Regulus stared at the paper, completely dumbfounded. Oh god, why did I ask it so suddenly? I wanted to scream, to snatch the paper away from him. But that would just prove the monster I was. So instead, I sat there, my face flushing with embarrassment. ‘You want me to teach you how to lip-read?’ he scribbled curiously, shoving the notepad to me so I could read it. I nodded in approval and Regulus leaned forward onto the couch and grabbed the notepad to write something else. Then, he gave me the notepad and I read the contents. ‘Why do you want to learn lip-reading now?’ it read, ‘Is there someone you met? Do you like a boy?’ I shook my head rapidly at the “like” part of the message. It just couldn’t be. I only liked Jack as a friend, a new friend. Not romantically. The only reason I wanted to learn lip-reading was because I wanted to understand people better. Right? I looked back to the time Jack tried flirting with me. It was only about an hour ago, but it felt so real, so promising. Even if I had experienced multiple boys flirting with me, that time would stay with me. Forever. ‘To communicate better’ I finally wrote, my hand shaking from the decision of whether that was the truth. I pushed the note for Regulus to read. His eyes widened at that sentence. ‘But Inka,’ he jotted down, ‘I don’t know a single thing about lip-reading. I think you would be way better than me at it’ ‘I know, but I just need you to… say stuff out loud to me and I try to understand you’ Regulus nodded and gently took the quill from my hand and started writing. ‘Then let’s start now, shall we?’ He turned his face towards me. His black hair almost took over my eyesight. He started moving his mouth, forming words I could not understand. ‘Could you repeat that?’ I printed. Regulus nodded and said the word again. I squinted hard and even tried to repeat the movements of my own mouth but no matter what I couldn’t find out what he was saying. ‘I’ll try something simpler’ Regulus wrote apologetically, then he turned to me and started moving his mouth again. But no matter how much I tried, the only thing I could make out was the “L” sound he was making. ‘What were you trying to say?’ I finally asked on the paper, Regulus looked down and took the quill politely out of my hand. ‘It means hello,’ he wrote kindly, his messy but elegant handwriting fitting into the pages My heart sank at those words. Hello. I couldn’t even read the word ‘hello’ off mouths. How was I supposed to understand full conversations when I couldn’t even understand hello? ‘It’s ok,’ Regulus wrote, noticing my disappointment in myself, ‘let’s just do some more practice’ For the next few hours, I tried to understand what simple words Regulus was saying. Which raised a few eyebrows from our housemates, but they didn’t push it. ‘You did great’ Regulus wrote reassuringly during dinner. Though that was far from the truth. I could barely understand most of the words he was trying to teach me. I sighed, deciding not to say anything. Instead, I looked over to the Ravenclaw table where Luna and Pandora were chatting together. They’re mouths were moving rapidly, but I somehow caught a few words like “wackspurts” and “nargles” Luna’s mouth suddenly stops moving and she glances at me, then looks back. I really messed it up this time. Looking back at Regulus, I suddenly felt a plop beside me as Carlene sat next to me. She looked mischievous as she waved her hand to four boys. One of them was Remus. I immediately felt my heart flutter at the sight of the werewolf scratch on his face and light brown hair. He waved a little once he noticed my presence, his lips tugging into a small smile. Waving back, my face flushing a bit more, but I quickly turned back to hide it, only to witness a notepad being shoved towards my face with Carlene’s handwriting on it. ‘He has a boyfriend, you know’ My face turned into a scowl although I learned the truth about that long ago. Of course Remus Lupin has a boyfriend now; Hermione said that according to old year books, Remus and Sirius have been dating each other since their fifth year. That didn’t mean it still hurt. Regulus must have noticed my sudden shift in mood because he nudged me with his elbow, raising an eyebrow. He didn’t need to write anything down for me to understand what he was asking. Instead, he started changing the subject. Which was very unfortunate. ‘You should really apologize to her, you know?’ He scribbled as he took the paper off my face. ___ Continued in credits
