the last train ride and fireplace conversations
September 1st, 1979
without the Marauders being on the train, the Hogwarts express suddenly felt... quiet? empty, maybe. and not only had the overall living circumstances in the wizarding world changed, a lot of students weren’t even attending school this year; it was simply way to dangerous, especially for muggleborns.
“hey Black! had a good summer break, didn’t you?” Evan Rosier spoke as Regulus entered the cabin; a closed one, obviously. they didn’t want nosy people to interrupt their conversations.
“of course, i expect the same from you, and from you too, Barty.” Regulus smiled saying that, Barty and Evan were Regulus’s only friends, well, his only friends who still attended school.
they knew about the tattoo, on Regulus’s left arm, the scar that would forever remind him of the stupid choices he had made; how much he loved to blame it on his parents, he knew he couldn’t just keep saying that. he knew full well it was somewhat his own ‘choice’ as well, that didn’t make him feel any less guilty though.
Barty and Evan, who both also came from pureblood families, were logically seduced by the idea of becoming a Death eater; seduced. Regulus, who had known both boys since they were eleven, almost knew for sure it wasn’t their own minds thinking, just like with Regulus, (and what they tried to do with Sirius) they were brainwashed. Regulus didn’t know if that was the right word for it, but it was the only word that came to mind when thinking of a situation like theirs, and Regulus’s one, too.
they sat in silence for a while, occasionally someone said something and the others laughed, and after they’d go back to sitting in a comfortable silence again. Regulus was reading ‘the picture of Dorian Gray’, some muggle book Sirius had given him, he actually figured Remus had picked it out for him, but it didn’t matter much anyway. So far he was enjoying the book, turns out, classic muggle books were actually really interesting, but the story of Dorian Gray interested him so much; what would Dorian have said if he knew there were literal spells to keep you young and beautiful forever, without having to trap your soul into a painting.
Regulus often thought about muggles, their obliviousness involving magic. how crazy it must be, Regulus couldn’t even imagine living without being able to use magic, let alone not even knowing it exists. Reading muggle books has made him realize what some muggles really think of people like them, but in all honesty, Regulus couldn’t give less of a shit. after all, a lot of wizards probably thought worse of muggles than they did of them. He liked reading about them, he read all books Sirius, (Remus, but oh well) had given him and he enjoyed almost all of them, there were some cheesy romance books too; he didn’t quite like those though.
maybe them gifting him ‘the picture of Dorian Gray’ wasn’t a coincidence, maybe they wanted to hint at him how dangerous his actions were, but unfortunately, Regulus didn’t notice that, yet.
a couple of hours later, an owl flew by their compartment, Evan opened the window; and as soon as he did, the beautiful, white snow owl, dropped a letter onto Regulus’s lap, and flew away instantly after.
“Merlin, that was… aggressive?” Evan said, while Barty nodded in agreement. Regulus wasn’t focused on them though; he put the book aside and opened the letter addressed to him.
Regulus,
tonight there’s a meeting, at 9, you should be done with dinner by then. Bella thought i should inform you. use the prefects bathroom on the fifth floor. Yes, bathroom; there’s a fireplace in there, too. i assume i don’t need to explain how it works, Malfoy manor is where you need to be ‘at’
let me know in time if you can’t be there, otherwise, see you tonight.
with love, Narcissa
Regulus put the letter away again, this would be the perfect opportunity; He would attend the death eater meeting, and would contact the order after. He immediately started writing.
dear Sirius,
tonight there’s another DE meeting, i will appear in the fireplace a little after 9:30. Make sure you’re alone, or well, with Remus and James is okay; its very important no one else is there.
talk to you soon, regulus.
he fold the letter in half, wrote his initials in the corner, and wrote ‘PADFOOT’ in capital letters on the other side of the parchment.
“can i maybe borrow your owl?” he asked Barty, who nodded with a mouth full of chocolate. Regulus grabbed Merlin’s cage; (nope, not the wizard, Barty actually named his owl Merlin.) and gave him the letter, which he soon after flew away with.
the feast was, as always, delicious. But Regulus’s mind wasn’t on the chocolate pie he just ate, it was on the meeting he was about to attend.
“did you guys see that boy? at the feast, i think he was sorted into Ravenclaw; who screamed when the food appeared?” Evan said, making Regulus snicker; it was funny.
“he looked so stupid, Merlin, how can people be so stupid?” Barty said.
“everytime you say Merlin i think you’re talking about that owl of yours, why did you name it that, anyway?” Evan said, making Barty laugh; he was just about to explain why as Regulus interrupted him.
“hey uhm i'm gonna just use the bathroom, real quick.” Regulus said as he walked away, making Barty and Evan shrug their shoulders and walk the other way, to the dungeons.
it was quite a task, especially the first night of the schoolyear, teachers were parading in the hallways, to make sure no one was out of bed after hours. It was a close one, but after fifteen minutes, Regulus finally arrived.
“alohamora” He whispered, as the heavy door opened. Regulus had never been in this room before, it was absolutely stunning, though. on his left there was a massive tub, that almost looked like a pool, on his right was a… sitting area? there he saw it; the fireplace.
he turned around to the door again,
“colloportus” he then said, while pointing his wand at the doorlock. after that he walked towards the fireplace.
he grabbed some of the floo powder, and threw it in the fire; said where he wanted to go and put his head in the fire.
“finally, there you are.” Narcissa said, as she smiled at him. He always liked Narcissa, even as a kid; she was always there for him. “we will be sitting a different way, when he arrives, but you will still be able to hear everything. I’m sure he would like to know about how things are going, at Hogwarts right now.” Regulus nodded and Narcissa walked away.
he took a couple of minutes to look around the room; it was a massive room, a dark room too, filled with a simple, long, table and a bunch of chairs around it. and guess what? Wormtail was there too, sitting in between some guys Regulus didn’t recognize.
suddenly everyone fell quiet, he heard footsteps and saw a man walk in; he was wearing a gown so long you couldn't see the shape of his body, he was bald and his skin looked almost grey. Regulus had to try so hard to not look terrified.
“hello, old friends, it’s been a while.” Voldemort spoke. “we have some new recruits, who i’d like to welcome.” he looked towards some people Regulus didn’t know, who instantly bowed to the dark lord.
he turned abruptly towards Regulus, who immediately pulled his head back a little, out of reflex, probably. “we also have someone from inside the walls of Hogwarts here, right now.” Voldemort growled, and Regulus was unnecessarily close to raising a judge-mental eyebrow, the way he always did. Good thing he didn’t. “Regulus Black.”
there were some whispers around the table, “Regulus Black, as in Sirius Black’s brother?” some random man said, making everyone turn towards him. Regulus himself looked up confused, that was when he realized that Sirius wasn’t on necessarily good terms with these people.
“yes, that one.” the dark lord spoke, his voice sounded raspy, like he wasn't happy to hear Sirius being mentioned. “do you really think we can trust him, master?” the man spoke again, making Bellatrix gasp.
“i do. Regulus is nothing like his blood-traitor brother.” Voldemort growled. ignoring the man and turning back to Regulus.
The dark lord started speaking again. “Regulus, you’re only here because i wanted to tell you personally. anything that happens at school, no matter how little it is, you tell us that.” Regulus nodded. “you can go now, Regulus.”
Regulus thought it was a little sudden, but he left, seeing Narcissa wave at him with a little smile playing on her lips.
he pulled his head back and suddenly he was in the bathroom again, fuck. not even a bit of information. the only thing that was of importance was that it was now confirmed the dark lord fully trusted him.