Over break I could practically feel the tension between Natalie and Brandon. It only got worse as the days passed. Brandon often left the house after getting into a heated discussion with Natalie. A lot of times I thought they would get physical. I may still be hooked on my old parents, but I wouldn't tolerate any sort of abuse. It wouldn't matter if it happened in the heat of the moment. Luckily I had nothing to worry about.

I constantly wrote in the journal to talk with Remus. He did his best to cheer me up, but talking over paper only helped so much. Especially when I could hear them yelling downstairs.

On my fourteenth birthday, Kevin was the first family member to acknowledge it. After he shouted it Natalie gave a pained smile and mumbled something under her breath, while Brandon offered a strained smile, and his best attempt at an enthusiastic greeting. He offered to take me out to lunch, but I turned it down.

Remus sent me a happy birthday through the journal. He told me he got me a present, and I felt really touched by the gesture. My family always combined my birthday with Christmas since the two days were so close. I could understand it, considering my birthday was only three days before.

At the end of winter break Brandon drove me to the train station. Usually the ride was spent in fairly comfortable silence, but this time Brandon struck up a conversation. "I don't think you should come home for your spring break."

My heart twisted painfully. "What do you mean?"

He sighed tiredly while staring out at the road. "Your mother and I are having a tough time right now. I think it's best for you if you waited until summer to come back home."

I relaxed after his explanation. I'd thought he was telling me not to return home at all. I didn't love Natalie and Brandon like a normal daughter would, but that didn't mean I didn't care. "Are you guys getting a divorce?"

Brandon quickly glanced over at me. "Why would we get a divorce?"

"You guys relationship are always fighting, and it always ends up being an argument about me. Mum clearly wants nothing to do with me."

"Now that is not true," Brandon said sternly. "Your mother loves you and your brother more than anything in this world. You just need to give her a chance."

I scoffed to myself. "How can I give her a chance if she doesn't talk to me?"

"You mean the same way you talk to her?" He deliberately rose an eyebrow. "You and I talk, but I have never seen you share one word with your mother. You're her daughter, sweetheart, and she wants to connect with you, but she doesn't know how. Whenever you're home you hide in your room with the door locked, and you're at Hogwarts for the other nine months out of the year. She knows you talk to Kevin and I, and she's upset."

With guilt now gnawing at my conscience, I spent the remainder of the car ride staring out the window in silence. I thought about Brandon's words, stern but true, and knew he was right. I always hid from him and Natalie because I didn't want to deal with them. My conscience was still hooked on my other parents, even after 14 years. I could barely remember what they looked like, but I still refused to let them go. My inability to move on meat I damaged my relationship with my new parents, and I didn't want to admit my guilt.

At Kings Cross station I sat in the passenger seat, tense and silent, before biting out a terse goodbye, grabbing my trunk from the backseat, and walking towards the barrier. The closer I got to the barrier the less people looked at me. It had some spells similar to a notice-me-not of some sort near the barrier so muggles wouldn't see is walking through a brick pillar.

I made it through without any problems. Hogwarts station had a few people already on the platform. It was half-an-hour before the train would leave, so more people would start showing up.

A lot of the compartments were already occupied. Eventually I found an empty compartment in the middle of the train. To pass the time I brought out my class book for Care of Magical Creatures. Reading books was really the only way to pass time in the magical world. They didn't have phones for me to play around with.

The door to my compartment abruptly opened, letting one person slip inside, before shutting just as quickly. I finished the sentence I was on then looked up at the intruder with one eyebrow lifted questioningly. My other eyebrow went up in surprise when their identity completely registered.

"Come to take your shot at the mudblood?" I asked.

Regulus stared at me coolly. The expression almost looked like it belonged there, which was weird since I'd expect it to look strange on a twelve-year-old. "Acting like that will get you hurt."

I watched him closely as he sat down on the seat across from me. He didn't relax into the seat. Instead he sat ramrod straight. No doubt from his pure-blood upbringing. "Wow, Regulus, it almost sounds like you care."

Watching him so closely is the only reason I saw his upper lip twitch into an almost sneer. For some reason he held it back. "It's impolite to refer to one by their first name, unless first given permission; though, I suppose you wouldn't know that, being Muggle-born."

"Oh, really?" I kept a disinterested tone, even though I did find the fact interesting. "It wasn't in my Muggle-born one-oh-one class. Is there anything else you'd like to tell me?"

"Your attitude with Slytherin does not endear you to the House," I scoffed at the understatement, but let him continue, "but we realize you're a part of our House whether we want you or not. They let out their frustrations by cursing you. When you don't retaliate it's seen as a sign of weakness."

I stared at him speculatively while a smile tugged the corners of my mouth. "I can't help but notice you've never let out your 'frustrations' on me."

His nostrils flared in irritation. It would be a while before he perfected the blank mask every Slytherin seemed to have. By now even I've managed to get one; although, my blank mask was more of a resting bitch face.

"I've never saw the appeal in hexing Muggle-borns."

"Maybe it's because you don't see them as mudbloods," I said speculatively. All the Slytherins who ever speak to me use the term mudblood. The only two who didn't were Regulus and Severus. I didn't talk with them often though. This was probably the first time I've talked to Regulus since the train ride his first year.

"They are." His grey eyes flashed warningly. I must've hit a sensitive topic.

