Another chapter. Please leave comments.

For the next few days, until around the 10th of October, Luna Lupin thought deeply on how to verbalise the awfully good idea that she had plotted in her mind during the early hours of the morning to the detail.

If Regulus was the most hated person by the group of people which two of those people she wished to hurt, even if lightly, then he ought to make part of the plan, of course. The closest she held someone like him as a weapon against them, the safest she would feel, it was clear.

After the fight that humiliated Sirius so much, for her to be to be seen close to Regulus was a punch to his ego, however he wouldn't be able to say anything about that to anyone (besides James, who had already made clear that he had nothing to do with his friend's meanness) and his feelings of shame, anger and any sort of possessiveness that he might feel over Luna might seem out of place – if she was lucky enough, Sirius would give himself away to Remus without her needing to say anything. Besides, Remus also seemed quite angry with Regulus, always glaring at him, seemingly worried about Luna after he asked Pandora about why Regulus and Luna were talking when the girl was walking alone (naively, Pandora answered, though she was smart enough to go and tell Luna as soon as she saw her again).

Luna, logically, knew that the idea was childish and petty, but there was a part of her that had stopped caring about it after Regulus shoved the bloody book into her hand, teeth stained red with his brother's blood. It was at that very moment that so much made sense in her mind and the idea of keeping him close lightened up the dark place her mind was becoming, but it was only during Evan's worried ranting that she had actually put a name to the plan.

Dating.

Luna wasn't one to date, as it was already mentioned, but she could be under the right circumstances. Especially if said circumstances happened to be making Sirius lose his sanity with his own guilt. Sure, perhaps the copy of The Scarlet Letter that her grandmother gave her on bedside table helped her put the plan together (after all, there was much to be said over Minister Arthur losing his mind, health and soul over his own guilt – it was a rather favourite thought of her when she couldn't sleep to decide if he had carved the red 'A' on his chest as self-punishment or if the 'A' had appeared on his chest in some supernatural punishment from God, or the witch in the woods, or perhaps even from the Devil himself). Sirius was no Arthur, but he was a sensitive man, and she was counting on his own guilt (and some feelings that he might have harboured for her, even if they were only friendly) to make him suffer.

No matter how much she said that she didn't care, if she wanted him to suffer so much, she knew that she had cared far too much.

Sure, there was also her brother. Though she didn't necessarily wanted to hurt Remus – no matter what he did, he was her brother after all and she loved him dearly, no matter how much she denied so in front of him – but she truly wanted him to look at her with some seriousness; wanted him to see her as a woman, not some fragile little girl that couldn't do anything on her own or that depended entirely on him and his image. A relationship with Regulus (a Black Heir in all its splendour and danger) would prove him that she could do anything she wanted without him underfoot. He was an afterthought in the plan, that much was clear, no matter how much she felt guilty over it. But she wanted him to worry, she wanted him to grovel and understand... something... If she was honest, she wasn't sure what would be Remus' reaction to something like this; perhaps he wouldn't even take it seriously, but she wanted him to know that she was there. That she existed outside of his illness, outside of her sickness; they were people outside of their Hospital Wing personas.

Though some of her motives were confusing, she knew that the idea was solid. Besides, if Regulus accepted, she knew it wouldn't be a failure – Regulus never did things by their halves, only fully and completely, ever the dedicated student, Quidditch player and Prefect.

It was past eleven in the evening when Luna finally reached the top of the Astronomy Tower.

"Good evening, Miss Lupin," Regulus greeted, back turned to the stairs as he fixed the big telescope up against the railing.

She couldn't help herself; a smile came to her face.

"Good evening, Mister Black," she answered.

'Mister', quite the word that she wasn't used to saying, but it felt right to call him by such when he was so polite to her, calling her 'miss'. Regulus' tone of voice was so posh and polite that even her grandmother would like him (and her grandmother seemed to think that no boy was good enough for Luna, no girl good enough for Remus).

Regulus turned to him, lips turned up in a polite smile.

