The Untold Story of Regulus Black

1.0

Emma Vanity

1977

'What if I start writing about the effects of despair and you finish the part about how it's brewed?' I suggested. 'Fine by me.' Regulus and I had been working on the essay for about an hour and were nearly finished. It had been going much better than last time.

We finished only an hour later. 'Well, working with you has been interesting, to say the least' I confessed to Regulus. 'You break my heart, Ravenclaw.' Regulus replied while playfully clutching his chest.

'I just mean to say, you're quite dedicated, which is surprising. You'd make a good ravenclaw you know.' 'My mother would most definitely pass away if I was one. And besides I thought you said there's more to a Ravenclaw than their intelligence.' I shook my head at him while collecting my stuff from the table.

'Where are you off to now?' 'The owlery.' 'Let me walk you.' I nodded, I didn't really understand why he wanted to spend more time with me, but I didn’t want to deny his offer. Maybe it’s because I had felt so lonely the last months, and it felt nice that somebody wanted my company. ‘So who are you sending a letter to then?’ Regulus asked while we left the library and entered the corridor. ‘I’m not sending a letter, I’m receiving one.’ ‘Do you have some sixth sense I don’t know about? ‘Cause how on earth would you otherwise know that you received a letter.’ I laughed, ‘No sixth sense, every month on the same day for the last five years my dad has sent me a letter.’ ‘Impressive, is your mum as punctual with her letters?’ I hesitated before I answered: ‘Well, no my mother’s a muggle.’ Regulus didn’t reply at first, I watched his face falter, but then he said: ‘So, you’re a halfblood then, that explains your friendship with my brother.’ I ignored the strange tone in his voice and focused on what he had just said, my friendship with Sirius. ‘What on earth gave the impression that I’m friends with your brother?’ ‘Well he’s always sitting with you in the great hall.’ ‘No, he’s always sitting with Marlene, my best friend. They have a friendship, Sirius and I are acquaintances if even that.’

Once again Regulus was silent, I was confused by all the questions, what was he getting at. Was he trying to get to know me? Or was he just being nice? We had arrived at the owlery and Regulus held the door open for me. I found my fathers owl waiting prudently while holding a letter in his beak. I gave him a pet while taking the letter. My hands caressed it, the envelope was light purple, my favorite color. It was little things like that that made me think my father might still care. I put the letter in my pocket and turned around expecting to see Regulus, but he was gone.

I furrowed my brows, did he just leave without even a goodbye. He probably saw me busy with the owls and saw the perfect opportunity to run. It must have been the whole my mum’s a muggle thing, he is afterall a member of the noble house of Black. Good riddance, I thought, I wouldn’t want a pureblood maniac as a friend anyways. But as I left the owlery I realised that deep down I was sad about Regulus leaving, I thought maybe just maybe we could have been friends.

As I entered the Great Hall for supper I tried with everything in me not to steal a glance at the Slytherin table. If Regulus was watching I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of thinking he hurt me by running away. But alas I just couldn’t help myself, when I sat down at the Ravenclaw table I quickly looked over to him. He was sitting in between Barty Crouch Jr. and Emma Vanity, listening to whatever she was talking about. I wondered if she was his girlfriend, she was very pretty, captain of the slytherin quidditch team, and of course a pure blood. She would be a perfect match for Regulus.

I looked away from their table before anyone catched me staring. Just then Marlene and Sirius walked up to me, 'Why hello Miss mind if we join you at this fine table?' 'Marlene must you do this every night, just sit down.' I rolled my eyes at her dramatics, but she just laughed at me. Sirius sat across from me while Marlene took a seat next to me. 'So how was working with my brother? Did he behave like the perfect son he is?' I gave Marlene an annoyed look, must she share everything with him. 'It was fine, it was nice having a capable partner for once, although he at times was quite stubborn.' 'He's always been like that, always thinks he knows better. I remember when I went back for Christmas my first year and I showed him the spells I had learned, he took my wand and said I'll show you how it's really done.' I smiled, it sounds like Regulus hasn't changed much.

I think Marlene noticed it hurt Sirius to talk about his estranged brother so she quickly changed the subject to the yule ball. 'So any idea who will be playing at the ball?' 'Not a clue, tried to pry it out of Minnie but it seems my charms don't work as well as I thought they do.' 'They work perfectly fine on me.' 'That's because you're easy.' I said 'Shut it, Eira.' 'To please, I meant you're easy to please.' Marlene gave me a slight Shove with her shoulder, which I returned.

Sirius was too busy with his food to notice our bickering or his friends who were walking our way. 'Loverboy, how come you never sit with us these days?' Sirius looked up 'Because Prongs, the company here is way better.' This caused a smile to appear on Marlene's face and for me to start shaking mine, just as I said, easy to please. 'You know that company is more than welcome at the Gryffindor table, that way we might enjoy it too.' Marlene started shaking her head at James, 'I'm fine right here, thank you.' I knew she didn't want to sit there because of me, 'Marlene I've finished here so you guys can join them.' No I’m fine right here, all you talk about anyways is pranking and Snape. Almost makes me think you have a crush on him, James.’ James gave Marlene the death stare while Sirius just laughed at her joke, ‘Nevermind Mckinnon, your invitation to sit with us has been rescinded.’.