As Regulus got off the train, a hand clasped around his own. He turned his head to find it was... Asha. His cheeks turned pink. She wasn't, however, looking at him. She was looking at something at a distance. He swallowed the lump in his throat yet again and pressed forward. Once they were out of the thick of the crowd, he turned to face her. She was still looking for someone, not looking at him. He tried to pull his hand away, but she held it fast in hers. Finally, she turned to him. "I... I don't see my parents yet... I just wanted another chance to say goodbye." She hugged him briefly and then smiled up at him. "I'll send you letters, alright?" she said. He nodded, pulling his hand from hers. "Bye," she said softly. Then she dissapeared into the crowd and he turned to see his family a little way away, looking for him. They hadn't seen him yet. He trotted over.
"Let's get your things, Regulus," Mrs. Black said. She sounded upset, tense in a way he'd never seen her. She didn't seem overly concerned, but still Regulus wondered what was going on. They got Regulus' trunk and owl, then started toward the apparating point.
"Mum, we have to wait for Sirius," he said, confused. They never left without Sirius, not for Christmas.
"He's not coming home," Mr. Black said, putting a hand on Regulus' shoulder and urging him forward.
"N-no!" Regulus said. "He's got to come home with us... It's-It's christmas!" Mrs. Black sighed.
"He's made his choice, Regulus... Let's go." She pushed him, a little roughly, to the apparating point. As they turned on the spot, Regulus' last glimpse was of Sirius laughing with the Potters...
Asha woke with a start. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and got up, pacing the room again. What was wrong with her? She couldn't sleep, she was having these... dreams. It always started and ended the same: With Regulus. More disturbing was that he always seemed to turn into a serpant, curling around her gently, still her Regulus but... something was changed. If it had only been a serpant, she would have understood. He was a Slytherin, of course she would dream of him turning into a serpant. That was the Slytherin symbol, after all.
But no... something was definitely wrong after he changed into a snake, though she couldn't put her finger on it. It always ended with him touching his nose to hers, looking deep in her eyes. In the dream she could always tell what he was feeling this way, but when she woke up, she couldn't remember what she had come up with. This was the most frustrating part, as she wanted to know, so badly, what he was feeling, and why it made him so different...
She walked over to the window and placed her hand on it. On her desk lay a stack of letters. She let her hand run over them as the dream faded from her mind. These letters... these confessions... She would never send them. She knew she couldn't. What would he think? He probably didn't like her like that, anyway. He was a Slytherin, after all, and she was a Gryffindor. She couldn't stop thinking about the way his dark hair fell just above his eyes, the way his pale green eyes watched her as she talked about something stupid. She smiled at the way that he laughd at what she said, even though she was sure he was just humoring her.
No, she could never send those letters, she thought as she gazed out the window onto the dimly lit street below. It would risk far too much. She'd already risked too much by hugging him like that, telling him that she'd miss him... She couldn't have been more obvious. She shook her head, her bangs brushing to the side again. Her cat, Naja, slinked up onto the desk, curling up carefully over the letters, almost confirming what Asha was thinking. It would definitely be a bad idea to send those letters. However, her Scops owl, Scarlet, hooted unhappily from her perch. She hadn't delivered enough letters to Regulus. Asha knew this, but she didn't know what else she could do. Every time she sat down to write a letter to Regulus, a confession of her love came from her quill.
In her frustration, she nearly punched the glass, then stopped in time to simply tap it softly with the side of her fist. She leaned her forehead against the cool glass. For a moment she allowed herself to close her eyes and imagine them together, holding hands and kissing... Then she snapped herself out of it. She couldn't be thinking like that. It was almost Christmas, almost Regulus' birthday. She would put her feelings into getting him a gift. She knew he liked quidditch, so perhaps she would get him something from the quidditch store. He would like that, she was sure.
It would be a couple of hours until her parents were up, yet. It was still dark, as it were, and there was no need to rush. However, she knew that she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, so she sat down to concentrate on a perfectly normal letter to Regulus, devoid of her romantic feelings for him. Dawn was breaking just as she finished her letter to Regulus and tied it to Scarlet's leg. She kissed the top of the owl's small head and sent her out into the snow. Below, witches and wizards were just beginning their days and Asha could hear her parents starting to stir downstairs. She smiled softly as she got dressed and went downstairs. She kissed her father's cheek and hugged her mother.
