- Chapter Sixty -
"Grab a cloak, Regulus, we're going to a muggle village."

"I'm so sorry, Reg."

This had to be about the hundredth time those words had come out of Elladora's mouth since she and Regulus Black had boarded the Hogwarts Express to go home for the Easter holidays. It was like she had become a broken record, saying the same thing over and over again for she could positively not stop apologising for her faults. The guilt was weighing her down no matter how many times she expressed her apologies to not only Regulus, but to her bedroom ceiling where she feared the dead man was scowling down at her worthless piece of wasted life.

All feeling of guilt, anguish and sorrow made her stomach twist unpleasantly like she was going to start being sick at any given moment. It wasn't a nice feeling and she was sure she had never felt it before, maybe at separate times but certainly not all at once like she was feeling now.

After the events that had occurred yesterday, no more was said to the teenagers who her occupying the Hargreaves Manor for the time being and they were left alone to themselves. In each other's company of course but never knowing what to say. Regulus retired to his own bed later on and knocked on her door again the next morning so they could continue their wallowing together.

Normally, the Hargreaves parents would never have dreamed of letting Elladora be alone in a room with someone let alone a boy but now it seemed as though they couldn't care less. Her father and Sebastian were the only people of the male gender that had entered her room before these troubling times but now Regulus Black seemed quite acquainted with the bay window seat. Every now and then they would speak but it was mostly silence, Elladora staring at her the ceiling of her bed and Regulus staring outside of her window, both wishing to be anywhere but where they were.

"Stop saying that." Regulus chastised, pressing his forehead against the glass and closing his eyes tiredly at her words. He had heard it a lot and wished for her to say it no more, he couldn't accept her apologies when there is no need for her to apologise to begin with.

"Sorry."

"Elladora!"

"Right." She nodded, shutting her mouth before another word could slip out of it unwillingly. The clock that stood opposite her bed ticked annoyingly, reminding her that it was almost half past ten in the morning, not that she needed to be anywhere but she was thankful for a peaceful morning.

"Children."

Until then. Both teenagers sat up from their positions, Regulus taking his head away from the window and turning it towards Elladora's bedroom as he straightened up and watched as the girl on the bed immediately scrambled out of her lying position and instead sat graciously with her legs crossed and her posture the same as always. She gulped slightly as her door opened with a creak and Orion Black stepped in.

In truth, she was expecting it to be one of her own parent and a small wave of relief came when Regulus' father came in instead. She still didn't let her formal position slip in his presence though. He had a stern look on his face, a scruff beard framing his jawline and his brown hair slicking back slightly on the top of his head, he stood tall in the doorway and closed it with a click behind him.

Walburga was much scarier than Orion, Elladora thought as the man stepped in further. Perhaps the women were just naturally more scarier because Elladora's mother looked scarier than her father too, but he certainly acted scarier. That might've been the case with Orion and he might be here to belittle them even though they had done what the Dark Lord had wished. Elladora was still alive so she couldn't have done anything wrong yet.

"Hello." Orion nodded and Elladora refused to let her eyebrows furrow as he made his way over to the small sofa in the corner of her room, sitting down and letting the cushion dip underneath him. "Oh, sorry." He apologised and stood from the seat before looking straight at Elladora. "May I sit?"

She stared at him bemused for a second before answering hastily. "Yes, sir."

"Lovely." He grunted softly and sat down again comfortably, looking in between the two who were staring at him warily. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Regulus started to stutter, glowing a bit red with embarrassment as he looked over to Elladora, who was oblivious as always to the insinuation. Her cheeks didn't show a tint of pink and she did not seem to be embarrassed, only confused as she tilted her head at the man, prompting Regulus to answer for them both.

"Of course not, father." He coughed slightly, letting his cheeks calm considerably. "We were only talking about school."

"Right." Orion nodded and pursed his lips together, his forearms resting on his knees as he leaned forward and clasped his hands together. "I...have a preposition."

The two kids glanced to each other with equal wariness and confusion before looking back at the man who was seemingly waiting for them to talk. Elladora managed to clear her throat and muster something up so Regulus was at a lower risk of getting into trouble if they said something wrong.

"Uh, do go on." She said politely, but unsurely. He looked up at her and she braced herself for a hostile scolding about acting like his superior but he simply gave her a quick smile which she was taken aback at but a warm feeling spread slightly throughout her stomach.

"I think the two of you should have a day out." He said and both of their eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "Go to Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, etcetera and have some tea, ice cream maybe a butterbeer. How does that sound?"

Regulus and Elladora were both stunned into silence at his kind offer, the latter trying not to let her jaw drop at the compassion he had and the former letting a small smile tug at his lips after his father had finished his offer.

"That sounds wonderful, Mr. Black." Elladora stood politely from her place on the bed, her formalities slowly reaching her and grabbing at her manners. "But I cannot help but think what my parents would say-"

"All sorted." Orion interrupted the idea, waving off the notion with another quick smile and Elladora paused in her small pacing, turning around to look at him with her lips parting in surprise. "We all think it would be good for you to have some time out, to bond, create a possible friendship so you have more to talk about than school. Plus, it gives us time to fully prepare." He said like they knew what he was talking about.

"Prepare?" Regulus asked with a small laugh that either Orion didn't notice or didn't care about. Elladora was shocked that a friend of her parents could act like this. With compassion.

