Circonstance Inattendue (Unexpected Circumstance)
"Ceres." He whispers, holding on tight to the stuffed elephant he's had since he was four and nudging his older sister.
Her hair is a mess splayed across the white sheets and she groans when he nudges her again, kneeling next to her on the bed.
"Ceres?" Regulus asks tentatively, he doesn't want to wake her up if she really needs sleep but there's a storm outside and every crack of thunder makes his heart jump and his throat close.
"Mmm..." She groans and sits up, rubbing her eyes, static making strands stick up and her curls pooling around her head messily. "Oh Reggie- hi baby do you need something?"
He watches her switch flip from annoyance to concern and sift his knees. "Um..."
Thunder booms loud enough to shake the house and he dives into Ceres' arms with a yelp. He feels her hands rub over his back and through his hair, feels her press a kiss to his head and rock him gently side to side.
"Oh sweetheart, I'm sorry, I didn't notice there'd be a storm tonight."
Regulus shrugs and sinks his shaky hands into the fabric of her shirt, clutching it tightly. "It's okay, Mommy says I should handle it on my own so I tried to let you sleep for a while."
Ceres squeezes around his shoulders and rubs a soothing hand over his head and through his hair that makes his eyes sink closed and his body relax.
"Well, mommy doesn't know what it's like to be scared so she can't tell you what to do when you're scared okay? If you want to come get me then you do that." She whispers into his hair before pulling his legs around and getting him situated under the covers.
"I don't want to wake you up though- you're always so tired." Regulus is a worrier, he's always overthought everything and worried when he see's his siblings looking thinner, more tired. He tries to comfort them as best he can, quickly learning that Sirius just likes to hold him tight and whisper that everything's going to be okay and Ceres likes it when Regulus leans on her, asks her to take care of him, to help him with baths and his studies. "I can't sleep though, I wanted you."
Ceres hums and smiles sweetly at him. "Awe I love you, Reggie, you're just adorable."
Regulus scrunches his nose up and sticks his tongue out briefly. "Am not."
"Are too." Ceres rubs their noses together, something she calls a butterfly kiss- Regulus loves butterflies- and smacks a kiss to both his cheeks.
They're quiet for a long time, Regulus closes his eyes and buries his face into Ceres's throat, her heart beating against the bridge of his nose and her warm vanilla rose scent swirling around his face. Regulus is terrified of storms, but he's more terrified of Hogwarts. He leaves with his siblings in the morning and he's terrified, he doesn't want to be in Gryffindor with Sirius because his parents would be upset, but Sirius seems so hopeful. He doesn't think he's very brave anyways, he's never been strong enough to stand up against his parents when Sirius and Ceres take punishments. He just runs to his room like they tell him to and shuts the door, then tries to comfort them as best he can when it's over.
He doesn't think he's very Slytherin either. He doesn't know what he wants to do with his life and they only things he works hard at is his studies. He doesn't even do that for himself though, just so that Ceres doesn't get into trouble. He worries that he won't fit into the two big houses, because to their parents, Sirius is a disgrace but at least he's not in in a background house.
"What are you thinking about so loudly down there?" Ceres murmurs sleepily into his hair and Regulus shifts his head up in surprise.
"Sorry," He whispers back. "I'm just nervous about the sorting thing tomorrow, I don't want to disappoint anyone."
"You won't disappoint anyone who matters Reggie. Mother and Father's views don't matter when it comes to that okay? I... I told Sirius to just be himself and I'll be proud. I'm telling that to you, too. I don't care what house you get sorted into, you could be a Hufflepuff for all I care. I'll still be your big sister and I'll still love you and protect you no matter what."
Regulus can't help the grin he feels breaking across his face and he squeezes her tightly. "I love you too."
She kisses his head and hums him a gentle lullaby. Regulus shuts his eyes and hopes that Sirius feels the same way.
----
Sirius wakes them up by jumping on the bed and laughing when Ceres elbows him in the ribs.
"You are such a little monster, Sirius." Ceres growls and sits up, combing pale fingers through messy hair.
Sirius grins and winks down at Reggie, pulling the smaller still half-asleep boy into his side and cuddling close. "I'm just making sure no one suspects the real little monster of crawling into someone else's bed last night."
