3. Family Ordeals
September 5th, 1977
Regulus was scheduled to patrol tonight with James, it was the first time of what was now nine occasions they would be forced to walk around the castle alone together. Barty was thrilled when he found out that Regulus had another patrol with the older boy, he’d found out earlier that day when he’d gotten notice that he was being called on for patrol yet again tonight, as the sixth-year Ravenclaw who’d supposed to have gone with James was in the hospital wing for unknown reasons. And since he’d been so willing to take over for Severus then Frank had just assumed he wouldn’t mind a few more hours.
“I give it three nights until it happens,” Barty said through a mouthful of potato. “He’ll think you’re all dark and moody at first, then he’ll warm up to you.”
“Not still on about Potter snogging Reg are you?” Evan groaned, he’d been quite unwilling to give into Barty’s antics ever since it had come up. No one knew for certain if Evan was unwilling to talk because he was madly in love with Barty or if he just didn’t support that kind of stuff. Regulus didn’t know either, whenever it came up he’d be uncomfortable, but he never said anything which was rare for Evan. He was never very quiet about his opinions when it came to things he didn’t like or support.
“Oh just you wait Ev, you’re laughing now but you’ll see,” Barty was no longer flirting with the other boy constantly, avoiding it like a dirty little secret. He was on edge whenever they talked, always dragging Regulus into the conversation if possible.
“I’m quite sure I’ll be filthy rich by the time this term is over,” Regulus offered, not supporting Barty but not shutting the conversation down either. Over the years he’d truly become a master of regulating any arguments, which happened quite often, and he wasn’t at all worried this stalemate would last more than a few days.
Barty stuck his tongue out at Regulus and went back to finishing his pudding, Regulus picked at the remaining food on his plate and after a few minutes gave up and stood.
“I’m gonna go change before patrol,” he smiled, supportingly at Barty who gave him a look of despair at being left behind with Evan. He hurried from the hall and once out in the hall let out a sigh of relief. It was the first time since he’d gotten to school that he’d been alone.
“Black,” Regulus jumped, turning around quickly to see that Severus Snape and his goons had followed him out.
“Hello Severus,” he said coldly, continuing to walk down to the dungeons. “Nice summer?”
“Not as exciting as yours, heard your dear brother got the boot.”
“It’s absolutely none of your business,” Regulus spat back, walking a bit quicker.
“You know with that tone you’ll be next little Reggie,” Mulciber sneered, coming around to his left side, Regulus glanced to his right and Avery had come around.
“What do you lot even want?” Regulus was a bit nervous now, alone and surrounded by some of the nastiest people he knew.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Snape asked, being quite serious. He was now walking beside the younger boy.
“Not at all,” regulus replied dryly, turning a corner.
“We know your family got in with the dark lord Reggie,” he whispered.
Regulus suddenly felt incredibly nauseous, he hadn’t heard that name spoken aloud since the night Sirius left. He clenched his fist, digging his nails into his palm.
“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about,” he replied calmly, looking straight forward so as to not show weakness.
“Don’t lie to me,” Snape hissed, grasping his arm sharply. Avery and Mulciber had their wands drawn.
“I’m not.” Regulus cursed under his breath. He wouldn’t discuss something of that sort, not with what was at stake if he messed up.
Snape shoved him back into the wall and a sharp pair ran through the back of his head. For a moment he thought it was his mother but quickly came back to reality; he was surrounded. Without a wand.
“Just tell us what you know and we’ll leave you be,” Snape said quickly, his voice very low and his wand buried in Regulus’ throat.
“I’ve already told you, Snape, I’m unaware of any of my family being involved in such a thing.”
“Oh for fucks sake,” Avery hissed, hitting regulus square in the jaw. He fell onto his knees and all three boys had their wands pointed at him.
“Flipendo!” Someone shouted from down the hall, and Snape went flying back a few feet.
“Shit!” Avery groaned, and he and Mulciber went to get Severus up before running off deeper into the dungeons.
“Regulus?” A soft voice said standing over him. She extended a hand for him and he took it gratefully.
“Thanks, Cis,” he muttered rubbing his jaw softly.
“What did they want?” His cousin asked gently, taking a look at his already bruising cheek.
“Just heard the rumors about Sirius, and our family being involved with you know who,” he admitted sheepishly. She sighed and let go of his cheek, sweeping her long blonde hair over her shoulder.
