Monday 3rd November, 1976

I was in the library, trying to clear the red from my vision. It was quiet here, allowing me the few moments of peace I needed to regain control of my emotions. I was still angry with the marauders; angry didn't even cover it really, but I knew I needed to calm down if I wanted to think clearly, and I desperately wanted to think clearly.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I couldn't just sit with them at lunch and act like nothing was wrong, because things were most certainly wrong, but the thought of just ignoring them seemed too small, too petty. I needed to do something, show them that what they did wasn't okay. I also needed to apologise to Regulus.

Speak of the devil, I thought as Regulus Black walked through the library entrance. He seemed fine; hair immaculate and clothes unruffled. It was as if the prank never happened, though it certainly did, if my rage was any indication.

As I stared at Regulus, I was hit with the perfect, genius idea of how to get back at the marauders and grinned widely, even though no-one was there to see it except me. I waited until Regulus was walking past before grabbing him and shoving him in a secluded isle, shelves upon shelves of books no one seemed interested in surrounding us with a thick layer of dust upon them.

"Is this where you bring all your boys Potter?" Regulus asked slyly.

"Only when I want to murder them," I responded without thought. Then, "wait, you're not mad at me?"

Regulus raised an eyebrow. "I saw you storming away from your idiot brother and assumed you had nothing to do with it."

I was surprised he'd guessed so spot on. Was I really that transparent? Could he really not believe me just a good actor? What if I really did help with this prank, and all of it was just an elaborate scheme to get him alone so I could murder him? Honestly, he should be more careful.

"For once, your right," I said instead. "I wouldn't recommend getting used to it though."

"Potter, you should know insulting people isn't a good form of seduction," the boy in front of me taunted.

It seemed he was in a rather playful mood. Two could play at that game, though.

"You see that window over there?" I said seductively, lowering my voice to a lovers tone, taking one slow, small step towards him.

Alarm briefly flashed across Regulus's face, and he looked to the window before back at me, throat bobbing as he tried to figure out what was happening. He nodded his head uncertainly.

"If you don't shut up, I'm going to throw you out of it," I finished, voice going back to normal.

Regulus rolled his eyes, trying to collect himself. "I'd like to see you try."

Before I could do anything, a Ravenclaw fourth year with blonde hair and blue eyes walked into the isle. Funnily enough, it was the one who had assumed we were a couple at the Halloween party and had been severely mistaken. It was almost comical for her to find us again, in a secluded isle, much closer than two people who were not a couple should be. Without saying a single thing, the Ravenclaw turned around and walked away, shaking her head as she went.

I cleared my throat, taking a step back from Regulus as I tried to remember why we were here.

"There is an actual reason I brought you here," I said eventually.

"Oh really?" Regulus retorted sarcastically. "I couldn't tell."

I rolled my eyes, electing to ignore his remark and continue on with what I was saying. "I have an idea."

"Oh, this can't be good," Regulus muttered.

"Shut up or I won't tell you anything," I said. Regulus sighed, gesturing for me to continue. "I think we should work together, join forces to get revenge on the others for stealing our thing."

Regulus quirked his eyebrow at my words. "Our thing?"

"I mean, I guess it could be my thing if you want-"

"No, its fine, our thing is good," Regulus cut me off.

I tried to hide my smile at his words. I wasn't sure why his quick response made me so giddy; probably because it meant he'd accept my proposition.

"So, will you do it?" I asked, trying to keep the hope from my voice. If he knew how much I wanted this to happen, he would refuse, because though this would mean we were in some sort of alliance, we weren't in it yet and were therefor still enemies.

Regulus let out a sigh, shaking his head slightly as he stared at me. "I suppose."

I smiled and held out my hand. Regulus looked at it, scrunching up his nose before reluctantly shaking hands with me.

I retracted my hand as soon as it ended, as did he, and we stood there for one awkward beat before I walked away, not even saying goodbye. Was I supposed to say goodbye? Were we still enemies? We were in a shaky alliance, yes, but did that mean we no longer hated each other? I didn't know.

I avoided the marauders for the rest of the day, dreading the thought of having to talk to them. I was still pissed at them and knew I'd blow up if they tried to talk to me, which they would undoubtedly do. So, I avoided them, grabbing food from the kitchens for dinner and hiding out in the Gryffindor Common Room while the marauders were at the Great Hall.

The portrait hole opened and I tensed, ready to leave the room if it was my brother or any of his friends. Instead, Lily walked in, spotted me, and started making her way over to where I sat. She sat down next to me, giving me a pointed look that I ignored.

"Why are you avoiding the marauders?" Lily asked me.

"They were jerks and I didn't like it," I answered shortly, feeling the familiar rage simmer inside me as I thought of what they did.

Lily sighed, shaking her head with a smile as she stared at me. I stared back, raising an eyebrow in question to her smile. "They've always been jerks. You just don't like it because they were jerks to Regulus," she explained.

I scoffed, crossing my arms. Lily was making assumptions when she didn't have the full picture. I was upset because they were jerks to Regulus, yes, but only because they'd been jerks to him when I had specifically told them not to, as well as taking over our whole thing and making it their own.

