Space oddity
That morning, at exactly 8:24 regulus woke up with a start to the sound of someone stubbing their toe and screaming ‘FUCK ME’ at the top of their lungs
YOU KNOW YOU TWIST, YOU LITTLE GIRL
YOU KNOW YOU TWIST SO FINE
TWIST A LITTLE CLOSER NOW
AND LET ME KNOW YOU ARE MINE
about 3 minutes later he was woken, for the second time, by the sound of radio static and a glitchy rendition of ‘Twist and shout’ by the Beatles at full volume
AHHHHH
OHHHHHH
AHHHHHHHH
AAAAH
WAEEE
“FRANCIS, SHUT THAT SHIT UP”
“’FUCK, SORRY IT WONT STOP-WAIT- finally’’
It was not an pleasant morning.
About an hour later, Regulus wrenched himself out of bed, giving an angry glare at his roommate,
who only replied with a smile and a sleepy “goodmornin’ “, before making his way to the great hall for breakfast
He was sat at the breakfast table in the grand hall, with a full English breakfast which had been practically forced upon him, but Regulus had not yet touched his food. He couldn’t help but be more focused on his brother, who was sat at the table directly opposite his own. He was talking to the same dark haired boy from the day before, but also a taller, lanky looking boy next to him, there was no way he was of the respectable sort, mother wouldn’t have liked it. Why did he insist on doing everything she told him not too? How was it so easy? How could he just push it away? How was Sirius’ every waking thought not haunting him with images of what had happened only days before, weeks before, years before?
“Regulus?”
How was it that he could stand up to them like that? Knowing what would happen next? Was he not scared? did he not realise the consequences for both of them? Why could he not just play the game? Why couldn’t he get his fucking act together before he got them both killed?
“Regulus!”
He turned, to meet a friendly smile.
“Francis.”
In response Francis only stepped away to reveal a young boy behind him,
“This is Barty, or Bartemius, but we call him Barty cause he hates it. He’s the other boy in our room.”
Regulus only nodded at this new acquaintance, t then looking up to find his brother gone.
Regulus let out a quiet “Good morning’’ before standing up and leaving
“Don’t worry about him, he’s just grumpy cause I woke him up”
Regulus was not lost. Or at least he would never admit that he was. Which meant that he found himself stranded in this unusually large school with no idea where to go.
“You lost?’’
Regulus turned to find two dark eyes observing him.
“No’’
“It’s alright, I still get lost and I’ve been here for five years’’
“I’m not lost.’’
The girl across him frowned, still observing him, her eyes piercing into his skin.
“It’s rude to stare’’
She smirked, ‘’Sirius’ brother, right?’’
Now that Regulus saw her properly, he didn’t recognise her. That wasn’t a good sign. She probably wasn’t from a very respectable family.
But for some reason he couldn’t get himself to care.
If his brother could do it, so could he.
“You could say that.’’
The girl only hummed at that, before rummaging around in her pockets to find a packet of cigarettes.
Regulus observed her for a few seconds, she had dark hair cut short, barely reaching her ears at some points, and sticking out in an unruly manner, with a messy fringe, cut short, closer to her hairline than her deep eyes, which contrasted with her extremely pale skin.
The girl met eyes with him.
“It’s rude to stare’’ she smirked, now holding an unlit cigarette carefully balanced between her fingers.
He doubted that she was of age.
“Where are you trying to go then?’’ She asked
“History, Room 10.’’
“second floor all the way down the corridor to your right.’’
she put the cigarette in her mouth
“Thanks.’’
She swiftly nodded in reply.
Regulus turned ready to walk away, before hesitating,
“Who are you?’’
She lifted the cigarette and smoke filled the air around her.
“Alice Fortescue, good to meet you.”
