A/N: This is a compilation of scenes that didn't make it into my story, Blood of Thy Enemy, though they are compliant. I decided to post them in case anyone is interested. If you haven't read, Blood of Thy Enemy – I'd recommend doing that first, as this will be confusing otherwise. These snippets are from chapters 12 and 13. It's Sirius' POV, watching Regulus' memories in a Pensieve.
Erm… Reviews are still appreciated, of course. Thanks!
Sirius took the flask containing the silvery hair-like wisps that he knew to be memories and tipped its contents into the stone Pensieve. He bent forward and plunged his face into the silvery substance. He felt his feet leave the floor before falling through whirling darkness.
When it stopped, it was a much younger Regulus before him sitting at the breakfast table at number twelve Grimmauld Place. His eyes narrowed as he took in the rest of the room. At the head of the table, sat their father, reading a newspaper. Beside him, to his horror, was their mother. She had a bony hand wrapped around a tea cup, and was alternating between taking sips from it, and casting disapproving looks at the far end of the table.
Naturally, that was where the memory-version of Sirius was sitting. So far away from the rest of them he might as well have been in the next room. While Regulus pushed food around on his plate with his fork and dutifully pretended to eat his breakfast, Sirius had his chair pushed onto its back legs, his hands resting behind his neck. He was staring at the back of his father's newspaper as his breakfast sat untouched.
"May I be excused?" he asked the moment his father put the newspaper down.
"You may not," their mother answered for him. "You and Regulus are to be fitted for new dress robes as soon as your brother is finished eating."
Regulus put his fork down and a house elf immediately approached him to see if he needed anything else before taking his plate away.
"What do we need new robes for?" Sirius asked petulantly, "We've got closets full of them."
"Full of robes that have been seen before," their mother chastised. "You need a new set for Regulus' birthday. We will of course have a soirée to celebrate."
Regulus turned to their father, "Perhaps we could just go away to celebrate. It's been ages since we've been to the continent."
Orion chuckled as if Regulus had said something amusing, and even the Sirius who wasn't twelve years old felt a twinge of jealousy that their father preferred the younger boy.
"He's right to not want to celebrate yet," Sirius taunted instantly, "You should wait until he gets his letter-"
"As if a child from the house of Black could be a squib!" Walburga chided. "I daresay he's performed more magic than you did prior to getting your own wand."
Sirius smirked at this brother, "But did you ever notice it's only when there are house elves around?"
"That is enough, Sirius," Orion warned sternly.
"Who is coming to this thing?" Sirius asked scathingly.
Walburga clicked her tongue in irritation, "The usual were invited: the Shafiqs, the Averys, the Rosiers…"
"No. No!" Sirius said, rising to his feet, "I have endured being here for a month. I've listened to you criticize me, my friends, and my house, but I refuse, refuse, to be here if the entirety of Slytherin is coming over."
"Sit down, Sirius," Orion commanded. He obeyed reluctantly.
"That you've made a fool of yourself at school is no reason your brother should be ostracized from our usual circle," Walburga said haughtily.
"How can you want him to be friends with them?"
"They used to be your friends too," Regulus interjected quietly.
Ignoring him, Sirius retrieved something shiny from his pocket and held it up. It was the two-way mirror he and James used to communicate.
Adult-Sirius recalled that he and Regulus had found the mirrors the summer before he left for school. They had been in an old wardrobe in the attic. Sirius had planned to use the mirror to tell Regulus about Hogwarts – but then Regulus hadn't understood why he was glad to be in Gryffindor. Neither of them called the other. Sirius ended up nicking Regulus' mirror from his room over winter break and giving it to James. The Sirius in the memory was careful to avoid seeing the accusatory glare his little brother was giving him.
"I can call James and spend the rest of the summer there. They invited me." He cleared his throat and tried to sound reasonable, "Don't you think it might be better if I'm not here? I'd only be a distraction."
"You choose to be a distraction," Walburga accused.
