Beauty of Roses - Chapter 4
Lily frowned. It had been a full week since she wrote back to Regulus, and he had yet to respond. She had pondered for days as to why he hadn’t written back yet. She was tired from not having slept well and had become cranky to boot. She rolled over onto her front and groaned into her pillow when she remembered how she had lost her temper earlier that evening.
“Lily, wait up.”
She rolled her eyes and stopped but didn’t bother to turn around. Moments later, James Potter caught up and stood before her. He didn’t say anything but just opened and closed his mouth a few times and looked past her over her right shoulder. She briefly wondered what had him tongue-tied this time. He was acting weirdly recently, even for his standards.
“What is it, Po- James?” Lily nearly flinched at her own tone of voice. She couldn’t hide that she was irritated but at least caught herself and returned the favour of calling him by his first name.
“I… I needed to tell you… ask you something - I heard a rumour and--” he stopped talking and ran a hand through his already messy hair, looking to the floor.
“And what?” Lily’s pulse raced. “What kind of rumour?” Was it that obvious that she looked at Regulus whenever she could these past few days?
“Nothing. I- it doesn’t matter. Forget I said anything.” Lily had never seen him like this before. He looked dejected and his tone was quiet, making her think the worst. When he simply turned and walked away, it took her a few seconds to respond.
“Potter! Wait!” She jogged after him as he gave no sign of acknowledging her. Lily stopped him by reaching for his arm. He flinched visibly.
“James? What’s going on?” For the first time in forever, it seemed, she looked at him, truly looked at him. “Are… are you okay? You look tired,” she said in a worried voice.
“I’m fine.” His voice was monotonous and distant. “Just forget about it, Evans.”
“You were the one who came to me. You were the one to bring up rumours about me. You must have wanted to say something or else you wouldn't have come to talk to me!” All the worry was gone from her voice and replaced by anger.
“First of all, I never said the rumour was about you, but do you really want to know? Why don’t you tell me something first. Let’s see… how are you and Regulus? Everything going well?” He jerked his arm free.
“What?” Lily could feel the colour drain from her face.
“You know bloody well what!” James raised his voice. “Of all people you had to get it on with Regulus? Have you any idea at all what you’re doing, Evans?” His habit of messing with his hair got the better of him once again. An angry flush returned the colour to her face. It was maddening how quickly she could go from being worried to being furious when it came to James Potter.
“How dare you? You don’t know what you’re talking about! You don’t know Regulus as I do,” she growled at him in a deathly low voice. Somehow, he had found out and there was no point denying it.
“But that’s just it, Evans!” he shouted, then took a breath and continued quietly, “You only think you know him, but you don’t. You don’t.” He wasn’t looking at her anymore, but his words still sounded harsh and it only furthered Lily’s anger towards him. Who was he to tell her this? Regulus had shown her more than ever how caring he could be. James began walking away from her without looking back.
“Stay out of this, Potter,” she called after him angrily. “I will not have you ridicule him like you did with Severus only because he’s my friend. And don’t you dare walk away pretending you can’t hear me, I know you can.” For once, he didn’t take her bait and simply turned the corner and out of her sight. “What an arrogant, pompous idiot,” Lily angrily muttered to herself and stormed off into the opposite direction.
As always when she was in one of her moods, her friends let her be that night. She tossed and turned a long time before she fell into a fitful sleep, waking up nearly every hour. She decided to give up and quietly got dressed. Against her better judgement, she checked the diary again, but still there was no answer from Regulus. It angered her that he hadn’t written back. Was it something she said? Had he changed his mind? Worse yet, did Potter have a valid point when he warned her last night?
Silently, she slipped out of the room and down the stairs. She hoped she could go and find Regulus before breakfast; sometimes he was out early for a fly. She had to know if he meant what he wrote about the dance. Lily walked briskly and reached the Quidditch pitch a few minutes later. Breathe, she reminded herself when her breath hitched at the sight of him. For a few moments, she simply watched him fly rounds, enjoying the view.
