Étoile?
****
Few minutes later she came back. “Here,” she held out a cup, “it’s hot, careful.” Regulus took it in his hands, and pulled his knees in. It was cozy. And calm. This feeling you always get after a nice cry, like the whole world seems to get quieter.
“What about you?” He suddenly asked, finally finding his voice. “Since the moment you’re here, it’s all been about me and Sirius. How was France? What the hell did you do all these years?” He forced a smile, that actually didn’t look too bad, to him. It was his first time swearing around Scorpia - she wouldn’t let them at 10 and 11, of course.
She smiled back. “Oh, I’m okay. No drama, really, just studying, you know I always loved dark arts. I found some rare books and met a lot of interesting people, but, well, nothing compares to you two.” She paused, and then, “I have a boyfriend, though, if that’s of any interest to you…” she played with a strand of her hair, displaying flirting.
Regulus let himself smile, “Of course you do. I’ve always wondered what man would you choose. What would it take for someone for you to like them?”
“Oh, come on. I’m not that hard to get, alright?” She stuck her tongue out, but after a second, continued, “His name is Mike, Michael Koul. You probably haven’t heard of the family. Did you know there were originally 30 pure blood families in the list? Adding the Potters and the Kouls. The Potters were excluded late in history, but I don’t want to talk about it, it makes me think of our lovely James, and I can’t do that.”
James. Of course, James. She liked him. Everyone likes him… Cursed boy. They deserve to be treated like they are.
“Anyway, the Kouls,” Scorpia went on, “they are a French family, who one day left Britain to come back to their own residency. I’m pretty sure it was around the 1800s, though. So, they weren’t technically “excluded”. I believe there was a little argument between some of the families before they left, so I would say at some point people just started purposefully forgetting to include them.”
That took him by surprise, “We don’t learn that in History.” Yes, he was always suspecting something bigger than just a list written by a no-name. That there was history, ages of it, behind it. So Regulus studied well. He would know about someone like Kouls, wouldn’t he?
“It’s not like you kids listen to professor Beans anyway, am I wrong?” She smiled, arching her eyebrows and tilting her head.
Regulus rolled his eyes in response. “What are they like? More like Longbottoms or the Malfoys?”
“ The Longbottoms, love. Personally, I would say they aren’t similar to any of us. I could describe it probably with… Hm, let me think. Lavender, marble, piano, black cats, champagne, blue and purple. A mix of Ravenclaw and Slytherin, if I could do it that way. You think you got it?”
“Yeah…” he hummed, “I think so. It sounds… Sounds like an Astronomy Tower to me, somehow.”
“Yeah, I think I could see it…”
“Oh my god, what are we even talking about?”
“About my boyfriend! I think he is about to propose. We’ve been seeing each other for 4 years now. Do you think he will?”
“Oh no, no, don’t. Did Cissy bite you or something?”
There was a pause. “What do you mean by that?”
“Sorry. No, nothing, Narcissa had been… going on, lately, all about her undying love to Malfoy. They got engaged a few months ago, and she’s waiting for a wedding.”
“Malfoy? Cissy is in love with Lucius ?!”
He winced. “I know…”
“Oh ma déesse, cette petite femme!” Which basically meant… It sounds as if she’s disappointed in Cissy for choosing Malfoy? “No, no.” She shook her head, laughing. “It isn’t an arranged marriage?”
“As far as I know, no. Why?” Regulus frowned.
“Pourquoi! Regulus, c'est Cygnus! Bien sûr que ce serait un mariage arrangé! But then, I guess Cissy is lucky enough to love someone who got approved… no, no, no, I refuse to believe it. I know her. She doesn’t love him, no. She tried to make everyone think so. That’s it.”
“You think so? You seem to be having a problem with her choice of a man?”
Another pause, longer this time. She seemed to be considering something, but then spoke, “you winced when I said his name, and refused to use anything but his last name. There is clearly something wrong between you two, and I’m not about to approve that.”
Her smile was fast gone. Probably something leaked on his face. No, no, no, no, his brain yelled, don’t let her know, anything but this!
“Regulus?” She raised an eyebrow. He could see the gears moving in her brain, scanning him. So he made sure he wiped his face clean before answering:
“It’s okay, really. I got it. Is that really your only reason to disapprove of your favorite cousin’s choice?”
