Chapter 3
Regulus wakes up feeling refreshed. He can sit up a bit better than yesterday. He decides against staying in bed for another day and tries standing up.
After almost face-planting a few times, he manages to stay on his feet.
He heads over to the kitchen and sees Euphemia cooking something.
"Regulus, honey! Good morning! You could have stayed in bed, I would have brought you your food."
"Thank you, Mrs. Potter, but I'm alright. I didn't want to stay in bed for too long."
"Oh, alright. Please, call me Effie! James and Sirius are upstairs if you want to go say good morning."
"Thank you, Mrs. P- erm- Effie."
Effie gives him a smile as he walks off towards the stairs.
After about 5 minutes of struggling, he makes it up the stairs. He is led to a hallway with lots of rooms. He doesn't know where James and Sirius are for a minute until he hears loud talking in one of the rooms.
He hesitantly knocks.
"Come in!" a muffled voice says from behind the door.
Regulus opens the door and slowly walks in, closing the door behind him. This must be James' room. He thought, looking around. There were lots of posters about Quidditch, and a few gryffindor things like the pin on his bulletin board and the banner above his bed. He also noticed a shelf with books, mostly comic books, but a few others. He sees one about space that catches his eye. He might have to ask James if he can borrow it.
"Oh, hey Regulus!" Sirius said. They were both sitting on the floor across from each other and were looking through a book: "Quidditch: through the ages"
Regulus waved politely. He noticed some pictures on a shelf next to where they were sitting. There we're some pictures of James and his parents, a picture of Peter and a Gryffindor girl who's name he did not know. There was also a picture of all of Sirius and James' friends together. The marauders, they liked to call themselves.
Regulus didn't really know Peter and Remus, but he also did. Regulus had always been an observer. He like to just watch people some times. Not in a creepy way or anything, he just found people very amusing.
Some things he could tell you about Remus: He is a werewolf. Regulus had enough of a heart not to tell anyone that, but it was painfully obvious. Covered in scars, just so happens to be in the hospital wing every full moon? It doesn't take a genius to figure it out.
Something else, Remus is hopelessly in love with sirius. They're always bickering with each other like an old married couple, but they would ignore it ever happened and be practically cuddling each other 5 minutes later.
Regulus thinks Remus would be a good teacher. He's very patient, and also smart. Not just school smart, but he's logical. He seems like he would do well with kids.
Peter was more quiet then Remus. Remus didn't seem necessarily 'shy' with people around the school, he just didn't want to talk to them. Peter, on the other hand, was definitely shy. He had a slight stutter in his voice when he spoke to people who weren't his friends and he was a bit awkward, but he was quite enthusiastic about the things he enjoyed. He also doesn't seem like one to stand up for himself. He could easily be thrown around and made fun of if it weren't for his friends.
Regulus was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard euphemia yell from downstairs.
"Breakfast is ready! " Sirius and James rushed out of the door.
Regulus awkwardly tried to shuffle down the stairs, but failed miserably. James noticed him struggling and went to help.
James put his arm around Regulus' shoulder and helped him the rest of the way down. Regulus noticed how warm his hands are. He let go once they reached the bottom and smiled at him. James was too nice.
The food was probably the best he'd ever had. His mother was a good cook, sure, since all the meals were fancy. But it's hard for something to taste good when you know that a bunch of innocent people were killed in the same room.
Effie drops a pan and Regulus jolts up and looks around. Sirius gives him a concerned look. He shoots him an awkward smile.
"We're going school shopping today, go find your lists please. Regulus I've already gotten you a new one. " Effie says as Sirius and James began walking upstairs.
Regulus had completely forgotten school was starting soon. He didn't know if he was excited or dreading it. Maybe something in between.
"Thank you, Euphemia." He begins standing up. "Erm- may I be excused?" He says, freezing in place.
"Of course dear, go get ready."
"Thank you. "
He walks (half crawls) up the stairs. After grabbing his clothes and doing some scavenging, he finds a bathroom. He turns the water all the way cold. He tries to process the events of the past couple of days a little bit more clearly.
