Chapter Twenty-Five: A Rosier Mystery

I soon realised why my parents had been so keen to get Sirius out of the house. For the rest of the holidays he was like a restless dog that'd been cooped up too long in a kennel. So far I'd seen the results of multiple merchandise from Zonko's and even fireworks, and it wasn't long before Father searched Sirius's room and took the remaining products. They were now tucked away in his study.

"I'm bored, Reg," said Sirius, twirling an eagle feather quill between his fingers. We were in my brother's room this time and without all the pranking products there wasn't much to do. Father had even taken away the exploding snap cards because he couldn't stand the noise – not that he was even here half the time anyway. Sirius wasn't a fan of reading unless it was for a specific purpose and we'd already played chess a million times. He didn't want to do drawing either, telling me that it reminded him of Rosier (regardless of the fact that both Andromeda and I enjoyed drawing too).

"Well, what do you want to do? Explore the attic?" I said. Last time I'd ventured up there it hadn't gone well and I knew Sirius didn't have fond memories of the place either.

"No. I want to get my stuff back."

"And how are you going to do that?" I asked.

"With your help, of course," said Sirius. I stared at him. "You're going to distract Mother, while I break into Father's office."

"That's a terrible idea. What's Father going to do when he finds all the stuff gone?" I said.

"I'm not going to take all of it, silly. Father won't notice if I just take a few items. He probably doesn't even know what's in there."

…..

Half an hour later, after carefully selecting a book that I thought was controversial to talk about, I found myself downstairs searching for Mother.

"Mother, I was just coming to find you. I came across something in the library that puzzled me and I was wondering if you would know anything about it," I said once I'd found her – in the kitchen, scolding the House Elf.

"You're an intelligent boy, Regulus. There shouldn't be anything in the library beyond your comprehension."

"I understand the text, Mother, but there appears to be a discrepancy between the lineage described in Sefydlu cangen Gymreig ein hen dŷ and A Historical Analysis of the Sacred Twenty Eight," I said, picking Mother's favourite topic of genealogy.

"I don't know why we still keep that wretched book! Show me the text."

I led mother to the library to where I'd left the book open on the desk. It was a thick, leather-bound tome like most of the books in the library, but unlike the others, it was written in Welsh. It was nothing that a translation charm couldn't fix but I knew the "inconsiderateness" of the Author alone would annoy Mother without its content.

The passage in question was one that I had found years ago – one that I had kept a note of to show to Evan if he ever started boasting about his own Blood Purity again. I watched as Mother turned the text to modern English and skimmed over passages I'd indicated.

For many years after the war, the family remained in good contact with the muggle Lords, perhaps aiding in the reconstruction of the castle that became known as Caernarfon, although that is debated. What is known is that they were given land to the North of the castle for their efforts in the campaign.

In 1304 the head of the family allowed the marriage of the eldest son, Owen Rosier, to the daughter of a landed Knight, resulting in a child of magical ability. When Owen died in battle in the year 1309, it was decided that his son would marry his first cousin to purge the muggle blood and keep the family line pure.

I thought I had seen a smirk on Mother's face, but by the time she had finished reading it had gone.

"Did you know about this?" I asked. "It certainly makes a change from the necromancer backstory they usually honour."

Mother nodded. "I've read this before and thought I would keep it for if Druella ever gets above herself. I didn't think anyone else would read it."

"And do you know if it is a legitimate source? It isn't mentioned in any other book that I've found."

"I doubt that it is an attempt to sabotage the Rosiers," said Mother. "The Author is one of their own and it isn't widely read."

"You're probably right."

Mother flipped to the back of the book to show me the family tree. "Look here, you can see that Owen married Morwenna Jones. Most people assume she was a Pureblood, as the Jones family claim to be. But their lineage starts with her oldest brother who attended Hogwarts at the start of the fifteenth century. Morwenna herself was a muggle."

