April 30th - Muggle London 

Regulus Black had been talking to Ella Rusek almost every day, sneaking off to Hogsmeade to use the phone in the Hog's Head. Thankfully for him, the remaining Death Eaters in school were all too busy with their NEWTs, since they were in their final year, to notice his absence from the common room. 

That's how he found himself in front of Ella's apartment complex that Sunday, wearing some clothes he had borrowed from Sirius, to make him appear more muggle. He did indeed have to go through the humiliation of asking his brother for them, and then have to endure all the marauders teasing, but it appeared as though Sirius knew what he was doing, for he no longer stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the other people walking around. 

He did feel slightly uncomfortable wearing Sirius's jeans, and a long-sleeved shirt that was too casual for Regulus's liking, but he assumed that showing up in what he wore around Grimmauld Place wouldn't exactly be appropriate. 

Checking his watch, he furrowed his eyebrows once he saw the time. He and Ella had agreed to meet under her apartment at eleven, and it was now ten past and the girl had yet to come down. Guilt and doubt started to fill him, wondering if maybe the girl had realized that she had better things to do, but then he heard the door open, "Sorry I'm late, I couldn't find the cat and I was worried she'd run off," 

Letting out a relieved sigh, the boy shook his head, "No worries," he said hurriedly, "I hope you don't think I'm too forward, coming here, that is, but I finished the book and I wanted to return it," 

"Don't worry, you're not forward at all Mr. Posh man," teased the girl, "Besides, anyone who sneaks out of their school in Scotland and travels back to London to see me is definitely worth my time," 

"Believe me, the trip was easier than you think," joked the boy with himself, thinking about apparition 

Ella led them down a busy street, Regulus following just a beat behind her as he didn't know his way around, "You look different today," she commented, looking at him from the side of her eye 

"Oh yeah, I borrowed some clothes from my brother, actually, figured they'd make me blend in better," 

The girl led them to a nearby park, and they both sat down on one of the benches, letting the sun hit their faces, "I didn't know you had a brother," replied the girl, twisting around so she was facing him, "Is he going into politics as well?" 

Ella had realized from the very first moment that the subject of family was a sore one from Regulus, especially since apparently, his father was forcing him into a career he didn't want. However, she felt as though Regulus was keeping something from her, something big, and she wanted to find out what. 

Of course, she didn't blame him. They hardly knew each other, and it's not like she had already told him everything private about her life. Luckily for her, the boy didn't seem to mind her prying, "No, no, Sirius, he got out of it all much earlier than me," explained the wizard 

"How come?" 

Regulus, for once in his life, did not mind thinking back to the year when Sirius ran away from home, "He ran away, quite literally, when he was sixteen, to one of his friends' houses. It put a strain on our relationship for a bit but we've mended it recently," 

The girl did not miss the small smile on his face when he said that last phrase, "That's good to hear," she smiled, "And no siblings have a perfect relationship, anyways. My brother and I fight more than we hold actually conversations," 

Regulus couldn't help but snort at that, "Sirius and I wouldn't even talk to each other at some point. He uh, he thought I was too similar to their parents, that I believed what they believed in," 

"And did you?" dared to ask Ella, shuffling closer to him 

The boy sighed, not wanting to lie but slightly ashamed of the truth as well, "For a while, I suppose I did. My parents were rather harsh on Sirius whenever he spoke up, and I'd see the way they treated him and quiet down, pretending to agree with them. After a while, I guess I just lost track of which thoughts were my own, and which weren't," 

From the way, he was talking, and the way his eyes slightly became unfocused at the mention of his parents, Ella could tell that perhaps the boy's parents were a little more than 'harsh', but she decided not to push further, "So he's older than you then? Sirius- God that's another weird name," 

The wizard, thankful for the change in subject, let out a small laugh, "My entire family's named after stars, suppose it's tradition or something," 

"Traditions in my family include fighting over the leftovers," joked the girl, and Regulus laughed, refraining from saying something darker than that 

They walked for a very long time, in and out of different stores and cafés, Regulus having some trouble pretending as though he knew his way around muggle money. Ella led them both into a record store, one that she apparently frequented in since the owner greeted her when she walked in, "My dad wouldn't like to find me here," she mused, sifting through records, "He thinks music is a waste of money, even though I pay for it through my job," 

"Trust me, my father wouldn't be too keen to see me in here," snorted the wizard, once again the sentence having a double meaning only he understood, "What's this Pink Floyd?" 

