"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

Silence.

"Try again—and this time, try—I don't know—making puppy eyes. Something that'll convince him."

Alex glared at the finely scrubbed floor. "Forget it," she muttered. Henryk shrugged next to her.

"Your choice," he said. "But you can't expect him to see you stiff as a gargoyle and feel forgiving."

"Why aren't you scrubbing the floor harder?" Alex said irritably. "Filch asked for sparkling. The floor's not sparkling."

"Y'know, I think my shoulder hasn't healed completely yet..." Henryk trailed off, looking innocently into the air. Alex sighed.

"Fine," she muttered, getting back to work.

With Leila and Regulus both refusing to speak to her, Alex found to her inner cynic's satisfaction that the only person remotely willing to talk to her was Henryk Lee, the cause of the whole debacle in the first place. The said cause was discharged three days after the Quidditch game, looking as healthy as ever and acting almost chirpy, as if losing the Quidditch game had served to lift his spirits. Even now he was humming a low tune that Alex didn't recognize, scrubbing the floor energetically.

"It's been a week," Henryk said. "I'm presuming that Black's now tired of being mad at you and just wants you to say the right things. Same with Parkinson."

"Well, then, I must be really bad at finding those right things to say," Alex muttered glumly. "Because so far all Reg's done is to ignore me. It's fourth year all over again," but I know it's my fault this time, Alex added silently, feeling even glummer.

"What happened in fourth year?" Alex just shook her head.

"Look on the bright side," Henryk said, standing up to stretch. "You mastered the Incendio charm in less than a day yesterday."

"Right," Alex said, unsure what was worse—having a fight with Reg, or continuing to associate with the (distal) cause of the fight. But she had to admit that, despite her reservations, Henryk Lee was a rather decent teacher; he was patient and unpatronizing when showing her how spells should be done, and it seemed like he even had a curriculum planned out for the next several months. They usually met in one of the empty classrooms before the detentions for about thirty minutes or so, and Henryk made the point of making every minute count—by bombarding her with reviews and new materials. Alex shook her head. For someone who chose to study two years below him, Henryk sure seemed to have a tendency to overwork.

The next morning Alex woke up feeling heavy and tired. Nine—on Saturday. Reg must be practicing Quidditch, and Leila going through her Saturday ritual—which meant going through each and every Quidditch magazine of the week in the morning followed by spying on one of the Quidditch practices in the afternoon. Alex sighed and snuggled closer to her blanket. Disturbing Leila during her ritual was bound to make her even more irritable, and Regulus prefered not having any distractions during practice, which meant that she wouldn't be able to talk to him until afternoon. Groaning, she got out of the bed and trudged into the bathroom. The sixteen-inch Charms essay. Twenty page translation for Ancient Runes. Henryk's bloody Quarantino spell. She briefly wondered why she even bothered to amend things, especially when the two were never willing to see things from her perspective, but the prospect of life without Regulus visited her again and left her feeling hollow and cold inside. She shivered involuntarily. She missed him. She needed him.

Against her better judgement Alex ended up going to the Quidditch pitch after brunch.

"Hullo," Alex said casually, having watched Regulus gather up the players and give last bit of notes before dismissing them. "That one went rather smoothly, didn't it?"

Regulus barely turned around to look at her. "A bit busy here."

"The practice just ended."

"I have to clean up."

"I'll wait, then," Alex said, almost running to catch up with Regulus' long strides.

"I'm going to the locker room."

"Alright."

"That means that you can't go in."

"Did I mention that I was sorry?"

"No."

"Well, sorry."

"For what?" Alex cursed inwardly. She thought it was the girls who were supposed to ask these detailed questions. She looked down at her scuffed shoes.

"For not believing in you," she said in a small voice. Regulus looked at her with an unfathomable expression for a few seconds before pushing open the doors to the boy's locker room and disappearing behind them without an answer. Alex stood by the entrance, staring at the door. She suppressed a sigh and kicked a small rock nearby moodily. Regulus could be so stubborn.

Regulus emerged about twenty minutes later, his hair wet. He'd changed into school robes.

"So—" Alex began, but Regulus was walking too fast. Alex sprinted off after him.

"Reg, this is silly," Alex said. Regulus shot her a murderous glare.

"How would you feel if you found out that I told Rebecca Goyle about my family, but not you?" His voice was cool, even logical. His eyes were anything but. Alex bit her lips.

"Okay, it's not silly," Alex admitted. "I'm sorry. I just meant—you can't be mad at me forever."