"I do not! But you can bet those Slytherins would try to get me into trouble-"
"Oh, and I suppose it was the Slytherins who caused all of the detentions you had this year?"
Their argument continued for quite some time before the scene changed.
When it did, Regulus was standing between their parents at King's Cross Station.
The lack of insignia on Regulus' robes indicated this was his first year. Sirius watched as each of them simultaneously reacted to something. It might have gone unnoticed if he hadn't be watching them so intently – the slightest raise of an eyebrow from Orion, Regulus' furtive glance at their mother. Perhaps sensing her youngest son's gaze, Walburga raised her chin defiantly. It didn't hide the way her mouth twisted as if she'd swallowed something sour.
Sirius turned to investigate and saw his younger self breaking away from a hug with Mrs. Potter.
"You know what is expected of you," Orion addressed Regulus as if he hadn't noticed Sirius at all.
He nodded, "Yes, father."
Their mother embraced Regulus briefly, "Make us proud," she whispered. By Regulus' expression, Sirius knew he wasn't the only one of them who added 'or else' to her sentiment. Orion patted him on the back and after a lame, "We'll see you at Christmas," they disapparated, leaving Regulus alone on the platform.
The Sirius in the memory noticed Regulus a moment later and bid James forward to introduce the two of them. They were momentarily impeded as an older girl who was attempting to float her trunk onto the train lost her concentration and dropped it directly in their path. By the time they made it to Regulus, two Slytherins whom Sirius had known for years, Rosier and Wilkes, were already at his side.
"You really are a wizard then," Sirius remarked. He was sure it was meant to be a joke, only the appearance of two former friends he'd come to hate, forced an edge in his tone.
"They gave me a wand and everything," Regulus answered dryly. After a tense moment of silence, Wilkes offered to help Regulus with his trunk. Rosier followed behind them, surreptitiously watching him and James as if certain they would curse him, despite the proximity of so many bystanders including James' parents.
Sirius recalled that he had planned to find Regulus once the train left – introduce him to his friends, show him how much more fun they were than the boys in Slytherin. But then Peter had wanted to play Exploding Snap. And then the food trolley came by. And then James was bored and wanted to find Snape.
It was while they were looking for Snape, that he saw Regulus. He was sitting among a group of first years that no one would doubt were all bound for Slytherin – Selwyn, Rowle, Carrow. They were kids Regulus had been thrown together with at every pureblood function he could remember.
On his first trip to Hogwarts Sirius had seen Avery and Rosier in a compartment and instinctively kept walking. If Regulus didn't have that same inclination, there was simply nothing to be said in the span of a train ride to change his mind…
When the scene changed, Regulus was lying on a sleeping bag in the Great Hall, along with every other student. Sirius recognized it to be one of the mandatory drills that the Ministry insisted Hogwarts take part in. Sirius wouldn't have minded them if they hadn't been forced to line up in alphabetical order by year and house. While Remus, Peter and James were always close together, his last name ensured he was stuck with only Lily for company, something he and James were mutually unhappy about.
Regulus was in between the wall and a dark-haired girl who wouldn't stop fidgeting. He was faced away from her and still enough, he might have been asleep. Rather suddenly, he rolled to his back,
"What's wrong with you?" he whispered.
The girl looked at him in surprise, clearly having thought he was asleep. "The floor is hard," she complained. It was difficult to be sure in the dim lighting, but considering the alphabetical-order-rule, Sirius thought it was Maliah Bones.
Regulus sat up, and almost instantly, Narcissa was there to check on him, her Prefect badge glinting in the candlelight. Her presence confirmed it was Regulus' first year, as she would have been a seventh year at that time.
"You should be asleep," she told him crossly.
"And if I were in a bed I would be," he answered petulantly. "Instead I am in the filthy floor of a dining hall."
Narcissa raised a delicate eyebrow, "I fail to see how this my problem."
"The floor is hard, Cissy," he whined. "Perhaps the older students used a cushioning charm, but we're first years."
