The Heirophant

by Jessica Dawn

The life of Regulus Black, as told by the tarot. A character study of Regulus Arcturus Black. Currently Canon Compliant.

The Heirophant

Jessica Dawn

(Author's Note Post-Script)

He truly felt as though he had been waiting forever, but then again, he'd picked a really good hiding spot this time. Sirius wouldn't come looking for him in the library – it was too scary, and definitely a place that the two generally weren't allowed in the house. The only exception was when their father called them in to be disciplined, and even then, they weren't allowed to touch anything. It really did feel as though he'd been underneath Orion's desk for hours – was his brother even still looking for him? He wanted to check, but he also wanted to win the game. It wasn't very often that he managed to beat Sirius at anything, and with his brother leaving for Hogwarts in just a few days, he didn't want to think that this could be the last time that they played together, but in reality, it probably was.

He'd heard all of the stories from the other children at the dinner parties that Mother held. When their older brothers and sisters had gone to Hogwarts, they had come home without very much interest in playing with them anymore. They had friends to worry about, and to write letters to, and to play with, and not enough time to pay their younger siblings any mind. But Sirius was his best friend – probably the only person he even considered a friend in general – he wasn't going to be like the others, was he? He wasn't going to go off to Hogwarts and come back a completely different person. There was no way that something like that was going to happen.

He pulled himself up onto his knees, peering over the top of the desk to look around the room. The door was closed. There was no sight of Sirius. Knees became feet, as he stood, slowly circling the desk, careful not to step too heavily and cause any noise. Abandoning his hiding spot or not, he wasn't about to completely give himself away. When he made it to the door, he pressed his ear against it and held his breath.

Nothing. Nothing. There was no noise in the house at all – he couldn't even hear anyone breathing. He gripped the handle and gave it a turn, or at least he tried to. The door was locked, and he knew then that he'd been not only successful in hiding, but that his parents had left the house. The door to the library was always locked when they left, and suddenly the room seemed that much more frightening. He turned, leaning against the door to take another look around the room, biting down on his bottom lip.

A book off in one corner gave off a low growl, and then another caught his eye, looking as though it were shaking, pushing other books off of the shelf and onto the floor. One seemed to pick itself up on stick like legs and skittered off into a corner. Two more that fell seemed to be fighting each other, one biting at the other, and the other trying to scorch its attacker.

Regulus drew in a quick breath, slipping back down to sit while he leaned against the door. All he had to do was wait, right? He closed his eyes, and could feel himself start to shake. He should have listened. If he'd followed the real rules of the house, and not the rules of the game as Sirius had given them, he wouldn't be locked in the library right now. It felt as though the shelves were shrinking in around him, and the once large room was quickly diminishing in size. He was definitely in for it when his parents got home. He hated this feeling, knowing that something horrible was going to happen, and the way that it overwhelmed him. Shaking turned to tremors, and he found he was having a hard time breathing. He couldn't bring himself to care about staying quiet or hidden now, not when it was obvious that he ad been forgotten.

Another book let out a vicious snarl, and he opened his eyes, trying to find the source. The book that had run off earlier brushed past him, and without catching sight of it, he scampered to his feet and off into a corner. His back met a shelf, and he felt books falling around him. Something bit his arm, and he shook it off, another book fell on his head, and he felt instantly as though he'd been in a block of ice, or that he'd taken an ice cold shower. He ran again, brushing past another shelf and hearing more things falling. He let out a yell, terrified, and now understanding why they weren't to touch anything in the library. Silently he vowed that if the room didn't kill him, and Father didn't kill him for being in the room, he would never disobey them again, even if Sirius said it was okay for an hour to ignore the rules.

One book fell open on the ground, and instantly started screaming. He clamped his hands over his ears, closing his eyes as the sound pierced his skull. He darted for the desk again, sure that the only safe place in the room was underneath it, and he knocked over an end table on the way, what looked to be a deck of cards scattering across the floor as he slid onto his knees, crawling back into his original hiding spot. His breathing was heavy, he was certain that his arm was bleeding, now grabbing at the wound that one of the books had made when it bit him, and if he hadn't been before, he was sure he was crying now, wiping his nose on his sleeve. He was going to die, he was sure of it now. If not by murderous book, he was sure that he was going to bleed out before anyone found him.

The room grew louder, more and more books falling from shelves as they sprang to life, knocking into each other and fighting, screaming, ripping, burning- The door flew open. Somebody swore, spoke latin, and the noise ended. If it was possible, for a moment, Regulus was even more afraid that his father had arrived, and found him here. He felt a hand before he saw anybody, a fist clutching his shirt as it pulled him out from underneath the desk. It took him a moment of staring before it registered, and he stuttered, "U-Uncle Al-Alphard?"