Regulus groans and hides his face in Sirius' ribs. "Stop it, Siri, you're too loud."
"Sorry Reg." Sirius replies in a sing song voice, definitely louder than before. "You gotta wake up- today's the day!"
Regulus mumbles something and even he can't tell what he meant to say.
"Come on, Regulus." Ceres says, opening her vanity to grab a straightener and plug it in. There are spells for it but they aren't allowed to use them yet as children. "It is time to wake up, mon cherie."
Sirius pinches Regulus stomach, which earns the older boy a snort and a kick to the knee so he does it again, and again until Regulus is writhing on the bed in a fit of giggles.
"Awake now?" Sirius asks with a wide grin.
"Yeah." Regulus breathes out and sits up, setting his elephant down to slide his legs over the bed and watch Ceres straighten her hair. "I can help you with the back." Regulus volunteers like he always has since Sirius taught him how, he likes helping his siblings, likes the feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment it gives him.
"That's very kind of you, Regulus. Yes, please." She hands him the straightening iron and he gets to work, wielding a brush alongside it to help keep the curls in shape and bouncy at the bottom when he's done straightening out the top. He sticks bobby pins in his mouth to use later and listens to Sirius go on about his new friends and how much Regulus is going to love them.
"What about your friends Ceres?" Regulus asks when there's a rare lull in the one sided conversation.
"Well," Ceres says, shifting as Regulus slides the bobby pins in her hair, pinning the dark strands behind her ears and letting it all fall back in loose, refined curls down he back. "A lot of the people I'm around at school aren't really my friends, but I have one or two you might like. I think... Evan might be your friend, he seems to dislike drama as much as you."
Regulus bites his lip and slides the last silver clip into place. "I don't dislike drama, I dislike confrontation. Big difference, I love the gossip you Sirius brings home."
"Me too little man!" Sirius cheers. "Imagine living that gossip bro- I'm already a ladies man."
Regulus rolls his eyes. "Maybe in your head."
Sirius pouts and leans back against the headboard when Regulus grins in triumph. "What do you know Reg?"
"A lot- like you're ugly."
Sirius squawks and throws a pillow at his head with has Regulus giggling. "I am not! You are!"
Regulus sticks his tongue out at his brother and is about to retort when Ceres stands and turns an unimpressed gaze on them. "Regulus, apologize to your brother. It's not nice to say he's ugly."
Regulus rolls his eyes and tosses the pillow back onto her bed but does apologize.
"Sirius," Ceres says. "Go help Regulus finish packing and get dressed, I want both of you downstairs in fifteen minutes, we'll be eating breakfast on the train okay?"
Sirius nods and takes Regulus' hand, which he doesn't need to do but Regulus let's him because he knows it makes Sirius feel better. He's sure Sirius feels almost as nervous as he does about the first day. He knows Sirius doesn't feel any of nerves Regulus does about meeting his friends, as much as Sirius swears they'll like Regulus, he isn't sure. He's never had a friend before and he thinks it must be amazing the way Sirius talks about it. He doesn't want to mess it up.
Sirius helps him pack, then carries both their trunks downstairs, calling Regulus a 'frail child' with a hand to his forehead and a bend in his knees. Regulus let's him and giggles at his brothers antics, happy that they'll get to spend all year together again, and without their parents too.
Ceres greets them with a pre-breakfast of toast and wipes jam off Regulus' face with her thumb when they're finished, tries to do the same for Sirius but he pushes her hand away and uses a napkin. Regulus see's hurt flash in her eyes as she pulls her hand back and he vows to let her wipe jam off his face for as long as she wants to.
Luckily, their mother doesn't even acknowledge them when they leave, just waves her hand and sips her tea while reading a letter. Ceres holds Regulus' hand and he curls around her arm, his head comes up to her shoulder and he leans on it. He's small for his age, about a foot shorter than Sirius was a year ago, but Regulus also gets punished with no food more often than the others do.
The train station is loud and bustling with people that Regulus shies away from, Ceres gives his hand reassuring squeezes and Sirius bounces excitedly next to him.
