Once upon a Midnight Dreary - Regulus Black

Chapter 12

𝔚hen I was five and Theodore was fifteen, he received his Prefect badge. Fascinated, I picked it up to take a closer look at it while he was going through the list of books he needed. Once he noticed me leaving smeary fingerprints all over his badge, he tore it out of my hands. He then thrust me roughly away at arm's length and I fell back so fast that I even knocked my chair over. I began wailing like a pig at a slaughterhouse, but it only resulted in Father starting to scream as well. What are you, a girl? Real boys don't cry.

When I was about eight, Theodore just graduated from Hogwarts. Inspired by the graduation party Father was going to organize, I had made Theo a present. I had drawn him and myself, two stick figures reading together in complete agreement. One of the figures was blond and smiling, the other dark-haired and grim-looking. It was a shoddy picture, but at the time, I thought it was the greatest masterpiece anyone had ever created. An hour after I had given Theo his gift, I found the drawing on top of all the rubbish in the bin.

When I was ten years old, I was invited to celebrate Sirius Black's eleventh birthday. It was a rather interesting experience to attend someone's party without the birthday person around, but that was exactly what had happened on that particularly windy November afternoon. Sirius had apparently upset his mother by continuously ridiculing the kids he was supposed to befriend, and he had been sent to stand in the corner while everyone else was enjoying his birthday cake. I didn't quite like the guests either, and instead of playing with them, I went off exploring 12 Grimmauld Place on my own. I hid behind the Black Family Tapestry when I saw Regulus coming through the door to join his brother. Boiling with jealousy, I watched Regulus wrap an arm around him and noticed that Sirius didn't push him away. He simply hugged him back.

'Don't you want to come back? Mother would surely forgive you if you apologized to Antonin', was what Regulus told Sirius, his dark eyes large and worried. 'Why would I apologize? I didn't do anything wrong. Besides, I have more fun with you here', was Sirius' reply and he tightened his embrace around his brother. 'You should try getting along with them. They are supposed to be your friends', Regulus pointed out, only for Sirius to shake his head no. 'I don't want them to be my friends. My only friend is you, Reg. That's all I need anyway.'

When I went home that day and stopped by Theodore's study, he viciously snarled at me, 'Get out of here right now. Can't you see that I'm busy, you fool?' Haunted by the differences between Sirius, Regulus, Theodore and me, I chewed my fingernails until all of them were down to the horribly bleeding quick. I had not been able to fall asleep that night.

Now when I was eighteen years old, none of this mattered at all. I was still holding onto the doorknob, my naked feet drenched in the puddle of blood. All I could think about was turning around and running back to my room, so I could pretend that this body was not Theodore's, and all of this was just a nightmare.

My mind went blank for long moments, and by the time I managed to sober up, I was kneeling beside him. I rolled him over onto his back, and nearly jumped back when I saw the cuts all over his chest, his robes completely tattered. His eyes were shut, his face white as death.

"Theo? Theo?" I kept calling his name, to no avail.

I got blood all over myself when I had thrown myself at him. His ashen cheeks were now stained red as I took his face between my hands. He was barely breathing, but as soon as the realization dawned upon me, I also felt a flood of relief that he was still alive.

All of me trembled, and I was unable to think clear. My brain was falling apart into a million little useless pieces; I could scarce catch my breath to call for the new house-elf, so fiercely was I shaking with every fiber of my being.