Illicit | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 22

On Friday, Eleanor was still a bit giddy over what had happened the previous day. She really had to try hard to hold back the urge to tell Amelia, Kathy, and Doris about what they had done.

During breakfast, that morning in the Great Hall, Eleanor and the boys had just talked about random things like they usually did. But nobody noticed the subtle knowing glances they shared every once in a while. Luckily her friends hadn't asked her questions about where she had been or what she'd been up to. They had gotten used to Eleanor's 'mysterious getaways' by now.

Eleanor walked into the History of Magic classroom with the other girls. They were the first to get there and saw that Professor Binns was asleep in his chair, like most of the time. Eleanor caught Doris' eye and they giggled. She sat down next to Kathy at the back of the classroom while Doris and Amelia took their seats at the desk in front of them.

They got out their books and Amelia let hers drop down on the desk with a loud thud. But Binns didn't move a muscle in his ghost body. Kathy snorted and shook her head.

"Watch this," Eleanor said to the others with a grin. She cleared her throat before she put a hand to her mouth and spoke loud and clear, "The Goblin Rebellion of 1612 took place in Hogsmeade Village."

The professor's head shot up and without even looking around the classroom, he floated from his chair towards the blackboard behind him. 

"Yes yes, 1612, Hogsmeade, Three Broomsticks," he said in his usual droning voice as he wrote down the keywords with a piece of old chalk. The four girls roared with laughter as the room started to fill up with the other Gryffindor and Slytherin students. 

As Eleanor turned around in her seat to high-five Amelia, she locked eyes with Regulus Black. His jaw clenched when he noticed her looking back at him. He quickly diverted his gaze and sat down next to fellow Slytherin Evan Rosier.

Eleanor's heart sank when she thought back to the way she had left him hanging the previous day. How could she even do that? He had never been more vulnerable than then, and she just left him without a proper explanation. Eleanor's happy mood had suddenly disappeared into thin air. 

She turned to face the front of the classroom again and crossed her arms over her chest. Professor Binns just droned on and on. Eleanor wasn't sure whether he legitimately did not notice, or he just simply didn't care nobody was paying attention.

She stared out ahead of her. One thing she was sure of: she needed to solve things with Regulus, Eleanor didn't want to lose him as a friend.

Kathy nudged her in her arm. "You okay?" she asked, a look of concern in her eyes. Eleanor sighed and sat up straight.

"I may or may not have upset Regulus a bit yesterday," Eleanor whispered, scratching the back of her neck. Kathy's facial expression showed exactly how Eleanor felt; uncomfortable.

Kathy leaned her head in her hand and shot a quick glance over at Regulus, who was just silently taking notes on what Binns was saying. "What are you going to do?"

Eleanor shrugged. "I guess I'll just have to talk to him, although he didn't seem too keen on seeing me just now," she said moodily. 

Kathy nodded and then yawned shamelessly. "Merlin why is this class so bloody boring," she groaned and then banged her head on the table. Eleanor laughed.

After another forty minutes of pure boredom, their class ended. Eleanor hastily put her stuff in her bag and threw it around her shoulder. She only had fifteen minutes until she had to be at Care of Magical Creatures class with Professor Kettleburn, so she knew she had to be quick, especially because Regulus wasn't in that class and so she had no idea where he had to go to.