Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

AN: This is written for Regulus Black week for hillstar's 'Character Appreciation Challenge'. Regulus is four, Rosier is five and Sirius is six. This is meant to go with my 'Not What You Think' series but is set so long before it that you don't need to have read it. I've kept Rosier ambiguous so that it could either be my OC or Evan if you haven't read the other stories. It is also age-compliant for Evan Rosier in the 'Problems with Siblings' series.

Regulus's First Flight

"I think we've lost him," laughed Sirius as he and Regulus ran out of the trees and settled down on the grass next to the pond. He took his shoes and socks off to dip his feet into the cool water and Regulus pulled a face in disgust.

"You'll get your feet all yucky," said Regulus. "There's mud at the bottom and there's bugs in the water!"

"I don't care about bugs, Reggie," said Sirius.

"But Mother will be cross," said Regulus.

"Mother isn't even watching," Sirius told him. "She's too busy gossiping."

He was right. Regulus and Sirius had been allowed to play outside in the garden of the Rosier Manor while their Mother had tea with her friend, Mrs Rosier. The garden was huge: the sort of garden one could get lost in for hours with rose gardens, a dragon-fly pond network, a hedged labyrinth and a greenhouse full of exotic plants. However, Mrs Black had little concern for her children's safety and wasn't watching them. The most poisonous plants and the highest trees were warded so that the children wouldn't hurt themselves and there were several House Elves tending to the garden.

"I wonder where Rosier is now," pondered Regulus. Rosier, who was a few months younger than Sirius, had wanted to play with them, but Sirius hadn't wanted to and they'd run away. "Why don't you like him, Sirius?"

"I just don't," said Sirius. "I don't want you playing with him."

"But why?" asked Regulus. Regulus couldn't think of anything that Rosier had done to make Sirius not like him. He wasn't particularly mean like the other big boys such as Nott and Lestrange. In fact he seemed to spend most of the time painting or playing with insects. Although insects were dirty, there wasn't anything particularly bad about them.

"He's evil and mean to you. Every time we see him, someone ends up getting hurt and he likes to read dark magic books," explained Sirius.

Regulus tried hard to remember the last time they'd seen Rosier. Rosier had taken Sirius and him exploring in one of the greenhouses and Regulus had accidently touched one of the plants. The plant had left an angry red burn on Regulus's arm and he'd ended up crying while Sirius had yelled at Rosier for poisoning him. It hadn't been Rosier's fault – that's what Regulus thought anyway, but it had been added to the list of reasons why Sirius thought Rosier was mean and untrustworthy.

"He isn't evil. He's just stupid sometimes," said Regulus, thinking of another time when Rosier had led him far too high up a tree and got them both stuck. "He's not into dark magic, either."

"Yes he is," said Sirius, "I saw him reading a book about Dementors."

"What're they?"

"Dementors are the foulest creatures in the world. They live in Azkaban and they suck out people's souls," Sirius said. Before Sirius could explain more about Dementors, the two boys heard a shout.

"Sirius! Regulus!" Rosier was approaching.

"Quick, hide!" whispered Sirius. The two boys scrambled to hide behind the nearest bush.

Heavy footfalls could be heard from their hiding place.

"Sirius? I can see your feet. Come out!" Rosier said.

"Stay put," Sirius whispered to Regulus.

"Please come out. I've got a really fun game we can play. Please?" When no answer came from the bush, Rosier continued. "Can't one of you play with me? Regulus, won't you even come and see what I've found to do?" he whined. "I thought we were friends?"

Regulus was curious. He still didn't believe what Sirius had said about Rosier liking dark magic. Surely it wouldn't do too much harm to play with him, just for a bit. Rosier seemed so sad.

"No, Regulus," cautioned Sirius. However, Regulus didn't listen and looked out from their hiding place.

His eyes widened. In Rosier's hand was a full-sized, adult broomstick. All thoughts of caution went out the window. "Wow!" he said.