"There's still a line of wizards going back more than five hundred years," I said. "Although I'm sure that the Rosiers would care if anyone knew."

Mother showed me a few more family documents and some old Hogwarts attendance books from the fourteen hundreds that one of my ancestors had stolen from the school. Then she proceeded to show me all the evidence of the Malfoy's dealings with muggles too.

…..

"What took you so long? I raided the study ages ago," said Sirius when I got upstairs.

"Nothing, I just showed Mother some family tree stuff. Did you know that one of Evan's family married a muggle five hundred years ago?"

"No, but I'll keep that in mind," said my brother. "I might tease Rosier with it one day."

"I wonder how many Blacks have said that." I said, realising how long the book that no one even liked had been in our library.

"Anyway, do you want to see what I found?" said Sirius, indicating the heap of things inside his open trunk.

"Sure."

Sirius showed me a variety of dungbombs and interesting potion ingredients, then drew my attention to something else.

"I don't suppose you remember this do you?" He held up a toy dog, rather like a paler version of Sirius II, but this dog had been torn apart with white stuffing spilling out of its tummy.

"No, I've had Sirius II as long as I can remember and I can't think of any other toy dog," I said.

"I didn't think you would. You played with it for less than an hour. I'd always thought Father had given it back."

"Where did it come from, Sirius?"

"It definitely came from the Rosier brothers, but I'm not sure which one it actually belonged to. I was five and you and Evan were about three, and I found you and Evan fighting over it. I tried to stop you, but the two of you fought so hard that the poor toy ripped. Then Father heard you two crying from downstairs and took it off you."

"Where were Evan's brothers in all of this?" I asked. I was surprised no one but Sirius had been with us.

"I don't know where Damien was. Tristan was in the library reading up on Necromancy," said Sirius.

"Necromancy? Sirius are you sure you're remembering this right?" I asked. Depending on the dates, the older Rosier boy could have only have been four, and I doubted he'd been capable of reading.

"I'm sure. I remember that day clearly because it was the day I decided he wasn't getting a second chance," said Sirius. "It was the day I realised how bad he really was."

…..

I enjoyed another couple of carefree days with Sirius before it was finally time to go back to Hogwarts.

…..

I stood near the barrier to the platform with my parents and Sirius, watching as the drama unfolded. Damien Rosier was arguing with his parents about his inheritance: not the money – he'd still get his third when his parents died – but the Rosier family heir ring. Everyone on the platform now knew that is had been confiscated from him, that he wasn't welcome on their property and that Mr Rosier wasn't going to be speaking with anyone at the Ministry about organising an internship.

"Father, he deser-"

"No. Evan told me what you did and I can piece together the rest of it," Evan's father spat. Evan grew redder in embarrassment as everyone continued to stare at them. I now knew why our parents always refrained from telling us off whilst on the platform – there was nowhere to hide from the stares.

"But-"

"You're lucky I didn't go to the Ministry with this. Get on the train before I change my mind."

They continued shouting back and forth. I watched as Evan backed away from his parents and went to talk to the Mulcibers instead.

"Wow, Mr Rosier finally grew a backbone," commented Sirius. Damien still hadn't made any move to get on the train, nor had he made any headway with his Father. "He's making quite a spectacle."

"Yep, and I think it's about to get worse," I said, because Damien had turned away from his father and was glaring daggers at me and Sirius. I quickly looked behind us and saw Tristan, standing as if petrified in the perfect position to get knocked over by anyone else entering the platform.

"You!" Damien shouted as he strode towards him. "Get here now, traitor." I looked at my parents and they were just as shocked as I was.

I could tell Tristan wanted to bolt, but whether it was to his friends or his parents, I didn't know. His elder brother quickly closed the gap between them, grabbing him roughly by the wrist. The family ring was already on his finger.

"Stop this at once, young man. This is not appropriate behaviour," reprimanded my father.

