(40 : STEAL LOVE'S SWEET BAIT  . . .
FROM FEARFUL HOOKS )

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REGULUS BLACK WAS KISSING HER and she didn't know if she was meant to kiss back or not. Juliet couldn't help but compare how he kissed to a certain Gryffindor — Regulus kissed her carefully and his lips were soft whilst James kissed her with reckless abandon and his hands were calloused. And to kiss someone that wasn't James Potter felt wrong somehow.

"What do you two think you're doing?" Abraxas Malfoy bellowed from the doorway, his left eye twitching at the sight of two teenagers heatedly pressed up against the wall of his study. "This is my private chamber, not a brothel!"

The couple broke apart. In shock, Juliet brushed her fingertips over her lips.

In an unusual twist, it was Regulus who first regained his composure. He retrieved his overcoat from the floor, tossing it over his shoulder as he offered the older man a rather proud, boyish grin that was reminiscent of his older brother. "My apologies, Mr Malfoy," the redhead was wrenched back to reality when he intertwined their hands, "but I do think we were leaving."

As Regulus was leading Juliet back out, Abraxas roughly grabbed her forearm, taking her for the weakest link. "Do not mistake me for a fool, Mr Black, Miss Fawley. The door was locked this morning. How did you get in here?"

"I'm afraid your old age must be getting to you, Mr Malfoy," she replied, her tone saccharine. "The door was unlocked."

"I suggest you remove your hand from my fiancée now," Regulus added pointedly.

Juliet smirked. "And I suggest you get yourself a new desk. You don't even want to know what we did th—"

"GET OUT!"

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     Holding a finger to her lips, Juliet signalled for Regulus to be quiet as she swiped two bottles of champagne from the open bar and then dragged him away from the wedding reception. After not having retrieved the diary for Dumbledore, a dark, bitter feeling infected her heart. Without it, there was no point to her being there. All of her life she had been told the importance of her family name, but her mother had been more distant than usual for over a year now and her father was dead. The Fawleys were already in tatters — why should she have to salvage their reputation by witnessing the happiest day of her assailant's life?

     She didn't want to think about how she had failed, or how she might have to enlist as an Order of the Phoenix member to be protected now. She didn't want to think about how her life was falling apart, or how she might have to play the pureblood game of pretend until the day she dies.

     "Why did you kiss me?" asked Juliet, her voice neither complimentary or critical.

     "We were going to get caught," Regulus reminded her, laying down his overcoat on a patch of grass. Even though she had brought him to the outskirts of the manor, the faint sound of 'You Stole My Cauldron But You Can't Have My Heart' could be heard from the reception. "You're welcome."

They were both quiet for a moment. They took turns swigging champagne straight from the bottle, using the boy's suit jacket like a makeshift blanket.

     "No," whispered Juliet into the fading daylight, "that wasn't how you kiss someone because you're about to get caught."

His Adam's apple bobbed dangerously in his throat. "I don't know what you mean."

     Her brain might've been a little champagne-addled, but she wasn't stupid. Their kiss had been momentous — like a lifetime of moments she had blinked and missed had led up to it. Juliet recognised the urgency in the kiss, it was what she had experienced when she kissed James for the first time. The simultaneous desire to leave no inch of a person untouched whilst savouring every second in case it never happened again. It was the longing to explore enough of them that you could paint the scene from memory and then hang it in The Louvre. It was the cautiousness of a first love where you were constantly scared the person would shatter under your touch.

     "You're in love with me," she choked out, praying the accusation would result in hysterical laughter.

     Never having heard the words out loud, Regulus flinched. "You're drunk."

     Juliet waited for a denial that never came. "Oh, Regulus . . ."

     "Don't — don't pity me." His wild, unrestrained voice somehow contradicted his entire existence as an apathetic pureblood heir. "I like you. If it makes your insufferable little heart happy, then I'll admit that I like you as more than a friend or a forced fiancée. I've liked you for a long time and I don't even understand it myself. All I know is that when they told me to pick a bride, I said your name because I'm selfish. I'm unbelievably selfish when it comes to you, but you're also the one person that has got me putting my name and my neck on the line time and time again." Although he laughed, it was absent of mirth. "I didn't even think before saying your name. I didn't think about how much you would hate me when you found out, or consider the possibility that you would be shagging bloody Potter of all people throughout our engagement."

