Army Dreamers

“Army dreamer, that’s what they call him,” the frail voice of an elderly woman spoke as the two walked by.

“Army dreamer?” the pale and skinny boy replied.

“Why’s that?” he continued as his voice cadenced with volume. The older woman sighed before telling the boy.

“It’s his dream to become a saviour for his country. Ever since childhood, he’s been telling anybody who listened about his dream to be a soldier.” She paused, waiting for any sign of the black-haired boy to reply before continuing, “Poor boy, really… a heart like his could never survive the cold trenches he looks so forward to.”

The air grew silent as the older woman finished. The boy had looked to his slightly taller brother to see if he was also listening, but to no avail; he was not, leaving it just to him to reply to the older woman upon them.

“What’s his name?” is a simple question that could be seen as a butterfly effect. He would have never asked if the boy had known what would happen after learning the dreamer’s name.

“James,” the woman said with a slight smile, “my little Jamie, I used to call him before he turned 17.” She laughed at herself before pointing. “He is now grown and is going to follow his dreams; that paper he is in line for is the volunteer sheet.”

The town was only quiet these days because of all the young buzzing boys being taken to the frontline.

Sunday, the 24th of September, the year 1916, is also Regulus’s birthday. 2 years from now, they will be dead in the very same trenches where they had found each other’s hearts.

In those few days, Regulus couldn’t help but think about the new name circling his mind, ‘army dreamer.’ He was just so curious about the boy and what could be going on in his mind. Many questions stormed his mind, the most common being, ‘why the army of all things.’ Regulus couldn’t wrap his mind around it at all.

At the peak of his curiosity, Regulus finally convinced his brother Sirius to go back to town to peek at the signup sheet posted on the town’s board. To both of their surprise, there were two boys around their age standing staring at the page before them. They both had brown hair, but one happened to have darker brown hair that Regulus recognized immediately.

“Army dreamer,” he whispered into his brother’s ear as he motioned toward the boy he had been thinking of for the past few days. His brother just nodded, and it looked as if his eye had moved to the taller boy beside James.
Sirius nudged Regulus to get his attention back before pointing to the other boy in front of them.

“What about that one? Who is he?” Regulus looked over to try and make out the other, but to no avail; he had no clue who the other could be.

“I don’t know. Go ask him if you’re curious,” he said jokingly before turning his attention back to James. As he watched Sirius walk up to the two boys, he suddenly remembered that his brother had always been braver than he could ever be.

Regulus watched in horror as his brother made it to the two boys and immediately swung his arms around both of them, causing the boys to flinch and panic at the sudden move. Regulus watched as the scene went on before Sirius called him over. He debated if he should walk away and just leave him alone with them or just ignore him—he opted for neither and walked over in a confident stride like his father had told him to always do.

Once he got over to them, Sirius introduced the light brown-haired boy to him. His name was Remus Lupin, and he had just moved to their town a little under a week ago, which made sense as to why Regulus couldn’t recognize him. On the other hand, James was stunned at the fact that Regulus had already known him, even though it was their first meeting. Regulus calmly explained that it was his duty to know everyone in the town.

The conversations between Remus and Regulus went quite quickly, even with Remus’s heavy Welsh accent that had Sirius a little confused on some words, but for some reason, Regulus just knew either way. On the other hand, the conversation between James and Regulus was quick and hard, as if Regulus had suddenly gone mute when his attention was on James.

The 4 of them spent a few hours talking to each other; for the most part, it was James and Sirius, while Remus and Regulus just listened to them in between their conversations. Regulus learns that the rumour about James having the same dream since he was a kid is accurate, but he is scared to sign up because he doesn’t want to be apart from his family and friends for so long. Remus had told Regulus that he would join with James if he were brave enough, but he’s heard some speculations that the British won’t even win the war, and they treat all their soldiers like shit.

When the street lights turned on, the four boys decided it was time to finally go home and get some rest for the next day, when they would meet up again. They said their goodbyes and parted ways on the chilly night.

As Regulus and Sirius walked, it was silent until Sirius suddenly started snickering to himself. Annoyed, Regulus glared at his older brother before looking back in front of him to see an ashen girl with white hair just standing there like a ghost. Both Sirius and Regulus paused to stare at the girl, who was now crying. They looked at each other, confused about what to do and whether this was dangerous.
After about two minutes of standing there, Regulus decided it was enough and approached the girl.

As he approached her, he noted that she was freakishly pale, and her hair was almost as white as her face, almost as if she had been made to contrast with her brother who has more dark skin spots then her. On her arms and legs, freckles almost flooded over her, like she had been painted with the intention of confusing the viewer. Regulus looked at her curiously before calling out to her.

“Uhh, hi? Are you okay?” She looked up at him with pink cheeks and watery eyes. Regulus immediately noted that she looked exactly like a porcelain doll with cracks all over.

Rosier. Finally, it clicked: She’s one of the Rosier twins. He’s only had one interaction with her brother, Evan, but they might as well be identical with their blonde hair and pale skin. The only difference is that clearly, one of them seems to be softer than the other and that one would be the twin standing right in front of him.

She stared at him for a little before finally bursting out into a full-on sobbing mess on her knees. Regulus immediately ran over to her, holding her upwards. Through choked sobs, she started yelling out words. “My brother...” she paused after almost every other word as it hurt her to even think about it. “He signed... He signed up for...” More choked sounds came straight from her heart as Regulus rubbed her back, looking at Sirius concerned. “He joined the war!!” she shouted before collapsing in Regulus, hugging him so tightly, like if she didn’t, she would fall through the floor.

She cried for 10 minutes before finally getting up and rubbing her eyes. She looked up to Regulus, almost like she had been punished for a crime. “I’m sorry. I’m just so. Why did he ever want to do this?” she sighed before wiping her nose.

“It’s okay,” Regulus said. He was not very good at comforting people. He just reached out his hand to hers; he had noticed early that she had a cut on her hand from falling to the ground. He silently took out a spare bandage roll and started to wrap her hand with it. She mumbled a quiet thank you through her sniffs.

“Evan Rosier,” the name made her head snap up with shock and slight sadness. That’s your brother, right?” she nodded sadly. “So you’re Pandora, then?” This time, she smiled a little while nodding.

She let out a small, breathy laugh. “Most of this town just calls me the wacko twin,” Regulus laughed. “Oh, don’t laugh Regulus.”

“Oh, so you know who I am.” he tilted his head with a small smile.

“I know everyone in this town. It’s better to know everyone than to know no one.” She smiled, moving her hand back to her side after Regulus had finished the bandaging. “The boy standing behind you is Sirius Black, your brother and the oldest by two years.” Regulus was shocked, to say the least, but he was pleased there was someone just like him in this town.

After chatting more, the two finally decided it was time to go home before something strange happened, as Pandora whispered to Regulus. Regulus said goodbye to his new friend for the second time that night and headed back to Sirius.

“Who was that?” Sirius said immediately; Regulus questioned if he knew anyone in this town.

“Pandora Rosier,” he said with a smile that made Sirius look at him weirdly.

Sirius shook off the random smile. “Rosier.. Rosierrr.. I’ve heard that name somewhere.” Regulus started walking, not interested in what Sirius was trying to discover in his head. “Wait! Is she one of our cousins? Or was she in on a rumour..? No! I saw that name on the signup sheet!” he shouted after Regulus trying to catch up.