Welcome back!
Sorry for the short chapter, but life has been getting in the way of writing lately. Enjoy some Diana/Regulus content though ;)
Chapter Six
September breezed into October in a swirl of autumn leaves and harsh, cold wind brought down from the mountains. The days grew shorter, the nights longer, and Diana settled into her new routine with ease, even if the sixth-year workload was anything but.
In the days since the incident with Regulus Black, the Slytherin boy had seemed to take every precaution to avoid her. It wasn't difficult, as Diana was not the type to seek him out anyway, but in any shared lessons between the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs, he always chose the farthest seat from her, and left the classroom long before she had even packed her things. One week after the disastrous potion, on the day of their next scheduled meeting, she had even received a message from Professor Slughorn that Black was feeling ill and would not be attending their tutoring session.
His behavior baffled Diana. She thought they had been getting on quite well recently, but the change in his demeanor when she'd reached for his arm had alarmed her. Maybe even frightened her a little. It could be because he was usually so reserved and collected most of the time, but the knowledge that he was a Black, a Slytherin, still sat in the back of her mind, refusing to go away despite her protestations that she wasn't a judgmental hag. And after what his brother had told her in the greenhouses, she wasn't sure what to think anymore. All she knew was that Regulus Black was a mystery.
One that she didn't know if she wanted to solve.
She left the library late one Thursday evening in the beginning of October, rubbing at her tired eyes after working on a Transfiguration essay for the better part of three hours after dinner. The librarian had finally shooed her and a few other lingering students out once curfew drew near, and she had been forced to vacate for her common room instead.
She pushed open one of the double doors of the library and held it open for the person behind her, only to realize that it was Regulus Black.
They locked eyes, and the same surprise that she felt flared in his dark grey stare before quickly retreating.
"Hey," she greeted neutrally. She half-expected him to brush past her, but he stopped in the threshold, meeting her gaze. "Long time, no see."
"Indeed." He nodded. "Excuse my absence last week. I was feeling a bit under the weather. I didn't want to risk potentially getting you sick."
Her eyes trailed to his left arm, hidden beneath the black sleeve of his school robes. "How's your arm?"
It twitched under her stare. "Perfectly healed. I appreciate your concern."
"Right." She teetered, wanting to say more, but had no idea what. Realizing that she was blocking his exit, thought, she cleared her throat and stepped aside. "Sorry."
He gave her a nod as he passed her, heading into the corridor beyond. He then paused and turned back to her, his haughty features as blank as ever. "I'll walk you to the entrance hall again."
She let go of the door with a raised eyebrow. "Really?"
"We're going the same way, aren't we?" he asked, a note of impatience tingeing his voice.
"I s'pose that's true," she said. She gripped her bag strap and stood beside him. Though not nearly as tall as his brother, Diana still had to tilt her head back a bit to meet his gaze. "Thanks for the offer."
He grunted. "Don't mention it. It's only proper."
He'd said the same thing the first time he'd escorted her to the entrance hall after one of their sessions, and she wondered what kind of manners classes he'd been put through growing up. Surely, pure-bloods maintained a respectable air, but he seemed to treat etiquette like law. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, in Diana's eyes, but it was certainly unexpected, especially compared to his other teenaged boy counterparts.
They walked in silence through the corridors to the ground floor, passing portraits that quietly murmured to themselves and even the portly, translucent form of the Fat Friar, the patron ghost of Diana's own House, as he drifted serenely in the opposite direction.
They reached the marble staircase and descended. The entrance hall was empty, glowing golden from the light of the torches lined in brackets along the walls. The doors to the Great Hall stood open, the Hall dimly lit by candles and the enchanted ceiling, depicting a clear starry night.
Diana hesitated before making for the basements. "Are you coming to this week's session?"
He flicked at an invisible speck of dust on his shoulder. "Yes. I'll be there."
She hesitated again, wondering why she wasn't leaving yet. "You're making great progress. I think after Christmas you won't even need me to tutor you."
His lips curled slightly. In the torchlight, the shadows created hollows of intriguing darkness on his face, making his features more pronounced and lending them an almost otherworldly beauty. She shifted her eyes away from him, reaching to play with the wand stabbed through her messy bun instead.
"You witnessed me nearly lose an arm, and yet you compliment my potion-making skills," he said, amused. "How on earth could you possibly come to that conclusion?"
She shrugged, glancing toward the empty Great Hall. "You get better by leaps and bounds every week. At the rate you're going, it's safe to say you'll be good to go by the end of the term." She crossed her arms, Sirius's words echoing back to her. "And you're not as bad as you make yourself out to be."
He studied her for a moment, thoughtful. The longer he stared, the more self-conscious she became, until she was seconds away from yanking her wand and letting her hair fall down to cover her face.
"Well," he said eventually, breaking the silence, "I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?" Before she could respond, he turned on his heel and headed for the dungeons. "See you tomorrow for our session, Fairchild."
She watched him disappear down the stairs, waiting until his black hair was swallowed by shade before hurrying to her own common room.
True to his word, Regulus showed up to Professor Slughorn's classroom five minutes before eight o'clock the next evening, walking in on Diana as she set out ingredients and prepared their cauldron.
"You're early," he remarked as she lugged the heavy pewter cauldron on to their worktable. "You could've waited for me to arrive so I could help you."
