Chapter 4
The scan did not take 30 minutes.
Regulus noticed this because when he was rolled back into his room there were people with the other person. And Regulus knew that the visiting hour began at 8:30, so it was at least 8:35.
When he was back at his area and the nurses closed the curtains around him he checked the time, 9:57.
‘It will probably take around half an hour or so, my ass.’ Regulus thinks.
Regulus tries to relax when he hears voices on the other side of the room.
‘Great, Mr family man has visitors every hour of the day.’
“Are you getting a rainbow cast if you can dad?”
“Yeah Harry, I will get a rainbow cast if I can,” The man says laughing.
“Haz, do you wanna show dad what you got him?” A familiar voice asks the little boy.
“Oh! Yeah! Dad Moony, Padfoot and I got you balloons.” The boy says.
“Oh wow Haz, these are beautiful! Thank you very much love!”
Where does Regulus recognise these voices from? They all sound so familiar but at the other time, they sound like Regulus hasn’t heard them in a very long time.
‘Didn’t one of his schoolmates have a kid named Harry or something?’ He thinks.
‘No probably not, if they were friends in school he would have heard about the child.’
The rest of the conversation that the people are making is too soft for Regulus to hear so he looks if there is anything on his nightstand for him to read.
The only thing that there is, is the Daily Prophet of this morning.
After reading the news article about himself four times he crumbles up the newspaper and throws it on the ground.
‘Why did it have to be bloody front news?’ He thinks.
‘Couldn't they have just made a small story next to the weather or something?’
There is no way that his family hasn’t been informed about this.
What the scary part about that is for Regulus is that they haven’t visited him yet. That can mean that he will be disowned when he walks out of this place or that his mother is still coming up with something sadistic.
If he is lucky, his father will come by in the next few days. His father had always been less harsh than his mother.
While his mother would scream her lungs out at Regulus and Sirius, his father would remain silent. His father never did anything to Regulus, but he also never prevented anything from happening. He just sort of watched from the sidelines as his mother moulded her perfect heir, making sure that they would listen to everything she said and making sure that they were fluent in French.
Making sure that he could speak French is one of the things Regulus is actually very grateful for.
It meant that he could cuss out the maids that were supposed to be fluent in French but obviously weren’t.
It also meant that he could read a lot more books. He could read the translation of the books but he preferred to read them in their original language.
When he was younger, Sirius would also read in French. For the longest time, their favourite book was ‘The little prince’ or in French ‘Le petit prince’.
Because of this, Regulus was called ‘petit prince’ from ages 8 to 10. He never got called ‘petit prince’ again after Sirius went to Hogwarts.
“We will come back soon dad, I promise!” Regulus heard the voice of the little boy again.
“Yeah, see you soon prongs.” This voice sounded really familiar, but Regulus just couldn’t place it.
“Come on Siri, we should go before we exhaust James even more.”
Fucking hell.
The voice he couldn’t place was the voice of his brother, now called Sirius Lupin-Black. The other voice was Remus Lupin and that meant that the man who was staying in the same room as Regulus was James Potter.
But didn’t he marry that ginger? What was her name again? Lauren or something like that?
This was just great.
Bloody fantastic.
Of course, Regulus was placed in the same room as James Fucking Potter. The universe couldn’t have been more against Regulus with their decision.
A couple of minutes after Remus, Sirius and Harry left the room, Madame Pomfrey came to his area and closed the blinds behind her.
“Mr Black, we just got your scan back and I just wanted to show it to you,” She turned her clipboard around and Regulus saw his body scan. “As you can see, you don’t have any permanent brain damage from falling on your head, but stay careful with moving your head okay?”
Fuckings awesome. How can he not move his head when he is training for ‘Romeo and Julio’? He can’t just not train, he has to get back in shape as soon as possible.
“When we look at sensitive places you can see that your right Achilles is very fragile right now, if you stretch it too much it can tear.” She explained.
Apparently, it could get even worse.
“Madame I don’t think you understand, I have to train for the ballet I perform in. I can’t just wait until I get better, I have to do it now.” The woman probably didn’t understand just how important a fast recovery was for Regulus.
