Silent Riot | Regulus Black

THIRTY ONE

Gemma jolted awake. Her eyes darted to the clock on the wall, and widened in panic. She'd overslept.

She ran into the bathroom, frantically brushing her teeth while simultaneously stuffing her books into her bag. She took less than three minutes to throw on her uniform, not bothering to tuck her shirt into her trousers, and letting her tie dangle loosely around her neck as she sprinted out into the corridor and all the way to class.

She entered breathlessly, around two minutes late, and breathed a sigh of relief as she realised Professor Slughorn was not yet there. But dread began to settle over her as she realised all the seats were occupied; Luke was sitting with Pandora and Ted was with Iz. The only free seat was...

She drew in a deep breath and willed herself to sit next to Regulus. It had been a few days since the party, and now without their patronus lessons, everything had gone back to how it had been. He made a disgusted face at her. 

'What are you doing here?' He sneered.

'Well, sitting, obviously, because you are my best friend-'

'We are not friends-'

'I was obviously being sarcastic, you complete idiot-'

'Good morning, good morning,' Slughorn said jovially, coming into the room. 'How are we all doing?'

'Very well, sir, thank you,' Luke said politely.

'Suck-up,' some kid muttered from across the room.

'Well that's not very Hufflepuff of you,' Ted said, looking critically at the boy's yellow robes. The boy narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to retort, but Slughorn interrupted.

'Now now, let's not get into an argument,' he laughed nervously. He looked lost for words, then clapped his hands and turned to the board. 'Today! We will be making a potion for burning, very useful for...' Gemma was distracted by Regulus, who slipped a note to her.

𝒯𝓇𝓎 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝓁𝑜𝓌 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓊𝓅, 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊? 𝐼'𝒹 𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝓎 𝓇𝑜𝒷𝑒𝓈 𝒹𝒾𝓇𝓉𝓎 𝓉𝑜𝒹𝒶𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓅𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓉𝒾𝒸 𝓈𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁𝓈 𝒶𝓉 𝓂𝒶𝑔𝒾𝒸.

She scowled, and began scribbling her own note.

𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤, 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘧 𝘪 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥

It took him less than five seconds to write his response.

𝒴𝑜𝓊'𝒹 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝒶 𝓌𝒶𝓎.

That was it. He was declaring war.

𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬

𝒯𝓇𝓊𝑒, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝒶𝓃'𝓉 𝒹𝑜 𝒶 𝓈𝓅𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒.

𝘪 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰, 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘰u𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦?

He grimaced, and she knew she'd touched a nerve. He didn't write another note, so she marked it a win in her mental record book.

How wrong she was to assume so quickly.