When Regulus Black began his 6th year at Hogwarts, he never expected he’d be able to finally divulge his secret. It was a secret that he had never been ashamed of because it was simply a part of who he was, but it was also one that he had never physically been able to share. And that secret all starts from the day Walburga Black brought him into the world.
When Regulus Black was born everyone believed he was a girl, the medi-witch held him and announced to Walburga and Orion Black that they had produced a daughter. She told 1-year-old Sirius that he had a baby sister. For a long time the family had simply been composed of two parents, a son, and a daughter. Or so they thought.
When Regulus was 5 he was told to be a polite and proper little girl at the dinner table. His response of “but I’m not a little girl, mother, I’m a boy” baffled and enraged Walburga and prompted the furious woman to scold both him and Sirius for forcing his sister to lie and “pretend to be a monstrosity”.
After being sent off to bed before actually eating dinner, 6-year-old Sirius asked young Regulus, “Reggie why did you say that to mother, I don’t quite understand, you’re supposed to be a girl”.
Little Reggie’s response was so simple yet it was clear he had thought it up before, “but I feel like I’m a boy much more than I feel like I’m a girl”. Sirius thought that over for a bit, then nodded his head in acknowledgment. And that was that.
After this simple conversation, Sirius, to the great dismay of his mother, began to refer to Reggie as a boy. He always called him Reggie, never his full birth name, he referred to him as his brother, he did everything he could to acknowledge his brother as he was.
For several years Walburga would scream at her children for this supposed issue. She would attempt to correct Sirius when he referred to Regulus as a boy, and she would correct Regulus when he would want to wear clothes like Sirius instead of dresses. Or when he would introduce himself as Reggie rather than the name she had given him.
Fortunately for both Sirius and Regulus, this all stopped on September 1, 1972, for this was the day that Regulus started his time at Hogwarts.
Regulus got on the train and sat with his brother and his brothers friends, all of whom had heard so much about Sirius’ little brother, and the day began as any other.
When he went up to get sorted, Regulus heard his birth name called by professor McGonagall and cringed at the sound but began to walk forward. What he found odd, however, was what the hat said when it landed on his head.
“Interesting very interesting, why I know a Black when I feel one but, oh you are unique just as your brother was aren’t you, Regulus.”
This was the first time he had ever heard another say his name, he had chosen it the year prior after Sirius had been sorted. Regulus: the heart of the lion, which seemed perfect as his brother, the first person to accept him for who he was, had been sorted into Gryffindor. Regulus continued to listen to the sorting hats words, clinging to every syllable.
“See you’re very brave for trying to be yourself in a world that won’t be kind to you but, I see a great deal of ambition in you as well. I can see you going forward with your determination as you will soon realize that being different is just one part of you, and that there is so much more for you to be. So many for you to help, and I can see you have the cleverness and the drive to do it. So it better be SLYTHERIN.”
That speech from the sorting hat has stayed with Regulus and motivated him through the rest of his life, but it was the next step of being at the school that made the largest difference.
See there is this rule built into the Hogwarts dorms both for student safety and to, hopefully, prevent a new generation of wizards from being conceived while students are at school. This rule is that no male students are allowed in the girls dorms. If a boy were to try to use the stairs to the girls dorms, the stairs would become a slide or something of the like and the boy would be returned to the common room.
When Regulus got to the Slytherin common room, he figured that he would be forced to sleep in the girls dorms, because according to most of his peers and the general world, he was a girl. However, when he attempted to walk up to the girls dorm, the stairs became a slide and he was returned to the common room. He attempted to climb the stairs again but was once again dropped back to the common room floor. It appeared that that day magic had decided that his parents and the world were wrong and that he was right, he was a boy and therefore could not sleep with the girls.
Regulus realized that something had to be done so he went to his prefect and was able to go to his head of house, professor Slughorn. Slughorn, unsure of how to handle the situation, took the boy to Dumbledore and McGonagall, who contacted Walburga and Orion Black to discuss further action. That night Regulus Black slept in professor McGonagall’s office as he waited for his parents’ appearance at the school the next day.
