The Story of Regulus Black - Years 5-7

LIX. Rain

Regulus Black felt like he was walking on air.

Barty's words were filling his ears, making his limbs feel both heavy and light at the exact same time. He was moving as though his body was on auto-pilot. He didn't know where he was going, he didn't know why he was leaving. He didn't know why he was leaving Barty, leaving the boy who had just confessed his love. Leaving behind the only good thing that was in Regulus's life that had suddenly just become so, so much better. Leaving the boy instead of holding him, and kissing him, and telling him that the feelings were reciprocated. Leaving him instead of staying and loving him the way he had always longed to do. He didn't know why he was leaving.

But of course he did. He was leaving because he was scared. He was scared to love Barty as deeply as he did and to be loved back. He was afraid of what would come of it if the two furthered their relationship from platonic to more. He was scared of what would happen to Barty if he finally became Regulus's.

He was so terrified, and yet the idea of being without Barty knowing that he could was enough to make his heart feel as though it was tearing itself apart.

He was so confused about what to do with Barty, but he did know one thing that he needed to do for certain. And, at least for right then, that was enough.

He knew that he had two options when it came to Persephone. He could either tell her that things weren't going to work, or he could kiss her to ruin things with Barty before they even began. A part of him wanted to do the latter, wanted to let Barty down now so that he wouldn't inevitably do it later. But he loved Barty, he loved him far too much to hurt him in that way. He deserved better than that, and Persephone deserved better than to be used in that way. So, Regulus pushed down all of the fears that he may have for the future and acted solely on the now, on how and who he would be hurting if he chose the former.

Persephone Vaughn was waiting in the entrance hall when he arrived. She turned to look at him when she heard his echoing footsteps, face breaking into a smile upon seeing him. She was wearing a thick woolen jumper with a dark blue dress over top that correlated quite well with her house color. She had on black tights to keep the remaining portion of her legs warm and her pair of mary-jane shoes on over a pair of dark blue socks. Her hair was pulled back into a high bun on the top of her head, bangs left out to frame her face and accentuate her features. Regulus did have to admit, she looked quite good.

He felt awful.

"Hi, Regulus!" Her voice was chipper and full of excitement toward the date that was to be coming. "How are y-"

"This isn't going to work," Regulus blurted out, and Persephone snapped her jaw shut faster than she ever had before. Regulus watched her expression morph from contentment to a faint frown with a small hint of sadness in her dark eyes.

"Oh," she said, voice suddenly rather quiet. Regulus cursed himself for the way that he had told her, wishing that he had done it in a much nicer way. She was a sweet girl with a good personality, and Regulus knew that she would certainly deserve better than him even if he wasn't hopelessly in love with his best mate (who, as it turned out, loved him back. He hasn't quite gotten used to the idea of that yet). "Can I ask why?"

He owed her the truth and he knew that. "I'm in love with someone else."

She nodded her head slowly, understanding mixing with the sadness. "And you can't date me because you're so in love with them that you can't love anyone else."

He pressed his lips into a firm line before nodding his head quite jerkily. "Yeah."

She continued to nod, a sad smile finding its way onto her lips. "That's ok. I get it."