Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.
Hey guys, I'm back! My inspiration isn't, though, so I might not be able to update as often as before, unlike I said I would, during these holidays.
Chapter 18
-o-O-o-
Hermione woke up the next morning, well rested. She found that fact particularly strange as she had had quite a tumultuous night. She blushed slightly at the fact but proceeded to get dressed.
The whole morning was rather uneventful, and for a good reason: Regulus wasn't there.
She was surprised, to say the least, when he missed Potions. He was rather good at it and was one of Slughorn's favourites. She was worried when he missed Defence Against the Dark Arts. It was their second class, and something must be awfully wrong if he missed two hours. Her next classes weren't with him, but he wasn't there at lunch, and so she began to panic. She ate as fast as she could and left to check every place where he could possibly be.
He wasn't in the library, he wasn't in the kitchens and he wasn't in his next classroom. 'Where on Earth could he be?' she asked herself, before something clicked in her mind. If he wasn't anywhere she could go to, he had to be somewhere she couldn't access.
That was when she set off for the Slytherin Common Room.
She had to follow a third year under a Dillusionment charm to get in, but she managed. As the student in question was a girl and headed to the dormitories on her right, she assumed the boys' were on her left. She climbed up the stairs until the door in front of her said: 'Sixth Years'.
She pushed it open. Thankfully, it looked empty, apart from a shapeless form lying on the bed on the far right. She smiled slightly. Regulus appeared to be sleeping, and somehow, she found that endearing.
She approached the bed slowly and sat down on a corner, removing her Dillusionment charm along the way. It was Regulus indeed. He was lying down in a foetal position, his blanket wrapped around his sleeping form tightly. She understood him: the humidity of the dungeons made it much colder than the Gryffindor Common Room.
His face looked peaceful, although his body was drenched in sweat. Suddenly, he shivered and groaned lightly, pulling his blanket closer to himself. Hermione frowned, wondering what kind of dream he was having.
No longer had she finished her though that he jerked upright, panting as tears started flowing down his face. He stared at the wall opposite him for a couple of seconds, before turning around and examining his surroundings. When he turned around to face her, he froze and suddenly she wondered if coming here was such a great idea after all.
"Listen, I-" But she didn't get to finish her sentence. He had flung himself at her and was now clinging to her as if she was her only link to life. She was surprised, to say the least, at first, but then relaxed in his embrace. She felt him vibrating slightly, and realised he was crying. Long, heartbroken sobs wracked through his body as hot tears stained her shirt. She felt unending pity for Regulus, even though she knew nought about the cause of his sorrow.
After a while, his sobs turned to pants, and then to small sniffles, and he detached his blotchy face from her. "Sorry." he croaked.
She brushed a strand of hair from his face, concern written all over her traits. "What was it?" she asked softly. When he didn't answer after a couple of minutes, she prompted him: "A nightmare?" He looked up at her and nodded slowly. "About what?" she asked, putting a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
He looked down. "Someone… Someone I care about… Being tortured… And killed… Right before my eyes…" He sniffled again, before wiping his nose on his arm. That was when she noticed he was sleeping only in pyjama bottoms. She cleared her throat, trying to make the inappropriate thoughts leave her head.
Unfortunately, it did nothing of the sort. "That's truly horrible." she managed to choke out, sincerely hoping the hoarseness of her voice would be defined as grief and compassion, and not something else entirely.
He didn't seem to notice her little problem as he slipped back into his sheets. That was when she remembered why she was here in the first place.
"Oh no you don't!" she said, trying to pull the sheets away from him. He groaned, pulling them loser to him and squeezing his eyes shut. She pulled harder, determined to make him leave his bed at least once today, until finally, he let go.
Unfortunately for her, she had been pulling too hard and so, when he let go, found herself falling on her backside onto the hard tiled floor. Meanwhile, in his bed, Regulus rolled over in laughter.
Hermione stood up, anger flushing her cheeks as she mumbled: "Just you wait." before wrenching the covers away from him. He let out a surprised yelp as a cold gust of wind hit his bare chest. Seeing her triumphant smirk, he gave her a determined look before grabbing hold of the sheets she was holding and giving a hard yank. Now, it was her turn to squeak as she was pulled with the covers on top of the bed… and on top of Regulus.
