Regulus was surprisingly nervous as he waited outside the restaurant. He grumbled to himself about his decision to wear a white shirt and to travel by floo powder to Manchester. It was an awful combination that resulted in him having soot marks on the left of arm of his shirt. This grumbling to himself was quickly followed by another voice is his head, which sometimes sounded like his mother and at other times sounded like his cousin Bellatrix asking him what on earth he was thinking going on a date with a muggle. These same voices told him that this was worse than Sirius hanging out with blood traitors and werewolves and that if he was caught he would greatly shame his family. And so every thirty seconds since Regulus had emerged out of the fireplace of the wizarding pub in Manchester (The Three Red Dragons) he had decided he could not possibly go ahead with this date and turned around to go home, only to change his mind and turn round again a split second later.

It was in the middle of one of his "I am crazy to be doing this, I am a deatheater for goodness sake" moments that Hannah approached him. Upon seeing her any thoughts of leaving exited his head. She was wearing a capped sleeved, knee length red dress and had her hair up with wavy strands escaping from her messy bun. After a few seconds he realised that he was just staring at her and he managed to mutter "hi."

"hi yourself," she smiled. "Listen, I am sorry about this but my Dad dropped me off and he wanted to meet you. I am soo embarrassed, he is never normally this protective."

Regulus nodded his head, relieved he was starting to get brain function back. She led him towards the car park and up to a fancy jeep where an large intimidating man with a large nose and a stern brow looked out the window at him.

"Your Regulus?"

"Yes Sir."

"What kind of name is that?"

"Erm, its to do with astrology sir-"

"Hippy Parents?"

Regulus wasn't sure what hippies were but judging by the tone of voice the right answer was no and Regulus happily gave it.

"Right. Take care of my little girl. I will pick her up at 10 sharp." Hannah's father closed the window of the car without another word and reversed out of the parking space.

"I am sorry." She repeated.

He grinned back at her, "What for? All dads are protective of their daughter's surely?"

She smiled back at him and he once again was left dazzled. Not really knowing what he was doing he reached over and grabbed her hand. She blushed but he was relieved she didn't pull away and they walked towards the restaurant together.

Once they had been shown to their table Regulus reluctantly let go of her hand. He was still having his internal battle with his mother's voice screaming that he better wash his filthy hand before he ate anything. But he suppressed it and picked up his menu.

They discussed the options the menu presented and he discovered that like most girls he knew, she was indecisive but rather than finding it an annoying trait like he had with his ex-girlfriends he decided that it suited her personality and was actually endearing. Eventually after changing her mind 50 times Hannah ordered the chicken while Regulus ordered steak.

They chatted happily while they waited for their food about the best meals they had ever eaten. Regulus detailed the pumpkin pie that always featured in the Hogwarts Halloween feast (not mentioning it was cooked by house elves of course), while Hannah described her mother's roast beef. Eventually when they were so hungry from talking about food they could hardly bear it their meals arrived. They were so excited they fell into a comfortable silence while they ate.

About half way through his steak Regulus had decided this was quite certainly the most pleasant date he had ever been on. A decision his Aunt Bellatrix's voice scorned. After they had finished eating their main course Regulus listened enthralled and Hannah told stories of her younger brother's trouble making, most of which involved their next door neighbour's cat. When they had ordered dessert she asked him if he had any pets.

He squirmed in his seat. He had an owl, was that a weird pet for muggles? He instantly regretted not taking muggle studies for OWLs. He could hardly mention Kreacher, not that Kreacher was a pet. Feeling backed into a corner he decided just to go for it.

"yeah, I have a pet."

"Well what is it?"

"An Owl."

"An Owl?" shelaughed, thinking he was joking

"Yeah, her name is Kalliope. She is a barn owl."

"But surely birds of prey aren't pets."

"No they aren't but Owls are way cooler than other birds. They can be trained."

"Trained to do what?"

"Lots of stuff…"

"What can Kalliope do?"

He hesitated, "Erm…. Well… she can deliver letters."Hannah's jaw dropped for a second but she gained composure so quickly he wondered if he had imagined it. "Yeah, it's not very usual."

"That is really cool. Can you send her to me with a letter?"

Regulus's response was partially delighted that she actually wanted to hear from him after tonight and partly panicked, could muggles receive letter from owls? "I could give it a shot" he offered.

She grinned at him, "it would make communicating when we go back to school easier." Then she blushed and quickly added, "that is if you want to talk to me after the summer."

Again he was torn between panic and delight. Yes he wanted to send letters to the lovely kind Hannah but what would his friends (who were largely deatheaters, by the way) think of him sending letters to a muggle girl. He answered as honestly as he could "I am pretty sure I will want to talk to you after summer."

They ordered dessert and continued to talk at a constant speed until it was almost time for her father to pick her up. Regulus paid the bill, despite her protests and led her outside were he went to offer her his jacket before remembering the soot marks but on seeing goose bumps appear on her arms he concluded it was dark and she might not notice so wrapped his blazer around her. She thanked him and they made plans to meet again in a few days' time before they went back to school.

"I will send a letter with Kalleiope with plans."

"Yes please!" she said enthusiastically as she ran to her father's car.

Regulus made his way back to the bar and upon arriving in 12 Grimmauld place was greeted by Kreacher.

"Master Regulus." He bowed his nose toughing the ground.

"Hey Kreacher. Are Mum and Dad still out?"

"Yes Master Regulus."

"Good. And you remember our deal, I was here with you the whole night. I was reading the biography of Josef Wronski"

"yes. Master Regulus loves his Quidditch." The house elf nodded, repeating the rehearsed line Regulus had given him earlier.

"Cheers Kreacher. Now I am away to bed."

He raced up the stairs unlocked his room and fell onto his bed. He sat for a while reviewing how the night had gone. He was pretty pleased with himself. Even if she was a muggle she was pretty and charming. If she had been a pure blood witch his parents would have loved her, in fact he reckoned even Sirius would have liked her, and he seemed resolved to hate everything Regulus liked. No Hannah was definitely a catch. Regulus lay for some time weighing up the pros and cons of seeing her again only to find himself jumping from his bed and writing her a note on a piece of parchment that simply said "Pick you up from the bakery Thursday at 5. From Reg." He tied it round Kalliope's leg and opened the window for her to fly out and collapsed down on the bed closing his eyes to hide the green and silver Slytherin colours he felt like he had just betrayed.