𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ─── regulus black

i. mary macdonald's yorkshire puddings

( chapter i )
─── 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐝'𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬

𝐔𝐍𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐈𝐗 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐓 𝐇𝐎𝐆𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒, she did not look forward to the sorting ceremony. Even the feast, which was the cause of her joy in previous years, did not do anything to raise Laurelle's spirits.

"Hey, at least eat something," the Head Girl told her. Laurelle looked over to see a sympathetic expression on her friend's face.

"I don't feel like eating, Clara. I'm not hungry, but I'm fine, really." Clara was not convinced, and it appeared that neither was Elodia.

"At least have the Yorkshire pudding. It's your favorite," Elodia tried convincing her.

"I swore not to eat anymore of that godforsaken food, Elodia!" Laurelle huffed.

Elodia gestured to Clara, asking her what had made Laurelle give up her most favorite food.

"You know how Mary always made those wonderful Yorkshire puddings for her and Sam?" Laurelle saw Elodia nod at this. "Well, now that Mary's out of the picture, because of what she did to Sam, she swore not to even take a whiff of another Yorkshire pudding in her life. Weren't you there when this happened?" Clara asked.

"I was, but I never thought she would be able to keep that promise," Elodia said. "But anyway, Ella, at least eat some of the...ooh, treacle tart! Here!" Laurelle tried pushing away Elodia's hand, but it was too late as the dessert now sat in her once empty plate. Sighing at her friends' persistence, she slowly chewed away at the sweet as her two best friends gossipped about the happenings of the summer.

After Elodia finally finished her tale about her younger sister accidentally setting the grumpy cat lady's house on fire, the three girls left the Great Hall and walked quickly to their common room. They passed an excited group of third year Hufflepuffs, a group of giggling fourth year Gryffindor girls, and the Slytherin boys of sixth and seventh year.

Laurelle spied Elodia almost bump into a sixth year Gryffindor and pulled her aside, only for her friend to crash into the one and only Bertram Aubrey.

He gave two of the three girls a dazzling smile (and the third, namely Clara, a mocking smirk) and held out his hand for Elodia. Elodia, now a blushing mess, took his hand and muttered a quick "I'll see you girls at the common room" before disappearing out of sight.

Laurelle and Clara now walked side by side, finally making their way up the winding staircase and standing in front of the familiar bronze knocker.

Their riddle was simple: "What can you only catch a handful of, but when it enters your house it fills every corner?"

Laurelle had the response on the tip of her tongue, but let Clara respond (for she knew the joy Clara felt when she guessed the riddle correctly).

"Is it sunlight?" Clara asked, sighing of relief when the door opened.

Laurelle and Clara quickly made their way to the dorms, shrugging off their robes and sitting on Laurelle's bed. Laurelle looked down at the familiar blue sheets and played with the loose threads. She chose not to say anything, knowing that Clara would get her hint and start the conversation.

"Laur, I know that what happened to your brother is horrible. Let's face it, if that happened to Rosalie or Bertram, I would be so upset. So please, tell me what's going on so I can help you."

Laurelle glanced up at her friend's sympathetic expression. She had been wanting to share everything with the girls ever since the middle of summer, when everything happened, but had never gotten the time to. The brunette glanced up at the Head Girl almost apprehensively, almost as if thinking that sharing what happened would change her friend's perception of her.

"It was...a lot to deal with," Laurelle started. "It happened when he went on a mission this July. No one knows how, not even he remembers, but apparently Greyback attacked him in wolf form, and everything went downhill from there."

The girl let out a shaky breath, squeezing her hands together, and continued. "And he was so hurt. Merlin, I still can't get the image of how torn up Sam looked out of my head." Laurelle glanced at the blonde, taking note of the sympathy in her gaze. "My parents didn't understand what was going on. They didn't even know how serious the war is until they saw what happened to him. They were so broken, and I was certain Mum was going to have a heart attack until he told her that he was okay, that he was still there.

"But he wasn't still there, like he told her. Merlin, he's barely himself. He can't get through the day without hating who he is. He had his second full moon just before I left, and it's like he thinks he's a monster now." Laurelle looked up at Clara once more, only to be engulfed in a much needed hug. After what seemed like an eternity, she pulled away.

"Your brother's one of the sweetest and nicest boys I've ever had the pleasure of meeting," Clara told her. "Merlin knows he doesn't deserve any of this. And if anyone has a single bad thing to say about him, he'll have to get through me and Elodia. And you, of course."

The last part made Laurelle grimace, and said "Tell that to Mary Macdonald, Miss 'I'll love you no matter what happens'," Laurelle responded. "And to think I actually liked her! As soon as she found out what happened to him, she went into straight shock. And all she thought of was how she would explain it to her parents and that she would have to deal with living with someone like him: a monster." Laurelle heard Clara let out an audible gasp at this, to which she responded, "It's not like she said the word monster, but we all knew she meant it."

Laurelle hesitated to mention this next part, but decided to anyway. "And you know what the worst part of this was to him?" Laurelle asked, to which Clara shook her head.

Laurelle forced out a laugh. "Well, after the mission was over, he was planning to propose. I was so excited too," she added bitterly, "I was so excited to have such a great sister. Great sister she turned out to be."

Both of the girls were silent for a while, lost in their own thoughts. They knew that what happened over Laurelle's summer was just a piece of what to come. Even though they knew what the inevitable was, they were not Gryffindors to want to know all the gruesome details. They were perfectly fine hiding under their cloak of denial, even though they knew it was slipping away.

And so the girls changed the switched the topic of discussion to Clara's summer, growing miserable of talking about the war. They chatted about Clara's family picnic in Bristol, ordered all of Clara's cousins from most to least annoying, and talked about little Chloe, Clara's cousin Rosalie's daughter. They chatted for what seemed like hours and hours, falling asleep without even realizing.

It was with peace that Laurelle finally slept through one night dreamlessly, without vivid nightmares of her brother haunting her in her slumber. 

☆

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄!

sorry that this chapter's kinda short, but i promise that they'll get longer as the story goes on! 

what do you think of laurelle being a ravenclaw?

what about her story about her brother?

see you next chapter :)

- nidhi