Chapter 3
The sun was up and so was Regulus. Even though he’d had a late night he couldn’t sleep, it didn’t matter where they were, how late or early he went to bed, he just could never sleep past five. Not that it bothered him, he loved watching the sunrise, it felt like he was the first to greet the sun every morning. But it was different this morning, they weren’t in France, he wasn’t on his balcony and most of all, Felix, his black cat wasn’t with him.
“How you still get up so early shocks me every day” Sirius’ groggy voice wafted out the door way and into the yard where Regulus was sitting.
“Oh you know me, gotta greet the sun” Regulus sighed getting up, his bare feet crunched the leaves as he made his way across the yard to Sirius, who was leaning on the door frame.
“What did you think of last night?” Sirius asked as they walked into the kitchen.
“Eh it was alright, I can remember the names of like five people. Remus was nice though, he had good food. James however was uhhh how do I put it, Special” Regulus rolled his eyes, “all everyone would ask me was, ‘are you his next victim’ ‘isn’t he cute’ and some other shit about how he was in bed, I wanted to off myself”.
Sirius chuckled shaking his head, he reached to grab bowls and spoons out the cabinets.
“Hey can you pass me the cereal?” Sirius gestured to the tall cupboard by Regulus’ side, “also who can you remember from last night, I’ll catch you up on the others”.
“Uhhh James, obviously. Lily, she was the drunk red head, Remus, he gave me some toast, Pandora, that was funny when she turned up, and uhhh, oh right Mary, her and Lily are together. Yeah don’t remember many, Remus did point some out, but I don’t know, no one stood out to me” Regulus rambled and reached for the milk to add to his cereal,
“Oh yeah, there was only Marlene who you didn’t mention, she’s in your year too, the other people were friends of friends so even I don’t know them” Sirius explained between mouthfuls of cheerios, “I’m shocked you remembered so many”
“Bitch, what’d she look like? You know Marlene?” Regulus mumbled,
“She had like bleached hair with a pink and green under cut, James and he were chatting about setting up another hair appointment for her I think” Sirius replied, and got up to wash his now empty cereal bowl.
~
“Are we doing anything today?” Regulus asked after a little while, him and Sirius were sitting on the couch on their phones doing their own thing.
“I think James wanted to come over here and hang for a bit, he mentioned it right before we got off the bus” Sirius spoke looking up from his phone, “you were to busy daydreaming to pay attention when he said it”, Regulus rolled his eyes at that.
“So just James coming over or?”
“I don’t know he didn’t really say much, I’ll ask though” Sirius said before looking back at his phone and dialling James’ number. He got up and wandered off when James picked up and left Regulus to wait. Regulus had only gotten a couple texts form Barty and Evan since he landed, mainly to do with Evan’s sister, Pandora, and wanting know if they could take his stuff, god knows why they wanted to know that but oh well. The last message he sent to Barty was left on delivered, not opened, delivered, so he felt a little rejected and hoped that James’ friends would be nice to him. Sirius walked back in saying bye to James on the phone and hanging up.
“Right so, him and Remus are coming over in a bit and Lily and Mary will come over later cause they wanted to chat to you about school and god knows what, sound good?” Sirius recapped for Regulus,
“Yeah thats fine, I’ll sort some stuff out and neaten the flat up a bit” Regulus replied looking distracted,
“Hey no, you don’t have to do that they wont care” Sirius reached out and touched Regulus’ shoulder to get his attention, “fais-moi confiance”,
“Oh yeah right” Regulus muttered quietly.
~
“Knock knock bitch!” James’ voice carried through the flat followed by aggressive knocking,
“Jesus Christ, your gonna knock the door off its bloody hinges” Regulus grumbled walking down the hall and opening the door,
“Evening sir” James was leaning against the door frame with a smirk that was always directed at Regulus,
“Evening” Regulus sighed and walked down the hall back towards Sirius, James followed.
“Where’s Remus? I thought he was coming?” Regulus asked James, who had made himself at home on their couch with Sirius,
“Oh right, he’ll be here in a bit, just had to sort some stuff out I think” James replied casually and then resumed his conversation with Sirius.
