The Angel Gabriel

Written by: Lin (MarvelGeek42)

Regulus Black was completely and utterly, absolutely and without a doubt, lost.

Not physically speaking, oh no. He knew exactly where he was; it was hard not to, he was standing in the dead center of Hogsmeade. There were numerous other students around the third year that he could ask for directions, were he to get totally confused.

He meant it in a more spiritual and metaphorical sense.

You see, he had been told by his parents that he was to buy them Christmas presents and this was only his second time in the village. He had no idea what he could possibly get them.

What would they enjoy? It was easy to figure out some things they would not like, but the opposite proved to be significantly harder.

And if that wasn't difficult enough, Regulus also struggled with the supposedly easy task of figuring out who he was supposed to buy presents for.

His parents, sure. But after that, things got a tad more complicated.

Because the list of people he was supposed to buy presents for and the list of people he wanted to buy presents for differed enormously.

Take his cousin Andromeda, for example. She had left the family—for a Muggleborn at that—and consequently she did not deserve a single thing from Regulus or anyone else.

That did, however, not change the fact that it did not feel like that.

Apart from Sirius and Narcissa, Andromeda had always been his favorite among his numerous relatives. And now he was supposed to dismiss and ignore her, simply because she had married the person she loved?

Regulus sighed and ran a hand to his hair. He needed to focus. Thinking about Andromeda would not help him in any way, shape or form.

He could get the gifts for the people he was supposed to first and then the others, he supposed. It wasn't as if money would be a problem. His parents made sure he had a more than ample allowance.

Now armed with a plan, he moved to the next best shop window, not bothering to look at the sign. It was a small store that sold quills.

Narcissa would enjoy some of the more elegant ones here, but he would have to make sure not to buy her any she would already have in her collection. He could think of no way to completely ensure that, but by asking the clerk for the newest one he had the highest chance.

Once he was done with that, me moved onto the clothing store with the intention to buy something for his mother and cousin Bellatrix.

That proved to be way harder than expected once again, because why on earth shouldn't it? He should really start expecting something like this.

Eventually, after a lot of consideration and quite some help from one of the workers, he managed to decide on a robe for Bellatrix and a scarf for his mother, because he really had no other idea what she could possibly like.

That left his grandfather, father, Sirius, his friends—Ana, Stewart, and Severus—and, possibly, if he had the time, Andromeda.

The presents for Severus and Sirius were surprisingly easy to find. He simply entered Zonko's and the potion shop and asked for the newest product they had. They might have had the chance to buy these thing themselves, but Regulus couldn't see either of them being disappointed at having more.

Getting something for Stewart was the easiest of all, because going into Honeydukes and grabbing random candy until he had gotten to his price limit was not hard at all.

After a bit of thought into it, the gift for Ana was fairly obvious, too. Given how obsessed she was with her cat, it was only reasonable to give her something for that beast.

Regulus mentally checked his list. He had Narcissa, his mother, Bellatrix, Sirius, Ana, Stewart, and Severus. That left his father and grandfather, and possibly, Andromeda.

At this point he had made it pretty obvious to himself that he wanted to do that, so why was he even questioning this.

It took several hours until he managed to find something for his father and grandfather. At the very least it felt like it, but once he did find something, he was very proud of it. For Father, he got a set of brushes, because Regulus knew that he always used the up quickly, and for Grandfather he decided to make something himself.

Grandfather had always said that the fact that they were giving was important, not what they did.

He made sure he still had enough time—and, surprisingly, he did—and quickly returned to the clothing store.

Andromeda had always loves scarves and he was sure she would like this one, too.

With a smile on his face, Regulis returned to the castle. He had gotten everything he needed.