Chapter 1
The Most Noble Ancient House of Black was quiet. This in and of itself was not unusual. When Mother was not going on a rampage, it wasn’t uncommon for the house to be filled with unnatural quiet. But today, the quiet felt different to Regulus.
It was a beautiful day. Sunny. Blue skies. Leaves perfectly still with the lack of wind. Regulus can picture how the sun would look as it shifted in the waning daylight through the leaves in their sparse back garden. But beyond the blue skies and still summer air, he can see dark clouds slowly, oh so slowly, rolling in. A sign that the sunny day is coming to an end and the feeling of home will be cast out with the wind as the storm rolls in. Regulus can’t tell if the muggy, overbearing feeling in the house is due to the coming storm or if it is due to something else…
As the morning rolled on, Regulus just couldn't will himself to leave the spot he had been glued to since his family returned home from Platform 9 3/4. They had come in from the floo and his parents had both hastily left the drawing room, but Regulus couldn’t muster the courage to do the same. The house just felt so different. It had been less than a day. Less than half a day even, but still Regulus could already feel a distinct lack of warmth, despite the crushing summer heat. He could feel sweat beading down his brow, but he couldn’t stop himself from shivering ever so slightly.
“This is ridiculous,” He mutters to himself as he glares at the dusty old carpet in front of him. “This is ridiculous.” It comes out as more of a hiss this time. With a deep breath, he straightens his back, lifts his head, and takes a step toward the doorway that leads to the rest of the house. Even his footsteps sound oddly muted as he makes his way through the drawing room. He’d normally be concerned about making too much noise, drawing too much attention to himself, but now everything just felt so, so quiet. Gone were the quiet giggles shared in corners of the house and whispered secrets passed through cracks under bedroom doors. He was completely alone in this dreadful house.
Regulus slowly makes his way through the house, doing his best to ignore the whispers from the portraits of his dead relatives as he passes them by. No doubt they’d be reporting back to his mother shortly, telling her what a disappointment he was. This reminder did nothing to improve Regulus’ already sour mood. As he nears his bedroom, he slows to a stop outside of Sirius’ door. How can it be possible to miss him this much already? It’s not as if the idiot didn’t occasionally disappear for hours on end, especially on nice, balmy summer days. Muttering to himself, Regulus casts one last look at Sirius’ door before taking the few additional steps to his bedroom door.
Pushing the door open, Regulus wastes no time in collapsing onto his bed. With a heavy sigh, he flips onto his back and stares up at his canopy. Slytherin green. He wonders if Sirius will be sorted into Slytherin. They’ll find out soon enough, sure, but Regulus can’t seem to stop himself from contemplating it. He just can’t picture his brother in the Slytherin house. That fool didn’t have a truly ambitious or self-sustaining bone in his body. Everything he did seemed to be decided upon a whim. He was rather intelligent, always completing all of the work assigned to them by their tutor, Monsieur Stravius, in half the time it was meant to take him. And he was quite creative too, always coming up with stories about the grand adventures he and Regulus would go on when they were old enough. Yes, Regulus could see him as being sorted into Slytherin. While this definitely wasn’t their parent's favourite house, it was without a doubt better than being sorted into Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. Regulus snorted as he thought of what a spectacle that would be. Surely the two of them would never hear the end of it.
Soon enough, Regulus feels himself slipping into a state of not quite awake, not quite asleep. The warm summer air coming in through his open window pushed him further and further into the warm embrace of sleep. But, of course, a midday nap would not be found acceptable to his parents. With a groan, Regulus forces himself off his bed and towards the small oak desk in the corner of his room.
Taking a seat at his desk, the young boy grabs one of the dusty tomes sitting in a pile and begins to read. Monsieur Stravius had assigned him a long reading list that he had to complete within the next few days. With another sigh, Regulus sets into the reading and soon loses himself in the interesting tome on ley lines.
*****
Sometime later, after the sun streaming through the window has shifted, casting long shadows around the room, Regulus is broken out of his knowledge-bound trance by a quiet “pop!”. Looking up with bleary eyes, he sees their house elf, Kreacher, standing before him.
“Master Regulus,” Kreacher says, bowing so low to the ground that his nose brushes the hardwood floor. “The mistress has requested your presence in the study.” He drew himself up and offered Regulus a gentle nod before apparating back out of the room with another muffled “pop!”. Regulus drew in a shuddering breath and turned towards his bedroom door. He knew that he would have to face the rest of his family at some point today, he was just hoping he would be able to avoid it for a bit longer.
Regulus hastily makes his way down the stairs and towards the study, knowing it was best not to keep his Mother waiting and easier to just get it over with. Slowing to a respectful pace as he approaches the door, lest his Mother hear him walking briskly through the house, Regulus comes to a stop in front of the door of the study and wraps at it twice before clasping his hands behind his back.
“Come in.” His mother calls. Regulus steadies his breathing, corrects his posture one last time, and slowly opens the door.
“Hello, Maman. Kreacher said that you had summoned me?” Regulus schools his expression as he enters the room, coming to a stop a few feet in front of his mother's desk. She barely looks his way as she sits behind the large, wooden desk, posture as perfect as ever as she scribbles something down in a large, dusty book with a ridiculously large and elegant feather quill.
“Yes. I heard a whisper from a portrait that you were seen moping in the drawing room earlier today. Is this true?” She tilts her head to the side, not a single hair falling out of place from her tight bun.
Regulus feels a bead of sweat drip down the back of his collar as he shakes his head. He can’t even make it one damn day without fucking up somehow. Stupid, stupid. “No, Maman. I was not moping. I was rather tired from the trip this morning and was gathering my thoughts.” He responds after a beat of silence. The scratch of his mother’s quill finally comes to a stop and Walburga lifts her head to look at her son.
“Is that so?” She asks with a gentle quirk of her eyebrow.
“Oui, Maman,” Regulus replies. He feels yet another bead of sweat drip down his neck and prays that his mother doesn’t notice. It is not good to show fear.
“I would think that you would be a bit more accustomed to travelling by floo, Regulus. Have we not allowed you to travel by floo enough?”She questions with a predatory quirk of her head. This is bad, Regulus thinks. If he can’t somehow redirect this conversation, it is unlikely he will be allowed to eat tonight. Or tomorrow.
“You have allowed me to travel many times before, Maman,” Regulus acquiesces. “I will admit to finding myself quite drained by the… company we had to keep at the train station.” At this, the faintest smile can be seen gracing Walburga’s face. If he weren’t in his mother’s presence, Regulus would have taken a sigh of relief.
“Yes, I suppose you haven’t had to be exposed to such… unsatisfactory company much before, son. I can see how that could be quite draining,” Walburga chuckles, much to Regulus’ surprise. She chuckles. He can’t remember the last time he heard his mother chuckle. “I will allow it this once, Regulus. But please make sure you prepare yourself better next time. I will not have any member of this family seen moping.” With this, she waves a delicate hand toward Regulus, thus excusing him from her study.
“Thank you, Maman,” Regulus says with a courteous bow of his head before backing out of the room.
Only once the door has closed and Regulus has made his way back to the stairwell, does he allow himself to breathe. He can’t believe he made it out of that room without any sort of punishment. With a self-satisfied smirk, Regulus makes his way back to his room. Normally he’d leave it to Sirius to get them out of a situation like that. Regulus can’t believe he was able to think on his feet so quickly! Perhaps he would be able to make it through this year without Sirius…