Regulus muttered something unintelligible under his breath, but to Alex it sounded suspiciously like can't I? Alex's fists balled up into fists on their own and Alex wondered for a brief moment how Regulus would react to getting the same treatment that Flint did.

"You know what, Regulus?" she snapped. "That's enough. It's been a week. I've apologized a hundred times, and you're being a prat. You know I'm sorry. And I should've known better. But you know what—I might've felt more open to talking to you if you'd shown the smallest sign that you disapproved of what Flint and Rosier and everyone else did. But you didn't." Her voice grew louder and louder until she was positively yelling at Regulus' face by the end of her last sentence. Students turned around to stare at them curiously, and Alex' face reddened as she realized what was happening. Regulus stood in front of her impassively.

"I'm going to the library," he said before turning around to go. Alex felt a growl beginning to rise from her throat. He was going to play it that way, was he? She stomped her way toward the library herself, feeling irritation scratching at her skin. Regulus bloody Black could be as obstinate as he wanted. She didn't care. At all.

So when she threw her book bag on the chair by their usual table, Alex told herself that it was not done with any unusual amount of force despite the fact that the entire table shook a little due to her arrival. Regulus didn't look up from his essay. Alex scoffed and sat down across from him, taking out her assignments. Translation. Essay. She wondered if sitting by their table was the best decision. She could've just picked out another spot. But moving to a different table after seating herself seemed like a petty move. Or was it petty? Alex didn't know—as far as arguments went she had no idea what the best options were. Alex sneaked a peak at Regulus' direction. Still steadily writing. Well then. It wasn't as if she was incapable of doing her assignments as well.

The sun moved to its zenith and began to set its journey to the west.

One would have believed that Alex's irritation would have worn out with time, but somehow every time she glanced at Regulus' direction, at his almost immobile position except his writing hand, Alex felt a new surge of annoyance rise from the pit of her stomach and trickle into her every capillary. So he could sit there and be—be perfectly unmoved, and calm, and efficient. She crossed the t in front of her forcefully. It wasn't that she cared. At all.

The chair scratched the floor loudly as she stood up.

Stiffly, Alex held her head high and marched to the history section. Regulus could be as she wished. She needed to find a book for the History of Magic essay—but what was it called again? The Unnerving Past.

Someone brushed past her and headed to the same aisle that she needed to go to. Alex narrowed her eyes.

"Could you move over, please?" she asked politely, but her voice sounded a bit too tight to be really natural. "I'm looking for a book."

"So am I," Regulus said, not taking his eyes off from the bookshelf.

"I'm sure that you can look for it later," Alex said, unable to suppress her miffed self. She pushed him with her shoulder and began to squint at the spines of the books in the dim twilight. Why Hogwarts never managed to light the entire library, she could never understand…

Next to her Regulus coughed. "I was looking," he said. Alex didn't answer. The Unnerving Past was indeed there, on the top shelf. If she stood on her tiptoes, she could reach it—she had to reach it, she was obviously not going to jump up and down for a book in a completely undignified way in front of Regulus after literally pushing him away. She stood precariously on her toes, stretching her side and her fingers. Almost there—

Pale, long fingers closed around the book before she could reach it and took it from the shelf. Alex turned around, thoroughly annoyed.

"I need that—" she began to say, frown appearing on her face, but she never quite found out what she was going to say. Regulus was looking down at her with an unfathomable expression on his face. But it was his eyes that arrested her, took the words from her mouth. They roved over her face, over each angle and curve before settling on her lips. Her eyes barely had the time to widen as Regulus drew his face close to hers and kissed her.

Alexandra Sophia Wilson would have liked to say that her first kiss was extraordinary (this was of course an understatement, as all first kisses should be absolutely phenomenal), but the most prominent feeling in her gut was panic followed closely by alarm. Never mind that it was Reg, her Reg, her best friend whose hands she tried in so many different occasions to hold and failed in the hallway. There was a boy invading her personal space. Not just invading—kissing her. At least, Alex thought that was how kisses were supposed to be. She didn't know what kissing was like. Was she supposed to—move her lips? At all? Did kisses always get this wet? Something dropped to the floor with a heavy thump. The library book. They were in the library. Regulus' freed hand sought her waist, pulling her closer, and their proximity strengthened her alarm and fear. She pushed him away.

Regulus, who had not been expecting it, was pushed into the next aisle of bookshelf. He winced as his back met the wooden shelves. His chest was heaving. His eyes looked wildly at her. When they saw the expression on her face, his whole face fell.