The older man gave a half laugh, pulling his fingers through Regulus' hair and brushing it back into place. "I'd expect to find your brother in here – Not you," was all the older man had said in response, pulling Regulus' hand away from his arm. He dragged his wand around the bite mark, the flow of blood stopping when he was done. "You'll have to throw that shirt in the fire, unless you want your mom and dad asking questions. Go blow your nose and come back to help me put everything back before they get home. The house elves will rat you out in a second if you pull them away from preparing dinner."

He'd never been more grateful to see his uncle in his life, running out the open door and upstairs to his room. He still wondered where his parents had gone, and why Sirius had stopped looking for him, but Uncle Alphard had literally just saved his life, and it seemed as though he was willing to help him hide the fact that he'd been in the library from them. He wasn't going to forget that, and he definitely wasn't going to take it for granted. It felt like record time that he'd made to change his shirt and wipe his face, albeit on the shirt that he'd taken off, but he'd already known that it was going to be destroyed soon.

He stood in the door when he returned, seeing his uncle staring down at the cards on the ground. He'd heard him though, and turned around, "Did you touch these, Regulus?"

"Not on purpose, no sir."

"But you did touch them,"

"By accident. I was running from the books." Alphard reached down, gathering them back up. One remained on the ground, and Regulus slowly stepped nearer, "I'm sorry Uncle. I swear I didn't mean to."

"I'm not angry, Regulus. Which direction did you run?"

"Towards Father's desk."

The older man stepped around the card on the ground, turning around while he shuffled the other cards in his hand, "Do you know what these cards are?"

Regulus shook his head, sure that they were some horrifying thing that probably could have killed him had he not been running to hide. He looked down at the card on the ground, the one that Alphard was studying. "You're looking at it upside down." He said simply, half hiding behind him.

Alphard bent to pick it up, and as though he knew what Regulus had been thinking simply said "These cards might be the only things in this room that can't hurt you, not directly." He turned the card right side up in his hand, sitting down in an armchair and pulling Regulus down onto his lap, "They're called tarot cards, and you use them in Divination. What do you know about Divination?"

He looked at the card, a man clutching a stick seemed to have his back pressed up against a wall made up of the same sticks, and he had no clue what that meant, or what these cards could possibly have to do with a class for third years at Hogwarts – One that he wouldn't be taking. "Mother and Father both say that Divination is a waste of time. It's unreliable, and even muggles think they can do it."

"Your mother and father could do with a little bit more knowledge on the subject, but I'm not entirely surprised that my sister wouldn't believe in it. Don't you think that with all of the things that we can do with magic we should be able to tell the future, even a little bit?" He asked, putting the card down on the arm of the chair.

Regulus shrugged, eyes still glued to it, as though he was trying to figure it out. "I don't know. Mother and Fa-"

"No, Regulus." Alphard cut him off, giving his knee a squeeze, "I didn't ask you what they think. I asked you what you think." The youngest Black brothers couldn't have possibly been more different in that particular regard, and the entire family knew it. Sirius could spend an entire day telling you about what he thought on any given topic, his opinions, what he'd learned and experienced, what he'd seen and come to know. Sirius' favourite topic, generally speaking, was Sirius. Regulus on the other hand was very quick to believe what he was told to believe. What his parents and his brother thought were practically law to the young boy. Sirius had once told him that there was an Acromantula living beneath the house, and ever since, Regulus had refused to go into the basement, terrified that he'd find the creature and be killed.

Regulus sat quietly when he was prompted to give his own opinion, genuinely unsure as to just what he believed. Magic was powerful, probably the most powerful thing in the world, but did it really have the power to tell the future? He looked around the room, all of the books on the floor lying still. "We should pick up the books before Father sees them. He'll be mad."

"I know this trick, little boy. Don't think I'm going to forget that I asked you a question." Alphard made to stand and Regulus hopped up off of his knee, darting across the room to a pile of books. Alphard watched as he hesitated to touch them and laughed, "They won't hurt you, not right now. Just put them back on the shelves gently, and you won't wake any of the nasty ones back up."

"Wake them back up?"

"Of course. What else would they be doing other than sleeping? They only started acting up because you woke them up rudely." The older man picked up a book, gently sliding it back onto a shelf. "I used magic to put them back to sleep. What else can magic do?"

Regulus had shrugged at first, more intelligent than he'd ever let on, and knowing already where Alphard planned on directing the conversation. He picked up a book, gently pulling it's weight into his hand before sliding it back onto a shelf, immersing himself in that task for a moment before indulging his uncle with an answer, "You healed my arm."

"That's right, magic can heal. What else?"

