RISE OF THE FALL | R.B.

XLVIII.

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter World belongs to J.K. Rowling.

*

CHAPTER XLVIII.

He waited outside Flourish and Blott's for a few seconds before she showed up.

She was almost perfectly on time, and he hesitantly smiled as he saw her, approaching and casting cautious glances around the area before she strode closer to his side and said, "Regulus."

Despite having seen her through the Two-Way Mirror, she looked so different in real life.

Beautiful—of course she was. She always was, though he noticed that the purple and green in her hair that she'd always kept extremely vibrant in school, had faded slightly.

Clearly she hadn't been paying as much attention to her appearance as she usually did—not that she needed to.

She was beautiful anyway.

But she also carried a tiredness about her; her posture was not as straight as it

Her expression was unreadable, and that worried him. He didn't know what to expect—she'd found out that the attack had been on her parents' village.

After Lucius had told him that he'd killed his owl, Regulus had rewritten the letter that he'd intended to give to her, and had been planning to give it to her, but now, under her gaze, he tucked it into his robe pocket and said, "Reia."

He had been furious—he didn't know what had happened to his friend, and Lucius hadn't been around Malfoy Manor much in the past few days, so Regulus hadn't had a chance to confront him about it.

He wasn't even sure if he wanted to.

But he'd have to, and he knew it.

Returning his mind back to the present, he realised Reia had been talking to him.

"—and I don't know what you're up to, but I honestly just want to know what happened during that attack," She rambled, "—I didn't want to believe that you'd do something like that, and I know you aren't a bad person, but I was furious with you when I found out—even if you weren't involved—,"

"Reia," He whispered, "Just...we'll discuss that later, alright? I—I'll take you to my place—Grimmauld Place. It's not...the brightest of places to be, but it gets awfully lonely around there. I've been staying at the Malfoy Manor," He lowered his voice so that even Reia could barely hear him, "because Grimmauld Place gets too lonely. I stayed at Grimmauld Place for a while, but it just got too quiet and lonely. And...I just—we could discuss the things you want to know there, in private, and I also have some questions to ask you about the past few weeks. We can talk later, and for now just enjoy our day here, yeah?" He paused.

Reia looked hesitant—like she'd really wanted to find out immediately, and that she could barely wait.

But then she sighed, "But you have to promise that you'll answer my questions. If you refuse..."

"I won't," He promised, "I'll answer your questions."

"Anything?"

"For you?" He shook his head, laughing quietly, "Anything. Always anything."

***

They were in Quality Quidditch Supplies, both of them reminiscing about their old school days, when they'd come to this place so excited to getting their school books and supplies, and how they'd once even met up unintentionally at Quality Quidditch Supplies, since Reia's brother had come to this shop with his friends, and had taken her with him.