Both looked extremely flushed after their small fight, stopping for a couple of minutes to catch their breaths. Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain as, as soon as they realised the awkward position in which they were, they both blushed bright red again and scrambled to try and get out of the bed.
When he was out from the safety of his covers, Hermione could finally see him clearly again. His cheeks were pink and he was staring directly at her, mussing his hair up occasionally. His raven black locks hung around his ever so light grey eyes in a way which made them look bigger and, if she was going to be sissy, absolutely adorable. He had extremely pale skin but, for some reason, she didn't find it sickly looking as she did with Draco Malfoy, back in her timeline. He had a very slim figure, though not totally deprived of muscle, as he did have a square chest. He was nothing like his brother Sirius, who had a kind of bearish quality to him. No, if Sirius was a bear, or, she mused, a huge black dog, then Regulus would be more of a falcon or a racing dog.
He cleared his throat, making her realise she had, indeed been staring at him and, possibly, fantasising too. "Well, erm…" he mumbled incoherently. "Since… You got me out of bed, I might as well… Go take a shower…"
She blushed, if possible, even brighter. "Erm… Yeah, sure, feel free… I'll be waiting." He nodded left, grabbing a fluffy green towel on the way, and she sat down, wondering what was wrong with her brain for her to be having such incoherent thoughts around none other than Regulus Black.
-o-O-o-
"Fuck…" Regulus muttered, staring at the mess he had made in the bathroom. The water would be able to wash away, rather quickly, the remains of his activity, but the thought of it would remain.
He groaned. Why did she have to come? Why her? Then again, he knew the reason; she was the only one who cared about him. But why come when he was sleeping? That was his fault; he should have been awake a long time ago. Unfortunately, his dream about her being tortured had made him so depressed that, when he woke up, he had been rather happy to see her alive and well… and caring… and wearing that ridiculously short skirt of hers…
He wanted to punch the wall. As if that hadn't been enough, they had played a game of pulling the covers, and she had ended up on top of him. He had felt himself grow very fast then, and had left to take a shower, cradling a towel near his crotch so she wouldn't notice his arousal.
And now, there he was, completely breathless, with boiling water spraying down on his head as it washed away the proofs of his wanting of her. He couldn't believe that, somehow, he had stooped so low. He had thought Macnair was disgusting for lusting after everything that had two legs and a pussy, but lusting after Hermione… He wasn't much better.
It wasn't her blood status that bothered him. He had gotten over that thought months ago. It was the fact that his brother had had exactly the same thoughts as he was having. And he wanted nothing to do with that good for nothing, traitorous bastard! And, deep down, he knew he didn't want to hurt Hermione like he had. Deep down, he wanted to cherish her for the rest of her life… A thought he'd never had about anybody.
Ever.
And somehow, all these new feelings… They scared him. As a Slytherin, it was nothing but natural that he was afraid of the unknown. That was why he'd been surprised that his brother had been sorted in Gryffindor; he had always been afraid. But then again, unlike Regulus, he had a reckless, and somehow stupid, personality. When he had been sorted in Slytherin, his parents had praised him. He'd been sure he was following…
The right path.
But now… Now with Hermione in his life… He wasn't so sure anymore. He was beginning to wonder whether the Dark Lord was really fighting for the greater good, or for his own advantages. He was beginning to think that his family, except Sirius, was all for preserving blood purity… because they were scared. He was beginning to realise that that girl, who had arrived from nowhere, as if from a puff of smoke, was getting under his skin.
Seriously. And it was not something he ought to take lightly.
-o-O-o-
Hermione just sat on the bed, thinking, until Regulus came out of the bathroom. She wanted to tell him to hurry up, but upon seeing him wrapped in only the towel he'd carried with him earlier, beads of water marking his every curve and steam rising off him in waves, her breath hitched.
Fortunately, it didn't last very long until she managed to call out: "Took you some time."
He jumped slightly at the sound of her voice, leading her to think that he wasn't expecting her. Her suspicions were confirmed when he answered: "Yeah, well, I didn't think you'd stay there and wait."
