COMFORT ZONE | Sirius Black [REWRITING]

15. Start of Second Year

Morning – Friday 1st September 1972

"LILY!"

"MADS!"

The two girls had locked in a strong hug the moment they spotted each other amongst the crowd on Platform 9 and ¾, which had been interrupted by an affronted Wilberforce hooting in his cage on the floor next to them. Madiha had parted ways from her parents and the Blacks after Sirius had gone off to look for James; Regulus had insisted on talking to people his own age and Madiha had caught sight of Lily.

"Sorry Wilbur, I need to say hello to my friends too you know," Madiha told the owl as she took hold of the cage again. Wilberforce only seemed to raise his beak at this.

Lily gave an amused look to the snowy owl.

"He's got a bit of a personality, doesn't he?"

Most of Madiha's friends hadn't been very well-acquainted with Wilbur since pet owls spent majority of their time in the Owlery or flying out in the grounds.

"What did you say his name was again?"

"Wilberforce, but I call him Wilbur for short," Madiha grinned.

"Mads, that has got to be the worst name for an owl ever."

The two girls turned around to see Marlene giving her a disbelieving look.

"Hey Marls," Lily greeted with a smile.

"I think it's quite an adorable name actually," Madiha defended herself with a self-assured smirk.

Marlene rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say."

From the corner of her eye, Madiha spotted Remus boarding onto one of the carriages after hugging a pretty woman who had bronze hair very similar to his own.

"Hey, look! There's Remus."

"That must be his mum."

Lily sounded confused.

"Didn't Remus say she was really unwell? Isn't that why he has to leave every month?"

Marlene clicked her tongue.

"She looks very healthy to me."

"Maybe she has an illness that isn't very obvious," Madiha suggested, but the other two did not seem too convinced.

After a whistle, the girls stepped onto the train from the nearest carriage door and found a compartment where they were soon found by Alice.

***

Evening – Friday, 1st September 1972

The Shafiqs had met up with the Blacks to help board their children on to the Hogwarts Express. This year, Regulus was going to join Sirius and Madiha for his first year at the school. To say the boy was nervous was an understatement.

Having witnessed the treatment that his brother had been subjected to by his parents as a result of his Sorting, Regulus was adamant that he would not allow himself to be Sorted anywhere other than Slytherin; at least one of them had to satisfy their parents or else their mother would lose all the forced composure she had maintained around Sirius over the holidays.

He also did not want to receive a Howler: it would attract far too much attention to him.

Regulus Black was introverted for the most part. Whilst he was not averse to spending time amongst other people, he believed he was far more comfortable in his own company compared to other people his age; he was quite the opposite of Sirius in that sense. However, the few people who were familiar with him knew of his sarcasm, humour and occasional cynicism, something that Maddi had always found funny about him and this had most definitely rubbed off on Adam—whom he had forged a very good relationship with as the two of them had grown older.