Apparently, that band was rather popular in the muggle world, for when Ella heard the question, she let out an involuntary laugh, "You weren't kidding when you said your school doesn't have any modern elements, huh?" 

"I suppose I'm pretty out of touch," shrugged the boy, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly 

"Come here," she said, moving to a record player in the corner and placing the record on it 

Smooth music filled the space, making the wizard tap his foot to the beat slightly while Ella had taken to singing the lyrics softly, "I thought you said you were more of a literature person," he teased 

"That doesn't mean I can't listen to music," smiled the girl 

Regulus watched as Ella moved between the different stands, singing softly to the music and looking at different albums, "What?" she asked, noticing his gaze on her, "And I swear if you say some cheesy shit-" 

His laugh cut her off, "I was going to say that I'm happy I decided to come here today," he said pointedly, "But now that you said cheesy-" 

The girl ran up to him, slapping a hand on his mouth, "You're doing really wel today, posh boy, don't ruin it," 

Putting his hands up in surrender, he couldn't help but let his eyes flicker down to her lips for only a single second, the girl taking her hand off his mouth, "Is this the part where we kiss and it's all romantic?" asked Ella, although the blush on her cheeks juxtaposed the confidence of her words 

"It's cute how you blush," he teased, leaning back against the wall and raising an eyebrow 

Regulus had his fair experience with girls, definitely not as much as Sirius had, and definitely not girlfriends, but he wasn't completely clueless. Judging by Ella's reaction, on the other hand, and the way the typically confident girl turned into a blushing mess under his eyes, she didn't, and it was far too amusing for him to end, "Shut up," she muttered, going on her tiptoes and pressing a soft kiss to his lips, the boy reciprocating eagerly 

A cough coming from the owner of the store broke them apart a few seconds later, and the two looked at each other and laughed, the boy grabbing the girl's hand and running out of the store, "Great, I don't think I can go back there anymore," she huffed once they were a safe distance away 

"Are you complaining?" he asked

"Definitely not," stated the girl, "Come on, I'm starving," 

Refraining from making a dirty comment, the wizard allowed Ella to pull him into one of the main and busiest streets, until they stopped in front of a restaurant, "McDonald's'?" he asked, never having heard the name 

"Just opened here in the UK, it's from the States," 

Regulus trying to figure out his way around the 'fast food' restaurant, as Ella had called it, was a show in itself. From choosing something to eat from the rather lengthly menu to pay for both his and Ella's food using muggle money that he still couldn't figure out, to having to act normal so that the girl he was with did not understand that he was way out of his depth. 

Sitting on one of the booths, Ella suppressed a smile as she saw the boy in front of her try to eat the burger he had chosen. She knew that he was from a very different background than hers, the rings on his fingers probably cost more than her father made in a month, but it was almost comical how out of touch he was with reality. 

She knew there was more to him than what he showed like he had some sort of grand secret he couldn't divulge even if he wanted to, but at the same time, that didn't make her distrustful of him, "Try the mayo," she said, and then proceeded to explain when she saw his questioning expression, "You put it on the bread," 

"This is really good," said the boy, after swallowing his first bite, "And the food was ready so quickly too, amazing," 

"You're acting as though you've never had fast food before," 

Smiling sheepishly, the boy racked his brain to think of an excuse that didn't make him seem like an upper-class asshole, "I just typically either eat at home or at school, I don't really go out for food," 

"Well you should, because this-" she picked up a chicken nugget and showed it to him, "Is heaven, and ridiculously cheap too," 

Other than that, lunch went by smoothly, with Ella laughing too hard at how fascinated Regulus seemed to be with McDonald's. In his defense, the food tasted so fake it was actually good, and the whole concept was all too interesting to the boy for him to be able to regulate his reactions. 

Leaving the restaurant, heavy with food and smiles on their faces, Regulus soon realized that the area they were in was not one where someone ought to let their guard down. They passed by a group of older guys working some construction, most of which were on break, and found it greatly amusing to start whistling and calling out to Ella. 

The wizard put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him, with all intent to ignore the roadmen and simply keep walking, until one of them stood up. 

