awake
Regulus blinked drowsily, taking in his surroundings. Where am I? he thought to himself, propping himself up with his arms. There was a dull ache in the back of his head when he did so, but he ignored it. Where were all of his things? Everything was so… white. The walls, the ceiling, the bed, the sheets, the cover, everything. The large room was lined with beds, Regulus was laying in one of them. Suddenly, a woman rushed into the room.
“Oh, you’re awake. Now, lay back down, you are not well enough to be up,” she said, pushing Regulus back down.
“Who are you?” Regulus asked in confusion.
“Madam Pomfrey,” she answered off-handedly, busy with a tray of different potions.
“And… where am I?”
“The Hospital Wing.” The Hospital Wing?
“Why?”
“You passed out. Now, drink this,” Madam Pomfery said, pushing a small vial into his hands. Oh, yeah. Right. He took the vial and drank it in one go, wincing at the taste. “You should get more rest,” she was in the middle of saying, before the large wooden doors of the Wing slammed open loudly, the sound echoing through the room, and Sirius ran in, James in tow. Madam Pomfery looked slightly pained at their arrival.
“Reg!” Sirius shouted, running up to him.
“He needs to rest,” Madam Pomfery told him sternly, but Sirius didn’t budge. “You have to leave, Mister Black,” she tried, but Sirius didn’t move an inch. After a moment, she just sighed, resigned, and left.
“Are you okay?” Sirius asked, picking up each of his limbs and checking them.
“Yes,” Regulus replied easily. “I don’t really know what happened.” Then the events of the Sorting came rushing back to his head. “Why are you here?” he asked quietly.
“To check on you,” Sirius said, rolling his eyes.
“Yes, but why? I got-” he swallowed, “I got sorted into Slytherin,” he said. Sirius tensed slightly, but smiled nonetheless.
“You’re still my brother, Reg. You’re not- you can’t be like them. I know you’re not, I know it. You’re better than them,” Sirius said, his smile sad. Regulus was so grateful in that moment that his brother, hisSirius, believed in him so blindly.
In that moment, Regulus looked up and realised Potter was standing behind Sirius, grinning widely at the two, and Regulus’s smile morphed into a scowl, but he didn’t get a chance to make a comment before the doors burst open again, Barty Crouch Junior running in, Evan Rosier following at a slower pace, and Pandora following much farther behind at a light walk.
“Black!” Crouch yells loudly, causing Regulus to wince quite noticeably and Sirius to flinch more discreetly. “Are you okay?” he asks, inspecting his arms and head in a similar manner as Sirius had.
“Piss off,” Evan says when he’s near. “We aren’t even friends- I tried to stop him, but he came anyway. You two barely talked, I don’t consider him a friend, but, you know,” Evan rambles.
“Evan, I think he should stay,” Pandora says in her usual light, airy voice, and Evan shuts his mouth immediately. “Hello,” she says, smiling softly and taking one of Regulus’s hands with two of hers. “You will be better, I can see,” and Regulus believes her, for some reason..
“Hey, aren’t you Rosiers?” Sirius questions, turning to face Evan and Pandora.
“Yes,” Evan says with a scoff. “Obviously.”
“I am,” Pandora says. Sirius frowns at Evan, but doesn’t say anything.
“I’m fine,” Regulus sighs, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly. Barty and Sirius send him nearly identical looks of scepticism. “Honestly, I am.”
“Is it my turn yet, Sirius?” James asks.
“Whatever, James,” Sirius laughs, but moves out of the way.
“You’re okay, right?” James asks. “I mean, you look okay. I mean you don’t look okay, you look great, but you always look great- I mean you look fine- wait, no that’s not what I meant, not that you don’t look fine, because you do, but- I meant that you- I mean you’re great- I mean-”
“Okay, Potter, I’m going to save you from misery here out of the goodness of my kind heart,” Crouch says solemnly, patting James’s shoulder, and she stands still, cheeks pink. Sirius looks highly offended at this exchange, but still bursts out laughing.
