[Chapter Eight]

Éponine expected that she would find herself in plenty of trouble among Orion and Walburga, but much to her surprise, the adults didn't seem visibly upset with her at all or at least, Orion clearly didn't. He actually seemed upset with Regulus, scolding him that he could have handled the situation better instead of allowing Éponine to run off upset. She agreed to some extent, but she didn't like the word "allowed" being used because it always sounded like she needed someone's permission in order to do something. Regulus apparently had control over her emotions or what she did when she was upset because she wasn't allowed to run off under his watch.

As the two teens stood inside the lounging room, Éponine could sense the dirty looks that Regulus continued to cast in her direction whenever Orion and Walburga had their backs turned to them. Walburga ventured off to inform the Kreacher of the meal that was to be made for dinner, leaving the man alone with the two teens. He was lecturing mainly Regulus about the importance of the of them developing a close bond. After all, unless they wished to be miserable for the rest of their lives, they had to learn to get along. 

It also involved Regulus protecting the name of his future wife, which brought Éponine to look up as the man spoke. He told his son that if he were to be a good husband that it not only meant that he had to protect his name but Éponine's as well. One day, she could very well be the mother of his child and if he didn't show her respect and allowed others to be disrespectful, how could they expect the child to respect her? It seemed incredibly far-fetched in their eyes to bring up the idea of a child at the time, seeing as they couldn't really stand to be in the same room as each other, but Orion was simply trying to make a point. 

He explained that if anyone had ever disrespected Walburga in front of him, he would be quick to act, unleashing hell on them so that they would never dare to do something along those lines again. He told Regulus that it would be in his best interest to act the same way with Éponine, not only because he was set to marry her, but because Orion was raising him to be a proper gentleman.

"As for Avery and Mulciber," Orion began as he finally went to leave the room, " I have sent a letter to their parents, discussing their behaviour. I would like to believe that they would be smart enough not to take in that kind of behaviour ever again."

Éponine couldn't even deny the smile that appeared on her face as Orion smiled in her direction and left the room, leaving the two of them alone. Finally, someone had decided to speak out against the two miserable boys that made her life a living hell. Someone outside of her and the sad thing was, it wasn't even one of her own parents, but the father of the boy who didn't even want to marry her. For the time being, it didn't really matter, she was just thankful for the prospect that something had been done. Hopefully, it meant that Avery and Mulciber would leave her alone for good. 

Sighing in relief, she went to turn and leave the room herself, however, as she turned she came to face the scowl that was written on Regulus' face. It was red, clearly showing his frustration after having to put up with a scolding, not that she really held an ounce of pity for him. Perhaps if he had saved her from Ernest and didn't proceed to shake his hands from hers as if she were diseased they wouldn't have argued before Avery and Mulciber showed up. Maybe then he would have felt a bit more inclined to defend her. 

But instead, he had merely saved her, told her off and then allowed his bullying friends to do the same thing before she snapped and stormed off. Now he wanted to look at her as if it were all of her fault that he had found himself in trouble with his father. 

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked him. 

"You know exactly why! I see that you made no mention that you ran off with Ernest Nott-"

"I did no such thing!" Éponine snapped. "I went to the bookshop as I originally planned and he was there. He didn't want me walking around Diagon Alley alone, so he took me to Rosa Lee's for tea."

She hated how it sounded like she was defending Ernest because she wished to throw him under the Knight Bus, another day had gone by where he made her feel incredibly uncomfortable. 

"I didn't want to go with him," she added in a softer voice, " but he never really gives me a choice. I was glad that you showed up-"

"Oh really?!" Regulus scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Because I really wasn't under that impression with the way you were yelling at me-"

"You started it as soon as we left the shop. You were the one who tried to rid my hand as if it were riddled with disease. You were the one who used my own words against me in order to mock me. You let Avery and Mulciber talk to me, they aren't my friends. They're your friends. If it were me I would never let my friends talk to you in such-"

"What are you talking about?!" He spat. "You don't even have any friends! No one wants to be around you, even if you got your face fixed, it doesn't change anything!"

"REGULUS!"

 Walburga's voice cried out, finally bringing him to shut his mouth. But it was too late as his anger got the best of him as he unleashed all of his built up frustrations from the day. However, he could definitely see why his mother had raised her voice in such a way, across from him, he had reduced Éponine to tears. He watched as her hands slid up to touch her face and while it was not ridden with acne anymore, she flinched as if the tips of her fingers were grazing over the bumps.

