(cendriia)

[Chapter Twenty-Five]

Leave it to Éponine Rosier to drop the word equivalent of a Dungbomb in the corridor on Regulus and then run off, leaving him little time to react, let alone come up with a response. Left alone in the corridor, Regulus attempted to process everything the girl had told him before she ran off. For starters, she claimed that she had wanted to ask him out on a date, something that left Regulus with a fluttery feeling in his chest. It was the last thing he had expected, especially when he had followed her out of the common room. However, it was something that caught him off guard in such a good way that he didn't know how to react right away.

Normally, it always fell on the boy or man in a relationship to be the one to make the first move. They were told that they had to be the ones to set the date or at least, ask the girl out on one. His father had naturally given him some pointed before the summer ended, telling Regulus had to approach the situation in a casual manner, inviting Éponine to spend a day in Hogsmeade, just having a nice time. Regulus thought about it, but the trips to Hogsmeade wouldn't start up until the end of October, he figured in the meantime, that he would just work on establishing the friendship with Éponine.

Apparently, Éponine was willing to move at a quicker pace, still working on getting to know each other, but moving into dating. Then came the second part she had revealed, she had been worried about kissing him. He didn't even think that she thought of such things, certainly, she blushed quite often, but he figured it was more the lines of her just being naturally shy. Now he was more aware of what actually ran through her mind when they were together. She wanted to go on a date with him and she wanted to kiss him, but she wanted to kiss him and leave a good impression.

Flattering, to say the least, but that's when Regulus finally took in the last part that she had revealed. If he had heard her correctly, Éponine had confessed that she had kissed Emmarentia. Of course, she added the part where she had kissed the girl, pretending Emmarentia was him. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about that, happy that she wanted to kiss him enough that she wanted to practice, but a second feeling that didn't feel so flattered. 

In fact, Regulus could call it jealousy.  

With the idea that Éponine was meant to be his wife in the future, knowing that she didn't share any experience with the opposite sex (which still remained true) he figured that eventually, he would be the one that shared her first with her. It would be the first for him as well. Of course, that moment was somewhat ruined by the idea of Emmarentia being the one that she shared her first kiss with. He didn't view Éponine as tainted or anything, but it left him to question just what exactly were Emmarentia's intentions?

As he had expressed his suspicions before, he found it odd that Emmarentia had seemingly come out of nowhere, approaching Éponine with the promise of a friendship. She could try and argue the same, however, it was their parents that had forced them together for the summer and that allowed Regulus to realise how much he was in the wrong. While Emmarentia hadn't actually bullied Éponine in the past, she hadn't exactly gone out of her way to establishing a friendship either. Now she was suddenly locking lips with the girl he was intended to marry, what sort of friendship was he dealing with?

Unfortunately, Éponine had fled the scene, not with him to set his mind at ease. The competitive nature within Regulus had been sparked, the idea of him having competition with the likes of Emmarentia had never initially crossed his mind, but at that moment, it was all he could think of. It probably sounded silly, mainly because it was already arranged that the two teens would eventually marry and he should have had his mind settled with the idea that while Éponine had been kissing Emmarentia, she admitted to picturing him. 

However, Regulus' sense of entitlement got the best of him, things had to go his way or else in his mind, it was wrong. He didn't even want Emmarentia to be a blip on the radar, not close to being any source of competition within the blossoming relationship. Which meant that he was going to have to take her out. Éponine that is...out on an unforgettable date

But the question was, what could he plan for the date that would make it unforgettable in a good way?

Regulus had never been on a date, approached by some girls the prior year, but he never bothered with them, knowing what was to be expected of him later on. He was curious about them, although his father said they weren't exactly complicated. It was just about spending time with the other person, enjoying each other's company. It sounded easy enough but he wanted it to be perfect and sometimes, the atmosphere between him and Éponine grew awkward, especially after they both ran out of things to say. He didn't want any awkward moments to unfold during their first date. 

Standing in the corridor still, he realised that if anyone walked by, they would probably wonder what he was up to. Shaking his head, Regulus developed a quick plan of approaching Avery and Mulciber for advice about his date situation. He would be careful not to mention anything about Éponine kissing Emmarentia as he was sure they would tease him until the end of time with such information. 

Taking the pace of a light jog, Regulus headed back to the common room, delivering the password and revealing the entrance to run to the dorms. Since his departure, Avery and Mulciber had finished their game of Wizards Chess, more than likely, Avery had lost as he never really faired well against the other. Hopefully, it meant that both boys had gone to the dorms, leaving Regulus to search for them there first.

Fortunately, the boy knew his friends too well and as he entered the room, the two of them were on their separates bed, Mulciber relaxing with his feet propped up and Avery attempting to finish up some last minute homework. He had no plans of wasting time as he had both boys present, he needed answers and he needed them quickly. 

"I have a problem, " he started off, " Éponine asked me out on a date."

