The owl came in at supper that night. That wasn't typical, but tonight it was expected. Mother wrung her hands as Father grabbed their family owl's leg and pulled at the delicate tie.
Regulus took advantage of their distraction to sneak his pet cat a bit of pheasant.
"What does it say?!" his mother exclaimed as Father unrolled the scrap of paper.
Father's eyebrows furrowed and then, catching Mother's frantic look, tried to suppress a smile. "Guess," he said.
"Merlin," Mother whispered, delicately wiping her brow with a kerchief, "Tell me it's not Hufflepuff, that's all I ask."
Regulus giggled, he couldn't help it. His mother shot him a chastising look, but his father laughed.
Mother sighed, "Orion, don't encourage the boy. Now tell us."
His father cleared his throat dramatically, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves…" every word was unnecessarily drawn out, "a… GRYFFINDOR!"
His mother, sufficiently appeased, went back to cutting her green beans. "I don't know why just once he couldn't be a proper Black and get sorted into Slytherin," she mused.
"He's our rogue boy," Father said, "I'm just glad to hear he hasn't been expelled yet."
"Gryffindor has a respectable history, but these days, you know," she sent Father a knowing look, "Slytherin's the only safe place left."
"Have some faith," Father said, "He knows better than to get mixed up in that sort of company. Besides, it could be worse: I heard that nearly all of Hufflepuff is mixed blood and Muggle now."
His mother made a face. "Remind me again why we decided not to homeschool?"
"Because we have good boys and nothing to worry about," his father said, giving him as smile before turning back to his mother, "It's our heritage, our history. It's part of our culture, the first real taste of the wizarding community." The way he said it made Regulus suspect they had this conversation many, many times.
His mother let out a sigh. "I suppose there'd be talk if we kept Regulus home. People are so eager to throw around the S word."
"He'll do just fine at Hogwarts."
Mother hummed. Suddenly she reached out to tuck a curling lock of hair behind Regulus' ear, "You'll be a Slytherin, won't you, dear?"
"Yes, Mother," Regulus said obediently.
She smiled at him for a second more, eyes searching him critically. "You need a haircut," she decided.