"That is not why I'm upset with them," I said.

Lily just rolled her eyes, letting out yet another sigh. "This is why you're not in Ravenclaw," I heard her mutter.

. . .

Tuesday 4th November, 1976

The next day I decided to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast, knowing I couldn't avoid my brother and his friends forever. I purposefully sat at a different place on the table than usual, but that didn't stop the marauders from sitting with me.

"Hey Y/n, didn't see you at dinner last night," Sirius said cheerily as he started placing food onto his plate.

I ignored him, glaring holes through the table as I kept my gaze down. The anger was there, itching to escape, but I pushed it down, trying to gain control over my emotions. It wasn't working so well.

"Come on, Y/n/n," James whined. "Stop being so mean to us."

"Yeah, you should be kinder to us," Sirius added.

"Maybe you should be kinder to your brother," I snapped, surprising both the boys and myself. I hadn't meant to say that out loud.

Sirius scoffed as Remus, James, and Peter looked on hesitantly. There was always a tension in the air whenever they talked about Sirius and Regulus's relationship.

"Regulus isn't my brother," Sirius spat, the words coming out bitter. "He made that very clear last summer."

"Because you left him!" I burst out angrily.

Hurt flashed over Sirius's face, and I would have felt bad if I wasn't so angry. Why couldn't they see how much Sirius leaving had hurt Regulus? Did they event try to see it from his point of view? To see his brother escape and leave him alone in an abusive household? Of course, I didn't blame Sirius for leaving; he had to, I know that. I just wanted them to be open to other people's experiences, namely Regulus's.

"It's not as simple as that Y/n," James said softly.

I knew that. I did. I wasn't an idiot, but the anger inside me didn't allow rational thoughts to enter my brain, so I said, "well maybe you should explain that to him."

With that, I stood up and left the Great Hall, anger rolling off of me in waves. I stalked down the corridors, not knowing where I was going, until I crashed into someone. I looked up, ready to mumble an apology and continue my rampage, when I recognised Regulus Black in front of me.

"Black," I sneered.

"Potter," he retorted with equal disgust.

We glared at each other, unsure what else to say. The agreement was fresh in my mind, though I was not in the mood to be nice to Regulus Black at the moment. I decided our alliance didn't need to include kindness as I spoke.

"Have you thought of any ideas for our revenge, or is that a feat too big for you?" I asked.

"Have you?" he challenged.

I bit back a reply because, no, I had not thought of anything. I'd been too busy sulking over my brother and his friends to give our revenge any thought. There was no time like the present, though, and I continued walking as I spoke to Regulus, forcing him to turn around and follow me.

"I was thinking we'd prank them instead of doing something outright malicious," I said. "It would be fun, to out prank the pranksters."

"Obviously we were going to prank them," Regulus said, sounding exasperated.

I scowled.

"Well, what amazing ideas do you have?" I asked him as we entered the Transfiguration classroom. As Regulus launched into an explanation of all his ideas, I realised he had, in fact, thought about this.

We sat next to each other as we talked, or rather bickered, about what we'd do for the prank, and before we knew it class had started, forcing us to shut up and sit next to each other as we listened to Professor McGonagall.

I was buzzing with ideas, desperate to continue talking to Regulus and figure out what we were going to do, but that feeling quickly dissipated as McGonagall continued speaking.

"Today, you will start on a presentation you will be working on that will be due in two months," she said. "It is a very important piece of work that will significantly impact your results for this class. It is to be done in partners, and to avoid any problems, the person sitting next to you will be your partner for it. There will be no changing."

I stared at Regulus accusingly, seething. Of course, the one day I sit next to Regulus is the one I have to be paired with him.

"I will come around and give you the topic you will work on," Professor McGonagall said, already waving her wand and sending paper flying to each student.

I silently begged for switching spells to be our topic, as I was extremely good at them. Instead, the paper that was given to us had the word Animagus written on it, and my bad mood increased. I knew next to nothing on Animagus, and the fact that I had to work on this with Regulus made it even worse.

I could already hear myself complaining to the marauders later that day on how bad my luck is, when I remembered I wasn't speaking to them. Of course, this only made me feel worse, and I spent the rest of the day miserable.

A/N:

i just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has commented, voted, and added this story to their reading lists. it means so much to me, and seeing you all comment how much you love this story is so important to me. i appreciate every single one of you <3

also, in this chapter y/n is angry and sort of blames sirius for leaving regulus alone at grimmauld place, and i just wanted everyone to know that is not okay. she was angry at sirius and thinking about regulus and just spat it out. she does briefly think about how it was wrong, but i just wanted to let everyone know that it was. sirius is not at fault for escaping an abusive household, no matter who he left behind. he did what he had to and saved his own life. i understand that people love regulus and hate he was left in an abusive household alone, but i do not want to see any sirius slander in this book. sirius did what he had to in order to survive and thats final.

anyway, sorry about the rant, i get a bit passionate about these things.

y/n and regulus are working together!!! finally!!! i've waited for this moment for so long.