"What does it matter to you? This fight is between us," Damien gritted out, still squeezing the life out of his brother's arm.

"It matters bec…"

"Relaxo tanicus,"I said, because Father's calm telling off wasn't improving the situation. Sirius grinned and Father gave me his signature disapproving look, but at least Tristan had got away. Although his brother was still chasing after him firing Merlin knows what spells at him. To my surprise, none of the adults intervened.

…..

A few minutes later, my friends Robert and Rebecca joined us on the platform.

"Good morning Lord Black, Lady Black," Robert said, while Becky just hugged me. "How were your holidays?"

"Eventful," my Father said. "Regulus will fill you in on the train ride."

"Yes Father. May I be excused?" I said. By now, Sirius had left us to be with his friends so it was just Father, Mother and I.

"Of course, son. Have a good term. I expect to see you at Easter."

"Goodbye Father, Mother."

The three of us left and climbed onto the train. Inside it was busy but the hundreds of students didn't stop me noticing the state of the floor. "Ew," I said, pulling a face in disgust. "Don't put your bags down." I was pretty sure that there was blood mixed in with whatever else people had brought in on their shoes.

"Gross," Becky agreed. "I hope that's not what I think it is."

By now, many of the compartments were filled so we walked along the carriage and into the next. It was quieter now, and I could see more of the floor. There were a few splatters of 'blood' on the left side of the walk way, but most had been trodden on already. I had my suspicions of whose it was.

Two carriages later we finally found an empty carriage.

"Ugh," I sighed as soon as I walked in. "I can see why no one wanted to sit here now." Although it was clearly empty now, it was obvious that something had happened here. There were droplets of blood leading to the window, and a pool of it had soaked into one of the seats.

"Stop being so precious. It isn't haunted or anything," said Robert. "Scourgify." The blood disappeared but the sense of foreboding did not.

"Fine, but I'm not sitting there," I said, taking the seat as far away as possible from where the blood had been. Becky sat down next to me and Robert opposite.

"So Regulus, what did your Father mean?" Becky asked.

I told them all about the easy things like Sirius's recent raid of the study, visiting Andromeda and playing with Nymphadora. Then I began to talk about the twins: the shopping trip with Bellatrix, discovering she was pregnant, and what Rodolphus had done to her. I was getting to the part of when Bellatrix was rushed to St Mungo's when the compartment door opened.

It was Fawley. The fourth-year girl was leaning on the doorway, Henrik Mulciber behind her. "Excuse me, have any of you seen Tris? We can't find him."

"No, not since the platform," I replied.

"I suggest you follow the trail of blood," said Becky, sounding far too much like her sister. "I think it's his."

"We already did," said Mulciber, stiffly. "It led us here."

"Well he isn't here," I said. "He's probably with Evan."

"He isn't, but we'll look again," said Fawley, arms crossed. "Come on Henry." The pair left us.

"That was a little rude, Becky," I said. "They didn't do anything to us."

"Not today. Tell us what happened with Bellatrix."

"I wasn't there, but I heard everything from my Aunt. Rodolphus's spell had made Bella go into labour so they had to take her to the spell damage unit. There's a small unit for babies there. She gave birth to the twins soon after but they were really small and not very well."

"How many weeks old were they?" Becky asked. "You were premature and you're fine."

"They'd had 24-weeks' gestation, I think," I told her. My friends gasped in shock. "I had thirty two, and I had to be in the hospital for months when I was born, so you can imagine how ill my baby cousins were. They weren't really ready for this world yet."

"The worst thing was that the healers didn't even want to keep them alive," I said. I heard a sharp intake of breath. "It was as if they thought they were so ill that their lives wouldn't be worth living, and then they told Bellatrix this to her face. Even now, when he's survived for two weeks, they think baby Orion is going to be ill for the rest of his life. It's so unfair…" I drifted off, thinking about the poor boy and little Regulus too.

