Library Days
Regulus decided to spend more time than usual at Morgana's house that summer. He didn't like to talk about it, but Ana knew. The more time Sirius spent around those stupid Gryffindor kids, the more rebellious he got.
James Potter was a chaser on the Gryffindor quidditch team. No discernible personality besides being a huge dick. Once he had tried to hex her in the halls as per his proclivity for picking on everyone in the Slytherin house, but she did a mean bat bogey hex so he didn't bother her after that. It of course helped that she dragged Sirius by the ear, Regulus following behind laughing, to the hospital wing to visit said Potter and made both of them apologize.
Remus Lupin had also been in the hospital wing at the time and he was the only one of Sirius's new friends that her and Regulus tolerated. He chuckled when she dragged the Black boy in and was always quick to apologize to every victim of his friend's pranks. That didn't stop him from being the mastermind behind half of them, but he had a personality outside of that and tried to be a decent person. Lupin was a sandy haired boy with beautiful brown eyes, his skin was littered with scars and Morgana would be lying if she said she didn't have a huge crush on him in her second year. He was sweet, smart, and mildly cute. No one in their right mind could help it.
Peter Pettigrew was the last of their little cohort. He was a slightly chubby boy with a few wispy strands of a blonde mustache and two oversized buck teeth. Most people saw Pettigrew as beneath the rest of the boys but Ana could see it wasn't so. the boys treated him as their equal and while he never had the same success as the others in nearly everything, half of their stunts couldn't be completed without him.
Ever since Sirius started hanging out with those dorks, he lost his ability to at least pretend like Regulus. He became bold, outspoken, and argumentative. He lost all sense of rationality and presentation. Walburga Black ran a strict house. There was a certain way things were meant to go in her eyes and Sirius broke it all. Even before he was bad, Sirius had always caused problems for the Black household and now, with the rising tensions of the upcoming war, the Dark Lord's interest in Regulus, the constant pressure, and the constant arguing and hitting that went on because of Sirius, Regulus needed some escape.
Walburga and Sirius's interactions seemed to worsen every day and as a woman who had a powerful proclivity for the cruciatus curse, there was hardly a moment that screams of anger or pain did not echo. Regulus lived in fear of his mother and father and so just like in the school year, he sought out comfort in his best friend's presence. It had gotten to the point where he'd stopped asking if he could go and just flooed over.
It was on one of these impromptu visits that they came up with one of their best ideas yet. Regulus and Morgana were nerds, it was true. They loved studying and trying new things to the point that some people joked they should be in Ravenclaw. However, it wasn't the love of learning that kept them to the books, but rather the power and distraction it gave them. It was at this point, also just habit as it had been drilled into their heads by their mothers in all their pre-Hogwarts classes.
"Hey, Reggie, Look at this!" Morgana called.
There were three floors on the Travers library. The bottom floor had a set of tables and chairs for studying, comfy chairs around the fireplace. Books lined the walls, but the first floor also contained the majority of the artifacts that the Travers family owned and shelves upon shelves of potion ingredients. The second floor, which was where Morgana was, was connected to the library by a spiral staircase and the open ceiling that went all the way up to the ceiling which was a great glass dome, intricately decorated with a few holographic sections that made small rainbows dart around the library. The second floor held more books than any of the other floors with rows of yellow candle lit books. Some of them had been in the Travers family since the beginning of wizardry as an art. There were scrolls from their fae ancestors and ancient carvings on rock slabs written in ancient runes from the age of Merlin. The third floor was the equivalent of a map room, which was where Regulus found himself. There were maps dating back to 200 B.C. and detailed accounts of history through imagery.
Regulus ran over to the balcony that overlooked the entire Travers library to look down at Morgana on the floor below. "What is it?"
"You know that thing McGonagall does with the cat and stuff?"
"Yeah? She's incredible at transfiguration."
"Well, it might be something different than we thought. There's this thing called an animagus."
"Hold on one sec," Regulus darted from the balcony and sprinted down the stairs to Morgana. He put his chin on her shoulder, as he'd always been taller than her, and read as she talked.
"An animagus is a witch or wizard who can transform at will into an animal. This animal is resemblant of their personality and much like a patronus, the witch or wizard is hardly affected by dementors in this state. It is a built off of a protective layer of magic that witches and wizards and ancient times would refer to as their familiars." She turned to face her best friend. "One, this is super cool and I think we should try. And two, I think this explains a certain dog and stag."
Regulus became suddenly aware of the closeness between him and Morgana. It had never bothered him before and didn't bother him now, but he was some reason incredibly aware. "You don't think-"
"-You know exactly what I think."
"Sirius-"
"Potter-"
"and Pettigrew."
