Disclaimer: This does not belong to me, except for the plot and a few characters, and if you don't know that you probably should read the Harry Potter books before you return to this story.
Sorry about the really long wait for an update, but I've been a) really busy and b) sort of stuck for a long time. I decided to write this story because I'm so interested in Regulus and I have so many ideas for his life story, but there are big gaps where I had nothing planned- such as his school years before the war starts. I might skip a few years at some point. Anyway, I've decided to reorganize the story into sections, and the first one (this one) will be The School Years. I don't know how long it'll be. And I've decided that the story will not be canon, because I have too many ideas that require Regulus to survive, as in Loki-Mischief Maker's wonderful fics, and because I want to use some characters that are very much AU (you'll see). Thanks for reading and please review!
Regulus trudged gloomily into Potions after the other Slytherins. Having History of Magic as his very first class did not make for a wonderful start to his academic career. The lesson had been excruciatingly boring, although Regulus supposed it might have been more interesting if he hadn't already memorized the textbook, which Professor Binns's lectures appeared to be directly extracted from.
It would have been bearable if he'd had someone to talk to, but Phronsie had taken a desk with Desdemona Selwynn, who Regulus knew to be beautiful, cruel and rich, and who he had privately dubbed the Demon Queen. His other options were the incredibly stupid Benedicta Yaxley and Eustacia Urquhart, the even stupider Julius Montague, Marcus Baddock, and Erasmus Mulciber, or Evander Greengrass and Calliope Nott, who were both at least moderately intelligent but who he knew nothing about. In any case, the only person who ended up without a partner was Baddock, who Regulus decided to avoid after establishing over breakfast that he was barely capable of sentient thought, let alone intelligent conversation.
Regulus expected that Potions would be more of the same, unless Greengrass decided he wanted some male company and abandoned Nott. However, when Regulus entered the dungeon, his spirits lifted as he remembered that Potions was the lesson they shared with the Gryffindors. Alasdair and Keegan were whispering with a tiny dark haired girl by one of the tables, and even though Regulus knew he wasn't going to get to speak with them, he was immensely cheered by their presence.
Phronsie tapped his shoulder.
"I'll sit with you in this class." She offered, and Regulus realized, with a sudden start, how very like his cousin Narcissa she was. Cissy was a pureblood supremacist through and through, but she was quiet about it, never cruel or violent. She was the family princess and had easily sorted into Slytherin two years ago, but she had never once, in Regulus' memory, fought with Sirius about politics, and fighting with Sirius was very difficult to avoid when you were a Slytherin. Phronsie was just like that, the darling of her family, a clear Slytherin, and quietly indifferent to the inequality and growing violence in the Wizarding World. She saw nothing wrong with life the way it was, and disliked any disruption of the status quo. When she sat with Demon Queen in History of Magic, she was punishing Regulus for his aberration on Friday with Alasdair and Keegan. He sighed. It appeared that Phronsie was not the true friend he thought she was, although she had been a wonderful childhood companion and they would probably always get along. Regulus decided to do what he did best- pretend that nothing had changed and everything was exactly what it was expected to be. He sat down with Phronsie.
Not a minute after the class had finally settled fat Professor Slughorn bustled in and announced that he had assigned partners.
"Mulciber and Davies, Baddock and Morgan, Montague and Fairchild, Greengrass and Donnelly, Black and Potter…"
Potter? Regulus looked up in surprise. As far as he knew, James Potter was the only child in his entire extended family, and when it came to pureblood families, he knew a lot. He made his way to his assigned table in the back of the room, dimly registering that Keegan had been partnered with Nott, and Alasdair, poor lad, with Demon Queen. He sat down, and was immediately joined by the dark little girl Alasdair and Keegan had been talking to. She was very pretty, with wildly curling hair and a dimple when she smiled.
"I'm Milly." She offered cheerfully, climbing onto the stool. "Sirius told me you would be nice, but only when the Slytherins can't hear."
"He's correct." Regulus confirmed. He glanced around, and saw that their classmates were busy beginning their potion, and bickering, for the most part, although Nott and Keegan seemed to be getting along and Demon Queen was ordering Alasdair around imperiously while he mimicked her whenever she turned her back. At any rate, none of them were paying any attention to Regulus and Milly way in the back. He decided it was safe to have a conversation. "I wasn't aware that Potter had a sister."
"Oh, he didn't." Milly replied, a brief cloud passing over her face. They began to add ingredients to their cauldron. 'I'm a muggleborn orphan, you see. Dumbledore doesn't like us to be left in the muggle world if we don't have to be, something about the orphanages asking too many questions. So after my parents and brothers died in June, he came to get me and tell me about magic- I wasn't eleven until July- and he took me to the Potters, because they were next on the list for a magical orphan. Because they couldn't have any more children after James." Regulus had an urge to apologize about her parents, but suppressed it, sensing that she didn't want to talk about it.
"Are you part Gypsy?" He asked, trying to lighten the tone of the conversation. She grinned widely, tucking her long braid over her shoulder.
