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vii. CHAPTER SEVEN

REGULUS BLACK.
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BRIAR D'ALESSIO sat alone in a corner of the Potions classroom (in hopes that no one would join her, she didn't particularly feel like socialising with anyone), waiting for the lesson to start. It was no surprise that Professor Slughorn was late; he never quite seemed to know what time it was. Once, in her fourth year, he'd forgotten that he had a class entirely and hadn't turned up the entire period.

             "Hello, there! Why so gloomy?" Gemma Prince greeted cheerfully, sitting down beside Briar (much to her dismay). "You don't mind me sitting here, do you?"

            "Of course not," Briar replied, forcing a smile. She wasn't in the mood for conversation, but Gemma had always been nice to her and she didn't want to be rude. "How are you?"

             "Meh," Gemma replied, dropping her bag beside her, and yanking out her Potions textbook. "I wanted to thank you for getting me into Slughorn's party last night. I had an amazing time, and Patrick Keynes asked me to Hogsmeade next weekend."

                Briar wasn't surprised. Gemma was a girl whose confidence was bigger than the Pacific, and she liked to flip her silky auburn hair whenever she got the chance. She also had a big appetite for dating (not that Briar was judging). She'd managed to date most of the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin boys in her year, there were rumors about her having an affair with an unnamed Gryffindor, but Gemma always denied those. It was just as well, she'd be treated as a traitor by the rest of her housemates.

          "What about you?" Gemma asked, casually. "Had a nice time?"

         Briar shrugged. "Not really, it wasn't any fun, so I left early."

         "Hm, well, the problem is that you don't have a man. No offense, but that cousin of yours, Malfoy? He sort of scares them away, if you ask me," Gemma replied. "Have you any experience with boys at all?"

         Briar frowned, feeling embarrassed. Truth be told, the closest Briar has ever been to a boy was Sirius Black, the previous night. But to be honest, she'd never really thought that courting a boy while in Hogwarts was necessary. What was the point? Once she graduated, her parents would find her a suitor, and she'd be married. "I, erm, went out with Evan Rosier once."

Gemma looked horrified. "No! Oh Briar,, no wonder you stay away from boys! The only one you've ever been with is a complete pig!"

Great. She thought, apparently everyone knew that Rosier was a dirty twat. How could she have been so stupid?

             Gemma opened her mouth, no doubt to make Briar feel worse, but she was cut off by a presence at their table. Rabastan Lestrange was standing there with his bag slung over his shouldes, his light brown hair curled slightly at the ends, and he had a pleasant smile on his face. "Good morning, Briar. I was hoping to sit with you, today."

            Briar was surprised. What did Rabastan want with her? Slightly disturbed, she turned to glance at Gemma.

            "Oh!" Gemma cried, looking between Rabastan and Briar, trying to ease the awkward tension that was suffocating the trio. "I didn't realize Briar, you never told me ━ I'll just go, shall I?"

         "Of course not," Briar replied, glancing at Gemma meaningfully. "I'm sorry, Rabastan. But there's a seat a few rows behind, if you'd like."

           Rabastan's smile faltered but he nodded. "Of course. I'll speak to you afterwards, then, Briar."

           He walked away, and Gemma let out a soft squeak of pleasure. "Briar, you little sneak! Rabastan Lestrange? You never told me! And here I was, pitying you... he's gorgeous!"

           "Huh? It's not like that," Briar answered firmly.

Rabastan was very good-looking, perhaps, but she'd hardly use the word gorgeous to describe him. Then again, Gemma didn't seem to have particularly high standards. "He's a friend of Lucius'. I hardly know him."

         "Then get to know him! Oh you silly girl, you wouldn't know a perfect guy if he was staring you in the face! If you don't take him, I will!"

           After that particular Potions class, Briar vowed to never sit beside Gemma Prince again. Rabastan was all she could talk about the entire period, and Briar had found it almost impossible to concentrate on her potion. As a result, they'd both received an A, the first one Briar had gotten in the subject all year. It would be an understatement to say that she wasn't pleased.

           As Briar exited the classroom, a small piece of paper shaped like a flying bird floated down in front of her. Startled, she held out her palm, and the paper landed in it perfectly, unfolding itself. Glancing around curiously to see if anybody was looking at her, she unfolded the paper and flipped it over to reveal writing.

It read:

       Meet me in the Owlery during lunch if you want your stupid hairpin back.

         Irritated, Briar crushed the paper in her palm. She thought about not going, just to irritate him, but then decided against it. After all, the hairpin was really valuable to her and he had no right to keep it.

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          "Classic trick, if you ask me," James commented, as they walked down to the Great Hall for lunch. "Steal something from the girl so that she has to meet you to get it back? Happens in all the muggle movies."

         "I didn't steal it," Sirius retorted, irritably. "I forgot that I even had it, all right? And besides, she doesn't care. You saw how she acted at breakfast this morning."

       "Aww, is poor Sirius hurt that D'Alessio ignored him?" James continued teasing. "Did she hurt your feelings, Padfoot?"

          Sirius just shook his head. James would make fun of anything he said anyway, so it was better to stay silent.

    "But why the Owlery?" Peter piped, curiously. "She's in your Potions class, you could have given it to her then."

        "Sure, if I wanted Malfoy to obliterate me," Sirius snapped. "You'd think the bloke would get a life, and stop stalking his cousin around everywhere."

          Remus raised an eyebrow. "I don't blame him, Sirius. He's like a brother to Briar. If you had a sister, and you saw her with someone like Snape or Malfoy, wouldn't you throw a fit?"

        "If I had a sister, I'd tell her to shag whoever she likes."

          The four boys fell silent, as the sight of food greeted them in the Great Hall. They sat down quickly, Sirius stuffing whatever he could into his mouth before he had to head off to the Owlery. He swallowed a few mouthfuls, made sure that the hairpin was safely in his pocket, and then left.

