the salt and the sea → regulus black

traitor.

"It's open!" She calls without turning, figuring it's one of the younger girls coming looking for something.

When the door creaks open, however, it's Regulus Black that slips into the room.

Teddy whirls away from the mirror sharply, mouth dropping open in shock from the sight of him. "What the hell are you doing here?" She asks blankly, bewildered to see him in the middle of the Gryffindor girl's dormitory.

"Your friends let me in." He says, casting a bored look around at the furniture and decorations. He doesn't look particularly impressed by what he's seeing. In fact, there's something quite odd about his expression — the set of his jaw is strained and he looks almost too blank, as though he's trying too hard not to show any emotion.

Teddy is momentarily distracted by the idea that Mary and Alice had met Regulus Black outside the common room and had let him in. "What?" She asks, a little aghast and trying to hide it. "Why would they do that?"

"I told them I had to talk to you."

"Fuck. They're never going to let this go, now." Teddy groans, wiping a hand over her face. She's had a feeling that the girls might have an idea that something is going on between her and Regulus, and surely this will have only confirmed it for them. Merlin, but they're going to be insufferable after this. Still though, she steps towards him with a grin and steps up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips — she doubts they have enough time to do anything, but she can't stop thinking about last night and he's so pretty that she can't resist.

Regulus kisses her back for only a moment, his fingers coming up to brush gently over her cheek. It's a much briefer and sweeter kiss than they usually share, and when he pulls away from her mouth his gaze drops to her neck where she's managed to conceal at least half of the marks he had made the night before. Usually he would smirk when he catches a glimpse of any evidence of their time together, but this time his expression stays carefully blank.

"What's up with you?" Teddy asks, tilting her head. "You're being weird. Weirder than normal, I mean."

The door clicks quietly closed behind him as he steps properly into the room. Teddy steps back to give him space as he digs in the pocket of his robes for a moment before pulling something out and tossing it at her. Something soft hits her chest, and she manages to catch it before it falls to the ground. Once she has it in her hands, she stares at the fabric a little blankly.

They're her purple knickers, the pair they had been joking about just the night before.

"What, you get bored with them?" She asks with a confused grin, tossing them carelessly into her trunk.

"I got bored with you."

Teddy just tilts her head, nonplussed. "What are you talking about?"

"The whole thing was Alecto's idea, at first." Regulus steps further into the room, casting a disdainful eye over her messy bed and trunk, which is still only half-packed. "She can be cruel like that, sometimes. But once the idea was proposed, the others thought it would be funny to watch it play out. Sorry for keeping the knickers for so long — Amycus insisted. Said he wanted proof that I actually went through with it."

Teddy just watches him as he steps around the room. A cold, anxious feeling is beginning to brew in her stomach. "Black," She says carefully. "I don't understand what you mean."

"Fuck, you're slow." He sighs, running a hand frustratedly through his hair. He turns then, and sends a baleful look in her direction. "How are you not getting this? It was all just for a laugh, Potter."