The rest of the holidays after the initial meeting with the Dark Lord saw a rift form and deepen between Amaryllis and Regulus. While the two of them had previously been close and would share everything with one another the argument over the betrothal had caused neither of them to want to speak with the other.
Walburga had been completely oblivious to all that was going on with the teenagers opting to maintain the fact that the two were going to be married once they were out of Hogwarts. She had continued her lessons with Amaryllis even though she no longer needed them as the girl had learned how she was expected to act and had learnt how to assess a situation and act accordingly.
There were still some things that Walburga said that Amaryllis was not able to understand but she had taken to writing to Corbin to ask any of her questions as she had done with the question about betrothals.
Corbin was surprised by the infrequent letters he was receiving from Amaryllis. He hadn't thought the two of them were close. He had assumed that the one time she had asked him something had been a one off. But he was wrong and now he was wondering what could have happened between her and Regulus that caused her to not want to speak to him.
As they sat on the train heading to Hogwarts for the start of their sixth year neither Amaryllis or Regulus would look at the other or say anything. When Timothy and Corbin joined them Corbin took the seat beside Amaryllis as he knew that she would not want to sit beside Regulus.
"Are you going to explain to me what happened?" Corbin asked Amaryllis.
Timothy looked over. He was unaware that Corbin had any idea about the fight between Amaryllis and Regulus. Timothy had seen the lack of communication between the two and wondered if something that happened however until Corbin's question he hadn't been certain.
"Turns out she can lie to me." Regulus stated sending a glare at the girl.
"He found out." Amaryllis said softly tugging at her left sleeve.
Noticing her action Regulus sent her another glare as if to say, 'don't do that.'
"Walburga?" Corbin questioned.
"Bellatrix." Amaryllis muttered.
"Someone explain to me what's going on." Timothy said to the group not understanding what was happening.
They all just looked at the confused boy. Amaryllis didn't want to say anything. Corbin didn't think it was his place to tell. So Regulus spoke.
"You know that guy Merrin was going to marry?" Regulus asked Timothy who just nodded thinking it best not to say anything. "Yeah, well, mother wanted the girl she was training to marry her son."
Timothy was surprised by this yet he couldn't see how this was causing such a big argument between the two.
"I don't get why you're so angry about all this." Amaryllis snapped at Regulus. "If you're going to mad at anyone it should be your mother."
"You lied to me." He told her.
"I did what I was told." She responded. "Tell me Regulus, how many times have you directly disobeyed your mother?"
There was a moment of silence everyone staring expectantly at Regulus.
"Exactly my point." She said breaking the silence and slumping into a seat in a manner that would have had Walburga Black shrieking. "So don't you dare be on my case about that."
"Don't interact with Sirius." Regulus said after a short pause. "Treat him as you treat all other Mudbloods and Halfbreeds."
"What?" Amaryllis asked him.
"That's what she told me." He said. "Before I met you."
Amaryllis stared in shock. If he had listened to his mother they never would have met.
"I'm going to go change." She said standing up and grabbing the small bag containing her clothes.
She walked out of the compartment and headed in the direction of the toilets and she knew she had tears in her eyes. It was too much to think about.
"Amaryllis, wait." She heard someone call from behind her.
She knew exactly who it was and she really didn't want to talk to him right now. She didn't care how much he wanted to talk to her there was no way she was letting him see her this way.
"Amy, wait." He called stopping her in her tracks.
No one but Regulus called her Amy so why was Corbin doing it now? Why had he even come after her at all?
"What do you want Corbin?" She asked weakly.
"Are you alright?" He asked her.
Amaryllis looked at Corbin the glanced around before dragging him into the toilets and locking the door. She really didn't want other people to hear what she had to say. She found it embarrassing.
"I don't know at the moment." She said. "Everything is just so confusing and I have no idea what's going on."
"What do you mean?" He asked her.
"He's mad at me for not telling him the truth when he knows why I didn't." She explained. "We spend most of the summer not talking because of it. On top of that we had to try and hide it all from Walburga. And to put the finishing touches on it all he told me we should see other people. He broke up with me when we weren't even together."
During her rant some of her tears had escaped and were running down her cheeks. She'd never felt so weak and vulnerable before.