He turns off the water 10 minutes later and slips some clothes on. He brushes his teeth (with a new tooth brush) and leaves the room, spotting James.
"Morning. " Regulus says, giving James a nod before heading back down stairs. He could've sworn James was staring, but he decided he was probably just tired.
Regulus sits on the couch and looks around. He hadn't really taken in how beautiful the house was. From the wood floors to the chandelier, it was all breath taking. While it was much less fancy, it still seemed so much more nicer then the Black house.
"Boys! Come on. We need to go." Effie shouts.
"Coming!" Sirius shouts as he and James rush down the stairs.
Monty goes through the floo first. Then Sirius, then Regulus, then James, then Effie.
Regulus had been too Diagon alley plenty of times. 4 times (not including this one) to be exact. But right now, he felt like it was the first.
Regulus used to always dread going to Diagon alley. He was never aloud to go anywhere. They would get his books and robes and that was it. He had never even gotten to get his wand or pet. They were both from the family. The owl didn't even like him, it always pecked him.
Regulus hadn't even realized he'd forgotten him.
"Regulus!" Sirius says from behind Regulus, making him jump. "Sorry. We're going to Zonkos. Want to come?"
"Sure." Regulus said. He'd been inside Zonkos once or twice, but not for long, and he'd never gotten to buy anything.
He walked in, immediately blinded with colours. He looked around, examining the items.
'Dungbombs' I'm sure these will be useful to Sirius.
'Hiccough sweets' That doesn't sound very sweet to me.
'Nose biting tea cups' ..What?
Regulus settled on some safe looking candy. He went to look for James and Sirius, finding them be coming interested in everything they laid their eyes on. He decided it was best to leave them there.
He went to the front to pay, fishing through his pockets for some coins, and then turned around to leave. James and Sirius were walking up towards the front when he left.
He spotted Effie and Monty inside Flourish and Blotts. Regulus walked up to them to help them look for his school supplies. After James and Sirius caught up, they went to a few other stores. It was great. They were aloud to walk into stores that weren't for school supplies. And not only that, they could get the stuff. Regulus was loving it.
About an hour later, they returned to the Potter manor. James showed Regulus to his room and asked to play exploding snap.
Regulus had never played, so him and Sirius had to teach him.
He won on his first play.
"No fair! He's cheating, James! " Sirius exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at Regulus.
"Sirius, your such a drama queen. " James said, smiling and rolling his eyes.
"What?! Your supposed to be on my side James! And I am Not a drama queen! "
".. Clearly"
Regulus laughed at that, and Sirius threw a pillow at him.
"Hey! James said it, not me! " he said, throwing the pillow back at him.
Sirius threw the pillow back, and at some point James threw a pillow too, and that led to a pillow fight. A very intense one, too.
One pillow fight later and Regulus was Exhausted. He had gone to his room. He never thought he would be in a pillow fight, let alone with James potter, his used-to-be-one-sided-mortal-enemy.
Regulus wondered how 5 year old him would feel knowing he was here. He would probably be happy. 11 year old Regulus, not so much.
Regulus had always been jealous of James. A great family and a good relationship with sirius. That was basically all Regulus ever wanted. They had started be coming distant when Regulus came too hogwarts and was sorted into Slytherin.
Sirius only started hating him when he'd told him he was a disappointment. Regulus regretted it, but he wanted his family to be proud of him.
It suddenly occured to Regulus that he hasn't written to Pandora about what had happened. He climbed out of bed and sat at the desk in the corner, searching through the drawers for a piece of parchment. He wrote her a quick letter explaining everything and had James' family owl bring it to her.
School was soon, and Regulus didn't know how different it would be. He was grateful that Sirius seemed to care about him, but everything didn't just disappear. 3 days ago, Sirius hated him. Now he suddenly didn't?
Regulus didn't get to think about it for much longer before he fell asleep.