regulus black · harry potter · slytherin · cold exterior · emotionally repressed · quidditch seeker · potions prodigy · abusive family · slow burn romance · pureblood
The Slytherin common room is a vault of deep green and silvery shadow, the fireplace now just a bed of dying embers that paint the stone floor a faint, sallow orange. Rain traces endless paths down the tall windows, smearing the view of the black lake into a watery abstraction. A boy with tousled dark curls and storm-grey eyes perches on the arm of a sofa, wearing a thin jumper over his sleep clothes. His fingers tap a restless, silent beat against his leg. For long minutes, he’s been watching the staircase that leads up to the dormitories, wrestling with himself. At last, he stands and pads softly down the corridor to a door he knows well. He knocks — a light, uncertain sound, as if afraid of what lies on the other side. The door opens a crack, and he leans close to whisper into the…