Regulus took a deep breath, momentarily trying to figure out how to direct the conversation away from those cards, and divination in general, and into a different topic. Uncle Alphard was the most understanding of all of his aunts and uncles and cousins, but that didn't mean that it was okay to go against his parents just because he said so. "When the house elves get too old to carry a tray, Mother uses magic to behead them."

Alphard nodded, mouth drawn into a line.

"And when Sirius and I get in trouble, Father uses magic to punish us."

Again, his words were met simply with a nod.

"And Bellatrix told me that when you're really mad, you can use magic to kill someone, but only if you really want to."

"Bellatrix said that?" Her asked, glancing over his shoulder at his nephew.

"Well not totally. She said there's a killing curse, and then Sirius said you have to really mean it." He'd followed up, though it made little difference to him who had said what. He looked up to his cousin. She stood up for what the family believed in, and he wanted to too. He only hoped that end be as good at it as she was.

"That makes a little bit more sense to me. But you already said it Regulus. Magic can hurt, but it can also heal. It makes your broom fly, and it can light your candles, or clean your room. Magic can do a lot of things-"

He braced for it, knowing that it was about to come as he placed another book on the shelf, carefully sliding it up against the last one.

"So do you think that magic can be used to predict the future?"

He shrugged, trying to pay attention to the task at hand, paying attention to the books rather than the conversation. Alphard prodded him again, asking the question once again, and then a third time when Regulus ignored him, at which point he quickly fired back, "I don't know. Maybe. Maybe it can, but I don't know what that has to do with those stupid cards. Cards are meant for playing. You play games with cards, you don't tell the future. Divination is all tea leaves and stars and stuff. I'm not a little kid you don't have to treat me like I'm stupid. I'm ten."

If it had been anybody other than Regulus he would have been far less impressed with the outburst, but this, coming from the smallest member of their family… Alphard couldn't help but feel proud of the fact that he'd practically yelled at him. Regulus was not one to stick up for himself, especially not with one of his elders, and while he should have been upset at being spoken to like that, he couldn't help but feel pleased instead. "I know you're not a little kid. I know you're ten – happy birthday, by the way, even if it's aa few days late. I know your parents have always paid a little bit more attention to your brother's birthday rather than yours. Did you have cake?"

Regulus laughed. This was actually absurd. He'd wanted to distract his uncle, to make him mad and have him focus on that rather than him, but it only served to egg him on more – though he was distracted from talk of fortune-telling cards. "I don't like sweets."

"Come on now. That's a lie and you know it."

"Kreacher brought me some ice cream and a piece leftover from Sirius' cake, but you can't tell Mother because the elves were supposed to get rid of it, and Kreacher is my friend and I don't want her to punish him for it-"

"Regulus, I have no plans of telling your parents about anything we talk about today. I am very good at keeping secrets. Anything that you want to say – ever, not just today – you can say to me."

Regulus took a deep breath, putting the last book from his pile back onto the shelf and turning to see that Alphard had finished with the rest of the room. He returned to the chair, picking up the deck of cards from the table where his uncle had left them and turned them over, studying their pictures for a few seconds before flipping to the next one. "So how do these cards work then? None of them match."

"The pictures tell stories. Let's look at this one though. It fell like this-" He stooped, putting it back down on the floor where he'd found it on walking in, and then laid down on the floor on his stomach, tugging Regulus down beside him. "This card is called the nine of wands."

"There aren't any wands in the picture."

"Not wands like you know them. The wands in these pictures look for like staves. The man is holding one, and there are eight more behind him, to make nine. Normally this card means that if you find yourself in trouble, or you're facing opposition, you're going to face it bravely."

"That's a good thing, but it doesn't really tell the future."

"This is not a good card, and this is not a normal situation for it. When you knocked the cards over, it fell so that the top was towards you. That means that the card was inverted, and when that happens, it means something totally different."

"So what does it mean for me?"

"Obstacles, Regulus. It means that you are going to have many obstacles ahead of you."

The boy stood, his lips pursed. "That's stupid. The card doesn't know that. You do. Sirius is leaving and then it's just me. Of course that's an obstacle. You're just telling me stuff that you know so that I'll believe you. Don't do that."

It was Alphard's turn to laugh now, because it was so like him to argue with something that didn't have an absolute proof. There was no way to back this up, and so he simply shrugged. "I can't prove to you that that is what the card means, but it is the truth. Even muggles who do this stuff will tell you the same thing, mostly."

"I don't think that you're telling me the truth."

"Are you calling me a liar, Regulus?"

The small boy visibly shrank, drawing his knees up to his chest even as he sat on his uncle's lap. He bit on his bottom lip and shook his head, afraid to speak. If he'd dared insinuate that one of his elders was a liar, well… suffice to say he would have been much farther away than he was from Alphard right now. It was only the fact that it was Uncle Alphard that had him sitting as such instead.