Grabbing the back of Regulus's shirt, one of the men tugged him back, "C'mon lad, what is with the arm around her waist, aye? Didn't mummy ever tell you that sharing is caring?" 

"It would be in your best interest to let go of my shirt," spoke Regulus, twisting around so he was facing the man and putting himself in front of Ella 

"Now why would I do that?" taunted the older man, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and throwing it on the ground 

Because I can literally kill you with a wave of my hand, "Because you're obviously drunk, something rather unbecoming given the fact that it's the middle of the day and you're working," 

Ella sucked in a breath, knowing this was about to escalate, "Reg, let's just go," 

Looking down at the scared girl, the wizard sighed, tugging his shirt out of the man's grasp and, no matter how much he was itching for a fight, he turned around and kept walking, "What is huh? Leaving with your tail between your legs?" 

Regulus's initial plan was indeed to keep walking and ignore the construction worker, knowing that there was no reasoning with people such as him. All thoughts of that went out the window, however, when the man tried to grab Ella's arm. Luckily, the girl moved before he could, but Regulus saw red at that moment. 

Ella knew that she should pull Regulus away from the other man, but if she was honest, the sight of the raven-haired boy getting protective and angry over her was all too pleasing. 

In retrospect, maybe she should've stepped in and tried to do something, for the fight had indeed escalated rather rapidly, so much so that she heard some people yelling, before the distinct, "Break it up! Break it up there!" coming from two policemen 

"Shit, Reg, we have to go," she said, tugging the boy's arm, "Come on,"

They weren't fast enough, though, and that's how they found themselves in the back of a police car, being driven to the station, while the other man was in a car behind them, "Shit, what do we do?" asked Regulus, slightly panicking since he had no idea how muggle police worked 

"Alright, relax, the asshole probably won't even want to press charges, he's the one that started it anyway," explained Ella, "The thing is, they're going to want to call our parents since we're underage, and my dad can't find me here," 

At the mention of his parents, the wizard's blood ran cold, even though he knew that there was no way the police could grab ahold of Walburga and Orion, "I can't call mine either, I'm supposed to be in Scotland, remember?" 

"Will it really be that bad if they find out you sneaked out?" 

Oh, yes, "Trust me, you don't want them to find out where I am at the moment," the boy groaned, "I'm sorry for getting us into this," 

"Don't worry," laughed Ella, "All in a day's work, besides, it was hot," 

The boy too laughed, before the car arrived at the station and the policeman ushered them in, "What about your brother?" asked the girl, "You said he's older, right? So he's an adult, technically," 

"He's also an idiot," muttered Regulus, but then an idea popped into his mind, "But one of my close friends isn't," 

Nephera was in the boy's dorm, quizzing Peter on Herbology while revewing her notes for ancient runes at the same time, "How do you deal with the root of Artea, when it's dehydrated and overexposed to..." her voice trailed off when she heard Regulus's voice in her head, 'You know how I said I'd be visiting Ella today?' 

Tapping the rune on her bracelet thrice, she thought, 'What happened?' knowing that Regulus wouldn't be contacting her if it wasn't anything serious 

'Do not react, and for the love of fuck, do not tell Sirius, but we got arrested,' 

Regulus and Ella were in one of the interrogation rooms, waiting for someone to come in, "Don't you want to call that friend of yours?" she asked 

"Oh uh, I called while you asked to go to the bathroom," he found an excuse hurriedly, "She'll be here soon," 

"From Scotland?" asked Ella, guessing that Regulus's friend was someone from school 

Once again, the wizard was reminded that not everyone can apparate in and out of places, as he struggled to find another excuse, "No, no, she was in London for the weekend, we came down together today," 

The girl nodded, "God, you're really stressed, aren't you?" she teased 

"We were arrested!"

In reality, the boy could've very easily gotten out of there, with a simply Imperio or confundo, but he couldn't exactly reveal the wizarding world to the girl next to him. More so, if they asked for their names, to search them on the system, there was no record of Regulus in the muggle world. 

