𝓐𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓶 |𝓢𝓲𝓻𝓲𝓾𝓼 𝓑𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓴|

Chapter 3

As the evening went by it seemed to get colder,  strangely cold for a mid-October evening. The two friends were huddled close to each other, Regulus stood up rubbing his hands in an attempt to keep them warm "We should probably be heading back" he said looking at his friend who nodded also getting up. They both made their way to the great hall, the insides of the castle were much warmer than the outside. Laura and Regulus took their usual seats at the Slytherin table. They were eating in silence until the Gryffindor table erupted with noise, both of them looked at the source of the noise. James Potter was messing with a red-head Gryffindor girl, Laura couldn't remember her name but she was pretty sure that the girl was a muggle-born. Sirius was wolf-whistling, Regulus groaned softly facepalming. After a while of James continuing to annoy the Gryffindor girl, Regulus stood up and said "Let's just go" he said and Laura followed him heading out of the hall.

Sirius had noticed a very annoyed looking Regulus, accompanied by Laura walking out of the hall. Sirius never let it show but he missed talking to his brother, like when they were little. He remembered clearly when he had promised a very sad nine-year-old Regulus, who was almost on the verge of tears but was trying his best not to cry. It was the day that Sirius was going to leave for his first year at Hogwarts, he had reassured his little brother by promising him that he would still always be his best friend. And that when Regulus would be leaving for Hogwarts, he would never let anyone hurt him, they would always be together no matter what. But Sirius also realised the fact that he had been replaced, very well. The same way he had replaced and pushed away his brother when he met his three best friends at Hogwarts. Sirius hardly ever wrote back to the letter that a very curious and lonely Regulus would write to him. He also made up all sorts of excuses whenever his brother asked him why he was not answering his letters, until one day Regulus stopped asking. Sirius had just never expected Regulus to ever be capable of making a friend, not that he wasn't happy for him. It just didn't add up with Regulus being so shy and introverted. And oh Sirius had seen this friend of his, he knew his friend too and vice versa but they never talked. She was a pure-blood just like him a member of the Sacred twenty-eight family also just like him. Not only that but his cousin was married to her brother, Rodolphus Lestrange. The girl was in his year, making her two years older than Regulus also just like him.

Sirius had even seen his brother smiling and talking in the presence of the female. Sirius was truly happy at the prospect that someone other than himself could make his brother smile like that, but he also hated the glares his brother passed at him whenever Sirius had tried to interact with him, and how Regulus desperately tried to avoid him. How his face would turn emotionless and he would stop talking whenever Sirius was close by. He realised he was too late, and he completely realised the fact that he had indeed been replaced, and not just by anyone but the kind of perfect child his parents expected him to be. Sirius didn't know for how long he had he zoned out, but he was brought back to reality by Peter snapping his finger in front of his face and saying "Earth to Pads."

Regulus didn't say a word all the way back to the Slytherin common before going to his dorm he just said a quick good night. When Laura went to her dorm, her dormmates were trying out a face mask that they had brewed. As Laura sat down on her bed taking her jacket off, Lucinda Talkalot offered her some of their 'magical mask' or as they liked to call it so. Laura  however refused politely, the mask, serum or whatever they were putting on, did not look very safe and it was of an ugly shade of yellow. Laura knew this experiment of their's was not going to be very successful, but it could be harmful nonetheless. Laura simply got into more comfortable clothes and laid down pulling the curtains of her four-poster bed tight shut. With the amount of loud chattering being produced by her excited dormmates, Laura knew that it was no good trying to get some reading done before going to sleep. But she was tired, so she just fell asleep after a while.

Sirius on the other hand, who could just fall asleep in a matter of minutes, couldn't get himself to fall asleep on that particular night. He tossed and turned around in his bed. James was snoring, which didn't help. Remus was up reading something, Sirius peeked at Remus, who was too occupied with his book to notice. So he just groaned softly laying back down, covering his ears with his pillow as James snoring was getting louder.