The entire time Éponine sat in the Hospital Wing, Regulus kept hold of, at least, one of her hands. His fingers intertwined with hers and his thumb would gently graze over the top of her hand every so often. Despite how cold they were, her hands were soft and he was just thankful that she wasn't pulling away from his touch anymore. Instead, she stayed by his bedside, eventually moving to sit on the bed next to him, both of them waiting for Madam Pomfrey to release Regulus from her care.

Eventually, the matron came over, glanced down at the laced hands and offered a small smile. She explained that Regulus had fully mended and regrown all of the injured bones, but it would be a few days before he felt one hundred percent again. Regulus could confirm the soreness, slightly annoyed that it wasn't going to go right away, however, he would take a bit of pain over what he had felt when he initially landed in the pitch.

He was offered a few draughts to take back to the dorms that would help him sleep at night, while also being advised to take it easy over the next week. He would be able to return to Quidditch, but she didn't recommend attending any of the practices until his body was up to it. But even just mentioning Quidditch made Regulus wonder if he still even had a place on the team anymore after the stunt he had pulled. However, he wasn't going to worry about it for the time being as Madam Pomfrey was finally letting him leave and Éponine was going to keep him company.

Éponine helped him collect his belongings and remained by his side as he stood up from the bed. He could feel the stiffness in all his muscles causing him to grimace slightly until he looked over and saw the look of concern written on Éponine's face. Quickly, he forced a smile to his lips to reassure her that he was fine.

Slowly, Regulus made his way out of the Hospital Wing, thanking Madam Pomfrey for everything she had done for him. In return, she told him that she didn't want to see him in the Hospital Wing for a long time, if ever. The whole time, Regulus continued to hold onto Éponine's hand, thinking that if he were to let it go, he would wake up from the dream he was having.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he and Éponine were on good terms again. The way she asked him to make sure she wouldn't regret her decision, made Regulus want to strive for perfection in her eyes.

Truth be told, he was entering a new territory and he was absolutely terrified about it. Giving up his beliefs that had been so engrained in his mind for as long as he could remember. Giving up his beliefs didn't only mean accepting new ones, it meant realising that his parents had been wrong. And Walburga and Orion had never given him any reason not to trust them, making it rather difficult for Regulus to come to the conclusion that he was about to betray them once they found out.

Knowing how devastated his parents were going to be, Regulus couldn't help but feel guilty.

"Are you alright?" Éponine's voice pulled him from his thoughts, bringing him to glance over at her. "You've been awfully quiet since we left the Hospital Wing and-"

There was so much worry that laced her voice as if she was waiting for the moment where he would just turn on her, he wasn't sure how to prove himself otherwise, besides Éponine giving him some time where he could show her.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he said, "I'm just in a lot of pain and my entire body feels sluggish."

"Well, I think after you have a nice hot shower in the dorms, you can take your draught and then get some rest. You're going to need all the rest you can get before the week starts up."

Regulus groaned, throwing his head back slightly. "Ugh, just the thought of standing in the shower sounds exhausting."

It was quiet for a few moments and when he looked over at Éponine, it appeared as though she was thinking of a solution. Her eyes lighting up seconds later as she turned to him with a smile.

"Of course you don't have to shower," she told him, " why not just go to the Prefects' Bathroom? You can draw yourself a bath and soak in it. James told me that he would go there after quidditch matches and use some of the soaking salts there. I bet you anything that would make you feel better."

"While that sounds nice and all, Épi, the prefects' bathroom is all the way up on the fifth floor. I don't think I'd make it there without falling over or worse."

Shaking her head at his excuses, Éponine leaned her body into his to support him.

"I can get you there."

As the two made their way to the fifth floor, they hardly spoke, but every time Éponine stole a glance at Regulus, she caught him looking at her. She would blush or quickly avert her gaze, pretending to be interested in whatever they were passing at the time. But she could feel her heart pounding in her chest and it wasn't from climbing all those damn stairs.

If Regulus was telling her the truth, it was a huge and unexpected leap.

Not that she was complaining about Regulus coming to his senses, but very much like how she asked him earlier, she hoped he was doing it for the right reasons. He confessed that he loved her before and love made people do some crazy things as James had once told her. But Éponine didn't want Regulus to change just for her, but rather because he found the practice of Toujours Pur to be wrong.

However, Regulus had given her his word and that meant a lot to Éponine. He had once asked her for her forgiveness and really did make the improvements to earn it. She was just going to have to wait and see if he would do it again.

Every once in a while, the two had the stop so Regulus could rest. He would slow down even more so and then lean against the wall of the corridor.Éponine remained patient though, allowing him to take all the time he needed. And eventually, they made it.

Éponine delivered the password and brought Regulus inside over to the bathing area. He sat down and as soon as he was settled, she turned to leave.

"Wait, where are you going?" he asked. "I-"

"I figured you didn't want to be in your Quidditch clothing after you took a bath," she answered, "I was going to head back to the Common Room and asked Gian if he could get you some fresh clothing. I didn't think you would want your undergarments to be summoned through the castle for everyone to see."

"Good point."

"I'll be back," she told him, "in the meantime, can you manage getting the bath filled or-"

"I think I can manage that while you're gone."

After Éponine left, Regulus pushed himself to approach the taps to get the bath filling. Off to the side, there were numerous supplies of bath oils, salts, soaps, and shampoos. He read over a few of them before scratching the top of his head. Which one did Éponine say would be best for him?

