Illyius and Raczidian
Regulus woke up several times but fell asleep again. He could not be sure of the time so left after the fourth time he had woken up. Regulus hurried down to the dining hall where it was bustling with noise from hundreds of students eating and chattering. He walked trying to attain some type of his usual confidence and indifference. Though it was difficult, he still felt defeated and sad from after his conversation with Dumbledore.
He sat down opposite Barty and Evan. They stopped chatting abruptly and stared at him. “Where were you?” Barty asked frowning. “Yeah” Evan echoed. Regulus wanted to tell them to bugger off but realized they were his friends and he should not snap at them. “I took a walk so I got back to the dormitory late, you guys were already asleep and I left early” he shrugged casually. He really was an excellent liar. They accepted this and moved on.
Barty turned his head to whisper something to Evan and then Regulus saw him. He was as beautiful as always. Potter was smiling and when Regulus thought about it he had rarely seen Potter not smiling. He felt a warm fluttering in his stomach. Suddenly Potter looked away from Sirius and met Regulus eye. Regulus felt taken aback by being caught staring. But Potter only gave a bemused sort of smile and Regulus found himself wishing to never look away from those deep, warm, kind hazel eyes.
Then they had to go to classes.
The days turned into weeks and in the last weeks of September Regulus was reading more than ever wishing to escape reality. He painted a lot with Panda to take his mind of off his brother and the Potter problem. His wound didn’t heal so he continued wrapping it up with towels unable to find any bandages.
He was very proud of how well he had managed to hide his wound that was still somehow bleeding. It was still very infected, but he had managed to get some of the goo out. It was not until late October that his luck ran out. It was potions and he was working with Panda. He was stirring the potion whilst she was dicing a rat’s tail. She had pulled up her sleeves and had pulled up her long blonde hair in a messy ponytail. Her tongue was poking out slightly as she diced up identical perfect dices.
“Do you know the story of Illyius and Raczidian?” she asked. He did not and loved to hear her stories. “No, but I would like to hear” he replied. She smiled; Panda enjoyed telling the stories as much as Regulus enjoyed listening. He loved it when she told stories even though they were always true they were still enjoyable. And anyway, he liked learning. In classes such as this one where they were doing very easy tasks it was fun to spice it up with some learning.
“There once was a shy, penniless orphan named Illyius. He lived in a small town of witches and wizards. The town lay in the mountains and was surrounded by a thick forest. In the forest next to the town lay a black castle were a dark wizard by the name of Raczidian lived. He had loads of dementors guarding his fortress. He and the village had a truce were Raczidian agreed to leave the village alone if they avoided his castle in the forest.
“Despite the truce the villagers learned the Patronus charm in case of an attack from the dementors. Whilst not everyone managed to cast the Patronus charm they had enough witches and wizards able to cast it to ensure the towns protection.
“When Illyius turned 17 he was taught along with his peers the Patronus charm by the village elders. He managed a corporeal Patronus in the form of a mouse. The villagers laughed at his small meagre Patronus. Illyius was told not to cast his Patronus thinking that such a small creature could be of little help.
“One day a pretty village girl by the name of Eliana went out in the forest to pick some berries. Due to his shyness Illyius had never spoken to Eliana. Raczidian saw Eliana pick her berries and decided he thought she would be an excellent wife. He wished to marry her, so he sent a message to Eliana’s parents demanding a marriage.
“Her parents refused so Raczidian threatened to send his dementors if they did not deliver Eliana to him. The matter was taken to the village council who discussed the matter. They decided that they would put up a fight having many witches and wizards able to cast a strong Patronus which included bears and wolves.
“Eliana was sent to wait out the battle were Illyius lived. Illyius was ordered not to fight thinking that his small mouse Patronus could only embarrass them. In the beginning the villagers was able to put up a fight but their powers faded. Some fainted and others fled. The dementors were approaching the cottage and Eliana begged Illyius to do something.
“So, ignoring the elder’s instructions he cast his mouse Patronus. It glowed with its strength and singlehandedly managed to chase off all the dementors. Furious Raczidian joined the fight. He tried to cast a Patronus forgetting an important detail. Only the pure of heart can cast a Patronus. A swarm of maggots were coming out from his wand eating him alive. The town was saved, and Eliana was free to marry whomever she liked. Eliana ended up with Illyius.”
