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On Wednesday they had their weekly meeting held in the breakroom considering that was the only room big enough to hold everyone in.
Regulus had taken the risk of sitting next to her and he tried not to take it personally when she moved her chair away from him ever so slightly.
“I have great news,” their boss started with, as she walked in and went to the front of the room. “It has come to my attention that we haven’t done a group bonding activity since our new arrival.” Her hand waved over in her direction and Regulus could practically feel her stiffen. “So, on Friday we will be having a friendly game of Quidditch.” She clapped her hands in front of her. “Indoors, of course, it’s fucking freezing.”
Regulus wasn't sure how, but he felt her go even more stiff. Probably at the language of their boss, no doubt. Regulus wasn’t a prude, or at least not as much of a prude as he thought she was, but even he was shocked by their boss's language when he first started.
“I’ve already organised teams because I don’t want Regulus and Evan on the same team.” Evan was sitting behind her and she felt his arm brush on her shoulder as he brought it forward to high five Regulus. She tried not to shudder away.
She was going to be on a team with Evan and the safety manager and it would be them against their boss, Regulus, and Louie. They would only have a seeker, chaser and keeper per team as it was only a friendly competition and therefore no need for a beater.
“I will give you tomorrow afternoon to organise your game plan, but until then you have to focus on work.” There was still no new potion request, so her and Regulus were stuck trying to think of a new idea.
“So, are you ready to lose on Friday?” Regulus asked when they were back in the breakroom for lunch.
“Sorry Reggie, we have the old Slytherin Quidditch Captain on our team, the one who declined an offer from the Chudley Cannons because she was way too good for them.” He put an arm around her shoulders as he sat down next to her and she shrugged it off.
Regulus was starting to appreciate her attitude. Maybe he thought she was uptight and bossy during school, but now he admired how she stood her ground and never let people make her feel uncomfortable. It was sometimes, even funny. Especially when it was his friend on the receiving end of it.
“And when was the last time this amazing Quidditch star actually played Quidditch?” Regulus didn’t know the answer, but from the context clues of their previous conversations, he was feeling confident that it wasn’t since Hogwarts, almost three years ago.
“Irrelevant,” she said in a way that made the edges of Regulus’ lips quirk up, “when you’re that good, the skill never leaves.” Evan was sitting beside her so she didn’t see the way he widened his eyes at Regulus who was sitting across from them.
But it seemed even Evan had come to appreciate her directness in this post school life because it was a look that was a mix of being amused and impressed.
“Look, I love you Reggie,” Evan began, “but I’d take her on my team over you any day.” Apparently, though, Evan hadn’t learnt his lesson because he threw another arm over her shoulders, only to have it pushed off once more.
She gave him an innocent look and Regulus took this as progress. Even if it was completely self centred, it seemed like she was actually joking around with them which meant that they were getting closer to friends which meant that Regulus was getting closer to being five hundred galleons richer.
This was going into their third week of the bet. Regulus barely had two months left and he felt like he hadn’t made much progress, but he had to remind himself who this was and that really, even getting to this stage where they could hold a conversation was a feat of itself.
And really, Regulus was learning that she wasn’t even that bad. There was still something wound up extremely tight inside of her, but there were occasions where whatever it was started to loosen and she seemed like a normal human when that happened.
Then, of course, there was the fact that she was very pretty which Regulus was really starting to appreciate. Especially on Friday morning when she arrived at the indoor stadium in a pair of leggings that were basically a second skin on her as well as a tight long sleeved top that made Regulus’ eyes wander.
Evan whistled in Regulus’ ear when she showed up and Regulus nudged him with his elbow.
“Shut up,” he mumbled.
Regulus wondered if she knew she was hot. Surely she did. But she didn’t seem arrogant about it in the way that he’d expect someone who looked like that to be.
But he pushed that thought aside because for some reason, she was walking over to them.
“Good morning,” she said, “Evan.” She nodded towards the boy who had his arm rested on Regulus’ shoulder, making no effort to hide the way his eyes looked her up and down. “Regulus,” she said, “are you ready to lose?”
Regulus let out an unattractive laugh.
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“Shame you won’t be in your usual position,” she said in a way that made it sound like she really didn’t think it was a shame.
“I’m assuming you’ll be keeper then?”