While Regulus is chronically shy, Sirius is outgoing to a fault.
Some girls with red ties Sirius waves at coo at Regulus, which makes him shrink into Ceres with a blush. He doesn't particularly like all this attention, would rather like to be away from all of the people staring at him.
Sirius is wearing a red tie, and talks to all kind of people wearing different colored ties, yellow, blue, red, even a couple greens.
Ceres is wearing green and only talks to other people wearing green ties, except for one very pretty girl with striking purple eyes and white skin who she waves tentatively at and gets a bright smile in return.
Regulus doesn't wear a tie and won't until he gets sorted.
Sirius shoves them all into a small cubby of the train, with two other boys that turn to stare at them. Ceres holds her head up high, glaring down her nose at them and Regulus steps behind her as much as possible, trusting her entirely to keep these people away from him.
There's a tall blonde boy who looks tired and has scars peeking out of his robes and across his face. His eyes travel through Sirius to Ceres and settle on Regulus until recognition flashes and he's looking back at Sirius who's doing a weird combination of dance moves with his hands with the boy across from him.
This boy takes Regulus' breath away. He's beautiful, with dark skin and full lips that form a bright smile, he has round golden glasses and his eyes, while aren't exciting in color, hold so much life and brightness that Regulus thinks they're the prettiest eyes in the world. Regulus decides right there that he will have that boy.
"Reggie!" Sirius exclaims excitedly, bringing the smaller boy back to the reality in which he is very anxious and very much not going to attempt anything on any of his brothers' friends, no matter how pretty they are. Even if this one is very, very pretty. "Come on, stop hiding."
Sirius pulls him out from behind Ceres, who still has a hold on him.
"Be gentle, Sirius!" She scolds. "He's scared- there's too many people in here-"
"He just doesn't know them yet, he'll open up-"
They do this a lot, argue about him while he's standing right there. Ceres is very gentle with him, treats him softly and expects him to break down any moment. Sirius treats him a little too roughly sometimes, but sometimes he pushes Regulus out of his comfort zone ever so gently, enough to let Regulus adjust his boundaries and then fall back. They balance each other out, keeping Regulus safe and loved, but not caged in and too comfortable. They also disagree on a lot of things when it comes to him, and Regulus is never brave enough to say what he wants, and most the time he doesn't even know what he wants so he just stays quiet.
"I'm going to find us a separate cab-"
"He's fine Ceres! He's a big boy, he can handle meeting some new people." Sirius gently tugs on his arm, but Ceres holds fast to his hand, which jerks his shoulder in an awkward way and makes him wince.
"Hey," The pretty one says. His voice is like honey, soft and sweet. "You guys are hurting him."
"And why don't you let him decide?" The tall one asks. "He's the one being affected, no?" Tall, scared boy has a Welsh accent, not so thick that Regulus can't understand, but thick enough to recognize it.
It takes him a second to realize all eyes are on him, everyone waiting for him to respond. He feels heat rush to his cheeks, and he takes a step back, he really hates being the center of attention.
"Um." He swallows, having to force his mind to focus on making his mouth give a response. "I'm okay either way, it's okay."
Regulus hates having to pick sides, he'd rather stay and meet everyone but he doesn't want to upset Ceres.
"See?" Ceres says. "He's nervous."
"Being nervous is a good thing!"
"How is that even computable Sirius?"
"It means he's trying something new; everyone is nervous when they try something new." Sirius yanks on his arm again and this time it really does hurt so Regulus squeezes his eyes shut.
"Ow." He doesn't mean to say anything, but both sets of hands drop his arms immediately and he looks up while rubbing his shoulder.
"Look what you did-" Ceres starts.
"What I did? You're the one who wouldn't let go!"
They continue to argue with each other, getting more heated as the minutes pass. Ceres is usually clam and icy in her anger, but Sirius has a way of bringing out this hot fire in her, turning a simple argument into a screaming match within minutes.
Regulus climbs into the seat next to the tall boy, offering an apologetic smile over his siblings yelling with the pretty boy trying to mediate but looking wholly overwhelmed.
"Do they do that a lot?" The other boy whispers to Regulus.
