Hi, guys! Just a little heads up: this chapter and a small part of the next are dedicated to 'setting the scene' as it were, and are therefore in a factual, biographical style. Just skip right ahead if this bores you! Just remember; reviews are highly coveted!

The small boy with the jet, black hair stepped off the train in a flurry of exited students, owls and trunks all hauling their way out of the station. For a moment the boy was obscured by a rogue puff of steam from the billowing engines, but as it cleared the features of his waif-like silhouette came slowly into focus. He was small and wiry, dark haired, heavily browed, with a haughty, slightly apprehensive expression as he surveyed the commotion before him.

"Firs' years this way!" bellowed a massive figure from the station's gate, "firs' years this way please!" Slowly the boy made his way across the platform, taking up the rear of the most recent student influx into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Little is recorded about Regulus' first year at Hogwarts, and apart from the fact that he followed his ancestors into Slytherin house; nothing historically noteworthy seems to have pursued the enigmatic figure of Regulus Black, who, it can be exclusively revealed, died at the bequest of Lord Voldemort during his second rising in 1992. His brother Sirius however did not share the same anonymity. After being arrested in 1980 for the murder of fifteen people and suspected Deatheater affiliations, Sirius Black enjoyed massive media attention. His extraordinary escape from Azkaban prison added to the media hype, however this was swiftly followed by his subsequent disappearance until his untimely death was announced in 1996, after which he was cleared of all charges.

"Overshadowed and average" is how Horris Slughorn -Head of Slytherin house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry- candidly describes his ex-pupil, Regulus. "As potions master and head of Slytherin, I was, of course, fully updated on the goings on of my house members," says Horris smugly, who sits comfortably surrounded by pictures of outstanding protégés. "But Regulus Black was a name only spoken about in connection with his brother, Sirius, who was, of course, far more talented and popular."

Indeed nearly all the Witches and Wizards questioned about this elusive man have said the same. As Horris concludes later in the interview: "It was Sirius who was the interesting one, why would you notice Regulus?"

Why indeed? But in fact, the revelations made about this man have been astonishing. After The Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, synonymous with Lord Voldemort's demise, curiosity peaked amongst the Wizarding community on how Harry Potter, then a mere boy of 17 could have defeated The Most Powerful Wizard of All Time. Harry's recent publication of his autobiography, has, it seemed, neglected to mention a most important character. In his interview Mr. Potter stated in confidence that the omission had been a deliberate decision from the publishers (Whizz Hard Books), who thought that it would be prudent to leave that particular piece of crucial historical information a secret, owing to the fact that they believed it historically irrelevant.

"In some ways," says Harry, leaning heavily on his kitchen table; "Regulus Black's death was just as vital to the anti-Voldemort movement as his brother's."

It can now be revealed that this most average of students was directly linked to Harry's discoveries of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

"In fact," says Hermione Granger, accomplice to Potter on his infamous quest, "he was the first person who discovered the existence of Horcruxes at all."

It seems that Regulus, after joining The Dark Lord as a Deatheater in 1989, discovered the existence of Horcruxes from his house elf whom had been ordered to aid Lord Voldemort in the protection of his split soul. The elf barely returned from the morbid expedition with his life, as it was only on Regulus' express order that the elf "return home" when the task had been completed, that the creature had survived at all. Thus, unwittingly Voldemort's darkest secret was exposed. Regulus, shocked and disturbed upon hearing what his elf had been forced to do, went into seclusion, swearing the elf to absolute secrecy.

"I think that was when he came to the conclusion that he had to die for the cause. He'd gotten in too deep and been questioning Voldemort's motives for a while" says Harry pensively.

"Yeah" agrees Mr. Ronald Weasley, another close friend of Harry's, who helped destroy Voldemort alongside him; "he was tired of playing the same old game of Purebloods rule and Mudbloods drool and wanted out. He realised he had been mislead, but felt trapped by his parent's expectations and family beliefs. He also, I think, decided that his must be a solitary mission, as his family was safer sticking to the old prejudice line."

So Regulus and his elf took the first step on the dark road to Voldermort's downfall, journeying to a lonely Cliffside on a dark windy night at the end of September, to chip away at the magical monstrosities that tied the Dark Lord to the earth.

In the cliff there lay a cave and beyond that a subterranean cavern which housed a macabre lake, bloated with the victims of Lord Voldermort's wrath. Crossing the lake on a small boat, the slim seeker and the frightened elf clambered onto a small island in the center of the mass of water.

"There was a basin, and in it a poison that made the drinker hallucinate, loose strength and suffer from an unquenchable burning thirst," relates Harry, looking haunted.

Regulus drank the potion within, gave the Horcrux to his elf and bade him to return home without him, vowing the being, yet again, to secrecy. There, in the damp cage where so many years before Tom Riddle had begun his descent into evil, Regulus joined the army of those beneath the waters of change.

The extraordinary actions, of this seemingly unremarkable individual create many questions for modern magical historians:

Why did he choose to die rather than ordering his elf to return them both home?

What changed his mind about the Dark Lord?

And indeed, who really was Regulus Arcturus Black?