Narcissa glanced to see who else he was referring to and must've scrutinized the girl beside him for a full minute, waiting until she looked away, before relenting, "Very well," she withdrew her wand and the two of them rose slightly as the cushioning charm took effect. "Now, go to sleep," she told them. It looked as if everyone around them was asleep already, but Narcissa raised her voice just in case, "If I have to come back over here, you will regret it."
Regulus smirked as Narcissa left and started to lay back down.
"Why did you do that?"
"It seemed obvious I wouldn't be getting any sleep otherwise."
"It's like she was waiting for you to need something – and she didn't cushion anyone else," she pointed out, apparently disturbed by that fact.
"Well, she is my cousin."
She scoffed, "My brother is Head Boy. You can be sure he won't be checking on me personally."
Regulus laid back and closed his eyes, "Divided houses will do that," he breathed.
"It isn't a matter of divided houses its-" she trailed off when Regulus started to smile.
"Fairness?" he suggested.
"Just forget it," she muttered, lying back down.
Rather than try to sleep she studied the ceiling of the Great Hall which had been charmed to look like the night sky. Several minutes passed. Apparently unable to fall asleep himself, Regulus opened his eyes. He gazed at the ceiling until noticing she was still awake. He seemed to consider something.
"Why aren't you in Hufflepuff?" he asked, his voice void of anything but curiosity.
She looked slightly amused, "Don't you mean, 'I'll bet you're glad you're not in Hufflepuff'? That's more in line with what our housemates have been asking."
"You may not have wanted Hufflepuff, but you didn't want to be in Slytherin either," he said knowingly. She looked at him in surprise. "I'm extremely observant," he answered the unasked question.
She looked as if she would refute him before deflating slightly, "I told the hat I didn't want to be in Hufflepuff," she admitted, eliciting a smirk from Regulus. "I'd only be in my siblings' shadow there. I honestly thought it would put me in Ravenclaw, but Slytherin is… fine."
Regulus scoffed, "Its fine," he repeated. "I'd advise you not to let anyone else hear you say that." It was too dark to see but Sirius imagined she was blushing. "Have you heard from your parents since being sorted?" Regulus asked after a moment, watching her carefully.
She nodded, "They wrote they were proud of me for choosing my own path."
Regulus frowned slightly and averted his eyes to the ceiling. Sirius knew he was thinking of their parent's reaction to his Gryffindor sorting. The Bones family was associated to Hufflepuff as much as the Blacks were known for being Slytherin.
"What about you?" she asked cautiously, "Did the hat consider… any other houses?"
He hesitated before answering, "No, I'm Slytherin through and through." Before she could do anything like dare ask him anything personal, he rolled over to his side and faced the wall, effectively ending their conversation.
When the scene changed, Sirius was surprised to see himself in the next memory. He and Regulus were in the basement at Grimmauld Place, in a room the two of them had set up to practice dueling when their parents were out of the house. It was a testament of their boredom that they were voluntarily spending time together.
"Mum and dad don't find out about this," the eleven year old Regulus reminded him.
"Do you really think I'm going to tell?" Sirius smirked. "You can't go crying to them when you get hurt."
When the scene changed, Regulus was several years older. He was on the Hogwarts Express, casually leaned against one of the compartments towards the back of the carriage. His Prefect badge stood out in stark contrast to his black robes. Sirius recalled being incensed to learn Regulus had been made a Prefect. Even more so that he managed to keep his badge despite seemingly never performing any of the Prefect duties – except when it was to take advantage of his position of authority, of course.
The compartment across from him opened, revealing Maliah Bones. This time she looked exactly as Sirius remembered her–with the arrogant Pureblood posture he'd come to expect of Slytherins, perfectly coifed shiny dark hair, and ever-present glint in her eyes that gave the irritating impression she knew something you didn't.
As her eyes fell to Regulus' Prefect badge, his surreptitiously dropped to her chest. A flicker of disappointment graced his features, quickly replaced by indifference. He appeared to be examining something just above her head when she looked up.
"Interesting," she said simply, drawing his gaze.
He glanced down at his badge. "I considered sending it back," he admitted.