After Christmas break, there had been an appearance of a large black dog with the most glorious soft hair, a stag with circular markings around its eyes, and a rather large rat with a blond patch at the top of its head. The pair had run into the trio of odd animals once or twice in the middle of the night. They didn't act as animals ought to, afraid in the presence of people, but rather they froze and stared them down until the pair left. The next day, a temporary swamp took up the entire hall where they'd seen the animals. The second time had also been in the late hours of the night. This time the pair walked closer and tried to see what was going on. The rat had perched itself on the deer's antlers and the dog paced back and forth through the deer's legs before walking over to the pair. It sniffed them and Morgana reached down to pet it. Regulus laughed and then kneeled down with her and they gave the dog all of the pets and scratches. Remus appeared out of seemingly nowhere and laughed and joined them. They were taken aback by his presence but it was Remus Lupin, who cares. The deer and the rat came closer but still hung back. It was a magical moment... until they heard Filch's footsteps. Then they all had to bolt.
Regulus and Morgana didn't know this, but Sirius held that moment near and dear to his heart. He recognized that he messed up his relationship with Regulus but that didn’t mean he loved him any less. It hurt sometimes…
”And they do it for Lupin…”
Regulus has spent his fair share of time in the hospital wing. Being an excellent seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch team and being a lovable dumbass got him plenty of injuries that got him dragged to the Hospital Wing by Morgana. Far too often they’d seen Remus in there too and it was only a matter of time before they pieced together his ~situation.~
“That’s brilliant,” Regulus exclaimed. He paced for just a second before pulling a piece of parchment and pencil out of his pocket, leaning over the book, scribbling a few notes down, and running downstairs, “Who knew my idiot brother was so smart.”
”It’s a really difficult piece of transfiguration,” Morgana followed him down, but slowly, still reading, “It would have taken a lot of discipline… There’s a potions aspect, that was probably done by Pettigrew; a heavy transfiguration aspect, that was Potter; and a lot of these ingredients are extremely rare and expensive, that’s where Sirius probably came in.”
Morgana sat down at one of the tables, not paying Regulus any mind as he rummaged through the potions cabinet.
”Do you have mandrake leaves!?” He called from the dank depths of the walk in cabinet.
”Back right, second shelf from top, third drawer,” she called back, still engrossed. Regulus did these sorts of manic searches often so she learned to pay him no mind till he had what he wanted. But she knew what he was going to do so she copied the instructions from the book very carefully into a note book she kept in her pocket. She then stood up and pulled a very large book off a shelf entitle Transfiguration Law and Its History.
Soon enough he came back out and set out a pile of ingredients. “We could do it.”
”I know,” she said and pointed to the Transfiguration Law and Its History book opened to Chapter 4: Animagi and Metamorphosis. “My only question is should we?”
Regulus looked at her with the spark that only she knew, “I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t.”
They’d spent the rest of the day planning their Animagus process and doing extensive research as to the fine details. They worked well into the evening before falling asleep on the couch together with books piled around them and notes littering the floor.
———————————-
Mrs. Travers treaded lightly as she lead the dark lord toward the sleeping pair. He his did face beneath a dark cloak and made close to no sound before speaking. “Ambition… it’s a very admirable trait, Dahlia. You should be proud.”
”Yes, my lord… I am.” Neither of them spoke above a whisper. “My lord… I wonder, as Ana’s mother…”
”She will serve nicely, our dear little Morgana.”
”Yes of course my lord and it is an honor to have our families chosen, but-“ Voldemort turned sharply and locked eyes with Dahlia Travers. She quickly ended her though, lowering her head and shrinking back in fear, “Forgive me, my lord.”
He stared for a moment longer before turning back to the children, “You worry for your child… I respect that. If my mother could’ve been half as thoughtful…You’ve always served me so well, my dear, but these children will be either the creation of my reign or mark the end of it. We must make sure they tip the correct way.”
Nagini, the great snake, slithered up to the children and blinked at them before returning to her master’s side. The Dark Lord moved towards the door, leaving Dahlia standing there. She looked at her daughter, her beautiful, intelligent daughter and almost cried. Why did she have to be so cruel to her.
The Dark Lord paused at the door and let the woman have her moment. He lacked empathy for anyone or anything, but he wasn’t dumb. Normal people didn’t see things as he did. Eventually, Dahlia followed him out.
”It would be good to let our darling, Regulus, to remain here for the rest of the summer… he must not be corrupted by his brother or his mother.” The Dark Lord murmured as she walked to him.
At that Dahlia’s head, which had previously been lowered, shot up and she paused. “His mother?”
”Yes,” he hissed, “I appreciate Walburga as a follower, I really do, but she has far too much of the Black family madness in her… don’t worry, she’ll more than happy to oblige to my requests.”
The Dark Lord reached out and caressed Dahlia’s cheek with one of his sharp, white, bonnet hands. “You on the other hand, you have done well… Promise you’ll continue my dear?”
Dahlia nodded, “Of course, my lord.”
”Good, and remember what we said about, Atticus?”
She nodded again, “He’s still imperiused.”
Atticus Travers was never around much. He was a sorry excuse for a father but he provided for the family, even though there was no real need for that with the massive fortune the Travers family had. He worked at the ministry as head Public Defense office. His spot was crucial to Voldemort’s overtaking.
”Good… foolish man finally has some use.”
And with that they exited the library, the door closing with a click.