"For the ball, of course." He replied with disinterest and Elladora choked on the air before her, coughing violently whilst putting a hand to her chest. "Are you okay, my dear?"

"Fine, thank you." She coughed once more, patting her chest slightly before facing him with a slightly alarmed look. "You said...ball?"

"Well, more of a party really but ball is just the formal word." He nodded his head at her, confused with her behaviour before it all clicked in his head. "But of course you haven't ever been to one before, have you? Oh yes, I remember when your parents were very adamant on hiding you away until you were of age and acted like a lady."

Elladora held her tongue and tilted her head instead, smiling bitterly with a small narrow in her eyes though he didn't seem to notice her change in behaviour and instead just chuckled and stood from the sofa again, walking past her and towards the door.

"I'll be going now. When the two of you are ready to leave just tell us." He gave the two a thumbs up and opened the bedroom door again, leaving and closing it behind him again.

"Honestly." She exclaimed as she turned around to face Regulus, who was smiling nervously at her angry face. "A ball. Really? They can't be serious. What is this? Romeo and Juliet?"

Her face was contorted into one of anger and frustration as she paced around before finally turning back to the boy in her room. "Grab a cloak, Regulus, we're going to a muggle village."

"What?!"

•*•*•*•*•

"Looks like some sort of coloured photograph."

"It's obviously a muggle radio, that must some sort of newspaper clipping to advertise it."

"Although, it could be some sort of charm."

"Ah yes, maybe a fun spell created for entertainment."

"Oi, you two." A man shouted and Elladora and Regulus both turned away from the odd mechanical box in the shop window and looked towards the man who was poking his head out of the entrance, his eyebrows furrowing at their attitudes. "What are you doing? Need some help?"

"Oh, yes please." Elladora nodded, smiling at the man. "Can you tell us what this is?" She pointed a finger towards the box and Regulus nodded from beside her.

"A TV?" The man raised an eyebrow at the two as they let out sounds of interest and wonder. He watched them warily as they turned to converse with one another.

"TV." Elladora whispered to Regulus, laughing slightly at the word as she pronounced it exaggeratingly with her mouth twisted into a smile. "Have you ever heard of it?"

"No." Regulus shook his head and looked at it once more, squinting his eyes before turning back to the man who was staring at them with lots of bewilderment, "What does it do?"

"Uh, it...shows you things." He explained to them as they nodded along interestedly to his words. "Movies, game shows, music."

"Music." Elladora repeated, searching her brain for the name of the one muggle band she knew. "Queen!"

"Yeah, it shows Queen." He nodded and she gasped softly, turning towards the window and tapping on the glass in front of the 'TV'.

"How does it show me Queen?"

"You, uh, have to wait for it change." The man furrowed his eyebrows at their strange behaviour, nodding at a couple that entered the shop past him. "So are you two gonna buy it or just stare at it?"

"We can't buy it, our parents would have a heart attack." Regulus said and Elladora nodded, pursing her lips in disappointment of the news. She looked back at the screen and jumped at the sight of a large shark on the screen, baring its sharp teeth and devouring at humans and swimmers.

"Merlin's beard, what is that!" She placed a hand to her heart and jumped away from the shop window, back into Regulus.

The man stepped out of the doorway and walked around to the two, looking at the screen in the window.  He laughed slightly and looked back to the girl who was having a hard time looking away, but her face was twisted into one of fear and disgust.

"It's Jaws. Great film." He smiled and looked at the screen again as it came jumping out of the water and Elladora flinched again. "I can get you a copy for like...2 pounds."

Both teenagers just stared at him for a moment, furrowing their eyebrows and tilting their heads to the side at his words. He had tried to give the two the benefit of the doubt but now they were just acting plain weird and freaky. Like they had never seen a TV or a shark before, even worse they looked like they had never even heard of a pound.

"Pound?" The girl asked, leaning forward slightly. "What is that?"

"You're serious?" He raised his dark eyebrows at her and watched as she chuckled as though she found his words absolutely hilarious, though after her  laughter, her face drained of happiness and her eyes clouded whilst her smile dropped.

"Is everything okay with her?" The man looked at Regulus, who nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder making her snap out of her stupor and look at them both again.

"So," Regulus started again when she had come back to reality and he looked back at the shopkeeper. "What is a pound?"

"Oh, yes, what's that?" Elladora clicked her fingers as she remembered the odd word and looked at the muggle in front of her with a smile.

He narrowed his eyes at her before reaching into his shirt pocket and pulling out what looked like a long cylinder of rolled up paper and he handed it to her with a smile, pulling something else out of his back pocket and lighting the end of the paper on fire before wishing them a good day and walking back into the shop, leaving them behind with the shark movie.

Elladora looked down at the lit paper and frowned in confusion. Across the street, a guy had a similar thing to her and was holding it up to his lips, sucking on it and then taking it out of his mouth. The girl pursed her lips and brought the stick up to her own lips and sucked, taking it out almost immediately and convulsing in coughs as a cloud of smoke came from her mouth.

"What just happened to you?" Regulus exclaimed in shock.

•*•*•*•*•

A/N: I rewatched all of Bridgerton today and finally watched WandaVision yesterday and then watched Falcon and The Winter Soldier whilst writing this so I'm happy to say that I've fulfilled my weekend of peace and quiet with TV shows to binge watch.

Also Anthony and Daphne Bridgerton get hotter every time I watch the damn show.