Alicent successfully left the shop with a small, striped paper bag of confectionery. Along with her purse still full of coins. The girl had wanted to simply head back to the castle, however she thought this may be rude as Sirius had just paid for her sweets. So she decided to accompany them all to the Three Broomsticks, where she tried her best to join in on the conversation. Supposedly, this was the girls strange way of showing her thanks. During their time in the tavern, she'd already tested the sour sweet theory. It sort of worked. The girl could feel a slight change in the physical symptoms of her anxiousness, and did find herself becoming slightly more relaxed. Though obviously, it did not completely cure her. After two whole butterbeers, and a session of sweet tasting, the group had finally decided to head back to the castle. Alice was sat in the corner of the booth, so she'd been the last one out of the tavern. Someone must have noticed this, as they'd interrupted her in the doorway as she was leaving, and lightly grasped her wrist, pulling her back into the warm building.

The girl shot her head around, and opened her mouth to say something before realising who had pulled her over. It was Regulus. She hadn't even noticed him. Had he noticed her? He looked at her for a moment, as if he was thinking of what to say.
"My apologies, didn't mean to scare you like that. I only wanted to catch you before you left." he said, his eyebrows slightly furrowed in apology.
"Oh, that's okay." Alicent replied, and placed her hand - which Regulus had only just let go of -  back at the side of her hips. There was another slight pause before the boy spoke up.

"We should arrange some sort of meeting, don't you think? For our astronomy project." He continued, as Alicent nodded. "I'm a prefect, so it won't matter how late we're out. We can get a better view from the tower if it's less busy."
Alicent had not thought about this, she knew he was a prefect this year but had not even taken it into consideration. It would really help them out, and the girl did always prefer to study in places where it was quiet, there'd be no one to bother them.

"When are you free? I think we're already behind most of our class," Alicent explained, the boy most likely already knew this though and he nodded in agreement.
"We'll begin tomorrow, I'll pick you up at eight outside the common room."
Alicent couldn't tell whether this was a question or a statement, so just nodded her head. She suddenly remembered her sister outside, most likely wondering what's taking the girl so long. So, not wanting to make her wait any longer, Alice motioned towards the exit.
"My sister will be waiting for me outside, I should go now."
To this the boy nodded, "I should be leaving too." The pair headed out of the door together, and were greeted with a gust of unexpected wind causing Alicent to grab onto Regulus' arm in fear of toppling over. Merlin. She had not meant to do that. Not at all. She quickly brushed off her hand and muttered an apology to the boy, before stabilising herself and looking up.
Her sister was indeed waiting, but the rest of the group seemed to have already left. The blonde was perched on a cobbled stone wall, a cigarette in her hand as she clutched her hair in the other. She frowned upon noticing the pair together and began walking, which Alicent took as a sign that they were now leaving. Her sister really could be so rude sometimes, especially when something did not her way. The brunette turned towards Regulus, who was already facing her expectedly. "I'll see you tomorrow then." She smiled, a gesture which he returned before watching her turn and walk away, slightly scurrying to catch up with her sister.