Cats and Dogs

Chapter 16

“Sneaking out of the castle after hours? You’re quite the rebel, Regulus.” I smirked as we left the castle and began walking towards the Black Lake.
He rolled his eyes, “Don’t get used to it. I’m happy to say Sirius soaked up all the rebellious gene…” he snickered.
“You all really hate him… don’t you? I mean, you and your family.”
He sighed and had a slight scowl on his face as he stared at the ground, “He always was disrespectful… never did as our parents said. Always went against them-”
“Well, Sirius and I don’t exactly see eye-to-eye but… your parents… aren’t they supporters of Vol-”
“Is that what my brother told you?” he asked cutting me off, slightly angry. He sighed, “Look… I don’t want to talk about Sirius or my parents views. Everything is just a bit too complicated and things are just too…” he sighed once more. “I just wanted to talk about you this evening…” he looked away and smiled lightly, “And enjoy the view.”
I turned to see what he was looking at and my breath caught in my throat. The Black Lake and the deep, dark night sky faded into each other in the deep distance and because of the bright stars and full moon it made the lake also look like the night sky and it just looked… magical.
“Regulus…” I was smiling brightly, “Its beautiful.” I let out a soft breath.
He was smiling, liking my reaction and then sat down a few feet away from the shore and then patted the grass signaling for me to sit down. I did as he wanted and tilted my head slightly.
He was watching me, saying and doing nothing, just watching me deeply with those dark mysterious eyes that sent waves of emotions through me like bolts of lightning. Regulus began to lean and I smiled inside, knowing what would happen. My stomach was churning with excitement and nerves. He tilted his head slightly as our lips met. Soft and tender were the words to describe this kiss. It was nice and sent a warm feeling throughout my limbs which relaxed all my tense muscles.
I felt his finger tips brush my hair away and then felt it relax on my neck, sending another jolt of warmth through me. His lips still moved against mine smoothly and tenderly and then he pulled away slowly.
I sighed in content and he smiled lightly and then he looked up at the sky. I looked up at the moon and smiled, “I love the full moon.” Regulus said softly. He looked calm and relaxed now, staring up at the moon, when at school he always looked tense, angry, annoyed, and aloof.
I smiled lightly, “Mm-hm… It’s beautiful-” I froze and then stared at the full moon.
The full moon.

The full moon.