“Mhm..” she mumbled, still trying to figure him out. No. Please no. Don’t go there, I don’t want to. You don’t want to. “No, but it doesn’t matter,” Scorpia said, “it seemed to me we were discussing my boyfriend, or was I mistaken?”
“Indeed we were,” Regulus relaxed, relieved she won’t question any more. He knew she would eventually, but not for now. He will have time to come up with a proper lie later.
“There. So, yes, that is probably the most exciting story I have for you from France. Oh, I do have a gift for you though! Hold on, love” She placed her cup on the bedside table, and ran out to another room. A few seconds later, walked out with a box in her hands. “Here you go,” she smiled, sitting back down in front of him. “Open it.”
Regulus took it. It was a gray box the size of his hand, with a French word for “star” carved on the top. He traced the letters with his finger.
“Étoile?” the boy asked, raising his head to look at his smiling sister. Scorpia nodded. “Toi. Une étoile.” Regulus smiled. Finally, he pulled on the wooden lid, opening the box carefully, and his smile faded a little. “Woah.”
It took him some time to process what he saw. In the box, lay a black pocket watch. He glared at it for a few seconds, and then carefully took it out. As soon as his fingers touched the watch, there was a tingling feeling of mysterious and elegant dark magic. If an object has a lot of strong magic, or maybe old magic, on it, some people could feel it. The lid of the watch had an engraving of the Leo constellation, with delicate lines connecting the stars to form the shape. Regulus shone the brightest, being the biggest star in the constellation. “Woah,” he breathed out, again.
As he opened the watch, Regulus's breath caught slightly at the ornate face within. The Roman numerals and thin hands were made in the same style, with different ornaments and stars all over it. And the weight of the cold metal felt… comforting, somehow. Calming. He read the time, and again felt that sensation of strong magic coming from inside. “It’s not just beautiful, is it?” he asked, not looking up, flipping the watch in his hands.
“No, of course not,” he could feel the smile in Scorpia’s words. “But it is beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yeah… Thank you, I love it.” He wasn’t looking up on purpose now. It wasn’t easy saying those words for him, no matter how true they were. But she would get it. She always did.
“I’m glad.” There was a pause, before she started explaining, “yes, it has enchantments on it. I can’t quite tell you where I got it, but… Open it again.” She said, getting up to take a piece of parchment and a quill from her desk. Regulus opened the watch obediently, staring at it. It was almost curfew. He raised his eyes back on Scorpia, who was scribbling something onto the paper. Once she was done, she took her wand and whispered something to the writing. “Now look inside”, she smiled. Regulus felt the metal vibrate in his hand a little, and his eyes went down again, to see the lid of the watch with a sentence carved on the inside. Bois ton thé pendant qu’il est chaud, mon amour, it said.
“You get it?” Scorpia was almost jumping on the bed, shining with excitement.
“Is that what you wrote on that parchment? And it… showed up on the lid?…”
“Yes! I can give you messages all the time! Like, if I want to tell you something during class, or at family gatherings - isn’t it cool? Yeah, I know you can’t do it back, but we’ll figure a way out.”
“Wow. I… Thank you” he looked up. He wanted to come and hug her, to kiss her cheek and thank her again. But it wasn’t how they were raised - so he just stared at the eyes in front of him, gray, and full of… of love . Fondness, affection.
“Oh, come here, you Black,” she opened her arms. He hesitated for a second, and then fell right into them. “I love it” he mumbled again, somewhere into her neck. “Mhm, I thought you would,” she was playing with his hair. “It’s late. Do you want to sleep yet?”
He pulled away. Is she saying he should go away? But everything was okay… was he too much? Should have he said no to the tea and gone back?
“Hey, hey”, she reached to touch his hand, “stop. You’re okay, I promise you are, I’m not sending you away. I’m asking if we should go to sleep yet, if you… if you would want to stay here.” Oh. Here? Regulus stared her in the eye, trying to figure it out. Is it really okay?
After a few moments, he got up, putting the watch back into the box on the bedside table, and then crawling to the other side of the bed. He was aware of Scorpia’s amused face, watching him. And he didn’t care. He felt home , after he forgot it was even possible. She removed her golden earrings, keeping everything on the same nightstand, and layed next to him. “Good night, then.” She smiled and turned the lights off with her wand.
“Good night,” he mumbled back, closing his eyes.