Chapter 2
Regulus didn’t believe in good people.
He believed in good actions and in good intentions, but he knew no one in this world lived by both at all times.
Killing is easily deemed as an evil action, but if it’s for hunting, and therefore motivated by survival, then there is no an evil intention.
You wouldn’t deem a predator animal evil for surviving. Dangerous, perhaps, but not evil.
Showing generosity towards other people is a noble action, but Regulus, as future King, was familiar with aristocratic clans showing largesse only to manipulate their debtors, to extend their power. Despite the magnanimous actions, Regulus was more inclined to consider them evil, rather than the lethal beasts.
Regulus believed in balance.
And he’d decided that’s how he’d survive.
He hoped Narcissa would understand.
He’d asked his father for a day off and Orion, who was still suffering from the disappearance of his eldest son, was not going to deny him anything-Regulus liked to think his father was so permissive because he’d shown great diligence and obedience, but he knew in reality Orion missed his first born, and was afraid his spare son would follow in his brother’s footsteps.
Because Sirius was the one born to become King. Not Regulus.
So, after Walburga’s passing, Orion had grown weaker and more nostalgic, and therefore more obliging. Regulus wondered where all of this affection was when his sons were younger.
This is what he was ruminating on as he walked through the Forbidden Forest, daggers ready to kill, when a figure appeared from the bushes in front of him, coming to a halt.
Regulus lowered his dark hood over his face and held his weapon tighter, defensive. A Red Knight.
“State your business.” He ordered, and the knight seemed surprised. Regulus noticed he didn’t have the official badge, so he was probably a trainee. Easy to get rid of, if things got out of hand.
“You should state your business,” replied the man-well, the young man, since he couldn’t be much older than him. “I’m a Red Knight and this is our territory. And, you are the suspicious figure threatening an official with a dagger.”
“You are no official,” answered Regulus, calmly. “You don’t have the Scarlet badge. And, we’re still under the Slytherin’s Castle jurisdiction.”
“Are we?“
“Also, I have to ask you to stop squinting at me. It’s rude.”
“I’m not squinting-“ the boy opened his dark eyes, wide, and Regulus took the chance to launch himself forward, and in a second he had the dagger pressed against the knight’s throat.
“How did you survive this long, oh mighty knight?” Regulus mocked.
The other man’s eyes were still fully open, he hadn’t even blinked. Nor breathed.
“I’m still a trainee?” the knight whispered, and Regulus stepped back to look him up and down. He probably wasn’t Narcissa’s knight, since nothing in his demeanour showed carefulness, or delicacy. He looked like he had the body of a fully trained knight, holding up the armour like he was born with it, and Regulus assumed the sword at his side fit his palm like a quill a poet.
Regulus sighed. He guessed he could look for his cousin’s knight another day.
“I know someone who can help you. Follow me-or, well, follow my blurry, indistinct figure,” Regulus said, leading the knight into the woods.
“How did you know-“
“That you’re blind?” Regulus kept walking.
“Don’t ask so many questions. I could still kill you on the spot, and you wouldn’t even see it coming.”
“…Rude.” The knight commented, but followed him along. “I left my horse a few minutes from here-“
“Leave it, it won’t take too long,” replied Regulus curtly.
“I…I think following you may not be the wisest choice.”
Regulus turned to raise an eyebrow at him, although the hood was covering most of his face.
“I thought you Red Knights were supposed to be brave, not wise.”
~
“Hello, my friend!”
Pandora was standing on the doorstep, hands behind her back and her usual smile on her lips. Regulus was glad to see she was fine-Pandora lived in an abandoned shack in the Forbidden Forest, right between the Slyhterin and the Racenclaw Kingdoms, so, in other words, right where the persecution of witches was most intense: the Slytherin Castle had a long history of condemning every form of wizardry, destroying villages and taking residents for trials or torture at the smallest hint of suspicious activity. Such activities included the brewing of potions to ease one’s pain, or the invention of new techniques that eased the peasants’ lives, or being especially witty.
In general, everything that made life easier and relied on advanced knowledge was frowned upon by the Castle.
However, the neighbouring Ravenclaw Kingdom would pride itself on encouraging the minds behind those ‘evil-ridden’ innovations, and its Academy was a collection of wisdom and knowledge across the most disparate fields, all shared between the scholars. Most of the Kingdom’s inhabitants were given education for free by the Academy, and therefore those who had the misfortune of living on the outskirts of the Kingdom, near the Slytherin border, risked their lives simply for being educated.
Regulus knew the witch hunt wasn’t supported by the Castle because of blind prejudice, but because the aristocracy needed their commoners ignorant, fearful, manipulable.
Regulus also knew the Castle wished for an ignorant, fearful and manipulable king, so that’s why he secretly frequented Pandora: she’d been a scholar at the Academy, and she’d told him she had learnt to read before she could even walk properly-she was the Academy’s new prodigy, a child genius.
Then Pandora grew up, decided she ‘didn’t like the way the Academy worked’ and left to hide in the woods and conducting her own studies, teaching Regulus.
Well, when they first met Regulus had been a student, but he was a fast learner, and in no time they’d become (almost) equals.
All this is to say, Regulus tried to visit Pandora as often as possible, and each time he hoped he’d get to see her perfectly healthy, with her hair perfectly tangled up, her clothes perfectly mismatched and her arms covered in perfect, messy notes and drawings.
“Hi, Dora,” Regulus greeted, taking off his hood.