“We’ll I’m proud of you for not spilling everything,” she smiled at him a bit. “Not that either of us knows too much. It’s a liability telling anyone who goes to Hogwarts I suppose.”
“It wouldn’t be a big deal if it weren’t for Sirius knowing everything,” Regulus sighed, walking towards the common room with her.
“He won’t tell,” she assured him.. “Even Sirius knows better than to blab what your mother and father told him over the summer. Unless he wants to find himself in an early grave, which we both know he doesn’t.”
“I suppose you’re right,” he smiled gently. “How’s Lucius?”
“He’s alright, keeping busy with work until December,” she smiled, her eyes gleaming in the dim lighting.
“It’ll be weird without you here,” he admitted.
“You’ll manage,” she replied. Knowing quite well that he’d do more than just. manage if he played his cards right. She was planning on leaving school early to be with her husband after the wedding, which was something that Regulus was dreading greatly. “Besides, I’ll only be a letter away and your friends would do quite literally anything for you. Maybe you’ll even fall in love?”
“Fuck love,” he scoffed. “No offense but I’ve never seen a couple that’s actually in love, and happy with their relationship. Apart from maybe you and Lucius but I don’t see you together much.”
“I can assure you were very happy,” she hit him on the arm playfully. “And at least try to keep your heart open. You never know what might or might not happen.”
“Sure.”
…
“You’re late Potter,” Regulus smirked from his spot perched on a high-up windowsill.
“Bloody hell Reg,” James clutched his chest like an old man would do if he were having a heart attack.
“I was bored,” he shrugged, dangling his legs down and jumping down into the ledge he’d used to climb up there in the first place. “And you were late.”
“It’s only 7:49,” James threw up his hands in defense.
“Exactly. We said 7:45.”
“Oh my bad I’m four minutes late,” James rolled his eyes. “The little Slytherin prince couldn’t wait for me to grace him with my presence.”
“You’re way off line Potter,” Regulus replied smoothly, jumping down from the ledge. His jaw was swollen and beginning to turn shades of blue, he hadn’t had time to fix it up before leaving for patrol. Only enough time to change into a pair of loose trousers and throw on a jumper, his bright silver prefect pin glinting on the left shoulder.
“What happened to your face?” James asked quickly.
“One of Snape's little pets hit me,” Regulus shrugged.
“You gave them detention right?”
“Nope, I figured I’d let Cissy take that one on, she hates that lot.”
“She’s strange, I always thought she was so mean and scary when Bellatrix used to be in school. But she’s really just-”
“Like everyone else?” James nodded. “Yeah, she’s pretty cool, probably my favorite cousin. Andromeda and I didn’t really get on too well when she was still around, I guess I was too young to understand why she and everyone were always fighting. And obviously, Bella’s crazy,” Regulus laughed lightly. “But I suppose you’ve already heard this all before from Sirius.”
“Oh well, yeah,” James scratched his head, “he's not super talkative when it comes to his family. The only one he ever really talks about is you.”
Regulus cursed himself for letting his guard down. “I don’t see why, I’m just like the rest of them.” They turned another corner and went up to the boys' lavatory on the fifth floor.
“You’re not though,” James said quickly.
“I am though Potter, I’m not special like Sirius or Dromeda. I’m just me.”
He didn’t know how to respond and they walked in silence for a good ten minutes, making sure to peek into usual hiding spots and behind tapestries for late-night snogging and mischief.
“Why don’t you go check the boy's lavatory and I’ll check the girls?” James suggested hurriedly, Regulus just shrugged and veered left into the boy's room.
“Hey Reg,” someone popped out from the corner.
“Holy shit!” Regulus jumped, drawing his wand and spinning around to come face-to-face with his brother. “Potter.” He grumbled, slipping his wand back into his jumper pocket.
“Look don’t be mad at him, it was mostly my idea. I just knew you wouldn’t want to talk if anyone else was around that's all, and I know Crouch and Rosier are always around, so I thought when you and James were on patrol maybe I’d have a chance.”
“Just say whatever it is you need and I’ll be going. And just for your information Barty and Evan only stay around me so much because they're worried about me, they were the ones who made sure I wasn’t dying in that house after you left.”
