𝘀𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀: 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀𝘁

𝘄𝗰: 𝟭𝟮𝟲𝟭

"good morning class!" professor slughorn greeted rather over-enthusiastically as he entered the potions classroom.

"we're going to be starting your potions practical for your OWLs today."

the year 5 slytherins let out groans in response.

"you will be working in groups of two..."

excited chatters started to fill the room as the students began to choose their partners.

"...that i have assigned for you," slughorn held out the seating chart in his hands and began to read off it.

"snape and rosier....wilkes with avery....rodolphus lestrange and mulciber....malfoy and narcissa black....and lastly regulus black with y/l/n. now hurry along! chop chop!" the professor waved his hand at the students.

"um hey," y/n smiled at the raven haired boy who was sitting by one of the benches at the back alone.

the boy didn't even lift his head up to look at her, instead, his eyes stayed glued on his potions textbook, not even bothering to reply to the girl.

"right..." y/n pursed a smile as she awkwardly took the seat next to regulus.

"flip your textbooks to page 394, read the instructions then you can start brewing your potions."

"everlasting elixirs," y/n read the title of the chapter.

"i xir do hope we brew this correctly," y/n lightly nudged regulus with her elbow, the boy merely glared at her.

tough crowd eh.

"i can go get the ingredients if-"

regulus shot up from his stool and made his way to the shelf at the side of the classroom where the ingredients were stored.

"or i guess you could too," y/n mumbled.

regulus came back with a huff as he dropped the ingredients on the table.

for the rest of the lesson, y/n and regulus worked in silence, the girl cutting up the ingredients while the boy stirred the cauldron.

when professor slughorn finally dismissed the class, y/n let out a breath of relief.

"oh my godric that was the most awkward 2 hours of my life," y/n whispered complained to narcissa as the two made their way to the great hall.

"he's just really reserved, i'm sure he'll warm up to you as the year continues," narcissa tried to justify her cousin's closed-offness.

"well i hope so," y/n sighed.

but much to y/n's dismay, regulus did not in fact open up to her. potions classes were always spent with the two slytherins working on their own, only coming together to collaborate when they absolutely have to.

no matter how hard y/n tried to get to know him, he just seemed to block her out as much as he could.

"miss y/l/n, mr black, detention tonight after dinner," professor slughorn eyed the two down.

"wait what? we- we didn't even do anything," y/n protested.

"but professor-" regulus spoke up but was quickly cut off.

"both of you. detention, tonight." he repeated himself before walking off to check how the other students were doing.

y/n and regulus both groaned and rolled their eyes.

"we didn't even do anything, what climbed up his ass and died today?" y/n whined, resting her head in her hands as she continued scribbling down notes on her parchment.

regulus let out a small chuckle at her remark.

that was the first and only time in the two months they'd been partners she'd ever heard him chuckle.

y/n lifted her head up to see if it was all just in her head, but the regulus black did indeed just chuckle.

y/n smiled at the boy, and he surprisingly returned it.

maybe regulus was warming up to her after all.

"i'll see you at detention later?" y/n asked as they packed up their things, regulus nodded lightly.

y/n practically skipped out of the classroom hooking arms with narcissa.

"he smiled! he actually smiled" she squealed.

"i told you he'd warm up to you," the two-coloured haired girl giggled at y/n.

after dinner, y/n dragged her feet to the potions classroom, where she was met with regulus who was leaning against the wall, waiting for professor slughorn to arrive.

y/n and the boy shared a quick glance and nodded to acknowledge each other's presence.

"ah! punctual as always you two, come along!" professor hurried down the hallway and unlocked the door to his classroom, ushering the students in.

y/n and regulus sat separately, each at their own bench.

"i don't mean to be disrespectful professor, but why are we here? regulus and i weren't causing trouble in class," y/n frowned.

"well ms y/l/n, mr black, the reason why i paired the class up into groups was so that all of you would work together, and i have noticed that you two are the only ones who don't talk to each other. at all. which defeats the whole purpose of a group project, so i want the two of you to spend this detention session to bond. any questions?"

y/n raised up her hand.

"yes ms y/l/n?"

"can we leave now?"

"ha ha very funny, i have a teachers meeting to attend to and i will be placing a locking charm on the door so don't even try. have fun!" the professor clasped his hands together as he left the classroom.

regulus drummed his fingers on the table.

"so..." y/n broke the silence in the room.

"so..." he repeated.

"why...why do you not like me?" y/n blurted out.

"i never said that?" his eyes narrow slits.

"um yea you do, i've spent the last two months trying to befriend you and you quite literally ignore the shit out of me," y/n scoffed.

"i just..i'm not used to making friends, i never had to because i never wanted to."

"doesn't it get lonely?"

"yea i guess," he shrugged, playing with the rings on his fingers.

y/n stood up from where she was sitting, then walked over to the bench regulus was at and scooted over next to him.

"hey, i'm y/n," she stuck out her hand to the boy.

"i'm regulus," the boy chuckled as he shook her hand.

"nice to meet you," y/n grinned.

the next two hours flew past like nothing.

they chatted about everything and anything.

the two also realised they had a lot more in common than they thought.

they had the same taste in literature, were fans of quidditch, regulus being a seeker himself, and both enjoyed astronomy lessons.

their conversation was soon interrupted when the door clicked open and professor slughorn walked in.

"you two got to know each other better i hope," he raised his eyebrows, seeing the two slytherins that were initially sitting on opposite sides of the classroom now barely inches apart.

the students nodded their heads in response.

"very well, good night you two, better head back to your dorms," he dismissed the two and sat by his desk.

y/n picked up her bag off the floor and slung it over her shoulder, about to walk off when she felt a cold hand on her forearm.

"um hey y/n?"

"hmm?"

"do you wanna um..go to hogsmeade with me on saturday?"

"on a date?"

"if...you want it to," he shrugged.

"i'd like that, goodnight regulus," the girl placed a small kiss on his cheek and hurried out of the classroom.

a small blush rose to regulus' cheeks as he collected his things and walked swiftly towards the exit.

professor slughorn leaned back into his chair, a smug look on his face.

if there was anything he loved more than hosting dinner parties, was playing matchmaker.