Regulus Black stood solemnly beneath the pinstriped awning of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, back pressed against the champagne pink walls as he took refuge from the rain, head jerking irritably every so often as a stray droplet would splatter against his forehead. His dark hair was damp with drizzle, black robes in stark contrast to the exterior of the café as he watched the endless stream of wizards weaving in and out of the shops lining Diagon Alley like ants, a mass of flamboyantly coloured cloaks and hats.
It was the 31st of August meaning that tomorrow, the Hogwarts Express would depart from Kings Cross station to deliver the magically gifted students to school. This was the reason for the frenzied rush of people darting around with jumbles of bags hoisted up into their arms as they frantically attempted to defy the odds and gather all their school necessities in time.
He, of course, was not quite so blatantly unorganised – weeks ago he had ventured into Diagon Alley in order to purchase a new set of Slytherin robes and a stack of books to begin his seventh year at Hogwarts. The same, however, could not be said for the yellow clad figure weaving through the crowd towards him, head bent against the rain. Regulus snapped out of his thoughts, grey eyes focussing on the girl as she darted through a gap in the hordes of people, her feet slipping out from beneath her on the slimy cobblestones just as she neared him. Predicting her foolishness, Regulus had already darted out a hand to steady her, firmly gripping her elbow as the girl laughed breathlessly.
"You are quite extraordinarily clumsy, Starling," Regulus remarked dryly, his lips twisting in amusement as the girl nudged him aside, stepping beneath the shelter of the shop to tip back her hood. Brie Starling shook out her blonde, waterlogged hair, wringing the curls out in her hands like one might a wet tea towel as she grinned up at him, chocolate brown eyes crinkling with delight. "Not to mention predictable – how on earth do you always manage to be late?"
"Give it a rest, Reg," Brie rolled her eyes good-naturedly, rocking up on her toes to envelope him in a brief, lemon-scented hug before dragging him out from beneath the shelter whilst he grumbled under his breath, turning his collar up against the lashing rain as they were swept away with the throngs of shoppers. "You sound like my mother."
Despite being in Slytherin and Brie a Gryffindor, the pair had been best friends for almost six years; every time she referred to him as such, Regulus couldn't help but grin. This had, of course, come with a copious number of taunts and snide remarks from the rest of his house, but by now they knew there was no point in trying to steer him away from the girl. He had somehow, quite miraculously, managed to hide his unlikely friendship from his cold-hearted parents, who would certainly have more than one or two things to say about the undesirability of becoming friends with a half-blooded Gryffindor girl.
But Regulus had allowed himself this friendship. All his life, he had shrunk back from doing anything remarkably different to his fanatical family, not daring to so much as even think something they may not whole heartedly agree with. In his mind, he deserved to be friends with Brie – it was what he had wanted from the moment he had met her, even after she had been sorted into Gryffindor with his infuriating brother.
After many years of pondering the thought, he had concluded what really separated him from Sirius, and why they were so different from one another. Sirius Black did not care about the retributions of his actions and beliefs – this much was clear from when he had stalked from number 12 Grimmauld Place at 16 years old, lugging a tattered suitcase down the flights of stairs before slamming the door in their faces. Regulus cringed at the memory, his mother's bloodcurdling screams of rage that had pulsated throughout the house as she maddeningly jerked the blistering poker from the embers of the fire and scorched Sirius from the Black family tapestry that curled around the entire wall of the dining room, thus disowning him.
There was one thing, however, that the two brothers did share – a friendship with Brie. Regulus had known it was inevitable as soon as the sorting hat had let out a cry of "GRYFFINDOR!" and the curly haired girl had skipped down the steps, flopping down onto the bench beside Sirius with a warm smile. Many heated arguments had soon followed between the three over the years, until finally he and Sirius had come to the silent resolution that doing so was fruitless and subsided, not without sharing particularly dark looks of loathing every time they came within 10 feet of each other, much to Brie's irritation.
"Mum wasn't too pleased when I told her I still needed to get my school stuff," Brie grinned weakly at the exasperated look on Regulus' face as they emerged from Flourish and Blotts, a tower of books precariously crammed into his arms as they had decided that he was the most unlikely to drop them. "Godric knows what I would've done if you hadn't replied to my letter in time. She probably would have murdered me there and then."
"It did come rather last minute, I admit," he said, raising an eyebrow as they stopped in the alley for Brie to double knot her trailing laces under Regulus' warning that he would not be able to pick her up if she fell. "Maybe your owl isn't up to scratch."
She threw him a reproachful look before standing. "I will have you know that Lysander is a perfectly good bird, thank you very much."
They continued their way down the street, Regulus hovering impatiently outside the shop fronts whilst Brie would scurry inside, emerging with bags swinging on her arms and her purse considerably lighter. It was almost five o'clock when she finally exited her last port of call, Scribbulus Writing Instruments, brandishing her new golden eagle feathered quill triumphantly as Regulus sighed in relief, glancing around. "Are you sure that's everything?"
