Chapter 4
"Cruel is the strife of brothers." –Aristotle
I.
Regulus stared at the pile of various types of underwear before him, then flicked his eyes over to Rose. "So… what are we supposed to do with these exactly?"
Rose stroked her chin, looking thoughtful. Her face was once again androgynous, her hair a mossy green and in a long ponytail and eyes a solid red—no pupil or whites. Regulus wasn't sure if she just liked freaking out her fellow first years and creeping everyone else (even the teachers) out, or if she was getting into the Christmas spirit. He rather doubted the latter. "I dunno," she shrugged.
"What! You don't know!? Then why did we steal all of our classmates undergarments?!"
Rose raised her hands up in surrender, or perhaps she was just trying to protect herself from his wrath. "Hey now, we didn't steal all of our classmates underpants, just the ones that pissed us off."
"But I thought you had a plan!"
"This was the plan," she gave an awkward smile. "Big heists aren't my forte, I'm more of a sticky fingers kinda person." He gave her a furious stare and turned to march out of the empty classroom.
("I'll figure out what to do with them! Really!" She called after him. He slammed the door behind him. Kuronue sighed and muttered, "Hn. Everybody's a critic.")
II.
It had been two days since Regulus' temper tantrum, and he had been giving Kuronue the silent treatment. Did he think this would make her apologize for whatever it was he thought she should apologize for? Pfft, as if. Kuronue couldn't say that she was bothered by the two days of silence. She had actually been able to further her studies in rituals from the texts in the library that she may or may not have taken illegally from the Restricted Section. Though the books were boring, she felt she was a step closer to getting her pendant back. Apparently, when drawing the runes for the ritual, instead of using purified chalk, blood worked much better, but the use of any magic that required blood as a 'sacrifice' was decreed illegal by the Ministry of Magic. When had Kuronue ever been concerned with the law though?
Kuronue had also looked up some already created Summoning Rituals, and they were helpful, though considering Kuronue wanted to summon an object from a different realm, she knew that she would have to create her own. It was too bad that the magical world was completely ignorant of the Demon World, or even demons in general. If they weren't, Kuronue was sure that a Dark Lord would have already found a way to summon demons, and it would be much easier to work from that.
(Sometimes, Kuronue got an uneasy feeling in her stomach, like something fizzy was eating away at her stomach lining, and then the tips of her fingers started to tingle like she'd been sitting on them for an hour. Because what she was doing… what Kuronue was trying to create…. It was almost like a portal. And if something went wrong and instead of just getting back her pendant she created a permanent hole in Human World to Demon World…. Then demons could roam wherever they wanted freely.
It would be pure chaos.
It was frightening to think about.
[On the other hand, Kuronue couldn't help but cackle at the thought. She wondered how King Enma—that bastard—would deal with that: a permanently open portal to the Human World. He'd probably go insane.
And it was a heady feeling to think that she, Kuronue, would have been the one to make the portal.]
Kuronue shook her head and shivered. She'd have to be very careful. If there ever was a portal that Enma couldn't close, he'd probably find her and chuck her back into Demon World, which would be dangerous at the moment considering she hadn't been able to transform into her demon form yet.)
III.
When at dinner on the last day at Hogwarts before it was time for Christmas vacation Kuronue saw Sirius Black—that dunce—shoot a spell at Regulus that wrote the word 'SWOT' on his forehead, she had an idea. An idea so bloody brilliant that she decided to treat herself to a second rare and bloody steak.
Now she just needed an accomplice to do the magic required.
Kuronue spotted a whole bowl of peach slices. Oh well, she thought as she commandeered the bowl, I'll just think about it after break. Then she started on her feast.
IV.
Raphael had decided to take his family to Whistler in Canada for the duration of the Christmas vacation. Originally he had only wanted to bring Rosie with him, but Cecelia had insisted that they should stay together for the holidays like a family should, and what was he doing favoring one child when they had three to think about?
(Which basically meant that she needed to go and keep up appearances with her little gossip friends so they wouldn't think that they were having marital troubles, and that instead of paying attention to Rosalie he should be putting all he had into Rodolphus and Rabastan—the respectable and talented of their children.)
The magic shops in Whistler mostly sold bobbles and souvenirs, but there were a select few shops that held things that Raphael knew would interest Rosie, like the menagerie and book shop.