"Fight?" Regulus whispers back with a head tilt. "Sometimes, yeah."
Blondie shakes his head. "No, I meant talk about you like you aren't standing right there."
Regulus blushes again and shrugs. "I dunno, I guess they do. I'm Regulus." He smiles at the other boy who stares back for a moment long enough that Regulus starts to overthink before a small smile blooms on the other boys face.
"I'm Remus." Remus smile at him then gestures in between Ceres and Sirius, who are working their way up to a screaming match "And that's James."
Regulus' eyes snap to the pretty boy. So that's the James Sirius wouldn't shut up about. James shines like the sun even as he tries to stand between Regulus siblings and looks like he's getting more stressed with every word.
Regulus giggles and shakes his head, leaning close to whisper to Remus. "He's not going to get them to stop- he doesn't know the magic trick."
Just like Regulus expected Remus looks to him with a spark in his eye. Sirius said that Remus likes to know things, can't stop his own thirst for knowledge and can't ever leave something unanswered.
"What magic trick?"
"Watch." Regulus whispers, before straightening up and kicking his feet. "Siri?" He calls, eyes widening in innocence. "I'm really, really hungry."
Sirius unclenches his hands and glances over, Regulus wrings his fingers on his lap, hoping that the distraction of taking care of him works like it usually does. Regulus really is quite hungry.
As soon as Sirius catches his eyes he softens, but groans in mock annoyance. "Alright, let me see if I can hunt you down a plate from a house elf, okay?"
"I'll do it." Ceres volunteers. "You can... introduce him to everyone I suppose, but if he wants to leave when I get back then we're going."
Sirius rolls his eyes and waves her off, she leaves, but not before ruffling Regulus hair and pressing a kiss to Sirius' temple, mumbling an apology and getting one back.
"That was quite the magic trick." Remus says. Regulus shrugs.
"Distracting them always works, especially if what they're fighting about isn't important."
"Hey!" Sirius says, flopping down on the bench across from Regulus and kicking his shins. "We're not so easily distractable."
Regulus raises his eyebrows and gives Remus a look that says 'my brother is a little liar, don't listen to him' which makes Remus laugh and Regulus smiles, very pleased at the sound.
James offers Regulus a warm smile when he looks over. "Hi, Regulus," he says softly, which makes the younger boy blush. "I'm James, are you excited for your first year?" He sits down next to Sirius and folds one leg under himself.
Regulus looks away, out the window. "I think so, Ceres says she'll help me if my grades go bad."
James hums. "Man I need someone to help me-"
"I help you." Remus points out.
"Yeah but, dude, you're so mean about it-"
"Ceres is definitely mean about it." Sirius says and Regulus nods.
"Yeah but in a constructive way! Remus is just perfect and then surprised we aren't all on his level yet."
Remus rolls his eyes and settles back more, his knee brushes Regulus and Regulus pulls away. "You all should be on my level."
"I can ask Ceres to tutor you if you want, James." Regulus says with a shy smile, he wants to help this pretty boy, and it's only fair that if Regulus and Sirius get to have her as a tutor that she tutors James too.
"Would you?" James asks with a grin. "That would be amazing- I wanted to last year but she scares me so bad."
Regulus tilts his head in confusion. "Why?"
"She's proper scary mate, that was the first time I've ever seen her look so human." James responds. "She's always so cold- and glary at people."
Regulus shrugs again. "Everyone can do that- she doesn't mean it, it's just her public face."
James stares is confusion and Sirius laughs. "They don't know how to do that, Reg, they weren't raised like us."
"Oh." Regulus says, contemplating this when James leans forward adamantly.
"But that doesn't make us bad you know? Just because we aren't pureblooded doesn't make us worse than you or you better than us or anything like that-"
"James." Sirius cuts in, voice sharp. "What the fuck dude? Lay off."
Regulus gasps and looks at his brother. "Sirius, don't say that word, it's not proper."
Sirius grins and kicks Regulus' ankle gently. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck-"
Regulus kicks him back, not gentle at all, but Sirius just laughs. "For the record, I know all that." Regulus says to James but ducks his head to look at his swinging feet. "I know I'm not better just because my skin or blood is different from someone else's. It didn't ever make very much sense to me. You don't have to explain it all, I did a lot of research- I don't want to offend anyone."