The morning of September 2, 1972 altered the way that Regulus Black was presented to the world forever. Walburga and Orion decided that if magic stated that their child was a boy, then he must be a boy. The problem that they found, however, was the shame of having a son that had been born in the body of a girl. They decided that no one could know that Regulus had been deemed a girl at birth, so they devised a plan. Orion Black called upon a potion maker to create the biggest batch of forgetfulness potion that could possibly be produced. They were going to make any passing peers of Regulus Black forget of his existence entirely. So the drought was to be distributed among any children, ministry workers, or distant family that had barely know Regulus personally, but had known the identity that had previously been pushed onto him. However for the close family that actually needed to know Regulus, an intimate Obliviate would be required to remove only the information pertaining to him being deemed and raised as a girl. After a brief discussion with his parents, it was established that Regulus was a suitable name and therefore it would replace the name that had previously been associated with him. The only people who would know the truth of Regulus’ sex at birth, was Dumbledore, McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, Walburga, Orion, Sirius (letting Sirius know required two hours of pleading and a reminder that making him forget would only make it significantly more difficult to erase the proof), and Regulus himself. To protect the secret in the off chance someone was missed in the memory wipe, Walburga placed a Fidelius charm over the information, and made herself the secret keeper. No one would ever be able to speak of the secret.
After everything was put into motion and minds were adequately wiped and altered, Regulus Black received a slight makeover. His hair was cut to his desired, short length, he received potions to prevent him from undergoing female puberty in the near future and as he aged he was told that he would be given potions monthly to make him mature with more masculine secondary characteristics. His voice would deepen, his jaw would sharpen and his body would side step the formation of breasts.
By October of Regulus Black’s first year at Hogwarts, he had become settled in the world now finally perceiving him as the boy he was. By third year he had begun to take the potions that would shift him towards male puberty and by 6th year, Regulus Black was growing into a perfectly polished young man.
Despite how it may seem, Regulus had never been embarrassed or resentful of his past. He knows what had been expected based on what he looked like when he was born, and while it took many years, he realized that his being a transgender boy was not a mistake and it also was not all that he was. It was just a part of him and his journey.
Unfortunately for Regulus, despite his parents involvement in protecting the secret of him being transgender, they still resented him for it. They had helped him because they had no choice in the matter, but their bigotry remained, causing them to ridicule him about it whenever he was home. So he tried to never be home. It was summer of 1977, a year and a half after his brother had been disowned when Regulus finally grew tired of his mistreatment, especially after having realized that he was gay and would therefore never be respected by his bigoted parents.
In July of 1977, Regulus Black showed up at the Potter house and was greeted by Euphemia Potter. She embraced him in a loving hug immediately as she had already heard so much about the boy from her two sons. James Potter sprinted down the stairs to hug his boyfriend of 3 months and Sirius hugged him next after having fallen down the stairs in his excited run. Fleamont walked from his study and gave the boy a loving hug just as his wife had done. And the summer continued from there.
James and Regulus spent the summer growing closer as boyfriends and falling further into love by the day. In no time, the new term had begun and Regulus was starting his 6th year and James his final year at Hogwarts. After having been together for 5 months, Regulus wanted to take the next step in their relationship, but with this he knew that he would have to tell James that he was trans, he knew James and he knew he’d be supportive, but he also knew that he’d be physically unable to tell James with words due to the fidelius charm that had been placed on the information.
On one night in September of 1977, Regulus had waited for James in the Astronomy tower where they had begun their romance. He told James that he had something to tell him that he couldn’t actually say, and then, with no other ways that he could think of to do it, regulus slowly began to remove his robes, trousers, and pants. With his lower half on display James suddenly got a flash of memory from when he had heard Sirius tell him first year that everyone thought his little brother was a girl, but that he was actually a boy on the inside. James told Regulus that he loved him for who he was and then told him to put his clothes back on because just wanted to sit and cuddle for a bit. And so he did and the two of them sat on the floor of the Astronomy tower together, Regulus’ legs stretched across James’ lap. That night the simply shared a goodnight kiss and nothing further, because they knew more was to come.
With all of themselves on the table, they knew they were safe together and they were both truly loved and happy.
Eventually, in 1985, when his mother would pass away, Regulus would be able to share that part of his past with those he chose to.
But for the time being, Regulus sat in the astronomy tower in 1977 as gay trans man that was hopelessly in love with James Potter, and he couldn’t be more happy.