Through Death and Destruction | Regulus Black

Chapter 18 - that way

Amaryllis was heading back to her dorm from the library. She had been studying. Well, trying to study. She'd noticed Barty watching her again. It seemed that ever since Evan and Severus had left Barty had been trying to find new ways to get her attention.

Considering she was now studying for her own N.E.W.T.s he'd decided it would probably be best not to continue forcing her to try to tutor him. But without her tutoring they didn't talk at all. And Barty wanted to talk to her.

"Amy, wait up." Barty called.

"I told you to stop calling me that." Amaryllis snapped, stopping in her tracks and turning around to face him.

Barty had been trying to get closer to her but she wanted none of it. She found him rather irritating sometimes and that habit of licking his lips was a little strange. She had been able to tolerate him when they were in the group but with it now being just the two of them it was becoming increasingly more difficult to see past all that. Despite it all thought, she just couldn't bring herself to hate him. When he wasn't being incredibly irritating he could be quite sweet.

Amaryllis let out a sigh when she saw the shocked expression on his face.

"Look, Barty, it's not that I don't like you, I do, you're a good friend, it's just I'm dealing with a lot right now." She explained.

"You mean your marriage." Barty said.

"How do you know about that?" She asked.

Barty didn't say anything right away. Instead he looked around quickly before grabbing her arm and dragging her into a nearby empty classroom.

"I spoke with the Dark Lord." Barty said once he'd shut the door. "You and I both know you don't want this marriage. I could tell by the way you spoke about it with Evan and Severus. Also the way you look and speak to Regulus."

"You don't really know anything." Amaryllis said getting a little nervous.

What if the Dark Lord knew about their hesitation with their marriage? Would he do something?

"Is it really that obvious?" She asked her fear becoming evident in her voice.

"Only to people who know about it." He said.

They stood in silence for a moment. She hoped everything her and Regulus had discussed over the summer meant things between them were resolved. She hoped it no longer seemed to those around them that they didn't want to be together. Because they were okay with it now. They had accepted it and were going to try to be happy with one another.

"Regulus had an idea to get us out of it." She said. "But we decided against it. We didn't want anger anyone. Besides it wasn't like he was going along with it anyway."

"And you were?" He asked.

"I tried." She corrected. "It didn't go very well. No matter how many times I tried."

"What was his idea?" He said moving closer to her.

"He said we should try to date other purebloods." She said standing her ground.

"Right, Evan and Wilkes." He said realising. They stood in silence for a moment before he continued. "You're right. He doesn't look like he's trying to take his own advice."

Barty was now standing so close to Amaryllis that under normal circumstances she probably would have felt uncomfortable yet for some reason she found herself unable to find any feelings towards it. The whole situation was reminding her of that day in the train with Corbin.

"What if you tried again?" Barty muttered.

"What exactly do you mean?" Amaryllis asked in almost a whisper.