Sinfully Yours, R.A.B.

01 September, 1972

It was several minutes of still silence till the dirty giant man came back dragging a boat behind him. He instructed Emmeline to get into the boat first and she refused, demanding that the mountain man- whom introduced himself as Rubeus Hagrid- turned the lantern on before she got in. Unfortunately for her the lantern was broken and the two of them had to cross the Black Lake by themselves in the dark.

With a roll of his eyes Regulus dug his wand from his robes and climbed into the boat. "Lumos," he said and a small light emitted from his wand. It was enough for them to see the boat so Emmeline climbed in. Regulus, like Remus had instructed, sat in the middle and Emmeline sat in the back. Hagrid charmed the boat off and with a small rock they began to cross the lake.

"Don't move too much, they tip easily," Regulus repeated the advice James had given him to the girl across from him.

She was stubborn though and crossed her arms over her chest. They floated into the middle of the lake in silence as the view of Hogwarts school neared. Regulus' eyes were locked on the castle. It was beyond massive and the boy was awestruck.

"I can't believe you actually want to become a Death Eater," Emmeline groaned finally opening her mouth to him as they rocked slightly. She flayed her arms and the boat rocked again. Regulus turned sharply to her.

"Stop moving," he said sternly and pointed to the castle," look and admire. That's it."

"Look at what," Emmeline questioned. Her end of the boat had yet to round about the massive rock and she wasn't looking at the beautifully lit school. So she leaned forward. Grabbing onto the wooden seat on either side of Regulus she pushed her head close to his in order to see exactly what he was seeing.

"Wow that's amazing!" She yelled.

"Blimey Emmeline! Sit down before we toss over!" Regulus shouted and he felt the boat rock too much to the left and he tried to lean to the opposite direction in order to stabilize it.

"It magical Regulus!" she hollered. She threw one arm in the air to point out the quidditch field far in the distance. "I know those rings anywhere!" she finally lowered his voice. "I'm going to be the greatest beater of all time!"

Just as Regulus was about to comment that he wanted to be a seeker, Emmeline was hoping over him to get to the front of the boat and before he could yell at her to be careful again, the black haired girl was overboard.

"Emmeline!" Regulus all but screeched as the girls body disappeared beneath the surface of the Black Lake.

The magical boat he was on kept moving, though slowly, in the opposite direction of the girl whose head had finally resurfaced. She was screaming and Regulus couldn't tear off his robe any faster. Kicking his shoes off he places his wand on the bench and launched himself into the water.

He wasn't particularly fond of swimming. As a child Sirius would always push his head underwater and insist that Regulus fought to get up. "Boys play rough you'll be strong enough to fight back soon," his mother would justify when Regulus would enter the house coughing up water and shivering. Regulus didn't want to fight back, he wanted to not be shoved underwater, so he stopped going to the nearby pond with Sirius till eventually the older boy stopped asking for his company and the two found other things to do together.

However in this moment, Regulus was swimming like his life depended on it. Maybe it did, he had heard plenty of scary tales of what lives in the Black Lake. But that wasn't what he was worried about. He didn't care for his life, in that moment Regulus was kicking his legs and swinging his arms as face as he could to latch onto the drowning girl he had so early grown to like.

"You can stop screaming now," he coughed out and rolled his eyes as Emmeline clung onto him tightly as they both began to kick their way back to their boat, which luckily stopped moving when neither of them were on it.

Regulus let the silently crying girl onto the boat first as he held it steady for her. "I swear I felt something grab my robe!" she cried out as he finally hoisted himself onto the boat. The magical boat began to move again as they huddled together in the middle, shivering and shaking.

"We're fine now," he said and she nodded as she rested her head against his shoulder. She had pulled off her very heavy and wet robe and his was wrapped around the both of them attempting to keep them warm.

They were finally reaching the dock at Hogwarts and as far as Regulus could see there was about three professors waiting for them. Regulus was ushered off the boat first and a short pudgy woman attempted to fuss after him but he shook his head.

"She fell over and was under a lot longer than I," he said and though he was still dripping wet he still wrapped his robe around his shoulder and slipped his shoes back on. Making sure his wand was in his pocket he began walking up the path to the school leaving the three professors stunned.

"Jeez Regulus Black let them at least check your temperature the water was freezing," Emmeline called after her.

"Ah," one of the professors said. He was obviously old and Regulus had to greatly suppress the urge to pull at his long white beard. Upon first sight Regulus would classify this man as crazy. He was wearing a long and heavy dark blue dress robe and his hands were littered with metal rings and there was a number of beaded chains around his neck, on top of his long white hair Regulus might have mistaken him for a woman.

"Another member of the House of Black," proud of his family or not Regulus was tired of hearing 'another' as if he would be exactly like his elder family members. Regulus was now set on proving he makes his own way.

"Headmaster, what should we do?" said the third professor who was standing behind the white haired grandfather of a man with a grey cat in his arms.

"Professor Filch, if you could, please find one Sirius Black and have him brought to the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey and I will lead the young woman and the other Mr. Black there as well."

Headmaster. This old man was headmaster. It all clicked in Regulus' head and he wanted to toss himself off one of the large towers. He had just called the Headmaster of Hogwarts a woman and grandpa.

Albus Dumbledore was no senile old fart. He was one of the greatest wizards around and Sirius had raved about him all summer. Even Peter had rambled about the powerful wizard on the train when his chocolate frog came with an Albus Dumbledore card. In Regulus' defense he wasn't paying much attention to that conversation and was snacking away on his own candies.

Regulus was unsure why but he felt the need to confess. "Sorry Headmaster," Regulus said shyly as Madam Pomfrey began leading the two kids up the path to the school.

"For what dear boy?" Dumbledore asked but was less curious and more dismissive as he patted Regulus' shoulder and said," you saved this young girl. You're a hero Regulus Black, no need to apologize."

That's not what Regulus meant but he shrugged it off.

"And what is your name Miss?" Dumbledore turned to Emmeline who had barely stopped shivering.

"Emmeline Vance, Professor," she answered through clattering teeth.

It took them a while to finally make it to the Infirmary and Regulus was beyond exhausted from both the swimming and the amount of walking it took to get to one place from another in this massive castle.

Albus Dumbledore waited for both students to be settled into the hospital beds before he left them in the- and Regulus quotes- 'wondrous ever most perfectly capable care of Madam Poppy Pomfrey'.

"Hey Reg," Emmeline said to him once they had both changed into the warm hospital pajamas they were given and were settled into the beds under warming blankets. "Thanks...for you know...saving my life."

Regulus turned to her with a soft smile not caring that someone other then Sirius had shortened his name. "Whether I become a Death Eater or not, you're my friend now Emme and I'll never let you drown in a dark scary lake."

She nodded returning his soft smile and they both laughed looking away from each other.