"Alex," he said hoarsely. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

Alex swallowed with difficulty and nodded. Regulus looked around, obviously embarrassed, and picked up the book that he'd thrown away. He offered it to her and Alex looked at in confusion. The book—what did she need the book for? Ah yes, her history class. She tried to direct her mind to coherent thoughts, but everything was in shambles. The kiss. That was all she could remember. His lips on hers. She had been perfectly still. How mortifying. But Regulus had felt so warm, his breath tickling the skin of her face. So Alex took a step, and another, and then another. Her hands reached for his on their own accord, and he accepted them, lacing their fingers together. The poor book was dropped to the floor again. Her legs wobbled.

"Be very, very still." She was croaking a broken plea. Regulus nodded silently.

Their lips met for the second time: barely any pressure, fleeting, but still warm. The third time was somewhat stronger, and her feet took another step towards him as she leaned her weight against him for the first time; the kiss lasted a little longer. And then her hands sought out his face, the heat of his neck and waves of his hair that enclosed her fingers. His hands reached out for her back, pulling her closer to him again. This time she gave into his force, arching her back so that she could meet more of him. A low sound came from his chest and vibrated through her torso. Alex pulled him closer as well, wanting more.

Alex couldn't tell how fast the time was passing. All she knew was Regulus, his body against hers, his lips seeking hers over and over again, their tongues meeting shyly, boldly, affectionately, hungrily. Her body was pressed against the bookshelf. The sound of their breath filled her ears, and the fresh scent of soap on his skin tickled her nose. Regulus bent lower and began to leave a trail of kisses down her neck and she let out a moan, clutching his shoulders tightly. Regulus—

A small squeak broke them apart.

A first-year was looking at them with wide eyes. He was very purposefully clutching a piece of paper in his hand and standing petrified by narrow aisle, his entire posture painfully awkward. Alex tried to take a step back and realized that there was an entire wall of bookshelf blocking her. Regulus cleared his throat.

"Sorry," the boy managed another squeak before sprinting away from the scene of the crime. Alex's cheeks began to flush the darkest shade of red yet to be seen. She raised her eyes to his face before quickly looking down again, feeling impossibly embarrassed. Did they just—

"C'mon," Regulus muttered, grabbing her hand gently and pulling her with him. Alex followed mutely. As they reached the reading hall she attempted to let go of his hand, but to no avail; Regulus looked at her questioningly.

"Can we do this?" her voice sounded strange to her ears, low, hoarse, someone else's. She looked at their linked hands. A smile began to spread on Regulus' face before he quickly schooled it into something blander, but his eyes still crinkled at the edges.

"Of course we can," he said. "If you want." He gave her a moment. She didn't let go. He led her toward the table where they usual sat and began to pack up his belongings. Alex followed the suit uncertainly. The ink on her quill had long since dried, and her parchment had rolled up on their own accord due to time. How much time had passed—minutes? Hours? The sun had completely set outside and many students had already left for dinner.

"Where are we going?" Alex asked as they left the library. Regulus had retaken her hand was heading toward the staircases.

"Seventh floor," he said. "Where we won't get interrupted."

They reached the seventh floor in record time. Alex looked around the corridor uncertainly, but Regulus simply grinned and rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. A door soon appeared in front of them that looked like a door of any other classroom. Alex frowned, but the sight of the room revealed to her when Regulus held out the door made her simply stare in astonishment.

The room was cozily decorated with several armchairs and a sofa. A plush rug lay in front of the fire burning cheerfully in the fireplace. There was even a table with several books on its surface overlooking the Hogwarts grounds through a large window. Several lamps lighted the room softly from many corners. Alex looked around, her body relaxing as the tension left her body. Regulus meanwhile had closed the door behind her and sat comfortably on the sofa.

"What is this place?" Alex asked.

"I'm not sure," Regulus said. "I was talking to the house elves in the kitchen several weeks ago when they mentioned something about a funny room on the seventh floor. It took me a few tries to figure out exactly what it does—it's a room that meets the needs of the people entering it, I think."

"And you asked for—"

"A bit of privacy, a bit of comfort," Regulus said, smiling. "Are you really going to stand there all night?"

Alex swallowed. "Are we going to be here all night?"

Regulus' smile widened, showing his teeth. "Only if you want to," he said. He laughed at Alex's alarmed expression. Alex scowled.

"Not funny."

"That's because you didn't see your face," Regulus said, still chortling.

"You're in a good mood."

"Oh, the best." His tone was still airy. Alex slowly sat down next to him, conscious of the way the cushion of the sofa gave in to her weight.