“Why are you standing there, silly, come inside!” Pandora made space for Regulus and the knight-he probably should he have asked for his name, but oh well…Pandora was probably going do it, anyways.
“Who are you, new friend?” she did, in fact, ask the knight a moment later.
He was busy looking at the small kitchen/laboratory/study/brewing room, that, as it may sound, was crowded with the most disparate ingredients, tools, drawings and notes on paper.
Regulus’ suspicion was correct: the knight really was blind, he had to lean close to the objects he wanted to see. He seemed particularly entranced by the flowers and the aromatic plants hung to dry near the fireplace, but he still turned to Pandora.
Regulus was leaning on the table on the other side of the room, by the window, and started lazily twirling his daggers. If that knight started calling her names, or tried something-
“My name is James Potter, my lady, I’m a knight of the Godric’s Order,” he knelt down, “And I’ve been told you can help me.”
“How proper!” Pandora laughed, and patted James’ head, which wasn’t the most respectable way to respond, but she didn’t grow up in an aristocratic environment so formal etiquette was a foreign concept to her. James, however, didn’t seem offended, and on the contrary he smiled at her, and kissed the back of her hand as he got up.
He made Pandora look even smaller, standing next to her in his big armour.
“My name is Pandora, by the way,” she smiled, looking up at him, “And I see you’ve had the the pleasure to meet my friend.”
“A pleasure, indeed,” commented James, sarcastic, “He pointed a dagger to my neck and required I followed him. Still hasn’t told me his name, though. And we’ve walked for a while to get here.”
“My name isn’t important,” Regulus shrugged, “And I didn’t feel like talking.”
He glared at him, still toying with the blades.
“What’s wrong with you, Godric’s Knight?” interrupted Pandora, grabbing James by the cheeks to stare into his eyes.
“He’s blind,” answered Regulus, refocusing on his daggers.
“Oh, how sad, a blind knight. Hand blind or foot blind?” Pandora began rummaging in a drawer.
“Foot blind.” replied Regulus immediately, clinical, stopping the blade with a jerk.
“How many fingers?”
“Try with four. Perhaps five, but try four, first.”
James followed the exchange intrigued, and then he watched as Pandora finally took out an object from a different drawer: two round lenses, connected and secured by a thick gold frame with two stems.
“Try with these, I’ll look for a four and a half,” Pandora handed out to Regulus the glasses, and he went to put them on James, careful not to touch the lenses.
“You have to put them on your nose,” he said, sliding the object up the slope of James’ nose. The knight’s eyes widened in surprise as he realised what the glasses were for, while Regulus wondered if Pandora had chosen that specific frame or if it had been a coincidence: the gold looked amazing against the knight’s brown skin.
He stepped backwards, going back to the table he was leaning against earlier, raised two fingers and asked, “How many fingers am I holding?”
“Two…How is this possible?” James answered, amazed, and he began looking around like he was seeing the world for the first time. He probably was.
“Go to the window,” ordered Pandora, “And tell me if you notice anything in particular in the trees.”
James obliged, and Regulus watched him glaring scrupulously at the woods.
“I see something, like a line in a trunk of that oak,“ he pointed out to Regulus.
“He’s squinting. Try with the four and a half, if you have it,” proposed Regulus, taking the glasses off of James’ confused face. “Maybe if you could keep the frame in gold,” he added, quietly.
Pandora chuckled, opened yet another drawer, and brought him the new pair, identical to the first. James put them on carefully.
“Try again,” she said sweetly.
“…Oh, it’s a red ribbon! It’s tied to the tree.” James replied immediately, excited.
“Perfect,” announced Regulus, “You’ve achieved a normal person’s vision.”
“This is how all of you see things?” James gaped, and Pandora held his hands, also giddy.
“Most of us, yes.” Pandora smiled.
James took a moment to digest the new information, then he abruptly knelt down. “What can I do to repay you, Lady Pandora?”
“Lady?” Pandora chuckled. “Call me Dora, blind knight. We’re friends now. And you could stay over for dinner, if you want.”
“I wish I could, but I’m not supposed to be here. I have to go back to the Gryffindor Towers before dark,” James explained, sorry. “I’ll visit you whenever I can, though.”
“If I’m not home by the time you decide to come, I should be somewhere around here. Wait for me, and we’ll have a meal together.” Pandora concluded, putting her hands on her hips.
James smiled, then he turned to Regulus.
“I have to thank you for bringing me here. You may have threatened to kill me, but you also led me here. I hope our paths cross again, unnamed man.” James took his hand, kissed the back.
“I won’t have mercy next time, Red Knight. My daggers will be ready,” Regulus promised.
“You won’t catch me off guard,” the knight smirked, then he added, whispering, “Also, I hadn’t noticed how beautiful you are. What a shame it would’ve been, if I went on for the rest of my life without ever seeing you.”
Regulus didn’t know what to say, so he pressed his lips together, his cheeks heating up.
“I suppose you can find your horse by yourself, then,” Regulus tried to avert the embarrassment, but James was still smiling.
“Of course I can. But I could give you a ride home, if you need it”
“No need. Now go, it’s getting late.” Regulus dismissed him.
James thanked Pandora again, walked to the door, beaming confidently, and bowed to the both of them before stepping outside.
“You could use a good ride, though,” Pandora commented, and Regulus threw her a shocked look.
“Don’t.”
“What happens in the Forest stays in the Forest.”
“Dora-“