[Chapter Twenty-Nine]

Regulus would have liked to believe that the night before was nothing more than a bizarre dream brought on by the fact that he shared in too many sweets at dinner time. He would have liked it more to believe that he had taken a nap himself and that his first date with Éponine had yet to come, leaving him with the opportunity to make the date unforgettable in a good way. When he stated that he wanted to make the date unforgettable, he honestly wanted it to be something that Éponine would remember, even long after they were married and when she thought about it, it would bring a smile to her face. Unfortunately, he was sure that when she looked back at that night, she would only shake her head.

Obviously, it wasn't his fault, there was no way he would have known that there would be a werewolf roaming the grounds, nor did he know that his brother and his friends were also roaming the grounds as illegal animagi. It was an assumption that it was illegal but Regulus could only assume that his brother had done it illegally because that was the excitement behind it. Doing something that he knew he shouldn't do, that's what Sirius lived for. It was tearing Regulus apart because he wanted to report the fact that there was a werewolf within the school but at the same time, did he really want to get his brother in trouble as well? There was a matter of getting Sirius and his friends a detention, but being illegal animagi was grounds for being expelled as it was against Ministry law to go unregistered.

He would ruin Sirius' life as well as the others if he reported it and perhaps, Éponine had been more aware of it the night before as she prevented Regulus from going to the Headmaster's office. Regulus was so worked up that he hadn't been thinking of all the consequences and he believed that Éponine was just afraid of getting into trouble herself. But that wasn't giving the girl enough credit, he knew that she was far from stupid and she had been the one with the fastest reaction time when it came to the situation.

In the beginning, Regulus had been concerned with the idea of Éponine not being one to protect herself, Emmarentia seemed to share in those same concerns, but he was beginning to realise that it wasn't that Éponine wasn't capable of looking after herself, it was more along the lines that she was holding herself back. From setting his trunk on fire back in her third year, pulling out the conjunctivitis curse on a werewolf, it seemed that Éponine was not this helpless girl, she was a silent storm, brewing inside of her small body and the poor unfortunate bastard that caused the storm to unleash probably wouldn't be able to survive.

Just like how Regulus had done in the beginning, his brother and Sirius' friends had underestimated the girl, but he doubted that after last night that they would do such a thing again. She had proved herself and once again, Regulus was filled with a sense of pride, even though he had done nothing. He was proud of Éponine because, since the beginning of the summer, she was coming to realise on her own that she had a voice and wanted to be heard but not only that, she had power and she wanted people to know that as well. Maybe she wasn't ready to take on the world just yet, maybe she wasn't even ready to approach her parents and demand respect, but she was starting off with her peers.

She was no longer the quiet girl that hid behind books to cry or hid her face. Regulus didn't want to admit it, but he figured the lack of acne on her face had helped in some ways. Despite her still feeling the pain of being teased, the fact that her face had cleared up seemed to give her a little boost of confidence because people couldn't use that against her anymore.

In fact, when it came to Avery and Mulciber making fun of her before, the focus of their taunting was only the condition of her face. With that cleared up, they lost all power over her and everyone was left with their foot shoved in their mouths because it only showed that not only was Éponine beautiful on the inside with her usual calm and quiet demeanour, she was also beautiful on the outside.

They all should have seen that before, even with the acne.

Regulus was the first to wake up the next morning and even though they had gotten in late last night, he was up long before any other student. He probably could have gotten away with the idea that everything had been a dream, if it wasn't for the fact that as he opened his eyes, he saw that he was lying down on a Common Room sofa, not to mention, Éponine was sound asleep in his arms, her arms wrapped around him to secure herself so that she didn't fall off the sofa during the night. For a moment, Regulus wasn't sure what to do or how to react in the slightest. The idea of having the girl so close to him while lying down had left him uncomfortable but at the same time, he didn't want her to move either.

Despite neither one of them having a blanket, her body was so warm that it kept him warm. She seemed more than content as her face was peaceful, all the muscles in her face were relaxed as she had half of her face buried into his shoulder. He didn't want to wake her, but at the same time, he really had to pee.

