Les Misérables | Regulus A. Black [1]

Chapter Seventeen

[Chapter Seventeen]

Regulus searched the compartments to find Avery and Mulciber, knowing they had probably found one together, along with a few other friends. It was the perfect opportunity for Regulus to address everyone at the same time because he was sure that Avery and Mulciber were not going to pass the message along to others. He had warned the two, back at the Malfoy wedding, that Éponine would not be the subject of their ridicule anymore. He had explained to them that even though that he had been guilty of hurting her in the past, that it would no longer continue. Over the summer, Regulus found that he really did enjoy Éponine's company, feeling internally shameful that he had ignored her and teased her for so long. 

He had witnessed the damage he had caused and it left him feeling like it was on him to make things right. When he had caught the nervous look on Éponine's face while Remus Lupin had been looking at her, Regulus didn't decide to ask questions first, he decided to act to make sure that he could protect her from any upcoming harm. Guilt drove him to be better for her sake and his own, even if it did come across as overbearing. Perhaps Remus had done nothing to Éponine but Regulus already had jaded views of the older boy. After all, he was one of the boy's that had taken his brother away from home. He was one that had poisoned Sirius' mind, making him believe different and that was only going to end badly for his older brother eventually. 

Regulus wanted to make it clear that anyone that came to insult Éponine would be directly insulting him as well because he was certainly going to act as if they were insulting him if he heard anything foul said in Éponine's direction. He had no intentions of staying in the compartment for long, hoping that while he was off talking to his "friends" that Éponine had found a compartment to sit in. Although in the back of his mind, he realised that he probably should have had gotten her settled to sit somewhere before going off and leaving her alone. 

He didn't want to come across as if he was hovering over her, watching her every move and studying her constantly to see if she was having a negative reaction to something. But school happened to be a massive weakness to Éponine. Not in the sense of academics, but any sort of confidence would dwindle right away when they were in the presence of their peers. Regulus didn't blame her, but he didn't want to see it either, knowing that he was partial to blame for her state. 

Finally stumbling upon the compartment where Avery and Mulciber were, Regulus could see that he had been correct about them being in the company of others. The perfect opportunity for Regulus to get his point across as he slid open the door and entered.

"There he is!" Avery called out. "We were wondering if you missed the train, mate-"

Avery stopped as his eyes came to scan the front of Regulus' robes and caught sight of the Prefect badge and he wasn't alone either. The entire compartment fell silent as Regulus stood before all of them.

"No, I did not miss the train, I was in a prefect's meeting in another compartment with Éponine."

"She made prefect?!" Someone in the compartment scoffed. "How did she manage that?"