happy birthday
may 28th, 1980
“happy birthday to youuuu,” Evan and Barty sang, walking into their dorm with a giant cake hovering in front of them. “happy birthday to youuuuu, happy birthdayyyy, dearr Reggie ,,, happy birthday tooooo youuuuuu!!”
Regulus groaned, turning in his bed.
“oh come on Reggie, no being your usual self on your special day!” Barty cheered, casually sitting himself down on Regulus’s bed. “cheer up for one day a year, it shouldn’t be too hard!”
Regulus groaned, again, and turned himself away from the other boy, again.
“shut. up.”
his birthday was possibly his least favorite day of the year, but that wasn’t even the reason he didn’t feel like getting up today — he actually didn’t even know what it was, he just wasn’t feeling it.
“come on Reg, we know you hate your birthday, but you gotta get up!” Evan cheered, putting the cake down on Regulus’s dressoir, and making his way to the bed too. “we even got you a cake with cherries in it.”
“okay.” internally, Regulus was cheering and honestly? he couldn’t wait to eat the cake. “thank you.”
“uhu,” Evan said. “now get up, or we’re gonna finish it without you.” Regulus shot up, removing the covers from his face.
“you don’t even like cherries.”
Remus and Sirius had sent him a bunch of books — some he recognized as Sirius’s favorites, and others he did as Remus’s. Sirius also send a note, saying he would call him somewhere tomorrow, seeing as he was off to a mission soon.
James and Lily had gotten him a brand new chess set. and from Euphemia and Fleamont he had recieved a bunch of baked goods, with a lovely card.
at breakfast, Regulus was met with the not so pleasant surprise of the biggest part of the people in the great hall, singing happy birthday to him. apparently Evan and Barty had half-forced them to do it.
he appreciated the gesture, of course, but honestly he’d rather not. most people were only singing because he was Sirius’s brother, after all.
the three boys sat down, Regulus already overfilling his cup with black coffee. the caffeine would be much needed today.
“happy birthday, mister Black.” Professor McGonnagal said suddenly, coming up from behind him with a smile on her face. Regulus lined his lips and nodded shortly, hoping she’d leave again. he appreciated it, but not now. Barty just stared at her blankly, until she walked away.
“what the bloody hell was that about?” Barty exclaimed lowly, his eyes still following her as she walked away from the table. “since when are you guys like, best mates, or something?”
“you’re forgetting his brother was literally her favorite student, maybe ever.” Evan started pouring coffee into his mug, adding so much sugar into it he probably wouldn’t even be able to taste the coffee at all. “maybe she has a little hope for our Reggie-Reg left.”
Regulus elbowed him and laughed lowly, taking a bite of the cake Barty and Evan had arranged for him — it was really good, not that he had expected otherwise, but he wasn’t even feeling like eating the cake.
birthdays always brought back too many memories Regulus found unnecessary to think of.
may 28th, 1965
“Reggie,” Sirius whispered. it was five in the morning, resulting in Regulus turning in his sheets. “happy birthday.”
the older boy carefully sat himself down on his little brother’s bed, carefully making sure he wasn’t making too much noise — or it would wake their parents, and nothing good could ever come from that.
“i got you a present,” Sirius grinned, taking some big thing from behind his slim figure. “tada!”
Regulus smiled happily, the anger of being woken up early for no reason fading away as Sirius handed the, heavy, present to him. he unwrapped it with a grin on his face, that grin growing as he saw what the actual present was;
Sirius had painted the Leo constellation on a rather large stone, apparently having bewitched it to make only Regulus’s star shine brightly above all.
“wow,” Regulus gasped, smiling cheerily at the stone, running his fingers over its carvings. “Sirius, this is stunning.”
the taller boy smirked proudly, running a hand through his dark locks, which looked strangely neat seeing the time. it was quiet for a bit, just the two brothers grinning happily about something as small as a home made present.
footsteps,
Sirius jumped up immediately, noticing the fast movements of their mother towards Regulus’s room. he could hide, obviously, but it was already too late for that now.
she entered the room, the line of her mouth straight as a ruler, without even a spark of happiness or joy in it. Regulus layed quietly, trying not to stir or move too much for her to take notice in him being awake.