“Mr Black, I do understand. If you don’t look out while dancing, you might tear your Achilles like I just said and then you would have to go to a rehabilitation centre.”
Maybe the woman was right but that just wasn’t an option for him. If he didn’t have a fast recovery, he would be replaced in ‘Romeo and Julio’ and his mother would most likely forbid him from ever dancing again and then he would have to take an active place in the family organisation.
Regulus knew that he would eventually have to take his place as heir of the Black organisation, but not at bloody 22. He was supposed to live his own life and when his parents were too old to actively work at the organisation, he would take their places.
“When can I leave the hospital?” As long as the nurse didn’t see that he was practising again it would be fine. He just won’t tell Barty about the scan and everything will be fine.
“You can leave tomorrow morning sir. I would advise you to call someone to come and pick you up though because you might have a hard time walking.”
“Okay, thank you, madame.”
Shit.
If he can’t even walk tomorrow he can say goodbye to the idea of just pretending like everything is fine.
“Do you perhaps have my phone somewhere so that I can call my fiance to come and pick me up?”
He will just tell Barty that everything is okay and that he can start practising right away.
“Yes I do, I will go and get it for you right now, is there anything else that I can get for you?”
“A glass of water would be nice, thank you.”
Madame Pomfrey nods and walks away.
Okay, tonight Regulus will practise walking so he can walk without crutches tomorrow when Barty comes to get him.
He tries to move his legs but he just feels a lot of pain in his right leg. If he feels this when he tries to move it, he doesn't even want to know what it will feel like when he starts practising again very soon.
Madame Pomfrey walks back into his area with a glass of water and his phone.
“Here you go sir, if you need anything else just push the button.”
“Yes I’ll do that, thank you,” he says as she walks away again.
While taking a sip of his drink, he opens his phone.
He doesn’t have any messages from his parents and Barty, but he does have messages from Pandora, his best friend, and Narcissa, his cousin.
PANDORA
Yesterday
Hi Reg, I heard what happened, are you okay?
You probably don’t have your phone right now but when you get it back please give me a call okay? I’ll make sure to visit you right away
Today
Hi reg, I know you haven’t opened your messages yet but I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to visit you today.
Probably around 9:30 or so
Sorry but I can’t bring Luna with me, she will already be at daycare. But she did make a drawing for you! So I’ll bring that with me
After reading the messages, Regulus immediately calls Pandora.
She picks up after a few seconds.
“Oh my gods, you’re alive!” Regulus hears Pandora say through his phone.
“Yeah of course I’m alive Pan, I just only got my phone back now, so that’s why I called you.”
“Are you alright love? Did your mother visit you yet?”
“No she didn’t but she will probably request my company at dinner in the next few days.”
“Yeah, sounds like her. Anyways, I´m almost at St. Mungo’s so I’ll probably be there in like 10 minutes or so.”
“Did you call the department before coming? Because I’m not sure if Madame Pomfrey will let you in if you haven’t.”
“Yes I did, so see you in a bit. Bye Reg!”
“See you in a sec Pan!”
Pandora has been Regulus´ best friend since their third year at Hogwarts. They were in different houses, Slytherin and Ravenclaw, but they met at astrology because their houses had that class together.
Pandora always thought that Regulus would have been a Ravenclaw as well if he hadn't cheated in the sorting game.
The game consisted of a bunch of puzzles and the way you solved those puzzles revealed in which house you belonged. The houses you could get sorted in were: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.
Sirius had gotten into Gryffindor, which was a shock to the family because every Black got into Slytherin.
Regulus had never told anybody this, but when he finished the puzzles, he got two houses as options, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. But because Sirius got sorted into Gryffindor the year before, Regulus knew that he had to choose Slytherin.
Sometimes Regulus envies Pandora.
Before she became a Lovegood, she was a Lestrange. She is from a very old, traditional family as well. But she married a very rich, but loving man, Xenophilius Lovegood so there isn’t any pressure on her anymore. Because the Lovegoods aren’t traditional at all, Pandora doesn’t have to get pregnant until she gives birth to a boy. She and Xenophilius have a lovely daughter, Luna. Regulus is her godfather and he spoils her rotten.
