Sunday 7th March, 1977

It had been two weeks since we decided to continue dating. Two long weeks where we spent more time apart than we did together. Not on purpose; we just had so much to do, with O.W.L.s, Regulus's quidditch training, and, of course, Regulus needing to spend more time with his fiancé to keep up appearances.

I try not to feel hurt every time he has to spend more time with her than he does his own girlfriend. I know that his parents are telling him to do it, so he has too. Yet the doubt still trickles in.

Sirius never listened to his parents. If it was him and Remus in your places, Sirius would defy his parents to stay with Remus.

Regulus isn't Sirius, I had to remind myself, and that is completely fine.

I was in Regulus's dorm with his friends, head in Regulus's lap as we all talked. Technically I was supposed to be studying, but I hadn't seen Regulus in a while so I decided that studying could wait. Everything was going good, until Selena was brought up.

"Can't believe you're getting married man," Avery said. "And to someone who isn't Y/n!"

"Selena is his fiancé, but Y/n is his mistress," Barty joked, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

Now that Barty had warmed up to me, he was a lot more open and easy around me, often making jokes with me and even helping with my homework. Sometimes, though, he'd say things that were funny to him but cruel to others. Like right now for instance.

"I have no romantic relationship with Selena, Barty," Regulus snapped. "I'm going to find a way out of this."

"You mean, you're going to find a way out of this that doesn't involve confronting your parents?" Evan clarified.

Regulus scowled.

. . .

Monday 8th March, 1977

Barty's words stayed with me as the next day rolled around, so much so that I'd gone a bit quiet, too busy obsessing over them to focus on anything else. In Charms Regulus had asked me if I was okay and I'd lied, saying I was just tired. I didn't see how telling him I was affected by Barty's words would do anyone any good.

So instead I'd suffered in silence, until Potions that was, when all traces of Barty's comment disappeared as soon as I found out we would be brewing Amortentia. I was excited to say the least; I'd heard so many stories from my friends from when they brewed the potion, and I couldn't wait to find out what I would smell.

I was very careful when making the potion, following all the instructions to the very last word. I was determined to get this right.

Time went by quickly as everyone focused on their potion, and the room was unusually quiet, every one too busy working to talk.

Minutes passed, and soon an hour had. Before I knew it, I'd added the last ingredient into my potion and just needed to stir it to finish it. I was nervous and excited; what would I smell? Who would I smell?

The answer came to me as soon as I finished stirring, and I took a deep breathe, smiling as I smelt some of the most comforting things in the world. I could smell my mothers perfume mixed with my father's cologne. I could smell James when he comes back from quidditch practise, one of the times he's happiest. I could smell Sirius's expensive shampoo and conditioner, and the smell of parchment that always seemed to follow Remus wherever he went. I could smell the faint aroma of brie, a cheese Peter was almost always associated with, and the pleasing scent of the flower Lily.

What took my off guard though, was the smell of pine needles, and the metallic, cold smell of an expensive cologne, mixed with the faint tinge of mint. I smelt Regulus Black.

A grin broke across my face as I felt myself practically vibrating. I searched the classroom for Regulus's face, finding him hunched over his own potion, eyes narrowed as he did some finishing touches to his potion.

I smelt Regulus Black. The thought filled me with such happiness, such joy, I didn't know what I was supposed to do with myself. It was funny to think that if I'd smelt Regulus Black in my Amortentia a few months ago I would have freaked, instead of being ecstatic like I am now. I couldn't wait to tell him, and hopefully see if he smelt me too.

My attention was snatched from Regulus when I heard the girls on the table next to me talking. The girls that unfortunately included Selena Rowle.

"Do you smell Regulus?" one of her friends gushed, the others all listening in attentively.

Selena, who had also finished brewing her potion, smiled coyly. "Maybe."

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. Lately Selena had been making their relationship into a bigger deal than she needed to. Even when Regulus wasn't with her she was constantly reminding everyone how much she loved him and how she couldn't wait to finally wed him.

It was nauseating, even more so because it wasn't even true and she was making all of that stuff up. Or was she? Was she actually that excited to marry Regulus? To finally claim him as hers, even when he wasn't?

"You got a problem?" Selena snapped, hearing my scoff.

"You love Regulus Black? That's a bit much, even for you," I shot back, feeling the familiar anger and jealousy thrumming under my skin.

Selena sneered. "Even for me? What's that supposed to mean? Are you in love with my boyfriend or something?"

"He's not your boyfriend," I spat, speaking before I could think. Selena was staring at me curiously, so I hastily added, "or were you lying when you said you were engaged to him?"

Selena smiled smugly, staring down at me with disdain. "No, you're right, he's not my boyfriend. He's my fiancé. Thanks for reminding me."

I spent the rest of the class spewing at what Selena said, feeling angry that she was able to untruthfully claim Regulus as hers while I couldn't rightfully claim him as mine. I could feel Regulus's gaze on me as I sulked in silence but ignored it, too angry to acknowledge him.

I was really starting to hate this plan we'd made.

A/N:

i updated because i felt bad. i'm not very good at this whole angst thing am i?

just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone whose commented and voted on this story. it genuinely makes me so happy, and to see it doing so well is more than i could have asked for. i appreciate you all SO much <333