He just wished his wife and sons were not there. And he was sure Rosie felt the same.
"Rabastan I swear, if you don't leave my hair alone I'll put an acromantula in your bed while you're sleeping!" Rosie threatened while slapping Rabastan's hands that had been yanking her corn yellow hair none too gently.
"My apologies sister," he sneered, "I was just marvelling at the only magic that you can do."
Rodolphus laughed nastily, and Cecelia smirked with a sniff.
"That's enough," Raphael commanded sternly, and almost smiled when Rosie perked up at his voice. "Why don't you boys take your mother sightseeing? Rosie and I will be in the shops."
He grabbed hold of Rosie's hand and walked away before they could complain. After they were a good distance away, Rosie started giggling and Raphael smiled. "Where do you want to go first Rosie?"
Her face went blank right before Raphael's eyes, though he wasn't worried. The first time she had done this Raphael had panicked, but she had snapped right out of it in a few seconds. When he had asked Rosie what had happened, she had told him that she was just thinking really hard about something, and though Raphael didn't quite believe that he accepted it. Rosie had always come to him if there was something dangerous, like the time she had found a Graphorn—a large, hump-backed creature with greyish-purple skin tougher than a dragons, can repel most spells, has two golden horns and walks on four-thumbed feet—in the forest by their home back in Wales.
(That was the day that Raphael knew for sure that his daughter wasn't going into Gryffindor; she had self-preservation. As a reward for handling the situation so maturely at the young age of eight, Raphael had let Rosie keep the Graphorns two golden horns and had helped her stick them to the wall in her room.)
[Raphael knew that if either of his sons had been in the same situation, they would have thrown sticks and stones at the creature and taunted it.]
Rosie came out of her trance. "The menagerie! I know just what to get Regulus for Christmas."
"I thought you two were having a spat," Raphael said.
"Yeah, yeah," she waved a hand indolently. "He just needs a bit of time to get over it."
Raphael smiled and swung his daughter up, throwing her over his shoulder. She whooped when he started running at top speed to the menagerie. This is what I want, Raphael thought, just a vacation with the two of us.
He made a vow that all of the other vacations they went on would be just them.
V.
Regulus was painfully bored. Mother was holed away in her bedroom drinking sherry, and Father had retreated to his study as soon as the arduous task of present opening was over. Now Regulus was sitting on his bed with various Dark Arts books around him. He had hung up his three new dress robes in the closet already, and dumped the useless trinkets he had been gifted in his desk drawers. Now there was nothing to do but read, and who wanted to read on Christmas?
Regulus wondered if the day would have been more exciting if Sirius was at home instead of over at Potter's house. Probably not. Sirius would most likely whine the whole time about wanting to be at Potter's, burn all of his presents that he deemed evil, then talk about how awesome Potter was.
Honestly, Regulus thought, the way he worships Potter makes me wonder if he wants to play bed Quiddich with him.
Regulus blinked. What did bed Quiddich even mean? He'd been spending too much time with Rose if he was now repeating things she had said to him in his head. He frowned to himself; he actually hadn't been spending time with Rose though, so maybe since she wasn't there to say anything, he was compensating by thinking things she had said before?
Truthfully, Regulus didn't even know why he was angry with Rose anymore. He knew it was about the undergarments, but he didn't know why it had seemed like such a big deal at the time. He'd come to the conclusion a couple days into the holidays that he had been silly, and that if he had wanted to do something grand with the pilfered underclothes, he should have come up with a plan on his own instead of just expecting Rose to know.
He wasn't going to apologize though, because Rose hated apologies. She had once said to him, "Apologies are useless. Just show that you're sorry and move past it. People say that to be the bigger person is to apologize and recognize your mistakes, but I think it's all about giving power. When you say sorry to someone, you're giving them power; letting them weigh your worth; bring you to your knees. You can be sorry and recognize that you were wrong, that's good. Now show it."
So Regulus had decided that when he went back to Hogwarts, he would pretend as if nothing had happened, but he would make sure to keep his emotions in check. And for that he had started to delve deeper into Occlumency.
A tapping came from his window. When Regulus looked over he saw what looked like a small, underfed vulture. Its feathers were blackish green, and it had a sharp beak. It also had a small box and envelope clutched in its talons, which made Regulus open the window for it, thinking it was some sort of mutant post owl. The bird dropped its burdens on Regulus' bed and fluttered up to perch on his dresser.