‘Who? Luna?’ ‘Who else am I talking about?’ I blinked. I knew I should apologize to her. After all, I slapped her in the face. I slapped my best friend in the face when she did nothing wrong to me, well, except for turning me into a werewolf that is but it wasn’t really her fault. I didn’t know how to apologize. It felt wrong just going up to Luna and signing “I’m sorry I lost my mind and slapped you in the face when you literally bit me on the arm” That wouldn’t work, not at all. Sighing, I reached my hand out to Regulus, gesturing for another piece of parchment. Regulus reached into his pockets of his robes handed me the parchment without hesitation, his dark eyes watching me carefully. I hesitated before pressing the quill to the paper. ‘I’m sorry’ I read the words over and over again, then folding it into an airplane, I threw it across the hall towards the Ravenclaws. But once I threw it, the regret started ebbing me once I saw Regulus and Carlene’s horrified faces. Soon, Pandora appeared at the Slytherin table in the blink of an eye with the parchment I had just thrown, her face full of rage for someone so young. I began to shake at the sight of Pandora’s face. Her brows were furrowed so much that they could make her soft face look inhuman. A rare scowl was found on her face, as if she was forced to live with her worst enemy for the rest of her life. Snatching the quill from me, she flipped the parchment upside down so my apology wasn’t showing. Then she started writing with full emotion and force. ‘Apologize to the parchment’ I blinked at the message. Apologize to the parchment? What does that even mean? Cautiously, I grabbed the quill from Pandora’s hand. ‘What?’ The scowl on Pandora’s face only deepened as she read the message. She snatched the quill with so much force that I could fall over. This wasn’t like her at all so whatever I did must have been very offensive to her. ‘How would you feel if you were folded and thrown across the Great Hall?’ I stared at Pandora, utterly baffled. My hands trembled slightly as I took back the quill, my mind scrambling for an appropriate response. ‘It’s just a parchment,’ I wrote hesitantly, though the moment the words left my hand, I knew it was a bad idea. Pandora’s nostrils flared. She grabbed the parchment and crumpled it in her fist, then dramatically smoothed it out again as if trying to soothe an insulted friend. She scribbled furiously, pressing so hard I thought the quill might snap in half. ‘And you are just a person, but you wouldn’t like it if someone threw you, would you?’ I swallowed hard, my hands tightening into fists under the table. Maybe Luna and Pandora weren’t the same after all… I took back the quill, unsure of what to say. ‘I didn’t mean to offend the parchment,’ I wrote, feeling ridiculous. Pandora nodded seriously. ‘Good, now go apologize to Luna in-person without hurting any parchments’ I let out a slow breath and stood, my legs shaking beneath me. The entire Great Hall didn’t fall silent or anything—thank God—but a few people definitely noticed as I made my way toward the Ravenclaws. ‘Luna,’ I signed, tapping her shoulder. Luna turned back to face me, her face at an expression as if I didn’t punch her in the face earlier today. ‘What do you want from me?’ She signed kindly to me, although the words were meant to be for irritated and annoyed people. ‘I just wanted to say sorry for what I did to you this morning’ Luna only just gave her dreamy smile at those words. ‘Oh, you mean you slapping me? That was actually kind of nice and refreshing’ I froze for a moment, unsure if she actually signed those words correctly. ‘Nice and refreshing?’ I echoed, my hands moving with unease; how could someone think that being slapped was nice and refreshing? But then again, this was Luna I was talking to, of course she would think that being slapped was nice and refreshing. At least, that’s what her thinking process was before all this mess happened. ‘But, you bit me. You turned me into a werewolf even if you had no control of yourself. I slapped you over something you definitely wouldn’t do if you were in control’ Luna blinked, her wide blue eyes looking at me with so much calmness that it imitated me. ‘But it was still nice and refreshing’ I was at a loss for words. Luna’s response was the last thing I expected. She didn’t seem angry, didn’t even seem upset, which made me feel even more confused. How could she not mind? How could she not be angry after everything that had happened? ‘So, you forgive me?’ ‘Of course I do!’ Sighing, I looked at Luna dead in the eye to see signs of lying. But there wasn’t any. ‘Alright if you say so’ I turned and walked away, a heavy weight lifting from my shoulders. Maybe that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. _________ Carlene: @Carli_Weasley