She turned her head down to hide behind her hair before she quickly spun on her heel and rushed out of the room. 

As Regulus looked up, he could see the horror on his mother's face that he had taken to talking to Éponine in such a way, especially after his father had just gotten through talking to him. 

"Regulus," Walburga said in a breathless tone, " you...you go upstairs and you apologise to her right now. I don't know what has gotten into you. What possessed you to say something like that?"

It seemed his parents only came in at the wrong time, never hearing when Éponine lashed out at him, he was sure that it would definitely be a different story if they heard what she said to him. Perhaps they would even send her away and call the marriage off, he could only hope. Ever since her arrival, Regulus had only found himself feeling angry and he just wanted her to go away. Yet as he met his mother's gaze once more, Walburga certainly wasn't asking him to go apologise, she was telling him. 

With a slight grumble, Regulus was left with no choice once more as he walked out of the room and carried himself up the stairs. Making his way to the second floor, he approached Éponine's room and went to just walk in but he stopped himself. He figured to avoid any further hostility, it would be best to knock, but as he lifted his hand, he could hear Éponine talking with someone.

"Please, Papa, I just want to come home! Please!" Her voice begged desperately. "I don't wish to be here anymore-"

"Éponine! That is a terrible thing to say!" The voice of Victor rang out in the room. "You are a guest in their home and you should be thankful for everything that they are doing for you. I understand that it is difficult, sweetheart and I'm sure that you miss home, but this is a good experience for you. You and Regulus really need the time to bond-"

"There is no bonding!" Éponine cried out. "He hates me! Please, just let me come home. I promise I'll do all the work within the barns, I'll muck the stalls and-"

Regulus stood outside the door as the girl was cut off by her father once more and rather than listening to anything she had stated earlier, he simply brushed her off claiming that he had to leave as he and Éponine's mother were attending a dinner that evening. He told Éponine to try harder and not give up so easily before saying goodnight to her. He didn't even wait for his daughter to say goodbye before it all fell silent in the room, with the exception of the sounds of Éponine crying. 

He honestly didn't want to go in there and see the girl crying, as he considered heading back to his room and waiting for a short time before returning. However, as he went to leave, he heard a small cracking sound inside of her room, leaving him confused.

"Thank you, Kreacher," he heard her whisper, " you didn't have to do that."

"Miss Rosier is upset," Kreacher's voice responded. "Did Master Regulus hurt Miss Rosier?"

"No, no," Éponine's voice cracked, " it's my own fault really. My father is right, I've just been acting like a foolish child."

"Kreacher has not seen a foolish child in the home, Miss Rosier."

There was the sound of a light laugh that must have emitted from Éponine as she sniffled afterwards and thanked Kreacher again. Regulus could only think to himself that if either one of his parents heard the girl thanking the house-elf for anything, they would be appalled. After all, in their minds, Kreacher was there to serve them, it was his life's duty to do whatever they said and provide what they needed, with no sort of thanks given. However, Éponine had shown over the course of her stay that she was quite fond of Kreacher, always looking out for his well-being and it seemed that Kreacher had adopted the same mentality to treat her with the same regards.

"Would Miss Rosier like some tea?"

"Oh no, that's alright, Kreacher, but thank you again. The tissues are enough, I already have enough trouble sleeping during the night, if I have any tea, I'll probably never fall asleep."

"Kreacher can find something that will help Miss Rosier fall asleep-"

"No, no," she said, " you have done more than enough for me, Kreacher. Really, I'm incredibly grateful. I can manage from here-"

Regulus knocked on the door and instantly, he could hear Éponine sending Kreacher away so that he could avoid getting into any sort of trouble. There was the sound of the small crack of him disapparating from the room before she permitted whoever to enter. Of course, she didn't look so welcoming when she saw that it was Regulus at the door. As he entered the room, he saw that Éponine was sitting by the fireplace, where she had probably used the Floo Network to speak with her father earlier. Her face was blotchy and red from crying, he could see the tissues in her hand, the ones that he assumed Kreacher had brought her. However, while her eyes had been wide and doe-like when he entered, they quickly narrowed as he approached her.

She was up on her feet within moments, probably nervous to be around him since no encounter they shared was a pleasant one. It was quite obvious that she had placed a great distance between them as she made her way over to stand in front of her window. 

"What do you want?" Her voice was shaken from her crying but he could hear her attempt to put all her remaining strength behind it so she didn't come across as weak. She had made the "mistake" of allowing him to see her cry, but it seemed she didn't plan on doing it again. 

