Pairing: Regulus Black x Reader
summary: If you’re meeting someone for the first time in a heavy rain, it’s tired of your souls missing each other so much in your previous life and the sky shedding tears of joy for this meeting.
Tags: Strangers to lovers-ish, Soulmate rain myth, Carpe Diem philosophy, Comfort, Fluff, Academic aesthetic.
It was Saturday afternoon. The sky was surrounded by gray clouds that collapsed like a heavy, leady curtain over the Hogwarts towers. It was obvious that the weather would cry at any moment. Most of the students would either go to Hogsmeade and leave themselves in those warm, cinnamon-scented arms of Kaymak Beer or enjoy the crispy wood fire by the fireplaces in their common rooms.
But you would like the weather to be off. That gray, gloomy sky would give a strange peace to his soul.
In those moments when everyone was running inside, you went out to the schoolyard where there was no one. It was thundering from afar. Maybe in a few minutes the sky would release all its load. With the book you held tightly in your hand, you left the empty corridors behind and started walking in the garden.
The garden, which was normally full of laughter and students running around, was now completely deserted.
The only people were rushing towards the castle.
Why were people so afraid of getting wet in the rain? From being sick? How ridiculous. No other air could give the peace of the rain that smells of earth and silenced the world.
You wore a white dress as if you were rebelling against that gray gloom. The blowing wind was tossing your hair in your face, blowing your dress, but there was no cold to make you shiver.
Your steps directed you directly towards The Black Lake. When the weather was like this, no one would stop by there, you knew. Exactly the kind you’re looking for, an absolute loneliness.
You would love more than anything to watch those small, perfect circles formed when raindrops hit the surface of the lake.
When he entered the opening where the lake was, a silhouette planted in the shade of the trees caught his eye.
Sirius? You thought for a moment. Sirius Black.
No. It wasn’t him. It was his brother, Regulus.
He was in a lower class than him, but he was much more dignified, much more mature than his older brother.
You knew him. Who wouldn’t know that perfect, noble “golden child” of the Black family?
Regulus knew you too. An acquaintance consisting of a few silent eye contacts in the corridors.
Regulus was moving away from the lake, and you were going towards the lake. In that moment you came side by side, both of you looked at each other.
You were torn between smiling and not smiling. You had no problem with Regulus; you even sensed that he was a very good and subtle child behind that dark family surname.
As you passed by, you gave him a very light, almost vague nod. Shame on you, you didn’t want it.
Just at that intersection, your perfume got mixed up. That heavy, dark, luxurious and reminiscent of winter nights has been blended with your powdery and fresh scent.
You stopped, startled by that voice rising behind you, and turned to Regulus.
The boy was standing under the half-bare trees with the book in his hand, looking over his shoulder at you.
—“You get wet and sick. You can get cold,” he said, staring at you.
Regulus Black’s voice... was completely different from Sirius. Lower. More controlled. It was as if he was weighing every word on a silver scale in his mind, leaving it out like that.
You stopped for a moment and filtered it. The gray sky, that dull stagnation of the lake and the calm stance of Regulus as smooth as a marble statue...
—“I know,” you said, shrugging your shoulders lightly. Your eyes shifted to the sky. “I like the rain.”
Regulus tilted his head a little to the side; it was as if he was analyzing this simple sentence you said in the depths of his mind.
The sky didn’t seem to be able to take it anymore at that time. The first heavy drop fell on the surface of the lake. A thin, delicate ring... Then another one.
Regulus’ gaze shifted to the lake for a moment, then turned to your face again.
—“Loving doesn’t change the fact that you might be sick.”
His voice was still calm. But this time there was a slight, almost unnoticeable hardness, a protectionism in it.
It’s not like a warning, it’s like a habit. It was as if someone had taught him to always be cautious, to always stay within the boundaries since childhood.
You raised your eyebrows slightly, a mischievous smile appeared on the corner of your lips.
—“Sometimes you have to live in the moment, Mr. Black.”
The wind blew a little harder. The rain was accelerating as the leaves of the trees whispered to each other.
The drops, which fell in thin lines, began to leave small, dark stains on the white dress.
Regulus’s gray eyes were fixed on those spots. He didn’t take a step, but his stance changed. It was as if he was standing right on an invisible and dangerous line between leaving and staying.
—“Is it worth wasting the future for the sake of living the moment?” He asked slowly. There was a pure curiosity in his voice.
You laughed lightly. This time it was really a heartfelt smile.
—“The past does not come back, the future has not yet come. All we have is today, right now. That’s why...”You stopped, shrugged lightly and took a deep breath. You turned your gaze to the sky, you felt the coolness of the drops falling on your face.“It is necessary to realize the separation and live without delaying life. This includes risking being sick tomorrow.”
