Positioned across from Regulus with her wand drawn, Éponine bowed and watched as he mirrored her actions. There was a long pause between them, hesitation as neither one of them appeared willing to strike first. Professor Docherty made it clear to keep the damage to a minimum on both sides. However, as Éponine stood there, she couldn't help but focus her attention on Regulus' left arm, even if it was covered by the sleeve of his robes. Knowing what was under there, took away the playful nature of a duel inside the classroom.

All she could think of was one potential day where they would no longer be in the classroom, but out in the real world and if Regulus didn't change his views, they would still be standing on opposite sides. The Dark Lord didn't seem like the type that would engage in a "proper duel" when he wanted those that opposed him dead. So if it came down to it, what would Regulus do? What would she do?

Would they hesitate as they did now? Or would they duel to the death?

Shivers travelled up her spine in an unpleasant manner and Éponine visibly shuddered. By accident, she lifted her hand that held her wand, and Regulus took it as a sign that they were to begin. Unprepared and unable to shield herself, Éponine was hit with Regulus' choice spell, and while she was expecting to get knocked back, she was suddenly overwhelmed by the sensation of being tickled.

It was one thing where Sirius would tickle her in passing back at the flat or if James threatened to tickle her when he considered her being difficult. The attack would usually only last for a few seconds before she was able to escape, but the Tickling Hex was absolutely brutal. Once used as a torturous method to get criminals to talk, Éponine was reduced to laughter and could feel her body weakening as she tried to fight it off.

Aware that she was being tickled in front of the class, seemed to push her enough that she was able to grip her wand once more and release the hex. She was already out of breath, hunched over on the floor, and extremely pissed off.

Out of the corner of her eye, Éponine could see Regulus start to move once more, probably preparing to hit her with a second round of tickling or maybe something far worse. She placed up the Shield Charm quietly and watched as whatever jinx or hex he had chosen bounced off. He dodged out of the way the last second as the spell rebounded and nearly hit him.

It gave her the opportunity to get back up on her feet. Her abdomen was sore from the intense tickling but she managed to stand straight. Regulus had managed to get the first hit in and she could see the slightly triumphant smirk on his lips.

Now, it was her turn.

While Regulus had been distracted by the rebound of his own spell, Éponine had already set her first move.

She watched as he went to take a step forward and tripped over absolutely nothing. As he attempted to catch himself before he fell, she hit him with the knee-reversal spell. Completely caught off-balance, Regulus hit the floor roughly, but it didn't deter him from sending another spell her way. Éponine blocked it, giving him enough time to undo the hex and get up to his feet.

The entire class, including Professor Docherty, watched as the two went back and forth. Their reaction time was getting faster and they were dishing out hexes and jinxes at such a rapid pace that it was hard to tell who was doing what. The rest of the class had taken to backing up as much as possible to avoid being hit. And just when it seemed it was going to be a long class of the two of them just dodging one another, they were both hit.

Laughter erupted from their classmates as Regulus' head was encased inside of a very large pumpkin. Immediately, it was dark, the fleshy innards caused him to gag, and the weight of the pumpkin knocked him off balance, where he fell over and caused it to break. But when he looked over, Éponine he could see she was on the floor as well. He couldn't even remember what hex he had called out. However, as he pushed himself up, he could see that she wasn't making an effort get back up to her feet.

Instead, she was covering her face with her hands.

Almost instantly, Regulus dropped his wand down to his side and made his way over to her. As he grew closer, he could hear what sounded like Éponine crying. His heart dropped in his chest, knowing he had been the one to hurt her. He came to stand in front of her and kneeled down to get to her eye level.

"Éponine," he called to her softly, "Éponine, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I thought you were going to dodge it. I...I-I-I...just let me help you. Let me help, please."

She didn't respond to him, but he managed to grab her gently by the wrists and pull her hands away from her face. He must have hit her with the Furnunculus Charm as Éponine's face was covered in painful-looking boils. Her hands were shaking and as he released one, he could see her touch her own face before flinching and dropping her hand back down.

Of all the spells, Regulus hated himself for using that one in particular. He remembered how insecure Éponine had been over her appearance, due to the years where she had suffered greatly from acne. Although, she had only suffered as bad as she did because he, Avery, and Mulciber, along with their other peers, had taunted her. It had taken Éponine so long to be comfortable in her skin, appreciate her own beauty, and Regulus felt like he had suddenly taken all of that away in a split second.

"I'm sorry, Éponine, really, I-"

He stopped talking as soon as Éponine looked up at him. The tears were gone and a hardened glare had suddenly taken over. Before Regulus could anything else, he found himself struck back across the floor. He scrambled to his feet, looking for his wand that had fallen out of his hand when he landed.

But it was too late.

Éponine was already on her feet, and as he reached for his wand, he realised she had already used the Relashio Jinx as he had no gripping ability to pick it up. He tried to move but he found his feet sticking to the floor, keeping him in place. Suddenly, he sunk into the floor, leaving only half of his torso exposed. He tried to reach for his wand over and over, especially as she started walking over to him.