The compartment door slid open again but this time it was just Stephannie.

"Reg, are you alright." She rushed over to me and I realised how upset I probably looked.

"I'm fine, Steph. I was just telling them about some family stuff. Bellatrix has had twins." I realised that after everything had happened, I'd forgotten to write to her about it.

"Oh. You didn't write, and after what Andromeda said I felt so worried about you," she said.

"What did Andromeda say?" I asked. And when were you talking to her.

Stephannie seemed to read my thoughts. "When I went to my Grandparents' house for Boxing Day, Ted, Andromeda and Nymphadora were there too. She was on edge all day and then I heard her talking with my Aunt in the kitchen."

"What did she say?" asked Becky. "I can assure you nothing bad happened to Regulus."

"I didn't hear all of it. My Aunt asked if her little cousin was any better because he had been so ill last time she'd visited."

"I've never even met Ted's mother, if that's who you mean," I said. She nodded.

"Well, Andromeda said you were a little better but you weren't well enough to be there today," continued Stephannie. "I'm sorry, I just assumed she meant you."

"Don't worry. There's nothing wrong with me. I reckon Andromeda's just making stuff up about why no one in her family is around."

"Or she was talking about Evan Rosier. He fits the description of 'little cousin' too, even if he's taller than Reg," said Robert.

"Don't be daft. He hates her," said Stephannie. I tried to imagine Evan meeting with Ted's family but all I could picture was the look of disgust he always had on his face when he talked about Mudbloods. "Anyway, she can't have been lying because after my Aunt had left them, I heard Andromeda talking with Ted about various treatments."

"I can see why you thought it was me, but I don't recall anything like this."

"Wait!" said Robert. "What if you were obliviated?"

"I hope not," I said, but before we could discuss anything else, the compartment opened again and in came the last person I wanted to see (other than Rodolphus).

"Hello second-years," said Damien Rosier, casting a non-verbal spell and a disapproving look at my companions.

"Can I help you?" I said, giving him the coldest look I could.

"There's no need, Regulus. I've found exactly what I'm looking for," he said, grinning. He sat down beside Becky, opposite the seat where the blood had been. "Would you mind getting rid of the Gryffindor chaser? The other losers can stay if they wish."

My friends looked to me. "I think it's best if you go," I said, not wanting them to get hurt. I hoped that they'd get some help.

"I assume this is about Quidditch," I said, after they'd left and shut the door behind them. I didn't suspect for a minute that that was what he wanted but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Damien was, after all, our team captain.

Damien laughed. "No. Not at all. You're stupidity never ceases to surprise me, Regulus."

"You mean the company I keep?" I asked.

He laughed at me again. "There's that too, but I rather like your defiance." I waited for him to continue. What was he here for? "Seriously, I can't believe how stupid you are. Didn't you notice anything when you first came in here?"

I told him the truth.

"So there was blood on the seat, Regulus, and a trail of it leading to the door?"

"Yes, Damien."

"Did you tell anyone about it? Any Prefects?

"No."

"And where do you think the blood came from?" he asked.

"Your brother."

"Of course it did. And where do you think he might have gone? There was only one trail of blood, was there not?"

"Maybe he healed himself," I said. He'd cast a variety of spells after the Quidditch match.

"Perhaps he did," said Damien, "but I don't think he left. There wasn't time for that." I looked at him, hoping I didn't appear as confused as I felt. How could Tristan be here? The carriage had been empty when we'd arrived. "Regulus, look at the luggage rack and tell me what you see."

"Robert's trunk?"

Damien smirked. "Look harder, slightly to the right."

I stared at the spot and then stared a bit more. It looked a bit like a heat haze, or perhaps like there was see-through fabric next to the trunk. Now that he'd pointed it out, I knew exactly what was going on. It was a disillusionment charm, and not a very good one.