He tried all sorts of movements to get away without waking her up, but each way only caused her to shift and make a face or a disgruntled noise. His bladder was practically screaming obscenities at him and Regulus realised that it would be a far worse situation to actually pee on her than it would be to wake her up. Moving slowly, he managed to let Éponine remain to lie down, but he did wake her up. She rolled in the slightest, looking over her shoulder at him with a sleepy gaze.

"What's-"

"Hold that thought!" Regulus said urgently before he ran out of the Common Room.  "I'll be right back!"

Initially, Éponine had felt quite groggy and still sleepy enough that she could have fallen back asleep within seconds. However, to see Regulus run out of the room in such a hurried manner, her curiosity kept her awake as she sat up on the sofa. For a few seconds, she was confused, wondering why she was in the common room, rather than in her own bed int he girl's dorm. She rubbed her hands over her knees and let out a tired yawn. Only halfway through the yawn, the events of the night before came flooding back into her head.

Her droopy gaze was no more as her eyes opened fully as she stared directly into the fireplace across the way. The scene of Sirius, James, and Peter all in animal forms, a dog, stag, and a rat. That had been one hell of a surprise, to begin with, but the night only escalated from there as a werewolf suddenly became present. She had found herself in danger, but not only had she been in danger, Regulus had been in danger as well. Sirius and his friends attempted to defend their actions and their friend, claiming they had things under control, but Époninehad functioning eyes. She had seen the way Sirius moved out of the way and the way Remus in his werewolf form had launched at her.

He was going in for a bite or possibly even more damage than that. Perhaps his friends would be spared in their animal forms, but she and Regulus didn't stand a chance unless they defended themselves. So that's exactly what she had done, she had defended herself by taking out the werewolf in the most humane way possible that she could come up with on the spot. While she wasn't fond of the idea of a werewolf attending the same school, she knew there was a still a person under all the fur and growling.

It wasn't like the curse she had unleashed would seriously bring harm to Remus either. It was easily reversible with the Oculus Potion. But with Remus' sight impaired, it had given them the perfect opportunity to get out of there as the werewolf ran off in a panic. Perhaps the boys would be furious with her actions but she could have done far worse in a state of panic. She didn't think others in a situation would have reacted in such a kind manner.

What else was she supposed to do? Allow the werewolf to bite her and receive an apology, later on, that was if she survived such an attack. No, she wasn't that foolish, it was better to temporarily blind the werewolf than risk her life or risk a life of being infected with lycanthropy herself. And not only did she protect herself, she protected Regulus as well, in fact, she had done a service for all of them because while a werewolf didn't normally bite animals, no one had control over an angry werewolf.

She knew that they would argue that she and Regulus were not supposed to be there in the first place, but what gave them the right over them? Why were they allowed to sneak out and no one else? No, Éponine was not going to play the game of double standards, truth be told, no one should have been outside past curfew last night. The boys apparently were keeping their friend company on a full moon and she and Regulus were hoping to share in a nice first date. All it did was lead to a mess that could have become much worse.

She honestly didn't regret what she had done, she only regretted not going to Madam Pomfrey so she could have met Regulus sooner and perhaps then the situation could have been avoided. But that was only a maybe.

Finally, Regulus returned and he seemed to be a lot more relaxed than before as he walked over calmly and sat beside her on the sofa. For a few moments, he rubbed his hands together as if he was trying to figure out what to say to her.

"I'm sorry about last night," he said eventually, " it didn't go at all the way I planned it or hoped it would go."

"Well, that's not exactly your fault, Regulus, " Éponine replied, " it's not like either one of us are Seers, there is no way we would have seen that coming. But you don't have to apologise, in fact, I won't accept an apology."

"Why not?" Regulus questioned. " It was supposed to be an unforgettable date...in a good way, I might add. I don't think you were thinking like that would happen for your first date."

"No, I can't say that coming face to face with a werewolf was on the agenda for a first date but it...it was a good date in a way, Regulus. Maybe you don't see it as much, but that was the most exciting and dangerous thing I have experienced in my entire life and you were there with me. You wanted to protect me and I found myself wanting to protect you. Had this been last year, I probably would have pushed you towards the werewolf."

Regulus' eyes widened at her blunt honesty, but he was glad to hear that she didn't have plans to push him towards a werewolf anymore.

