Les Misérables | Regulus A. Black [1]

Chapter Thirty-Four

[Chapter Thirty-Four]

Éponine didn't know what to make of the scene of watching Avery and Mulciber with their arms linked walking outside of the Shrieking Shack. Except, she found it rather sweet, from the irritated look on Avery's face every time Mulciber nearly slipped on the ice and brought them both down towards the ground. Mulciber looked all too pleased with the situation, clinging onto Avery for dear life. It was so odd for her to see the boys in a different light after they had been her tormentors for so long. But to learn that they had only acted the way they did because of the way Regulus felt towards her at the time,  Éponine found herself leaning towards the path of forgiveness.

It seemed Avery and Mulciber were loyal to Regulus and to his feelings as they were willing to act on his behalf. It didn't necessarily excuse the cruel things that were said, but Éponine felt as though it would be easier for her to move on, rather than dwell on the situation any further. Both of the boys had come to her rescue when it came to dealing with Sirius, willing to defend her, which she never saw happening in a million years. But she had to remind herself that they were people too, people her age that were meant to make mistakes, learn and grow, just as she was doing every day.

"I can't believe they actually went through with it," Regulus whispered under his breath, loud enough for her to hear. "I thought Mulciber was joking."

Éponine glanced over at him, raising a curious brow. "This was planned? Are they on an actual date?"

Regulus remained silent for a few moments, looking quite unsure but she knew there was more to the story and she wanted to learn all of the details. Quickly, she began pulling on Regulus' sleeve to grab his attention.

"Come on, you have to tell me now," she said, "what's going on?"

He let out a sigh before giving a small shrug of his shoulders. "Alright, to be honest, I went to the boys for help when it came to this date," Regulus admitted, but he would not look at her as he spoke.

"You did?"

"Well, yes, I wasn't sure where the best place would be to go and I didn't want to come across as boring."

At first, Éponine wasn't sure how to respond to Regulus' statement as she never once thought he would see himself as boring or have it worry him what other people thought of him. Whenever she had seen Regulus whether it was in the Grimmauld Place, in school, or anywhere else, he always seemed so confident in himself. It showed on his face and in his stride, yet for him to worry about coming across as boring, it left Éponine to just stand there and gaze at him. It was always one of her biggest worries that she came across as too boring to more people because she enjoyed the quiet and reading.

"Anyways," Regulus continued when he didn't get a response from her, " I suggested the tea shop because I know you like tea and I didn't think you wanted to go anywhere too loud. But Mulciber suggested I take you to the Shrieking Shack."