"You seem in a good mood," he mused.

She wasn't, however, in a good mood, but she could pretend.

"Well, I have too much to do to dwell," she answered.

"Dwell on what?"

"On anything other than Transfiguration and Astronomy," she answered.

...and her plot, but she needed to bring it up a much more careful way than just throwing it at him.

"That is a good decision," he praised. "Today, we are going over the main constellations. The Thirteen."

She raised her eyebrows.

"Thirteen? I thought it was twelve," she said.

Regulus lowered himself to the ground, where he had put his cloak so he could sit on top of it. He put one of his eyes in place, looking through the telescope to see the sky.

"That's a very muggle way of thinking, Miss Lupin. It is known by us, wizards, that you decided that Astrology followed only twelve constellations, but it's unfairly decided. Thirteen constellations, The Thirteen," he answered. He puled away from the telescope to look at her, expecting her to sit beside him by the way he pointed politely to the space beside him. "I'd hazard you have not heard of it yet, by your reaction."

"Indeed, I have not."

"Do you the first twelve, then?" he asked.

"Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius," she said.

"Good. The thirteenth is between Scorpio and Sagittarius, it's called Ophiuchus," he answered. "Do you know any of those constellations well?"

Luna shrugged.

"I know that the 'regulus' star is inside the Leo constellation, Pandora told me so," she said, walking to him and sitting beside him.

His cloak was thicker (probably more expensive) than hers, that much was clear as soon as her body touched it, the back of her knees naked against the fabric. She crossed her legs, covering her knees with her skirt.

"That's all?" he asked.

"Mostly," she admitted.

"And what's your zodiac?" he asked.

She winced.

"Cancer," she said just above a whisper.

Regulus made a noise that sounded a lot like a sigh, something of an understanding sound, as if he had cracked a horrid puzzle.

"That makes a lot of sense," he admitted.

"What about yours?" she asked. "What's your birthday?"

"August 23rd. I'm a Virgo," he said.

She mimicked the sound that he made to her saying her zodiac sign, more to tease him than anything, but he didn't seem disturbed, he just held back a smile to her.

He turned to her.

"You're a Cancer, then. But what's your birthday. I told you mine," he said to her.

"Oh... Hm... It's June 24th," she said.

He continued the conversation as if he had never asked her that question, didn't even acknowledge her answer.

"Well, in the Wizarding World, zodiac signs are not all that important. They used to be, once upon a time, but this Westernised version of it is mostly used in Divination and parlour tricks for women during the parties. However, the zodiac signs in Alchemy, as you know, are used in some medicinal experiments – the sign of the person you're doing the experiment for may help its strength," he said. He fixed the telescope. "In October, the only constellation that we can't see is Octans, but it's not important for the moment."

He offered her the space for the telescope. She leaned forward, getting on her hands and knees and crawling forward before sitting down again to finally putting her eye the space of the telescope.

"What am I looking at?" she asked.

"You tell me. What can you see?" he asked.

She tried her very best to focus.

"I can't discern what it is," she said.

"What you're seeing is Ophiuchus," he answered. "Also called the Serpent-Bearer. One of the most important constellations for Alchemy, so I wanted to bring this to you because we won't be able to see her after October, only being able to see it again in May. It's a constellation often connected to Asclepius, a Greek god of revered healing abilities, so any potion or experiment done under its starts with the important intention of connecting it to its light, it can help with healing – all of this because it's connected to transformation and rebirth, that's why there's a serpent in the constellation's image, it's cyclical nature of life." He pushed his hair back. "Had you been born under its influence; it would be truly remarkable."

"What do you mean?"

"Between November 30th to December 18th. People born between that time, they might be more connected to healing abilities, transformative tendencies and are always in a quest for knowledge and wisdom," he said. "Isn't that what you want?"

She shook her head, pulling back to look at him.

"Not at all," she said. "My reasoning is far more selfish."