Xenophillius has his own newspaper, ‘the Quibbler’. Because of this, Pandora got to pursue her dream of becoming an artist and she is quite famous for her paintings now.
Regulus envies her because she got to live her dream life without sacrificing her soul, without giving away a piece of her heart. She isn’t pressured to become the head of the family and she isn’t forced to become a fucking crime lord if she isn’t successful as an artist anymore.
Regulus knows that Pandora also had a very hard life, but at least for her, that chapter is over now. She can give Luna the life that she wanted and she can make sure that nothing bad ever happens to her. She has a husband that loves her so fucking much that he would do anything for her. He supports her through anything and he is always there for her if she needs a hand to hold or a hug.
That’s the difference between Pandora’s marriage and Regulus’ engagement. Xenophilius shields her from her family because she doesn’t want to be associated with those people ever again and he makes sure that they can’t reach, or hurt her.
Barty on the other hand is very different.
First of all, their relationship is arranged. Well not everything, but when Walburga found out that Regulus was gay, she couldn’t really disown him because she didn’t have any more spare sons to make the new heir. So she made sure that Regulus would marry the richest man that was on the market.
That man ended up being Bartemius Crouch Jr. His father is the prime minister and his family is very powerful.
Second of all, Barty wants to get as big as a possible role in the Black organisation. So there is no way in hell that he would ever protect Regulus from his family. Barty would probably rat Regulus out about something that he has done before speaking a bad word about Orion and Walburga Black.
Third of all, he cares way too much about his public appearance. That’s why he is so career-driven and why he told Regulus that he needs to get better asap. Because of this, Regulus knows that if Barty has to replace him in the ballet, he will do that without hesitation. But for Barty, the engagement needs to look as perfect as possible, so that the people like him or something. Barty would never do something for Regulus that would harm his public image, not even when it is very important.
Regulus debates calling Barty to ask him to pick him up tomorrow but then he remembers that Narcissa also texted him.
NARCISSA
Today
Hi Regulus, I hope you’re okay, Lucius told me the news when he got home from work yesterday night and I called you, but you probably don’t have your phone right now.
I will try to contact the hospital and ask if Draco and I can come and visit you tomorrow or maybe the day after that.
Please text me back when you can.
So Regulus texts her back right away.
Hi Narcissa, I’m fine, thank you. Tomorrow is my last day here and Barty will probably come and pick me up. But you can of course always visit me at my house, I would love to see Draco soon.
Narcissa married into the Malfoy family. Her husband, Lucius Malfoy is the minister of economics and he is very close with the Black family. According to his mother, a lot of money comes in because of Lucius.
Personally, Regulus doesn’t see what everyone else sees. He thinks that Lucius is just another creepy corrupt minister.
But, he did produce the most adorable boy ever. Draco is a year older than Luna and he is quite naughty and spoiled, being an only child, but besides that, he is very sweet.
As Regulus puts his phone down, he hears Pandora in the hallway. After a few seconds, the door opens and he sees her colourful outfit through the gaps in his curtains.
When she walks into his area, he can see that she dyed her hair again, from blonde to platinum blonde with lavender highlights. She is wearing a long, dark blue slip dress and under it, she has something that looks like a mesh, glitter top. The slit and open back are showing her tattoos off very nice.
“I didn’t know that you were attending a fashion show after this Pan,” Regulus says.
“Thank you for showing me the way madame,” Pandora says to madame Pomfrey.
“Well, since you’re in a hospital gown, I had to dress for the both of us darling.”
“Ha ha, if you’re only here to laugh at my current appearance you can go home again.”
“Gods, you sound very angry, but because madame Pomfrey told me that none else is coming today I’ll stay for now.”
“What did you think, that my entire family would be standing around my bed with flowers and ‘get well soon' balloons? Or that my lovely fiance would be here crying at my bed while I sleep, hoping that I’m doing okay?”
“Well, that’s why I’m here darling, to make sure that you know that people still love you. And let’s stop with bitching for the day okay? I just wanna spend some time with my best friend without being sarcastic the entire time.”