"My coloring, you mean? No, I'm Jewish."
"Ah." Regulus said, wondering if it would be impolite to ask what Jewish was. She grinned again.
"Don't worry, James didn't know either. Judaism is a muggle religion- religions are one of the ways muggle explain things like magic, or other things they don't understand, by believing in a higher power like God. Judaism is very old, however, it's more then just a religion, it's also a culture, and some say, a race. In World War II- the muggle equivalent of your war with Grindelwald- the Germans tried to kill all the Jews. My parents were Belgian, and they got captured and put in one of their death camps, but they survived the war and came to England afterwards." Regulus took a minute to absorb this.
"Is there a lot more to that you aren't telling me?" He asked, feeling as if he was missing some pieces.
"Oh, yes. It'd take hours to explain to you just the basics of Judaism and World War II. You'll have to take Muggle Studies." Regulus cringed at the thought of the row that would cause. At least Sirius hadn't done that- their mother would have blown the roof off shouting, and even their father might have come out of his study for that. Regulus wasn't even going to approach the muggle studies classroom while he was at Hogwarts. He glanced up at Milly to see her smiling at him over the cauldron.
"No? Then you can ask Sirius." Regulus regarded her suspiciously.
"He wouldn't know."
"He will after he's finished with muggle studies." She began to crush armadillo scales.
"He's not taking muggle studies. I would have heard if he was." Regulus paused, and then added, muttering, "The whole neighborhood would have heard if he was." Milly shook her head.
"Maybe he was keeping the peace." Regulus looked at her skeptically. "All right, maybe it was because he knows his little brother hates fighting and he wanted to keep their relationship strong before they got to Hogwarts and got sorted into rival houses." Regulus started.
"He wouldn't-" Regulus stopped. Maybe he would. Sirius and Regulus had always been close, and the only times Sirius had ever been willing to let go of a fight were when it had been upsetting him or occasionally, Narcissa. He looked up at Milly suspiciously. "How do you know about this anyway?"
"They were talking about it Friday night. I was in their dorm lighting Shabbat candles with James, and Sirius was convincing them to cheer for you no matter what." Regulus couldn't help but smile at the memory.
"What's Shabbat?" he asked slightly more cheerfully, stirring their potion.
"Oh, it's a Jewish custom- we light candles and say a blessing every Friday night. It's just about the only Jewish thing that was important enough to me to keep doing after…you know…" She gulped hastily. Regulus shifted uncomfortably. He didn't have much experience with crying. Sirius never did, and when Narcissa was upset, all he was expected to do was fetch Andromeda or Sirius. Being both younger and male, no one expected him to be helpful in such situations. Regulus decided to forego an attempt at actual comfort and just distract her.
"And Potter does it with you?" She nodded.
"He was really excited to get a sibling. I think he wanted me more then Mr. and Mrs. Potter did, and they were desperate for another child. Anyway, he spent every second of the summer with me- he even laid off the pranking because I don't like it. He made me teach him the blessing so we could do it together. It's supposed to be a family thing, after all." Regulus nodded and looked at their potion.
"We're done, basically. We just have to let it simmer for half an hour." He glanced around at the classroom, and snorted. "Look, inter-house cooperation at work." Fairchild was shouting at Montague, Morgan had evidently forbidden Baddock to come near the cauldron. Greengrass and Donnelly were ignoring their potion in favor of sniggering whenever Alasdair imitated Demon Queen, who was oblivious- it probably hadn't occurred to her that a muggleborn would dare to insult her dignity. A Gryffindor boy had Urquhart in tears, and Keegan was looking on in total confusion while Nott gave him a lecture on the different species of Fair Folk- elves, pixies, fairies, and merpeople. Slughorn was trying to salvage Davies and Mulciber's potion, which was smoking ominously, and Yaxley's partner had managed to write "Gryffindor forever" on the back of her robes without her noticing. Phronsie was ignoring her partner completely, and was instead reading what Regulus recognized to be her defense book. Milly shook her head in exasperation.
"It's actually very sad. You're the only non-prejudiced Slytherin in this room and you're never going to admit it." Regulus stiffened, which Milly noticed immediately. "That wasn't a criticism. I understand why you wouldn't want to lose your family, even if Sirius doesn't. Anyway, you can be friends with me and we'll just pretend we're working on potions." Regulus nodded, realizing he now had three Gryffindor friends and none in his own house. Perhaps he should attempt to at least form a surface friendship with some of the other Slytherins. Greengrass seemed reasonable- he was getting along with Donnelly just fine. And Nott was being perfectly polite to Keegan, even though she must have known that he was a muggleborn- the Notts were not like the Blacks, but they were a proud, traditional family, and Alcander Nott, who was Sirius' age, was a piece of work. He was desperately in love with Ariadne Rosier, but he was two years younger and had a reputation for being hopelessly clumsy and unlucky, so he was more likely to end up with sarcastic Clio, who was his age, or Phronsie, two years younger. At any rate, he was a first class snob, and it was a pleasant surprise to see that his sister was not. He decided to share his thoughts with Milly, who was an even pleasanter surprise.