That seemed to take Regulus aback, because he just looked at her for a few seconds, his mind suddenly trying his very best to find explanations, creating small theories and –

"What do you mean?" he asked, not holding himself back. "You don't sound like a selfish person."

"But I am," she said. "I'm nothing if not selfish. I only accepted to help you in Transfiguration because you agreed to help me in Astronomy. I'm only going after Alchemy for respect and to make sure nobody has to go through what I did when I smaller."

"You mean blood prejudice?" he asked.

Her eyes narrowed. His voice sounded teasing, almost as if he didn't believe the completely on the concept of blood prejudice.

"No."

Her short answer seemed to get his attention even more. He waited for her to go on with her answer, giving her time to somehow explain herself, but nothing came. Luna just sat there, looking at him – he sat there, looking at her.

It hit him suddenly how close they were. With his cloak spread out on the ground for them to sit and study, they had no more than few six feet of fabric (it was his height after all) and their legs were touching at that very moment, and Luna didn't seem to have noticed, or she just didn't care. She seemed tense, but she was already tense from the conversation and whatever it was that was going on inside her head.

"Regulus," she said.

He tensed up.

They were alone in the middle of the night, in the half-lit ambient of the Astronomy Tower, where he knew couples to sneak into to snog, sitting ever so close to one another. And she had just called him by first name.

"Yes?" he said, voice wavering.

"I have a proposition for you," she said.

Regulus got up, standing while scrambling a bit. He fixed his sweater around him and his tie, holding himself back from smoothing down his trousers as his mind begged him to do.

"W-What sort of proposition, Miss Lupin?" he asked.

"One that might require you to call me by my first name if it's not too much trouble," she said, smiling at his reaction and raising her eyebrows. "Did I make you uncomfortable somehow? If that's the case, I won't even say my idea."

He raised his own eyebrows at that.

"Is it improper?" he asked.

She watched him for a second, biting her bottom lip in thought.

"Perhaps a bit," she admitted.

He took a deep breath.

"One that might get us in trouble?" he asked.

"Absolutely," she answered. "But perhaps more me than you," she stopped for a second. "Although, your parents seem to be quite the characters, so I might have to take my words back in that."

He shifted nervously, glancing at the stairway as if to make sure they weren't being spied on or listened to. No matter how nervous he was, he was far more curious – especially after she seemed so deep in thought.

"Whatever is it?" he asked, curious.

Luna didn't seem to know where to start in her proposition, no matter how much she had trained in her own mind on her way there. Now, she just sat there, being stared by Regulus Black (something that was, annoyingly, becoming quite the habit) in silence because she wasn't sure how to say everything that she had in mind.

"So..." she started, awkwardly as she pushed herself to stand up. "Have you ever read The Scarlet Letter?"

He narrowed his eyes at her.

"No," he said. "What is that?"

"A very old romance novel from 1850 by a half-blood named Nathaniel Hawthorne. I've been told he was unbearable and lazy, but he got a really nice plot in this one book," she told him. "A minister – you do know what a minister is, don't you? – anyways, he gets this one married woman pregnant in the 1640s, but since her husband isn't there and she's considered a widow, then she was forced to stand punishment. She became a pariah and had to wear clothes wit a big, scarlet 'A' for adulterer on her chest."

"I don't understand where you're trying to get with this story," he said. "I never got anyone pregnant, I'm sure."

She shook her head, almost laughing at his confusion.

"The thing is that the minister doesn't tell anybody that it was him and neither does the woman, so when her husband comes to the village under a new name (so she wouldn't be killed) he starts acting like some sort of sorcerer, almost as if he put a spell on the minister. The poor man was already feeling quite bad and guilty about it all, and this man made everything worse; he almost lost his sanity over his own guilt and ended up confessing everything to his peers before passing away," she said. "I was reading this book before bed –"

"Quite a heavy read before bed, don't you think so?" he asked, cutting her off with some bizarreness in his face. He didn't think he would dare read something so awful before going to sleep; he'd have nightmares. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say that I want to be this woman's husband to Sirius Black," she said.

