King Of My Heart | R. BLACK

3 | homicidal pinocchio

Angela felt like a complete and total idiot.

She wasn't even sure why she had said or done what she had but she did know that she had regretted it. Regulus had a reputation and it just so happened to be true.

So why the hell did she try to empathize with him? Why did she tell him that he wasn't bad when he so clearly was? Or at least he was almost bad. The mark on his left arm that he kept hidden under his sleeve would certainly prove that.

It wasn't as though she knew there was a mark there. There was no proof but it seemed rather obvious when he moved his arm out of her line of sight.

There were only rumors about a Dark Mark being permanently inked onto the followers of Voldemort's arms. The Death Eaters. The only reason Angela knew it to be true was because she had caught a glimpse of Severus Snape's at the end of last term.

Angela had made her way straight to her first class of the day which, of course, was Potions which she had with the Slytherin's. She took her seat at the front of the class as she normally would and all throughout the class, she could feel a pair of eyes boring into her back.

She didn't need to look behind her to know that it was Regulus Black.

"Why does my brother look like he is about to kill you?" Sirius inquired at the Gryffindor table at dinner that evening.

"Hmm?" Angela said in reply after taking a bite of her food. She had no idea where her brother, Peter or Remus were so she couldn't exactly snake her way out of the conversation. "What did you say?"

He rolled his eyes, "My brother looks like he's ready to commit homicide and you're going to be his victim."

Angela raised an eyebrow and turned to look over at the Slytherin table. Regulus was indeed staring at her with a murderous look in his eyes mixed with something else. He kept his sight on her, his hand gripped around his fork as he ignored the chatter from those at his table.

She turned to look at Sirius who was waiting for an explanation. She merely shrugged, "I'm a blood traitor?"

"He has very distinct looks for different types of hatred," he countered. "That is something different."

"We had a little run-in earlier," she explained simply, "It was nothing."

Sirius sat up at this, "Did he try something? Because I-"

"Sirius," she interrupted, her hand held up in front of her, "Nothing happened."

He didn't look convinced, "Promise?"

She nodded, "Promise." She placed her fork down, "Now onto more important things. Where are the rest of your friends?"

"Give it..." he trailed off, looking around the room for a moment, "Five seconds."

She raised an eyebrow, "What for?"

Before he had the chance to answer her, there were shouts from the Slytherin table. Angela turned in confusion to see that half of the occupants at the table's noses had grown.

She snorted, turning to look at Sirius again, "What did you lot do?"

He shrugged, "Combine Veritaserum with Skele-Gro and a few other key ingredients and it makes a good lie detector."

"Like Pinocchio?"

He grew confused at this, "Who?"

"Never mind," she shook her head. She stood up, gathering her belongings, "I have no interest being dragged into detention because I was around you at the wrong time. I'll see you later, I suppose."

"Always a party pooper, Ang," he tsked and she rolled her eyes before walking off.

Angela made her way through the castle with no particular destination in mind. She was reading her book when she heard shouting from up ahead. "Ang!" her brother's voice echoed and she looked up. "Angie, did we miss it?"

"If you hurry, I'm sure you'll catch the aftermath," she informed him as she gestured behind herself. "They aren't happy."

James glanced back at Remus and Peter before nodding. The three took off without another word, clearly eager to see the havoc they had wreaked.

Angela rolled her eyes at their antics before she made her way to the library. At least there she wouldn't be disturbed.

Upon entering, she found an all too familiar Slytherin occupying her usual table.

She had two options. She could go find another table and not deal with his arrogant, asshole-y attitude. Or she could approach him in a very Gryffindor manner and push his buttons.

It wasn't a very long internal debate.

"Reggie," she greeted as she approached the table and he immediately scowled, "How's your day been?"

"What do you want, blood traitor?" he asked, not even bothering to look up, clearly irritated with the girl.

"Oh, nothing," she replied as she took a seat from across the table from him. "Just thought I'd chat with a fellow Prefect."

"I'm not interested," he replied but this was proven false as his nose grew slightly. Clearly, he hadn't heard of the cure being distributed in the infirmary by Madam Pomfrey.

She tapped her book against the table for a moment, "I disagree."

"I don't care for your pity," he spat, "And I don't want nor need your help." She watched him with a raised eyebrow as his nose grew longer. She was oddly grateful for both the target choice and the timing of the Marauder's prank.

She grew amused at this, "You're lying."

"No, I'm not," he shook his head but then his nose grew longer. He went cross eyed for a moment and he caught sight of his ever growing nose. He stood up quickly and started backing away, covering his nose from view. He pointed at her, "This conversation isn't over."

She smiled happily to herself, clutching her copy of Romeo and Juliet to her chest, "No, I don't think it is."