When he turned his eyes back to yours, the corner of Regulus’ lips curled up very slightly. This was the closest, rarest thing to the smile you could see on his face.
The sky suddenly thundered. This time it’s closer, more threatening.
The rain was no longer hiding; it was falling on you with all its might.
You felt your hair get heavy and stick to your face, but you didn’t move.
Regulus was still a few steps away.
There was a short, magical silence. Then Regulus took off his school robe from his shoulders, as if he had silenced those rules-filled voices in his own mind.
And with an undramatic but not at all, such a precise, protective movement, he dropped that robe on your wet shoulders...
—“If you get sick...” He said, his voice was that low, velvety tone again. His eyes were sealed on his eyes.“...It is not worth destroying the present moment of tomorrow to enjoy the present moment.”
The sentence was a bit strange. He is as distant as Regulus, but so deep.
The rain was falling like a thin curtain around the two of you now.
You felt that heavy, woolen texture of the robe on your shoulders. The smell of Regulus was much more pronounced now; that dark, sharp, mysterious smell enveloped you.
While your white dress was about to become transparent due to the rain, his robe was protecting you like an armor.
Regulus did not retreat. He didn’t get close either. He just stood there. And for the first time, it seemed to him that he had no intention of leaving completely.
Then he bowed his head slightly, as if he wanted to leave you alone with Your own loneliness.
—“If you want to stay, don’t get too wet anyway. You’ll get sick.” He said with a goodbye. He turned around and started walking towards the castle.
While looking behind the walking Regulus, you caught your eye on the roots of the old tree by the lake.
There was a knitted scarf with a Slytherin embed in green and silver colors. He must have forgotten.
You slowly picked up the scarf. It was soft between your wet fingers.
When you looked up, you saw that Regulus hadn’t gone far away yet.
If you ran, you would catch up. Would I be disgraced? You thought. I hope I won’t.
You took a deep breath and started walking with quick steps. Those steps soon turned into a light run.
—“Black!” You called from behind.
Regulus interrupted his steps and turned around. You stopped a few steps away from him, you were out of breath.
—“Your scarf... You forgot.” You said.
Normally you wouldn’t talk to him so formally, but you wanted to play the game by his rules because he addressed you with this distance.
Regulus cast a spell on himself with his wand so that he wouldn’t get wet; he didn’t have a single drop on him. But you in front of you...
You were soaked. The color of your hair was darkened by the water, your robe was heavy on your shoulders. Raindrops were hitting the hands that extended the scarf.
Regulus first looked at the scarf, then at the book you were holding in your other hand. It was exactly the same as the book in his own hand.
Regulus reached out to take the scarf, but paused when his fingers touched your hand for a moment.
The coldness of your skin met his warm fingers. His eyes shifted to the book, then back to your eyes.
The rain was rising and falling between the two of you like a silent spectator.
— “Is it a coincidence...” he said slowly, gently lifting the book in his hand. “...Or will people who read the same things find each other in bad weather?”
There was no mockery in his voice. But it wasn’t straight either. It was the whisper of a soul that was really looking for the answer.
You tilted your head slightly to the side. A vague, defiant smile appeared on his lips.
— “Maybe the weather has nothing to do with it, Mr. Black,” you said, your voice blending with the sound of rain. “Maybe it’s just... we’re doing as the book says. We’re catching the day.”
Regulus slowly pulled the scarf from his fingertips, but did not take his eyes off yours.
At that moment, under the gray sky, time stopped on the shore of the Black Lake.
Regulus had always lived all his life thinking about the future, that dark and necessary future that his family had drawn for him.
But right now, looking at the raindrops leaking through your hair, he stopped thinking about tomorrow for the first time.
— “Catching the day...” he whispered as if enjoying the words. “If it’s rain that day, I think it’s worth getting wet.”
He placed his wand back where he took it out. He lifted the protection spell he did to himself without saying a word.
Within seconds, those grumpy drops falling from the sky began to wet her black hair and flow from your face.
Regulus Black refused to be cautious for the first time in his life. He was breaking the rules for the first time.
You smiled. He looked at you too, and this time, that slight curl on the edge of your lips turned into a real smile.
An ancient wizard’s belief would say that if you meet someone for the first time in a heavy rain, your souls have missed each other so much in their previous life.
When you started walking side by side with Regulus towards the castle, neither of you knew that belief. But you both felt: The sky was shedding tears of joy that afternoon for the two souls who had been looking for each other for centuries to meet.
