Chapter 1
“Sirius, Regulus!” A French woman’s voice called down the hall and up the stairs, “le dîner est prêt”,
“Maman à venir” a younger, more masculine, voice called back. The boy rose from his bed dropping his phone as he did so, he glanced in the mirror that hung in the hall to fix his hair, it never quite sat right with all the curls he’d been so called ‘blessed’ with. A couple thicker black curls were hiding his eyes, steely grey was the colour his brother used to call them, but that was long ago and didn’t matter anymore.
He walked down the stairs to see his older brother already at the table with his mother and father, they looked serious.
“C'est gentil de votre part de nous rejoindre, Regulus” his father, Orion spoke stiffly with a harsh stare.
“I do try” Regulus replied, sarcasm dripping from his words,
“Qu'est-ce qu'on vous a dit sur le fait de parler anglais dans cette maison?” Walburga demanded,
“Ne parlez jamais dans des langues aussi grossières car cela déshonorerait notre nom de famille” Regulus droned in a tone that suggested he’d recited this many times,
“Bon, asseyez-vous maintenant, nous avons quelque chose d'important à vous dire” Orion said sharply. Regulus complied and sat down in his seat with Sirius on one side and an empty chair on the other, which had never been sat in to Regulus’ memory, and he had lived here his whole life. Sirius nudged him gaining his attention and drawing his gaze away from the empty seat next to him.
“Vous avez tous les deux été inscrits pour participer à un programme d'échange dans une école en Angleterre” Walburga spoke breaking the silence,
“Quelle école” Sirius asked looking eager,
“Collège Episkey” Orion answered, Sirius’ eyes lit up and Regulus rolled his, the school was the one Sirius’ ‘Pen Pal’ went too. They’d been pen pals since year seven and this no doubtably was the reason for them becoming exchange students elsewhere.
“Vraiment?!” Sirius asked excited,
Regulus looked at his parents like they were crazy,
“QUOI! Non, je ne suis pas juste debout et je quitte ma vie simplement parce qu'il est qualifié d'étudiant d'échange! Va te faire foutre!” He yelled not caring that he swore in front of his parents.
“Regulus! Nous n’utilisons pas cette langue dans cette maison!” Walburga snapped, scowling at her youngest son, “la météo, que vous le vouliez ou non, les vols sont réservés, vous partez vendredi, alors faites vos valises”
“C'est n'importe quoi” Regulus snapped before getting up and walking out the front door, he needed some fresh air.
~
“Its fucking shit, they think I’d just leave behind my life here, I fucking hate them” Regulus was saying to Barty, his best mate since year one, “Sirius is over joyed cause he gets to see his bestie, James, bet he’s an actual cunt though” Barty laughed at this,
“Bro you need to talk to Evan about this, he’ll be able to help you, I just find it funny” Barty said looking at Regulus like he was the most entertaining thing on earth,
“Oh for fuck sake Barty!” Regulus laughed reaching for his phone to ring Evan, Barty’s boyfriend and his second best mate.
“The fuck do you want” Evan’s tired voice echoed out the speaker on Regulus’ phone,
“Im not sorry to wake you, but I’m having crisis right now and Barty is zero help he’s just laughing at me” Regulus turned to scowl at Barty at this,
“Right, sure I’ll be there in a minute” he paused thinking, “your at the park right”
“Yes for christ sake hurry up” Regulus said into his phone sounding exasperated,
“Yes yes I’m coming Reggie” Evan said and then hung up quickly before Regulus could yell his ear off over the silly nickname.
When Evan finally turned up Regulus had forgotten about the name he’d been called.
“God sake Evan could you walk any slower” Regulus said looking at Evan in mild relief, Barty had been talking his ear off about how amazing England would be and how great it would be if he could go instead of Regulus, who was trying very hard not to fall asleep out of disinterest.
“Yeah yeah I know, I got caught talking to Dorcas at the bridge, apparently she just bought a house out of town so she’s moving soon” Evan said, catching the other two up on the news. Barty replied saying something about how good that was for her, but Regulus was too busy watching Evan, the moonlight seemed to make his bleached blonde hair glow white, he was looking at Barty, who was rambling on about god knows what now, and Regulus could see his pupils dilate even from a distance. They locked eyes only a second later and his pupils returned to normal and the blueness of his eyes really stood out now.
“Admiring the view? Too bad its already taken huh?” Evan said casually, “What was it you were having a crisis about pretty boy?”,
“He leaving us!” Barty cried faking helplessness, Evan looked at Regulus as if to say, ‘is this true? Or is he just loonie?’
“Yup getting shipped of to England with Sirius as an exchange student”
“Shit, when?”
“Friday”
Evans face dropped, “They cant do that right, you’ve gotta consent or something right?”
“Have you met my parents, consent is not in their vocabulary” Regulus rolled his eyes, “oh well at least you’ll get some peace with your little friend over there” he gestured to Barty who was sitting in a tree on his phone, god knows how he got up there, his green undercut gave his head an eerie glow in the moonlight along with his phone screen light.