"I think there's hope for Greengrass, at least. He seems to get on all right with Donnelly. Is she muggleborn?" He asked.
"Half blood. Her name is Susanna. And yes, they do seem to get on, although that might be because she's quite spoiled, just like he probably is." She grimaced. "She's an only child, very well off, and very self-centered. She's not mean, though, so I suppose I'll be able to tolerate her."
"Everyone in my dorm is rich and self-centered- probably everyone in my house. Although most of them are so stupid it makes no difference. Anyway, I think they're getting along because Alasdair is amusing them so much they don't have time to argue." Regulus took out a sheet of parchment. "Let's get a head start on the homework." Milly rummaged in her bag for a quill.
"You may be right. And since when are you on first name basis with a muggleborn Gryffindor? Who is not your assigned potions partner." She smiled impishly. Regulus flushed. Two days into his secret friendship and he was already making a mess of it. He was supposed to be a genius- Sirius and he had overheard a conversation between their father and their tutor many years ago about their 'exceptional brilliance'- an assessment mostly due to their shared ability to recite perfectly any conversation they had heard or passage they had read, and Regulus' further ability to perform complicated arithmetic in his head in seconds. And yet, when it came to people, he was possibly the stupidest person on the planet. He could convince anyone he was a fanatical pureblood supremacist, but that came from years of practice. Any other falsehood was totally beyond his capabilities.
"Well- you know- the boat- and I was sick- and I got hit on the head-" he trailed off, cursing his utter failure to lie. He misled his mother constantly, why could he not do it now? And Milly was clearly much too bright to be fooled by his stammered excuse.
"It's all right, Regulus. If you have some kind of agreement with him from the boat, I will not ask you to betray it. And I will not tell. I will tell you, however, that I approve wholeheartedly of inter-house friendships, even secret ones. I think we should form an inter-house information network- we would be the best informed people in the school, if we knew what was going on in Gryffindor and Slytherin. We've already made a good start- one Slytherin and two Gryffindors. I think Davies and Morgan would join, and probably Keegan- and we should keep an eye on Greengrass and Nott, to see if they can be recruited." Regulus stared at Milly in disbelief.
"Are you proposing we form a Gryffindor-Slytherin alliance in order to collect gossip?" He asked incredulously.
"Yes, exactly, I'm glad you understand." Milly dipped her quill in her inkwell and began to write. "Although it would not be just gossip. We could exchange all kinds of information. And we could help keep peace around the school, if we were subtle about it." Regulus was about to dismiss the idea, but then reconsidered. It was outrageous, but at the same time really quite sensible. Allies and information were two things that Regulus believed to be unconditionally useful- it was the reason he had always been unfailingly kind to Kreacher, who was an invaluable ally and an endless source of information. And cultivating true friendships in both Gryffindor and Slytherin would only be to his advantage when it came time for him to make the choice that Sirius had already made. He turned to Milly.
"It's quite ambitious. But Slytherins like ambition. What's your plan?" She beamed at him.
"You watch Greengrass and Nott. I'll see about Morgan and Davies. Alasdair and Keegan we've got for sure. And we'd better find a place to meet where no one else will know-"
"The house elves." Regulus interrupted. "They'll know a place, and they'll help us, if we ask right."
"I'll ask James how to get to the kitchens. He'll know. I'll tell you next Potions class and we'll go together. Then we can form the GLA." Milly whispered excitedly.
"The GLA?" Regulus said weakly, a bit overwhelmed by her quick planning and enthusiasm.
"The Green Lion Alliance." Milly explained. Regulus processed that. Then he sighed.
"I had intended to stay out of trouble at Hogwarts- spend all my time in the library, not get involved in anything that could possibly be considered controversial. I don't like to be noticed, and I hate to be involved in fighting. "He said gloomily. Milly smiled cheerfully.
"Well, Sirius did say it was easy to talk you into things. Grow a backbone. You're a Green Lion now." Milly gave him a significant look as she packed up her things and brought a vial of their potion to Professor Slughorn, causing Regulus to realize with a start that class was over. The Gryffindors left the room speedily, leaving the Slytherins to file out more decorously. Yaxley, Phronsie, and Demon Queen, were gathered around Urquhart, who was still crying, and Mulciber, Baddock, and Montague were still trying to clean up their ruined potions. Remembering the task Milly had given him, Regulus drifted towards Greengrass and Nott. Greengrass was telling Nott about Alasdair's antics delightedly, although he stopped immediately when he notice Regulus.
"Did you get on with Potter, Black?" he asked formally.
"Tolerably well, Greengrass. You and Donnelly seemed to share an appreciation of Christie's treatment of Demon Queen." Regulus risked. Greengrass snorted helplessly, and Nott giggled.
"Demon Queen… How perfect, although do not tell her that I said that." Greengrass laughed. Regulus smiled.
"I will not if you do not mention that I made it up." Greengrass and Nott promised him, and they left class chatting amiably about how they liked school. A very promising start, Regulus thought, hoping that he was not doing something he would later regret.