"I have all the time in the world." she contested as he walked over to his closet and pulled out items of clothing. Her eyes widened a little when she saw a pair of black silken boxers but otherwise remained quite stationary. He went back to the bathroom to change and, when he came out, was the same Regulus she knew and loved.
'Wait, wait, wait… Loved?' She mentally cursed her imagination for going to far before standing up. He pulled on a school robe and motioned to the door.
"We might as well go, shouldn't we?" he asked, and she nodded silently, before both headed out of the Slytherin dormitories and Common Room, and into the familiar corridors of Hogwarts.
They started meandering, unsure where to go, until Hermione declared: "You haven't eaten; maybe we could go to the kitchens and get you something to fill your stomach with."
His absence of protest made her think he agreed with her, and so they set off for the Hogwarts kitchens. Fortunately, she knew you only had to tickle the pear to get in, and they both entered without any problems. Once they were in, a small House Elf with batty ears and huge, black doe eyes accosted them. "What can Fizzy do for you?" she squeaked.
Hermione was still unsure on how to treat a House Elf, so was very cautious in her choice of words. "Would you be kind enough to give Regulus here a decent lunch please?" she asked.
Fizzy nodded. "I is getting you that instantly." She clapped her hands and a dozen more Elves came, carrying a platter on their heads. They laid the platter down on a table on Hermione's left, where a chair also sat, as well as a couch behind it.
Regulus wasted no time in thanking anyone, so Hermione, shooting him a death glare, did it for him, praising each Elf individually as Regulus stuffed his face with the same delicious lamb chops she had had a mere hour ago. The Elves nodded and smiled at her, before scampering in different directions.
She went and sat down on the ouch, still glaring at Regulus, as if trying to make holes in the back of his head. When he was done, he called Fizzy back. "Would you care to give me this morning's Prophet, please?" he asked. The Elf nodded and left, coming back only seconds later and handing him the papers. He only waved her off, no thanking intended.
Hermione stood up to scold him about his outrageous behaviour with such nice creatures, until she noticed his face was deathly pale. She was bout to ask him what was wrong, her anger melted away, when he turned green and stood up, leaving the room in a hurry.
Confused, Hermione picked the paper up and looked at the front cover. There was a picture of a headless man and a woman, both dead and covered in blood. The woman's legs were bent at odd angles and Hermione thought she could make out a rib or two poking out of her sides. The outline read:
'Mass Muggle Murder Continues!
This morning, at 04:32, the Auror office was notified as Muggle witnesses reported to have heard screaming coming from their street. The Muggle policemen were on the crime scene when our law forces arrived, but were soon sent back to their station, memory charms in place.
Charles Anderson, 44 and his wife, Linda Anderson (née Mills), 39, were found dead in their bed. The copious amount of blood might suggest a Muggle murder, but the cut which decapitated Mr. Anderson (see picture) seemed far too straight and far too clean to have been anything other than a powerful Slicing Hex. The first thought that came to the mind of our Aurors was that Death Eaters were the cause of this slaughter.
When interrogating witnesses, their suspicions were confirmed as most of them said having seen two, probably male, figures enter the house, just past 2:00, and one of them exit the house, about quarter of an hour later. Some also reported seeing that exiting figure bend over the pavement and throw up, before waving his hand to make the proof go away.
The autopsy of the two corpses leads us to think that Mr. Anderson was killed first, only by decapitation, and that Mrs. Anderson has been a victim to physical abuse, including multiple rape attempts, most of them fruitful. Unfortunately, no sperm or anything of the sort was discovered on the crime scene to help us uncover the culprit of the events, leading us all to wonder: who would be so cruel and heartless to do such a thing?'
Hermione put the paper down, feeling slightly sick. Ignoring the churning of her stomach, she wondered why Regulus would be so affected by that news… Unless he had been part of it.
-o-O-o-
Boo! Spooky! I'm glad I managed to finish this chapter for today, though, as I wasn't sure I would be able to… I haven't even started chapter 19, so maybe you'll have to wait until after tomorrow for it… Now that that's said, have a nice Christmas Eve, everyone! :)
Next Chapter: Their Christmas Holidays!