↬ in which Regulus and Rune find out that broken pieces still fit together.
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Academic rivals.
Everyone knew they were that.
The hate feud between Regulus Black and Rune Westwood was common knowledge.
But everyone knows that there'...
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＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚
Rune was standing in the foyer of the Malfoy Manor.
She hadn't thought she'd ever set foot in it once let alone twice. As the sound of chatter and laughter rang through the passageway, she reached up and flattened her hair.
Regulus was somewhere inside there.
No matter how much she could have lied to herself that she didn't care, she really cared.
From the lilac dress Alfie had prepared for her to the updo she'd done for herself to the way she held onto Barty's arm. Everything was in anticipation of Regulus.
She didn't know how he'd spent the last two months without her but all she wanted was an inclination that he thought of her during the holidays.
As they walked in, Rune almost sighed in relief when she noticed that hundreds of eyes didn't immediately turn to scrutinize her.
She looked around the room hopefully trying to catch a glimpse of blue eyes, but they were not in sight.
"Am I not handsome enough?"
Rune immediately glanced right back at Barty. "Hmm?"
Barty gave her a look. "As soon as we walked in here, your eyes began searching for Regulus. Am I not handsome enough?"
"I wasn't looking for Regulus," she said quickly.
"Weren't you?"
"No. I quite like taking in my surroundings. For example, I glanced around and found the three quickest escapes in the case of a fire, murderer or bomb."
"Ah, okay," said Barty with a playful smile.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why are you smiling like that?"
"I've noticed before how easy it is for you to bullshit. I'm just wondering how well I know you."
"You don't know me at all. I usually go mute around you."
"Something else, I noticed. Why?"
"Because I'm attracted to you," she answered plainly.
Barty's playful smile grew into a grin as he marveled, "Wow."
"What?"
"I don't think anyone's ever been this straightforward with me."
"Well, I know I'd never go anywhere with you so there's no reason to hide it."
At this Barty gave her a curious look. "Why do you know that?"
"The answer is incredibly offensive."
"Say it anyways," he said.
Rune shrugged. "You know how attractive you are. I don't like boys who know how attractive they are. And you know I find you attractive so we're already skipping over the chase, and I need the chase, so I'd never fall in love with you. Yeah, we'll probably be steamy, but we'd never connect emotionally and after a year you'll cheat on me with a girl who is undeniably hotter and after two, I'll cheat on you with a boy who probably hates me, and I'll inevitably fall in love with the chase and then with him."
