Piano
The life of Regulus Arcturus Black revolved around the people in it. His parents had a big say in the classes he took, how he thought, and how he presented himself around people. His brother, Sirius Orion Black, created the goofy side of Regulus. They were as close as two brothers could find themselves and often acted more like twins of mischief. However, no one affected his life more than the presence of his best friend in the whole entire world, Morgana Verga Travers.
Being part of the 'sacred 28' the alliance between the Travers and the Blacks was a long-standing one and if it weren't for a rather unfortunate circumstance of both houses producing almost entirely boys through the 17th century, the houses would have been combined. Forced engagements had been disregarded for some time. There was a lapse in around the 1700s to early 1900s where it was just purely unnecessary due to the stronghold of patriotism in families, but nudging had and always would be heavily prevalent. The friendship between Regulus and Morgana was strong and greatly encouraged. They were in constant rivalry and yet still the only person that knew the other better than themselves. When Morgana took her first steps, Regulus had to follow. When he began speaking, she practically had to. It was hard to tell who got their first accidental magic because of this.
Even Sirius couldn't compare his bond with Regulus to that with Morgana. They were practically tied at the hip. He was over at her manor or she was over at his practically every day. And it is on one of these days, expected to be like any other that our story begins.
"Do, re, mi, fa," Morgana sang, "so, la ti, do!"
Regulus followed suit on the piano, starting on middle C: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.
Their tutor, Mrs.Robins, applauded. "Very good! That separation of notes is the fundamental structure of the major scale. Whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step!"
Regulus looked at their teacher, confused. "Are the white keys a whole step or a half step? I only used those."
"I think, Mr.Black, that you might just figure it out for yourself. Her, now I want you to remember that pattern I said and play it again. You too, Ms.Travers, hop over onto the piano. Here you can start at a lower C." She placed their hands on the first notes of the c major scale. "Now try, and remember what I said."
They played together and tried to think about the whole step and half-step pattern that Mrs.Robins had said. C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. On the last note, Morgana shot her hand up as if to answer the question.
Mrs.Robins chuckled, "Have we figured it out then?"
Morgana nodded, "The white keys are notes and the jump between each white key when there is a black key between them is a whole step. When the white keys are right next to each other it's a half step."
"Very good, Ms.Travers."
Regulus shot his hand up then, "Would that then mean that the between a white key and the black key separating it from the next white key is also a half step? And then the distance between two black keys when a white key separates them is a whole step?"
"Very good, Mr.Black!" Mrs.Robins beamed at them. She was told that they were bright children, but after having tried to teach the other Black brother she hadn't been too sure. The parents had laughed it off with the phrase 'boys will be boys,' but that didn't mean that he was free from her judgment. "Now I want you both to play that C I showed you. Now here, add an E, G, and that upper C. That's it, very good. At the same time now, ready. One, two, three-"
Just as the children had played the chords together, the door to the drawing room where they were practicing burst open, and in came Walburga Black, Regulus's mother. "I'm so sorry to intrude, Mrs.Robins, but I wanted to see how they were getting along."
If she was annoyed at the interruption, Mrs.Robins didn't show any sign. "Of course! They are even brighter than you said."
"Oh, wonderful!" Walburga also beamed at them. "Sirius, darling and sweet as he is, was quite the trouble if you recall. While dear Morgana and Regulus are quite different, I wanted to be sure they weren't giving you any trouble."
The intended sting to Mrs. Robins's teaching abilities was so subtle that the children didn't pick up on it till they saw the way their teacher flushed. Walburga Black was a cruel woman. She would be the first to admit and reprimand her eldest child for being a handful, but in situations like these, she took pleasure in making others feel inadequate. The embarrassment and torture of others were Walburga Black's primary source of joy in the world.
The children, however, liked Mrs.Robins. She was everything that Walburga wasn't; soft, warm, kind, and patient. She demanded perfection, it was evident, but the way she applied herself to the extraction of perfection was so vastly different than Walburga. She didn't seem the type of person to smack you for being wrong. So, the children looked at each other and decided then and there that they would be the best pianists ever for Mrs.Robins.
"No... no trouble at all."
"I really like Mrs.Robins, mother," Regulus spoke up.
"Truly, Mrs. Black, she is quite a catch," Morgana followed with a big toothy grin.
Walburga seemed satisfied at that and nodded. "Wonderful... Well as you know, I have book club today so I'm off. Floo is on the mantle, Kreacher is around here somewhere, and Orion should be home around 6. You know the drill."
They knew exactly what she meant by 'book club.' They hadn't found out on purpose, in fact, it was really Sirius's fault, but regardless they knew. Every Wednesday for as long as they could remember, Walburga would disappear from the hours of 3 pm to 6:30 pm to meet with Morgana'a mother, Dahlia Travers, and Silvia Shafiq another member of their friend group. Half the time it was over to Mrs. Shafiq's house as she didn't have any children and her husband was off on business 340 days out of the year. The vast majority of the remaining time was at the Travers's estate. Atticus Travers was a simple man who never seemed to have a mind for what was going on and their Butler, Arthur, was loyal as loyal could be to the Travers family. Anyways, it was better than Number 12. Grimmauld Place.
Once Sirius had chased them with what he claimed had been a baby basilisk (it was a small garden snake he'd found) around Morgana's house and seeing no alternative at the time, they'd slipped into her mother's private drawing room and hid. They got trapped there when the women came in and began their Wednesday routine. The children dared not come out for fear of a beating at the hand of Walburga Black and so they heard the entirety of the Wednesday ritual.
They talked gossip about other pureblood families, who was seen with who, who was marrying who, etc. But they also ran into darker subjects such as an upcoming war and the need for blood purity. Neither of them really knew what it meant, but the next Wednesday they snuck in again to listen. The women talked of a young lord with some silly name that sounded french. But his plots didn't sound silly at all. It was unnerving really, but being 6 at the time, it was hard to comprehend.
Mrs.Robins seemed to relax when Walburga Black left and understandably so. Even if she wasn't making scornful remarks about your abilities as a person, she was a cruel and unsettling person. She was tall with a bony neck and shoulders that looked sharp enough to kill. Her equally sharp face was framed by a perfectly styled head of jet-black hair. Her clothes outlined her figure in a way that made her seem regal and of great power, which she was. Rarely did she wear color besides dark green, black, and shade of blood red that in later years she would never let grace the house again. Her voice was as sharp as the rest of her, perfectly articulate and even. She knew 5 languages and wasn't afraid to switch mid-sentence so as to confuse her prey. There was a part of every person that wanted to be her, so collected, and a larger part of every person that feared her.
The pianist cleared her throat and turned back to the eight-year-olds waiting for her, patiently, at the piano. "Now, going back to our lesson..."