"You'll want the soaking salts."

The voice caused Regulus to jump as he spun around and completely regretted it for two reasons. One being that his entire screamed after such rapid movement and two, he came face to face with Moaning Myrtle. Almost instantly, he became uncomfortable, because Myrtle had a tendency to invade personal space on more than one occasion. It wasn't uncommon to find her in the bathrooms of the school.

"If you're in pain, you'll want the soaking salts," Moaning Myrtle chuckled as Regulus was silent for a few moments. "That's what the others use. The one in the blue bottle."

"Er, thanks," he said politely. "Blue bottle."

He quickly grabbed it, thinking that would make her leave but it was a rather foolish thought as Myrtle lingered about with the same grin on her lips.

When Regulus first started up at Hogwarts, he remembered hearing about Moaning Myrtle for the first time. Her name was Myrtle Elizabeth Warren and she had been a Ravenclaw student back in the forties. Unfortunately, she ended up dying when she was only fourteen years old, her body found in lavatory.

At the time, Regulus had no knowledge of the Chamber of Secrets or the fact that Myrtle had been a muggle-born. He remembered going home for Christmas during his first term and telling his parents about Myrtle, only for them to say that she had no place being at the school in the first place. It seemed like such a harsh response over the death of a child, especially one that had been bullied relentless during her time at school.

But that's all she was to them, a muggle-born. Not the daughter of someone, not a friend of someone, just a person who had no business being there and was killed.

"Well," Myrtle's voice called out to him, "aren't you going to get in?"

Although murder victim or not, she definitely knew how to make someone feel uncomfortable.

"Um, I was waiting on Éponine to come back, so-"

"Oh!" she let out a shrill squeal. "Is it turning into one of those dates then? Taking advantage of our Head Boy and Head Girl privileges?"

Regulus' eyes widened before he shook his head as Myrtle grew closer to him. "N-no! It's nothing like that, she was getting me some clothes! That's it, I'm just waiting for her to get back with my clothes-"

Apparently, Myrtle didn't believe him or didn't want to believe as she continued to near him. To keep his distance from her, even though she could not physically touch him, Regulus kept take a step back, until it was too late. He hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings and ended up falling back into the large bath.

Re-emerging, Regulus spat out the bath water, only to hear Moaning Myrtle laughing in the background. He looked around with a glare only to see her in the bathtub as well, sitting across from him.

"What are you doing?!"

Myrtle was moving closer to him as Regulus entered almost a state of panic, until he heard Éponine's voice as she returned.

"Alright, I'm back," she said, his clothing gathered in her arms. "I ended up having Gian get-"

Éponine came to a halt when Regulus came into view and she found him in the tub, fully dressed.

"You couldn't wait until I came back?"

"No, I was waiting just fine until Moaning Myrtle came in here!" he pointed in the direction of where Myrtle was skimming the surface of the water. Only her eyes and the top of her head could be seen, much like a crocodile or an alligator attempting to hunt.

As soon as Éponine saw her, she pulled out her wand with a shake of her head. "Myrtle, we've talked about this!"

Suddenly, Myrtle abandoned the bath water in a hurry and disappeared through the nearest wall.

Éponine lowered her wand and turned back to Regulus, trying to hold back a laugh at his shocked state. She knelt down close to where Regulus was in the water, before touching his hand.

"Don't worry, she won't come back, I've hexed her enough in the past few weeks that it takes her a couple of days to return," she said. "Between her and Peeves, they love coming here and causing trouble, but if you pull your wand, they'll hurry off. Unless, you secretly wanted her company-"

"Épi, that's not funny!" he huffed at her. "I was just trying to find the bath salts you were talking about and she showed up out of nowhere."

"Awww, Myrtle and Regulus," she continued in a teasing tone. "How sweet!"

Narrowing his eyes at her, Regulus' hand suddenly shot out from the water and grabbed Éponine by the wrist. Before she could tell him not to do it, he pulled her into the bath with him.  Once she re-emerged, her hair was plastered to the sides of her face and her eyes were closed as the water dripped down.

"I should have seen that coming," she sighed, "so, this is the thanks I get-"

She stopped as Regulus' hands made their way to the sides of her face and pushed her hair back. Her body froze under his touch, no matter how warm the bath water was at the time. Regulus' face neared hers so that their eyes met.

"Thank you," Regulus said, " for everything."

"Y-y-you-"

Unable to manage a 'you're welcome' with his lips so close to hers, Éponine felt her face flush red, but Regulus wasn't looking for her 'you're welcome' he just wanted to show her how thankful he was.

Closing the remaining distance between them, he pulled her into a kiss. Remembering all the innocent kisses they had shared before, he kissed her gently until he felt Éponine kiss him back. The front of her hands found his wet shirt and travelled up to his neck. He moved his hands away from the sides of her face as her arms wrapped around him, and took to wrapping his own arms around her waist, hugging her body to his.

She pulled away from the kiss briefly to look at him. "I missed you, I've missed you so much."

"I missed you too."

The damn lower lip of hers drove him crazy as he gently took it in his lips before biting it softly. He could feel her laughter against his lips as his movements became move feverish. But she welcomed every single kiss.

If most days could be like that, he never wanted to miss out on them again.

A/N:

Regulus being found in the prefect's bathroom by Myrtle:

Thank you to cendriia for spoiling us with all of her beautiful drawings!