Chapter 1
A man with a long black cloak knocked on the Prewett door on a Sunday afternoon.
No one had seen him strolling down the street; he just materialized as if by magic.
His mother had just had a heart attack inside the house after the police had arrived with the news that his father had been stabbed by a man on the street who was attempting to rob him.
Neither sibling cared much about their parents' deaths, but they were more worried about who would be the next nasty relative to torment them.
Walburga Black lay motionless on the floor close to the stairwell.
They froze when the knock came.
Sirius placed a hand on his shoulder and told him not to say anything; perhaps whatever was outside would just go away if they believed no one was home.
Of course, things didn't go exactly as planned.
The man simply continued knocking and shouted their full names.
They were ashamed enough with their first names that they wouldn't go around telling people their middle names so no one that wasn't related to them knew them. Sirius looked him in the eyes and nodded after a little pause.
Regulus understood him without needing to say anything else.
Sirius was a bit taller than him so Regulus had to look up to meet his eyes but once he did, his worries drained away for a while, Sirius was going to take care of this, Sirius knew what to do.
And so Sirius opened the door.
The man stood on their mat as soon as the door was opened as if he had been invited in. He glared down at Sirius, who in comparison to the man, looked as small as an ant.
He wore a brown leather duster despite the heat outside. His shoes were shod with silver, and they rang hollowly as he stepped over the threshold. Regulus looked up into his face and shivered, he had never seen anyone as tall as the man currently standing in front of them. It was almost humanly impossible to be as tall and as big. Not that the man was fat, he was bulky, just—big, in general.
The man looked down at the scene in front of his eyes in complete disbelief.
“What ‘appened 'ere?” He asked, looking at his mother’s corpse.
She looked as pale as ever, you’d think she’d go whiter if she was dead but Regulus thought that was impossible. She wore her usual elegant dresses even if she was in the house. Of course Walburga died in heels and a face full of makeup.
“She died.” Regulus said, thinking it was rather obvious as his mother was motionless on the floor.
Sirius hit him at the back of his head, as he did whenever he said something rude that he hadn’t realized was rude. See, Regulus had the tendency, even at that young age, of being brutally honest, even if it hurt some feelings. He was thought not to lie, so he didn’t lie. He still seemed to get in trouble for it, which was confusing.
Sirius didn’t have that problem though, he always knew what to say and how to say it.
He knew how to be rude in a way that was so double handed that no one noticed they had just been insulted by a toddler.
“She had a heart attack,” Sirius clarified, his tone as even as Regulus’. “My father was stabbed yesterday, she just got the news.”
“She obviously didn’t take well to them either.” Regulus commented, that earned him another smack behind the head.
“But,” The man started, confused. He walked up to their mother and took her pulse. He released her hand when he was sure she had no pulse. Well, they had done that already. Hadn’t Regulus just told him she was dead? “Your father is alive.”
Sirius shook his head. “Nope. Ignatius Prewett is dead. He was stabbed three blocks from here, yesterday at midnight. It was on the news, we saw it today and the police showed us the pictures just now. It was him.”
The man seemed reluctant to believe Sirius, maybe he thought he was too young to understand what was happening, maybe he thought he was in shock. If only he knew just how much the Prewett siblings had witnessed in their lives. Just how much they understood.
“No children,” He said, crouching down to their level. He motioned for Regulus to come stand next to his brother so he could speak to the both of them. “Your father’s not Igantius Prewett.”
He said with such security that even Regulus started to doubt it.
But it couldn’t be.
Walburga and him had been together since Regulus was born. She did always say that they took after her, the same gray eyes and the same ink black hair. Ignatius had dark brown hair and brown eyes. Some freckles here and there, but Regulus had some too. And Sirius and Regulus looked so much like one another that they were almost twins, at least everyone said so, so there was no doubt they were related.
“Your father’s Orion Black, King of our land.”
Okay, now he had to be taking a piss. Orion Black? What kind of made up name was that? Well, now that he thought about it, what kind of made up name was Regulus Arcturus Black? And please, did this man really think them so stupid? King of our land? What land?
What had truly rendered him speechless had been the words next to come from Sirius’s mouth. “I know.”
Regulus looked at his brother, perplexed. “What do you mean you know?”
Sirius sighed. “Regulus, I am named after him. And, plus, think about it. Have we ever done weird things when we were sad or angry? Yes, we have. That’s why Mother hated us so. She hates magic and we are magic.”
Regulus shocked his head furiously and the big man came to wrap an enormous hand around his shoulders. “No, no. That can’t be. Magic, what do you mean magic?”
“Your mother wandered into some magic that was too dark for her understanding. Your father wants you back in his Kingdom, you were stolen from him.”
Sirius came up in front of them, he looked almost offended to be ignored so quickly. “Adn who are you?”
The man chuckled and then cleared his throat with a sound so resounding, the earth seemed to shake underneath them. “I am Hagrid, Rubeus Hagrid. I am the keeper of the grounds. I take care ‘f Dumbledore’s Castle and of your father’s dragons.”
Dragons?! No come one, how stupid did these people think they were? Regulus could come around to a lot of things but not dragons, dragons crossed his line. It was so ridiculous that he genuinely started laughing out loud.
“Don’t laugh Regulus. I know you don't think it true now but you are the children of King Orion the third. You are the Heirs of Elfhame. And you need to come back to your people where you will be with your own kind.”
“No,” He was reluctant to believe any of this, even if Sirius seemed pretty convinced, and he wanted it known by the masses. “I’m not going with you.”
“Listen child, I know yer confused but where else would you go. Look around you, you have no one else.”
True.
But was that too bad?
Years later. Regulus won’t recall how he was convinced. Just that he was crying and Sirius packed his bags, ready to leave. He left behind most of his things, his toys, his books… he had no more of any of it. His childhood was erased in front of his eyes.
He remembers having to push his mother’s head aside to go up and down the stairs and he also remembers accidentally hitting her in the stomach. And then Sirius accidentally stepped on her hair.
Outside, black, dead-looking creatures were waiting for them.
“What are those?” Sirius asked, coming closer to their faces were the black skin pulled tighter and looked to be decaying faster.
“These are Thestrals,” Hagrid told them. “You only see ‘em when you’ve seen someone dying. I suppose you kids count.”
Before Regulus could think too much about it, Hagrid swung him and Sirius across the saddle, handling them as if they were feathers.
Seconds later they left their house behind and never looked back.