𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 [regulus black]

𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍

"Wouldn't the beans work better if we crushed them instead?" she asked, as they looked at the procedure for the polyjiuce potion. The two of them had met in the second-floor girl's bathroom to prepare the potion for their assignment before the Halloween feast.

He observed the parchment thoughtfully, then looked at her surprised, "That- that actually makes sense," he said, proceeding to crush the beans and add the juice to the potions pot.

She glared at him. "You don't have to look so surprised. I'm not that dumb."

"So you admit that you are dumb?" he asked, a sly smirk playing on his lips.

"Not as dumb as you, though."

"No offence," he said mockingly, "but I'm pretty sure I'm smarter than you."

"You wish. Who just had the idea to crush the beans, huh?"

"Whatever, Evans." He paused, looking thoughtful. "But I suppose you are smarter than I had thought."

Glaring at him, she muttered, "smarter than you, you mean."

"Indeed."

"What?" She glanced at him, astonished.

"See," he smirked, "you were dumb enough to believe that."

"You're so- " she broke off as the potion started bubbling and hastened forward to stir it.

"Oh, Merlin- the whole thing could have just been ruined if you hadn't stirred it," Black snapped, putting the blame on her. It would have been all your fault.

"I believe what you mean is - 'thank you so much for saving our potion, especially since I'm an annoying git and was distracting you.' " She said

"No," he admonished. "It was your responsibility. Why on Earth weren't you paying attention to it?"

"Maybe because someone was distracting me by acting like the most annoying person." She snapped.

"Don't blame me," he snapped back.

She took a deep breath and sighed. He could be so annoying sometimes. Meanwhile, sometimes he was almost tolerable.

"Anyway," she said. "We need to add the fluxweed in two weeks. I suppose I'll see you then."

"Actually," he drawled, "logically speaking, you'll probably see me before that. Considering that we have potions, astronomy, and prefect duty together."

Gritting her teeth, she snatched her bag and stalked out. As she proceeded, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned to find none other than Regulus Black behind her.

"Why are you following me?" She asked, exasperated.

"Don't flatter yourself, Evans," he said. "I'm also headed this way."

"To the library?" she asked dubiously as he fell into step beside her.

"Yes."

Comfortable silence descended upon them as they walked to the library. On entering the library, they parted ways, and she went to Madam Pince's table to return her books. She only had a short amount of time to go to the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast with her friends; not that the feast was very exciting. Christmas at Hogwarts was much better.

As she headed to the history section of the shelves, she took a deep, relaxed breath. Being in the library somehow soothed her; it felt comforting. She spotted the book she was searching for, which was a History book recommended to her by Lily. Vivien had already read quite a lot of the history books there, considering that she found the magical history fascinating.

She squinted above; the book wasn't placed very high, but she wasn't exactly tall either, so she began climbing atop a ladder to retrieve the book.

"Oh, God- " she muttered as the ladder wobbled slightly. Acquiring the book, she started climbing back down, but lost her balance and the ladder toppled, bringing her down with it.

Her eyes widened at the sudden event, and she braced herself for the fall, but unexpectedly, a pair of hands wrapped around her. A relieved sigh escaped her lips, and she turned to find none other than Regulus freaking Black. She looked at him, surprised. It didn't seem like him to help her. One of his arms was around her waist, the other underneath her knees, and for some reason, her heart was hammering. Probably because of the fall, she thought.

"Seriously Evans? You just can't leave me alone, can you?"

"What?" she snapped. "It's not my fault I fell."

He rolled his eyes and she could feel the body heat radiating off of him, and his hair tickled her ear from when he'd bent down to talk to her. She could feel his breath was on her neck; and the feel of his hands around her was somehow- not bad? She mentally shook her head. That wasn't right; she was probably dizzy from the event.

Glancing toward him, she saw he wore a strange expression, but suddenly it was gone, and he glared at her. She realized he was still holding her and suddenly, as though he also realized that, he let go of her, and she crashed onto the ground. Running his hand through his hair, he took a step back, seeming flustered.

"Ow- "she groaned, slowly getting up and rubbing her back. "What did you do that for?"

"I believe you meant to say, 'Thank you so much for rescuing me from a dangerous fall.'"

"You didn't rescue me," she pointed out, "you just let go of me, causing me to hurt my back."

"At least I reduced the fall."

"Whatever," she muttered.

Turning to the shelf, he scanned the titles. Then, as she started to get up, he glanced at her and bent down to pluck the book out of her hand.

"I'll take that, thank you," he said pointedly.

"What?" she snapped as she stood up and dusted herself off.

"What?"

"I got that book first."

"Well, now I have it." He shrugged.

"Black, I swear to God-"

"Fine, fine," he rolled his eyes and tossed the book toward her softly. "Finish it quick. I need it."

"I won't," she smiled sweetly.

He sighed with a slight chuckle and shook his head, exasperated.

"Is that yours?" He asked, as his eyes fell on her book.

Glancing toward where his gaze pointed, she realized he was talking about her copy of the muggle book, Murder on the Orient Express.

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh, nothing." He muttered. "Have you finished it?"

"I've already read it, but I'm re-reading," she said. "It's one of my favorites."

"I've read it before, as well."

"Seriously?" she asked, skeptically. "You? But... it's a muggle book."

"I know, but before she was disowned, my cousin Andromeda gifted it to me."

"Did you like it?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Of course."

"Huh." She regarded him, surprised. "Well, I guess then you should read Death on the Nile. It's written by the same author, and is also excellent."

"Do you have it?"

"Yes. I can lend it to you if you wish." She offered.

"Oh, that's- " He looked surprised, then smiled slightly. "Thank you."

~~~

A/N : i hope you liked the chapter! now the exciting part is finally approaching and i'm so excited to write it!! comment your thoughts, and whether you liked the chapter! Bye,

-- V. <3