January 25th, 1979

When he sits down next to me in class, my blood is boiling. Fucking prat. He sits down beside me and says nothing. Absolute silence. When Professor Slughorn comes in to start class and makes a bloody awful joke, Regulus doesn't even look at me. We don't speak, we don't look at each other.

Slughorn did his lecture then we all split up into our pairs to start brewing the potion.

"Oi, what's with you two?" Evan asked, turned around in his seat.

Emmeline glances at me with a questioning look.

When I stormed into the dormitory last night, everyone was already asleep, so I locked myself in the bathroom and cast a silencing spell.

"What're you talking about, Rosier?" Regulus questioned, speaking for the first time since class started.

Evan shrugged, "You two have a fight or something?"

Regulus aggressively cut into the bezoar, his fingers clenched around the knife.

"What would we have to fight about?" I asked defensively.

I measure out the perfect amount of pearl dust and add it to the potion, stirring clockwise.

"Patrol schedules, Prefect duties," Emmeline rambles off. "There's a lot to disagree on."

Regulus glanced at me quickly. "Yeah, sure," He said, "That's what it was."

From the second that he walked into class I noticed the prominent dark circles underneath his eyes. His eyes were red, his hair a mess, looking like he had barely slept last night.

To be fair, I didn't look much better. Puffy eyes, dark circles under my eyes.

And the cherry on top about all of this is that he's still showing off the marks that I had left on his neck just two nights ago. I could've sworn that it was on purpose.

Evan turns back around, satisfied with his answer.

He held something over Emmeline's head, a smirk on his face. "Hey, Vance, it's mistletoe berries," Evan stated, "That means we have to kiss."

Emmeline smacked him in the arm.

"It's the mistletoe plant, not the berries, idiot," She said, a slight blush creeping up her face.

Evan grinned and set the berries back down. "Don't worry, I'll bring real mistletoe next time," He suggested, winking at her.

"Gross," Regulus muttered, propping his head up with his hand.

- - - - -

Before dinner I find myself in the middle of the quidditch pitch, a box of bludgers opened in the grass, my bat in my hand as I smack away the bludgers flying at me.

The sky is clear, the sun shining. The ground's of the castle are blanketed in snow that should be gone within the next few weeks. The chill is bearable through my various layers of clothing.

"You know practice isn't for half an hour?" Jack calls from the ground.

I smack a bludger out of the way, sending it in the direction of the Slytherin stands.

"I know," I yell back, smacking another bludger out of the way.

Jack mounts his broom and joins me in the sky seconds later, the wind blowing through his blonde hair.

"Are you practicing for the match against Ravenclaw in a few weeks?" He asked, glancing down at my grip on my beater's bat.

I shrugged, "Not really."

We fell silent as I smacked another bludger off to the left.

"So, what'd the twat do?"

I glanced over at Jack. He was studying my expression, looking carefree as the wind whipped through his hair.

"Why's this have to be about a bloke?" I asked. "Maybe I'm mad about something else."

Jack smiles softly, "Okay, well, are you mad about something else?"

I harshly smacked a bludger out of the way, slowly feeling my anger wash away as the bludgers went flying across the pitch.

"No," I admitted.

I fly back down to the ground, Jack following me. We managed to wrangle both bludgers back into the case, securing them in place.

"Who do I need to beat up then?" Jack joked, bumping his shoulder against mine.

I laughed, "I don't need you to beat him up for me. He's not worth the detention."

"Well, he obviously is if the Meredith McKinnon fancies him."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't fancy him," I lied.

"You don't get this upset over somebody who doesn't mean something to you," Jack pointed out.

I slap him playfully in the arm, making the both of us laugh.

"When did you get so wise?" I asked.

Jack shrugged, "I've always been wise. Why else would I be the Gryffindor quidditch captain?"

"Git," I muttered, making Jack smile.

Jack messed with my hair that was tucked under my hat. "Come on, at least tell me what house he's in," He complained.

I pretended to zip my lips closed. "Nope, not going to happen," I teased.

- - - - -

January 27th, 1979

We spent the rest of the week not talking. It's not that I'm purposely avoiding him, I just haven't seen him around. We're civil in class, saying a few words. On our patrol we didn't speak, just wandered aimlessly around for an hour.

Some of my friends and I are on our way to the Great Hall for dinner.

"McKinnon, can I talk to you?"

Emmeline, Jack, Thomas, and I all stopped in the corridor.

"Uh, I'll meet you at dinner," I said to my friends.

Jack raised an eyebrow at me before staring at Regulus Black.

"Okay, come on boys," Emmeline replied, practically dragging the boys in the direction of the Great Hall.

The corridor was empty except for the occasional student who walked by, late for dinner.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest, looking at the boy in front of me. "I don't want to talk to you, Black," I admitted.

"I know," He said.

I pursed my lips, "You look like shit."

"I know," Regulus laughed.

"You have five minutes," I said. "You said you wanted to talk, so start talking."

Regulus exhales, fiddling with the family ring on his finger.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean anything that I said to you the other night. I-, fuck, I got scared, and I lashed out at you, and for that I am sorry."

My posture softened a bit. "You were scared?" I questioned.

"It's like what you said in the astronomy tower," Regulus said. "It's wrong and it should feel wrong, but it doesn't at all."

"So what changed within the last three days?" I questioned, my tone coming out harsher than I meant for it to.

Regulus looked like he was having a moral debate with himself. "Complete radio silence with you," He admitted. "We haven't actually talked in days. You're standing right in front of me and I miss you."

"God, could you be anymore fucking stupid?"

"We snogged a few times, we shagged once, but that's it. That's all it ever was. Stress release, an outlet."

"It doesn't matter what you thought. I'm just sorry I didn't make myself more clear."

"You were really fucking mean," I stated. "And I honestly don't know what to believe with you."

"Meredith-"

I step away from his reaching hands.

"You know, that was my first time? I trusted you, too. Because you told me that it was different, and then you go on and tell me that I was just another shag for you," I say, my voice cold.

Regulus's face drops. "I didn't know that."

"It doesn't matter," I tell him. "You can't just apologize and expect me to believe you after what you said."

"I know," He murmurs.

I brush past him to go to the Great Hall. "I'll see you around, Black."