It was early evening, maybe five o'clock. Mother thought he felt ill, and Reggie was helping him out. Reggie had asked him to pretend. Mother knew if Reggie said it, then it wasn't true, and he was faking for one reason or another. Still, she would not be pleased. Reggie said he'd needed to tell him something. Something important. Mother could not overhear it, he'd stressed. Surprised, Sirius had only nodded as his brother created a plan for him to pretend to be sick. So now, here he was, waiting for Reggie in his room. As if the thought of him was a summons, Regulus, his younger brother, emerged from the shadows of the hallway and entered his room.
"Hey, Siri," he greeted quietly. Sirius smiled at his brother. Perhaps Reggie wanted to say goodbye in private? After all, it was August 31th, and he was starting at Hogwarts on the first. Besides, Reggie had always wanted to be defiant. This was just like something he'd do, and something that, once again, he'd dragged Sirius in head-first. Not that he didn't enjoy it, really, but Reggie was always being punished for things like that.
"Hi, Reggie," he answered, matching his brother's tone. Reggie fidgeted slightly, as if unsure of what he wanted to say. Finally, he spoke,
"Siri, d'you know how mother always tells us that Blood is important?" Sirius nodded quickly. Mother was always talking about Blood. Dirty Blood, not shaming their Blood… Reggie took a deep breath and said,
"Do you really believe her?" Surprised, Sirius could only stare at his brother for a moment. Blood isn't important? How could that possibly be true?
"But – but mother wouldn't lie to us!" he protested.
"Shh!" Reggie reprimanded quickly, "I'm not saying she lied, just… I don't think she's right." Sirius looked appalled at the very idea. He opened his mouth to say something, but Reggie spoke before he could,
"Do you remember when we snuck out to that muggle playground?" Sirius thought for a moment. Oh yes, he remembered. It had been nearly a year ago. Reggie had convinced him to leave the house and walk for a few blocks to find this muggle play-yard. After only a second's hesitation, he agreed. Then they had left.
"Yeah," he answered. Reggie nodded and plowed on ahead,
"They were fun to play with, and they believed in magic! Mother always said that they're like animals. That can't be right! Besides, remember how that one cut his leg on the swings?" Sirius nodded. He remembered that. It had been scary. The other kids just stood there and watched as the red blood rolled down his leg. Then one of the adults snapped into action, and they had watched him be healed the muggle way. Reggie continued to speak,
"Mother said they have dirty blood, but it looked just like ours!" Sirius thought for a moment, and then exclaimed,
"You're right!" Reggie immediately hushed him.
"I'm friends with him, and he asked me if I wanted to meet him tonight. He said that it's okay if he stays up late. His muggle school doesn't go tomorrow. Do you want to come?" Sirius thought about it for a moment. Those kids had been nice and fun to play with. Besides, mother would never know, right? Finally, Sirius nodded, saying,
"Sure!" Reggie's eyes sparkled with light, as they always did when he was disobeying mother. You'd think that that was what he lived for. Well, it certainly made life interesting. Reggie led the way downstairs, skillfully avoiding mother with the ease of a lot of practice. For a moment, Sirius wondered how long Reggie had been doing this. Probably for a long time, and it didn't surprise Sirius that he'd never been caught.
They stepped outside into the hot august air. Reggie smiled with delight as they neared his friend's house; it was only one or two houses away. Together, they walked up the steps and knocked on the door. A man opened it. He had a kind smile, and light brown hair that was just beginning to thin in the middle.
"Hi, Regulus!" he greeted. "And who is this?" Reggie smiled back and said politely,
"This is my brother, Sirius. He wanted to meet Alex." The muggle boy's father nodded and beckoned them inside. Alex was waiting for them. He was in a moderate-sized room. In it was a strange box. Sirius opened his mouth to ask what it was, but Reggie elbowed him. The boy, Alex, exclaimed,
"Hey, Reggie!" Reggie smiled back and said,
"Hi, Alex! This is my brother, Sirius."
"Hi!" Alex greeted happily, not seeming to notice his slight discomfort.
"Hi," Sirius said, trying to sound as cheerful and calm as Reggie did. It was very clear that this wasn't Reggie's first visit… or his second… or his third… In fact, it seemed as if Reggie had been here a lot of times.
"So what d-you want to do, Alex?" Reggie asked.
"Um… how about we go to the playground? We haven't gone there in a while."
"Sure!" Reggie agreed swiftly. Sirius felt slightly relieved. There was so much in this house that he didn't understand. Like… like the pictures! They weren't moving! That was so weird!
