Chapter Text
The bloody girl-who-lived needed tutoring and apparently Regina was the one who had to do it. She was a seventh year Slytherin. Emma Swan was a sixth year Gryffindor. Their paths shouldn’t be crossing, and it wasn’t like it was a big secret that Regina’s mother was one of the most loyal followers of the Dark Lady, and sure Regina hadn’t been forced into taking the mark yet, but that didn’t change the facts. Having Regina tutor the girl-who-lived was going to end in disaster, mark her words.
She strode into the library, spotting the blonde at the table right away with her two boyfriends at her side. Regina scowled. Those two wouldn’t be sticking around for the tutoring. It was probably their fault she was in this situation anyway. To think she’d once considered both of them decent friends.
Emma Swan glanced up and caught sight of her. She waved for her little boyfriends away. They stubbornly stayed where they were, and Regina loudly dropped her books on the table. Neal gave her a hard look, “Don’t hurt her.”
He promptly left, head held high and Ravenclaw insignia in full view. She had a brief moment of nostalgia for when they were kids and still friends before anger quickly cover it. She whipped a glare at August who was leaning over the table and smiling widely at her. “You two will be fine. So many mutual friends just mean there should be a lot of common ground between you.” He had the nerve to wink at her, and as he got up to pass her, he whispered in her ear. “She spends almost as much time talking about you as you spend talking about her.” And then he had the nerve to saunter off.
Regina’s face felt too hot to deal with any of this. She sat down on the chair across from Emma Swan and put her head on the table, cursing inside her head. Why did she have to have a life so intertwine between the dark and light.
“Do you do everything like a princess?” Emma Swan blurted. “Oh god. I really need to think before I speak.”
Regina looked up at her. Emma Swan looked bright red like she wanted to melt into the floor. The spell to do something like that annoyingly flashed through Regina’s mind. They were too different to have anything between them. Regina was trapped in her mother’s dark shadow, and Emma Swan was the shining light rising out of the muggle world.