The Pureblood Princess | Sirius Black

|105| Next Time

Marlene held her breath. The roast from the end of year feast flipped in her stomach as she pushed the heavy door open with a low creak. She winced at the sound. It reverberated in the sleepy abandoned dungeon corridor, somehow amplified in the darkness.

Of course, Marlene McKinnon was not, and had never been, afraid of the dungeons or of the dark... but of creepy creaky doors? Well... she wasn't a fan.

She prayed none of the prefects she'd skirted past on her way heard the door as her eyes strained into the dark empty room before her. 

The sensible thing to do would have been to light up her wand with a nice lumos charm. But then again, the more sensible thing to do would have been to say in her cozy four poster bed, in the breezy safety of Gryffindor tower... not wander about the sketchiest part of castle... especially not that time of night... and especially not alone...

Well... she wasn't exactly alone... At least, she better not have been.

She'd kill Regulus personally and painfully if he stood her up.

There was a rustling in the inky blackness of the abandoned classroom and then the door shut itself behind her. She jumped and made a modifying sound like a dying mouse.

So much for being a brave and mighty Gryffindor. She'd never become an auror if she couldn't get over an aversion to rusty door hinges.

"Lumos!" a voice hissed. Across the room wand light flickered casting a ghostly cool aura.

Marlene couldn't help but smile. Genuinely smile like a goddam idiot and she didn't even care.

Regulus grinned back, popping up behind a row of desks covered in dusty canvas tarps. "Hi."

"Hi," she said, still rooted in place.

"Hi," he said again.

She stood there for a ridiculous amount of time, just soaking in his smile, before finally coming to her senses and padding over to the little hidden nook where he was lurking. "Nice place, decorate it yourself?" she teased.

Regulus rolled his eyes. "Hey, it's better than a meadow of hungry acromantulas ."

Marlene huffed, plopping herself down on the little pallet he'd made behind the canvas covered furniture. It was like their own personal dusty cave. It wasn't as nice as what she would have done, and there were too many Slytherin-green blankets piled up for her tastes, but she could tell he tried. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

Regulus smirked. "Nope."

"Remind me again why I risked life and sleep deprivation to come down here?"

Regulus laughed and turned behind him, reaching for a paper bag that had thus far been hidden in darkness. A familiar paper bag with a stamped green emblem.

"You didn't!" she cried, reaching out.

"I did." Regulus laughed even more, not making any attempt to keep the bag away from her greedy hands. "Worth the trip down here?"

Marlene, who had already stuffed an entire pumpkin pasty in her mouth (good Godric, they were fresh), nodded vigorously. "How?" she managed to mumble.

Regulus shrugged, trying and failing to come off as nonchalant. "Sometimes it pays to have a delinquent brother... especially when said delinquent brother owes you for brewing painkiller potions in his time of greatest need..."

Marlene nearly choked. "Are you saying you blackmailed Sirius into getting me my favorite sweets?"

Regulus shrugged again, taking a pumpkin pasty out of the bag for himself.