Regulus had never feared that he would end up in Gryffindor like his brother, though their parents had worried for a time that Regulus would meet the same unseemly fate. Sirius had all the bravado. Regulus had never been courageous. If he had been courageous...
Sometimes he daydreamed about what he would have done if he had the nerve- he would have blustered right up to Alice Burke, shoved that twit Longbottom out of the way, and declared his undying love to her. She was a pureblood, after all. She deserved better than Frank Longbottom. Alice seemed completely smitten with Frank and his idealistic fervor. Regulus knew on some instinctive level that Longbottom's lack of practicality was going to get him into trouble in the coming war, and Regulus feared that Longbottom would drag the impossibly lovely Alice Burke down with him.
Despite his daydreams, Regulus had never spoken to Alice. He watched her from afar. He dreamed of running his hand through her long silken hair. He tried to imagine their children: they would have strong cheekbones and firm backs and be nothing at all like Frank Longbottom.
Longbottom wasn't a bad man, Regulus thought sullenly. It would have been easier if Longbottom had been rotten, but he was kind and sharp-witted and he was a deadly beater on the Quidditch pitch. Regulus knew this last first hand; he'd been on the receiving end of more than one of Frank Longbottom's bludgers. Perhaps if Regulus had been a Gryffindor, he could have strode up to Longbottom and declared himself the best suitor for Alice Burke, but his own practicality stood in his way. He knew that Frank would be kind to Alice. He knew that Alice could have done worse.
And in his secret heart, Regulus also knew that he could do better. Perhaps he could never find someone as beautiful and strong as Alice Burke, but she was a Gryffindor. His parents had never been fond of Gryffindors, but since Sirius's sorting they loathed everything red-and-gold. Regulus didn't think they would disown their only remaining son over such a trifle, but it would certainly affect his standing in his parents' eyes.
The day that Frank Longbottom nearly died, all of these same thoughts managed to flash through Regulus's mind in a fraction of a second. Frank was spiralling towards the ground of the Quidditch Pitch, the grass rising quickly under him. His broom had spun out of control and thrown him. No one even seemed to notice in the fray- the snitch had been spotted and the Gryffindor Chasers were trying to score once more before the match ended. The Slytherin team was defending as hard as they could, but Regulus's eyes were instead on Longbottom as the ground rose to meet him.
It would have been terribly easy to let Longbottom fall. Maybe he would do Regulus the favor of dying quickly, and Regulus could comfort Alice- comfort her and marry her and have beautifully aristocratic children with her.
Before the thought was even complete, Regulus found himself catching Longbottom on his own broom. "Merlin, thanks," Longbottom said in a shaking voice. "I thought I was a goner."
"You were," Regulus answered flatly. He noticed then that, far above, Slytherin had caught the snitch. It was a consolation that his errand of mercy had not cost them the game.
"Why'd you catch me?" Longbottom asked. Clearly he had an excellent opinion of Slytherins. Regulus knew that all Gryffindors were the same, thinking that Slytherin house was simply full of bad apples. He'd seen it in Sirius, in Sirius's friends, and now in Longbottom.
"I caught you..." Regulus said as he landed and brushed off his cloak, "Because Alice Burke is in Gryffindor."
"What? I... I don't understand."
"No," Regulus said coolly. "I wouldn't expect you to." He left the pitch with the rest of his team, not sure if he had suffered a victory or a defeat. But then, life wasn't really black-and-white and perhaps it had been neither.