“I suppose, but we’ll miss you” Evan glanced at Barty, “or at least I will”
“I’ll miss you Reggie!” Barty called out as though in protest to what Evan had said.
“You should head back mate and pack, I’ll ring you on Thursday and come steal you from school, Yeah?” Evan said. He’d dropped out the year before so was always stealing Barty or Regulus from school, which probably gave Regulus’ parents another reason to ship him off. Him, Barty, Evan and Marlene used to go for drives out to the forest and hang out in the trees for hours, Regulus would miss that, he knew he would though he would never admit it.
~
Stuffing clothes in a suitcase the night you fly out isn’t the best idea but Regulus couldn’t care any less, he’d spent the day before with Barty, Evan and Dorcas, they’d hung out in the trees like they always did but this time is was a somber feeling, like the end of summer holidays. If Regulus was honest with himself, he was kind of excited to go to England, the idea of no family, new friends, and well who was he kidding; fuck no he did not want to leave, he hated the thought of just leaving his life behind, not his family but his mates and all the memories he’d made here. Walking down the stairs with three suitcases and a small backpack just made it feel all the more real, he really was leaving.
“Monte dans la voiture Regulus” Orion said to him from drivers side of the car, Sirius was already in the car, his long wavy hair, much to his fathers disgust, hung down around his face, he was looking down; probably messaging James about everything he’d packed or god knows what. After shoving his bags in the boot Regulus climbed in and put his headphones in to try and tune his family out and his own mind.
Trees had been flickering past the window, then buildings and then- a sharp jab in his side snapped him out of his daze, he glanced out the front to see they were at the airport and it was time to get out, get all their bags and such sorted and say bye to their parents.
“Appelle-moi après ton premier jour d’école” Walburga spoke looking at the boys from the passenger seat. Her hair, which looked oh so similar to Sirius’, was neatly brushed and perfectly framed her face to make her look even more harsh tham she already did, there wasn’t even a hint of sorrow or worry anywhere on her face,
“Gardez notre réputation intacte s'il vous plaît” Orion said, sounding stern, such an odd thing to say to your sons that your about to send to another country; keep the family reputation in tact, but well it was the Black family after all.
Regulus and Sirius walked through the airport, after they had sent their undercarriage bags off, looking for gate 23 when they finally found it they only had half an hour until they boarded. Regulus found an empty seat and sat down in it feeling exhausted,
“Hey, I know you don’t want to go but please try and be nice to everyone when we land ok” Sirius said resting his hand on Regulus’ knee, Regulus looked up into Sirius’ pale blue eyes and couldn’t help it anymore, he lent forward and hugged Sirius, like really hugged him,
“I’m scared Padfoot” was all he whispered into his brothers long hair before they pulled apart at the sound of their gate being called to board. Regulus and Sirius got separated in the line to board to Regulus walked up the ramp and onto the plane alone. He shuffled down the aisle way to his seat 13F, a window seat,
“Uhh… excuse me I just need to get to my seat” Regulus mumbled to the person in the middle seat,
“Oh yeah sure give me a sec” the woman said as she stood up, her long braided hair was in a thick plait, it was a really similar colour to Evan’s, Regulus didn’t like that thought.
“Thanks sorry about that” Regulus said as he sat down, shoving his backpack under the seat,
“No no your alright” the woman replied smiling at him, she even smiled like Evan.
~
Regulus glanced forward trying to see Sirius, he was a couple rows forward and had all three seats to himself, he looked to be living the life. Focusing back on his movie Regulus checked his phone, ‘no notifications’ was all his screen read, trying not to look dishearten he watched the movie he’d choose at the start of his flight, some kids movie that he’d thought looked like a normal movie, but it definitely wasn’t.
“How’s the movie” a voice next to him asked, he’d forgotten all about his neighbour,
“Eh its alright, thought it wasn’t a kids movie but oh well, just background noise really” he shrugged glancing at her, she smiled,
“By the way I’m Pandora”
“Regulus”
“Thats French right, I mean you’ve got the accent right?”
“No my name isn’t French but I am yes, I’m named after the Leo consolation’s brightest star”
“Wow thats cool, I have no clue what my name means hah” she laughed shrugging,
“Its greek, meaning all gifts”
“Really? Wait, How do you know that? You into greek mythology or something?”
“Ah no, just learnt all that stuff as a kid” it was Regulus’ turn to shrug now,
“Huh cool, kinda wish I knew all that stuff, maybe I should get into all that. Your still in school right?” She looked at him as if she was trying to guess his age,
“Yeah, year 10, you?”
“Huh wouldn’t of guessed, I’m in year 12”
“What do you mean wouldn’t of guessed? Is it cause I’m short? Petite?” Regulus said in a fake offended tone with his hand to his chest, “Sirius is in year 12 too, he’s a few seats back though”
“Haha no, you just look young, just lucky I guess” she laughed and her whole face just lit up, her eyes were shining golden hazelnut and her hair perfectly framed her face, Regulus smiled at her, she’s nice he thought. They chatted for a long while and only stopped when the seatbelt light came on to prepare the cabin for landing, Regulus hated this part.