“Oh,” Sirius said quietly, obviously embarrassed that he hadn’t tried harder to check in on his little brother. “I guess I just wanted to say that, well you've always got a place at James’ house if they ever try anything. And just because you're their heir or whatever doesn't mean that it's your only option. Effie wanted to go and collect you as soon as I’d showed up at the Potter’s but Dumbledore said she couldn't and it was safer for the both of us if it was no contact.”
He gave a moment for Regulus to say something if he wanted to, but Regulus kept his mouth shut, staring at the floor trying to take in everything Sirius had just said.
“I also just wanted to make sure they didn’t make you,” Sirius paused and Regulus looked up to meet his eyes. Sirius looked down slightly at Regulus’ left arm.
“If that’s all you cared about then you should’ve just said so,” Regulus snapped, quickly rolling up his jumper sleeve to reveal that he had in fact not been marked with the symbol of the dark lord. “Next time skip all the ‘I care’ bullshit. It’s a waste of breath for you, besides I’m quite fine with where I’m at now.”
“Regulus all that about the Potters wasn’t bullshit, the offer is real, and so is everything I said about me being worried about you and Dumbledore not letting me contact you or go and see if you were alright.”
“Save it,” Regulus snapped as he began to remember the words they’d exchanged right before Sirius left. “You didn’t seem to care much for me before you left, I don’t see why that would’ve changed since then.”
“I said some stupid stuff okay? I wasn’t exactly in the right state of mind after everything that happened that night!” Sirius was yelling now.
“Neither was I! It wasn’t just you who suffered! Do you know what it's like when someone you thought you could trust holds you down and makes you watch your mother torture your older brother? Did you have to deal with the aftermath of your mother cursing almost everything that moved for weeks? Or watch the only person who’d ever cared about you in your family being burned from your family tree? Were you isolated for months with the only people who cared about you having to send letters in the dead of night being so incredibly worried that they sent a four parchment letter to your mother convincing her to allow you to spend a few days with them at the end of summer? Were bloody mind controlled for the last two months of your life?”
Sirius was speechless, and Regulus was fuming, his heat was running a million miles an hour and his cheeks were hot with rage and tears.
“Regulus?” a voice from the doorway said quietly. Regulus turned slightly to see James standing directly in the doorway mouth wide open and as white as a ghost. “I heard yelling I didn’t think…”
“No, you didn’t. Let's just go finish the patrol, we’re done here.”
He stormed out of the room, James quick at his tail, Sirius still standing in the middle of the bathroom alone.
James tried to talk to Regulus a few more times over the course of the night but each time Regulus just brushed him off and ended the conversation with short answers and simply not responding.
By the end of their two hours, he’d given up, just waving as Regulus left for his own common room.
…
“Reg, hey we were waiting up for you,” Evan sat up quickly from his bed. Barty was laying on his back next to him reading a quidditch magazine. It seemed they’d made up. “How’d it go?”
Regulus sighed, turning away to wipe the tear from his face before the other boys saw. “It went fine, Potter was as talkative as always. Nothing important,” his voice cracked and he cursed under his breath. His throat tightened and he felt as though he couldn’t breathe. He tried taking a deep breath but couldn’t, just letting cut a broken sob. Not a second later Barty and Evan were by his side.
“Reg what happened?” Barty asked protectively, taking his hand.
“Let him breathe first,” Evan snapped softly, “it's okay Reg, just take a deep breath.”
Regulus couldn’t help but laugh a bit, smiling at the boys as he tried to wipe the tears from his cheeks, more kept coming, and eventually, he gave in, pulling them both in. They hugged back immediately, sandwiching him in a tight hug which made him feel oddly safe and cared for.
“It was Sirius,” he said eventually. “He wanted to talk about everything and I got angry at him. It’s neuter of our faults really.” He paused for a minute, pulling away from the embrace and looking at his friends long and hard for a minute. Neither of them said anything, letting him have the floor for whatever it is he wanted to say next.
“Do you guys really want to know what happened over the summer?”
They were both taken aback, looking at Regulus and then each other.
“Not if you aren't ready,” Evan said gently, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Regulus knew that was a lie, Evan wanted to know the story just as much as anyone in their twisted society did.
“I think I am,” he said hesitantly. “If you’re willing to listen?”
“Of course,” Barty smiled softly, getting up and offering a hand to Regulus. “Let's get comfy then shall we? I don’t think this'll be a short one.”
So all three boys piled into Regulus’ bed and he took a deep breath before spilling everything that his mother had so desperately wanted to keep from everyone.