The Story of Regulus Black - Years 1-4

LVII. Oh.

The weeks of November had passed in a chilly and non-eventful blur.

Nothing was happening around the castle, aside from the excitement of the fast-approaching holiday. Almost every single minute of the day, students could be seen outside, playing in the snow or else just relishing in the cold, winter's air. The Great Hall was always a buzz of enthusiastic energy, all talking about going home, or else experiencing Christmas at Hogwarts.

Regulus had spent almost all of November pouring himself into his studies, ignoring Evan Rosier and Severus Snape, or else practicing for Quidditch. He had actually been doing quite well in all of his classes, especially in Care of Magical Creatures.

"Your essay on bowtruckles was excellent!" Professor Kettleburn had told Regulus one day after their Tuesday morning class. "I'll tell you, Regulus, I think that you would make an excellent magizoologist!"

Just like that, Regulus had a bit of an idea about what career he would be interested in going into after Hogwarts.

Aside from that, however, not much had changed. Evan Rosier hadn't cornered, threatened, or hexed Regulus since the Quidditch match. In fact, as far as Regulus was concerned, Evan Rosier had seemingly forgotten all about the revenge that he had promised the boy.

Francesco Anderson had been better about spending time with Deacon; he had also become better at suppressing the peculiar feelings that always surrounded any interaction between the two boys. Things were, as far as Deacon and Benji knew, going completely back to normal.

Deacon, on the other hand, felt quite nervous whenever he was around his friend. Yes, of course he was glad that they were spending time together again, but with the lack of time spent between the two boys for practically the entire term, it had become easy for Deacon to forget just how much he liked the boy. With them slowly returning back to normal, Deacon's feelings for Francesco returned, and they were so, so much worse. It was as though them speaking again had opened a floodgate, and the water behind it had been growing ever-so-steadily for so long that by the time it was released, it was near unmanageable.

Benji was having the time of his life. He and Gwen had gone on two more dates following the one the day of the Quidditch match, and things were going excellently between the two. They got along incredibly well, had many of the same interests, and they had similar senses of humor. In Benji's eyes, Gwendolyn Everett was the perfect girl.

It was Saturday, 7 December.

The school was a flurry of excitement, for that day would mark the second Quidditch match of the season. The match itself was being played between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, so Deacon and Regulus both were able to sit back and relax.

Gillian, Barty, and Regulus made their way out to the pitch a mere five minutes before it started, which was very nice for all three of them; the first match, they had all arrived nearly two hours before. All three of the friends were bundled up tightly in layers upon layers of clothing, and even then, Regulus and Barty were still shivering.

Gillian looked at her two shivering friends from the corner of the eye, and she chuckled lowly. "Merlin, what are you two? Popsicles?"

"It's cold!" Regulus said, tightening the crossing of his arms over his chest and trying to ignore the cold which was nipping at the exposed skin of his face.

She rolled her eyes. "It's not that cold. You're both wearing about ten coats each!" She pointed out, looking at the walking bundles of warm clothing beside her.

"Ok, well maybe we have that thing that the Defense Professor has!" Barty said.

Regulus nodded his head. "Yeah, we probably do!"