valentine’s day, 1980
February 14th, 1980
“can you guys believe its February already? it feels like…” Evan stopped to think, leaning his head on his fist as he sat down at the table for lunch. “wait, yeah it does feel like February, actually.”
Regulus snickered and sat down next to him, pouring himself some tea, then pouring some for Barty and Evan as well.
“thanks.” Barty said, opening his book and grabbing the parchment out of it. “i completely forgot about this thing, i gotta have it ready tomorrow and i’m not even half way done yet.”
“that’s your own fault.” Evan stated. “the only thing i’m struggling with today is the massive amounts of girls asking me out…” he grinned, combing his hair with his fingers.
“no one’s asked you out today, Ev.” Regulus took a sip of tea and grabbed a Cornish pastry from the plate in front of him. “when was the last time someone asked you out?” he asked with a grin.
“oh shut up, it’s not like you’re ‘mister popular with the girls’, either.”
“nah,” Regulus grinned. “i could be, i just choose not to. you, however, don’t even have the opportunity.” Evan sticked out his tongue and elbowed him.
“i, unlike you lot, did get a lot of fanmail today.” Barty stated proudly.
“oh please,” Evan put down his tea and started spreading peanut butter on his toast. “only like what, two girls? and your mom doesn’t count.”
“that does count! any letter counts!”
“absolutely not.”
the rest of valentine’s day was spend in the library, where the three of them worked on a couple of essay’s and some other stuff they had to get done.
“hi.” a female voice said, making Regulus turn around. a tall girl was stood behind him, black hair draped over her shoulders, blue eyes, that for some reason reminded him of Sirius’s. the colour of her eyes matched her Ravenclaw tie in an unmatched way.
“hi?” Regulus asked her, sitting down on the desk in front of the bookshelf he was currently searching for a book in. the girl sat down next to him.
“i uh, sorry, this is weird— you don’t know me,” She chuckled. “i’m Emilia, Emilia Mirem.”
“well i’m Regulus,” he laughed as well. “assuming you knew that already, though.”
“really? god! i wouldn’t have thought!” Emilia gasped out, she turned around, now facing the bookshelf as she put some of her books away. Regulus opened the book he had just grabbed, seeing that someone had already written in it, he groaned and put it back where he had found it.
“sooo,” she started up again. “how’s your valentines day been?” Emilia fumbled with her ring; a gorgeous ring, as Regulus saw. it was a gold ring, with a blue rhinestone on it.
“it’s been good. nothing major, actually.” Regulus said, tying the laces of his shoes quickly. she smiled and finally decided on a book.
“not any letters? secret love confessions?” Emilia asked with a grin on her face, Regulus shifted a bit, trying to get himself as comfortable on the hard wooden table as possible.
“oh so many, i almost couldn’t open my dorm anymore this morning; corridor was flooding with love letters.” he laughed, running his hand through his hair with a certain elegance.
“you know, i’d believe you if the sarcasm wasn't lingering on your face.” Emilia chuckled. “don’t talk so low of yourself, Regulus.”
Regulus fumbled with his necklace, something Sirius had gifted him for his birthday when he was maybe seven years old. it was a basic black necklace, the charm on it was a small emerald. which Sirius had stolen from their mother’s closet, she never noticed, though.
“i love that necklace!” Emilia said, excitingly. moving closer to him. “can i?” Regulus nodded, holding out the necklace for her to see.
“wow, that is stunning. must’ve been expensive?” she looked up again, Regulus raised his shoulders.
“probably,” he answered to all honesty. “i’m guessing it is; it’s a family piece.”
she chuckled, leaning her head back onto the bookshelves again. Emilia reminded him of Sirius a bit, even though this was the first time he had ever talked to her. Regulus guessed that if he got to know her, Sirius and her would potentially have very similar personalities.
“sorry this is quite random, but i was wondering if you might wanna go out with me, sometime?” she asked, turning towards him. Regulus was a bit flabbergasted, he didn’t really see the question coming.
Emilia was cool, what could it hurt to go out with her once? he needed some time to get his mind off things anyways, like how he still hadn’t heard back from Peter.
“yeah! does this weekend work for you?” Regulus asked her. he was genuinely excited, in all honesty. he felt really comfortable with her, for some reason.
“really? yeah! that’s great, actually.” Emilia smiled and grabbed her books, gathering them in her bag. “well then, see you soon, Regulus.” she grinned and walked away again, swaying her hips in the process.
Regulus shook his head, smiling. he grabbed some books and walked back to the spot Evan and Barty were sitting at.
“what did you do in there, that you were gone for a solid,” Barty looked at his watch. “ten minutes?”
“probably shagging someone.” Evan giggled, Regulus rolled his eyes and gave him the middle finger.
“actually, i got asked out.” Regulus admitted, sitting down on the desk once again. “this Ravenclaw girl, Emilia, something. she’s pretty cool.”
