4. The Plan

When he woke he found his clothes in his trunk, put them on, and walked back to the common room. He looked around and saw that there were only a few people up. Some third years in the corner sharing potions homework and some people playing wizards' chess. He ignored them and found a comfortable chair by the fire place and sat, just looking into the fire, thinking about all the things that he had heard and learned in the last twenty-four hours.

"Hey, Regulus, come on. We're going to be late for breakfast." said Damien as he entered the common room.

Regulus got up and followed Damien up the stairs and to the great hall. When he got there, he saw Amelia sitting with a boy he didn't know at the end of their house table. It seemed they were rather close. She just leaned in and kissed him. Why didn't she tell Regulus that she got a boyfriend? Regulus had always fancied Amelia a bit and to see her with another boy shocked him.

"Damien, who's that boy that Amelia's sitting with?" asked Regulus.

"Oh, him? He's some seventh year from Ravenclaw. Aaron something… I don't know. They've been going out since right before the holiday. Didn't you know?"

"No... I didn't…"

The rest of the meal was spent with Damien being his normal, obnoxious self making fun of people at the table and sharing stories of the time he scored over three-hundred points in quidditch in one game and Regulus glaring at Amelia. How could she do that? She didn't even tell him. Out of all the people he knew, he would have thought that at least Amelia could be open with him. It gave him this deep, stinging feeling. Like he had been betrayed on some deep level.

Over the course of the next few days, she spent less and less time with Regulus and Damien. She was always with her new boyfriend and every time she passed Regulus in the halls, she wouldn't even look him in the eyes, let alone talk to him.

The next time they passed, right outside the herbology greenhouse, Amelia went to just pass by him again when Regulus angrily burst out.

"Why aren't you talking to me anymore? Am I not good enough for you now that you have your new boyfriend? Am I not worth your time?"

Amelia turned back towards him, with her deep blue eyes and looked him right in the face and said.

"I can't. Aaron doesn't want me to talk to you anymore."

"And you would listen to him over me. The one who's known you for seven years?" pleaded Regulus.

"Yes, I would. You've changed Reg. You're always so serious. Your becoming a different person, and I don't like whatever it is that you're becoming." and with that Amelia walked off.

Regulus watched her make her way back up to the castle. He was incensed. How dare she? That filthy half-blood… She had no right! She was the one person Regulus was sure would never abandon him… Never leave him…

Now he understood why Voldemort was doing what he was doing. They were invading on the purebloods. They had to be stopped. Voldemort had the right idea all along.

He was now more determined than ever to find out everything he could about what Voldemort was doing. In his spare time, he looked through old newspapers trying to find any mention of him. He found next to nothing though. It seemed as though this Voldemort fellow just appeared out of no where. No real parents, home, or family. Just like Regulus…

He was just now realizing how much that he had in common with Voldemort. The more he learned about him and the more he thought about him, the angrier he got. Not only at the muggle-borns, but at the wizarding world as a whole.

The days at Hogwarts past faster and faster with Regulus just studying, eating, sleeping, and thinking about Voldemort. He was becoming totally anti-social and never talked, barely making eye contact with anyone during the day. At night, he had dreams of getting back at all the people who had made fun of him or mistreated him in the past. He would wake up and go to his lessons, but he was never mentally there. He was now consumed in his thoughts of revenge.

One day, as his mind was wondering in his divination class, Regulus came up with a plan. He would wait to graduate from Hogwarts, and after he did, he would go out and look for Voldemort. He had to find him and talk to him.

Everyday now he was planning. He was devising new ways to track down Voldemort. He thought he had it all planned out. Whenever Damien asked what he was doing with that secretive roll of parchment he always carried, Regulus would snap at him telling him it was none of his business and to leave him alone.

The night before graduation, Regulus had another dream. It was not the normal dream, but a dream of a man with a dark hood over his face in a small, unkempt house. As Regulus walked towards the man, he took off his hood. His face was pale and his nose was but little slits. He had the coldest eyes Regulus had ever seen. This man was almost… snakelike… He stretched out his hand and just when Regulus was about to take it, he was awoken.