Les Misérables | Regulus A. Black [1]

Chapter Six

[Chapter Six]

Instantly, Éponine could feel the burning sensation on the back of her hand, despite the fact that Ernest Nott had yet to even touch her. Her heart fluttered in her chest like a panicked bird, trying to find any means of escape as it sent messages to Éponine's brain to be wary of the man. The girl knew all too well that she did not wish to remain in Ernest's company but she couldn't exactly flee from the scene either. While she found the man to be eerie, he was still a good friend with their parents and any sort of disrespect from her end would definitely be reported back to the two. For some reason, they did not see the way Ernest looked at their daughter, they only saw it as him being friendly and perhaps it was friendly, but it was too friendly. 

Out of all the adults that she had encountered in her lifetime, none of them ever seemed to be so taken back by her beauty every time that they saw her. They would compliment her at gatherings here and there, but Ernest seemed to have made it his life's mission to approach her every single time that she was alone to remind her of what he thought of her appearance. Enough was enough in Éponine's mind, however, she was left unable to voice it without suffering some consequences. After all, her parents had practically trained her to only talk to adults in a polite manner and unfortunately, Ernest was an adult. A creepy one for certain, but an adult nonetheless. 

"Are you here alone, Éponine?" Ernest questioned her as he set the book down in his hands back on the shelf. 

Suddenly, there was a pit in her stomach that began to burn as she realised that abandoning Regulus' side had led to her falling into a worse predicament. While she didn't want to stay in his company either, she would much rather be around him than Ernest, by far. Glancing over her shoulder, she hoped that she would catch sight of Regulus or at least, one of his parents so that she could claim that she was with one of them. However, when she looked around the bookshop, she could clearly see that it was just the two of them besides some adults she didn't know. Although she was considering reaching out towards one of them and asking for help.

When Éponine didn't answer, Ernest took advantage that her head was turned and took a couple of steps towards her. She had turned her head at the same moment, only to somewhat mirror his actions, only she took a couple of steps back. 

"You should not be walking about Diagon Alley on your own, Éponine," he said, "that could be quite dangerous and you could find yourself getting hurt. You did not travel here alone, did you?"

"No, sir," Éponine answered," I-I-I-..."

She stuttered terribly as she tried to tell him that she had just wandered off alone and would be heading back to find her group, however, Ernest seemed to smile at her nervous nature, leaving her to fall silent. Suddenly, much to her disgust and silent protest, the man reached out one of his hands and cupped the right side of her face. His thumb grazed over the lower part of her cheek, leaving her body to shiver, yet it was not out of the slightest bit of pleasure, but fear.