When Regulus opened the envelope, he was surprised:
'Regulus,
I hope you're not having too dull a time (though considering where you are, that would be pretty fucking hard). I'm having a great time with my father in Whistler (it's in Canada) and we were looking through the shops when I figured out what to get you for Christmas.
The bird that delivered this letter is an Augurey (also called an Irish Phoenix). They're really interesting because they sing a long and mournful cry when it's about to rain. They eat insects and fairies (I put a fair amount of its food in the package that came with this letter so you wouldn't have to worry about feeding it for a while), and live in tear-shaped nests made of thorns and brambles, but a perch will do. Oh, and their feathers repel ink, so you can't use them as quills.
(Did I mention that the bird is your present? Because it is.)
Love,
Rosalie Raphaella Lestrange
P.S. I named him Eerie, and he already responds to it so you're not allowed to change it. Ha!'
Regulus looked up at his new pet, "Hello Eerie."
Eerie let out a mournful cry.
VI.
"Excuse me."
Lily Evans looked up from the book she was reading to see a little Slytherin first year. She couldn't tell if the Slytherin was a boy or a girl, which was disconcerting. What was more disturbing was the sinister grin on the preteens face. "Yes? Did you need help with something?"
The he/she chuckled lowly, which freaked Lily out—how does a first year, whose voice hasn't broken yet, chuckle lowly? "I'm looking for some assistance in a Charms project, and I have been reliably informed that you are the best candidate."
"You mean like… tutoring?" Lily asked cautiously.
"Not exactly," the blue-eyed first year said, then leaned forward, brown hair falling over his/her shoulder, with a look far too intense for an eleven year old. "Do you want to pull a prank on Sirius Black that will most certainly get him in trouble?"
Suddenly, Lily was all ears.
VII.
"You were the one who took the underwear?!"
"Well, yeah, not alone though. Regulus helped."
"Regulus who?"
"Regulus Black, the more intelligent brother. He's in my year and is a genius in magic, well, except Potions. He really sucks at making potions, and he has no patience for Herbolo—"
"Don't try to distract me! I should tell the Headmaster about this! You can't just get away with this!"
"Well, I kinda did. I mean, then didn't even fucking suspect me. I'm actually a bit offended; do I not look good enough to be a thief? Maybe I should get a hat…."
"That's it! I'm getting Professor Dumbledore!"
"Don't be such a pansy. You're a lily aren't you? So act like it! Stop hiding behind pansies and let your lily-ness shine through!"
"What does that even mean?"
"…. Just remember that we're doing this to get back at Sirius for being a bitch."
"Oh, alright."
VIII.
Kuronue loved the Forbidden Forest. It was so fresh and she could always find some tasty fruit to eat, but what she probably liked the most was the feeling of danger it exuded. It made Kuronue feel like she was back in Demon World, if only for a little while. It took away the lingering homesickness. And was the best place to train. For a while, Kuronue had been attempting to materialize her scythes. She figured that it was best to start small, and then work her way up to a complete transformation into her demon form.
The only problem was….
"Fuck!" Kuronue yelled after a fifth attempt at materializing her scythes fizzled out. She was panting with exertion, having lost a lot of her energy on the failed attempts, and she had a headache from concentrating so hard. "What am I doing wrong?"
Maybe, Kuronue thought contemplatively, I should start even smaller….
She materialized a small knife in each hand and cheered.
Then they blew up in her face.
Right. Don't lose concentration.
IX.
After Transfigurations, Lily walked up to McGonagall's desk. "Professor?"
"Yes Ms. Evans?"
"I overheard Potter and Black yesterday, they were talking about the things that were stolen from the first years." Here Lily hesitated.
"Ms. Evans?"
"Professor, I think they've hidden the missing items in Black's trunk."
McGonagall's lips thinned. "Thank you Ms. Evans."
X.
Regulus stared at Rose after she told him what she had done. "Why did you have to magically sew the undergarments into a quilt?"
Rose paused, the corners of her mouth turning down a bit, before she shrugged, "I dunno. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and Lily did a really good job."
Regulus face palmed, and Rose lost herself in her own mirth. He soon followed, remembering the indignant look on his brother's face every day for a month because of the detentions he got. Potter having to do it with him was just a bonus.