“Oh… shit.” I breathed.
“What?” Regulus’s eye brows furrowed as he took his eyes off the full moon and let them land on my now panicked face. “Amilia, what is it-”
“I - I - it’s - We have to get back in the castle!” I stood up and my eyes quickly shot to the Whomping Willow to see that it was still. I squinted my eyes and saw movement and my breath hitched. “Lets go! Now!” I turned around and grabbed Regulus and pulled him to his feet as he looked at me like I as mental.
“What’s going on with you? What is it?” His asked as I grabbed his hand tightly and then began tugging him towards the castle.
“Uh, well, it’s just… I… I have a huge potions test tomorrow. I totally forgot about it - just, I think we should reschedule this rendezvous-” there was a loud howl and I felt Regulus freeze.
Regulus’s hand went up and he pointed towards the Whomping Willow, “It came from over there.” When another howl filled the air Regulus quickly pulled out his wand and we bolted into a run towards the castle. I saw something move ahead and quickly stopped, causing Regulus to bump into me. He leaned forward while squinting his eyes, “Is that a stag?”
My eyes widened when I saw James standing there looking like a deer caught in headlights. His eyes were wide and he was completely still as he stared at us. Then, suddenly he jolted towards us, he moved so fast that if it weren’t for my fast cat-like reflexes (literally), he would have tackled me, instead of his intended target; Remus - who had ran up behind us.
Regulus stumbled back and when he got his balance back, he ran over to me, “Are you alright?” he asked. I nodded and turned to see James pushing Remus away from us with his prongs. “Its like he’s trying to protect us.”
“He better.” I mumbled. I then quickly stood up with Regulus’s help and then grabbed his hand, “Come on.” we then ran back to the castle.
We were panting hard once we reached the safety behind the closed doors of the castle and Regulus was looking at me with slight suspicion. “How did you know we had a werewolf on campus?” he asked, crossing his arms.
I smiled weakly and rubbed the back of my neck, and then shrugged nonchalantly, “A few months ago, I looked out my window and just happened to see it. Completely coincidental.” I smiled, hoping he would buy it. Luckily he did.
He nodded and wrapped his arm around my shoulders and we began to quickly walk towards the main staircases. “Well, sorry I picked the wrong night.” he smiled weakly.
I shrugged and smiled comfortly, “It’s alright. It was beautiful… for the five minutes we were there.”
He chuckled lightly, “So, you seem to think you know about my family, but I, to be honest, know nothing about yours. I mean… you did say… that bit about your parents… but before, what did they do?” he seemed really nervous talking about my parents and that eased the saddened feeling I had, just a bit.
“Well, my mother was originally a teacher at my school, but then became an Auror to fight along side my dad.” I smiled weakly. I really didn’t like talking about my parents, and though it might be awful - I really didn’t like to think of them either. Thinking about them and all the good things did make me smile, but then an overwhelming sad feeling would consume me and put me into a short depression. “They also wanted to fight along side my brother, Alastor, but he likes flying solo - he’s a mad man.”
He smirked, “So it runs in the family, I see.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, “Oh ha - ha.”
We now reached the bottom of the staircase - we would have to part, he would go down to the dungeon and I would go to the seventh floor. He looked around, sweeping the area, and then quickly leaned in and stole a kiss. He was about to pull away but I quickly entangled my fingers in his hair and made sure he kept his lips against mine. I felt him smile into the kiss and slowly his arms slithered around my waist to bring my body closer to his.
“Well, well, well.” We quickly pulled away, my eyes quickly flew to the tall, skinny figure dressed in black robes. His hair was long, greasy, and as black as his eyes.
“Snape.” Regulus said with mutual respect, though there was slight annoyance in his tone.
“Black.” Snape’s eyes narrowed. I guess to him, whether the Black brother’s hated each other or not, did not matter to him, but he was looking down at him like he would Sirius.
I looked over at the badge on his chest, “Oh, you’re a prefect, Severus?”
His black eyes shot to me, “That is the least of your worries at the moment.” He was glaring at me and was particularly cold. “Neither of you have the authority to be out at this hour. And what I caught you both doing…” he looked at Regulus. “How all the Slytherins react? And if your parents ever found out-”
His eyes widened and he reached for his wand, but I quickly grabbed his wrist to stop him and then turned to Snape. “Severus,” I shook my head, slightly confused at his sudden conniving persona. Was I mistaken? I had thought Severus and I were on good terms, or at least mutual terms. I did, after all, stun Sirius to help him. “What’s gotten into you?”
He scowled at me, “You’re a hypocrite, Moody. And I was wrong to listen to you that night.” My mind flashed back to the night I told him to back off of Lily. But how did that make me a hypocrite?
“Oi!” Regulus and I turned around to see James running over, out of breath, with a small scratch on his face. “What’s going on here?” he asked slowing down to a halt. His jaw clenched when his eyes fell on Severus.
Snape’s body went completely rigid as he sent deep, angry, and loathing glares to James. “Nothing to do with you, Potter.” he spat his name like he had just swallowed venom.
James took a step forward and crossed his arms, “These are my friends- well,” he looked at Regulus with a raised eyebrow, “not you… but Whiskers is! So, if you have a problem with her, you have a problem with me.”
“Oh, I have always had a problem with you, Potter.” Severus also took a threatening step forward.
James quickly whipped out his wand and held it threateningly under Severus’s throat. “Stop!” Lily came running down the hall over to us. “James! Put your wand away! Now!”
But James didn’t budge, nor did Severus. In a sudden movement and blur, Severus had his wand out and against James’s throat, as well. Severus smirked wickedly.
“Stop!” Lily shouted, shoving herself in-between them both, but turned her attention to Severus, causing James’s face to twist in anger and jealousy. “Severus… please. Just stop this. We used to be friends-”
“Exactly. Used to be. But then you changed.” his eyes flew to me with a cold, dark glare, “And she came. And now…” his eyes fell back on Lily’s face and his expression softened slightly and saddened. “You don’t even look at me.” Her shoulders fell and Lily’s eyes began to water and she took a step back, causing James to stumble back.
“Severus-”
“Just,” Snape’s eyes looked around at us and he shook his head and scowled, “just forget it.” he lowered his wand as did James. He quickly turned on his heel and walked away.
Without looking at any of us, Lily quickly walked away, back down the hall she came from. James sighed and then ran after a few seconds later, leaving Regulus and I there, alone.
“Sorry about that.” I mumbled turning to him. His face was blank, but anger bubbled in his eyes and he just stood there, not looking at me. “Regulus?”
“We’re going to have to end this.” he stated, finally turning to look at me. His face became cold, it was like the time I bumped into him. “No one - especially any Slytherin - was supposed to find out. And, now, he’s threatening to tell, not only my friends, but my parents as well!”
I shook my head, “No, Regulus, he wont tell. He doesn’t want to get on your bad side - he’s just trying to get back at me. And I don’t even think he’ll do that, he’s quite fond of Lily, so he wouldn’t want to upset her, and if he tries to ruin my life, that will upset her, so, ultimately, I don’t think he will do anything.” I took a deep breath and then exhaled.
Regulus seemed to be in thought for a while and then sighed deeply, “Alright… but if I think, at all, that he has plans to tell…” he sighed again, “its over.”
I nodded solemnly and Regulus’s eyes flew around, this time sweeping the area longer and finally quickly kissed me once more before turning around and walking down the steps to the dungeon.
I sighed then smiled and began to climb the stairs.