She thought back to a conversation they’d had on their ninth date, the one before everything went wrong.
“Have you thought about the Hallowe’en dance at all?” she asked, breaking their kiss. Regulus sighed.
“Mmh,” Regulus murmured and closed the gap between them again. Lily pulled back as much as she could, which was difficult since her back was currently against the Charm’s classroom wall.
“Was that a yes or a no?”
He sighed again. “Why do we have to talk about that dance now?” He smirked and ran his hands up her sides. “There’re plenty of better things to be done right now.”
Lily turned her head to the side so he couldn’t kiss her again, but instead of talking, Regulus nipped her exposed neck and ignored her for a while. As much as she enjoyed this, she got annoyed at his behaviour. She pushed him away with both hands on his chest.
“Why can’t we just talk for a while?” It wasn’t that she didn’t like it when Regulus kissed her, but it just didn’t do that he seemed to be focused on only doing that. Yes, they talked but not for long, and usually, Regulus found some excuse or another to come closer and make her lose her train of thought. Not this time though. She wouldn’t stand for it. She wasn’t just some toy he could snog whenever he felt like it. Sometimes, she wanted to have those conversations back that they shared before their first kiss.
“Okay,” Regulus sighed. “You want to go to the dance with me?” Lily nodded. “Then meet me in the entrance hall just before the dance.”
“You really mean it?”
“Yes, Lily.” Lily smiled. She had a date for the dance. And not just any date. She was going to go with Regulus. She opened her mouth to speak again, but Regulus cut her off.
“Lily, I love talking to you, but right now I’d much rather kiss you…,” he stepped closer again, gently taking her hands off his chest and holding her eyes with his for a moment. “And after I’m done kissing you,” he whispered into her ear, “after I’m done holding you, touching you, we can talk.” Regulus trailed a hand up her side and around to cup her breast.
She frowned. Thinking back now, she should’ve known the next date wouldn’t go as peachy. They had kissed a bit more, he had touched her breasts over her blouse, but they never got around to talking because Regulus was too annoyed that she wouldn’t let him go any further. She hadn’t understood then why he was so annoyed. The next date made it all too clear. But now he had changed, hadn’t he? He really wanted to know her. And although he had shouted at her that he’d never go out in public, not even to the Hallowe’en dance, with a stuck up, frigid girl like her, he had plucked up the courage to ask her out again. He had come to her. That must count for something.
She would’ve watched for a while longer had he not spotted her and returned to the ground, effectively pulling her out of her reverie.
“What are you doing here?” he asked in genuine surprise. “Have you changed your mind about me then? You’re not here to slap me again?” His voice was low and challenging as he stepped closer to her. She shook her head and smiled wistfully in memory of that well-deserved slap he’d gotten on their last date.
“You’re dead sexy this early in the day, Evans.” Regulus closed the gap between them and, without wasting any time, pressed his lips to hers. He quickly took advantage of her surprised gasp and deepened the kiss.
“Tell me you changed your mind about me,” he rasped when he pulled back. Yes, she wanted to say but her voice didn’t obey her at that moment. Potter could go to hell with his presumptions. He had been wrong as usual. Obviously, Regulus cared for her. She squeaked as she felt his cold hands slide across her bare back beneath her jumper. She stepped back.
“No, Regulus,” she urged, looking around as if she expected other students to arrive any second. “I… I came here to ask if we still have the same arrangement for the dance or if you changed your mind about that?”
“Still the same arrangement, unless you’ve changed your mind. Why do you ask?” He narrowed his eyes in a look of confusion.
“I just had to hear it from you. I…uhm… I gotta go.” She leaned up and kissed his cheek, then made a quick exit before it could get more awkward. Regulus didn’t pursue her and she was thankful for it.
Chapter 3 - End Chapter 4 - Chapter 5