“Okay, that is quite enough. All of you, back to your dorms, Miss Black needs to rest,” Madam Pomfrey says, reappearing beside the bed.
“Yes, I must rest,” Sirius says, but leaves sheepishly after Madam Pomfery levels him with a stern glare.
“You may leave today after dinner, once you get some rest,” Madam Pomfrey says, laying him down and walking back into her office. Regulus stares at the ceiling, and thoughts rush into his head. Does Mother know about this? What will she do? She probably knows, Bellatrix and Narcissa were both watching him when he got Sorted, and Bellatrix loves to tattle on him. Fear seems to run through his veins now, but then he remembers, at least he got into Slytherin.
The day passes monotonously, and Madam Pomfrey finally releases him to his dorm. He makes his way down to the dungeons, and stands confused when he gets there, because there’s no door, even though he’s sure this is where the dormitories should be. He’s about to turn around and look somewhere else, when the stone starts to shift and a group of girls walk out of the opening in the stone, chattering about to one another. Cautiously, Regulus enters the room, and realises the Slytherin common room is hidden behind a wall of stone. He goes to his dormitory, the last one down the corridor, and opens the door, examining the room. It’s a small room, compared to his bedroom, but spacious enough. Most of the other students are at dinner as of now, so nobody else is in the door, meaning Regulus still has no idea who his dormmates will be. He finds that one four-poster bed has his trunk lying on it, and he unpacks, organising his things. He decides to take a shower and brush his teeth, and when he comes out of the bathroom, his dormmates are back.
“Hello,” one of the girls greets.
“Hi,” Regulus says.
She stands up, and extends a hand to him. “Dorcas Meadowes.”
He takes her hand, reluctantly. Meadowes? He’s never heard that name. She’s probably not a pureblood. Taking her hand was a small act of rebellion against Mother and Father, even though they would never know. He doesn’t know how Sirius does it.
“Are you a first year?” she asks.
“Yes. Why?”
“Oh. I’m a second year. Dunno why you’re here. Are you sure you’re in the right dorm?”
“Yes, I am,” Regulus answers irritably. As if he could ever step foot in the wrong dorm.
“Everyone in this dorm is a second year. I think you’re in the wrong place,” she insists.
“I’d argue that you’re in the wrong place,” Regulus replies, glaring at her.
“Whatever,” she shrugs. “I’d suggest you ask Slughorn or McGonagall, though.” Regulus slots that into his mind, pretending to ignore her as he grabs his trunk and leaves the room.
Regulus holds the paper Slughorn gave him and walks back into the Slytherin dormitory, this time to a different room. He pushes open the door and spots Evan and Barty sitting on their respective beds.
“Hello. I was wondering who was going to take the next bed,” Barty says as a greeting.
“This is a boy’s dorm,” Regulus points out, confused.
“That it is.”
“Then why was I assigned here?” Barty shrugs and Regulus turns to leave. “Now I have to go to Slughorn again,” Regulus groans.
Slughorn is stupid.
“Hello again. Why are you back?” Barty asks.
“I’m stuck with you guys. How do you accidentally put me in a boys dorm and then have no other dorms to put me in? I think Slughorn’s just too lazy to fix his papers again.”
Regulus unpacks and organises his belongings before sitting in his bed, but before he can do a single thing, a loud knock is heard at the door of the dorm room.
“Who is it?” Evan calls out.
“Is that you, Evan?” a voice answers.
“Why?” Evan responds suspiciously.
“Yes!” Barty responds. “Come in!” The door opens and Sirius appears in the doorway, James behind him.
“Hi Regulus!”
“How did you find me?” Regulus asks in shock.
“The Slytherins don’t really like us, so we had to knock on every door. A few insults and jinxes thrown around, but we’re fine. And we found you. Why are you in a boy’s dorm?”
“See! Slughorn ‘accidentally’ put me here and says he ‘can’t change the dorms now’, even though it’s his fault!” Regulus complains, falling back on his bed. He can do things like that now that he’s left Grimmauld. And it’s hardly been a day.