“Of course,” she said. The first thing she had said on Thursday afternoon was that there was no way she wouldn’t be her usual position. “What are you playing?”
“Chaser.”
“Interesting.” She wanted to say that he was never good at being Chaser, but she wanted to say it in a way that would sound like a joke and considering their history, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to control that tone.
“Alright teams,” their boss walked over to them, “are we ready?”
Everyone mumbled out a yes and made their way into a circle.
“Okay, so one of the coaches will referee and please,” she said, looking individually at them all, “this is a friendly competition.” She gave an extra glance to Regulus and Evan who gave her a faux innocent look.
The referee came over, a young girl who they found out volunteered at the indoor stadium, and she went over safety. They had basic healing and pain relief potions and she knew some basic healing spells, but this was a friendly game and a friendly environment and they hadn’t had to use it all year so it was all mainly precautionary.
“Do you mind just signing this?” She asked the boss, handing over a quill and some parchment.
“Sure,” the boss said. There seemed to be quite a few pages to fill out so she turned to them all and said, “why don’t you all get warmed up while I do this?”
They didn’t have to be told twice and so the referee released the balls and they all zoomed up into the air on the broomsticks the indoor stadium had provided.
She wasn’t really sure what the plan was for ‘warm ups’. She had a feeling it wasn’t going to be like what she used to make her team do before games back in Hogwarts.
Regulus had the quaffle and Evan was flying close by to him, the safety manager coming closer to her and she smiled at her as she approached.
“Have you played Quidditch before?” The safety manager asked as she hovered next to her.
“I have,” she said, “I was Quidditch Captain.” She let out a noise of surprise.
“Wow,” the safety manager said, “I’ve never played competitively.”
In the back of her mind, she could hear Regulus and Evan messing around, throwing the quaffle around and zooming between the two girls talking, as well as Louie who was hovering on the other side of the indoor field near the goals.
“Do you watch it?” She asked the safety manager, but she never heard her reply.
As the safety manager opened her mouth, she heard Evan shout heads up as he zoomed past the two girls and then she heard the sound of the quaffle whizzing past before she heard the sound of the wind rushing past her ears as she began to fall.
Regulus wasn’t sure whether the scream came from her or from him. On instinct, he raced down to the floor where their boss had dropped the parchment and had her wand pointed to the girl now falling slowly from her broom.
She landed gracefully thanks to the boss’ quick reflexes, but she still let out a groan when she got to the ground, sitting on the floor, seemingly unable to stand up.
The bastard had hit her in the face with a quaffle.
“Ow,” she moaned, bringing a hand to her head. Everything was spinning and even though she knew the pain was in her head, it felt like her whole body had seized up.
“Shit, fuck,” Regulus swore as he got off his broomstick and knelt next to her. “Are you okay?”
“What do you think?” Regulus thought she must be okay if she was still able to sass him. The referee had come back with a potion and was making her drink it.
She had a swollen lip but the referee cast a spell and it went back to normal, even though she grimaced as she did it.
She wanted to cry. Merlin, she was in so much pain. But she already felt embarrassed by falling off her broom after getting hit in the face with a quaffle and she didn’t want to make it worse.
“Everything hurts,” she whimpered instead, and although his heart was already thumping in his chest, he felt it start to haywire. Wasn’t the potion meant to make it better?
Regulus was a beater , meaning he was pretty confident in the power of his throws and he definitely wasn’t holding back when he was throwing it to Evan. If anything, he was probably using all of his power to make it harder for his friend to catch, but she wasn’t meant to be in the way of that.
“Look at me,” their boss said, still somehow remaining calm even after Regulus had just seriously injured her. Everyone was crowding around her on the floor. Everyone else had come down from their brooms and were standing close trying to see what was going on while still trying to give her some space. “Follow my finger darling.” He watched as the boss moved her finger up and down and his eyes flickered back and forth, hoping that her eyes were following.
“That’s a good sign,” the referee said and Regulus wished he’d be able to let out a breath of relief, but there was guilt still knotted in his chest and he wasn’t sure it would ever go away.
“I think she should still go to St Mungo’s.”
“I’ll take her,” Regulus said instinctively. He was sure he heard her mumble out a no, but it was drained out by the boss's voice.