"I wanted to come and apologise for what I said," Regulus said quietly.

"You wanted to or you were told to?"

"Do you have to fight me with everything?!" He countered in an irritable tone. "Every time I talk to you, you have to twist my words around or turn it into something else. I said I came up here to apologise to you, why can't you simply be satisfied with that?"

"Because I know you don't mean it!" She exclaimed. "I know you don't mean it-"

"How could you possibly know that? Can you see what goes inside my mind? Are you able to hear my thoughts?!"

Éponine remained silent, simply trying to read Regulus' expressions, rather than the thoughts that he claimed that she was trying to look at it. She could tell a lot about people when it came to their expressions or how they carried themselves when they spoke. Her father and mother always claimed that she was the observant type and it was for good reason. For years, she grew up watching her parents interact with others, only for them to go home and badmouth the same people. It was then that Éponine grew to notice small identifiers that showed when a person was lying.

She didn't believe that Regulus came to apologise to her on his own, she was sure that he had either been prompted by his mother or father. However, he did seem genuinely upset that she was questioning his intentions and wouldn't allow him to apologise. Taking her lack of response he continued on.

"No, I didn't think so," he said, straightening the front of his shirt, " and for your information, I actually am sorry for how things have been working out between us since your arrival. I'll admit, our history is not the best and I have made plenty of mistakes. Today I could have handled the situation with Avery and Mulciber a bit better-"

He watched as her eyebrows raised at " a bit" and looked away for a moment. "Alright, I could have handled it a lot better. But it will do you no good if you don't stand up for yourself, which is exactly what you did today without me interfering. Avery and Mulciber needed to hear that coming from you so that they knew that you weren't one to be messed with anymore. They only go after those that don't defend themselves-"

"And knowing that, why would you hang out with that kind of sort?" Éponine asked, not only out of annoyance but out of genuine curiosity.

Regulus was quiet for a few moments as he looked around the room as if he were going to find the answers written on the wall. "I don't know, they're my friends. They've been my friends since I was a little boy. Like you, I don't find it exactly easy to get along with people unless it's practically forced. I much rather be left alone in most cases."

"So just because you've grown up with them, you feel like that is a good enough excuse that you went along with their bullying?" Éponine questioned. "I've grown up with the lot of them too, you know that, correct? Yet, I wouldn't tolerate that behaviour...but then again, none of you have ever had to deal with having someone point out your flaws and imperfections, so why should I expect you to react the same?"

"Stop bringing up past events to strengthen your argument!" He growled at her.

"You know, just because you want them to be forgotten doesn't mean it's going to happen. You didn't have to live with the torment that I did. Having everyone point out your insecurities because nothing matters except beauty and for all the times that I didn't reach those standards I was reminded of it. Whether it was your mother commenting on my height, whether it was your friends picking on my skin, or whether it was my own mother making comments about my weight. Things were said to me that I will probably never forget, even if you want me to. It doesn't work like that."

"Well, if you can't forget, can you at least work towards forgiving?"

The question caught her off guard as Éponine wasn't expecting the boy to ask for forgiveness. She assumed that he was just going to mutter out some sort of poor excuse for an apology before leaving. But instead, it seemed Regulus was putting up some sort of fight in order for them to move on from their current problems. No, she wouldn't forget the things that people said or did, they would have to obliviate her for that to happen, but could she actually work towards forgiveness? It wasn't doing her any good being angry and upset all the time and if Regulus was actually going to put the effort into making things better, wasn't that a good thing?

"I suppose," she whispered finally. "It won't happen overnight-"

"I didn't expect it to," Regulus said sharply, however, his expression quickly softened as he let out a sigh, " but it's a start, isn't it? Our parents are not going to let us get out of this predicament, I think we both know that. We might as well work on not being at each other's throats all the time. So from here on out, I can work towards earning your forgiveness and I'll start off by saying sorry to you. I'll say sorry for something every day. Today, I'm sorry that I let Avery and Mulciber say all those horrid things to you over the years."

She didn't say anything, but she wasn't fighting him either. He witnessed her give a nod of her head before he decided to leave the conversation at that and walking out of the room. However, apparently, she did have something to say.

"I guess I should say sorry about the things I've done too," Éponine told him, suddenly bringing him to be quite confused.

"Wh-what?"

She walked over to the door as he stood outside in the hall. Leaning against the door, she met his gaze. "I'm sorry that I set your trunk on fire back in third year and got you in trouble."

"That was you?!"