"I know," said Rosier, grinning from ear to ear. "Dad forgot to lock the broom shed." Hearing the word broomstick, Sirius had also emerged, but both Rosier and Regulus chose to ignore him. After all, Sirius had not wanted to play.

"Come on, Regulus. I'll show you the garden like you've never seen it before," said Rosier. Regulus could only feel excitement as he clambered onto the broom behind Rosier and held on tightly.

Flying was the best feeling in the world. Rosier flew low at first, at around the level Regulus's head would normally be, but it was still fun whizzing in and out of the trees in the woodland part of the garden. When they reached the more structured part of the garden, Rosier swooped over bushes, back down so that they could touch the fountains, and finally stopped just above the hedge that made up the outside edge of the labyrinth.

"I thought it would be fun to walk along here," said Rosier. "The hedge is normally above our heads, so we'll get to see the labyrinth completely differently."

"It looks dangerous," said Regulus, looking warily at the thin, not very strong, springy-looking branches that made up the hedge.

"Trust me, it'll be fine," said Rosier. He promptly swung his leg over the edge of the broomstick, stepped onto the top of the hedge, immediately lost his balance and fell to the floor, scratching himself on the way down. "Maybe not. Can you come back down, Regulus?" he said.

Regulus ordered the broom to go back down to Rosier. Some of the scratches on Rosier's arm were starting to bleed, but Rosier didn't seem to mind. He didn't even have a quivering bottom lip, which was what happened to Regulus when he was trying not to cry. Instead, Rosier seemed completely unaffected from getting hurt and swiftly got back on the broom. This time, Rosier's plan was to keep the broomstick between their legs as they 'walked' along the hedge.

With the broomstick, it was extremely easy to get to the centre of the labyrinth. Once there, the two boys sat on the central bench, extremely pleased with themselves for their method of getting there. For Regulus, the experience had been fun, but he wished that Sirius could have been there to enjoy it too. It didn't seem fair that he could have fun experiences with Sirius and fun experiences with Rosier, but never when the two older boys were with each other.

"Regulus, how come your brother doesn't like me?" Rosier asked, echoing Regulus's thoughts.

"I don't know. He says he saw you reading dark magic books," Regulus said.

"I don't read them. They've got too much writing in them to understand," said Rosier. Then he looked down as if embarrassed, "I'm not as good at reading as Sirius is."

"He said it was about Dementors," Regulus clarified.

"Oh, that book. It's not about dark magic, it's about animals. I like the pictures of Thestrals and Kelpies and Griffins."

"To draw?" asked Regulus. Rosier liked drawing a lot, and was very good at it.

"Yes. I even drew one of the Dementors."

"Oh, ok," said Regulus. "Shall we go back?"

Rosier nodded, and the two of them headed back to where they'd last seen Sirius. Regulus held on tightly to Rosier as they flew up and down and in and out. "Look, there he is," shouted Regulus as he spotted Sirius sitting almost exactly where they'd left him, tearing out the long grass by the side of the pond in frustration.

"Ok, let's go down," said Rosier. He angled the broomstick downwards: so much downwards that they were both slipping.

And then they were falling…

Splash!

Luckily they were above the pond, which broke their fall. Regulus felt coldness first and then fear, as he went under the surface. It was dark and he couldn't breathe and he was going to drown because he couldn't swim. Then suddenly there were strong arms around him, he was pulled to the surface and Sirius was helping him back to the shore.

Regulus clung tightly to Sirius as the two of them lay panting on the grassy bank. He started to cry, mostly from the shock. He'd been so scared, so frightened of drowning, but it felt good to have Sirius's protective arms around him.

After a while, Sirius helped him to his feet. "Come on, let's go back and get you dry," the older boy said. The two of them walked arm in arm back to the Manor House. Regulus remained unaware of Rosier sitting shivering and rocking by the pond, his legs drawn up to his chest.

"Oh my goodness, what happened?" cried Mrs Rosier when she saw how sopping wet Regulus and Sirius were. She quickly cast a drying spell and then a cleaning spell on the two boys while Regulus told her he'd fallen in the pond. She wouldn't have to know anything about the broomstick.