
"Hey Thorne, you're welcome to sleep in my bed any time!" She swore at him then walked out the room.
"You did what?" Tabbi knew she shouldn't have said anything to Lily. Lily dropped her knife and swore before bending over to retrieve it.
"Lily Evans! I didn't know you could swear!" Tabbi said while trying to keep the smile off her face.
"Yeh, well I'm in shock at the moment. I mean, my best friend did just tell me she slept with Sirius Black."
"No Lily, not like that! We just slept in the same bed, cos I thought it was James' bed." Lily relaxed slightly and began to laugh.
"Oh good! Because I thought you actually meant slept with him!" Tabbi laughed too at that thought. Why would she ever even think about doing that! They couldn't stand each other! Tabbi continued eating her breakfast until the Marauders walked into the Great Hall. Lily looked at the empty seats beside them and groaned.
"Quick, let's go before they sit next to us." She said and Tabbi laughed. They both got up and made their way out of the hall quickly. On their way Tabbi caught Regulus' eye and he smiled. She smiled back then walked through the doors.
"Why are you smiling?" Lily asked once they were safely away from the boys.
"No reason." Tabbi kept looking straight until she was pulled to a stop by Lily.
"Alright, who is he?" Lily asked.
"What?"
"Who's the boy that's got you smiling?"
"I don't know what you're talking about Lils." Tabbi said innocently.
"Don't give me that Tabitha Thorne!" She said with her hands on her hips. Tabbi giggled and Lily rolled her eyes.
"I don't fancy anyone Lils. Buuut," Tabbi smirked at Lily's now worried face. "I know you fancy someone." Lily shook her head.
"Oh yeh? And who's that?"
"Amos Diggery." Tabbi said with a knowing smirk.
"Pfft. No. Amos? I don't know where you got that from." Lily said and Tabbi laughed.
"Aww Lily, it's ok. You can tell me!" Tabbi winked and Lily giggled then linked arms with her.
"Ok, ok! Maybe I kind of like him!"
"I told you so!" Tabbi grinned and they made their way to Transfiguration.
After Arithmancy, Tabbi hung out in the common room until Lily was ready to go to supper. They just chatted as they ate until Tabbi checked her watch and saw it was 6:55. She swore under her breath and stood up. "Sorry Lily, I gotta dash." Lily frowned.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
"Oh, erm, I'm tutoring someone." Lily was so shocked she spat out her food.
"What?" Tabbi rolled her eyes.
"Gee, thanks for the confidence Lils."
"Sorry, but you? Tutoring? Wow." Tabbi grinned.
"Yeh, that's what I said. But anyways, I'm supposed to meet them at 7 so I gotta go." Lily grinned and nodded.
"Go on then. Have fun!" She shouted and Tabbi waved over her shoulder as she walked swiftly out of the hall.
Tabbi only just managed to get to the classroom in time. Regulus was already there, sitting on a desk playing with his wand. He looked up when Tabbi closed the door and gave her a rare smile. "Hey, I didn't think you were going to turn up." He said.
"Yeh, sorry about that. Lost track of time. Anyway, I'm here now." She said.
"You sure are." Tabbi made her way over to him and sat down.
"So. Did you bring your book?" Regulus smirked and took it out. "What are you doing in class at the moment then?" She asked.
"Hmm, well I have messed up the two spells we've learnt so far so I think I should work on those first." Tabbi smiled. Spells were her sort of thing.
"Great, I can do spells. Which ones are they?"
"Impedimenta and expulso." Tabbi smiled. She had learnt these sort of things in 3rd year.
"Right, stand up." Regulus looked slightly surprised but did as he was told. They stood in the middle of the room and Tabbi got rid of all the chairs and tables so they could have more space.
"We're gunna work on impedimenta ok? You know the spell yeh?" She asked and Regulus nodded. "Right, cast it on me and let me see what you can do." Regulus waved his wand and instead of Tabbi slowing down, her hair grew down to her knees. She laughed which made Regulus frown.
"Sorry, I wasn't laughing at you. I was laughing at my hair." Regulus then smirked.
"It suits you." he commented and she laughed.
"Yeh, sure it does. I think I'll keep it shorter, but thanks." She then waved her wand and her hair turned back to it's normal length. She then walked over to Regulus. "You just gotta concentrate more." She then waved her wand and made a book fly around the room. Tabbi then put her hand over Regulus' and guided his wand as he muttered the spell. The book slowed and Tabbi grinned. "See, I told you you could do it." She turned to look at Regulus and found his face close to hers. He looked at her with a smouldering gaze which made her blush. She quickly took her hand off his.
"You're a good teacher." He said quietly and she blushed again. This wasn't supposed to be happening.
"Erm, how about we work on the next spell?" She took a step back and looked away from him. She then stood away and leant on a table. "Try the expulso." Regulus then waved his wand and instantly the book was thrown to the other side of the class room.
"I though you said you couldn't do that one?" Tabbi asked and he shrugged.
"I couldn't in the lesson. Maybe you're my good luck charm." He said with a smirk. She shook her head and rolled her eyes. Tabbi then picked up his text book and flicked through it. When a piece of parchment fell out she picked it up and read it. It was one of Regulus' recent essays, which was marked at an O. She then turned round and frowned at him. He saw the paper and gave her a very cute dimple smile.
"I thought you said you were failing?" She asked and he smiled wider but didn't answer. "Regulus." She said and he sighed.
"Ok, maybe I'm not completely failing. But you are a very good tutor." He told her, taking a step closer. Uh oh. She thought as he reached out and brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes.
"Did you make this up so I could to tutor you?" She asked and he smiled.
"I made it up so I could get you alone to ask you whether you wanted to go to Hogsmead with me this weekend?" She was surprised to say the least. Images of the Marauder's reactions to this flashed through her mind but she ignored them.
"Ok, I'll go with you. As long as you don't pretend to fail a subject again just to talk to me." Regulus gave her that cute smile again.
"I promise not to pretend to fail a subject for you." He agreed. Regulus stepped back and picked up his text book. Then he leant forward, plucked his essay out of her hand, kissed her on the cheek and walked towards the door. "See you in the Entrance Hall at 10." He said then walked out. Tabbi rubbed her face as she thought about what had just happened. She had a date. With Regulus Black. This couldn't be good.
Well, what did you all think of that eh? want to leave me some more lovely reviews to get to 15? you have to tell me what you think of Regulus! Right, I think I should reply to some reviews now yeh? This is where all the replies will be in the future guys so yeh, keep reading these AN :)
Lauren: yes, it is still Sirius/oc but there definitely is a connection between Tabbi and Regulus! You will see in later chapters how that grows ;)
MarauderGirl71: I know, I actually hate Peter, I think he's gross. But it is all explained in the chapter I just wrote. I mean, maybe his girlfriend likes his personality..? :P unlikely but you never know! Keep reading to find out!
and thank you to mEEEm, fanofiction and Jake for your reviews!
Keep em coming people! Remember, get it to 15 and the next chapter will be put up! XD
-ellie xox