"You can tell me what you think, Regulus. I'm not like the rest of them." Alphard had coaxed. If only the smaller boy would open up like his older brother did with him. They had so much progress to make.

"I'm not calling you a liar, but I don't think you're being honest with me right now. I think that you're telling me what you think I want to hear so that I'll believe these cards work." The small voice was very succinct. He told him only what he needed to without offering any elaboration, as he'd been taught to do when speaking to grown-ups.

Alphard hated that. He hated that the young boy had been so molded by his parents and what they believed that he had a hard time explaining himself otherwise. He bought into whatever horse shit they shoveled his way, more than happy to simply follow along with what they thought and what they believed because they were his parents, and why would they ever lead him astray? The boy needed to learn to think for himself before it was time for him to go to Hogwarts and to be on his own or he wasn't going to survive in the world. His only friends would wind up being the other ridiculous blood purists that no doubt would wind up in Slytherin, if their upbringing was anything like a Black upbringing. He had no doubt that the little boy on his lap was going to be in Slytherin. It was fact.

It was Sirius that Alphard wondered about. He was sure only that Sirius was not going to be in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. He was certainly brave enough to be in Gryffindor, if his mouth with his parents was any indication. He was also certainly cunning enough to join the rest of the Black family in Slytherin. There was very little that the young boy couldn't charm his way into and out of, given that the people he needed to charm weren't Walburga or Orion. His thoughts about the boys were interrupted, Regulus' voice cutting in,

"Tell me about another one, if they all have meanings." He grabbed for the deck on the side table, pulling a card from it and holding it out for his Uncle to see.

Alphard has smirked, taking the card from between his fingers and turning it over in his own. "If ever a card described someone so perfectly, it is this card for you." He laughed, setting it down on Regulus' lap. The Heirophant. He flipped it over so that it faced Regulus the way that he'd held it up to him. "Since I know that this card describes you so perfectly I'm going to leave the cards with you."

Regulus had started, stammering that he didn't want them, that he wasn't even at Hogwarts, that he couldn't possibly work these future-seeing cards, but Alphard had simply pressed them into his hands, and closed his own around Regulus' smaller ones, his grey eyes twinkling in the dim light of the library, "Regulus, I am giving this tarot deck to you. These cards are no longer mine, they are yours."

"Uncle Alph-"

"Regulus Arcturus Black, are you rudely refusing my gift?" It wasn't fair and he knew it. All he had to do was imply that Regulus was being rude and he would comply. He didn't have to wonder what would have been done to make the small boy so compliant, as he visibly flinched at the word 'rudely', and shook his head. "Good. I do believe that the book that accompanies this particular deck is at my home in Diagon Alley. I can return with it tomorrow, if you think you'll need it. Would you like the book that explains the cards in more detail?"

Again the small boy shook his head. They weren't supposed to want things. It was rude to want things and to inconvenience anyone who felt they needed to provide those things, particularly when it meant a trip back to Diagon Alley for his uncle, and Merlin only knew if he knew where the book was. Regulus had seen the library in that home, and it was far from organized. Alphard cocked an eyebrow, and gave him a gentle squeeze, and reached up to ruffle his hair, laughing out loud again when the boy reached up to try and straighten it.

"Regulus, I promise you it's no trouble. I think you'd do well with the book. The Heirophant is your card afterall."

"But what does that mean? What is a hierophant?"

"Not a hierophant, the hierophant. It makes a difference Regulus, but I trust you'll know all about that soon enough. I'll be round tomorrow with the book, alright? You don't even have to tell your parents. This can be our little secret. Your birthday gift."

And at that Regulus supposed it was alright to accept. If it was a birthday gift that his uncle wanted to give him, and he truly meant it when he said it was no trouble… "Th-Thank you, Uncle Alphard. You didn't have to give me anything."

"The cards chose you, Regulus. I've never seen anybody knock over an entire deck and only have one card land face up. I have a feeling you'll be seeing that card quite a bit."

Well hello. It's been a long time since I've written any fanfiction. For those of you who came here as a result of an Author Alert, I can only offer you my sincerest apologies that other stories haven't been worked on in, quite literally, years, but I needed to work on myself for a little while. I won't promise new additions to any of my old works, but they are all things that I haven't completely forgotten about. For those of you who are new to my writing, I'm very thankful for the fact that you've made it this far.

This story is meant more as a character study for me than anything. I've always been fascinated by Regulus Black, and have often roleplayed him on independent sites. So this is my Regulus, and my head canon for him, which I believe to an extent, aside from some minor details, to be canon compliant. We'll see how far this one goes before I continue promising that this will be canon compliant or if I will wind up deviating. As always, review, message if you'd like – I'm always up for making new friends.

May be cross-posted to other sites.