Don't Tell Anyone About This | Regulus Black

Chapter Fourteen

Nera didn't have any siblings. That much she had always been grateful for. Whenever anyone with siblings spoke about them, it was always full of complaints about how they stole things or were generally annoying or mean. Nera, quite frankly, did not want that in her life.
But sometimes she'd wonder what it would be like to have a brother or sister. Perhaps, if she were lucky, they would have gotten along and been absolute best friends. Though, Nera reminded herself, that might not be the fact that she wanted a sibling specifically, but more so just a friend.

Anyway, the idea of siblings had always been a concept Nerezza, an only child, had never fully grasped. That was why hearing the situation regarding Sirius and Regulus Black utterly perplexed her.
She couldn't make any sense of it.

Part of Nera wanted to go and check that Regulus was okay, but... Why? They weren't friends. They didn't owe each other anything. Nera had to remind herself that whilst Regulus wasn't the worst of the Slytherins, he wasn't exactly a saint either. It wasn't like he deserved her kindness - he had his own friends.

"Have you seen this?"

Nera didn't have chance to register who was talking to her before a newspaper was dropped on top of her toast. "What's this?" She asked.
Ada sat down opposite her with a huff and only said in response, "Just read it."

That Sunday morning, Nera hadn't looked at her copy of the paper because she'd been too preoccupied with her own overthinking. Currently, it was discarded on the bench beside her. So, at last, Nera unfolded Ada's copy of the Daily Prophet and read the headline.

Missing Wizards on the Rise - Mad Man at Large?

Nera opened her mouth and about to ask why this had caused particular outrage to Ada. This theme had been littered throughout the papers for at least the past couple of months, so much so that it wasn't really a surprise anymore. But then Nera read what was so concerning. In smaller print, about two thirds of the way down the page, was information about an even higher number of muggles that had vanished under suspicious circumstances - the most prominent of which what the proximity of their homes to the missing wizards.

"You know... I wish I could transfigure myself into a rock or something and just not have to put up with the world anymore." Ada grumbled as she lay on her back across the bench, her arms dropping on either side so the backs of her hands touched the stone floor tiles, and stared up at the ceiling.

"I could probably do that for you, if you like." Nera offered without taking her eyes off the article as she continued to carefully read it.
Ada scoffed, "Oh, odpieprz się."
The brunette peered around the side of the paper to the space where he friend should have been sat, and asked, "I don't want to know what that means, do I?"
"Probably not."

Nera tutted, "You know if you keep making snide comments in Polish, eventually I'm going to figure out what it is you're saying," and then she turned back to the paper.

"Well it's about time you British lot learnt another language." Ada quipped, unable to hide the grin from spreading across her lips anymore as she finally pushed herself up into a sitting position.
The other girl rolled her eyes and asked, "What's got you in such a mood today?"
Ada groaned and combed both hands through her hair which only succeeded in making it more messy. "Well, the paper for a start," She bitterly complained, "And I had the weirdest dream."

Nera frowned, "Weirdest dream?"
"Almost creepy."
"Well..." Nera slowly shook her head, "What was it? Like a nightmare?"
"Yes."
"About what?"
"Sirius Black."

Slowly, Nera lifted her hand to cover her mouth. "You... I'm sorry, you had a nightmare about Sirius Black?"
"Are you laughing?" Ada queried.
"No." Nera pursed her lips together and shook her head, "I'm-I'm not. What... What happened in the dream?"

"Well," Ada propped her elbows up on the table and rested her chin in her hands, "Don't laugh!What happened was, well... Sirius and I were in a rock band - along with my sister - and we were battling against The Rolling Stones - you know that muggle band?" (Of course). "In a music competition and... They were beating us so Sirius and I jinxed them, and we were caught, and we blamed it on my sister. I woke up just as she was about to be arrested."

Nera had no clue where to begin. A long time ago she'd read in a book about how everybody dreams, just not everybody remembers them. She'd never really been one for remembering her dreams. In fact, now she came to think of it, she couldn't recall any dream she'd ever had.
The good news, on a different note, was that Ada's dream was so odd and confusing that Nera wasn't laughing anymore - she didn't know how to react.

"I know. That's how I felt when I woke up." Ada said in relation to Nera's blank expression.
"But..." Her eyebrows furrowed together, "Do you even know Sirius Black?"
Ada shrugged, then nodded, "I had a very short conversation with him at the party last night. As good looking as the guy is, he isn't half annoying and I don't really want him infesting my dreams."

Then, Nera snickered, "Maybe you have a crush on him."
"Shut up!" Ada swatted her hand at the girl.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you. I don't know how to interpret dreams. Maybe the Astronomy Professor can help you out."
Ada scoffed, "As if I'm telling another soul about this!"

"Well, now I know about it..." Nera smirked, "I can make fun of you for it."
Ada scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Oh, you're too nice to be making threats like that." Then Ada slowly stood up.

Nera snickered again, "Oh, so you leaving is completely unrelated to me making fun of you?"
"Absolutely." Ada nodded in confirmation, "So I'll see you later, alright? And if you're not careful, I'll modify your memory so you won't remember me telling you about my dream."
"Yeah," Nera laughed, "Alright, see you in a bit."

Thinking about Ada's dream again, Nera cupped a hand over her mouth to muffle her snicker and turned back to the Daily Prophet. Slowly, she reread the article on the front page, but still the words didn't quite see me to settle in. The missing muggles and wizards seemed to far away, far away from reality even, that they didn't quite hit home. It was strange to think that, possibly, she could be under threat - that Nera could be one of those people to go missing.
Then her train of thought was interrupted.

"Hey, I was just looking for you." Edgar greeted as he came to a stop in front of Nera, and sat down opposite her at the table.
She replied, "Oh, right," still never unsure of how to respond to that type of remark. Plus, she was still a little caught off guard to quickly reply with a warm greeting.

Edgar didn't seem to notice her awkwardness though, and carried on, "I was just thinking, seen as we never did end up going to Hogsmeade..."
"With Ada?"
"Yeah, with Ada..."
Smiling, Nera explained, "Oh, she was here just a moment ago - you must have just missed her leaving."

"Well," Edgar cleared his throat and looked down at his fidgeting hands in his lap, "I was thinking that maybe, this time, the two of us might go there one weekend?"

Well, why wouldn't Ada come? Nera was just about to ask that. Then she thought that maybe Edgar didn't like Ada. Then Nera understood what was happening.

"Oh."
"Oh?" Edgar asked.

Nera picked up her goblet of water and started to slowly sip water from it - trying to figure out what exactly she wanted to say. Was she making this up? Was she just being narcissistic in thinking that Edgar was asking her out?

"Ada can come too. Yeah, she can. That would be nice." Edgar said as he bit down on the inside of his cheek and blushed vibrantly.
"C-cool." Nera said, her mouth still full of water so she ended up spluttering some of it back into her goblet. Now she felt like she had misinterpreted what Edgar had implied. But then, why did she feel guilty - like she was turning him down?

Merlin, having friends was complicated.

But barely ten minutes later, it was like that first conversation had never taken place as Edgar and Nera were laughing hysterically at some bad joke that one of them had made - neither of them able to catch their breath. All of the complexities of life were so worth it for those dazzling moments of unspoiled joy.