Chapter 10

Hope adored sleep. She was normally the first of her friends to crawl into bed and curled up and slept in the corners of parties when she went out. Whenever things were unexpectedly rescheduled and she had an extra hour of free time, she rejoiced in the opportunity for an impromptu nap. Sleep was a sacred experience to her. Part of this was a result of chronic malnutrition and a lack of energy to power through a full day. She also preferred to sleep than to deal with uncomfortable situations and would end a bad or uneventful day by turning in early. One time she had taken a sleeping draught at 5 pm because she had nothing else she wanted to do that day and just wanted it to be over with. She occasionally fantasized about being in a coma so that she could sleep for years and wake up with a large chunk of her life over.

She tended to wake up depressed as a result. Whether it was an alarm or her body's desire to regain consciousness that woke her, she was always disappointed to not be able to sleep longer. Waking up every day meant living through another day, fully conscious, until her next opportunity to fall back into sleep. She usually showered first thing in the morning and had a good cry before facing the day, but she couldn't shower out here in the Forest. Instead, she was resting on Regulus Black's lap quietly crying while he pet her hair. It vaguely registered as an absurd experience, most notably because he was not even mocking her for crying all the time, but it was too comfortable for her to care much. If she was going to get through this day, she was going to need some comfort. She was pretty certain it had been two weeks since they first got lost in here, but for all she knew they were struggling for a month or more. Although she would walk out of the Forest with a chunk of her life over and done with, surviving out here was nothing as relaxing as she imagined being in a coma would be.

"Do you really think that no one loves you?" she murmured eventually.

Regulus jumped a bit, as if jolted from his own private reverie. "Sometimes. Not really. I sometimes wonder though, who would really be there for me if I really fucked up. I'm pretty sure only my house elf. Maybe my father but...if I became a disappointment to the Black family name I don't think he would want to support me. My friends sure wouldn't. My girlfriend claims she loves me but-"

Hope jolted upright. "Your what?!"

"Uh, my girlfriend?"

"Uh, your girlfriend? Since when have you had a girlfriend."

Regulus looked thoughtful for a moment before replying, "About 2 years, I suppose."

"Wha-and you didn't-you didn't think to mention that?"

"Why would I mention her? She's rather boring. I don't see why she would have come up."

Hope stared at him. "I can't tell if you're being purposefully obtuse or if you're actually just a thoughtless idiot."

"Well that was uncalled for. I don't talk about her much. I don't think she would mind."

"You don't think that maybe she would mind that you slept with some other girl? You don't think that perhaps I would mind that you have a girlfriend?"

"Oh. That. No, it didn't occur to me."

"What are you a sociopath? Or do you not understand how girlfriends work?"

"It honestly just didn't occur to me that you would care. Most girls don't. I understand how girlfriends work, but it's not as if I'm head over heels for Cass, she's just...my girlfriend."

"Jesus fuck, most girls don't? You mean there are other girls? What the hell are you even dating her for if you don't like her and you fuck other girls?"

"She's pureblood. And bearable. I do not have the widest options."

"That makes it ok for you to let her fall in love with you when you clearly don't give a damn about her? Why not just not have a girlfriend? They're not required, you know."

Regulus looked a bit taken aback by her sudden attack. "I don't think she is actually in love with me. She might think she is, but I doubt it. And I do care about her, I take very good care of her. It isn't like I let her know about other girls or rub it in her face. I am a good boyfriend. And I need a good pureblood girlfriend, it looks bad if I don't. Besides, it's stops anyone else asking for a proper date."

"You are unbelieveable. Unbelievable. How can you actually delude yourself into thinking that you're a good boyfriend when you cheat on her regularly and use her as a tool to sleep with girls without having to commit to them? That's disgusting. You are disgusting. God, I liked you better when you were talking about how great it felt to torture people."

"She's happy. I fail to see what the problem is. You can moralize all you want, but what does it matter if we are both happy?"

"Because your whole relationship is a lie?"

"And? It doesn't hurt anyone, how could it be wrong? Everyone walks away happy. Explain to me how that makes me a horrible person."

"Because-because-because it's wrong."

"What makes it wrong? Honestly, Caldwell, what makes an action that hurts no one wrong? Your personal feelings about it?"

"It-it just-it is."

"Ah, of course. An astonishingly convincing argument, Caldwell. You have me completely converted now."

"Oh, shut the fuck up, Black. You know it's wrong. You have to know that's no way to treat people."

"I most assuredly do not."

"Christ. Didn't your parents teach you right from wrong?"

"No, they did not. And I never called myself a good person. But I refuse to apologize for making someone happy."

"Well you've made me upset."

"How unusual. I beg your pardon if I don't actually care."

"Of course you don't actually care. You're a fucking sociopath."

"I am not. Disagreeing with your foolish moral principles does not make me a sociopath, it makes me a man with a basic level of intelligence."

"Oh please, you're a child. You can talk like you're royalty all you want but-"

"Perhaps you haven't understood me. I am royalty. I am the Black heir. And whatever my behavior in a state of exhaustion and hunger-which I am sure you are perfectly familiar with-may have led you to believe, I will always consider you beneath me. You will always have less worth in this world than me. If calling me a terrible person makes you feel better about it, so be it."

"I'm not calling you terrible because I feel bad about myself, I'm calling you terrible because you are."

"Really, Caldwell, you ought to be a politician with those masterful arguments."

"Really, Black, just fucking kill yourself."

Regulus chuckled. "I'm not the one who tried, remember? Your skill in that area clearly matches your ability to make a solid point."

Hope glared at him looking like she wanted to cry or punch him in the face, or both. "You know I was actually starting to think you were alright. I thought you were better than your family, but you're just-you're just-ugh."

"Well spoken as always. Such a pleasure to sit here and chat with you but perhaps we should get going?"

"No-don't you-you can't just treat me like that! You don't get to treat me like I'm worthless and pretend like you never gave a damn about me! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Look, this isn't getting you anywhere. You aren't going to get an apology out of me, although I admit it was my mistake for not informing you of all the details of my personal life before daring to touch you. So can we move on, please?"

"Fine. Fine. We can just-did you hear that?"

Regulus nodded slowly. "Yes. It sounds like-"

"HOPE! REGULUS?"

Hope and Regulus turned to look at each other and grinned, their anger quickly fading away. There were people here. To rescue them. They were finally getting out of here. "WE'RE HERE!" Hope shouted. "HERE! We're not going to die out here, Regulus!"

"I can take a shower. And eat food."

Hope threw her hands around him in excitement and he hugged her back with an elated expression on his face. Hope hugged the two Ministry workers who had found them too, and continued to hug everyone she saw as she left the forest. People! Real people! She was free!

Regulus walked slightly behind her, nodding his head absentmindedly when asked if he was alright. While Hope chattered endlessly about what had happened, naturally, Regulus walked gleefully out of the Forest in silence. He wasn't even irritated by the ease with which the Ministry workers got them out of the Forest and back on Hogwarts grounds, a task that proved impossible for him. He was going back to his real life. He didn't have to be a filthy forest person anymore.

A/n: Yay, freedom!