Raven | 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 75

Alexandra fell silent. She hadn't expected him to be honest with her and share his secret with her; a secret which may not have seemed of much importance to others, yet it was something he had kept locked up in the chest of his heart for years.

"The girl who gave you the necklace?" Alexandra repeated his words, just to make sure that she had heard him right, and Regulus nodded.

      "We were childhood friends," he explained. "Lisa, Sirius, and I... She was our neighbor and we always used to meet up in secret to play when we were kids."

      "In secret?" she mused. "Why in secret?"

     "Because of our mother, of course," he answered, and Alexandra could sense the bitterness in his tone. "She wouldn't have wanted her sons to socialize with a Muggle girl."

      "Wait — she was a Muggle?" Alexandra repeated in surprise.

      She had supposed the girl was in fact a young witch, though perhaps something terrible had happened to her that she hadn't shown up at Hogwarts in the past few years. But as it turned out, she was wrong.

     "Well, yeah." He shrugged, but then a hint of a smile appeared across his lips as he continued and said, "Before getting our Hogwarts letters, Sirius and I used to be able to do little magic, just to amuse her. She was really funny. And very sweet too. She could sometimes be kinda gullible when it came to magic, but it was something we found adorable about her."

     "What happened to her?" Alexandra questioned, assuming that something obviously had to be wrong that had turned Regulus so overprotective of the necklace she had given him.

     "A few years back, her family decided to move away to America. I was devastated... I-I mean, Sirius and I both were," he quickly corrected himself. "But before she left, she gave us both a necklace; they were exactly alike. It was something to remember her by."

      "And you've worn it to this day?"

      He nodded, looking into the blazing fire.

     "Wow..." Alexandra breathed out, smiling at him warmly.

      Regulus turned to face her and raised a brow at her. "What?"

     "Isn't it obvious?" Alexandra shrugged in amusement. "You loved her."

      "Excuse me!?" Regulus stared at her with wide eyes, before shaking his head. "I was only twelve back then! I didn't love her!" 

     "You probably loved her as what a twelve year old boy knew what love was at that age, and I think it's really sweet," she said, keeping on smiling. "You might've been young back then, but you speak of her as if you still know her, and you've worn the necklace she had given you all these years."

      "I — I don't..." Regulus seemed to be speechless. But he then sighed, saying quietly, "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For telling you this... I know I shouldn't have." He then huffed to himself, running a hand through his black hair in frustration. "This is the exact reason I never wanted to talk about this. Not just to you, but to nobody else either."

"But I don't understand," Alexandra started, her eyes fixed upon him as they remained seated before the blazing fireplace, "why do you think it's so wrong to talk about your feelings toward someone, when it was years ago?"

"Well, because — because she was a Muggle!" Regulus reasoned, sounding as if should've been obvious to her.

"So?" Alexandra raised a brow at him.

"So it's wrong!" he said defensively. "Muggles and wizards... it's just not right."

Alexandra could see where Regulus came from. He was raised in a Pureblood family who cared about these matters, who thought all Muggle-borns were scum and Muggles were unworthy.

She knew that it wasn't his fault. He hadn't chosen to be born into such family. But even though he had been raised to believe in Pureblood supremacy, there was still hope for him to change.

So she decided to speak on, trying to make him understand in her own twisted little ways.

"Why do you think it's wrong to socialize with Muggles?" she started.

"Because — because they're Muggles." Regulus scoffed. "Yes, I might've liked her as a friend, but back then we were kids. I didn't understand what I was doing."

"Understand what? That wizards and witched aren't allowed to be friends with a Muggle?" Alexandra mused. "Why is it so wrong? What is it about Muggles that you hate so much?"

"Look, I don't hate Muggles," he retorted, "I just don't think it's right to... communicate with them. I might not have understood then as a kid, but I do now."

"Something tells me you understood more as a kid than you do now." Alexandra giggled, but before Regulus could open his mouth to respond, she beat him into it and repeated herself, "Why do you think it's wrong to communicate with them?"

"Because — because they used to hunt down witches and wizards and burn them, that's why!" Regulus said sharply, angry that it was growing harder and harder for him to answer her. But these were the exact words his parents used.

"Did Lisa want to burn you?" Alexandra questioned, holding back a knowing smile.

"I — no, of course not. But — she was different!"

"Have you ever even had a conversation with another Muggle, other than her?"

"W-well, no."

"So how do you know the rest aren't as good as her?" He was growing frustrated at her many questions, and this was exactly what she wanted.

"I..." Regulus became speechless. He had no idea how he was supposed to answer her now.

Alexandra was right. A part of him always knew this, he always used to think back at Lisa, knowing that despite her being a Muggle, she was still an amazing person, even at that young age.

"That's the reason you never want to talk about this..." Alexandra finally said in realization. "Because deep down you knew that you liked her, but you felt guilty about it, because you were raised to believe in what your parents thought was the right idea. But... it's never too late to learn that at the end of the day we are all human, magical or not, and we all have hearts and souls. And it's okay to love whoever we want freely."

Regulus said nothing in return and only gazed back into her eyes which were glimmering with emotions, until the edge of his lips tucked up into a faint smile, and he nodded.

Alexandra hadn't expected him to agree with her fully, but that little nod was more than enough for her at the moment.

So she just smiled, moving closer to Regulus until she reached him and placed her head down on his shoulder. With her body leaning into his, he wrapped an arm around her while they were both still sitting on the floor, losing their gazes into the crackling fire as the silence of the room took over.