disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns all the characters. I am just borrowing them for a minute.
He sat on the three-legged stool while a voice in his ear was contemplating his character. "Hmmmmm, Gryffindor or Slytherin. Where should I put you?"
His mind drifted back to the day when his mother received an owl post from his older brother who was at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "THEY PUT HIM WHERE! THIS HAS GOT TO BE ONE OF HIS STUPID TRICKS! I WILL NOT HAVE A GRYFFINDOR IN THIS FAMILY!" Regulus couldn't believe it! He had never heard of any of the Black family that had been in any house other than Slytherin. A feeling of elation came over the young boy and he dared to feel a glimmer of hope about the future.
When Sirius came home over the Christmas holidays during his first year at Hogwarts, Regulus thought their mother would scream the house down. She kept going on about the shame that Sirius was bringing to the Black family name just by being sorted into a different house than his ancestors. After that Sirius stayed at school or went to a friend's house for the holidays and only came home when forced to for the summer. Regulus missed his big brother and really wanted to talk to him. Sirus seemed so happy about not following in the family's footsteps.
During his first trip to school on the Hogwarts Express he managed to get Sirius away from his group of friends for short talk. He was really nervous, but it was important to him. Away from their mother he finally managed to get the courage up to ask Sirius about his sorting, and how he ended up in Gryffindor. Sirius explained that the hat had sensed his bravery and willingness to break away from the family and gave him the chance to choose Gryffindor instead of Slytherin. Sirius then looked hopefully at his little brother "Do you want to be somewhere other than Slytherin?" Regulus mumbled "Yeah, but I don't think Mom would like it if neither one of us were in her old house. I really would like to be with you though. You are my big brother." Sirius tells him "The choice yours little bro."
After the trip across the lake with the other first years and Hagrid, Regulus was scared to get up in front of everyone. When his name was called he timidly sat on the stool while the hat was placed on his head. Immediately the hat started to talk in his ear.
"Hmmmm….. Where should I put you? You have a bravery that will show as you get older, and a desire to be in Gryffindor I see. I already put your brother into that house to the dismay of your parents. They wrote the headmaster because they were very upset about it. Of course I could always put you in Slytherin. Your entire family possesses just what Salazar Slytherin was looking for in a student! Are you brave enough to go against your family like your brother was?" Regulus thought to himself quickly, "I can't go against Mother. She would kill me!" Just then he heard the hat yell out "SLYTHERIN!"
Regulus cast a quick glance at his brother Sirius who was sitting with his friends at the Gryffindor table and saw the disappointment in Sirius' eyes. He looked sadly away as he walked over to the Slytherin table. As he sat down in an empty place next to a scrawny, sallow teenager with greasy black hair that fell in curtains around his face he thought, "Not all Slytherins can turn out bad. There has to be some good ones here somewhere."