And just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, he noticed that the fingers on his right hand had suddenly vanished. Had she really used the finger-removing jinx on him? Left in a completely awkward position, Regulus had no other option but to watch as Éponine lowered herself to his eye just as he had done earlier.

However, she said nothing to him, only looking at him for a few moments, before she pushed herself up to leave. Regulus could only watch as she grabbed her belongings and left the classroom before Professor Docherty could stop her.

An unpleasant silence washed over the classroom after Éponine departed until Professor Docherty decided to clear his throat loudly. He told the remaining students to take their seats, while he made his way over to Regulus to release him from Éponine's trap. He managed to fix him up, for the most part, Regulus could gladly say that he had all of his fingers back within seconds, but the professor advised him to head to the Hospital Wing just to be sure.

He did tell Regulus that if he saw Éponine again before he did, to tell her that the two of them had put on a good show and showed off plenty of their skills. Regulus only gave him a look before collecting his own belongings and leaving the classroom.

Making his way through the corridors, Regulus really didn't think it was necessary to make his way to the Hospital Wing. Physically, he felt fine, mentally, he felt terrible.

The last thing he wanted to do was make Éponine cry.

But when he saw her volunteer to duel first, he realised what she was doing. She had noticed Avery's and Mulciber's discomfort and rather than putting them through the hell of fighting each other, she was willing to take one of their places. For someone who was adamantly against all of them for choosing to follow Toujours Pur, Éponine's actions said differently. She had no reason to try and protect Avery and Mulciber from fighting each other.

Unless she still cared about all of them.

Regulus decided he was going to head back to the Slytherin Common Room, but as he rounded the corner, he found Éponine sitting in one of the window seats. Her bag rested by her feet, her wand was still in hand, but she wasn't looking in his direction, rather the opposite way.

He cautiously approached her, and the slightest scuffing sound of his shoe, brought her to look over. She jumped up, looking prepared as if he was going to attack her. Her eyes scanned over him as if she was making sure that all his limbs were accounted for. When she was satisfied, she went to grab her bag and leave, but Regulus hurried over to stop her.

"Éponine, wait! Just wait, stop running away from me. Let's just talk."

Éponine rolled her eyes as she faced him, the boils from earlier were gone, only leaving behind little red marks from where they had been.

"Regulus, we have spoken numerous times. More than I care for right now. There's no point in it, you've made that very clear. You're not willing to change your beliefs, and I can't keep having this same argument with you over and over. It gets us nowhere. If you think you're going to convince me to go back to all of that, you're wrong."

"But I saw what you did today. I saw what you did for Avery and Mulciber."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said looking away from him. "I didn't do-"

"Yes, you did!" Regulus huffed. "I know exactly what you did and why you did it. You wanted to save them from fighting it each other. You know something is wrong between the two of them and you didn't want to see them suffer. So you volunteered so that they didn't have to fight each other. But what I can't understand is why? If you think we're these bad people that do all sorts of terrible things, why would you do that? Why would you act like you care when you don't?"

"Act like I care when I don't?"

Suddenly, Regulus found himself being grabbed by the front of his robes, as Éponine pulled him closer.

"You think after everything we have all been through that I don't care anymore? Just because I stopped agreeing with you, means I don't care about you? Well, that's a load of rubbish, Regulus, and you know it. I didn't stop caring when I left, I still care about you. About Avery and Mulciber, because deep down, even though you are making these horrible decisions, I've seen the good in you. I know it's in there. But I can't support any of you if you're going to support the wizard that gave you that mark on your arm."

"Éponine, I don't want  hurt you," he said, his hands reaching up to touch the sides of her face, " I don't-"

"But you want to hurt people like Gian!" she snapped at him. "People like Lily! They're my friends, they became my family when you all ditched me."

"I won't hurt them-"

"You don't get to call those shots while you're wearing that collar and leash around your arm. You're not in control of your own decisions, why don't you understand that, Regulus? You sold your soul and now he owns you. If he tells you to jump, you will jump. If he tells you to kill me, you will kill me-"

"NO!"

Regulus suddenly backed away from her. His eyes widened in shock that she would even think such a thing, let alone say it.

"I wouldn't...I would never-"

"Why should I believe you?" she asked him. "You always do what you're told, Regulus. What makes this any different?"

"Because...because....because I love you!"

Under any other circumstance, Éponine would have rejoiced at such a confession. Finally, she had her confirmation that he did care about her more than she had been willing to believe. But such a confession, still wasn't good enough for her.

"No, "Éponine said, " you don't. You don't really love me. You wouldn't be standing on the other side if you did. You wouldn't be standing on the side that is willing to hurt me and the people I care about."

"I-"

"You wouldn't be standing with Bellatrix, who threatened to lock me in a room with Ernest Nott in order to get me to comply! Is that what you stand by, Regulus?"

Regulus didn't say anything to her, surprisingly. He didn't try to argue, he didn't tell her she was wrong. Instead, he stood for a few moments, his eyes darting back and forth as he looked at the floor, and then finally, he turned around and walked away from her.

A/N: