Regulus hadn't thought anyone would find his little hiding spot where he came to read. Obviously his hiding charms had failed miserably, probably havingworn off during the summer.
It was disconcerting to say the very least.
But she'd found his tree, his special hiding place, clearly valuing the same traits of a reading tree as he did. She had excellent taste, preferring to share it than lose it. And her being willing to talk to him made her worthy of civility.
It also didn't hurt she had breeding.
So he let her stay and sit with him.
-
She was quiet, like she'd told him, never speaking a word. They would sit in silence for hours, feeling nothing but the breeze and the sun filtering down on them, lost in their own worlds.
Sometimes he would come when she wasn't there, and sometimes for days on end she'd come without seeing signs of him. Most of the time, though, they sat at the tree together, each just out of the other's eyesight. The scratchy paper noise of pages turning was the only sound along with their soft deep breaths.
As the autumn chilled Regulus put down a strong heating charm to keep them warm. He spun an invisible magical net above their heads to stop the leaves and later the snow from disturbing them.
The day before he left on winter holiday he found blue balls of fire nestled in a nook right above where he usually sat, and a note – "Merry Christmas!"
He left her a slightly longer thank-you note and a bar of chocolate, both of which were gone the next time he came back in February. In its place she'd left another note – short, but funny and cute - and a bookmark which spat at him if he hadn't picked up the book for a week. Soon they were leaving trinkets for each other with notes that grew longer and longer, having entire conversations without seeing the other's face.
It always surprised Regulus to see Dorcas walking around with her friends because in his mind she existed somewhere near the tree. He'd nod and smile and she would do the same, but they were always subtle because of a mutual understanding: Dorcas' friends really wanted nothing to do with Slytherins, and Regulus' friends wanted nothing to do with geeks. It was a creed to which neither Dorcas nor Regulus really subscribed, but they both respected.
The year progressed, and the two would just sit in silence as the spring bloomed around them, very far apart in their different galaxies whirling millions of miles apart on the other side of the tree, right up to the day before school let out.
They didn't have their first real conversation for another two years.