Chapter 1
Aurora was 11 when she first saw Regulus Arcturus Black. On the train to Hogwarts.
Of course she didn’t know his name at the time, she didn’t know anything about him; in fact she seemed to have zero thoughts whatsoever as soon as she layed eyes on him. A tangle of black curls, a pale flash of skin, so much a phantom, she swivels in her seat to catch a glimpse of him walking away and taking a seat in a carriage a few doors down. Aurora takes in the sight of the empty benches around her with relief. The thought of that ghost- no, that angel sitting in the bench across from her… god forbid next to her… that such a possibility existed in this universe of Infinite possibilities makes Auroras head spin.
She is lost in thought, staring into space when the sound of the cabin door sliding open jerks her from her galaxy of thoughts.
Her eyes meet a pair of smiling blue eyes, long blonde hair, and a wide smile, broken only to shout
“RORY OH MY DAYS!!!!” The girl shoots forward, half barreling half collapsing into an embrace with her still-seated cousin. Aurora hadn’t even had time to think about the possibility of standing before her cousin had sprawled herself into the seat next to her, legs stretched over Rory’s lap.
“Panda you can’t just leave that there what if someone else comes in?” Aurora gestures perhaps a little too vigorously at the discarded suitcases on the floor. She was still disoriented from the boy in the hall and Pandoras startling entrance.
Pandora makes a noise like a gargle and a sigh as she rolls her eyes, dramatically swings her long legs onto the floor, and puts her cases up. “Don’t call me that at school. Not in front of people.”
Rory nods, even though her cousins back is turned, and tries not to feel hurt.
“Sure Dora”
Pandora was the first person to ever give Aurora a nickname. The only person, actually. She would never forget the way it made her feel the first time her then six year old cousin had called her Rory. It was the first time she had ever felt like she had someone that really loved her. Not Aurora, but Rory; her.
As if summoned by her earlier worry, someone does slide the door to their compartment open and when a pair of grey eyes meet hers, it takes all her willpower to keep them from falling out of her head. The boy was beautiful. Surely a mere shadow of what he would become with age, like something out of a painting. The ghost bows his head as he says, voice a touch scratchy “can I sit there?” The Angel asks, voice indescribably lovely, so lively she almost asks him to repeat the question to hear it again; that is until the request registers to her brain.
Sit? Here? With us?
“Sure! I’m Pandora, this is Aurora, what’s your name?”
“Regulus” the phantom, Regulus replies, stowing his case and sitting, as alarm bells start to ring louder in Auroras head, because Regulus has made to sit in the seat across from her. Not across from Pandora, but across from her.
Aurora focuses on her breathing, aware of every muscle in her body, as the boy with the storm colored eyes sits across from her. Their knees almost touch. Almost.
She doesn’t know how she is going to survive this train ride.
She considers throwing herself out the window as Pandora asks, ever the one to break silences, “What house do you think you’ll be sorted into?”
“Slytherin” Regulus replies instantly, sounding sure and unexcited.
“Ooh!!! Me too!! Love that one, although I hear they live in the dungeons and that’s a bit drab don’t you think?” Pandora pulls the corners of her mouth to the very edges of her face in an exaggerated cringe, making Auroras own mouth quirk in an almost-smile, because really she loved her cousin and she was so excited to be able to spend more time with her. Especially if it meant getting out of that house. Away from him. At the thought of her father, her stomach dropped, and it must have shown on her face because Regulus turns to her and asks, dark brow furrowed in concern, “nervous?”
Rory almost asks him what he means, why she would ever be nervous to gain her freedom, even only until she had to go home for break; but of course he means is she nervous to start school at hogwarts? Is she nervous to get sorted? Is she nervous about making friends? About the schoolwork?
And yes, she was nervous about it all. Overwhelmed by the full force of his attention, she breaks the intense eye contact and simply nods her head.
Regulus nods his head in return and, having apparently lost interest in trying to coax a word out of her, gazes out the window.
Thank the gods for Pandora, at least now she didn’t have to worry about friends. She only needed the one.
She didn’t need anyone else. Especially not some boy she knows nothing about. She didn’t need him to touch her knee, or ask her another question.
At least that’s what she tells herself as she stares at the space between their kneecaps so intensely she ought to see the atoms themselves.
“Why didn’t you stay? Over in the other compartment I mean? I saw you get in and then get out” Pandora asks Regulus. Briefly, Aurora wonders if her cousin is ignoring her, in favor of this beautiful boy. Jealously curdles in her stomach, for who, she cannot bare to analyze. She wills herself to remember what the last thing she said was, had she been contributing to the conversation? It wouldn’t be the first time her cousin had been met with silence from Aurora. Eventually she learned when to give up on her cousin and try again later.