"Well, I hope so," Brie said breezily, grinning as Regulus rolled his eyes. "If I've forgotten anything, I'll just get Mum or Dad to send it."
"I don't expect you'll be needing any new robes, will you?" Regulus smirked in amusement as they passed Madam Malkin's, still brimming with pixie-sized first years trembling upon the dress making stools as their new school robes were fitted to them. "You've barely grown two centimetres in the six years I've known you."
Brie grinned, elbowing him in the ribs. "Shut up. Do you have time to go and get an ice cream?"
"Do you?" He countered as they dawdled in the direction of the shop they had met outside several hours before. "I live ten minutes from here, Brie. You're the one who could effectively be stranded in London for the night, and I don't think my parents would be too pleased if I announced a Gryffindor would be sleeping over."
She laughed, the golden bell hanging above the door tinkling as she and Regulus flopped down at the first unoccupied table their eyes fell upon, scattering Brie's shopping at their complaining feet. "I was planning on getting the Knight Bus, anyway. I don't fancy being stuck on a muggle train for hours on end."
Florean bustled over, looking extremely weary beneath his beaming smile, hardly surprising considering the torrents of customers he must have endured. He took their orders with a flourish of his vibrant feathered quill before conjuring up two extravagant glass dishes, turning to point his wand at the glass cabinet stacked with plastic tubs of ice cream. The flavours Brie and Regulus had requested came whizzing through the air inches before their faces, diving in a dilapidated tower inside their bowls. Before Brie even had a chance to dig out her dwindling coins, Regulus had already produced a handful of galleons and sickles that he handed over to Florean, smirking at Brie's nose of protest. "You didn't have to do that, Reg."
He shrugged his shoulders, smiling at her across the table. "I don't mind. Besides, I've barely seen you this summer. I needed to make it up to you somehow."
"I know," She pulled a face, using a long, silver spoon to scoop a dent in her chocolate fudge ice cream, licking it thoughtfully. "What on earth have you been doing?"
Regulus' expression clouded briefly at the mention of his holidays, frowning into his half-eaten sundae as it melted slowly before his eyes. "Every one of my family members is obsessed with the dark arts – all accept Sirius," he said his brother's name brief hint of admiration, mingled within his disgust. "It's hardly surprising that they want me to take after them in every sense, which is why they seem to have taken a particular interest in trying to sway me even more so to their way of life."
It was very rare indeed when Regulus would speak of his family, particularly the way he was now with a hint of resentment in his tone, and Brie found herself leaning forwards in intrigue, ignorant to the fact her blonde curls were falling into her ice cream. She had seen the sallow faced Walburga Black at the train station, stood stiffly beside her husband, and had always wondered what it would have been like for both Sirius and Regulus to grow up in a home so void of showing any indication of love or affection.
It had mostly been Sirius who had informed her of the dark goings on within the Black family, speaking so bitterly of his relatives that she had wondered how he had even managed 16 years of living with them. Everyone knew that the Blacks were an ancient, dark wizarding family, but even Brie had been unable to hide her outrage over their views. Everyone in the wizarding world could feel that something dark and dangerous was brewing as the Dark Lord began to test his power, his loyal subjugates branding themselves as Death Eater's as they began their torment upon those with even the thinnest connection to muggles. When she had first become friends with Regulus, the thought that he was related to them had scared her to no end, frequently imagining them finding out about their friendship and cursing her into oblivion, for no Gryffindor half-blood should associate with a Slytheirn pure-blood, in their eyes.
"What do you mean, in every sense?" Brie asked quietly, the ice cream numbing her throat as Regulus glanced up, his grey irises pure with incredulity, confirming the suspicion beginning to from in her mind. "Oh."
His lips twitched in amusement. "Yes, oh indeed. That may be the first time you've ever underexaggerated something, Brie."
He was tactfully trying to sway the subject onto easier grounds by resorting to teasing her as he usually did, but Brie couldn't help but question him further, worry curling into a tightly wound knot inside her as she hesitantly asked, "Are you – are you considering it?"
Regulus sighed, running a hand agitatedly through his dark strands before finally saying, "It is what is expected of me," leaving Brie irritatingly none the wiser to his intentions as she frowned at him across the table, unable to prevent the sharp tug of fear at her heartstrings as they lapsed into a strained silence, the only sound that of their spoons clinking whilst they resolutely finished their ice creams, lost in thought.
Authors note - Thank you for reading the first chapter of my new fan fiction, after many years, Constellation Heart! I just wanted to quickly add that you may find the first few chapters slightly slow paced whilst I introduce all of the characters etc., but I promise things will pick up soon.