"Does this mean that you forgive me?" Regulus stopped chuckling and looked at her face intently for a few seconds, as if he was trying to decipher something in her expression. Alex drew her face back, feeling self-conscious. Something in Regulus' eyes softened.

"Alex," he said, stroking her hair. "I forgave you even before you first apologized." Alex looked up, feeling the former outrage rise up again despite everything.

"Then why didn't you even talk to me for a week?" she said, her voice rising with every syllable. "I was so worried that you didn't ever want to speak to me again—"

"It still hurt," Regulus said, now looking away. "That you didn't trust me. I understood why you felt that way, but still—" he shook his head. "But that's over. Past is past. I much prefer the present. Especially now." He smiled widely at her, completely unabashed at his joy, and Alex felt the infectiousness of the emotion affect her as well. When he drew himself closer to her and put his arms around her shoulders, she let her body mold into his. Regulus buried his face in her hair, and they watched the fire flickering in the fireplace in silence.

"It's odd," she said after a while. "I don't think I've seen your smile during all the time I've known you."

Regulus paused. "Is it hideous?" came the unexpected question. Alex tried to shift in her position, but his arms tightened around her, holding her back. Alex frowned at his forearms.

"Of course not," she said, upset. "Why would you ever think that?"

"I don't know." His voice came out muffled from her hair. "It's like you said, isn't it? I don't smile much. I don't see it when I do. I always had an idea that I had a terrible smile."

Alex reached for his hand and kissed his knuckles the way he kissed hers at the Hospital Wing. "That's the sillies thing I've ever heard," she said. "You have the nicest smile I know."

Regulus shifted slightly from behind her, and Alex could tell that he was trying not to be too pleased by what she said. "Just nice?" he asked offhandedly. Alex rolled her eyes.

"Just nice," Alex confirmed. Regulus let out a bark of laugh.

"Well, then," he said. "I guess you'll just have to deal with my nice smiles." Alex squeezed his hand.

"Oh, the horror," she said. "A smiling Regulus Black. How will the world react?"

"It'll stop spinning," Regulus answered gravely. "Merlin will rise from his grave and remind the whole world to stop me from smiling because it goes against the basic rules of nature."

"I hope not—I'm rather fond of your smiles." This time, when Alex tried to turn around to see his face again, Regulus loosened his arms around her so that she could shift in her position. They were so close that their noses were touching. Alex reached her hand out to stroke his cheeks. Regulus' lips pulled back automatically in response.

"Why thank you, Miss Wilson," he said, his smile growing wider at her name. "I'm rather fond of yours as well." Then their lips met again and Regulus' nice smiles became the last thing on Alex's mind.

Their proximity initially made her feel out of her element and scared, but time spent in Regulus' arms made her feel more comfortable—to a degree. It didn't stop her from freezing momentarily when their position changed and she found him lying on top of her, supporting only a part of his weight with his forearms. Alex resisted the impulse to push him as far away from her as possible and instead pulled him closer to her, relishing and cringing simultaneously at his moan. Regulus was—warm—and—she really had no reason to push him away. But she couldn't deny the slightest wave of relief that she felt when Regulus drew back to look at her face carefully.

"You're hungry," he stated matter-of-factly. Alex frowned and crawled back into a sitting position.

"What?"

"I meant for food," Regulus explained. "I think I just heard—" Her stomach growled at that exact moment. Alex's eyes widened in embarrassment as Regulus grinned.

"What a horrible person I am," he said, getting off the sofa. "Keeping you away from nourishment."

"You—" Alex said, springing at him to mask her embarrassment, but Regulus merely laughed and drew her close to him again.

"I didn't notice until now, but I'm hungry, too," he said, pecking her nose. "I think if we hurry, we might find something left over at the great hall."

"Fine," Alex grumbled. "But if we miss the bread pudding, I'm going to put all the blame on you."

Neither of them remembered the way to the great hall, or what they had for dinner. Alex was aware of the bright yellow lights, the clear sky behind the enchanted ceiling (it was in fact raining that night), and Regulus' legs brushing against her none-too-subtly during the entire dinner as he sat next to her, piling things on her plate with pecks on her cheek. She did not see how the great hall was almost empty by the time that they were finished or how other students avoided looking at their direction out of discretion and a bit of embarrassment. Regulus held her hand on their way to the Slytherin common room, neither of them saying anything in particular but just breathing in the air that the other was breathing in. Alex murmured the password and opened the door, but before she could go in Regulus pulled her close and gave her a long kiss. Alex smiled widely as they broke away.

"I wish that we didn't have to go in," Regulus muttered. Alex squeezed his hand and pulled him into the common room, also feeling reluctant.