“Hey guys” Remus called, he was standing in the door way with his arms full of food, “I brought some food to stock you guys up”
“Dude you didn’t have to do that” Sirius laughed and wandered over to him to help carry it all in,
“It was the least I could do” Remus smiled and set the bags down on the counter. Most of it was basic pantry food and condiments but they appreciated it nonetheless. Mary and Lily turned up a bit later and had brought house warming gifts, a candle and plant for Regulus and a nice throw blanket and matching pillow for Sirius.
“Lily! You shouldn’t have” Regulus said after opening the small box they were in,
“No no you must take them, plus it was Mary’s idea not mine” Lily smiled sweetly at the two brothers, Mary was sitting at the table with Remus smiling as well.
“Hey Reg, that candle is nearly as big as Barty’s-” Regulus slapped his hand across Sirius’ face,
“Ny pense même pas” Regulus glared at him, but there was no bite to his tone, then Sirius licked his hand,
“Va te faire” Regulus swore and yanked his hand away form Sirius’ face, “c'est putain de dégoûtant”, Sirius laughed loudly and so did James, though he never took his gaze off of Regulus.
“You two are crazy” Remus said shaking his head but smiling.
The sun had set and the six friends were settled down and chatting in their own little groups. James and Sirius were deeply talking about how many pranks they planned on doing, Regulus was happy chatting with Lily about school work and who’s class he’d be in and which teachers to avoid, and Mary and Remus were sitting on the floor in front of the couch reading quietly, which they seemed to do together a lot.
“Alright guys I think I’m gonna head home, its getting late and we’ve got school tomorrow” James said getting up from his spot in the couch, carefully avoiding stepping on Remus, who was getting up as well, or Mary.
“James wait up I got to tell you something” Remus said after he’d waved bye to the others, following James out the door.
“Yeah I’m gonna head off too, I’ll see you guys tomorrow, probably at lunch cause you’ll have a meeting and tour first” Lily said, taking the blanket off her legs and getting up to get her bag from the coffee table.
“Wait for me Lils” Mary called getting up and putting her book away, she linked arms with Lily and waved bye to the brothers, who sat in their now quiet and empty flat.
“Lily and Mary are sweet, I’ve got some classes with them tomorrow so thats nice, most of your classes are with James, Dorcas and Marlene” Regulus said to Sirius, who looked half asleep,
“Cool, you know Remus is kinda hot” Sirius said casually,
“Huh? Wait what?” Regulus sputtered, looking at his brother like he was crazy.
“Yeah like I don’t know he’s just, ugh, hot” Sirius mumbled looking at the ceiling,
“You know sometimes I can’t tell when you joking or not” Regulus mumbled and wandered off to the kitchen to pack away the chips and snacks they’d had out.
“Oh but this time I’m not joking, unlike the candle joke” Sirius laughed and his chest heaved,
“Ok no that was not ok, you shouldn’t have brought that up at all” Regulus argued feeling hot,
“Oh he’s fine” Sirius droned rolling his eyes.
“Ok loonie, lets go to bed, I actually want to be some what awake tomorrow” Regulus said looking at his brother like he was a child, which he kind of was at this point.
“Yeah yeah I’m coming” Sirius dragged himself up from the couch and shuffled after Regulus and into his room on the left.
“Child” Regulus mumbled and turned in to his room ready to just sleep, when his phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number;
{unknown number} Fais de baux rêves
{Regulus} who’s this?
{unknown number} Your favourite person ever
{Regulus} didnt know Taylor Swift had my number but ok
{unknown number} Swifty
{Regulus} ok and
{Regulus} also you forgot the e in beaux
{unknown number} Excuse my poor French for I am but an English man
{Regulus} is this james
{unknown number} Would this James character wish you sweet dreams?
{Regulus} yes he’s loonie
{Regulus} good night james go annoy sirius
{unknown number} Fais de be*aux rêves
Regulus turned his phone off with a small smile on his lips, tomorrow would be a good day.
~
“Get up lazy bones we’ve got school today” Regulus yelled down the hallway, hoping to wake sleeping beauty in his room. After five minutes of yelling at him Regulus resorted to banging two pots together, that worked.
“Jésus, putain de Christ! va te faire foutre Reggie” Sirius groaned into his pillow,
“Get the fuck up sleeping beauty, we’ve got school” Regulus grumbled as he walked out the room. When Sirius finally came out his room he was dressed and ready for the day. Regulus had made breakfast, which was bacon and eggs.