"But that would mean relenting power to someone else, and you would never willingly do that, would you?" she asked, though clearly already knowing the answer.
Regulus quirked an eyebrow, "But you would, wouldn't you?"
She flushed slightly, "What is that supposed to mean?"
"There's no way Dumbledore chose someone in our house over you as Prefect."
Maliah scowled, "If you knew half as much as you think you do, you'd be-"
"At the top of our class?" he asked casually, "Because I am. At the top of our class, that is."
Maliah was spared from having to answer as the compartment door opened again. Elara Shafiq joined them, Prefect badge glinting. She looked between the two of them with a bemused expression.
"You two are… talking," she remarked as if it was a surprise.
"It's been known to happen," Maliah said distastefully, "Mostly he talks about himself."
Elara raised an eyebrow and looked at Regulus.
"I came to collect my Prefect counterpart in the hope we could endure the outrage of our fellow Prefects together," he explained solemnly.
Elara smirked, "Really? Because I can picture you waltzing into the Prefect compartment arrogantly, hashing out some insults and practically begging someone to try and give you detention."
He shook his head regretfully, "It's like you don't know me at all."
"Personally, I look forward to the animosity that's sure to welcome us," Elara continued, her eyes looking between them, "I expect Maliah would have appreciated you taking the focus off of her."
"Alas, I'm not a Prefect," Maliah said wryly, walking away from them. "You two have fun though," she called over her shoulder.
Regulus watched her disappear inside a different compartment; Elara watched him suspiciously.
"What are you doing?" she demanded the moment he looked at her.
Regulus smirked, "If you want your moment to go in alone, I don't mind to wait outside."
"You know that's not what I meant."
"In that case…" he hooked his arm through hers and began to lead her towards the front of the carriage "We're nearly late."
"Since when do you and Maliah talk?" she asked as they walked, "You barely talk to anyone."
"She's a pureblood. You're her friend; I'm your friend. What could you possibly have against it?" he asked unconcernedly.
She didn't immediately answer.
A younger student came tumbling out from a compartment in front of them. His face turned an immense shade of red as his books and muggle papers scattered everywhere.
Rosier and Wilkes stepped into the corridor behind him. "Oh, no. Prefects," Wilkes smirked at each of them.
"Do you mind taking this elsewhere?" Elara asked coolly. "We're running late as it is."
The boy looked at her in horror as she was surely meant to help him, being a Prefect. If it were possible his face became even redder.
Regulus' eyes slanted in her direction and let out a barklike laugh, "I think what she meant to say is, 'what's going on here?'"
"Our new Hufflepuff friend was lost, but I think we've gotten him sorted out now," Rosier answered, eyeing Shafiq appreciatively.
Regulus magicked the books and parchment into a pile as the boy climbed unsteadily to his feet. "You should pay more attention to where you're going," he advised as he levitated the pile into the boy's arms. The Hufflepuff was then directed to find a compartment towards the front of the train.
A moment later, he and Elara were again on their way to the Prefect compartment. "You can do what you want," she muttered, "But I'm not ostracizing myself from the rest of the house just because I'm a Prefect."
Regulus scoffed, "You say that as if I'm the morally superior one of the two of us." She raised an eyebrow. "We should both turn in our badges." By then they had reached the Prefect carriage. He held open the door for her.
"It would be the honorable thing," she muttered, smiling brightly. As expected, they were met with obvious disdain from the Prefects from the other houses. Neither appeared remotely bothered by the negative attention.
When the scene changed, Regulus was in the trophy room at Hogwarts. With a flick of his wand the trophies on the nearest shelf began to gleam as if freshly polished. He stashed his wand and pulled out a book to read. Clearly he was meant to be polishing the trophies without magic and didn't want to be obvious by finishing too quickly.
From the hallway, someone could be heard whistling, and drawing nearer. Regulus put away his book and had just managed to pick up a rag and a random trophy as James Potter entered the room.
"I didn't think anyone would be in here," James said amicably, though with a slight smirk that Sirius remembered well.
