Chapter 29: Returning to Normal

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Regulus' light grey eyes stayed fixed on the ground before him as he walked slowly across the platform towards the Hogwarts Express. To one side of him, walked his cousin, Bellatrix, her nose held high in the air, her lips pursed in annoyance at the overcrowding of students and parents on the platform. Just behind Bellatrix, walked a tall man, thin to the point he almost looked sick, with wild, bushy dark brown hair piled atop his head. His face was contorted in disgust as he kept his wand pointed towards Regulus' levitating trunk. Bellatrix gasped sharply as a student rushed by so close to her, it ruffled the front of her robes. Fear splattered across the face of a woman, who looked to be the child's mother, as she locked her eyes onto Bellatrix.

"I can go alone from here," Regulus said sharply, desperate to draw his cousin's attention. "Put it down," he spat, turning his eyes onto the man behind him and sneering. "Gently," he added, his eyes becoming slits as the man lowered his trunk to the ground.

"Awfully bossy for a little brat not even out of diapers, aren't you?" the man sneered back at Regulus. "I can't wait to get you back in practice and t-"

"Get your ass beat again?" Regulus finished, his voice full of a sick laughter.

"Why you little twerp," the man growled, raising his hand in threat.

Bellatrix's thin fingers closed around the man's arm, her nails digging into his skin and instantly marking him with traces of red. "Travers, if you lay a hand on that boy I will personally cut you open and leave you to die on this platform," she said, her voice smooth and delicate, her face still etched with a slight grin. "Go. Your use is over." She shoved the man away from her with a flourish and turned her eyes back to Regulus. Once Travers was out of sight, Bellatrix rolled her eyes at her cousin and shook her head. "I won't always be around to protect you."

"I don't need protection from that dolt. He's pathetic." Regulus was still staring in the direction that the man had disappeared, his mouth curled in sheer disgust.

"He's loyal," Bellatrix snapped.

"Doesn't make him any less disgusting," Regulus argued, finally turning his eyes back towards his cousin. "I don't like the way he stares at you. Like some kind of...lion, just waiting for the deer to dip its head so that it can snap. He's filthy."

Bellatrix let out such a high pitched laugh, the platform seemed to freeze in time for a moment. "You think that I am a deer and he is a lion?" she asked, her eyes glinting with tears of laughter.

"I didn't say that was what you were, just the way he stares at you," Regulus muttered as he snapped up his trunk by the end and started towards the attendant. He passed his trunk off to the man loading them into the train, then spun around to face Bellatrix. One hand brushed back through his hair and he gave a small wave before climbing aboard the train.

Regulus was nearly gasping for breath by the time he slipped into an empty compartment. The aisle had been ridiculously crowded and this year's batch of first years seem to take 'invasion of personal space' to a new level. Sweat was beaded around the crown of Regulus' head as he settled into a seat and kicked his legs up into the space beside him. One hand jumped to the sleeve hem of his long-sleeved black shirt, fully intending on pushing the sleeves up to cool himself, but it was slowly drawn back as remembrance set in.

Summer had been a time he could wear his mark freely. His parents and the rest of his extended family were over joyed that he had been marked, and even more so that he had received such an honor at his young age. He knew that time had passed. He had been thoroughly warned about showing his mark at school. While everyone agreed that Regulus should be proud to bear the Dark Lord's symbol, they also agreed that he should do so in secret, at least until the 'opportune time' as the Dark Lord had said. So, Regulus sat with his sleeves down, bearing the heat.

"My, my, if it isn't Regulus Black." A cool, female voice filled the compartment, followed by a tiny, giggle. "You look good this year, I must say. Not that you didn't before, but I like what you're doing with your hair."

Regulus' eyes traveled up the thin, delicate body of Sarah Bulstrode, who seemed to have grown a foot just over the break. Her long, golden blonde hair was now overlaid with hints of light red and lay in soft waves splayed over her shoulders. Her soft brown eyes were so transfixed on Regulus it sent a shiver down his spine. Without waiting for invitation, she stepped into the compartment and closed the door behind her. Her eyes darted to the seat where Regulus' feet were perched and she let out a small sigh as she took the seat opposite him.