"I'll go ask my mum!" Alex said. He went racing out of the room, with Reggie hot on his heels. Sirius moved at a slightly slower pace, eyes wide as he looked at the rooms around him. What were all these things? Sirius actually heard voices out of one strange metal box. It was so weird! Sirius walked quickly into the room Reggie and Alex had gone into. Alex's mother was in there. She had short, dark hair and dark brown eyes. Sirius felt slightly wary of her. Would she yell at them for asking? Alex was in the middle of asking her.
"…Go to the playground?" Sirius heard Alex ask.
"Sure," his mother said with a laugh at their excitement. "I'll come with you." They went to the playground, and Sirius could feel himself becoming more comfortable. Maybe Reggie was right. Alex was just like them.
After about thirty minutes at the playground, they were all on the very top of the playground. To both Sirius' and Reggie's horror, Alex slipped and began to fall.
"Alex!" his mother cried, eyes wide as he seemed to hang in the air for a second. Actually, he was hanging in the air for more than a moment. In fact, he wasn't falling at all. Sirius and Reggie looked at each other in shock.
"It couldn't be…" Sirius breathed. At the exact same time, Reggie muttered,
"Did you do that?" Wordlessly, Sirius shook his head. No, he hadn't. He hadn't preformed accidental magic since the day he had gotten his wand. Alex's mother was staring at him in shock as he floated gently to the ground.
"What – what?" his mother said. Reggie grinned as Alex turned his dazed face towards them.
"What just happened!" he cried out, shocked.
"I knew it! I knew it!" Reggie said almost bouncing with ecstasy.
"What did you know, Regulus?" Alex's mother questioned slowly.
"You're magical!" Reggie cried. Alex's mother looked shocked for a moment, but then seemed to think of it as a childish fantasy. She laughed awkwardly. Reggie seemed to understand her dilemma,
"No! I'm being serious! That's why Alex can never some over our house! We're magical, too!" Alex's mother still seemed extremely skeptical.
"Well…" she said. Normally, she would have obviously denied that magic existed, but her own kid had just floated.
"No, really! Watch this!" Reggie slid to the ground, Sirius following and walked over to the grass. Then he began hissing. To all three of his audience's shock, a small green snake slithered out of the grass. No… Reggie was a –a Parselmouth? How? Why? The green snake slithered over to Alex's mother, who jumped at the sight of it. To her credit, she didn't scream. Reggie hissed at the snake, and it hissed back.
"He says that you're pretty," he told Alex's mum. She sat down on the bench quickly, seeming slightly faint. "Look! He's going to wave!" Sure enough, the snake waved its tail at them. Alex's mum seemed disbelieving and shocked, but she also was starting to think Reggie was right. Voice weak as the snake slithered away, she asked Sirius,
"Are you magic, too?" Sirius grinned and said,
"Yeah, I'm a wizard. I'm starting my first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry tomorrow!" Alex's mum seemed like she thought she was going crazy.
"There – there's a school for… wizards?" Reggie nodded.
"I'm going next year, and Alex will be, too!"
"R – really?" Alex said, eyes wide.
"Yeah! It's going to be so much fun!" Suddenly, there was a harsh cry.
"Regulus!" He froze and stiffened.
"Sirius!" Sirius gulped loudly. Mother couldn't be there! Reggie was never caught! How – why did she notice?
"Who's that?" Alex questioned.
"That – that's my mother," Sirius rasped, voice filled with nervousness. Alex's mother looked shocked at their reaction.
"Why is she…" Alex trailed off, unable to phrase the question he wanted to ask. Reggie spoke, thinking about each word carefully,
"Mother is very… old-fashioned. She doesn't like muggles – non-magical people – very much… She also didn't know that we left the house…" Alex's mother looked scandalized.
"Boys! You should've told her!" Both Sirius and Regulus flinched back at her scolding tone. With mother, a tone like that was always followed by a fierce slap. Alex's mother's eyes widened as she processed their reaction.
"Does – does she hit you?" Both Sirius and Regulus stared at her with a bit of surprise.
"Yeah, but all the old families do. There's nothing wrong with that." Reggie seemed to notice the figure coming closer. It was their mother. She wore a long black robe and her hair was long and –ahem- witch-like.
"We need to go," Reggie said, "We'll send you a letter, later." Then both boys turned and raced back towards their mother, hoping that she hadn't seen their playmate.
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Hi everyone. This popped in my head as a one-shot, and then promptly began to grow into a multi-chapter. I will not be focusing on this fic, so updates will be pretty slow. However, I will not abandon it. Expect an update around once a month.
Please read and review
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am not J.K. Rowling.
