ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴏᴜʀᴛʜ ᴡᴀʟʟ | ᴍᴀʀᴀᴜᴅᴇʀꜱ ᴇʀᴀ

xix. at the three broomsticks

"Wow, this tastes the same as in my world," Callie noted as she brought down her butterbeer. She wiped the stains above her lips with the back of her hand and Regulus just watched across from her.

After everything that happened, he chose to forget the past hour: Regulus' rejection and Remus' attack. She'd rather not think about all those than sulk. In fact, the feelings hadn't caught up.

After the pain of rejection, she panicked and was scared. Then she was flustered. The feelings were mixing together that Callie had no time to process a thing.

"But wait! Are we allowed here this late?" she whispered the last sentence and leant to him, afraid that anyone would hear her and kick them out of the Three Broomsticks. It was just such a shame she didn't have her phone. If Callie had it, she had taken multiple photos of the Inn and of herself.

A smirk curved upon Regulus' lips. He reclined on his seat with his legs crossed; he propped down his butterbeer on the table and set his hands atop his thigh. "I'd prefer to reason that it's the Black privilege."

Callie scoffed. "Good for you."

"My brother dislikes using the privileges. Even anything that'll help his... questionable causes..."

"Yeah. He might be kind of a jerk-"

"Oh, I beg to differ. He is a jerk."

"-but he'd surely hate injustice and unfairness," she added with spite.

Regulus shifted in his seat. His eyes suddenly couldn't find hers as she sipped her butterbeer, glaring at the poor wooden wall. His gaze remained on the table; his comfortable facade was washed away. Because he was what she spite: a blood purist, someone who looked down upon non-magical and half-magical people.

He had no issue being one before. He was even proud of it. Because he had no dirt in his blood. Unlike that half-blood Lupin and that... and that girl across from him that he couldn't help but grow fond of.

Callie.

She was a muggle. A mud...

She was mud...

God, why was he having trouble saying that word?! Normally, he had no problem spitting mudblood whether vocally or in his mind! But then he was across from the girl he met who knew who he truly was... he just couldn't bring himself to say that word. Even more so, describe her with it.

Because she wasn't dirty. If she was then she wouldn't be that kind. Especially to him who was undeserving of such kindness--or at least he thought.

"Reg?"

Regulus flinched when he heard his name called. His eyes focused on Callie, looking at his. She looked... worried. With ceased brows and lightly parted lips, she uttered his nickname differently. It was different whenever Sirius was calling him.

His just screamed trouble and mischief. While hers sounded so serene and just... calming.

"Are you all right?"

Regulus recomposed himself. "I am. You were saying?"

Callie pushed a small rectangular box on the table towards him. "This is a video of Sirius. I told you I'd show him being proud of you, didn't I? Here you go."

With a wrinkled forehead, Regulus hesitantly reached for the rectangular thing to keep it close to him.

"Vi..deo?"

"Oh, it's a muggle thing. It's like moving images here in your world but ours are longer."

"And this rectangular thing is...?"