     "No . . ." Her eyebrows knitted together as her voice trailed off. "You were rude to me at Halloween. You told me you didn't have a choice either. I don't understand how you could have liked me that long."

     Frustrated, he rubbed his temples. "Because nothing else caught your attention before that!"

     At his sharp tone, she tensed. "Or maybe you're shit at expressing your emotions!" exclaimed the Slytherin. "I don't know what I'm meant to say here and —"

     "I am so sorry that my feelings are such an inconvenience for you."

     "I didn't say that," she said firmly. "I've known you since you were two. You're the boy who used to steal my scrunchies with Sirius. And after that, you're the boy who still hasn't cut those puppet strings."

Regulus scoffed, standing up. "Let's go."

If she had a time turner, she would have gone back an hour to stop herself from ever bringing up their kiss. It didn't matter what he felt, not when her heart was still bruised and bandaged from her break up with James. Since she didn't have a time turner, she snatched Regulus' arm before he could walk away. The bare minimum she owed him was an explanation.

"You're the only familiar thing I have right now and I don't want to mess it — us — up when I have so many other things to worry about," she explained, blue meeting blue as their eyes locked with a shared sadness. In another life, they could have been the kind of lovers that were legends. "I managed to get the unicorn blood, but I found something else out in the process that has left me taking dreamless sleep potions for a month. I fought half a dozen Death Eaters and was convinced I would die at seventeen without anything worthwhile to show for my life. I don't know where I stand in this war or what I'll do after Hogwarts and I'm graduating this year. I murdered my father and I'm terrified that dumb diary we couldn't find was my one shot at protection." All of her sins began to spill from her lips. "Not to mention, James broke up with me, but I l—"

Regulus absorbed her casual vulnerability and checked, "Potter broke up with you?"

Not even having the energy to be entertained that was the part he picked up on, she nodded. Juliet dropped her hand from his arm, almost embarrassed by the reminder that the same person she had risked her life to be with had ultimately left her.

"Merlin," Regulus breathed out, falling to his knees so they were the same height again, "Potter's an idiot."

     On the outskirts of Malfoy Manor, two teenagers reeked of champagne and bad decisions. The proximity between them rendered Juliet speechless. For a second, she forgot entirely what she was going to say because he had the kind of eyes a girl could drown in. Without warning, Regulus slipped his hand into her hair and pressed their bodies into a passionate kiss, tumbling on top of the girl when she fell backwards from shock.

     Juliet thought of a million reasons as to why kissing Regulus was a bad idea. But, she only ever needed one.

     "You never let me finish." Her breathing was erratic as Regulus braced his arms on either side of her, his face darkening. "James broke up with me, but I— I love him. I can't imagine loving anyone other than him and I don't ever want to love anyone if this is how it feels. Nobody ever told me it hurts so much."

     Regulus scrambled upright and spat, "Well, who doesn't love James Fucking Potter at this point?"

     A single tear slipped from her eye as she watched his retreating figure. A part of her had barely registered the weight of her own words — she loved James. But, if that would be her downfall, what a beautiful downfall it would be.

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A.N: I didn't actually know if I'd get this up tonight, but I've managed it! It might need an extra edit or two tomorrow but I'm currently in the process of going from the first chapter to the most recent fixing typos. Anyway, an interlude will follow this chapter very soon (like the next half an hour or so?) and since I don't like putting authors notes on interludes, all I have to say is, first, they're purebloods so it was a deliberate choice to make them speak older even as children and second, compare the content of the interlude with another scene from Chapter 32 if you like picking up my hints throughout this.

Question, Team Regulus or James? 👀 This is very obviously a James fic, but some people were reconsidering last chapter, so I'm curious.