October 31st, 1972
2039 days
R.A.B.
Regulus had a lot of secrets.
He kept a lot of things to himself, and allowed whatever assumptions people made about him to be their perception of him.
His parents believed him to be their saving grace, their perfect little Slytherin prince sent to them to make up for Sirius.
Sirius thought he was an obnoxious goody two-shoes who would turn into a carbon copy of their parents.
The older kids in Slytherin thought he was an odd kid who ate his meals in private and regarded everyone with suspicion. They thought he was mysterious and deadly in his pensive eleven-year-old boy way, so they respected him, but that could only last so long.
His favorite and perhaps only realistic reputation he had was the one he'd developed with his friends he'd met on the train.
His new friends knew him to be thoughtful and secretive, but also found him fun in his own way.
They laughed at his jokes and were interested in what he had to say.
They listened, uncomplaining as he prattled on about Quidditch and they encouraged him to pursue things just because he liked them.
They actually knew what he liked.
They really knew more about him than anyone, and at times that worried Regulus.
He was more fond of a Muggle-born and two blood-traitors than he was of his own parents.
For a while, he tried to inwardly dismiss these newfound friendships as the exception to the rule. He was still a Black, through and through. Dirk, Faye and Pandora were the only blots on his scrupulous record.
But the three friends of his soon unintentionally aided him in realizing that this simply was not true. He had been fooling himself into thinking he was the perfect Black son for a long time.
He wasn't.
All he'd needed was someone to point it out.
"Oh, c'mon, Reg, you're seriously going to let him keep playing this rubbish?"
Faye's pouting voice snapped him out of his reverie. "Huh?"
"Back me up here and make Dirk turn off that awful Muggle music."
"Song, sung bluuuue- Everybody knows one." Dirk's voice warbled as he did a moronic-looking shuffle across the floor.
He, Regulus, Faye and Pandora were at the top of the Astronomy Tower, where they ate together every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evening with out fail.
It was the night of the Halloween feast and Faye had brought up her bewitched record player she'd gotten for her birthday a few days prior.
When Dirk had realized he could play his Muggle records on it, he'd been ecstatic and quickly put on a Neil Diamond album.
Dirk was standing and singing into a bread stick like it was a microphone. Faye sat sprawled on the ground near Regulus, stuffing a treacle tart into her mouth while watching Dirk scornfully. Pandora was sitting with her knees tucked up to her chest, looking vaguely out over the grounds and swaying with the music.
It would have been serene, but Faye was right.
Regulus' ears were bleeding.
"Dirk." he groaned. "If you're going to play Muggle music, please at least play good Muggle music."