James gives him one of those melting smiles and Ceres brings a small cart of food into the cab then sits next to Regulus, runs a hand through his hair and talks to him while Sirius recounts every piece of his summer. Regulus interjects occasionally to call Sirius an idiot or tell the correct version of the story, he even asks Ceres to tutor James, and she says yes when Regulus whispers to her that he was very nice and Regulus wants to return the favor.
Standing in line for the sorting hat comes up way too fast. Regulus hates alphabetical order by last name because he always ends up one of the first, he wants time to think. Sirius said the hat talks to you sometimes, Regulus hopes he doesn't have to make a choice.
When he sits down and the hat drops onto his head, it falls over his eyes and a voice hums.
"Oh," The hat says. "Look at that, we've got another Black!"
"Um... hi, yes." Regulus manages to get out, he doesn't like being blinded but he's too scared to try and lift the hat out of his eyes.
"Well, you've got the cunning of Slytherin," Regulus breathes out a sigh of relief, he hopes to please his parents very badly. "But you've got the kindness, loyalty and variety of Hufflepuff."
"What?" Regulus asks, heart picking up speed.
"Yes, I think that's it." The hat says with another hum.
"What? No you can't put me in-"
"HUFFLEPUFF." The hat screams and Regulus heart picks up even faster, he isn't even aware of walking over to sit at the table filled with smiling students, his mind is running too fast and as soon as he's seated, he's searching for Ceres.
Ceres looks defeated but not disappointed. She has her eyes closed and lips pursed but she offers Regulus an encouraging smile when she opens her eyes and sees him, so he looks for Sirius, who smiles too, but does look a little disappointed.
Regulus barely registers anything else; his vision is spotty, and his hands are clenched tightly in his robes. He was supposed to be Slytherin or Gryffindor. He was supposed to be in a winning house, he was supposed to excel at something and be an amazing wizard from one of the most popular houses.
A hand touches his arm and he jumps before staring at the kind looking brown haired man next to him.
"Hey- I'm not going to hurt you." The boy says, which does not convince Regulus at all. "Did you know that goblins use nifflers to find gold? Just waves those poor nifflers around in the air until they catch sight of something shiny."
Regulus blinks at him before giggling at the image, an ugly goblin waving around a screeching niffler. He knows it's not an accurate picture, but it's silly, so he likes it.
The boy grins brightly and offers a hand to shake. "I'm Newton, but my friends call me Newt. Probably cus I like animals so much. I missed your name, what was it?"
"Regulus- Black. Regulus Black." He says and shyly shakes Newt's hand. "What year are you?"
"Fifth! I'll be out of here soon if I don't get kicked out first." Newt winks at Regulus who find himself smiling, Newt seems nice, and he's older which means he'll be sympathetic to Regulus as someone who's already gone through all the shit.
"You won't get kicked out." Regulus says.
"We don't know that-" Newt waves a bread stick in the air and flashes perfectly straight teeth at Regulus, his brown hair is wild and he has a sharp nose. "I could let loose bats into great hall at dinner tomorrow, or ride a hippogriff in the halls."
"No." A lanky blonde boy in front of Regulus speaks up. He has purple and orange tips to his bleached hair. "Your path has been altered with this one, just like mine with the sister. The brother is one the same path as always. I hope he strays soon."
Regulus bites his lip. "Are you talking about Sirius?"
The other boy pauses, then nods. "I'm Xenophilius, Regulus Black, and I'll be your protector until the time comes when your little planet can take over again. It's going to be a long journey, but we will all be good friends. Do you trust me?"
Regulus hesitates, Xenophilius is strange, but he seems to know what he's talking about, seems to have a firm grasp on not just this reality, but others as well. He gets the feeling that Xenophilius isn't asking Regulus to trust him whole heartedly yet, he doesn't expect the same trust Regulus would place in Sirius or Ceres. He expects the kind of trust you give to a stranger when they give you your wallet back. You check to make sure all of your things are in place, but you're not too surprised when it all is.
"Yes." Regulus says. "I can trust you."