As Regulus led Alexandra toward the middle of the office where other couples were dancing, he hesitantly placed a hand around her waist and with his other hand he held onto hers.

     Alexandra kept her head down as they started to dance, so she would be careful not to step on his feet, which was a matter of amusement to Regulus as he smiled to himself, watching her with a smile on his lips.

     "Just relax." Regulus chuckled at her. "Don't worry. You're not going to chop my feet off."

     "You wouldn't now that for sure until I do step on you," Alexandra said, her eyes still down as they gently swung to the music.

      "I'm sure I can live with that," Regulus whispered softly, causing her to finally look up, her eyes connecting with his grey ones.

     Last year both Regulus and Alexandra had come to the point that they had confessed their feelings for each other in the midst of a heated argument. But when that argument turned into a fight and Alexandra stormed out on him, they both started to pretend that the night had never happened.

      After all, they had made a deal with each other to start their friendship from scratch all over again, this time for real. No more lies. No more secrets. But this time, as Regulus held her close to him, Alexandra felt her feelings for him growing stronger than ever before.

      Although she wasn't ready to tell this to him yet, for some reason. She wanted to wait for the right moment, but had no idea when the right moment was going to arrive.

      The bitter thought of Regulus still trying to play her and go along with his old plan had crossed her mind long ago. But whether the name of it was the 'sixth sense' or 'the Ravenclaw tingle', Alexander knew that this time it was real.

     She could feel it within the depths of her heart that his behavior had changed toward her; from the way he looked at her or talked with her, to the way he was holding her right at that moment, dancing to the slow rhythm of the music.

     But then Alexandra's eyes fell upon the curious necklace that Regulus always wore, it's black stone falling down to his chest. She knew she had to look away, but she found herself unable to take her eyes from it for long seconds.

     Although remembering his reaction the last time she had questioned him about the necklace, Alexandra decided not to mention it anymore and never to ask him about it. But now she had stared at it for too long without realizing that Regulus caught her looking at it before she could glance away.

     "It's a long story," he finally said with a little sigh, causing her to look back up at him. "But maybe I'll talk about it some day."

***

After the Christmas party came to an end, Regulus accompanied Alexandra up the Ravenclaw tower. The party wasn't as glorious as Alexandra had expected, but she did have a blast nonetheless.

     Usually the only parties she used to go to were balls held by important Ministry officials and high profiled Wizarding families, such as the Malfoys, who always feasted Christmas balls at their enormous family manor.

     In such occasions, she would have had to wear fancy and uncomfortable dresses for hours, making polite and small talk with everyone and being introduced to dozens of people by her grandfather. All in all, she never liked those Christmas balls, because she hated pretending.

     But tonight at least she got to meet people of real importance to her, such as authors of some of her favorite books. She even got to speaking with a few of the house elves at Hogwarts that she had never seen before; unlike the balls she went to with her grandfather, in which he had forbidden her from associating with the house elves, for he deemed them as unworthy.

      But above all, Alexandra enjoyed that night because of having Regulus Black as her company. He was as sweet as ever and a gentleman as always, from the beginning and right up to the moment he walked her to the entrance of the Ravenclaw common room.

     "Thank you for tonight," she said, her face flushed as it had been all evening.

     "I'm glad you came, because usually Slughorn's parties are dull as hell." Regulus scoffed bitterly, shaking his head.

      "It wasn't too bad." Alexandra shrugged, smiling. "So... I guess this is goodbye."

     Could this be the right moment? She wondered as they stood there awkwardly, both of them new to all of this.

     "Goodnight, Alex," Regulus whispered, but before she could open her mouth and say another word, he suddenly leaned in and softly kissed her on the cheek.

      Alexandra froze on her spot with her eyes wide, caught off guard. Amused with the reaction he had gotten, Regulus grinned to himself and then winked at her one last time before turning around and walking out of the corridor, leaving her feeling dazed.

***

For some reason, as Regulus was making his way down to the dungeons and toward the Slytherin common room, he couldn't wipe his smile away.

     But the he came to a stop when he reached the entrance to his common room, only to find Avery waiting for him there, leaning against the stone wall with his arms crossed.

     "Had fun, did we?" said Avery with a hint of a smirk on his lips.

     "What are you doing out here?" Regulus said coldly, trying to walk past him.

     But Avery was quick to move over and block his way. "What do you think you're playing at, Black?"

     "What are you talking about?" Regulus asked firmly.

     "Weren't you the one who had said you were done playing your part in this plan? That we had to come up with another way to get Starling to join the Dark Lord?"

     "I've seen how she is, Avery. And there's no way a girl like her would ever join us," Regulus tried to say sternly, but a part of his mind ached with regret. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going off to bed."

      With that, Regulus forced his way past him and was just about to say the password when he heard Avery say,

      "Oh, my..." he gasped mockingly, even though a sneer was spread across his face. "Don't tell me you're actually in love this girl!"