“Emilia Mirem?” Evan gasped. “you got asked out by Emilia Mirem?” he looked at Barty, who was staring ahead of him in confusion, then jumped back up.
“no way! absolutely not.” Barty decided, slamming his book closed. he walked up to Regulus, holding a finger out.
“what?! she did! what about it?” Regulus laughed, putting his books down. Barty turned around to look at Evan, who was shaking his head in disappointment.
“‘what about it?’ Emilia is the most popular girl in school! she’s got every boy wrapped around her finger.” Evan hissed, from behind Barty. Regulus shrugged and looked at Barty, who was looking at him with raised eyebrows.
“she’s cool. we’re going out this weekend.” Regulus walked away, grabbing his books without saying anything else. Barty groaned and followed close behind him. Evan didn’t even attempt to get up, he shook his head and went on with his potions essay.
“you’re setting yourself up mate, but you do you.”
later that night, Regulus decided to write Pandora a letter, asking her if she could come to Hogsmeade this weekend. since it had been a while since he last saw her, and he needed to talk over some things.
Barty and Evan had snook off somewhere, Regulus honestly couldn’t care less about where they were. he had thought about contacting Sirius, or James; any of them really, but they were all probably celebrating Valentine’s day, and he didn’t want to interrupt anything.
he was still in the library, finishing off some of his own homework, and the potions essay Evan hadn’t managed to finish. normally Regulus didn’t do this stuff, but he was bored and let’s face it; didn’t have an actual date to be with tonight.
Emilia had waved to him in the hallway, he had smiled and waved back. he didn’t feel anything for her, he felt a bit bad for ‘leading her on’, like Remus would have called it, if he actually knew what was going on. then there was the entire thing of Regulus not knowing if he was even into girls.
the only person he had felt things for had been James. but he had given up on that ages ago, he liked Lily, and thought they made the best couple. plus, they were expecting a baby! how could he not be happy for them?
the feelings never really stopped, but he had told himself to not act on them. so maybe it was a good thing Emilia had asked him out; it gave him the chance to experience. and maybe he would actually like her!
“Regulus?” Regulus turned around with a jump. there was a small Gryffindor standing behind him, looking like he was literally about to cry. “professor McGonnagal asked for you, she needed to talk to you.” Regulus shrugged.
“why does she need me?” Regulus asked him, the boy raised his shoulders.
“i don’t know,” the Gryffindor murmured. “she told me to ask you if i found you.”
“okay, thanks.” Regulus thanked him and packed his books into his bag, together with Evan’s essay. the boy let out a small smile and walked away again.
Regulus made his way to McGonnagal’s office, knocking on the door, which was immediately opened by a smiling McGonnagal.
“good evening, Regulus. come in.” she said, sitting on her side of the desk, ushering Regulus to sit down on the other chair. “tea?” he nodded, politely accepting the tea she gave him.
“hopefully i didn’t interrupt anything, tonight?” Regulus chuckled and shook his head, she grinned and handed him a box of biscuits, which he gladly dug into.
“not really, no.” Regulus admitted, taking a sip of tea. “why did you want to see me, professor?” he asked her curiously.
“see, Regulus,” McGonnagal started, a smile on her face. “professor Dumbledore told me about your recent things with the order—”
“you know about the order?” he interrupted, putting his hand over his mouth immediately. “sorry.” she chuckled.
“it’s alright.” McGonnagal took a sip of her own tea, still smiling a bit. “but yes. i am actually a part of it myself, incase you wanted to know.”
“what i was saying,” she started up again. “professor Dumbledore told me. you’re doing a very brave thing, Regulus. Dumbledore is proud of you, its a very dangerous thing. luckily we could find out about Mr. Pettigrew before anything major could happen. i’m also proud of you, Regulus.”
“thank you.” he said, truthfully. never did he think McGonnagal would call him over to compliment him. she smiled at him, holding out the biscuit thing for him to grab another one, which he did.
“could you maybe tell me about how you found out about Peter?” she asked. “and where?” Regulus had to think back to the moment, he was still able to hear the ‘yes i promise, master’.
“Malfoy Manor. i was early for a meeting, trust me, i never actually wanted to be one of them. i don’t support what they stand for, at all. you should know that,” she nodded, folding her hands, now a serious expression on her face. “i was early, i was just walking around the house; it’s my cousin Narcissa’s, so i felt free to walk around a bit. that’s when i heard his voice — Pettigrew’s. he said he promised something. it was unmistakably him.”
“i made my way out of there instantly, i told Cissy i felt sick and immediately went home. by that time i was already part of the order. James and Sirius put me on Veritaserum; then asked me about everything. i just,” he stopped and looked at his lap. “i couldn’t… i couldn’t tell them. i knew how much it would hurt them.”
“thank you, Regulus.” McGonnagal smiled at him sweetly, getting up. “if you ever need someone to talk to, i’m here. even though i’m not the head of your house. but you need someone who won’t judge no matter what.”
Regulus smiled and nodded, he grabbed his bag and made his way out of the office.