Chapter 356: The Cunning Regulus
Lily's mouth was halfway open. She'd had a line ready, something about the great and busy Regulus Black gracing the Library with his presence, but it died on her tongue.
She blinked. "How did you know about that?"
"Newspapers." Regulus rested his arms on the table, his tone unchanged. "Does your family still have heating?"
"Yes, we have a fireplace," Lily said, still caught in the brief confusion of how the conversation had veered here. She followed his lead on instinct. "Gas fireplace. Doesn't need electricity."
"But the factory shut down production. My dad only works three days a week now." The words came faster as she went, and somewhere along the way, the pretense of anger evaporated without her noticing. "Three days of work, three days of pay. Mum says it's fine, we have savings, but Dad can't sit still. He paces around the house, anxious."
"What about your sister?" Regulus asked.
"Petunia? Her school's rationing electricity too. They only turn on half the classroom lights. She says the students in the back rows can't read the blackboard, and the teachers can't do anything about it. It's not like you can enlarge chalk writing."
Lily closed the book beside her. "They're thinking about letting school out early, three o'clock, because it gets dark so fast in the winter afternoons without lights..."
"Three o'clock." Regulus raised an eyebrow. "Is she happy about that or not?"