"Morning," she said sweetly. "Mum, Dad, I was wondering if we could go to Diagon Alley. There are some things I want to get there." Her mother looked a little surprised but nodded.
"Sure sweetie, we can go just after breakfast," she told her. Asha smiled and sat down to eat. Once she finished, she quickly washed her dishes and got her shoes on.
Diagon Alley was rather crowded due to the holiday rush, but Asha finally made her way to the quidditch shop. Once there, she made her way along the shelves, her money jingling happily in her pocket. She decided against a broom polishing kit; he already had one. She had no doubt he also had the newest model of broom, even if it was coming out the next day, so she didn't even think about that. She found some goggles, however, that had a charm to deflect anything that could hinder his vision, so she picked those up and kept looking. She decided he needed new gloves, something a little fancier than the ones provided by the school. There were some really nice seeker gloves in the Slytherin Green color she loved so much on him. She took those as well, but still kept looking. She wasn't she what she was looking for, but she didn't feel like she'd found him the right gift just yet.
She walked right past the spinning mobiles of quidditch equipment, past the trinkets and collectibles, and went to the back where there were the coolest things. Here there were snitches you could buy, mostly for practice, as they were lacking the flesh memory, quaffles, bludges (in locked cases, of course), charmed items that made you better at the game (though these were, of course, prohibitted in a real match), extra gear for under the quidditch robes that kept you warm in the winter games, and more. This was also where most of the merchandise for the country teams was kept. There were things that you couldn't get anywhere else here. These included figurines of the quidditch players, shamrock decorations, and the like. Asha smiled at the Irish merchandise but walked past it. She had to find the perfect gift for Regulus. Her gaze swept over it for a moment, and then flickered back.
It was in the section with decorations for brooms. Most were abnoxious traveling decorations, too big and clunky for a quidditch match. But this... this would be perfect...
Regulus kicked his trunk. He couldn't believe that Sirius would do this! He picked up his copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard and threw it mercilessly across the room. It fell, somehow uninjured, to the floor. He left it there. If his brother didn't care about him, then he wasn't going to care about the book that used to mean so much to him, or the words of wisdom he otherwise would have listened to...
It was the beginning of January, his birthday was coming up, but he would be at Hogwarts for his birthday. Severus had sent an owl saying that he had joined the Death Eaters at last. Regulus frowned as he looked up and down the streets of Knocturn Alley. The dark shops were, for lack of a better word, bustling with people. Regulus made his way to Borgin and Burkes, a place that had been in this part of Knockturn Alley longer than anyone could remember. He slipped into the shop and stepped up to the counter. Borgin looked at him steadily, at his determined gaze, his Slytherin Crest, his green eyes. "Regulus Black," he said, recognizing his face. "How may I help you?" His voice was slow, like a snake slithering on the floor. Regulus nodded.
"Pur, ou Mort." Pure or Death. Regulus tried not to think of why this might be the password to join the Death Eaters. After all, Severus had joined, hadn't he? Regulus stepped into the back with Borgin, who introduced him to the men who would be giving him his mark...
Regulus walked out of Borgin and Burkes, his arm covered with his sleeve, and strolled somewhat casually down the street. The mark... was weird. It was as if it were alive on his arm, the way that it moved when it was looked at. It was as if he could feel it breathing against his skin... The men had assured him that this would go away. It was just that it was new. Soon it would only move when it was touched, and this would call for Voldemort. The men had also said that he would probably never even use this. It was only a precaution just in case something should be important enough.
He heard them joking that he would probably never make it to being important enough for the dark lord to pay and mind to anyway... He sighed as he got out into the street. He felt part of something important, something that would change the world.
When he got home he found something waiting for him. Sitting on his bed, next to a hooting red scops owl was a small package of things. He opened them to find that Asha had gotten him a pair of gloves and some goggles. He recognized the goggles at once. They were the charmed ones that he had planned on buying soon. He felt some pang of guilt that he wasn't yet sure what it was caused by...
Author's Note: Okay, so I was going to make this longer, then decided I would be nice and make it only as long as the others. Or I'm being mean, I don't know. Anyway, I hope you liked Asha's view of things, I just thought it would be easier than doing another Regulus pouting chapter. So in the next couple of chapters stuff's gonna go kind of fast, I think, so be ready. Also, as you're waiting for chapters, please go to A-Girl-Named-Billy's story, Light. It will help you later, I promise. Well, enjoy the chapter, and please give me feedback in the style of the reviews. Toodles!