“Yeah okay, I’m sorry.”
“I got some things for you,” Pandora starts searching in her bag and she pulls some things out of her bag.
“Luna drew something for you,” Pandora gives Regulus a piece of paper.
Luna had drawn a bunch of flowers in a vase. For a three year old, it is a great drawing.
“It's a lovely Pan, please tell Luna that I love it.”
Regulus puts the drawing down and takes a bouquet from Pandora.
“I wanted to buy you the flowers that Luna drew, but they didn’t have those in the shop so I picked these in our garden.”
The bouquet consists of wildflowers in a bunch of different colours and Pandora put a gorgeous ribbon around it to hold the flowers together.
“The head nurse probably won’t mind getting you a vase, I’ll ask her when I leave.”
For now, Regulus puts the flowers next to him on the bed.
“I also went to ‘Lily’s’ this morning and they had a fresh batch of strawberry macarons and because I’m such a great best friend and I remember that those are your favourite I bought some for you.”
Regulus can already smell the macarons through the packaging. Everything that comes from ‘Lily’s’ is very good, but the macarons are Regulus’ favourite.
“You’re lucky, when I got there, they only had one portion left.”
‘Lily’s is a very popular bakery in London and it’s always very busy. The place is very light and cosy and Regulus always gets something for breakfast there when he isn’t in the middle of doing a show.
The owner Mary, at least Regulus thinks that that is her name, is a girl that went to school with Regulus. She was a year above him and friends with his brother, but still very kind to him even though Sirius probably didn’t speak too positively of him. He doesn’t see her a lot when he is at the bakery because she mostly bakes the things that are being sold.
“Thanks Pan, you’re the best.”
Regulus opens the package and takes out two macarons and gives one to Pandora.
“Are you sure you’re okay Reg? Normally you never share your favourite macarons with me.”
“Yeah I’m fine, I just think that it’s good that I can go home tomorrow and that I can start practising for ‘Romeo and Julio’ again.”
“Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow? I don’t have anything scheduled for the morning so I’m free to do it. If you want we can also go and get lunch or something. Luna has a short day at daycare so I can bring her with me.”
“That sounds lovely, but Barty will probably pick me up tomorrow. I’ll call you if he doesn’t have time though.”
“Well he better make time for you, you’re his fiance after all. Sometimes I get the idea that he needs to be reminded that he is supposed to actually love you.”
“He does love me, he just has a hard time showing it sometimes and that’s okay!”
“Well if you say so Reg, just so you know, I always have a bedroom ready for you. So you’re always welcome to stay at my place for a while if you want to.”
“Yeah, I know that Pan, thank you. But I just wanna go home tomorrow and recover as fast as possible, it will be fine.”
“I’m very sorry Reg, but I have to go again. I’m hired to make an art mural at a tattoo shop downtown. The owners are very excited to meet me so I don't want to be late.”
“It’s fine Pan, have fun at the meeting!”
“Thank you Reg! See you soon.”
“Yeah, see you soon.”
A couple minutes after Pandora leaves, madame Pomfrey walks up to Regulus’ bed with a vase and she puts his flowers in it.
“It looks like you don’t have any other visitors for today, but if somebody decides to come, tell them to call first okay?”
“Yes Madame.”
Regulus already knew that nobody else was going to visit him today.
Then he remembers that he still needs to call Barty so he grabs his phone and calls Barty.
After a moment Barty picks up the phone.
“Hello Reg, I’m actually kind of busy right now, can I call you back later?”
“Hi, can you wait for like five seconds? I just have one question.”
“Yeah okay sure, what is it?”
“Can you come and pick me up tomorrow? The head nurse said that I’m free to go after eight in the morning.”
“Sorry babe, I’m very busy tomorrow. I’ll just send one of the drivers for you, they can help you with everything at the hospital and with anything else if you need them to.”
Oh.
“Okay, that’s fine! Thanks for calling the driver for tomorrow, I’ll talk to you tomorrow!”
“Yeah, yeah, I really need to go now, bye.”
“Bye! Love y-”
Barty already hung up.
Maybe sleeping at Pandora's for a while wasn’t so bad after all.