"He doesn't want me." She said coming to the realisation causing even more tears to fall. "I don't even know who he wants, all I know is it's not me."
She reached up to wipe her tears away but before she could another set of thumbs wiped the tears from her cheeks.
"Then Regulus is thinking straight." Corbin whispered his face now rather close hers.
She hadn't realised they were so close. She had been so focused on trying to hold herself together that she hadn't been paying attention to how close he was getting. The two just stared at one another before Corbin leaned down and placed his lips on hers.
She'd always wondered if something like this would happen. The two of them had been growing closer since the time she had pulled him aside. She considered them rather good friends especially after all the letter they exchanged over the break. And though she wondered if this would happen she was still shocked by the action.
Regardless of her shock she still kissed him back wrapped her arms around his neck. He moved his hands down from her face to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her closer.
Neither knew how long the kiss lasted.
Eventually they pulled apart and just stared at one another. Neither knew what to say. There wasn't anything really too say. They weren't sure if they had been caught up in the moment or if it meant something more.
Amaryllis wondered what would happen. This was not the image that Walburga had so carefully crafted for her. She was not acting as she was expected to. The girl she was supposed to be would not have spent a couple minutes kissing one of her closest friends.
Corbin was worried as to what Regulus might do to him. He knew that even though Regulus had told her that he wanted them to see other people, he was still going to be wildly overprotective when it came to her. Corbin wasn't sure if he would fit the image of the person Regulus wanted for her.
"What now?" She asked removing her arms from around his neck and untangling herself from his arms to allow herself to take a step back from him.
"What do you want?" He asked her as he too took a step back creating an even larger gap between them.
"I have no idea." She said with a small chuckle.
"Neither do I." He responded.
"Well I still need to get changed." She said after a moments silence. "And the others will probably be wondering where you went."
"Yeah, I should head back." He said. "You'll join us again, won't you?"
Amaryllis just smiled at him and nodded. She didn't see where else she could go as she had no idea where Lucinda would be sitting. But she wasn't about to tell Corbin that that was the reason she was going to go back to the compartment he was in.
"I'll just head back then." He said turning to unlock the door so he could leave while she got changed.
As he reached the door Amaryllis moved quickly over to him and placed a light peck on his lips before he could leave. He gave her one final smile before leaving. As soon as he shut the door she locked it again and leant against it a silly smile forming on her face.
She stood like that for a while. She wasn't sure how long she stood staring into space just thinking about what had happened. Eventually she snapped herself out of her daze and quickly got changed in hopes of getting back to the compartment and not leaving Corbin alone to face their questions by himself.
When Corbin arrived back at the compartment the others stared at him. He had been gone a lot longer than any of them had originally anticipated leading Timothy and Regulus to suspect something might have happened. Though they weren't sure what could have happened they did have some ideas and none were very savoury.
As he sat down his mind was still racing. He was thinking about what had happened between him and Amaryllis. He knew what was expected of her and what she was intended to do yet he couldn't shake the thought of what had happened between them. For some reason he could help but wonder that maybe she would follow Regulus' request. That maybe she might try and see other people.
"Oi, Wilkes, we asked you a question." Timothy snapped at their friend.
"Sorry, what was that?" Corbin asked having been so absorbed by his thoughts that he had missed what was asked of him.
"Something's messed with his head." Timothy muttered to Regulus who just chuckled at the statement.
"I asked what happened with Merrin." Regulus told Corbin.
"She was upset." Corbin said vaguely. "She just needed someone to talk to."
Regulus and Timothy watched his face for any sign that he was attempting to mislead them. The thing was, everything Corbin had said was true. He hadn't lied to his friends. He had just chosen not to tell them about the other thing that had happened.
Corbin needn't have stressed about what else his friends would ask of him about the situation as Amaryllis arrived at the compartment.
"Oh nothing." Corbin told her.
"Just Corbin daydreaming." Regulus pointed out.
Amaryllis just smirked and took her seat beside Corbin.
"What do you know about it?" Timothy asked her suspiciously.
"Depends what you're asking about." She responded smoothly. "I know a fair bit about some things but not much about others."
A collection of puzzled looks reached her. They had no idea what she was talking about which was exactly what Amaryllis had wanted.
Timothy and Regulus dropped their suspicions surrounding Corbin and Amaryllis however Regulus didn't miss any of the glances the two sent at the other.