“Merlin Regulus, first the potion blows up in her face and now this? I don’t know if I should trust you.” She was joking, but as they tried to help her stand up, the boss still pushed her to Regulus. She was closing her eyes and Regulus didn’t know a lot about medicine and injuries, but he wasn’t sure that was a good sign.
She was resting most of her weight on him and he put an arm around her as the boss and referee let go of her.
“Be careful when you apparate,” the referee said, “she’ll probably be sick when you get there.”
She let out a groan in Regulus’ arms and Regulus gave them a curt nod before he apparated to St Mungos.
“Fuck, I’m going to be sick.” Were the first words she said when they got there. Her eyes were still closed and she doubled over causing Regulus to go with her.
“C’mon, you’re okay.” He tried to use a soothing voice, hoping the words of encouragement would help her as he guided her to stand back up.
Her eyes opened.
“ You don’t get to tell me I’m okay after you hit me in the face with a quaffle.” So maybe he didn’t help her, but maybe he had distracted her because she didn’t say anything else about being sick.
She went back to leaning on him almost instantly, her eyes closing once more as another groan left her lips.
St Mungos was busy . There were healers and nurses moving around in a hurry and patients, moaning in pain and hobbling around. The main area was always busy and apparently today wasn’t an exception.
Regulus moved her over to the counter. There were three people in front of them and with the way she was holding her head, Regulus was scared that the wait would be too long. Eventually, they got to the desk and one of the nurses gave him a bright smile.
“How can we help you today, sir?” The nurse gave her a weary look but then went back to smiling at Regulus.
“She got hit in the face with a quaffle.”
“Oh no.” Wow, Regulus thought, really helpful. “Has she taken anything?” The nurse was getting some parchment and a quill and Regulus quickly recalled what the referee had done.
“She had a swollen lip but they got rid of that and she took a pain relief potion.”
“But I haven’t felt relief,” she mumbled.
“But she hasn’t felt relief,” Regulus echoed so the nurse could hear.
“Alright,” the nurse said looking up from his parchment, “I’ll get you to look up here for me and follow my quill.” Regulus looked down to see her with her eyes open, trying to stand up straighter.
She followed the quill with her eyes and the nurse must have been satisfied with that because he hummed and ticked something on the form.
“Wonderful,” he said, “we’ll get you to go sit over there and wait if that’s okay, a healer will be with you shortly.”
“How long is shortly?” Regulus asked, recalling the horror stories of people waiting half a day in St Mungos before they were actually helped.
“We’re very busy today sir, unfortunately, I can’t give you an exact time.”
“She has a head injury,” he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“I’m aware,” the nurse said a little too indignantly, “but there are a lot of patients here with a lot of needs and unfortunately we can only do what we can.”
“She can barely stand up,” he said, losing his patience.
She couldn’t. He was right. She was also only half conscious considering the amount of pain she was in and considering the pain relief potion had done nothing.
Her face was numb and it seemed the rest of her body had followed suit because she was very aware that Regulus was basically holding her up.
She was also very aware of the tone Regulus was using. There was a small vein on his neck that she could see when she looked up at him from how she was resting her head on him.
Maybe she was delirious from all the pain, or maybe she had just been really spoilt her whole life and liked people doing things for her, but seeing Regulus argue with this nurse about getting her a healer made her tummy feel funny in a way that she knew wasn’t because she had just gotten hit in the face with a quaffle.
She came back from her train of thought when the nurse said, “the best I can do is offer her a stronger pain relief potion.” She hummed in agreement before Regulus could reply.
“Thank you,” Regulus said, but his tone didn’t sound too grateful.
Regulus guided her over to the waiting area and just as she sat down the nurse came with the potion and she drank it quickly.
She barely recalled drinking the other potion, but she thought she’d never forget the foul taste of this one. It was what she imagined a dead body would smell like, but she pushed that thought to the back of her head as she finally felt some relief.
She could still feel a second pulse thumping through her head, but she felt strong enough to open her eyes and lift her head away from Regulus, so it was progress at least.
“Did that help?” Regulus asked once the nurse had left.
