omg I can't believe I have 9 followers and 4 favorites already I'm literally so happy about that.
I should have warned y'all to enjoy the calm before the storm, but oh well. Please enjoy
Almost a whole week went by with nothing happening. No howler from mum. No hurting muggle borns. Regulus was starting to think that everything was actually going to be ok.
"Reg! Help me with my homework!" Barty whined.
"no, you have to do it by yourself." He went back to his book.
"please!?"
Regulus sighed. "fine." He hoped off his bed and walked over to where Barty was on the floor with his schoolwork.
"um... Regulus you've got a howler" Even came in holding a red letter . Oh no. As soon as he took the howler from Evan it started yelling in his mother's voice. Barty cast a silencing spell so that no one in the common room would hear.
"REGULUS ARCTURUS BLACK YOU HAVE ONE DAY TO RESPOND AND GET THE DARK MARK! IF YOU DONT YOU WILL BE DISOWNED AND YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO BLACKS WHO HAVE BEEN DISOWNED!" His mother screeched.
"I CANT BELIEVE YOU OF ALL PEOPLE WOULD HURT YOUR POOR COUSIN AND STEAL OUR HOUSELF! YOU ARE SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT! I CANT BELIEVE YOUR BROTHER CORRUPTED YOU TOO!
TO THINK THAT YOU WOULD BE A FITHLY MUDBLOOD LOVING BLOOD TRAITOR! NEXT TIME I SEE YOU YOU WILL EITHER BE WITH THE DARK LORD OR DEAD! YOUR FATHER AND I ARE-" the letter burst into flames. Evan lowered his wand.
"Regulus-?"
"you, you're not with you parents anymore?"
"she was lying. Right?…right?"
"um..."
"surely you're going to be a death eater"
"well..."
"Regulus."
"uh..." He ran. Wow this felt familiar. Running away was his specialty apparently.
OoOoOo
"Reg?" James walked over to him. He didn't have time for this. He needed to figure out what to do now that his roommates knew.
"how'd you know I was here?" He managed to ask.
"I didn't, I was just hanging out around the lake, and saw you"
"where are your friends?"
"Remus is in the library and Sirius and Peter are in detention. Are you ok? You look... not" he asked cautiously.
"I got my howler. It was in my dorm so only I, Barty, and Evan know. But I don't know how they feel about it or if they're going to tell everyone" Regulus revealed panic rising up.
"oh, well um, here they come" James warned.
"Regulus why didn't you tell us about this?" Evan asked.
"I asked you if your break was interesting." Barty pouted.
"I didn't know how you would react"
"I still wa- why is Potter here?"
"oh, I can go" James started to stand up.
"no, I don't want to talk out here, let's go back to our room" Regulus told his roommates. James gave him look asking 'is that safe?' He only gave a brief nod and left with the other Slyitherins.
OoOoOo
"ok, so why didn't you tell us?" Evan asked again once they were all safely in their room with silencing charms and doors locked.
"I didn't know how you would react" Regulus said gripping his wand behind his back.
"when did it happen?"
"three days before school started again. Are you two mad?"
"I'm mad you didn't tell us."
"I'm sorry" he muttered with very little actual reason to be sorry.
"do you still want to be death eaters?" He asked them.
"yes" Barty answered.
"I don't know" Evan said at the same time.
"why?"
"because it sounds GREAT!" Barty said defensively.
"No it doesn't! well maybe it does. OH I DONT KNOW!" Evan was clearly not sure who's side to take.
The two continued to argue about it. Regulus shifted uncomfortably.
"YOU SAID WE WOULD DO IT TOGETHER!" Barty yelled.
"I THOUGHT YOU KNEW THAT I HAD TO DO IT BECAUSE OF MY FAMILY!"
"I THOUGHT YOU KNEW I HAD TO DO IT BECAUSE OF MY FAMILY!"
"OH YEAH HAVING THE MINISTRY ON YOUR SIDE MUST BE SOOOO HARD ALL THE DAMN TIME!" Evan accused.
Suddenly this wasn't about Regulus at all.
He took that opportunity to leave. He headed to the one place he knew would be quiet.
The library. The fifth year walked over to the back of the room to browse books and calm down.
Inhale. Wait. Exhale.
Inhale. Wait. Exhale.
Inhale. Wait. Exhale.
Once calm he grabbed the next book in the series that James recommended on behalf of Lupin. It was written by, a muggle born. Made sense that his parents would never let him read it, he decided to read it anyways. After all he wasn't a Black anymore he could read what ever he wanted.
"oh, sorry" someone bumped into him, making him stumble backwards a bit.
"it's ok, I'm alright. you?" The boy lowered his book he was reading, the boy was Remus Lupin.
"yeah,"
the two stood there for a moment. Regulus didn't know what to do. He was being nice to people now. Not that he'd ever gone out of his way to bully anyone. But it still felt... odd to not say anything.
"have you read that book?" Lupin asked noticing the book he was holding.
"not yet, but I'm going to start it today"
"it's really good. ... if you like it there's others by that author"
"yeah, I read the first two in the series!"
"really? Normally people only read one of these books and not realize that they take place in the same place"
"I can't believe that. I mean of course they're connected! They all literally have the same history and are written in the same way!" Lupin nodded.
"I'm on the fourth book now, I'm waiting for the fifth to be published so when you're done with the next two, if you want someone to discuss theories with or something, I might be available" the Gryffindor told him.
"yeah? Id like that. No one ever really wants to hear about my books"
"yeah, my friends aren't exactly book people"
Regulus snorted. His brother had never been a book person. The two bookworms parted ways to go read. That's part of why they were there after all.
I love Regulus and Remus just bonding over books so that might come up again later. Also yay! Remus Lupin enters the story!!
And yes I will be uploading on the 23/24 (it's at like 1 in the morning so idk) consider it a holiday gift to y'all.
So for some context. I'm writing this story oddly, I'm actually writing/planning chapter 11 right now but I edit everything the night I upload it.
I hope this chapter was good. Im so sorry if there's mistakes (let me know and I'll fix them)
Today I had family over and they stayed till 10 at nigh. Tomorrow is my family cookie day (a whole day of 7 people baking and decorating 252 or something cookies) so that's always chaotic. I know that's not a very good excuse for having bad grammar but that might explain why I didn't spend more than half an hour editing. Again I'll fix anything you find I need to fix. Just let me know
thank you so so so much for everything y'all have done. Favorites follows any reviews and even just reading this makes me so so so happy