Ink in Paper - Regulus Black

Chapter Twelve

SURPRISE! A 2 am surprise in my country lol, but I can't sleep and my boyfriend's already asleep, so I'm bored and wrote this without sleeping or eating after my uni exam. I'm sorry if there's any mistakes here, I barely feel like myself.

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This chapter is so important!

The highlands of Scotland were known for their rainy disposition and bitter cold even throughout the more amene seasons of the year, therefore it was no surprise that sunbathing days were rare and celebrated whenever the sun decided to appear for enough time to let the students that had free periods to lie in the grass outside.

So, when October accepted one single day of a lukewarm temperature in its schedule, Pandora and Luna were outside in a moment, lying on the sunlight with their legs crossed, arms on their stomach and eyes closed, taking in the little vitamin that they could manage. It had taken a long time of convincing in third year for Pandora to actually believe that vitamins were an important thing and had taken a letter from Hope, a nurse, to accept completely its importance and the ways of getting it, so now – when possible – she drank lemonade and orange juice, sat in the sun for a few minutes, ate wholegrain breads and accepted more fruits into her (far too selective, according to Hope) diet.

"I wish I was one of those people that tanned easily," Luna said. "I think I'd look beautiful tanned."

"I like you being pale," Pandora said.

"That's because you're also pale, and you're used to everybody around you being pale," she said, turning to lie on her side on the grass, feeling herself warming up alongside the day. "Besides, have you seen Marta's right after summer? She tans easily, so when I saw her with her parents in Diagon Alley a couple of years ago, that one year that she went to Mexico, she looked so beautiful!"

"Marta is beautiful," Pandora said.

Luna waited for Pandora to say something else, but nothing came, so she went back to lying on her back, sighing in clear disappointment for the conversation being over. She said nothing, but kept her eyes open.

Looking around, she lied on her other side, giving her back to Pandora while she watched some of the other students that had taken refuge from the cold of the castle on the courtyard – some groups were lying and sitting near the benches, others were near the trees (such as Regulus, Evan and Barty), but most were under the sun.

In the group that caught her attention, under the shadow of the tree, but still in the warmth of the day outside, Regulus was sitting against the tree, reading the book that Luna had told him to so he could finish his essays soon, she noticed (it was her book after all, of course she was paying attention), but didn't seem too entertained by it, because he was listening to something that Barty was saying, nodding along with interest but no facial expression. Evan was lying on his back, hands behind his back. Barty, however, was sitting against the tree bark as well, talking and moving his hands as he told some story that – clearly – Evan was enjoying.

It seemed a common, tranquil day.

Until Sirius Black came walking through the courtyard, cutting his way to go to Divination with James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. No Remus Lupin in sight.

She wasn't sure what made her tense up and push herself to her elbows, but her whole body started to tell her to get up.

"Oh, no," she whispered.

Pandora opened her eyes at her whisper, not knowing what her friend had said, but pushed herself to her elbows quickly as well, knowing that something had gone wrong.