“I just realised I haven’t had bacon and eggs in way too long, I wish mum still made this for us” Sirius said between mouthfuls of bread and egg,
“Yeah, does it taste alright?” Regulus asked quickly,
“Well I’m eating it so what do you think” Sirius chuckled and shoved another forkful of bacon into his mouth,
“Right, ok enjoy that. I’ve already eaten so I’m gonna go get changed and sort my bag out” Regulus paused before he walked off, “do you want yours sorted too, Padfoot?”,
“Yes please” Sirius looked up, “thank you”
“Its all good” Regulus shrugged before he walked down the hall to grab their bags.
Running late was Sirius’ favourite past time, and today they were late for the bus. After only just catching it before it left, Sirius and Regulus found seats at the back of the bus, which was again empty, though it only took a few stops to fill up. James came ambling up the aisle and spotted Regulus sitting by himself, so he sat next to him.
“Morning, how was your sleep” James lent forward and asked Sirius, who had someone sitting next to him, a small blonde girl who looked borderline terrified.
“Swell, until some one rudely interrupted it” Sirius looked back and glared at Regulus who just shrugged,
“He’s such heavy sleeper I had to bang two pots together to get his fat arse out off bed, and even then we were still late” it was Regulus’ turn to glare at Sirius, who smirked at James.
“Wait bang pots together?” James looked at Regulus with concern,
“Eh its normal, at least I didn’t hit HIM with the pots” Regulus paused and smirked, “though I was tempted”.
“You two are crazy” James laughed. The bus ride was pretty quiet after that, there was only a few more stops and then they were at school.
‘EPISKEY COLLEGE’ was written in metal letters over the school gates. There was five buildings visible from the road, the Administration and Mess Hall, the Science and Maths block, the Arts department, the English and Humanities block, and the Sports centre. Each were two stories high and made of limestone blocks, the roofs made it look like a massive cathedral surrounded by smaller churches and buildings.
“Ok you guys better go in now, Dumbledore doesn’t like to be kept waiting” James said to the brothers, who started walking towards the biggest of the buildings. The massive wooden doors were propped open by large statues of winged lions. The large doors lead to an open area, to the right was a large board that looked like it had all the school events listed on it, and a hallway with the sign; ‘Dorms’, above it. To the left was a window, and behind it stood a woman who looked rather bored, next to the window was another hallway there was no sign to tell them where it went though.
“Can I help you boys” the woman asked nicely, her voice was sweet and welcoming.
“Hi, uhh, we’re new here and were supposed to meet Dumbledore for a meeting” Sirius said to the woman and slowly walked over to her, Regulus followed him,
“Alright, and what are your names?” The woman asked,
“Sirius and Regulus Black” Sirius replied and he stood up a little straighter.
“Lovely to meet you boys, my name is Professor Sprout” she smiled at Regulus, who tried to smile back but knew it looked strained, “alright I’ll show you boys off to Dumbledore, he doesn’t like to be kept waiting”, Sirius nodded and began following Professor Sprout with Regulus in tow.
The halls to Dumbledore’s office wound in circles almost, eventually turning into a spiral staircase that seemed to travel up one of the tall peaks in the roof. The door to Dumbledore office was a heavy wood door that had a phoenix carved into the knocker and a matching brass handle. Professor Sprout knocked using the knocker and politely stood back until they heard a voice call through the door,
“Enter”
“Alright boys, I’ll see you later at the assembly” Sprout said before turning around and walking back down the stairs. Sirius gently pushed the door open and warm air washed out and around the brothers.
“Come in quickly, don’t want to let the cold air in” Dumbledore chuckled and waved the boys to come in. He was standing behind a large desk that was covered in paper and files, except for one corner where a small phoenix statue stood, looking regal on its perch.
“Please take a seat, and then we will discuss what is to happen today” Dumbledore gestured to the seats in front of his desk. Regulus sat first and tapped Sirius’ arm to encourage him to follow suit.
“Right shall we begin?” Dumbledore started.
~
Their meeting with Dumbledore lasted nearly an hour. They spoke about where their classes would be, who would be in their classes, which teachers would be teaching them, and where everything else was.
“Any questions?” Dumbledore asked, the question directed at Regulus, who hadn’t said much.