"You aren't saying anything. I told you that you look good, you're supposed to say it back," Sarah said as she crossed her legs and flashed a flirty smile.

"Say it back?" Regulus parroted. "Oh, um, yeah...you look good. Hair and...um, nice to see you again," he said, blinking stupidly in shock at the fact that his vocabulary had sudden dwindled to that of a six year old's. "How was your break?" he asked, sitting up and dropping his feet into the floor.

Sarah beamed over at Regulus and tilted her head, letting her hair dance across her shoulders. "It was fantastic, actually. My dad and I went to South America, spent two months there, the beaches were amazing." She licked over her lips and twirled one strand of hair around the end of her fingers. "I heard that you had quite a nice break yourself," she said, leaning back against the seat.

Regulus nodded and swallowed hard, his heart racing with nerves. The word 'crazy' raced through his mind a few dozen times and he shifted on his seat, his eyes darting between the door and Sarah. "What, um...what do you mean by that?" he asked, feeling more and more like a caged animal every moment that he sat in the compartment.

Sarah let out a small giggle and shifted in place. "I heard from my Uncle that you and your cousin went to Italy for a week. Is that not true?"

"Oh, yeah, Italy. Bella took me for a few days, it was really..."

"Fun? Hot? Educational?"

"Yes." Regulus stood up quickly and pulled open the door, feeling almost instant relief at the opening up of space. He stood in the doorway for a moment, watching as other students filed into free spaces and chatted eagerly with each other. "Don't you want to sit with your friends or something?" he asked back over his shoulder.

"I do, but they aren't here," Sarah answered, honestly. "Geoffrey is out of school now, you know Geoffrey right? He hung out with Anthony a lot, then Anthony doesn't seem to be here yet, I've already looked. Della is off trying to...well oddly enough she's hitting on your brother," she said with a laugh.

Regulus had felt his stomach twist at the mention of Anthony's name, but his face stayed steady as he stared out into the aisle. "So you thought you'd come have a chat with me?" he asked, coolly.

"I thought maybe you'd like have to chat, after all, you've had plenty of time to get over that...Rosier freak, total loony bin." Sarah stood up from her seat and brushed her hand over Regulus' arm, making him flinch and jump into the aisle. "Twitchy aren't you?" Sarah laughed and tucked her hair behind her ears before grabbing firm onto the boy and jerking him back into the compartment.

"I'm not twitchy, I just like people grabbing onto me and shit, back off a little," Regulus snapped, having reached the end of his tolerance for Sarah's over flirtatious behavior. "What is wrong with you?" he growled. "Just...just leave me alone!" His hands closed firmly onto Sarah's shoulders and shoved her roughly out of the door to the compartment.

"What a surprise," came Elizabeth's voice from a ways down the aisle. "Regulus is shoving people around like they don't matter. Can't you just read the shock in my eyes?" she asked, her voice dry and pompous. "Oh, it's you," she added in a sneer as her eyes fell over Sarah. "Regulus, don't you have a House Elf to throw out the rubbish."

"Shut your stupid mouth, you bitch," Sarah hissed at Elizabeth, her eyes narrowing threateningly.

"Both of you shut your mouths," Regulus growled as he slammed the door closed and threw himself back into the seat. After a moment, the door started to open again and he whipped his head up, snarling. "What the fu- Oh. Hey," he said, feeling a bit put off at seeing Topher rather than Sarah.

Topher stood over Regulus and slid the door back closed behind him. He brushed his fingers back through his hair and shifted awkwardly on the spot. "Can we...um...look, so I just...we should maybe talk, or something. Maybe. I get it, you're probably really pissed off at me still and I don't blame you but you should at least...I don't know. You lied to me too!" he finished in a yell. "I tried and tried and tried to get you to talk to me about what was going on and you ju-"

"Shut up!" Regulus leapt out of his seat and glared up at Topher. "Look, you don't say a fucking word about any of that. Ever again. You don't mention it, I won't mention it and things will go just fine." He held his ground, his face set in pure rage, despite Topher being so much taller and stronger than him. His left hand twitched with anticipation towards his wand, but he fought back the urge to draw on the boy.