“A little,” she mumbled and Regulus nodded. His leg was bouncing now that she wasn’t leaning on him and he was biting his lip anxiously.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, turning to look at her, “I didn’t-”
“You were never good at being chaser,” she cut him off. He looked at her with his mouth open and she continued. “I was going to tell you this morning, but I didn’t want to be mean.” She was talking softly and Regulus wasn’t sure whether or not he was meant to laugh.
He’d been trying to laugh with her all week, but he wasn’t sure this was an appropriate time.
“When have you ever stopped yourself from being mean?” She shrugged her shoulders, wondering if the potion the nurse had given her was making her loopy because she regretted saying that.
“Obviously you have no self control when it comes to being mean,” she said accusingly. Both of them were staring at the other and she saw the way Regulus’ eyebrows quickly furrowed together in confusion. “First the potion and now this.”
“Both of them were an accident,” he was almost pleading with her and for some reason she giggled.
“I don’t believe you.” He gave her a pointed look. His eyebrows raised and his forehead creased and for some reason, she giggled again.
Yeah, that potion was definitely making her feel loopy.
She rested her head on her shoulder and closed her eyes. It was much easier than looking at Regulus, it made the knot in her tummy come undone.
“I don’t think you should close your eyes.” she heard him whisper and she slowly opened them, looking up at him. He had brought his face slightly closer to hers and for some reason, her heart started beating the tiniest bit quicker.
“Why not?” She pouted, whispering back.
“I’m not sure,” Regulus admitted, still keeping his voice low, “I feel like I’ve read somewhere that you shouldn’t.”
She didn’t know what to say so she did what he told her to do and she kept her eyes open, looking into Regulus’ grey ones.
He kept looking back.
Regulus had been swearing ever since he saw Evan move at the last second and tried to follow him, knowing it was a bad throw as soon as the quaffle left his hands.
This was ending his third week into the bet and it wasn’t a good way to end it. Hitting her in the face with a quaffle.
“You can go home if you want,” she whispered. She seemed drowsy and Regulus genuinely did feel bad so the least he could do was stay here until a healer came to see her.
“Do you want me to go?” He asked, thinking that if she said yes, he’d have a hard time leaving her. He may be arrogant, but his mother did raise him with some manners and he knew his mother would be mortified if she found out he left someone he had injured by themselves, especially when they had her last name.
She blinked up at him quickly. Weirdly enough, she didn’t.
She already had her suspicions that the potion was making her loopy but this was all the confirmation she needed. She would never want to spend more time with Regulus Black, this was the potion speaking.
“No,” she mumbled it so quietly that Regulus wasn’t sure he’d even hear her if he didn’t see the way her lips moved.
“I wouldn’t have left you,” he found himself saying, “I was the one who injured you.” He paused, “And I am really sorry.”
She was looking up at him and Regulus couldn’t believe he had known her for almost ten years and had never noticed how pretty her eyes were. She was blinking slowly and Regulus was sure the guilt was getting to him because he was ready to do anything to get rid of the pain etched on her face.
“I can’t feel my face,” she admitted, finally lifting her head up and repositioning herself. Regulus pulled his head away from her and sighed. “If you had done this when I was captain I would have kicked you off the team.”
“Would you really?” He asked, the start of a chuckle already forming on his lips.
She hummed.
“If you hit the captain in the face with a quaffle?” She asked incredulously. “Yes,” she scoffed, “firstly, you were beater so what were you doing with a quaffle in the first place? And secondly,” she paused, suddenly not as confident as she was mere seconds ago, “I would have thought you did it on purpose.” Regulus couldn’t help the way his lips curved up.
“Well you thought I blew the potion up in your face on purpose.”
“And I still kinda think you did this on purpose too,” she cocked her head to the side as she looked at him and he frowned.
“I didn’t,” he said and she sighed.
“The only reason I believe you is because I don’t think you’d purposely injure me in front of the boss.” She paused. “Unless you’re just really good at faking accidents.” He laughed, he couldn’t help it.
“If I wanted to make it look like an accident I would have done it during the game.”
“Good to know,” she scoffed, but she was smiling. And Regulus was smiling. And for a brief second, he forgot about the five hundred galleons.
“Well anyway,” he said, “if you kicked me off the team then you’d miss your best beater.” She scoffed.
“I don’t know, Knott was a pretty good beater.” She pretended to think about it.