“No sir” Regulus mumbled looking down at his shoes,
“Alright then, I will take you two on a tour of the school, then we’ll head off to the greeting assembly” Dumbledore said getting up from his chair and encouraging the boys to do the same. They wandered around the grounds following Dumbledore and listening to him telling them all about the grounds and how old it was.
“Right and down this hall is your common room, or form as you may have called it at your previous school. In here you can hang around between classes or during your study time, just keep the noise to a minimum” Dumbledore finished. In front of them was a big open room with couches, chairs and tables scattered around, along one of the walls was a large book case, and on the adjacent wall was a large bay window with a plush looking seat under it. One thing Regulus noticed was the distinct accent colours of red and gold, which related back to their house colours.
“Right, lets head down to the Mess Hall where we will hold your greeting assembly” Dumbledore said to the boys and began walking out the room.
The Mess Hall was massive, while on their tour Dumbledore had only walked the boys past the entrance door and not shown them inside. It was beautiful inside, there was intricate detailing on each column around the room and the ceiling was painted to look like the night sky, including consolations and all. Each column around the room had an animal of sorts carved into it, and matched the column opposite it. The front two had phoenix’s with their wings spread wide and lit with flames, the next two had a badger wearing a crown that was decorated in an assortment of jewels, the next pair had a two headed snake with piercing green gems as eyes, that seemed to be reaching out of the column to bite the students, the second last pair was a large lion mid roar with a small jewelled necklace around its neck which bore a bright red crystal, the last two columns had a massive eagle carved into them, it held a sword in it’s talons and it’s eyes were set with deep blue gems that seemed to glow.
“Reggie, I think we have to stand at the front and be introduced to everyone” Sirius whispered to Regulus as they walked down the middle of the room trailing Dumbledore,
“Fuck I hope not” Regulus whispered in reply.
“Silence!” Dumbledore's voice echoed through the hall, he was standing at the speaking platform with the microphone. Once everyone fell silent he continued;
“Good morning students of Episkey College, I hope you have all had a grand holiday and are ready to start back at school. We are very lucky this term to have two new students join us” he paused and waved for the brothers to walk forwards, “Sirius Black and Regulus Black are exchange students from France. Sirius has been Pen Pals with one of our students, James Potter, since year seven and has been given the opportunity to join our school until the end of the year. His brother Regulus has joined us as well at the request of his parents to keep the brothers together. I hope you make them feel welcome” Dumbledore finished and the hall broke into applause. Sirius and Regulus were guided off the stage and to their house bench, they quickly found James and Remus and sat with them.
“I didn’t know only Sirius was the exchange student?” James whispered to Regulus,
“Oh yeah, Mother didn’t want him to go alone so I was sent with, although I think she just didn’t want to deal with me alone” Regulus shrugged,
“Jesus she wouldn’t hate her own kids that much” James said looking at Regulus with mild concern,
“I don’t know and I don’t really care, so” Regulus rolled his eyes and then turned his attention back to the front where Dumbledore was finishing the announcements for the week.
~
Their day went by slowly, lots of wandering around with James and Remus, and getting lost. By the time the final bell went Regulus was exhausted.
“Come on we don’t want to miss the bus” James called to Regulus, who was dragging behind.
“Right, come here” James said walking over to Regulus and grabbing his arm to drag him over to the bus that was just about to leave. James pulled Regulus onto the bus and up to the back where he always sat, Sirius was already there and waiting. After shoving Regulus into the seat behind Sirius, James slumped down into the chair next to Sirius.
“God you need to teach your brother to walk faster Jesus he would’ve missed the bus otherwise” Jame huffed and looked back at Regulus, who was looking out the window with his headphones in.
“Yeah he’s always like that, I used to just carry him if we had to be somewhere quickly” Sirius laughed and James laughed too. Regulus glanced up at the sound of James laughing and couldn’t help but look at him. His green eyes seemed to just glow with happiness and his whole face was just lit up, but much to Regulus’ disappointment it faded away quicker than it appeared.
“What you thinking about Reg?” Sirius asked looking up at Regulus,
“Rêveries” Regulus said back and tore his gaze away from James’s face and back to the window.
“Right” was all Sirius said before James was getting up from his seat and heading off. Only a few stops after that Sirius and Regulus were off the bus and walking home.