things in common | evan & reg
For Regulus, his life was going wonderfully. He had a beautiful girlfriend, a wonderful best friend and he was starting to repair his relationship with his brother. Shockingly, he hadn’t received any howlers or terrible wishes from his parents since the Halloween Ball where he publicly showed his affection towards a Half-Blood. Even his interaction with Bella wasn’t as painful as he expected. Awkward and frustrating, but not as terrible as he imagined. And for a bit, Regulus had a slither of hope that maybe… just maybe, if he promised to be a perfect son in every other way, they’d let him be.
But despite his near perfect life, and slowly being dragged away from the purity obsessed members of his family, temptation still ran through him when he returned to his dormitory. In his bedside cabinet, in a locked draw, contained one or two texts about Dark Magic that Bella had sent him months before. And he knew he shouldn’t have even been interested in it – not with the war, not with the people who committed crimes using such a magic being as prejudice as they were. Regulus knew he should have kept it locked away, or burnt it.
Every evening, his fingers itched as he looked at where the forbidden books were hiding, but usually managed to push it away when Burke and Goyle came in and talked absolute nonsense about their day. But they’d both received a detention, and Rabastan was otherwise occupied – or at least he wasn’t lingering in the Common Room. There was no one to stop him…
So despite having a close Muggleborn friend, despite having a Half-Blood girlfriend, he had ended up getting comfortable and studying the magic that was so often used against them. Fascinating, awe inspiring, difficult. Reading such a thing would be frowned upon by many – but they’d clearly not looked into the depths of it the way he did. Regulus was so interested in what he was reading, his nose almost buried in the text, he didn’t hear anyone come in until the door closed. And for a moment, he still didn’t look up, presuming that it was just one of his dorm mates back from detention.
Then, all at once, his heart dropped. When he realised the Transfiguration charm Bella had previously put on the book to hide it’s true nature had been lifted, and what he was really reading would be clear to anyone who looked over. Hesitantly, Regulus looked over the top of his book. The momentary panic faded immediately when he saw it was Evan Rosier that had walked in, although he still had no compulsion for his cousin to know his vast interest should they not share the same thoughts.
As to not be so obvious, Regulus closed the book and placed it to his side. “Evan. Can I help you with something?”