A gruff looking policeman, with a comically large mustache, entered the room, sitting down on the table across from them, "IDs," he ordered 

Ella immediately reached into her pocket, pulling out her wallet. Since she wasn't part of the actual fight, they hadn't stripped her off her belonging like they did with Regulus, "Ella Rusek," announced the police officer, looking at the photo on her ID and then at the girl, "And you? We didn't find one on you," 

"Oh yeah, I didn't have it with me today," said Regulus, trying to buy time, "Should you even be doing this without a guardian present, we are minors," 

"Stop giving me cheek young man. Name," he demanded 

"Regulus Black," 

The young wizard knew it was futile, for there was no record of him, but still, he thought it best to simply act clueless, "I can't find you in the system," 

"I don't have any felonies," rebutted the wizard, probably with more sass than he would've liked 

"Not that kind of system," replied the police officer 

Ella was looking at the boy next to her questionably. He was a British citizen, so it was impossible for him to not have a record. A dash of fear passed through her, what if he had given her a fake name? What if everything about him was fake, and she'd be walking around with a psychopath all day? 

All of a sudden, the door opens and a woman walks in, "There a Nephera Winchester here for these two, says she wishes to speak to you," 

"That your friend?" asked the girl, and the boy nodded

"She'll get us out, don't worry," 

The police officer looked between them, and then back at the woman, "Let her come in, there's some problems with this one that I need to figure out," 

"This room," called out the woman, and then Nephera entered 

The brunette had probably been spending far too much time with the marauders, for typically, the image of one of her close friends in a muggle prison wouldn't be so funny. But seeing Regulus handcuffed to a desk, trying to appear nonchalant and calm was all too appealing to her humor, "Hello," she said, walking in, "I would've liked to speak to you in private," 

When Regulus revealed that this 'close friend' was a girl, Ella couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. She really liked the boy, but she couldn't deny that they didn't have too much in common. So the fact that he had a friend, who was a girl, who went to the same school as he did annoy her a bit. 

Adding on the fact that the girl that had just walked in there looked as though she had walked straight out of a photoshoot for a high-fashion magazine, yes, Ella definitely felt jealous. 

Nephera knew exactly was she was doing. Everything from the sickly sweet smile she sent towards the policeman, to the way she was looking at him from under her lashes was carefully constructed to get him to follow her out of the room, at which point she could use the imperious curse and get the two teenagers out of there. 

As usual with all her plans, it worked, "Right, let's go outside," coughed the man 

The morality of casting the Imperius curse was rather tangible. Taking away someone's free will was never allowed, but then again, it's not like the Slytherin was making him do something embarrassing or bad, she just wanted to get Regulus out of prison and back to Hogwarts, before any of the Death Eaters there knew he was missing and questioned it. 

To say that Ella was surprised when the police officer walked in and handed Regulus back his belongings, telling them that they were free, was an understatement. She was silent as she walked out, trying to figure out how it was possible that Regulus's friend somehow managed to get them off the hook without so much as a slap on the wrist, "Salazar, I love you, Neph," breathed Regulus, when they were finally out of the station, tucking a weird looking stick (in Ella's opinion) into his back pocket and covering it with his shirt

"Yeah, that was uh, that was pretty cool," she muttered, feeling suddenly out of place 

Nephera smiled at the girl, "I do have my ways," she mused, "And it's great to finally meet you, I've heard a lot from Reg," 

"Reg, huh?" mumbled the muggle 

Nephera smirked at the younger wizard, raising an eyebrow while he mimicked her expression, "Ella, love, meet Nephera, my brother's girlfriend," 

Upon hearing this, her expression turned from a frown to a relieved smile, "oh, oh," she laughed, "God, that's the best thing I've ever heard," 

Her expression changed once again when her words registered in her ears, "I mean, not that- you're just-" she breathed, "When Reg said close friend I didn't expect you- you're just really pretty," 

"Well, if it counts for anything, I think you're really pretty too,"  smiled the witch, "Don't worry, he's all yours, but unfortunately, we need to leave before anyone at the school realizes we're gone," 

"Right, of course," said Ella, smiling brightly, "It was great to meet you, and uh, I'll talk to you Reg?" 

The boy smiled down at her, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head, "I'll visit again at some point, you'd be surprised how quick the journey feels," he said, making Nephera suppress a laugh at the hidden joke 

A/N

3.6k words 

did i write this chapter because i saw a post on instagram that said that mcdonald's came to the uk in the 70s? yes, yes i did because i found the idea of regulus trying it too funny 

don't forget to comment and vote! 

xx