"And here I was thinking you had some means to know where everyone in the castle is at all times," Regulus said dryly.
James' smirk widened, "You got detention?"
"No, I was considering career options for after I leave school. I think I'll scratch 'squib caretaker' off my list after this."
James' eyes narrowed, "You decided your career path a long time ago. I just hope for Sirius' sake you'll change your mind."
Regulus looked rather smug, "I'm sure you'll find a way to comfort him."
James stared at him a moment. "I came to see if my name has been added to the official record of Head Boys and Head Girls, but if I have a Prefect in detention, as Head Boy, I feel obligated to ensure he doesn't take any shortcuts." He folded his arms and leaned against a wall, clearly intending to be there for a while.
"Enjoy the show," Regulus said as he grabbed another trophy to polish.
James looked around them and whistled dramatically. "There sure are a lot of trophies in here," he remarked. "It's going to take hours to clean them all without magic… Are you sure you're going to be able to play tomorrow?"
"I'm sure I'll manage."
"I don't expect you're used to a lot of manual labor… your arm will probably be really sore. And let's face it, you only ever manage to catch the snitch after it's practically hit you in the face."
"My abysmal seeking must be why you're here," Regulus said arrogantly.
"I already told you why I was here," James said, moving to stand beside Regulus on the pretense of being able to better see the list of past Head Boys and Head Girls. "It has been updated," he verified. "And look at that! James Potter and Lily Evans, forever together in writing just as it was meant to be!"
Regulus looked nauseated by the idea, no doubt because of Lily' blood status.
"Something to say about that, Black?" He didn't answer. "You know, sometimes I almost feel bad for you Slytherins. Limited as you are to the girls in your house."
"Your sympathy is unwarranted."
James sniggered, "If you go solely on blood status I guess... Alecto probably looks a lot better to you than she does me."
Regulus pursed his lips.
Realizing he wasn't going to answer, James returned his attention to the list of names and laughed suddenly, "There hasn't been a Slytherin Head Boy since 1944." That seemed to give Regulus pause.
"I've been thinking – maybe I should play seeker tomorrow," James said. "It'll be the last time the two of us play against each other… You had all of last year to practice." Regulus scowled. This would have been his fourth year as Slytherin's seeker. James withdrew a snitch from his pocket. He released it and due to their close proximity, it nearly hit Regulus before he caught it again.
"How embarrassing would it be for you when I caught the snitch first?"
He released it again, and Regulus immediately swiped it from the air, turning on him.
"You shouldn't overestimate how badly I want to play tomorrow."
"What are you going to do?" James challenged, straightening his posture. They were the same height.
Regulus didn't miss the glint in his eyes. He smirked, "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not daft enough to rise to your bait."
"Oh, you're plenty daft, if only you weren't afraid-"
"Pot-ter," an amused voice called from the doorway. Both boys looked and found Professor Slughorn, the Head of Slytherin house, had joined them. "You aren't trying to give my seeker cause for a detention during tomorrow's game, are you?"
James looked entirely unabashed, "No, sir. I was simply making sure my Prefect wasn't cutting corners in his detention."
Slughorn laughed good-naturedly, "That isn't necessary. We can trust Regulus to do the right thing." Regulus smiled charmingly; James rolled his eyes. "Come on now, back to Gryffindor for you," Slughorn beckoned him forward.
James gave Regulus one last look of loathing before walking away.
With a wink, Slughorn cast a spell, cleaning an entire wall of trophies. His wide girth blocked James from seeing what he had done.
The scene changed and Regulus was walking towards the castle from Hogsmeade, no doubt returning from someplace he never should have been. He stopped suddenly, and squinted into the distance.
Sirius recognized himself in his animagus form, hiding within some undergrowth and recalled this night. It wasn't something he would admit aloud, but he did have a habit of finding Regulus on the Marauders map. Sometimes it was to avoid him, other times it was to ensure he would be affected by their latest prank – and occasionally it was just to see where he was.
