Okay guys! I know it's been quite a while, wow, but I've decided to revamp a few parts of this story here and there- and try to take on the challenge again! I've got high hopes for this story- and I do hope you all decide to stick it out with me! Anyways, here it goes... -RCP
Chapter 1: Regulus' room
"What? That was Sirius's brother, wasn't it? Regulus Arcturus ... Regulus ... R.A.B.! The locket, you don't reckon...?" Ron announced as the trio stood in front of the doorway, the placard reading Do Not Enter Without the Express Permission of Regulus Arcturus Black. It was dusty and forgotten, much like it's owner.
"Let's find out," said Harry. He pushed the door: It was locked.
Hermione pointed her wand at the handle and said, "Alohamora." There was a click, and the door swung open.
They moved over the threshold together, gazing around. Regulus's bedroom was slightly smaller than Sirius's, though it had the same sense of former grandeur. Whereas Sirius had sought to advertise his diffidence from the rest of the family, Regulus had striven to emphasize the opposite. The Slytherin colors of emerald and silver were everywhere, draping the bed, the walls, and the windows. The Black family crest was painstakingly painted over the bed, along with its motto, TOUJOURS PUR. Beneath this was a collection of yellow newspaper cuttings, all stuck together to make a ragged collage. Hermione crossed the room to examine them.
"They're all about Voldemort," she said. "Regulus seems to have been a fan for a few years before he joined the Death Eaters ..."
A little puff of dust rose from the bedcovers as she sat down to read the clippings.
Harry, meanwhile, had noticed another photograph: a Hogwarts Quidditch team was smiling and waving out of the frame. He moved closer and saw the snakes emblazoned on their chests: Slytherins. Regulus was instantly recognizable as the boy sitting in the middle of the front row: He had the same dark hair and slightly haughty look of his brother, though he was smaller, slighter, and rather less handsome than Sirius had been. A girl around the same age as Regulus sat next to him, a smile playing on her face as she glanced between the camera and the boy on her right.
Harry could not place it at the moment, but there was something about the girl that seemed strikingly familiar. She was pretty, in a way without trying. Her brown hair was wind blown, her eyes alight with a blue that was striking in contrast with her house colors.
"He played Seeker," said Harry.
"What?" said Hermione vaguely; she was still immersed in Voldemort's press clippings.
"He's sitting in the middle of the front row, that's where the Seeker ... Never mind," said Harry, realizing that nobody was listening. He also noted that the girl next to him must have been a chaser.
Ron was on his hands and knees, searching under the wardrobe. Harry looked around the room for likely hiding places and approached the desk. Yet again, somebody had searched before them. The drawers' contents had been turned over recently, the dust disturbed, but there was nothing of value there: old quills, out-of-date textbooks that bore evidence of being roughly handled, a recently smashed ink bottle, it's sticky residue covering the contents of the drawer.
"There's an easier way," said Hermione, as Harry wiped his inky fingers on his jeans. She raised her wand and said, "Accio Locket!"
For a moment, it seemed nothing had happened. But a small scraping sound alerted all of their attention.
Harry crept forward carefully, trying to not allow himself to get to excited. The sound was coming from the dresser next to the bed, As if something was struggling to escape. Harry delicately reached forward and slid the drawer open, a silver object flying out at incredible speed right into Hermione's hand.
"I guess I could have been more specific," Hermione frowned as she turned over the object in her grasp.
"What do you mean?" Asked Ron as both he and Harry made their way over to her.
"It's a woman's locket," she stared as she held it up for them to see. It was a delicately engraved square of silver, the letter 'B' tarnished over, but still noticeable.
Hermione brought it back down and clicked it open easily.
Her jaw dropped slightly as she took in the two pictures.
"How come- did Siri- Harry?" Hermione rarely struggled with words so she simply handed the locker over to him.
His reaction echoed her own as his eyes flickered from one photo to the other.
One the left side, there was a photo of Regulus and the girl from the quidditch photo, they were laughing and standing in front of the black lake, arms around eachother. Even more shocking, was the right side. Which held the same girl, but with Harry's Godfather. Sirius had been giving her a piggyback ride, and she had are hands clasped around his neck while he held onto her legs. He was grinning widely.
Harry passed the locket over to Ron's inspection before looking back to where Hermione had been, but now she was bent over the drawer from which the locket had materialized.
"There's a whole box," she turned towards them in shock, holding up photos of the same girl.
"Did Sirius ever mention her, Harry?" Ron asked and Harry shook his head.
"Not that I remember, but she was in this picture as well," He gestured to the quidditch picture.
"There's a letter," Hermione announced as she began to read.
"Regulus,
I know you probably won't receive this letter, seeing as how my dearest brother has gone to exhaustive lengths to ensure such.
I'm not going to apologize on the matters for which I have been disowned, for I have done nothing wrong. However, I am sorry things have changed so much, I'm sorry I cannot explain my actions to you face to face, and mostly, I'm sorry it seems we will be fighting on opposite sides of the war.
Oh, how I wish we could we could go back. Back to when our biggest problems were losing house points, or whether or not we would pass our exams.
Its terrible that we have been thrust into a war so young, even more so that we will be fighting against our friends, our family.
I know what I believe, I've really known for quite a long time. I know you know that. I have graduated Hogwarts.
I'm getting married, I do so wish you could be there. Maybe in another world you are. Maybe in another world, there isn't a looming war.
You always said I had a spark of fire in me, that you could swear I was half lion with my brash actions. But Whatever you do, don't blame him. Every decision I've made this year, was purely me. I learned to live for myself, Sirius just showed me how.
Regulus, I do not agree with your decisions, and I know in my heart that I am standing on the right side, but I do so hope that should the time arise where your convictions change- when you become my Reg again- that you should always know you will have a place with us.
By the way, if you happen to read this letter and speak to my brother after doing so, I do hope you can forward my message. Tell him that I'll see him in hell.
You always know where to find me should you really come looking, keep safe.
Bianca."
A thick silence settled over the room as she finished.
"So her name was Bianca," Ron glanced back at the locket.
"Harry, Did Sirius ever mention her?" Hermione glanced at the letter.
"Not that I know of, she must have been a pure blood if she was disowned, plus she apparently was getting married." Harry frowned.
"Maybe Sirius has something else in his room. Let's check for the real locket though first. It could still be here, but under counter-enchantments," said Hermione. "Charms to prevent it from being summoned magically, you know."
"Like Voldemort put on the stone basin in the cave," said Harry, remembering how he had been unable to Summon the fake locket.
"How are we supposed to find it then?" asked Ron.
"We search manually," said Hermione.
After combing over every square inch of the room and finding nothing, they retired to the hallway. Hermione had grabbed the box and Bianca's locket, to see if there was anything else about her, and if nothing else, ask Professor Lupin