"Oh, no, I got it," she said, wiping a stray wisp of chocolate-brown hair off her forehead. "I just get bored waiting in the common room. Especially when my friends start arguing over who the hottest bloke in the school is."
She rolled her eyes playfully, and he smirked. "Any consensus on the top spot?"
Her grin faded as she turned back to the cauldron. She fiddled with her sleeve as she said, "Er, I don't think you'd want to hear…"
His own amusement dampened. "Ah. I'm guessing my dashing brother?"
She nodded, peeking at him from under her lashes. He shrugged and set down his bag as he came over to the table. "Not surprising. I've seen people swoon over him for years."
Diana was surprised that he was talking about his brother. He'd made it clear to her before that he detested any mention of Sirius. "I thought we agreed not to bring him up?"
Regulus snorted lightly. "It's not like I can escape any mention of him here at Hogwarts. Him and his troublemaking pals." His lip curled at the reminder of James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew before he turned back to her. "What about you?"
She frowned while lighting the cauldron. "What about me?"
That lazy smirk of his returned—the one that made him look human, and not some entity carved from stone. "Do you agree with your friends?" His smirk widened at her confusion. "That my brother is the hottest bloke in the school?"
She choked out a laugh at the sheer unexpectedness of his question. Hearing Regulus Black say something as casual as 'the hottest bloke' was disarming, but in a hilarious way.
"Sorry," she said, smothering her laughter. "That was just…funny." She cleared her throat. "And while your brother is rather attractive, I can't say he's hot. He's too…pretty for such a word."
Regulus stared at her, his smirk still in place. "'Pretty?'"
She blushed. "Yes. Pretty. Too pretty. It makes him… I dunno. Out of reach? Unattainable? Something like that."
She couldn't believe she was saying this to Regulus Black—about his own brother, at the very least. She busied herself with the ingredients while Regulus chuckled quietly to himself.
"If we were still on speaking terms, I might've just told him what you said," he said.
"Why aren't you?" she blurted out. She looked up, meeting Regulus's gaze. His smirk had disappeared, hidden once more behind his blank mask. She dropped her eyes again. "Sorry. I know it's not my place to ask."
"No, it isn't," he said quietly, but he didn't sound angry. Just…lonely.
The thought raised her eyes to his again. He sat on the stool, a frown on his face, and alone in the Potions classroom, without his friends or classmates surrounding him, Diana thought he looked like the loneliest boy in the world.
"You must've been very close with him," she cautioned to say. When he didn't blow up, she continued. "Before…whatever happened. Is that why you won't talk about him?"
Regulus stared at the small flame flickering and swaying under the cauldron. "Yes."
Diana paused. She burned with curiosity, but she didn't want to press her luck. If Regulus snapped and reacted the way he did when she'd tried to touch him, then whatever tentative truce was between them would break. And she didn't want it to. Against her better judgment, she wanted to know more about him, especially after what Sirius had told her.
Perhaps Regulus Black was a mystery she wanted to solve, after all.
"People have been gossiping ever since we got back. They say Sirius left his place and went to live with James Potter. That he's been disinherited." She watched him carefully. "Is that true?"
Regulus's hands flexed in his lap, his eyes still on the flame. "Yes."
Diana's eyebrows shot up. The rumors had been wild, but she hadn't expected them to be true. Things were usually blown out of proportion at Hogwarts, so she was shocked that something was actually correct.
Diana set down the vial she'd been toying with. It made a soft clink when it settled on the wood of the table.
"Regulus," she said softly. His gaze cut to her, but she forced herself not to look away. "Is it all right if I call you that?"
"I suppose so," he said after a long moment. His voice was subdued; emotionless. "I think it'd be best if we only used it here though. Our true names," he added to her questioning look. "People might talk."
"They're just names," she pointed out.
"Names carry weight," he said. He leaned an elbow on the table, his stormy eyes beseeching her. "I don't need to remind you about what's going on in the world." She swallowed at the mention of the war. "There are sides. Even here, even now, in Hogwarts." He exhaled slowly. "Believe me when I say that it's better if we don't acknowledge the existence of the other outside of this classroom."
The sting of his words made her bristle. "Because I'm a half-blood?" she spat. "Are we back on this again?"
He shook his head, unfazed by her sudden hostility. "Because neither of us can jeopardize our future." He glanced at the hand in his lap. On the fourth finger of his right hand sat a silver ring that looked like a family crest, inlaid with a black stone. "You don't need someone like me soiling your reputation."
Diana stared at him. "You're mental, you know that?"
His head snapped up, his lips parted in shock. "What did you say?"
"You. You're absolutely mental. Loony." She shook her head. "You waltz in here all dramatic and melancholy, spouting off some nonsense that sounds like it came from a sensational novel." She scoffed. "We're students at school, Regulus. Not some grand heroes standing on the opposite sides of a battlefield."
"How do you know we're not?" he challenged.
The intensity in his gaze made her amusement falter. She'd thought his melodramatic speech was funny, but the hard stare he fixed her with belied something else entirely.
"We're not at war," she said slowly, "are we, Regulus?"
He stayed silent for a long, tense moment.
"No," he said at last. "We're not at war, Diana."
Neither of them voiced the unspoken words shimmering between them: Not yet.