La Chute
“And the light from a street lamp paints a pattern on my wall
Like the pieces of a puzzle or a child’s uneven scrawl
Up a narrow flight of stairs in a narrow little room
As I lie upon my bed in the early evening gloom”
…
The start of the school year was strangely manageable for Regulus.
He followed the same routine each day. Wake up, go to breakfast, go to class, go to lunch, go back to class, and then go to bed. Most nights he missed dinner, except for when maybe he was lucky enough to wake up and make it just in time. But mostly, after his last class, he went to his dorm and passed out.
Quidditch practice was a different beast. Those nights he was lucky for Tarquin, because he’d wake him up on his way out. Then, Regulus would quickly shove his clothes on, and be out the door with his roommate.
They’d walk, usually silently, to the Quidditch field, and practice. Then, they’d walk back, silently, and go about their evenings individually. Tarquin would usually smoke, or take a walk. Regulus would go to bed.
He found that all he really looked forward to everyday was being back in bed. He secretly loved where his bed was, he loved being against the wall, closed off from the rest of them. He felt like he couldn’t be bothered. He could pull his tapestry around himself and be closed off entirely. It was lovely.
On the night before their first official match, Regulus and Tarquin walked to the castle through the soggy field, Regulus’ shoes quenching against the wet. He hated that feeling, he knew he’d have to dry them before he went to sleep that night.
“Are you nervous?” Tarquin suddenly asked, surprising Regulus a little.
“No,” He glanced over at him, “are you?”
“Not really,” Tarquin shrugged. And that was that.
Once they arrived at their dorm, Tarquin immediately stripped off his uniform, while Regulus went to his bed and drew the tapestry. He never changed in front of his roommates. He always did it in the comfort of his own makeshift drapes.
“Going to bed?” Tarquin asked.
“Yes,” Regulus answered.
“Night, then,” Tarquin sighed.
Regulus sometimes didn’t understand Tarquin at all. They were alone now, their other roommates were probably still at the Great Hall, even though it was late in the evening. Therefore Regulus didn’t answer, and he laid down, and started to drift off to sleep.
Then he smelt smoke.
Regulus opened his tapestry slightly, looking out and seeing Tarquin laying in bed and smoking a cigarette. “Really?” Regulus narrowed his eyes.
“What?” Tarquin replied nonchalantly.
“You’re smoking the night before a game,” Regulus shook his head, “that’ll damage your playing.”
“Bugger,” Tarquin shrugged.
Regulus rolled his eyes and closed the tapestry, annoyed. He couldn’t believe him. He didn’t know how someone could not care that easily.
“Do you ever have any fun, Regulus?” Tarquin asked, randomly.
“Yeah,” Regulus lied.
“Been to any parties?”
“Lots,” Regulus turned onto his side, staring at the wall.
“Hmm,” Tarquin sounded amused, “you drink?”
“I do,” Regulus didn’t know why he was being interviewed suddenly.
“Then you shouldn’t have a problem coming with me to the afterparty tomorrow.”
“...Afterparty?” Regulus opened his tapestry to look at Tarquin, “what afterparty?”
“You know, the ones we have after Quidditch matches,” Tarquin looked back at him, “the ones you never show up to.”
“Oh… those,” Regulus tried to hide the dejection on his face.
“Oh,” Tarquin’s eyes widened, “holy shit, have you never been invited?”
“No! No, I’m invited,” Regulus said defensively, “my old roommates and I, we just didn’t like those parties.
“All right,” Tarquin smiled, which made Regulus angry again. He closed his tapestry, and resumed his position facing the wall. “We’ll go tomorrow, then,” Tarquin continued, “they’re fun.”
“I doubt it.”
“They are,” He could hear Tarquin’s smile through the way he spoke, he hated that smile, “it’ll be fun.”
“Goodnight,” Regulus hoped he could shut off the conversation.
Tarquin laughed, “Night.”
…
Trumpets blared and horns sang as the Slytherin Quidditch team marched onto the field, broomsticks in hand, high posture and solid expressions. This was normal for Regulus. He didn’t know how Tarquin was doing it too.
He scanned the crowd absentmindedly, and he spotted his brother. There was Sirius. Next to him was James Potter, looking focused and holding a pair of binoculars.
Prick, Regulus thought.
He saw Remus Lupin, too, which he found odd – until he figured Remus was looking down at a book. Regulus noticed Remus do that once or twice.
Regulus didn’t like how much he knew about his brother’s friends. He didn’t know why he cared, or why he even bothered noticing things about them. Mostly, he just tried to figure out why he liked them exactly. He couldn’t understand what Sirius saw in someone like James Potter, or Marlene McKinnon, or Peter fucking Pettigrew especially.
Well, he could see what he saw in them, that was the hard part.