“But my replacement wouldn’t have been that good.”
“You doubt my coaching abilities, there was only one reason you were such a good beater.”
“What?” He asked, a smirk already forming on his lips. “Because of you?”
“Yes, because of your amazing captain.” He shook his head.
Had it always been this easy to have a conversation with her? Upon reflection, Regulus didn’t think he had ever tried to have a conversation with her bar the small talk they’d been making since she started. And it brought up a funny feeling when he considered that he never would have tried to have a conversation with her if it wasn’t for this bet.
“Amazing is a strong word,” he trailed off and she scoffed.
“Sorry, how many years did we win the Quidditch cup while we were at school?”
“Three,” he said sheepishly, knowing where this was going.
“And who was captain during those three years?”
“Irrelevant,” he said, “you just had a good team.” She opened her mouth at him in mock surprise, the ache that was once clouding her thoughts, now starting to disappear.
“If I hadn’t just suffered a head injury, I’d argue with you but we both know I’m right so it’s pointless.”
Regulus laughed again. He didn’t think he’d ever laughed this much with her. Ever.
They sat in silence for a moment, watching the people around them groan in pain and chat with their loved ones.
She had her arms folded across her chest and Regulus hated it but he was once more reminded about the clothes she was wearing and for a moment, he couldn’t look away.
For some reason, he was starting to feel guilt, and not just because he had hit her in the face with a quaffle.
“Do you think they’re still playing Quidditch?” She asked, turning to face him.
“Yeah, winning a friendly game of Quidditch is much more important than your wellbeing,” he said in a serious tone before giving her a pointed look that made it clear he was being sarcastic.
She rolled her eyes at him.
“You can’t be mean to me, you just hit me in the face with a quaffle.”
“Does it still hurt?”
“No, the potion the nurse gave me was much stronger than the one the referee did. I still have a bit of a headache, but I can feel my face now.”
“That’s good,” he said.
He was suddenly back to bouncing his knee and biting his lip. He started thrumming his fingers on his thigh. She was still looking at him but he had to look away.
He wasn’t sure why, but his heart was beating fast and he was hoping that even if hitting her in the face with a quaffle set him back, this conversation they were having was making up for it.
Regulus thought they’d be waiting here much longer, but after about an hour of them going back and forth like that, a healer finally called for her and for some reason, Regulus stood up with her.
She gave him a funny look, but didn’t say anything.
Her parents had spoiled her for her entire life and she hadn’t done anything like this by herself and that was the only reason she wanted him there with her.
“So,” the healer said as they all sat down, “what happened?” The healer was an older woman with a kind smile, and it made her feel better and not as scared.
She explained how she got hit in the head with a quaffle and that the referee had done a spell on her lip and made her drink a potion that did absolutely nothing, and then how she came here and drank another potion that had seemed to make the pain go away, but still left a pounding headache.
The healer put on some gloves and told her she was going to take a look at her lip.
“It seemed she got the swelling down, but it seems some of your capillaries have broken so there will be some bruising.” The gloves were cold on her lip as she pulled her bottom lip down with her thumb and then squished them together before stepping away and taking off her gloves.
Regulus felt like he had to turn away. It didn’t feel right to watch.
“And you still have a headache?” The healer asked, writing something down on the same piece of parchment the nurse had originally filled out.
“Yeah,” she nodded, swaying her legs ever so slightly over the chair.
“The nurse said you didn’t have a concussion, and I don’t think you do either, but I’ll do a spell to make sure there is no lasting damage. We are currently trialling a potion at the moment to target general symptoms of various diseases and illnesses,” her head twitched towards Regulus, “you are by no means required to, but that is an option we can test. If you’d like some more information, I have this.” The healer handed her a pamphlet and she turned to Regulus who was already looking at her, a small smile on his lips.
“Sure,” she said, a little too enthusiastically. The healer nodded and handed her the potion.
“We’ll have to send you away with some paperwork so we can understand just how effective this potion is and we ask that you don’t take any general relief potions unless absolutely necessary so we can understand the full impact of this new potion.” She nodded and let the doctor perform the spell that made it feel like there was a warm liquid trickling down her head.
She shivered, the potion her and Regulus had created two weeks ago warm in her palm as they said goodbye to the healer and left her office.
