But no one told me I could go too far ( by Trex_patronus )

Chapitre 1

chapter 1 : Early Years

Pandora first knew she was different at age four. She was coloring at the kitchen table when she heard her mum and dad discussing her brother, Castor.

"He seems upset," Mum commented. "I'm not quite sure what he wants."

"He wants to go to primary school," Pandora said. "With the other kids."

Both her parents turned to look at her. "Did he tell you that?" Dad asked.

"No," Pandora said simply, selecting a yellow crayon. "I just know."

Regulus first knew he was different when he was five. His cousins were over, and the four youngest kids were all fed up with Bellatrix. She kept going on about Hogwarts, and acting as if she was so much better and older than the rest of them.

Sirius and Andromeda had gotten sick of it, and decided to play a trick on her. Regulus and Narcissa had, of course, gotten roped into the scheme against their will. Regulus was flipping through a picture book of magical creatures while Narcissa brushed his hair–she wanted to braid it for him. They were both only partially paying attention to what Sirius and Andy were plotting.

"We have to come up with something really good," Andromeda said. "We need to scare her."

Sirius agreed, because he always agreed with Andromeda. "But what's Bella afraid of?"

"Mice." Everyone turned to look at Regulus.

"Mice?" Sirius repeated. "Bella's scared of mice?"

Regulus looked up at him. "Everyone knows that." The room was silent. "Right?" Both of Bellatrix's sisters shook their heads. "Oh." Regulus shrugged. "Well, she is."

For most children, normalcy isn't something that needs to be taught. But Regulus had always made other children nervous. How could he not notice it? His parents had made him "play nicely" with their friends' children, but Regulus preferred his brother and cousins, who simply understood that Regulus was the way Regulus was.

It didn't take him long to pinpoint exactly what was odd about him. Once he slipped into Sirius' room and hid under his brother's covers during a lightning storm. One of Sirius' attempts to soothe him was: "Everyone gets scared, sometimes, Regs."

What Sirius didn't understand was that that was the most obvious thing to Regulus, even at age eight. It was then that Regulus first began to consider testing the boundaries of his abilities. He even filled a sketchbook–because no one expected an eight-year-old to have anything worth journaling about–with messy, misspelled notes about his odd skill.

"Regulus Arcturus, are you paying attention?" his mother asked.

Regulus actually wasn't because zoning out made managing the crowd much easier. As he refocused, he felt his neck prickling with the anxieties filling the train station. It was much worse than Diagon Alley, but crowds in general were always bad.

"Yes, Mother," Regulus muttered.

"Look me in the eyes, Regulus." Regulus generally didn't make eye contact unless prompted, out of...etiquette, he supposed? But, whether she knew it or not, his mother was asking for it.

Regulus looked into his mother's grey eyes, and there it was clear as glass: Regulus sorting into Gryffindor. His Mother's current worst fear.

"I expect you will not embarrass us like your brother did, yes?" she asked.

"No, ma'am, I won't," Regulus promised.

The Hogwarts Express was exciting, but it was all getting to be a bit overwhelming. Perhaps the compartment at the end would be empty. Maybe she could shut the windows and rest for a bit.