Regulus had not allowed himself to think of what had occurred at Slug Club. He forced himself to turn the memories away, shoved them into the smallest corners of his mind where he could barely feel the pain. He kept to himself now, stopped talking to his friends in lessons, avoided them in the halls. Regulus began focusing on his studies, trying to keep any reminders from poking at the memory. For a while it was manageable.
No matter how he tried to justify what he did to Pandora, convincing himself that Obliviate was truly a harmless spell, that it was a mercy in the face of his higher crimes. Regulus was not exempt from the guilt he carried. He knew he would have to use the Unforgivable Curse again. It ate away at him. He could no longer delude himself in the matter of Julie, he would use what had come so easily to him. What his mother had been preparing him for. There would be no mistakes.
If he worked at it, there was nothing Regulus couldn’t do in Transfiguration. He was determined to master the unit as soon as possible. They had moved on from discussing Metamorphangi and had started a unit on Advanced Human Transfiguration. They started by turning their fingernails into flower petals.
Eager for a distraction and hoping it would be useful to the assignment he’d been given in December, he’d read ahead in the text. He’d discovered they would begin transforming peers before the start of Spring holidays. Regulus took to studying at all times, in his room or the Library if he needed a particular book from the restricted section. As a seventh-year he finally had special studies access.
While he was not searching the castle for the secret room, Regulus was deciphering old school plans in the Library. When he was not in the Library, he was in his dorm doing schoolwork. He started seeing far less of his friends as a result, seldomly making the trek to the Great Hall for all three meals. He knew that his friends were growing tired of his constant absence except for class, he knew he should confront them. Really he was scared. Regulus felt more like curling into a ball and laying like a rock in his bed for the rest of his life. Which would be a short one. So instead he got up and moved onward. There was a duty to fulfill his obligations no matter what, and so the days would continue.
Quidditch practices were the only moments of liberation. He was up in the air and the world was not complicated, the tension would release. They were a team, they worked cohesively. The strongest knit unit Regulus had ever been a part of was his family. Now, the Slytherin team had been whipped into shape by Bagman and rivaled the Blacks in their fierce dedication.
At this most recent practice, the team had set the snitch loose for Regulus and began their scrimmage. He watched from high above on his Wind Weaver as Carrow, Davies, and Greengrass tossed the quaffle rough and swift and sneaky- he’d hated losing his friends at first but when Circe Carrow flitted onto the pitch, the chasers had become indomitable.
Regulus scanned the sky for any glint of gold, strained his ears for a faint fluttering of metallic wings. Out of the corner of his well trained eye he caught something that distracted him entirely- an enormous black dog, hidden in the very corner on the topmost row of seats.
Regulus angled his broom toward the dog that had been watching him in the stands, he could tell it was watching him because its eyes never left his face. It was peculiar, like they were familiar with one another. He had heard all about Grim from Victoria’s constant haranguing of the wooly practice of divination and decided this could not be one. This dog watched as a devoted sentinel, there was no foreboding, just curiosity.
“Oi Regulus!” Ludo hollered from the stands, so sure of his own skill he allowed the reserve beater a chance on the field. The snitch had appeared and he had missed it. Swiftly shifting on his broom, Regulus streaked through the sky, his hands pressing the Wind Weaver to move faster. Whirling through the farthest of the three goal rings, Regulus stayed on top of the Snitch- it flew zigging and zagging through the sky but it could not lose him. Regulus extended his arm, grasping the air, stretching out his nimble fingers to catch the snitch, ending practice.