The older boy stood up and grabbed onto something invisible, slightly below where I was looking: a foot. "Regulus, come here and hold your hand out." I did as I was told and let Damien guide my hand to the other foot. I realised I had hold of a wet, sticky ankle and it wasn't pleasant.

"Tristan, come out now, or we'll pull," said Damien.

"Okay, you win, brother." The spell lifted to reveal Tristan sitting on top of the luggage rack with both legs dangling. He looked more dishevelled than he had earlier: his trousers were ripped at the bottom and the once-green sock that I held was now soaked in congealed blood. I didn't know whether to feel sorry for him or angry that he'd spent half the train ride spying on us.

"Why didn't you do anything when your friends came in?" I asked, letting go of the disgusting sock.

"I wanted to," said Tristan, "but I'd already heard so much. I was too embarrassed to move and I'm sorry Reggie." I glared at him for using that name: only my closest friends called me that.

"Are you two made up now?" asked Damien. "You've forgiven him, Regulus." I nodded. "That's good."

Damien grinned his evil grin and I barely had time to move before he'd pulled his brother downwards. I scrambled backwards, but ended up on the floor with my back against the seating, Tristan on top of me and my shoulder hurting where he'd kicked me on the way down. I squirmed and pushed the older boy off.

As Damien growled menacing things at his brother, even going as far as to demand the ring back, I dug out my wand and thought of ways to get away. I couldn't go anywhere, though. Damien had crouched down next to us: one hand holding Tristan's, the other holding a wand to his head.

"Stupif-" I began, but Damien blasted my wand out of my hand with a non-verbal spell.

"Get out of the way, Black," he said. He dragged me away from his brother and shoved me onto the seat. I sat nursing my left shoulder. I hoped my friends would come back soon.

"Give me back my inheritance!" Damien tried to pull the ring off his brother's finger. This was getting out of hand.

"It was Father's decision and you can't change it by threatening me," said Tristan carefully. He neither raised his voice nor put up any resistance, but the ring wasn't coming off. I knew it wouldn't because it was the same type as the one my Father wore. Heir rings couldn't be taken off by force. The only way Damien could get it would be if Tristan gave it up or if he cut off his own brother's hand.

"Alright, brother, I've asked you nicely-"

"That was nicely?" Tristan said. "I hadn't realised."

"Could you two stop fighting for one minute and realise how ridiculous you are being!" I said. I put a hand on Damien's arm and tried to pull him back towards the seating. Damien shrugged me of as if I was nothing heavier than a bowtruckle and carried on arguing.

"Well I did. Now you have two choices: you can give it to me right now, or I can torture you until you do."

"We're on a train full of students, Damien. That's a really bad idea," said Tristan. I completely agreed.

"Shut it. We're in an empty carriage and I've already cast a silencing ward. Crucio."

To my surprise, Tristan didn't scream and instead let out a small whimper. His eyes were tight shut. Damien lowered his wand. "Hand it over, or it'll get worse," he said.

"No. Fuck off, Damien," Tristan said. His eyes were full of tears. "You too, Regulus. Stop staring at me."

I felt ashamed. I couldn't do anything to stop Damien and I couldn't get away either. I couldn't help but watch as Damien cast the curse again. Tristan actually screamed this time and squirmed around, seemingly trying to dig his wand out of his back pocket. Luckily Damien was too caught up trying to get his brother to cry and didn't notice when the wand was skidding across the floor towards me.

"Expelliarmus!" I yelled. I felt a strong backlash as the spell knocked Damien's wand out his hand. He stumbled in his crouched position but he was already picking his wand back up when I cast again. "Petrificus Totalus," I said next, but this time only a feeble jet of light came out. The willow wand I held was long and flexible and beautifully decorated but it was hard to work with. Damien blocked it wordlessly.

I cast Impedimenta, Stupify and Langlock, all with varying levels of success but Damien blocked all of them anyway.