The dorm room grew quiet, Mulciber sitting up on his bed while Avery looked up from his homework. "Excuse my ignorance, Regulus, but I'm failing to see how that poses a problem. Did you not just tell us within the last hour that you were working towards building a relationship with Éponine? Would this not be a good thing? I'm confused."

"No, the idea of the date isn't the problem," Regulus said, "I'm fine with all that. Flattered, actually. But the problem is, I don't know what to do. What sort of date should I take her on?"

"Mate, she asked you on the date," Mulciber butted in, " which means that she designs the date, not you. At least, that's how I thought it worked. Avery?"

"I wouldn't really know," the other boy shrugged, " I've never been on one."

"Neither have I."

Sitting on his own bed, Regulus let out a groan, not really satisfied with the answers he was receiving.

"If you're that worked up about it, why don't you just ask her where she would like to go?" Mulciber suggested. "That sounds easy enough, doesn't it?"

"But it's a supposed to be a surprise," Regulus argued leaving Avery to roll his eyes.

"Says who? It's a date, Regulus, not a surprise birthday party. If you ask her where she would like to go, there's no way you could disappoint her because she chose the place."

Regulus wasn't able to argue as it certainly did make sense and with the idea in mind, he was able to go back to breathing regularly. However, he was still a bit nervous, thinking about what  Éponine could possibly suggest as an option. There weren't that many places to go, Hogsmeade still wasn't available to visit as of yet, so they were limited to the castle and the castle grounds. Avery and Mulciber thought the problem was solved and once Avery was finished with his homework, the two of them went to bed, leaving Regulus alone and wide awake. 

Lying on his back, Regulus was really left with no other option but to just stare up at the darkness until sleep overcame him. All the while, he had his own thoughts about the first date that would take place between him and Éponine, and just as he was beginning to doze off and actually get some sleep, one thought crossed his mind. 

Éponine had experience kissing someone, something he did not have. What if he was terrible at it? What if he was so terrible that Éponine compared his kissing to Emmarentia's and he learned that the girl was much better than he was? It was the last thing that should have crossed his mind, but from that point on, it was going to be impossible to sleep. 

Every time the boy closed his eyes, all he could picture were Éponine's lips, something that had yet to cross his mind before but now he couldn't stop himself. He liked the way her lips curled whenever she smiled or how they parted whenever she was obviously puzzled by something. He could picture her pressing them together whenever she was deep in thought or how she pursed them when she was angry. But his ultimate favourite was how she bit down on her lower lip when she was nervous about something, the way it caused a part of her lower lip to pop out even more. 

To go from not thinking twice about the girl at that time the year before, Regulus couldn't believe that he was thinking about her lips as he tried to fall asleep. Grabbing his pillow from the back of his head, Regulus placed it over his face to muffle his frustrated sounds. He thought nothing of Éponine before the summer, she had been an inconvenience in his life. Someone who he thought would be his sister-in-law, then she had suddenly become promised to him as soon as Sirius left home. It had been more than awkward when that had come up in a discussion because he wanted no part in any sort of engagement. 

Before she had arrived at the Grimmauld Place, he hoped that she would just run away or something along the lines so he didn't have to bother with her. Then, from the moment she tried to help Kreacher or the first time she yelled at him, telling him how she really felt, Regulus found himself interested in learning more about the girl. The more he learned, the more he liked and unfortunately, the more guilt he carried for every being cruel to her in the first place. But maybe forgiveness was in his future as he had earned a date with her. 

Finally pulling the pillow off his face, Regulus was able to see the moon had positioned itself enough to allow some moonlight to pour through the small window. Suddenly, an idea came to mind bringing the boy to smile, he finally had a plan.

Avoiding Emmarentia and Regulus once had been a very easy task for Éponine since neither one of them had really paid her any mind on a regular basis. However, all of a sudden, Éponine really felt as though she didn't have a place to hide. She couldn't hide from Regulus in the dorms because Emmarentia was there, she couldn't use her prefect duties as an excuse because she would risk running into Regulus. Just being out in the open left her exposed and she knew it was only a matter of time before she was caught by either one of them. 

Although Éponine was well aware that avoiding her problems wasn't going to solve anything. It wasn't like Emmarentia and Regulus had done anything wrong, she had just psyched herself out. She had agreed to let Emmarentia kiss her, just so she could get a feeling of what it was like to kiss another person, the problem was even though Emmarentia was a nice kisser, she wasn't Regulus. That's who Éponine really wanted to kiss and of course, the reason why she was avoiding Regulus was that she had told him that. She found herself embarrassed by the idea of seeing either one of them, afraid they were going to judge her. 

And while the castle was big, Éponine couldn't hide away forever, especially since she shared classes with both of them. While she was so busy looking over her shoulder, Éponine should have been focusing on what was ahead of her, or rather, who was ahead of her. 