"Never in my life would I believe that I would come to face such a situation, let alone actually handle it," she continued. "It was probably the most liberating thing that I can imagine. I can't even bring myself to talk back to my parents when I think they are being unreasonable, but last night, I stared down a werewolf. I elbowed James Potter in the nose and my curse worked. It actually worked! You want to talk about unforgettable, I will never forget that night for the rest of my life. Thank you."

"You're thanking me for putting you in danger?" Regulus questioned her.

"No," she laughed softly, " I'm thanking you for putting me in a situation that allowed me to grow. It sounds mental, I know, but while it was absolutely terrifying, it made me realise that I can do things. If I can face a werewolf, I can face my parents and I can stick up for myself. I know that you and Emmarentia were trying to help me with that, you know, become more confident...but I think I'm coming into it on my own."

Regulus couldn't help but smile himself as he witnessed the smile on her face, she really did seem quite proud of herself as she entered her own little form of rambling.

"I know I might not be Emmarentia in the sense of commanding attention everywhere I got, but I never wanted to be that person, to begin with. I envy those people in some ways, but most of the time, I do like having the quiet to myself. I don't want to be the centre of attention, I just want people to respect me for who I am and I think I'm getting close to that every day."

However, at the mention of Emmarentia's name, Regulus felt like the two of them had something to discuss when it came to the girl.

"Speaking of Emmarentia, I can only assume that she didn't go and wake you like she said she would last night," he said and he quickly noted as Éponine nodded her head.

"Yes, I was going to address that with her when I saw her again. I'm not sure what her intentions were for not waking me up."

Éponine's innocent nature was shining through once more as she couldn't see what reasoning Emmarentia had behind preventing the girl from going on her date, but Regulus had an idea.

"Can I ask you something?" Regulus asked. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, I'm only curious."

"Sure, that's fine, ask away."

"Did you like kissing Emmarentia?"

Judging by the look on Éponine's face, Regulus didn't think he was going to get an answer unless it was telling him to mind his business or something along the lines. However, for a second, she stared into the fire before clearing her throat to speak.

"When she kissed me, it felt nice but I didn't feel anything at the same time. I thought I would feel more. People make it sound so magical when you have your first kiss. It was alright but all I could think of was the fact that I was kissing her when I wanted to kiss you."

Her face started to turn red as she realised what she was admitting and she turned her head to look away from him as she continued talking. " I think she realised that I wasn't really into it, I just couldn't find myself kissing her back until...."

Her voice trailed off and it was like being left on the edge of a cliff dangling, Regulus wanted to hear what else she was going to say. "Until?" He prompted her.

"Until she suggested that I picture you while she kissed me. Once I did that, it still wasn't perfect in my mind but it was much better and I realised that I didn't want to pretend, I wanted to experience the real thing and I couldn't do that with her so I pulled away. "

Regulus didn't know whether to feel flattered or bashful at that moment but he was nearly blushing as hard as Éponine was in that moment. He felt much more secure that even with Emmarentia's hidden intentions that the other girl didn't pose as competition because Éponine didn't see her in that light.

"Well, Épi," he began, trying to keep his voice steady, " while you may not see Emmarentia in that way, I have a feeling that she sees you in that light. I think that's the reason as to why she didn't wake you up last night. I honestly don't think she wants you around me."

"It's very sweet for her to be protective," Éponine said, " but at the end of the day, it is not her decision to make who I choose to go on a date with. I wanted to go on the date with you and rather than her being manipulative about it, she could have just voiced it to me. She's one of the first friends I have made, I don't want to see that end badly over something like this. "

"Perhaps she doesn't think that I am good enough for you. She made mention on the train that I had a lot of work to do."

"Well, I have a lot of work to do on myself and it seems she could work on minding her business here and there. We're working on developing ourselves to be better people, are we not? She can respect that, I would think. Anyways, I will talk to her when I see her. I'm hoping that it's just a misunderstanding of sorts, I would hate to lose a friend after just making one after so long."

Regulus was about to question if Éponine considered him to be at least a friend since she was talking about just making one. But he realised that she was probably focused on Emmarentia being labelled as one since he and  Éponine were to married regardless, so their relationship was still forced at the end of it all. Even if they weren't friends, their families still expected them to get married.

"Have you given any thought to what you want to do about last night?" Éponine asked after things had become quiet between them. "Do you plan on going to Headmaster and reporting your brother and his friends?"