"This is quite ridiculous, Regulus. You're achieving nothing and for what? The two of you aren't even friends," he said, his non-verbal Protego blocking my fifth attempt at hitting him. His arrogant smirk made me more determined to get him. Diffindo would have done nicely if he'd just let me actually hit him.

"Tarantallegra! Just because I don't like him, doesn't mean he deserves to be beaten up and treated like Hippogriff dung!" I shouted. I decided to keep him distracted: Tristan was pulling himself up behind him and had a hold of yet another wand (it wasn't mine).

"Honestly, you can't even swear properly," commented Damien.

"Stupify!" I said, expecting to meet his shield charm yet again. Instead I was met with a silent Expelliarmus.

" Confringo," Tristan cast with the new wand. It missed Damien completely and blasted the glass out of the compartment door. He evidently didn't have the correct wand either.

"Try harder, brother. This is how you do Confringo!" The blasting curse hit Tristan on the foot and I heard the bones crack as he flew backwards. I stared in horror as Damien moved towards him, surely about to continue what he'd been doing before.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" I turned towards the new voice. Two older boys had appeared in our compartment. One, I knew to be Longbottom. The other, who'd spoken, was a red-headed seventh-year that I vaguely recognised as someone I hadn't talked to in years.

"Rosier," Longbottom drawled. If looks could kill, Damien would be dead twice over. "Get out of this compartment right now." Surprisingly, the elder Rosier complied. Longbottom followed him out, probably escorting him to some sort of authority.

"Gideon?" a faint voice asked. "Could you get me my wand back? I can't use…"

"It's here." I picked up Tristan's wand from where it had fallen and walked over to him. His leg looked a mess and I wondered how he'd remained conscious let alone this calm. I handed him the wand and went to pick up my own.

He immediately began casting healing charms with it: one to stop the bleeding and others to make a splint and bandages. "I know how to fix it properly, but I don't want to mess it up. I'd rather have a professional do it," he explained when he saw me staring.

"Would one of you mind explaining to me what's going on?" the red head, now confirmed to be Gideon Prewett said. He helped Tristan move from the floor to the seating and sat down with his arm around him.

"Well Damien was being a jealous prick," said Tristan, leaning against the elder boy. They seemed closer than they ought to be from their age gap and House difference. "Then Regulus got in the way so he got super angry and blasted me across the carriage."

"I tried to disarm him," I said. "I couldn't do anything against him though."

"I'm not surprised. He's four years older than you," said Prewett. "You'll get better, though. Frank told me you're doing well at the Duelling Club."

"Thank you. How did you get him to leave us so quickly?"

"Because he knows he can't beat either us," said Prewett.

"And he's a coward. He only picks on younger students," Tristan added.

"If you don't mind me asking, did he do anything else to either of you? You look both look very shaken."

"No, just duelling," Tristan lied.

There was silence for a moment. Tristan obviously wasn't going to tell the seventh year anything else.

"Well if he ever does anything else, or you want to tell someone about it, you can always talk to me or Frank."

…..

"So Regulus, I overheard you talking about my toy dog," Tristan said after Gideon had left us.

"Yeah. It had been in Father's study for ten years. Did you want it back?" I asked.

"I'm too old for it now. I thought I was too old for it then as well – that's why I gave it to you," he said. "I used to love that thing so much. I suppose one of our baby cousins should have it now."

"Um…" I began. I realised that Tristan might not know what had happened to little Regulus. I hadn't finished telling the story before we'd been interrupted.

"Regulus, I haven't been completely out of contact with everyone this winter. You should give it to whichever one doesn't have Sirius II," said Tristan. "And I know exactly who you gave that toy to. Orion will have my toy and Nymphadora will have yours. That's fair isn't it?"

"I guess."

"Actually, forget I said that. Could I hold it for a while?"

I dug around in my trunk for it and held it out to him (I'd previously fixed it with Reparo before packing it). He didn't let go of it for the rest of the train ride.

…...