Chapter fourteen
As Holly moved to sit in her newly assigned seat, she tried to calm her nerves. Every experience she had had with the Black boy thus far had been alright, why should she think this would go any differently? Her eyes met Regulus’ and she was reminded exactly why.
His gaze was hard, and she was startled to find it laced with disgust. His lip was curled and he shifted in his seat, attempting to move as far from her as the desk would allow. A pit formed in Holly’s stomach and her eyes stung. At the end of the day, school children or not, everything came back to the difference between them. His blood was pure, hers was not.
She looked around the rest of the room and shrunk when she found eyes burning into her back. Barty Crouch Jr, Evan Rosier, the Lestrange brothers. All of them were staring, snickering, and whispering to one another. She felt her stomach roll and frowned, turning away to look at Tilly. The girl was seated next to a halfblood boy, and didn’t seem upset about her arrangement. As she looked at Holly she seemed worried.
Holly took a breath. Regulus Black was a powerful, teenage boy but nothing more than that. She was not going to let him or any other entitled pureblood ruin a class she loved. Turning in her seat, she faced her new table mate and smiled.
“Black,” She said through her teeth, “how are you today?”
He seemed surprised and stared at her blankly, his face void of most emotion.
“Excuse me?” He said, his voice matching his expression.
“How are you? You know, how was your day, how are you doing?”
Silence surrounded the both of them and eventually he just turned to the front of the room. Holly sighed and closed her eyes, resting her head on her hand. Kill them with kindness. She thought to herself. He had been so normal the other times they’d spoken. Maybe he hadn’t known what she was? Maybe he’d found out? She couldn't help the nausea pooling in her stomach.
Eventually, Slughorn started the actual lesson. Just note-taking today, though their next lesson would involve them brewing a potion. In pairs, of course. Holly and the Black boy sat an uncomfortable distance from one another, and in complete silence. She pulled her hair forward to cover her face and attempted to ignore him. Soon enough her studies pulled her mind from what was next to her, and by the time class was over she had almost forgotten the situation. That is until she moved to leave, and tripped over something. No, not something, someone. Barty Crouch Jr was staring down at her and snickering, Rosier next to him rolling his eyes. Grinding her teeth she began picking up her things. Tilly was at her side in an instant, mumbling thinly veiled threats and curses at the two boys. She looked up and caught Regulus’ eye. His lip curled and with no further action, he and his friends left. The nauseous feeling got worse.