“what areyoudoing here?” she whisper-yelled at Sirius, who Regulus could only assume was casually standing in the middle of the room.
“it’s his birthday, isn’t it?” Sirius said. “i ought to surprise him. it’s a special day.”
their mother groaned, disgusted by Sirius’s lack of seriousness. Sirius was her biggest nightmare, even though he had stopped trying to scare her ages ago. the woman hated her first born, a true, honest, hatred. and she wasn’t afraid to admit to it.
“what did you even get him?” she snatched the stone out of his hands, letting out an empty laugh at seeing it. “what is this?”
“my present.” Sirius stated proudly.
“didn’t we teach you anything? didn’t we teach you the value of—”
“the value of a present from the heart? no i don’t think you ever did, not like you’ve got one, anywa—”
Sirius wasn’t able to finish his sentence. a loud smack interrupted his snarky comment, making Regulus shriek. he heard his mother make one final sound of disgust as she walked out of the room, leaving her eldest son on the floor.
Regulus shot up, immediately kneeling down next to Sirius, whose cheek was bright red, with blood on the sides of it. before Regulus could even say or do anything, he ran back to his room, closing the door behind his back.
Regulus had heard him sob for the entirety of the night.
so no, birthdays didn’t bring back any good memories— but it was never too late to create new ones, right?
Evan and Barty had planned his entire day: first they’d go to Hogsmeade, where they said they would get Regulus some other presents and candy. they would visite the three broomsticks, where they had invited both Pandora and Dorcas, which was probably the part Regulus was most excited about.
the dorm was cold, cold enough for Regulus to wear three layers of clothing — an overshirt, a jumper and a big jacket on top of that — despite it being the end of may, it was still strangely cold in the upper parts of Scotland. that and the fact that Regulus was the kind of person to always be cold, regardless of the weather outside.
“are you ready?” Barty yelled from outside of the door, banging on it as if he was the police entering a criminal's home. Regulus sighed, opening it with an even bigger sigh. “finally!”
Barty threw himself onto his own bed, being followed by Evan who sat himself down on the floor.
“what shoes should i—” Regulus started, holding up some docs and navy converse.
“for fucks sake,” Evan snapped. “come on. no one cares, both are shoes!” Regulus was taken aback by his reaction, dropping the converses and putting on the docs — only because of Barty signing towards them in the back, obviously.
when they entered the three broomsticks, Regulus immediately spotted Pandora and Dorcas in the back — Dorcas had brought her girlfriend, Marlene, who Regulus obviously knew as well.
“i can’t believe you’re nineteen now,” Dorcas murmured. “i remember when—”
“oh shut up!” Evan laughed, throwing an arm around her shoulder. “oh yes, because you are so much older than us!”
“mentally i am, you lot behave like a bunch of toddlers most of the time.”
Regulus snickered, leaning his head on his fist as if it was the heaviest thing on earth.
the girls had given him some nice presents; Pandora had given him two rings, with stars engraved in them (she had made them herself, and made two of the same kind for herself, so they were matching) Dorcas — with some help from Marlene — had gotten him a new jacket. if was a nice one, brown leather. Regulus was sure that if his mother was alive, she would have hated it. that made it even better.
they had some more drinks, and went shopping after. Barty had gotten him a new schoolbag — Regulus had been tired of his old one for ages now, but it was apparently very expensive, (according to his mother) which boosted his ego at school, (also according to his mother)
Evan had him pick out every single piece of candy he liked, and bought all of it. it was so much the three of them needed to carry it back to the castle together.
Regulus turned in bed, smiled softly. this was easily his favorite birthday, ever.