"You keep telling yourself that, big guy."

He didn't hold back his sneer this time. "You're foolish enough to be a Gryffindor."

"Gryffindor's are known for bravery and courage, so I don't see how that's an insult." I shook my head with a condescending look.

"It should be!" Regulus hissed. "A true Slytherin would be offended, and they wouldn't just let the comment go. They'd retaliate."

"Well then maybe it's the rest of Slytherin that's foolish." I leaned forward in my seat. "To be offended by being called foolish like a Gryffindor is stupid. So stupid. If I called you a 'motherfucking bitch' I'd understand your need to punch me in the face. Calling me foolish is probably the least horrible thing to say."

Regulus' eyebrows lifted in surprise after my colorful swearing. People really didn't say things like that in Hogwarts, or anywhere in this time, which was a shame. I kind of missed hearing them. They reminded me of high school.

"You'd be offended by… that," he said "that" in a disgusted tone, "but not mudblood?"

I noted how unfamiliar he seemed when saying the derogatory term. I would've suspected he said it all the time since he was a Black. Of course, Sirius was a Black and he hated the word. Maybe he was rubbing off on his little brother. "I don't get offended because I don't understand why it's such a bad term. Like, I know it's bad, but I guess I don't get how bad."

"It means you're filth, trash, a disgrace to all things magic. In front of your parents it would be like saying they were wrong to give birth to you."

"Alright," I held up my hand. "Those are all insults I've heard before – practically word for word. They don't really do anyting for me."

His eyebrows rose a little disbelievingly. "And why is that?"

"I've been called a mudblood almost everyday for nearly three years. Since its meaning never really got through to me it never bothered me. Now I'm just desensitized to it. I even called myself a mudblood when you walked in here."

"Do you really think you're a mudblood?" Regulus looked honestly interested in my answer.

Instead of answering right away I decided to think it through. Not that long ago I compared the saying to being called a bastard. After his small definition I could start to see that they were different things. "No," I said firmly. "I don't think I'm a disgrace or anything remotely similar." My light green eyes met his light grey. "Perhaps the purebloods are the real disgrace. To call another human being filth because of their parentage, and say they shouldn't have been born. No human being should take pleasure in putting a fellow human down." I felt disappointed in myself, knowing I'd accepted being a mudblood when I really wasn't.

Regulus didn't respond. He stood up from the bench and nodded slightly. "Have a good evening, Miss King."

He exited the compartment, leaving me to stare after him in surprise. I didn't even know he knew my last name. I didn't think anybody in the castle knew my last name, except maybe the professors. Even they barely talked with me since McGonagall told them I was mute in first year.

As the train lurched away from the platform two boys entered my compartment. I stayed near the window with a book in my lap while they sat near the door. I tuned out their conversation, so I could focus on my book. At first it was hard because I couldn't stop thinking about Regulus' visit, or Black if I wanted to be polite.

He never showed any interest to talk in the past. He waited a year and a half before approaching me. Perhaps the train gave him a chance to speak with me privately. Still wouldn't make sense considering we weren't friends. We only communicated with the occasional nod of acknowledgment in the corridors.

I got the impression he wanted me to retaliate, or to at least act more Slytherin like. It was possible the other Slytherins swapped stories about what spells they've used on me, and Regulus overheard. He had no reason to speak with me, coming from a Muggle hating family. He isn't like Sirius who loudly goes against his family. Regulus accepts them, and even joins Voldemort.

But he doesn't stay with Voldemort. I stared out the train window with wide eyes. Something made him have a change of heart. It was why he went after the locket horcrux.

That reminded me of the diadem still hidden in the Room of Requirement. I couldn't destroy it yet, not only because I didn't have a method to destroy it with, but also in case Voldemort felt its destruction. I had to get all of them together before I even thought of destroying them.

Just collecting them would be near impossible. Knowing where they were was one thing, but finding them would be a pain in the ass. For the cup I would either risk trying to deal with the goblins, or I would have to break in. The diary I had no clue how to handle. It would be with the Malfoy's, and I doubted he would be putting it in an eleven-year-olds cauldron anytime soon.

Regulus could be my ticket to finding the locket, and maybe help get the ring. His dark roots could provide the background of dark magic that would be needed to get through the wards around each horcrux. If that worked out, then I would have three. It would just leave Hufflepuff cup and the diary. I'd have to see about Nagini. That would pose an even bigger problem. First I would actually need to befriend Regulus, or at least make him an acquaintance, or even get him to owe me a debt.

Another person who could help me was Albus Dumbledore. Asking for his help left a sour taste in my mouth. I didn't know the man at all. He could actually be a grandfather figure, or its all a facade to try and remain in power. Theories from my last life poisoned my opinion of him. While I didn't want to ask him I also remembered he was able to get the Gaunt ring and find the cave.

Five minutes of the train ride remained. I pulled a tie and robe out of my trunk and threw them over my clothes. While fixing my tie I noticed the two boys sitting with me staring warily. It made me want to roll my eyes. I sat quietly for the entire train ride, and the moment they know I'm a Slytherin their fight or flight instincts rear up.

Instead of acknowledging them I put my book into my trunk and sat down to stare out the window. I couldn't help but notice the silence – the two boys had ended their conversation.

Edited: 1/22/2019