"Good night," she said softly, suddenly feeling impossibly shy as they stood at the staircases to their rooms. Regulus let go of her hand and didn't say anything, his face quite impassive, but the momentary crinkle in his eyes told her everything that she wanted to hear. Alex turned around and climbed up the stairs, feeling more light-hearted than she'd felt in years. When she reached the door to her room, she paused, trying to compose her feelings. But the sound coming from the room made her open the door more quickly than she intended.

"What's going on?" Alex said, holding the wand in her hand. There was a mess. Books thrown about everywhere, pillows trampled to their sorry state on the ground, and Alex thought there was a very strong scent of Rebecca's perfume in the air. Leila stood by the bathroom with a wild look in her eyes, her wand hand shaking. Rebecca was standing near her bed, looking annoyed and tense. Her face showed clear relief at Alex's arrival.

"Thank Merlin," she said. "Talk some sense into her. She won't listen to me—"

"LISTEN TO YOU?" Leila screeched, laughing hysterically. "Listen to you? I just saw you in bed with Evan!" Leila turned abruptly to Alex. "Hello, Alex. In case you're wondering, I just caught this… thing here in her bed with Evan. Who, if you don't recall—let me refresh your memory—is my boyfriend." The last two words were directed at Rebecca, who looked rather put out and irritated.

"Maybe you're confused, Leila," she said. "He was in bed with me, not the other way around. He chose to be here. I'm not the one you should be getting angry at." Leila looked disbelievingly at Rebecca.

"Can you believe her?" she asked Alex. "Say something!"

"Erm," Alex, feeling the floating balloon called her brain slowly sinking back to earth. "How long has this been going on?" Immediately Rebecca's face crumpled—this was obviously the wrong question to ask—and Leila's face gained a new light of accusation.

"HOW LONG, REBECCA?" she screamed at Rebecca, whose face was beginning to gain a tint of discomfort. She mumbled something under her breath, but Leila, having gained exceptional hearing in the process of her accusations, yelled in disbelief.

"A month? It's been a MONTH?" She raised her wand. "That's it. Corpus langi—"

"Stop, stop," Alex said, rushing to redirect Leila's wand. "Go," she said to Rebecca. "I think the sixth-years have a spare bed in their room." Leila quickly left the room, looking more irritated at the nuisance of having to sleep in a different room than actually contrite. Leila sank to her bed, burying her face in her hands and sobbing. Alex sat next to her cautiously, rubbing her shoulders comfortingly and racking her brain for something that would've been fitting to the situation. But she couldn't come up with anything other than—

"I'm sorry, Leila."

"Don't bother," Leila said, blowing her nose hard into her sleeves. "He's obviously not worth it."

"There you go," Alex said. "He's not worth it."

"The thing is," Leila said, swallowing thickly. "He was clear from the beginning. It was supposed to be a bit of fun, and then I was stupid enough to—" she began to cry in earnest and Alex handed her a box of tissues.

"It's not stupid," Alex said. "Liking someone. It's just—human. Rosier was just horrible enough to take advantage of it."

"Well, I'm not making that mistake again. I'm sick of boys who don't even respect me." She looked up at Alex's face. "I'm sorry that I ignored you all last week."

Alex smiled faintly and rubbed her shoulders. "It's okay," she said.

"And I hope that things with Regulus go better than how this ended," Leila waved her hand at the room. "But to be honest, Alex, I don't really think that you can trust any of them."

Alex could only smile weakly at Leila's tear-stained face and rub her shoulders a bit more. It was probably a very bad time to mentioned what had happened—as Alex watched Leila trudge into the bathroom after she had cried to the last teardrop, however, she realized that she could not name one single person who would be happy to hear about the new development in their relationship.

A/N: So this is one of the shorter chapters, and a rather descriptive one at that—I don't know how it turned out! Just wanted to thank all the reviewers for their kind words and, of course, the readers—ciao.

To Sirius (because I didn't realize that I could just respond to your comment here until now): thank you for your reviews! The way you're always connecting the dots makes me really happy (there's someone who got it! They got it!). I guess one thing for the moment: no, I don't envision it as a love triangle, although I did toy with it as a very strong possibility (you saw right through me). I think there is a possibility of something developing, but not at the present.

To natalia (because I couldn't answer you personally): thank you for your interest and encouragement! I'm glad you're happy with the pace of the story and how it's developing (I always worry about those two things, and it was nice to hear about them). And as a person trying to learn a foreign language, I can only say that I wish my German were as good as your English is. Thanks again and I hope you liked the chapter!