Chapter 2
The House of Black basked in the glory of the stars, they shared their names with gods and immortal beings. It was a Black tradition to visit a seer after your child was born, they would lay their newborn on a creaky old table as their future was foretold. To others, it was just a name, but to the Blacks, it was your destiny.
Walburga used to sneer at his name, ‘The Heart of the Lion.’. It simply just didn’t fit their noble family. Regulus was branded as a disappointment from the get-go.
That’s probably why she never looked at him before Sirius left.
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Years came and went at Hogwarts. The same repetitive cycle blurred together, but Regulus enjoyed it. It was probably the happiest he had ever been for a while. He and Sirius never really talked when they crossed paths, and if they did it wasn’t really an experience Regulus wanted to remember. Regulus always used to hear the saying “Time flies when you’re having fun”, he simply thought that it was just a bunch of muggle nonsense but as days turned into months and months turned into years, Regulus realized that he was so busy enjoying life with his friends that he didn’t pay attention to how close graduation had come.
More importantly, how close his duties had come.
It was a hard night for Regulus when he finally came to that realization, hell, it was a hard night for all of his friends. As heirs to pureblooded families their families demanded that they joined the dark lord, well except for Pandora and Barty but they were just as upset, mourning the futures to come for their friends. They all huddled together, seeking comfort in each other as they sobbed silently into the night. No one said a word, but no one needed to.
The next morning was their last day of freedom, but the group of five refused to meet that faith.
“Why don’t we-” Evan squeaked out, it sounded nothing like the confident boy Regulus knew. “Why don’t we just leave.” He blushed a bit when everyone else turned to face him. “Well,” he stuttered “Regulus’ brother left, right? Why don’t we do it too?”
“And how the hell are we gonna do that?” Barty scoffed roughly, anyone else would have felt hurt by his tone but everyone knew that Barty didn’t mean it like that. “You really think our parents will just let us leave? My father would rather chain me up than let me leave and tarnish his reputation like that.”
“Who would even take us?” Dorcas whispered, “We’re Slytherins, it’s not like we all have a pack of lions to welcome us into.” That revelation brought the group back into silence, they only really had each other. They had no other friends and even Pandora and Barty’s families were horrible. There really was no good outcome for them. The gods had sold Regulus out, and his family's hubris was coming to bite him in the ass.
“The Muggles”
Regulus’ voice broke through them, “No one would come looking for us in among the muggles.”. Gasps of shock and disbelief followed shortly after but Regulus was not listening, his mind was moving at about a million miles per hour. “I mean think about it, we can withdraw as many valuables as we can from our vaults. Gold, Emeralds, those things can fetch us a big sum in muggle money.” The room was quiet but Regulus kept ranting, it felt as if he was talking to himself. “We can buy a flat and just live.”
He was breathing quickly after that, and they all just stared. No one said anything as they analyzed the words Regulus spoke. It was a shit idea, they all knew this. It didn’t take into account how they were supposed to assimilate into muggle society, or how they were going to be able to take stuff from their vaults without their parents noticing, hell it didn’t even tell them what they were going to do when the money eventually ran out. They were Slytherins, they prided themselves on how calculating they could be, and how they never jumped into anything without a plan. But here they were with no better option, knowing full well all the faults of this plan but considering it anyway.
It didn’t take any words for everyone to know what they were doing next. “Okay,” Dorcas, the unofficial leader of the group sighed. “I guess this is where we’ll split for now.”
“We can meet up tomorrow morning, at Gringotts” Pandora added. She sounded fierce like she refused to take no for an answer, moments like those proved that she belonged in Slytherin.