Raven | 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 31

Alexandra wanted to scream out both in shock and horror as she tried to move out of the person's grip and break free, though it seemed impossible as she was pinned against the door with the boy's hand over her mouth.

      But the next moment when she looked up, she calmed down a bit as she realized that it was Regulus.

      Alexandra tried to ask him what he was doing, but it only came out as a muffled tone, to which Regulus sharply said, "Shh!"

     He slowly lowered his hand when he felt like she wasn't fighting anymore, but he raised a finger before his nose as a gesture for her to stay quiet.

      Alexandra had no idea what he was doing, but she obeyed either way and didn't say another word as she watched him. But then she realized that Regulus was listening hard to what was going on out of the empty classroom which they were in.

But that was when she heard people talking in the corridor as they passed by, and at last their voices faded and the sound of their footsteps fainted away.

Alexandra then turned to glare at Regulus. "What was that all abou—"

"Shush!" Regulus cut her off rudely, which made her fold her arms at him.

But then he took out his wand from his robe and pointed it at the door to cast a charm around the room so nobody could hear them from outside.

     At last, when he placed his wand back in his robe, he finally turned to face Alexandra, saying obliviously, "What is it?"

"Reggie, what do you think you're doing?" Alexandra raised a brow at him.

"The real question is, what do you think you're doing?" he said, a cheeky grin forming at the edge of his lips. "Are you stalking me, Starling? I feel flattered."

"I wasn't stalking you, so don't flattered yourself!" she said tightly.

But Regulus only kept on smirking. "Too late. I'm already flattered."

"I — you — wh — ugh!" Alexandra huffed in frustration. No one had ever managed to get her to feel so annoyed. This was definitely a first.

"You look cute when you're mad." Regulus chuckled.

But then Alexandra did something unexpected. She was feeling so angry at that moment that she suddenly went forward and smacked him on the arm.

"Hey! What was that for!?" Regulus questioned with a frown, caught off guard. "I didn't know you had this side to you..."

"I have a lot of sides to me," she said wittily. "Now can you tell me why you keep ignoring me like that?"

"I — I don't know what you're talking about." Regulus mumbled, throwing his gaze down.

"Don't play the fool, Reggie! I can tell you're lying!" Alexandra yelled, but then suddenly Regulus snorted.

"Sorry," he said quickly, trying to suppress his laughter and to hold it back, "it's just that it's funny when you get angry. I could've never pictured it like this."

"Hey, I can be mad if I want! This is my mad face!" She pointed at herself sternly, but Regulus only smiled.

"Have you even been in an argument before?" he asked, looking at her with amusement as he went and hopped on a table nearby and sat there.

"Of course I have! And stop changing the subject!"

"Well, I'm sorry, but you're terrible at this," Regulus said, still grinning.

"I'm doing just fine, thank you!" she said angrily, though her 'thank you' wasn't sarcastic. It was genuine.

"Okay, first off," Regulus started, "people don't use cute names in arguments. You can't just call me 'Reggie' when you're yelling at me. That only makes it sound cute."

Alexandra's blood was boiling at this point. He kept changing the subject and wasn't even listening to her, and to add to all that, he was making fun of her for her disability to argue properly.

"Well, what would you rather I called you instead?" Alexandra said firmly, raising a brow at him.

"Well, I think 'Black' would do." He shrugged casually. "Calling people by their last names adds to the tone of hatred. That's something I picked up in Slytherin. It's awesome. Always works."

"Right... thanks..." she muttered.

"Okay, lesson number two: don't thank people and stop apologizing in a fight, you weirdo! It ruins the whole point of an argument!"

"Oh, thank — I mean — no thanks."

Regulus held back the urge to face-palm, so he just rolled his eyes. "Okay... how about you try again?"

"All right..." Alexandra exhaled before frowning and saying more sternly, "What do you think you're doing, Black!?"

"See? Much better." Regulus grinned, making her giggle.

But then Alexandra quickly shook her head, trying to come back to her senses. "Stop changing the subject! Why have you been avoiding me? You wouldn't talk to me, you wouldn't even look at me... did I do something wrong?"

Regulus let out a sigh as he looked away from her. "No, of course not..."

"Then what?" Alexandra asked desperately, moving closer to where he was sitting on the table. "Ignore me as you wish, but the least you can do is to give me a reason."

"I — well —" Regulus struggled to find the right words to say this to her, but there was no right way. "I — I actually lied and told Avery and Mulciber that you had tried to hex me and that you'd warned me to stay away from you."

Alexandra's eyes widened at those words and her jaw nearly fell. "What!? But — why!?"

"Because — because — it's complicated, all right!?" Regulus retorted, huffing as he hopped off the table. He then turned his back on her as he whispered mostly to himself, "You wouldn't understand."

"Then help me understand," Alexandra said softly, walking toward him and gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

Regulus wanted to hold the words back. It was all for her. For her safety. But he made a mistake when he turned around and looked into her eyes, and that dreamy gaze was enough for him to want to pour his heart and soul out. He couldn't hold his true feelings back anymore.

So he just sighed as he looked deep into her eyes, his heart pounding in his chest. "Because I — I think I'm falling for you."