He snapped out of his thoughts, noticing they were now directly facing the Ravenclaw team. Immediately, he saw Emmeline Vance, to his surprise. He looked at her for a little bit too long, and she smiled at him, which made him look away.
Regulus didn’t know how she made the team, he remembered hearing things about how much of a dreadful player she was. He supposed that would make this match a little bit easier, being that she was in his reflection position. Meaning, she was the Ravenclaw seeker.
Suddenly, the whistle sounded, and they were up in the air. Regulus rose high above the pitch, narrowing his eyes and searching for the Snitch. Seeing nothing, as per usual at the start of the game, he swooped down, deciding to watch the game for the time being.
He saw Tarquin, soaring through the air and knocking the bludger, earning a loud rise from the Slytherin den. Regulus shook his head, thinking the encouragement was useless, and he tried to spot Emmeline.
There she was, fairly close to the ground, and seemingly taking a different approach than Regulus was. He found that interesting. He couldn’t help but wonder what she was up to.
Regulus had been watching Emmeline when he, almost seconds in time, noticed the bludger coming directly for his face.
He ducked, quickly, his eyes bugging as he stared at it in disbelief. He’d been playing Quidditch for ages, and watching it, too. He’d never really seen a bludger come that close to a player before.
He shook it off, flying down and out of the way, trying to track down Emmeline again. There she was, now they were in equal flying distances, and she gave him a fearful expression. He didn’t know why, because–
“REGULUS! Look out!” Regulus heard someone shout, causing him to whip around, seeing the bludger coming directly for his head once more. He dropped down, swooping lower and avoiding it, luckily.
“The bludger seems to have it out for Regulus Black, this morning,” said the announcer, causing Regulus to roll his eyes.
Shake it off.
And then, he saw it.
That golden sparkle flying past him.
Regulus shot forward, racing to catch it. This was his favorite part of really anything in his life, that feeling he got when trying to catch the Snitch, air flying past him as he felt everything depended on it–
He was high in the air now. He knew Emmeline Vance was right behind him, and he smirked slightly once realizing that he was significantly faster than her.
They were high up, now, far beyond even the house towers of the field, and he felt no fear somehow. He felt nothing but adrenaline, racing towards him, and then–
“Regulus!” Emmeline shouted, causing him to look away from the Snitch for a moment, and notice the bludger coming right for him at full speed.
He shouted, ducking quickly, and hearing a loud THUMP! behind him.
Regulus turned around, just in time to see Emmeline Vance fall off of her broom, and begin a fall that must’ve been hundreds of feet towards the ground. He heard the shouts of people below, and he heard her screaming, her limbs flailing and her blonde hair flying upwards as she fell at full speed.
He swooped down, faster and faster, charging towards her and feeling fear and cold sweat cover his skin everywhere. Below, he couldn’t see exactly what was happening, but he felt as if nobody would be in time if he wasn’t.
He took one more charge forward, before finally getting to her, and quickly grabbing her by the waist, dragging her onto his broom and shooting downwards towards the ground.
Emmeline’s big blue eyes widened as she realized what had happened, and she held onto him tightly, closing her eyes then and gripping onto his arms like her life depended on it.
Regulus found the ground, landing on his feet and picking up Emmeline in one swift motion, holding her and then helping her stand.
“Are you okay?” He asked, noticing the purple and blue spot forming on her forehead.
“Yeah,” She answered, breathlessly.
He didn’t care about the match at that moment. He didn’t know what had happened, what had come over him, or why the bludger had been so keen on knocking him in the face. Mostly, he felt piercing red guilt, knowing that if he hadn’t ducked Emmeline wouldn’t have fallen.
He turned around and noticed the game had stopped, and that the Professors from the announcers den were quickly walking down the field.
“Is she all right?” Madam Pomfrey asked, a certain edge in her voice that Regulus hadn’t heard before. Granted, Regulus had never really been to the hospital wing.
“I’m fine,” Emmeline answered instead, embarrassed now, “I’m fine, really.”
Regulus stepped away as they all crowded around her, and he walked a few paces forward before he came back to his senses.
Everyone was cheering.
His teammates were on their feet, walking towards him, patting him on the shoulders and telling him good job. He didn’t understand why, until he felt the fluttering in his hands.
Regulus opened his right hand, and out flew the Snitch, flying away from him into the sky.
He looked at Tarquin, suddenly, as his teammates hugged and clapped each other happily, “Is everyone clapping because I won?”
“No,” Tarquin shook his head, “is that really what you think?”
Regulus looked up and couldn’t understand, couldn’t understand why people were cheering his name or celebrating a Slytherin victory. He couldn’t remember that ever happening before.
He looked back to Emmeline. She was still busy being fussed over, but she still managed to smile. Regulus couldn’t find it in him to return the expression, but he nodded to her. That seemed to be enough.
He hoped it was, for some reason.
…