***

Alexandra's sixth year at Hogwarts was approaching and so Edna and her had gone to Diagon Alley that day to buy her new school books. Edna usually went to Diagon Alley for the shopping all on her own, but Alexandra had grown a lot over that last year and so was in dire need of new school robes as well.

They had entered Madam Malkin's robe shop. The place was full of young kids that were starting their first year at Hogwarts soon. After entering the shop, one of Madam Malkin's assistants led Alexandra toward a stool and instructed her to stand up on it so she could take her measurements.

"Miss Starling, do you think you be all right here on your own?" Edna asked her. "I better go get your school books while you're here. It would save us some time."

"Yes, Mamma. Go ahead." Alexandra gave her a reassuring smile and so Edna left the shop, disappearing from sight.

Alexandra let out a small sigh as the witch was now measuring her arm, placing a few pins in to mark her new black robe. But just then Alexandra's eyes darted up and her heart leaped when she saw a boy with black hair and grey eyes pass the shop.

"Regulus..." Alexandra muttered under her breath.

"Excuse me?" The witch who was measuring her arm raised a brow at her, stopping momentarily.

"Sorry, I'll be back in a minute," Alexandra said without thinking twice about it, and then before the witch could stop her, she took off the black cloak briskly and ran toward the shop's door.

"Miss, wait! Miss!" the witch shouted after her, but Alexandra was already gone.

As quick as humanly possible, Alexandra went outside and looked all around the alley, until she finally spotted Regulus walking down the alleyway.

"Regulus!" Alexandra called him out as she started running after him, dodging the people on her way so she wouldn't bump into anyone. "Regulus, wait up!"

Upon hearing someone calling out his name, Regulus finally came to a stop and turned around, a smile forming on his lips the moment he sighted the girl running toward him, her raven black hair flying behind her.

"Alex?" he said in surprise, taken aback to see her there. But then he shook his head and his smile disappeared from his face when he remembered the last encounter they had with each other back at Hogwarts.

On the night which they had their Astronomy exam for their O.W.Ls last year, Alexandra had followed Regulus down to the dungeons and they had walked into an empty classroom, where she finally got him to confess everything.

He had told her how he was ordered to get closer to her, so he could convince her to willingly join the Dark Lord. For some reason, Lord Voldemort didn't want to get her on his side by force.

Regulus had told Alexandra that he didn't know why the Dark Lord wanted her as one of his Death Eaters, but all he knew was that it had something to do with her parents, who had been murdered fifteen years ago.

Although certain pieces of this puzzle was still missing; why were her parents killed in the first place? What did the Lord Voldemort want with her? Her grandfather was a Death Eater, but what else was he hiding?

Regulus had confessed that night to her that he had started liking Alexandra, and that was why he wanted her to stay away from him, because she was safer this way.

     At the time, Alexandra did want to stay away from him. But now that she had seen him again after so long, it was as if her feelings were resurfacing from the depths of her fragile heart.

"Hey," Alexandra said as she finally reached him, coming to a halt.

She didn't know what to expect of him. Was he going to answer back with a smile, as if they never had a fight? Or was he going to ignore her and walk away, like last year had never happened and they'd never shared a friendship?

But what Regulus did next caught her completely off guard.

He glanced around him carefully as if he were searching for someone, and the next moment, he suddenly took a firm hold on her upper arm and started dragging her away.

"Ouch! Where are you going!?" Alexandra hissed at him with a frown, but Regulus didn't stop walking as he kept his grip on her so tightly that she couldn't get away from him.

He didn't even utter a single word all the while he was dragging her, until he finally came to a stop and let go of her when they reached a dark and deserted alleyway that could be led to Knockturn Alley.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Alexander snapped, glaring at him as she placed a hand over her hurting arm and started gently rubbing it over her sleeve.

"Look, before you say anything," Regulus started, still glancing back and forth toward the alley to check for eavesdroppers, "I want to apologize."

Alexandra gulped, watching him nervously. "A-apologize?"

"Yes, I owe you one." He nodded, looking more guilty than she had ever seen him. "I'm sorry for lying to you. I'm sorry for playing you and leading you on, but you have to understand that at the time when I agreed to the mission, I didn't know you well and I was just trying to prove myself worthy to my friends."

"Friends?" Alexandra repeated, folding her arms. "You call Avery, Mulciber, and Snape your friends? You mean your Death Eater buddies?"

Regulus took a back, gaping at her. "H-how did you —?"

"I know a lot more than you give me credit for," Alexandra said sternly. "Is that what you really believe in? That all Muggles and Muggle-borns should be wiped from the face of earth!? Is that what you're fighting for!? Is that why you joined them!?"

"It's not that I want them to die! That's not the point of it!" Regulus retorted, growing irritated. "You don't understand. What the Dark Lord wants is to make us separate from them. They are a danger to our kind. They hate magic and everything related to it, just because they fear what they cannot understand! They used to hunt witches and wizards down and kill them!"

"That was centuries ago!" Alexandra tried to argue back.

"But what if it happens again!?" He shook his head, letting out a sigh. "The Dark Lord is just trying to insure that it never does. It's all about Pure-blood supremacy."

"But... they kill and torture innocent people, Reggie..." Alexandra whispered, the sense of sadness filling her up as she looked up at him.

But Regulus only smiled. "I'm not going to hurt anyone. I promise."

Alexandra wanted to tell him that he was wrong. That he had no choice. Lord Voldemort could easily force him into killing and torturing innocent people, and Regulus wasn't going to have a say in the matter; because he either served him, or died.

But it was all too late. He had already pledged his loyalty to the Dark Lord by becoming a Death Eater.

     "I really wish you'd never started hanging out with Avery and Mulciber in the first place," Alexandra muttered under her breath as she threw her gaze down. "Maybe that way they could've never talked you into joining."

    "They didn't force me into it," Regulus said, though he didn't sound too reassuring. "Besides... who else did I have?"

     At those words, Alexandra glanced up at him again. "You had me," she whispered.

     Regulus fell silent at first, his heart aching at the hurt look on her face. But then he shook his head regretfully.

     "You and I had never gotten off to a good start because of my intentions," he said sorrowfully. "But trust me, if right now there was any way I could turn back the time to the moment we met... Well... just know that things would've been different."

     "We didn't really have the best start though, did we?" Alexandra giggled at the memory. "I doubt that we would've had a better relation after the way we met."

     "You mean how you blew up your Potion in my face?" Regulus chuckled and she laughed, nodding.

      But after a long pause of silence, he finally said, "Then how about we have a new start?"

     "What do you mean?" Alexandra mused, gazing up at him with her usual dreamy gaze.

     "I mean... we can start all over again, and pretend that last year never happened. We can pretend like we've only just met," he said, a genuine smile forming on his lips.

     "Agreed!" Alexandra exclaimed in glee before raising her hand for him to shake. "Hi. I'm Alexandra Starling."

     Regulus glanced down at her raised hand and then gave her a look. "I didn't mean it literally, you weirdo!"

     "Oh..." Alexandra pursed her lips together and threw down her gaze from embarrassment.

     "Fine." Regulus sighed and then he shook his head at her in disbelief before reaching for her hand and grabbing it in his, smiling as he said, "I'm Regulus Black. It's nice meeting you, Miss Starling."