“I honestly thought I’d given you a concussion, I’m glad it wasn’t,” Regulus said as they walked back into the general area.
“Honestly, me too,” she said, a small smile on her lips contrasting the topic of their conversation. “But I get to trial our potion.” Regulus had never seen her so excited and he couldn’t help but smile with her.
“Hope we did a good job.” She almost corrected him and said that it was really all of his doing, but she really couldn’t be bothered to argue about it with him, so she let it go.
“Thanks for staying with me,” she said and Regulus wasn’t sure he had ever seen her look so sheepish. In fact, he wasn’t sure he had ever seen her be anything but her confident self. “I really appreciate it.”
“Well I was the one who caused it.” He said as they stopped walking and turned to the other. She gave him a small smile and a brief nod.
It was close to lunch time, but she didn’t think her boss would mind if she went home. Besides, the game was only meant to go half a day, and then they’d have lunch and be free to go.
But just to be safe, she’d send her an owl as soon as she got him.
“Well, enjoy your weekend.” She said and Regulus furrowed his eyebrows together ever so slightly.
“I’m not letting you apparate home.”
“Why not?”
“You just got hit in the face with a quaffle.”
“The healer said I was fine.”
Regulus wasn’t sure what to say. He wasn’t sure why he was so set on apparating her home, but he knew he had to. It was the right thing to do.
“Just let me do it, it will make me feel better.”
“Well,” she said sarcastically, “if it makes you feel better.” He gave her a cheeky grin.
“Yeah,” he said, “it would.” She rolled her eyes at him, the parchment and trial in her hands. “Tell me a place near your house so I can apparate there.” She told him a popular landmark and took a step closer to him. He put out his hand and she held onto his arm.
She hadn’t noticed when they got there because all she could focus on was the pain, but this time, she realised that she hated apparating with someone else. It was so awkward.
The launching feeling always made her body tense, but now with Regulus next to her it seemed it was her body's natural instinct to cling onto him and she hated how she practically jumped off of him once they got there.
She huffed, moving on the spot to try to get rid of the nausea she was currently feeling. She wasn’t going to tell him, but she was glad Regulus had offered to apparate her home.
“How far away is your house?” He asked.
“About a five minute walk.” He nodded and started walking.
“Are you coming?” He asked, stopping and turning around when he didn’t feel her presence behind him. She wanted to tell him that he didn’t need to walk her home, but they had already made it this far together, so they might as well get to the end.
Regulus was also glad that he had apparated her home. He wasn’t really focused on it when they apparated to St Mungos because he was sure he was going to faint from the guilt, but this time, she grabbed onto him and Regulus could feel her body pressed against his and he could smell her shampoo and he was glad to feel the cool air on his skin when they finally got there.
She walked quickly to catch up with him and there was only a brief flash of guilt that entered Regulus’ mind when he happily watched the way her body moved as she quickly came next to him.
“I’m really sorry, again,” he said, mainly just to have something to say. And he was actually sorry.
“It’s okay,” she said and he realised that this was the first time she had accepted his apology. “But I’ll probably never let you live it down.” She shrugged her shoulders casually and he smiled.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
If he was being honest, he expected more. This was the ice queen after all. The one who had put Evan in detention for a week because he kept coming to Quidditch practice to cheer everyone on.
“He’s a distraction!” She had argued, and Professor Slughorn was not going to be the first professor to not let her get her way.
But maybe he had reached his goal. Maybe this is what being friendly with her was like. He assumed it was, at least.
He hoped it was. That would mean that he had achieved his goal. Much earlier than he had intended. Who knew all he had to do was hit her in the face with a quaffle.
The thought briefly entered his mind that if he knew that’s all it would take, he would have done it earlier, but then he decided that that was mean and he didn’t necessarily feel like being mean to her anymore. Not to her face and not behind her back.
Regulus thought this was fine. It would make getting into her pants much easier and much more enjoyable for him.
“Well, enjoy meeting up with your friends,” he said when they got to her house.
“Thanks, and thanks for staying with me again. Have a good weekend.” She gave him one more smile before he apparated home.
For a minute, he thought this was too easy, all he had to do to get in her pants was be nice to her. Regulus had done a lot harder things in order to get in a girl's pants before. This was going to be easy.