The Story of Regulus Black - Years 1-4

III. Hawthorn Wood and Unicorn Hair

Following their argument in the attic, Regulus and Sirius didn't speak a single word to one another.

For this reason, the rest of the summer was spent in isolation for both of the Black brothers. Sirius only left his room a handful of times for the rest of the summer, mostly so that he could leave the house and spend time in the small square across the street; he had taken to having the Black family house elf, Kreacher, bring him food everyday.

Regulus stayed in his room for most of the day; he didn't want to go back up to the attic in case Sirius had the same idea. He would, of course, still go down to the kitchen everyday for meals with his mother and father, but this was the furthest he was willing to go from his room.

A majority of the days that Regulus spent locked in his room were quite boring. He would lay about all over his bedroom, either reading or taking naps in precarious places. Every once in a while, he would play a game of Exploding Snaps or Gobstones with Kreacher, but this was quite a rare occurrence.

On the evening of 30 August, Regulus was sitting on his bed twisting his wand through his hands, admiring it. He had been doing this since he got it the day before; he just couldn't seem to put it down.

His parents, however, seemed quite alarmed by the wand that Regulus was given. Orion had gone as far as to say that Ollivander was wrong, but he eventually ceded (quite reluctantly), because he had "other business" to attend to.

12 inches, Hawthorn wood, with a Unicorn Hair core.

He stopped twisting it and ran his finger along the lines that snaked around the base of his wand around the handle.

"Hawthorn wands are quite adept at curses," Mr. Ollivander had explained when the wand had chosen Regulus, "but they are quite good at healing magic." Mr. Ollivander gave Orion and Walburga a glance, as if he were trying to be sure that they were not listening.

"Rather interesting that you should get this wand," he continued, once he was sure that the Black parents were thoroughly distracted by their whispered conversation.

"Why?" Regulus asked, handing the wand back to Ollivander so he could box it up.

"Well, Hawthorn wood is typically given to wizards who are going through an internal turmoil. Maybe they're... questioning, something. Hawthorn wands feel quite at home with conflicted wizards, wizards who, for example, are trying to discover who they believe they really are." He said all of this in a hushed tone, not wanting to give Orion Black another reason to get angry, for he had already yelled at the wand-maker quite heavily, insisting that the wand was "wrong".

Regulus didn't fully understand why his father was so angry about the properties of the wand. Yes, Regulus was quite conflicted at the moment, but why was that a bad thing? He just didn't know what to do about his brother. He wanted so desperately to be close with Sirius again, but he also didn't want his parents to be angry with him for speaking to his "blood traitor brother".

"And Unicorn Hair... very peculiar for a Black..." Ollivander continued, though he was talking under his breath now, as though he were saying it to himself.

"Why?" Regulus asked, still quite curious about the wand that he was given, and why it infuriated his father so much.

"Well, my boy, Unicorn Hair wands are quite... loyal, to their owners. They tend to produce the most consistent magic, and... well... they're the hardest to turn to Dark Arts."

The hardest to turn to Dark Arts.

Regulus had been contemplating these words since he had first received his wand. Why had he been given a wand that was difficult to turn to the Dark Arts? His entire family was full of members who practiced the Dark Arts, and he was going to be just like them. He wanted to be just like them.