Luna blinked once the sentence was out of her mouth, then blushed deeply, embarrassed. She hid her face away from him, ashamed of her words and her awkwardness. It was almost outlandish how terrible she was at explaining something so simple to someone as smart as Regulus.

"With all due respect, Miss Lupin, but I don't think I'm following," Regulus said, shaking his head.

"And you shouldn't, at this point I fear I'm nothing but rambling," she said. Luna cleared her throat. "You see, Sirius wronged me to some extent – or, he didn't, for he had all right to finish whatever we had whenever he wanted, however I did not enjoy the way he went on about that and I'd like to take revenge and I believe, due to your fight in the courtyard, you have some reason to take revenge."

That left everything clear and obvious for Regulus as he took a step back from her, putting his hands in his pockets. He was now uncomfortable for a whole new reason.

"My revenge was already fulfilled," he lied.

She raised her eyebrows.

"I know you're a lot more bloodthirsty than whatever I saw in the courtyard," she said. "Evan said to me that you were probably holding yourself back because Pandora was there."

Regulus looked away, upwards at the sky and stars, begging his ancestors to give him some patience and wisdom before he took a very stupid decision.

"Even if I do wanted revenge, you're still to tell me of your proposition, Miss Lupin," he said, staring at Orion's Belt in the sky.

"Would you pretend to date me?" she asked.

It was like the whole world stopped for a second.

Luna held her breath, feeling herself to be quite stupid for even offering herself when Regulus could find someone so much better than her a lot more easily and with a lot less baggage. Regulus felt like his breath had been knocked out of his chest, but he was focused on staring at the stars in the sky to not show how surprised he felt with the sudden proposition.

He cleared his throat.

"Miss Lupin –" he cleared his throat again. "Luna..."

"If you are to reject the offer, do understand that –"

"I'm not."

The silence felt a lot heavier than he had expected, so he turned to look to her, seeing her in an odd position, as if he was ready to take off running down the stairs of the Astronomy Tower.

"Your tone –"

"I'm not thinking about rejecting the proposition, I'm thinking about the fact that I don't date," he said.

He looked down at his feet, feeling his heart skipping another beat. He needed to remind himself to breathe through whatever it was that feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach as he waited for her rejection, accepting the fact that his pathetic life was forever going to be controlled by his parents' will and whims.

She sighed.

"You are gay," she concluded. "I've heard the rumours, of course, but I never really took them into account when you rejected Leon from Gryffindor last year."

Mouth ajar, Regulus looked back at her.

"There are rumours I'm gay?" he asked, surprised.

"Well, yes."

"I'm not gay!" he said.

"Oh," she mumbled.

She was making this worse, she thought. The feeling of her muscles cringing inside of her made her want to hit her head against the wall and bleed to death in front of him as an apology for that pathetic excuse of a proposition.

"Miss – Luna, I don't date. In my family we do things differently," he tried to explain to her. "We are to be married once our parents chose it. I'm to be engaged after I finish school per my mother's request, I don't date because I cannot, not because I don't want to, nor because I'm in conflict over my sexuality."

Luna felt her cheeks (well, her whole face, really) burning.

"I see."

"If I were to present a... proposition such as yours, --"

"A half-blood."

"Would you stop cutting me off, Merlin's Beard!" he said, huffing in annoyance. She pressed her lips together not to cut him off to apologise. He took a deep breath. "If I were to present a proposition such as yours, done outside of their request, I'd have rules to follow. Courtship inside the Sacred Twenty-Eight would be a very tiresome and cumbersome situation that might not be the best for your plan."

She put her hand on the back of her head, checking if all the pins were holding her braids in place out of nervousness.

"I shouldn't have made you this proposition, forgive me," she said, shifting in her feet. "Your family wouldn't accept it in any manner."

Regulus made a humming sound, one that did not show understanding as he had done before – no, this one demonstrated doubt. He itched the space between his eyebrows, rolling his shoulders back as if he was preparing for a fight. With his posture erect, Luna noticed how very tall he was, but said nothing.

