The term had passed rather uneventfully for Regulus. He was maintaining his position as top of the year and Slytherin had won their first match, against Gryffindor no less. A feat they hadn't managed while his brother's irksome friend James Potter had been at the school. To add to his delight Nulla and Barty were officially a couple so she had finally given up and left him alone. But the best news came at the end of November when his friend Marco agreed to become a death eater. Regulus had been overflowing with pride when he sent a message to the Dark Lord to inform him of his success. He was guiltily smug of the fact he was succeeding in his tasks while Barty snogged Nulla behind books shelves in the Library's restricted section. Another reason to be cheerful was his relationship with Hannah, she had written at least once a week and recently more since term started and he was excited to see her at Christmas.

In fact the only thing putting a dampener on Regulus's otherwise perfect term was Thomas. Thomas had moped about since Maude dumped him and since she had started going out with Roger, Thomas had become about as much fun as a flubberworm. Thomas had refused to go home for Christmas as Maude's name was on the list of those staying ("This is my opportunity to win her back Regulus."). Regulus had agreed to stay for an extra day after term ended to help him work out his plan for "operation-get-Maude-to-realise-that-roger-guy-is-a-tool-and-that-I am-way-hotter-so-we-can-live-happily-every-after." Regulus had argued for a shorter name but Thomas insisted he wanted to keep it simple. Regulus had bit back a sarcastic remark, not wanting to upset his friend. However on the first day of the holidays Thomas's plan was almost forgotten.

Regulus had walked into his dorm after finishing his Ancient Runes translations to pick up his wizard chess board. He had promised Priscilla he would give her lessons after her chess pieces had started running away and hiding under the floor boards of her dorm. He was surprised to see Thomas standing in front of him with a small pile of paper in his hand.

"Hey Thomas, just about to try to teach Priscilla some chess moves and need all the help I can get. We can put off the Maude stuff till later right? Priscilla may even be able to help, you know being a girl she can tell us how Maude's brain will work. What do you think?"

Thomas said nothing but continued to stare at him.

"Come on Tommy, you're going to have to cheer up. It's the first day of the Christmas break and you and Maude will be back together in no time, you should be enjoying it instead of standing up here reading- what exactly are you reading."

Regulus looked down at the pile of paper in his hand and realised exactly what he was reading.

Thomas stared at Regulus as panic set in.

"You wanna explain this Reg? Please please tell me I am mistaken, tell me your not writing letters to some muggle girl. If Barty found out…. Or marco? Tell me Reg, what are you doing?"

"Thomas. We can't talk about this here or now. And what were you doing going through my things anyway?"

"I was looking for the book you borrowed off me last week. And fine. Go teach Prissy something and I will see you astronomy tower in an hour." With that Thomas left the room.

Regulus was so distracted that for the first time in her life Priscilla actually won a game of wizard chess. And straight after they finished Regulus claimed he needed fresh air and headed upstairs to the deserted astronomy tower.

Thomas was standing there already, leaning against the door of their class room. Regulus whispered mufflio at the door and down the stairs so no one would hear them.

"Explain yourself. Who is this girl? Are you planning on doing something to hurt her Regulus, because even though you're a death eater you're a good person and you shouldn't hurt innocent people."

"Thomas, of course I am not planning on hurting her! How could you think that? You have known me since our first day at Hogwarts."

"Alright, then why are you writing to her?"

"She….er… well… you see… it's a long story, and it kind of starts off with…. Basically…." Regulus gulped, he had to come clean, this was Thomas, they never lied to each other. "She is my girlfriend."

Whatever Thomas had expected him to say next, that was not it. "Reg, are you kidding me?"

"No. We got together at the end of summer. She is from Manchester, she has dark hair and a pretty smile."

Oh merlin. Regulus. What are you thinking? You know this can't possibly go anywhere? You know your friends and your Dark Lord kills girls like Hannah for fun right?"

"Thomas, it's not like that. The other death eaters are just trying to advance the cause."

"How can you be so naïve Reg. you are putting your life and hers in danger. If Barty or Marco found out your parents wouldn't have much left to bury when they had finished with you. They would see you as a blood traitor."

"Thomas I know."

"Then why? Why don't you stop? Break up with her? No one has to know. I won't tell anyone."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"You guys have no future. You know who won't let one of his servants pollute his pure blood with a muggle. And even if he didn't give a hoot your mum and dad would. You are just gonna end up hurting her and you in the long run. Trust me Regulus. Break up with her."

"I can't." Regulus shook his head. The voice of his mother and Bellatrix were echoing what his best friend had just told him, but he already knew the risk but he had still been making it everyday since they had first met almost four months previously.

After a moment's pause Thomas looked at his friend pityingly, "wow, you have really fallen for this girl haven't you?"

Regulus wouldn't have put it like that. He enjoyed talking to her, and waited expectantly on her letters, he thought she was pretty and funny and smart and he wanted to keep in contact with her but he didn't want her to get hurt. Of course he liked her, she was his girlfriend. After a few seconds he nodded, forced to agree with Thomas's statement.

"What are you going to do mate?"

Regulus shrugged.

"Look I will give you back your letters and I will keep them a secret. As far as I am concerned this never happened and I know nothing. Which also means I will be telling no one nothing, ok?"

Regulus nodded his head, he would normally point out that his friends sentence wasn't really proper but this was not the moment instead he thanked his friend and together they made their way back down the stairs to the Slytherin Common room talking about Quidditch.