Raven | 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 24

Alexandra's heart was beating rapidly and it was growing louder and louder the closer Regulus got to her. They both stood there, their lips only an inch away from one another, though none of them dared to close their eyes or to close the space between them.

      But a shiver ran down her spine when Regulus finally closed his eyes, as if wanting to move closer and kiss her. But at that exact moment, just as their lips were merely brushing against one another, they both jumped apart when a loud sound startled them.

      Looking overhead, they saw a black bird flying hysterically above them, crying out until it finally flew down and landed at the edge of the Astronomy Tower, staring back at Alexandra.

       Alexandra gaped at the large black bird for a few more seconds before she suddenly gasped lightly in realization.

       "Corvus..." she muttered, staring back at the bird.

       "Hang on," Regulus started with a frown, gaping at it, "is this the same bird you were taking care of before Christmas break?"

      "Yeah." Alexandra nodded weakly as she walked closer to the edge, for a second forgetting all that had happened between herself and Regulus.

       But as she was busy observing the black bird which had grown thrice as large since the last time they had seen him, Regulus came to regret telling Alexandra about the legend which stated that a crow would come to her in a moment of need or danger.

      Regulus had only been stating a myth back then, but what if it was true? What if the bird had sensed danger and that was why he had come here?

      But thankfully, Alexandra had forgotten all about that legend at that moment, believing that it was just like a fairy tale. Instead, something else had caught her attention as she was watching the bird carefully.

      "I was wrong," she said in a whisper, as if talking mostly to herself.

       "About what?" Regulus questioned unenthusiastically. He was feeling irritated at the interruption and slightly embarrassed at that moment to care.

       "I used to think he was a crow," said Alexandra, now smiling as she was still looking at the black bird. "It was hard to tell when he was little, but now I can see clearly that I was wrong."

      "What do you mean?" Regulus asked again.

      "He isn't a crow." With that, Alexandra finally turned back to face him, an amused smile playing at the edge of her lips. "He's a raven."

       "A raven?" Regulus raised a brow at her. "How can you tell?"

      "Well, they are certainly larger and grow faster than crows," Alexandra explained, turning back to face the bird and caressing his head with her finger. "Their beaks are slightly more crooked and their tails are different too."

       But just then, the black raven gave another loud subsong and flew away, vanishing into the depths of the dark night.

      As if suddenly coming back to her senses and snapping back to reality, Alexandra shook her head when she remembered what had happened just a minute ago and suddenly felt her cheeks heat up again and go pink.

      So with that, she cleared her throat and took off the coat which Regulus had wrapped around her shoulders and handed it back to him with a small and shy smile.

      "Thank you," she said in a quiet voice and Regulus nodded, taking it from her.

The expression upon his face was unreadable, which worried Alexandra a bit, making her think that she had hurt his feelings somehow.

"I — I better get going back to my common room," she said in a stutter, feeling the awkward silence overwhelming them again. "You know... before Mr. Filch finds us and gives us detention."

"Yeah, you're right," Regulus muttered distantly, nodding his head as he tried to avoid her eyes.

He knew he had to do everything in his power to get closer to her, taking any chance that he could. But something was holding him back. There was a feeling in his heart that he got every time he looked at her. A feeling that made him want to tell her to stay away from him.

But for some reason, other than for his mission, Regulus was starting to feel drawn to her, and that thought scared him the most.

He couldn't catch feelings for her. That would've only ruined things. He had to keep it together. But it was starting to prove itself harder than he thought.

So instead of offering her to walk her back to the Ravenclaw common room as he always did, Regulus bid her goodnight and they soon departed ways.

Once Alexandra got back to the common room, surprisingly she saw that Mike was awaiting her there just like he had promised, despite how late it was.

She smiled at him. "Why didn't you go to bed, Mike? It's really late. I don't want you to feel sick tomorrow for lack of sleep."

"Nah, it's fine." He shook a hand at her reassuringly, grinning. "Besides, I had to make sure you were all right."

Alexandra wanted to tell him off for still not trusting Regulus. But instead she gave him another smile and walked toward him, going on tiptoes to place a little kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks anyways," she said sweetly, making Mike smile.

After a short while, they both said their goodnights and each went to their separate dorms to sleep after a long day.

No matter what she did, Alexandra couldn't get Regulus off her mind that night as she rolled around in her bed, trying hard to fall asleep, which felt impossible.

She kept remembering his scent and they way he looked up at the starts, her heart fluttering each time she remembered the feeling she had gotten when he had almost kissed.

But at last, she finally fell asleep with a smile upon her lips, oblivious to the fact that at that exact moment, the black raven was sitting right behind the dorm's windowsill outside, with the ghost of Helena Ravenclaw floating before him.

Helena nodded her pale head at the bird, smiling as she said, "Well done, Corvus."