Regulus couldn’t help but think about her for for the rest of the day, she had an odd presence. He had never met anyone like her, but she reminded him of Sirius. his mother had always insisted on him staying in the house at home,other than for ‘important matters’ such as showing up to miserable meetings disguised as parties to be shown off until he was shunned away. he had been homeschooled ever since he turned 5 and had had countless tutors who had all attempted to teach the two brothers but had all been worn out by Sirius’ ‘’consistent bad behaviour’’ as his mother would have put it. That’s when his mother tried to teach them. He didn’t want to think about that.
His mother would have hated Alice Fortescue.
He shouldn’t talk to her again.
“You are not to talk to any one below us,’’ she had said,
“Don’t humiliate your family’’ she had said
What she really had been thinking was “Don’t be like your brother’’
But words like that aren’t spoken aloud in the black household
When regulus got back to his dorm the curtains had been drawn and the lights put on, but he walked in to find Francis on the floor practically chocking from laughter while Barty, and some other Slytherin boy rolled across the room trying to strangle each other.
“What the fuck is happening’’
The only response he got was from Francis who just wiped his eyes, desperately trying to contain his laughter
It was only five minutes later that a not-so-reasonable explanation had been given and they found themselves all on Francis’ bed
“You don’t like Bowie? What is wrong with you?’’
“I do but queens is just better-“
“THEIR SONGS ARE EACH FUCKIN 8 MINUTES LONG’’
“Sorry Evan but- he has a point.’’
“thats not even true, THIS IS A BETRAYAL BARTY!’’
At that, Evan launched himself backwards, half off the bed, screeching something along the lines of
“HOW COULD YOU DO THIS BARTY’’ and “I thought you were my friend”
Regulus didn’t have much to add to the conversation, his mother would never have let him near music other than baroque classical music (and that was only because she wanted him to learn the piano) but it was nice to listen, and although they were loud, they were passionate, he could give them that.
The music in the background kept fading in and out on Francis’ broken record player but he liked it, the song almost suited it, in a weird way.
This is major Tom to ground control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
It was so nice, he thought.
It was almost hypnotic.
For here
Am I sitting in a tin can?
Far from the world
Planet earth is blue
He didn’t remember ever having something nice.
But this was nice.
And there’s nothing I can do
Eventually they all fell asleep, collapsing onto their own beds at the last second before falling into a deep sleep.
three hours later, regulus woke up to creaking floorboards and a few steps.
All Regulus could manage was a simple “Who’s there?” before peeking through the emerald curtain, to find darkness.
he was still in his uniform from yesterday, and in an extremely uncomfortable position and quickly found himself sitting up, hyper-aware of the situation.
And that’s when he saw Francis.
“Are you alright?” Regulus let out, only seeing the silhouette of the boy crouched by the window, surrounded by the darkness of the room.
“Not really”
He looked so small, he could have been a ghost.
“You look like a ghost”
His felt his cheeks burn, why the fuck did he say that.
“thank you”
He was so glad that it was dark.
“Why are you-” he hesitated, “not alright?”
“I don’t know.”
The expression on the other boys face was a knowing one, but regulus didn’t question it, it wasn’t his place.
“ok”
They sat in silence before Regulus shuffled over to the window, placing himself next to Francis.
Carefully, he thought, be careful. Francis looked as though he could break any second.
But then he heard a whisper,
“Who are you?”
Regulus didn’t know what answer Francis wanted, there were so many options.
“I mean who-” a second passed, “who do you think you are?”
And all regulus could find himself saying was
“I don’t know”
“Cause sometimes,”
Francis seemed to freeze in that moment, before a chocked laugh came out.
It wasn’t a happy laugh like before, it was empty.
“Sometimes,” Francis continued, “I think I’m a girl”
A deep silence followed.
It was full of questions, and he could feel Francis looking at him, but he couldn’t find himself in time to meet eyes with the other boy
When he did look up, Francis’ eyes were fixed onto the floorboards in front of them.
“That’s alright, I think.”
A few moments of silence followed.
“I won’t tell anyone.”