On this particular night, he hadn't been able to find his name on the map at all. Subsequently, he spent half the evening watching and waiting for him to reappear.
Either out of curiosity or boredom, when his name finally reappeared, he had gone to spy on him. He had intended to remain hidden but was also amused by the idea of Regulus seeing him and getting scared as his form did look a bit like the grim.
Such was not the case. Regulus instead cast a series of stunning spells at him, ensuring it was impossible for him to avoid them all.
Frozen in his animagus form, Sirius watched Regulus approach him, his wand at the ready. After studying him briefly, Regulus hit him with a finite incantatem spell. Nothing happened. He seemed to ponder something for a moment.
"You really are just a stupid dog then," he observed.
By then, the stunning spell was beginning to wear off. Padfoot growled.
Nonverbally, Regulus levitated a rock, transfigured it into a stick and banished it into the forest.
"Go fetch," he commanded with a hint of anger.
Sirius, who always thought he played his part of loveable dog well, realized now he had stared too intently to be natural and he was far too reluctant to go after the stick.
A vision of Regulus in the trophy room copying down the names of past Slytherin Head Boys quickly showed before fading.
When the scene reformed, Regulus was in a room filled with vast books and records, too tightly enclosed even for a library. He had two books opened before him. The first one appeared to contain the wizarding family surnames beginning with the letter "G" while the other contained names beginning with "S". Additionally he had a heavy file folder of parchment, as if cross-referencing the data.
There was a slightly older brunette sitting at a desk in the corner. She pretended to busy herself with other things, but could scarcely go a moment without looking in Regulus' direction. Something about her almost nonexistent neck, and eyes reminded Sirius of a toad.
He suspected they were inside the Ministry of Magic as it was only there that official records of genealogy were meant to be contained. Of course, their mother had always held that their family records were more accurate, so for Regulus to be looking there was highly amusing to Sirius.
Looking as if he would rather stab his eyes out than do so, Regulus gathered up the materials he had been looking through and carried them to the woman at the desk.
She smiled brightly, "All done, Mr. Black?" She asked, climbing to her feet, though not obtaining much height even after she had done so. The unusually short woman walked closer to Regulus than necessary as they returned the materials together. Each time he tried to distance himself, she sidestepped, drawing closer to him again.
After several minutes of scuttling around, Regulus returned to his seat with a book that contained a portion of surnames that began with "R" and a separate file folder. Clearly having expected the woman would return to her desk, he nearly startled when she brushed a hand across his shoulders,
"You're working awfully hard for someone who doesn't have to," she purred near his ear.
Regulus' jaw tensed, "How could you possibly know what I do?" he asked mildly.
"Oh, don't misunderstand me," she simpered, moving to stand before him. "It's admirable to have born into a life of privilege. I only meant, well, I don't expect you would have to get your start at the Ministry as an intern."
"Whatever you accomplish in life, you can know you got there on your own. No one is going to say it was your life of privilege that made you successful," Regulus answered.
"If you're successful in the end, does it really matter how you got there?" she asked, leaning over the desk. Her robes pulled away enough to offer a view of her cleavage.
Regulus didn't look up, "I'm surprised you haven't just made up a connection to an ancient family," he said absently. He furtively glanced at his list of past Slytherin Head Boys before tucking it back out of sight. He tore open the file folder and quickly flipped through it.
Sirius thought he knew what he was looking for: Voldemort told him he had been Head Boy. Presumably, he would have been in Slytherin. Was he researching the past Slytherin Head Boys to find out who Voldemort had been before adopting his alternate appellation?
The woman's eyes widened, "Is that possible?" she asked with a gleam in her eye. "From my understanding, the oldest families teach their children the lineage of the other ancient houses." He didn't answer, too immersed in what he was reading. She brushed a hand across his arm, "How would one go about… making a connection to an ancient family?"
Regulus balked, almost as if he hadn't realized they had been talking, "Ambitious girl like you?" he asked, picking up his list and leaving the books for her to put away. "I'm sure you'll figure something out," he said on his way out the door.