"Actually, they might," he said. "If I promise to never marry you, I might have some leverage into making them accept it. I am the Heir of the House of Black, after all, the only one in the line. My father and mother have been quite receptive to my whims." He raised one eyebrow at her. "But if we are to do this, we are to do this right."

There were a few things that were decided after the Astronomy lesson was left to the side.

If this 'Courtship' was to work, they needed to make it seem as legitimate as they possibly could. Any minimal gossip about said situation between them being false, it would certainly feed the rumours over Regulus' sexuality and, if those got to his parents' ears, the consequences would be nothing if not horrendous. They also decided only to tell Evan, Barty and Pandora the truth – the rest of the world had to believe it completely, and that included their parents (the part that Luna was most nervous about). Therefore, to make this as legitimate as possible, Regulus and Luna needed to spend more time together, especially in public.

It was in the very next morning, during breakfast, while Luna tried to stay awake at the table after coming back to the dormitory past midnight and ignoring Marta's malicious comments and jokes before going to bed, that an owl stopped right in front of her.

It was a beautiful owl of big structure and longs legs, feathers of an elegant brown and caramel carrying a book.

The Transfiguration book that Regulus had ruined in the fight with Sirius.

"That's Regulus' owl," Pandora mused, half-paying attention in the owl when there was pudding during breakfast.

Marta's eyes widened while Amanda and Rosalie turned to Luna right away, eager to see what was happening.

"What is Regulus Black's owl doing here with a book for you, Luna?" Marta asked, raising her eyebrows.

Luna untied the small note that was tied to the owl's leg alongside the book, finally letting it fly back to its place in the owlery. The owl made a loud hoot before flying up, brushing the side of Luna's head very lightly with her wing.

"Oh, it's just a replacement for my Advanced Transfiguration textbook that I bought for fun a couple of years before," she explained. "He ended up ruining my last one, so he's got me this one."

Amanda wasn't looking at the book, she was looking at the note, raising her eyebrows in urging.

"And what is he saying?" she asked.

Rosalie nodded, supporting her friend's urging.

Luna opened the small note, reading it quickly before turning to the girls at the breakfast table.

"Nothing much, just an apology and –"

"Regulus doesn't apologise often," Pandora remarked suddenly, cutting Luna off and looking at her friend. "He must feel really bad, then."

"I suppose," Luna answered, surprised.

While Pandora was aware that they were going to start pretending to go out and 'court' or whatever was the name that the pureblood insisted on calling simply liking other people, she didn't know any of the specifics, after all neither did Regulus or Luna.

"There has to be more in that note," Rosalie said, trying to catch a glimpse of it.

"He's summoning me for another lesson of Transfiguration now that I have my book back, after all we did give a break of a few days since I didn't have much way to help him without it," Luna said.

"That's a lie and you know it," Rosalie said, giggling. "It's an excuse to see you, silly. You know the Transfiguration subject in any of those bloody books cover to cover, you don't need a book to help you teach him it. He's bought you a replacement because he felt bad and is asking to see you because he wants to see you."

"Regulus Black wants to see you!" Amanda repeated, trying her best not to squeal. "Oh, good God."

"Lucky," Marta groaned.

Morris looked at his girlfriend with narrowed eyes.

"Do you prefer Regulus Black over me?" he asked.

"Oh, dearest, clearly he's already taken," teased Marta back, knowing that Morris didn't deal well with feeling jealous.

Morris pouted the whole remaining breakfast, refusing to eat unless Marta fed it to him. Pandora watched the scene with some disgust in her face, which caused Luna to laugh during most of breakfast as casually discreet as she could.

It wasn't discreet enough, because Evan, Barty and Regulus were smiling and speaking amongst themselves as they watched Pandora and Luna disgusted by the lovey-dovey couple sitting not too far away from them.

Luna wasn't sure why Evan was looking at her with that smirk, though.