Heading to Professor Azariah's class for Defence Against the Dark Arts, Éponine was attempting to think of a strategy where she could avoid Regulus and Emmarentia while being in the same room. But unless she learned how to conceal herself in invisibility, it was virtually impossible, especially in the time frame she was given. So she had to figure, who she was going to face first, the one who kissed her or the one she wanted to kiss?

It seemed fate wasn't going to give her the option to choose as it had already decided for her. 

The sound of students following her to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom brought Éponine to look over her shoulder, completely missing out on Regulus, who came around an adjacent corner. As soon as he spotted her, he came to a halt at the end of the corridor, blocking her path, not that she noticed. His arms folded across his chest as he waited for her to turn back around, only she didn't.

Rather than the stereotypical "crash into a brick wall that's not a wall scenario" Regulus crumbled like a piece of paper and Éponine crashed to the ground with him. Both of them were on the ground, feeling parts of their body ache from hitting the cold stone floor. 

"Ow..." Regulus grumbled rubbing the lower part of his back, " Épi, didn't you see me standing there?"

She glanced over at him, the pain seemed to control her words and attitude. "Didn't you see me walking towards you? You're not a ghost, I can't walk through you!"

Éponine suddenly stopped herself as she realised that it was Regulus that she had crashed into. She quickly fell silent and just stared at him, which she was a ghost so she could just walk through the nearest wall and disappear. 

Several students in passing gave the two odd looks as they continued on their way, but eventually, it led to the corridor becoming empty. 

Say something, her mind told her, say anything.

There it was, her lips were parted, the puzzled look on her face. Regulus couldn't help but noticed how lost she looked at that moment. Not that he minded, he liked that look on her, although there was something that needed to be addressed while they were in the company of each other again finally.

"You haven't been avoiding me, have you?" 

He expected her to say no and come up with some sort of excuse, but instead, she proceeded to bite down on her lower lip. It seemed she was going through all of his favourite excuses to look at her lips and that was hardly fair. 

"Yes," she answered, " but it's not because of you! It's because...well..."

It seemed Éponine couldn't bring herself to talk if she was looking at him, so rather than look away, she covered her eyes with her hands so she could explain. Regulus covered his mouth with his hand to keep from laughing, the girl looked ridiculous but at the same time, she really did look adorable. 

"I have been avoiding you," she continued after taking a deep breath, " you and Emmarentia. But not because I'm upset but because well...I'm embarrassed. I made fool out of myself the other night! I mean, I wasn't lying or anything, everything I said was the truth but that's what makes it even more embarrassing. Not for you but for me...well...maybe for you two. I feel like I'm just making it worse by sitting here and talking but I can't bring myself to stop talking because I'm afraid of what you're going to say in return. It's just getting worse, please put me out of my misery-"

Regulus never understood what else he was supposed to do when Éponine started on a tangent. The only thing he could think of doing was placing his hand over her mouth gently. But that didn't work in his favour that time as all he could focus on, was the feeling of her lips touching the palm of his hand. It was his turn to turn red as Éponine lowered her hands and looked directly at him. 

"I-I don't think you should be embarrassed, Épi," he began, "it's actually wanted to come talk to you about that."

He pulled his hand back allowing her to speak once more. "You're not mad, are you? About the whole Emmarentia thing?"

"No," he said, " I don't really understand it...not on your behalf but Emmarentia's, however, that's not what is important to me right now. I just wanted to make sure that you meant what you said, about wanting to go on a date with me?"

She could only nod her head at the moment, yet she kept her gaze steady with his.

"Did you think of what we could do or when?" He asked her.

"No, I've been too busy running around trying to hide."

Regulus smiled. "Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to make a suggestion. The full moon is tonight and I thought...maybe we sneak out and go to the lake. You said the merfolk are more active during a full moon, so you'll get to watch them at the surface, right, under the moonlight."

If the two of them weren't already sitting on the floor in the middle of the corridor, Éponine would have collapsed in a near swoon. A moonlit walk to watch the merfolk sounded beyond something magical, not to mention, it showed that Regulus listened to every detail that she told him, even if it didn't seem important.

"Yes," she smiled, " that sounds amazing. But sneaking out, won't we get in trouble?"

"No," Regulus shook his head, "we made prefect for a reason, Éponine. No one will suspect anything and if we get caught in the corridors, all we have to say is that we caught a student out of bed on rounds, that's all."

"You really have this all planned out."

"Yeah, well, I haven't been sleeping much."

With a grin, Regulus pushed himself up and then offered his hand to help Éponine up to her feet as the two of them heard the last warning bell that told them to get to class soon. As he pulled her up though, they were nearly eye level, Regulus just standing a little taller than her. However, while she didn't catch on right away, Éponine followed the boy's eyes and realised that they were focusing on her lips causing her to blush. She immediately pulled away in a bashful manner before gathering her things off the floor.

"We ought to get going," she told him, "I don't know what Professor Azariah's tardy policy is and I don't want to find out."