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           Briar was out of breath by the time she'd managed to climb up the stairs to the Owlery. Honestly, couldn't that idiot have thought of a better place to meet? She'd never been a large fan of physical activity, and she'd only been to the Owlery once or twice.

She had her own owl, and the food she fed it was far better than anything Hogwarts provided to the school owls. So why would she ever have to come up here?

           She paused, taking a few deep breaths as she'd composed herself, Briar entered the Owlery loudly. As expected, Sirius was standing there alone, his back to her as he tied something to an owl's leg. She cleared her throat to get his attention.

          "All right, Black, I climbed all the way up here. So just hand it over."

            "Pardon? Hand what over?" a voice asked, sounding confused. It certainly wasn't the voice she expected to hear, and Briar paused in surprise as the person in front of her turned around. She was standing face to face not with Sirius Black, but his younger brother.

          "Regulus?" she asked, eyes widening. He nodded, calmly. "But, I thought that...did you write me that note, then?"

           "I never wrote you any note," Regulus replied. He finished tying his envelope to the owl, and carried it over to the window. "Were you expecting to see someone else here? But you said my name, so that must mean..."

          Briar froze, wishing she had kept silent. How could she have mistaken Regulus for Sirius? They both had the same jet black hair, but there were very few other similarities between them. But why was he here anyway? And where was Sirius?

            The door to the Owlery opened, and Sirius Black walked in, confidently. He slowed down, as soon as he saw not one, but two people standing in front of him.

            "Brother," Regulus greeted, not looking surprised in the slightest. He'd already figured out what was going on. His eyes flickered between Sirius and Briar's confused faces. "Well, it appears that I'm intruding. Excuse me..."

           Sirius gave Regulus a hard look, as he walked towards the exit of the Owlery. Briar watched him leave as well, torn. He had the completely wrong idea! What if he told someone? Unable to resist, she called out to him. "Regulus, wait!"

           Regulus paused, turning to Briar. "Yes?"

         "You... it's not what it looks like. He just had to return something he borrowed from me, we're not... that is, I mean to say..." Briar turned slightly red, realizing that she was making the situation worse than it already was.

            "I understand perfectly," Regulus replied, the corner of his mouth turning up in a small smile. "You have my silence, I wish you a good day."

           And he left.

          Briar frowned, feeling irritated. Why was this happening to her? First Lucius, and then Regulus. It seemed that everyone seemed to be misunderstanding her, and it was all because of Black.

        "Well, that was unpleasant," Sirius commented, once his brother had gone. "Would it make a difference if I said that I didn't know he would be here?"

         "Hardly," Briar replied, coldly. "But if your brother says a word to anyone about-"

         "Regulus won't. He knows how to mind his own business."

          "Oh, for Merlin's sake. The more time I spend with you, the worse everything seems to get. If you'd just return my hairpin, I'd like to leave," Briar said, holding out her hand. Sirius frowned, but fished it out of his pocket and handed it to her. She examined it, before lifting her eyes to glare at him.

          "You broke it."

        Sirius frowned. "What? No, I didn't."

          "Look," she snapped, stepping closer to show him the hairpin. The small silver clasp was bent slightly, resulting in the pin being unable to snap shut the way it was supposed to. Sirius grabbed it from her, and held it up to his eyes. "I didn't do that."

          "I see. First, you cross your boundaries with me and get me into trouble with Lucius. Then you make me climb all the way up here just to give your brother the completely wrong impression about us, which, if he wanted to, he could tell the whole school about. And now you break my favourite hairpin. Do you see how you're making my life miserable?"

           Sirius rolled his eyes. "Please, you're over-reacting about ━"

           "I'm not overreacting! Do you know how valuable this hairpin is?" Briar cried. "My mother will throw a fit if she finds out I broke something so expensive ━"

         "Oh, for Merlin's sake, I'll get you another one ━"

"You can't get me another one! It's goblin-made, it's been passed through generations ━"

"Well, no fucking wonder it broke so easily, that thing is ancient!"

Briar glared at him, trying to pinpoint what he was playing at. Sirius only looked annoyed. He held up the hairpin, waving it in her face. "Do you really love this pin?"

"Of course."

"Well, then." He stepped away from her, going toward the window of the Owlery. Briar followed him, curious, until he pulled his arm back, and flung it out of the window as far as he could. It disappeared in an instant.

"There. It's gone, problem solved."

Briar sight blurred with anger. She ran over to the window, leaning out of it to see where the pin had fallen. She could see nothing below, and pulled out her wand, desperately trying to cast a spell to hopefully bring it back.

"I wouldn't bother. It's probably at the bottom of the lake," Sirius commented casually, his arm resting on the edge of window as Briar finally whirled around to face him.

          "What the fuck is wrong with you?! Do have any idea how expensive that hairpin is?!" she demanded, poking her wand into his chest. "I should just push you off here myself!"

                "You seem to like threatening me with your wand," Sirius commented, reaching down to pull it gently away from his chest. "But look at it this way. It's broken, and if it's really goblin-made, then I doubt any spell could fix it. So, honestly, you're better off without it."

              As if switch went off in her mind, Briar lowered her wand slowly. The anger that was once colouring her face disappeared, and was replaced with one of helplessness. For a moment, Sirius thought that she was going to cry. She simply put her wand back into her robes, and turned away from him, walking out of the Owlery without a word.

              Sirius stared after her.

               What the fuck was that?

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Hey hey, I've sort of abandoned this story for the past month but tbh I was going through a lot and my mental health always comes first so yeah.
Anywho, thank you all for all the nice comments that you guys leave. I love you all so much, and appreciate you.
━ sel <3333