"Regulus, you really are..." Topher trailed off with a heavy sigh and shook his head down a the other boy. "I miss you," he said, his voice quivering slightly. "You were, no, you are my best friend and I don't give a shit that we had a huge fight or whatever you wanna call it, I still think of you as my best friend. I think maybe we should just...I don't know." He flung his arms up in exasperation and left Regulus to himself in the compartment.

Regulus fell back into his seat, not bothering to close the door back. He put his feet back up in the seat and tipped his head back against the wall, letting his eyes close. After a while, the train jerked and soon after, the country side was rushing past in the window, though Regulus didn't have half a mind to bother looking. The steady movement of the train was soothing the boy to the point of sleeping, he didn't even hear the compartment door close. Just as he was nodding off, he felt a set of hands close hard on his shoulder, then felt his body hit the floor with such force, he cried out in pain.

Sirius dropped onto his knees next to his brother and seized the boy's left arm. He wrenched back the sleeve and let out a sharp cry as his eyes took in the Dark Mark etched on his brother's skin. "No, no, no, no, no! It isn't real. Regulus, you didn't!" His fingers rubbed roughly over the boy's arm, desperately trying to wipe away the grey. "I can't believe you did this, I don't believe it!" He let out a ragged breath and threw himself back against the seat, then pulled his hands roughly through his long hair.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Regulus cried out as he pulled his sleeve back down and got to his feet. "You're bloody psychotic! You don't just start attacking people, Sirius." He struggled to straighten out his shirt, his breathing so erratic at this point it was making him dizzy.

"I'm psychotic? I'm psychotic?" Sirius repeated as he got to his feet and stared his brother down. Though the boy was only a few inches taller than the other, Regulus still had to look up to meet his brother's fierce, grey eyes. "You let that...man mark you, brand you a murderer and you're calling me psychotic? I can't believe you would do this! How could you do something so stupid?" he screamed, his hair flying wildly around his flushed face, causing him to bear a striking resemblance to their father.

"I did what I had to do! I did what was right!" Regulus yelled back. "I am not stupid. I am chosen," he sneered. "You are just a pathetic little -"

"Chosen? Chosen for what? Biggest fucking idiot in the Black family!" Sirius grabbed his brother by the boy's arm and shook him to the point of a splitting headache. "You didn't have to do it. You didn't have to do it!"

"Yes I did!" Regulus yelled as he pushed his brother across the compartment. "You don't know a damn thing about anything, Sirius! You don't know anything at all!"

"I know you're an idiot!" Sirius screamed as he stormed towards the compartment door. "When I saw our dear cousin on the platform, she told me that you were finally living up to the Black family name. I thought she was just putting me on. Regulus...I really thought you were better than this," he whispered as he moved back into the aisle and closed the door behind him.


A Note From the Author: Alrighty...Regulus is off to school again and things are bad before the train gets there. How do you think that his bearing the Dark Mark is going to affect his next term at Hogwarts? Do you think that he and Topher can get past the whole betrayal and spider issue? What do you think of Sarah? If you don't remember her (cuz it has been a while) she is the same Sarah from Chapter 10 and the one that Elizabeth beat up in Hogsmeade. Do you think people are going to start talking about Anthony not coming back to school and what was Regulus doing in Italy? So many questions this time. Answer one, answer all, answer none, whatever you want. Leave me some thoughts.

Also, just want to thank all of the Non-Reviewing readers for reading. I hope that you are enjoying it. Last of all, I don't know if I mentioned this yet, but there WILL be more slash. His liking of boys certainly didn't die with Anthony. :D -Jenna

Now Beta'd by magic139 from the HPFF forums.