Panda smiled and gave Regulus a wink. He had liked the story, but he could not see exactly if it had a moral except the usual good conquers evil thing that always happened in stories. But Panda always told a story with a moral other than the good vs evil thing. She like him, liked that about stories, the way they made you think. Panda was always interested in his theories as well. Whether real or not you could always learn something. A lesson or other.
After a minute of thinking he asked, “what was the moral?”. “It depends on who you ask of course” she replied, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. Regulus rolled his eyes. “I meant what do you think the moral was?” he sighed exasperated. “Oh, Luc I was just kidding I know what you meant. I think that Illyius was thought of as weak and small, but he turned out to be the strongest one there. The moral being that even the seemingly weak can be strong. The underdog can win that is” she smiled and had a faraway look considering.
“The pawn beats the king” Regulus murmured thinking out loud like he sometimes could with Panda. “Yes exactly” she smiled and poured the perfectly diced rats’ tails in the cauldron making it turn to its final orange shade.
Only five minutes later was the class dismissed. Regulus stretched dragging his arms backward. It made his chest hurt more than it already did but he was stiff after stirring for an hour. “Lucy” Pandora whispered her voice low and worried, her eyes wide. “What is it?” he whispered hurriedly startled by her inexplainable worry. “Luc, you are bleeding” she stated, looking at his chest. It must have leaked through when I stretched, he thought mentally punching himself. He immediately looked down and yes, he was bleeding. He quickly covered it up with his cloak. “That’s nothing” he mumbled embarrassed and not able to retain his usual bravado.
“Luc” She hissed. Before he could stop her, she was dragging him to the nearest bathroom. “I am fine” he winced as he was forced to move rather quickly. “No you are not, would you say I looked fine if blood just started soaking my shirt?” she asked raising a blond eyebrow. He looked away, ignoring the question.
“Sit down” she ordered pointing toilet. He wanted to argue but was tired after just that short sprint. Regulus sat heaving a great sigh. “Just drop it, Panda” he begged, he did not want to seam weak even with Panda. The thought of anyone seeing him in a bad state was horrifying. Even Panda whom he trusted more than anyone, more than his own brother. Panda crossed her arms and frowned. “I will not so take off your shirt” she demanded. “No, it is not a big deal” he mumbled looking away from her.
“I have essence of dittany which helps and I will play a round of chess with you” she bribed. Panda was good at chess and fun to play against but unfortunately did she not want to play it very often finding it dull. “fine” he surrendered. He sighed again and gritted his teeth as he pulled of his shirt. He watched Pandas face carefully already regretting his decision to do this, but he knew that Pandora was stubborn and she would have won eventually anyway.
“A towel?” Panda asked, incredulous. “Didn’t have any bandages” Regulus shrugged, then winced. “Take that off too” Panda demanded her eyes only slightly widened. He began but it had stuck to his wound, and he let out a small cry of pain. “Let me” she said, focused and right in front of him. He gave a small nod. She gently took of the bandages though it still hurt a lot. “But Luc this is infected” she stated when the towel was of. He felt a prickle of irritation, did she think he didn’t already know that?! “Yeah, I am aware, thanks” he muttered. She gave a reproachful glare, and he felt a bit guilty, she was only trying to help after all. “I am sorry” he met her gaze. “Its ok” she smiled slightly.
She gave him the essence of dittany and a roll of bandages from her bag. “Why do you have this on you?” he asked, bemused. “Incase of emergency” she shrugged. “You got it at home?” she asked tentatively eyeing him. He nodded and felt compelled to look away from those grey eyes. Despite their kindness and how they were blue and grey with a hint of green instead of his mothers dark bluey/grey eyes with flecks of icy blue. He shifted awkwardly.
“I have scars to, you know” Panda stated with a sad smile. Regulus looked up feeling his stomach twist. Panda did not deserve pain she was so kind, gentle, creative, clever and so much more. “Its ok Luc” she sighed. “Just the way it is” she muttered bitterly and defeated. “Yeah” he sighed to. She grabbed his hand and they walked together to their studio.