Wayfaring Stranger ‹‹ Atticus and Regulus
“Atticus,” he said automatically in slightly befuddled surprise, and had already offered his hand before he realized what he was doing. He pulled back his hand and averted his eyes, embarrassed. That was a bit silly, with your classmate. He eyed the boy from the corner of his eyes. “Atticus Scabior,” he clarified then, since it was possibly the other boy was completely oblivious to his presence at school. That was the downside to having a forgettable face.
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking around the street and smiling sheepishly. “I wouldn’t pull you into a dark alleyway, you don’t have to think so highly of yourself, you know, I’m not interested in you.” Well. Atticus bit down on his bottom lip. Maybe that wasn’t quite humble enough to address one of the fancy Blacks. Hell, he didn’t even know if Regulus was into that pretentious stuff.
“I didn’t want us to catch any attention,” he pointed out, “with you being recently famous… I figured you wouldn’t want more gossip.” He arched his brows. “Because I know you went to Azkaban. Well, I don’t know if you did, but I know from others that it’s true in their case.” He gave a one-shouldered shrug. “I’m just curious. I’ve never known a prisoner of Azkaban.”
He let his gaze wander to the shop window of Eeylop’s Owl Emporium. Well, not much sense in looking at them any longer, students weren’t permitted to have more than one pet. “You don’t look very good. Do you want…?” Atticus trailed off, wriggling a hand. He didn’t quite know how to ask whether he needed a Healer without actually asking.
"Atticus," Regulus repeated, with a faint nod. He'd heard the name before, mentioned from time to time at school. The only name that sounded familiar outside of school was Scabior, but he wasn't sure on that. "'s a decent name. Not sure if it matches your face, though." As the words were past his lips, his eyebrows furrowed slightly and he opened his mouth again, trying not to sound too apologetic. "Came out a bit wrong, that."
Not interested. Atticus' instant response to Regulus' comment caught him off guard but for a moment. He'd been joking, of course, but he'd been going in the direction of a dark alleyway to kill him. Hell, maybe that's what the other boy had meant, too, but Regulus wasn't sure if that's what it had felt like.
"Considerate," he replied, eyebrows slightly raised. "I went to Azkaban, yes, but you don't know me, do you? Unless you're saying that the reason you came over here was so that you can say you know someone who's been imprisoned." Really, he didn't care that much, if that was the reason or not, all he wanted was to see if Atticus would squirm, admit to it, or surprise him completely.
Merlin, Regulus loved people. They were always so interesting.
That is, until Atticus was basically asking him if he needed a healer. He'd thought it was only obvious to him, how affected he still was by the Dementors. "I'm just a bit cold, 's all, don't worry yourself." If his voice was a bit tense, it was purely coincidence.