Rory loved that about Dora, she never made Rory feel small or stupid when she didn’t do the “right” thing, never made her feel like a failure when she couldn’t remember something or retreated into silence.
She catches a lighting quick flash of pain before he schools his features into a careful mask of blankness.
“My brother was in the other carriage” he says flatly, palms flat on his thighs like he’s trying to move at little as possible.
“And you don’t get on” Pandora supplies, to which Regulus let out a low hum.
Aurora couldn’t imagine having a sibling and wasting it like that.Pandora insists they are sisters, closer than mere cousins, and Aurora hasn’t said a word to the contrary. Even though Rory thinks sisters ought to know everything about each other. And while Dora knows more about Rory than any other person, she has her doubts that it’s sister-level knowledge.
She doubts anyone will ever know her that well.
The rest of the train ride passes with Pandora trying to engage a silent audience in conversation in surprising success. If anyone could do the impossible it’s Pandora Lovegood; so she has a conversation with a reluctant Regulus and a withdrawn Aurora until the train comes to a stop.
A terse, nervous silence takes over, broken by a crash of noise as offboarding begins.
They were at Hogwarts.
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Regulus was 12 when he first saw Aurora Ophelia Lovegood. It’s easier to start the story there, rather than on the terse exit out of the cabin occupied by his brother and his friends- his gang more like. So as much as it makes him sound like a lovesick fool, he imagines he would start the story that way. She certainly grabs his attention honestly enough. She is the first thing he notices; eyes following the pull they seem to feel to look at her as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Which it isn’t, as the taller blonde girl is the one who actually answers his question as she allows him refuge in the cabin. He puts his case in the overhead and takes a seat by the window, across from the lovely brunette. He tells himself that he chooses this seat simply to be closer to the window, and not because he has even noticed the girl across from him. He has bigger things to worry about; like how he is going to survive alone without his brother since he certainly can’t join his band of idiots. They wouldn’t take him anyway. So yes on the whole he has bigger things to worry about and He certainly hasn’t noticed that Aurora is lovely, or the fact that she’s completely frozen and staring at her legs, growing paler by the minute. She actually looks like she might be sick. Maybe she has motion sickness. He doesn’t know what moves him to open is traitorous mouth and utter just the one stupid word
“Nervous?” He asks, immediately cursing himself for engaging someone in obviously unwilling conversation. Aurora, that’s what her companion had said the girls name was, just nods her head, dark hair bobbing with the movement.
Regulus finds himself mirroring the movement, before looking out the window.
Pandora makes idle conversation, to which Regulus replies intermittently. Mostly he is focused on watching Aurora. He tries not to, feeling like a creep the whole time; but he finds that he can’t help but find his attention wandering to her. She keeps her eyes slightly downcast, trained on her knees, but unfocused. She is obviously lost in thought, and Regulus wonders what she is thinking about despite himself.
Pandora asks him questions and he answers. This seems to be more than enough for Pandora, who is lively and wildly gesticulates as she speaks. At one point she makes a face while talking to Aurora that makes her almost smile. Just the corners of her mouth twitching up and a light spark in her eyes. Regulus’s heart lurches in response. It’s such a small thing, it certainly shouldn’t make his heart race, but he finds himself thinking of a night sky filled with tiny pinprick stars and feeling ridiculous.
The train is bustling as it’s unloaded of passengers, and the students are lined up to await the carriage and boat ride to the castle. The night outside is cold and dark as Regulus steps off the train following Pandora.
Before he can think better or it, he extends a hand to help Aurora down from the elevated train door. The bright moon shines on her face as her eyes fall to his extended hand and he watches her consider it and extend her own careful hand to take his.
Her hand is so warm. It’s the only thing he can think as he grasps her hand, not too firmly, and helps her down.
He meets her gaze and her brown eyes are warm too. A blush has crept into her cheeks, merely a reaction to the cold, he tells himself.
“Thank you” she says, her breath a cloud of white.
He wants to reach out and capture the words, collect the smoke and shove it in his pocket.
Instead he just nods.
He stays quiet the entire journey to the castle. Mostly he knows what to expect; Pandora excitedly titters and points things out to her cousin. Aurora nods and looks around with constantly roaming eyes.
The great hall is a chaotic candlelit din as dinner is had and sorting is done for the first years.
He is of course sorted into house Slytherin.
So are the two girls he sat with. He ends up losing them somewhere along the way, and is eventually found by his friends Barty Crouch Jr and Evan Rosier who both lament and blame him for not being able to locate each other on the train.
Heavy lidded eyes and a tired head meet the pillow that night; as Regulus settles in for what he feels is going to be a very long few years. He dreams of galaxies and stars and vast, endless skies.