A loud crash sounds behind Regulus, startling him. “Evan are you–what are you doing?” He hisses, his wand casting a slight glow over the plush pillows and blankets of the divination classroom. Regulus narrows his eyes at the sight of about 70 cards fluttering to the ground around the other boy, and a crystal ball now rolling away into the shadows. “Did you…steal Pandora’s Tarot cards?” He asks
Evan looks up bashfully, rubbing his elbow. “Maybe?”
“She’s going to murder you in your sleep,” Regulus laughs, setting his wand on a nearby table.
“Why the hell are we here again?” Barty drawls from his spot in the rafters.
Evan rolls his eyes in exasperation, “How the hell did you even get up there? You know what, nevermind. Just get down here.”
“Fine,” Barty jumps down in one swing, landing on his feet and a bit too close to Regulus for his comfort. Barty smiles cheekily at him and rubs Regulus’ hair before moving to take a seat next to Evan. Regulus grumbles his way over, pointlessly trying to fix his curls.
“Why’d you steal your sister's turtle cards,” Barty flicks another ball of light into the air with his wand. At least they could see decently now.
“They’re called Tarot cards, and I have an exam next Thursday in divination. I’m gonna fail if I don’t practise, and it was easier than stealing one of Trelawny’s decks. That girl scares me,” Evan shutters. “You guys are going to be good friends, and help me.”
“Fine,” Barty draws the word out, putting his feet on the desk. “But you’re doing my Transfig. essay to make up for it. Reggie, you in?” Barty asks as he elbows Regulus in the ribs
“If your stay away from reading my love life, sure, why not.” Regulus shrugs, stomping on Bartys’ foot under the table when he comments something under his breath about James.
Evan finishes shuffling, and spreads them in a row. “Pandora usually picks them for people, but she said I’m not “in tune” enough or whatever,” Evan shrugs.
Regulus notices a card pushed further back than all the others, and pulls it out gently. When he flips it over, an image of a crow surrounded by swords meets his eye. The landscape is a dull grey, but somewhere far in the distance a campfire burns. The picture sends shivers down his spine.
“Well, this is shite,” Barty scoffs. Regulus glances over, and Barty holds up his card to him. The picture is of a tall building being struck by lightning. Chunks of bricks fall from the structure, and fires burn through the windows.
“Hey, my cards’ not too bad.” Evan smiles and holds up an image of a woman with bronze skin sitting under a tree, she’s smiling with her eyes closed. It’s definitely a lot lovelier than Regulus and Barty’s cards. “It’s called the…Queen of Pentacles,” Evan reads out of a small book on the table. He has to squint in the low lighting, but eventually he looks up with a smirk on his face. “I am content with my abundances,” he juts his chin out in a mock arrogance.
“Oh, please,” Barty scoffs. “What’s mine say? I bet it’s predicting the success of my prank against Gryffandor next week. Or that I’m a chaos overlord,” he throws his hands out for dramatic effect.
Regulus, who knows Pandora well enough to know what that card means can’t help chuckling under his breath. “I-I don’t think that card means what you think it does, Barty.”
Evan puts his card down and rummages through the pages before joining Regulus in his laughter.
“What?” Barty shouts, scowling.
“The Tower is symbolic for upheaval, destruction, and chaos. The lightning bolt symbolises the lies you tell yourself to sleep at night.”
“It does not say that, give it!” Barty reaches from the book, but before either of them can start fighting Regulus snatches it out of Evans hands.
“If you’re going to behave like children I’m leaving.” The two boys grumble apologies and promise to behave. Regulus hands the book back to Evan, “now, read mine and we can get out of here.”
Evan riffles through the pages. When he speaks, he keeps his tone level, but Regulus notices his shoulders tense up. “The Ten of Swords marks a painful end, the betrayal of a loved one, or a decision that can leave your world…crumbling around you.” All three of them fall silent, and both boys look to Regulus to see what he wants to do. Great.
Regulus swallows thickly, “I’m fine, guys. Stop looking at me like that. Christmas was–”
“You’re allowed to miss him, Regulus,” Evan suggests softly. “He’s your brother.”
“He’s not my–” Regulus cuts himself off, and breathes deeply through his nose. “I’m over it,” he chooses to go with instead.
Barty stays silent when Evan looks to him for support. Usually this is where they don’t push, where they change the topic and move on. But, apparently Regulus’ luck has run out.
“He is your brother, Regulus. Whether you like it or not, he’s your brother. If I had to–to cut Pandora out like that? I’d be a wreck.” Regulus doesn’t look up at him, and instead runs his fingers round the edges of the card.
“Yeah, well your family actually loves each other,” he deflects. “My parents never expected Sirius and I to care about one another. I guess now they’ve gotten their wish, because he doesn’t seem to want anything to do with me.”
“You don’t really believe that, do you?” Barty finally speaks. Regulus turns to him. “Look, I’m not saying your relationship can be all sunshine and rainbows right now, but I know if I had someone with me. In my house, with my dad…” Barty trails off, and Regulus notices the vacant stare falling into place like it often does when Barty talks about home. “ I just don’t think he’s forgotten what you’ve done for each other over the years.”
“He didn’t even say goodbye to me,” Regulus runs his hand through his hair. “Barty, I–he didn’t even say goodbye to me. I didn’t know he’d left until the next day. He left me there. They’d gotten into some stupid fight, and she–she hurt him. And I tried to help, but he told me to stay out of it.” At some point Barty pulls him closer, wraps his arm around Regulus in a protective manner. “I made sure he got upstairs, she–she caught us.” He shakes the memories out of his head before they can claw through his skin and play themselves for his friends to see. “And he didn’t even ask if I wanted to leave too.” Regulus takes a shuddering breath, “I can’t think of why he would do that,” and isn’t that just the truth. “I don’t want to know why.”
The other boys stay quiet, letting Regulus recover. They were good at that. So few people gave him the time to sort his words into order. Pandora, James, Evan, Barty…they’re all he has. Sirius never took that time with him. Never put in the effort to learn Regulus’ intricacies.
“What does James think?” Barty asks, and Regulus can see how much it pains him to say his boyfriends’ name without notes of sarcasm.
“He wants me to talk to Sirius, but he hasn’t pushed it the way he normally does.” Regulus admits. He remembers James’ face, when he saw Regulus at the train station. Pale and hurt, and begging to know if Sirius really did get out safely. It seems so silly now, but he’d worried his parents had just lied about it. Regulus couldn’t quite get the image of his parents killing Sirius in the middle of the night out of his head.
His ribs were so badly bruised that James couldn’t even hold him without hurting him too. When James had said that Sirius was fine, that he’d fled to his, that's when Regulus knew. Sirius didn’t really see him at all. He’s as disposable to his brother as he is to his parents.
“Whatever happens, Regulus, you’ve got us.” Evans voice pulls him out of his though, he holds his gaze, reaching across the table and pulling the card gently out of Regulus’ hands. “And you’ve got James, and Pandora too.”
Regulus nods, giving Evan a small smile before standing and helping clean up the station. He doesn’t know that much about Tarot, or divination as a whole. That’s more Pandora's thing. But he knows his friends are right, he misses his brother. But he can’t shake the bitter feeling in his stomach that he hadn’t had Sirius in the first place.