Regulus had wanted to question her when Corbin had gone to get changed. Both Timothy and Regulus had changed while Amaryllis and Corbin otherwise occupied meaning Corbin had to go change once they were further along in the trip.
When Regulus had so much as looked at her as if to question anything she sent him the sharpest glare she manage causing him to shrink back into his seat and decided against questioning her. Pleased with the effect she'd had on him, Amaryllis smiled to herself and pulled out her book to keep herself occupied for the rest of the train ride.
"You have to tell me what happened." Lucinda said to Amaryllis as they sat together in the Great Hall.
They were at the 'Welcome Back Feast' and the two girls had sat together having found one another when they got to their house table. Lucinda had noticed the hate-filled glares that were being shared between Amaryllis and Regulus. Lucinda, who wasn't anywhere near as dense as many of the others at school seemed to be, had immediately noticed the shift in their relationship and wanted answers.
"I'll tell you later." Amaryllis responded. "It's not exactly the sort of thing I want broadcasted to everyone. Although I'm sure Marianne would be absolutely over the moon at the news."
"Merlin, what happened?" Lucinda gasped.
"Later Lu." Amaryllis told her younger friend.
The two girls sat and ate in silence. Amaryllis felt someone watching her. When she looked in the direction she felt the gaze coming from her eyes met the dark hazel eyes that belonged to Corbin. The two of them smiled at one another.
"Okay, surely you can tell me what that was about." Lucinda said.
"I may or may not have kissed Corbin while on the train." Amaryllis admitted a blush spreading across her face.
"You did not." The younger girl gasped.
Amaryllis just nodded looking down at the food in front of her.
"How was it?" Lucinda asked.
"Good, I guess." Amaryllis answered becoming rather shy with this topic of conversation. "I don't really have anything to compare it to."
"Wait, that was your first kiss?" Lucinda nearly squealed.
"Yeah, it was." Amaryllis said.
Lucinda just stared at the older girl beside her.
"Corbin Wilkes was your first kiss?" Lucinda attempted to confirm.
"I don't see what the big deal is." Amaryllis responded.
Lucinda just shook her head at her friend. Her innocence in this situation was rather amusing.
"Can we not talk about this?" Amaryllis eventually asked. "I really don't want any of the other guys finding out."
"Wait, hold on." Lucinda said ignoring Amaryllis' other comment. "What about the guy you're betrothed to?"
"He found out about it." Amaryllis explained. "Got mad at me for lying. Then told me we should see other people."
"You're joking right?" Lucinda asked. "Who would do that?"
"I'm dead serious." Amaryllis said. "And two guesses as to who it was."
"Wait, is that why you're fighting with Regulus?" Lucinda asked.
"You've hit the nail on the head." Amaryllis said.
Lucinda just stared at her. Amaryllis figured that mustn't be a statement used in the Wizarding World. She just shrugged it off. Lucinda gathered what Amaryllis had meant by her statement.
The two girls ate in silence for a moment. There wasn't anything to be said. Lucinda was trying to process why exactly Regulus was being so difficult when it came to the whole situation. It was obvious to nearly everyone that there was something more than friendship between Amaryllis and Regulus. So why was he pushing her away?
"I just don't understand." Lucinda said after a short silence.
Amaryllis turned to look at her friend. She didn't know what there was to be confused about. Regulus didn't want her. He said specifically that he wanted them to see other people. Why was that so confusing?
"What don't you understand?" Amaryllis asked.
"You two were so close." Lucinda explained. "Everyone already believed you were more than just friends. I imagine that's why Marianne and Scarlett dislike you so much."
"There was never anything between us." Amaryllis corrected. "We were always just friends."
"Well I think you two were the only ones who saw it that way." Lucinda said.
Amaryllis was confused. Nothing about her friendship with Regulus had made her think it was or could be perceived as anything more. It was absolutely nothing like any of the relationships she had seen at her old high school. It was nothing like any of the relationships she had seen around Hogwarts. Perhaps it was the way pureblood relationships worked but Amaryllis just couldn't see herself viewing their friendship as anything more than that.
Amaryllis chose not to comment. There wasn't anything she could think to say. She decided it was probably best to just finish her dinner and move on from this.