disclaimerThis does not belong to me, except for the plot and a few characters, and if you don't know that you probably should read the Harry Potter books before you return to this story.
Sirius provided four dungbombs, three packages of Bertie Botts, a pack of wet-start fireworks, and all of their books. Needless to say, Madam Pomfrey confiscated the dungbombs and the fireworks.
"I can't believe it! You're stuck in the hospital wing and she won't even let you have dungbombs!" Sirius complained loudly, flopping on Regulus' bed. Regulus grinned.
"Didn't Lupin tell you that she would? I know that you have no common sense but I thought he did."
"He didn't have anything to do with it. We each picked one thing for me to bring, and his was the textbooks." Sirius said cheerfully. Then he frowned and fiddled with Regulus' covers. "You're all right, Reggie, aren't you? I've been worried."
"You don't worry." Regulus said. But as soon as he said it he realized it wasn't quite true. Sirius didn't worry about the consequences of his actions, and he didn't worry about his relationship with his parents, or his grades, or his health, but he did worry about Regulus, and to a lesser extent, their cousin Narcissa, who Sirius deemed 'a little spoiled but decent'. Sirius was irresponsible to the extreme, but he did possess a few older brother instincts. "I'm okay." Regulus assured him. "Just a bit of a headache."
"All right then." Sirius heaved himself off the bed. "I've got to go to Potions, unfortunately. "I'll come visit again later, shall I?"
"Only if you want to. We're being sorted at supper tonight." Regulus replied.
"Okay. Don't be too easy on Poppy." Sirius grinned and bounded out of the room.
"I heard that Mr. Black!" Madam Pomfrey shouted from her office, but Regulus could hear Sirius laughing as he sped down the corridor.
"Your brother's funny." Keegan remarked, examining a package of Bertie Botts. "What are these?" Regulus was about to reply when he realized that Ariadne Rosier was standing over her sister's bed, and that she would certainly report back to Giles on how he acted.
"My brother is undignified. " Regulus said coldly, trying to sneer, as Lucius Malfoy often did. "And those are a wizarding sweet." Keegan looked shocked and then hurt, but he didn't attempt to talk to Regulus again. Alasdair looked like he wanted to scold Regulus about it, but Keegan began to talk to him, so he satisfied himself with just a glare. Regulus observed that Keegan seemed to be more sensitive and Alasdair more protective, although Keegan was bigger, better-looking, and more talkative. Regulus knew he wasn't going to be able to be friends with them, but he resolved to apologize and explain a little about Wizard politics after Ariadne left anyway. He didn't have long to wait. Ariadne left the room, presumably also for class, only a few minutes later.
"Sorry." Regulus said, immediately after she was gone. "I couldn't be nice to you in front of Ariadne" Keegan looked confused, but he nodded. Alasdair, however, looked suspicious.
"Why not?" He demanded. Regulus looked at Phronsie, who shook her head violently.
"Oh, no. If you're going to attempt to explain wizard politics to muggleborns count me out. It'll give me a headache, and it's not as if it matters what they think of us, we're never going to speak to them after the sorting anyway." She picked up one of her textbooks, which Regulus recognized as Charms, and began to read.
"Well then." He grumbled. "I guess it's up to me." He raked a hand through his hair, and turned to Alasdair and Keegan. "All right, it's awfully complicated, so bear with me."
"There are three types of wizards. Purebloods, Half-bloods, and Muggleborns. Muggleborns are like you two- they have two non-magical parents. Half-bloods have one magical parent and one Muggle or Muggleborn parent, and Purebloods are all magical. But plenty of people have different mixes so I guess it's really pureblood, muggleborn, or any combination of non pureblood magical parentage.The purity of your blood doesn't have any affect on how powerful you are, but it does matter to a lot of people. There's a lot of prejudice against muggleborns, in the Ministry and the media and at Hogwarts and everywhere really. Mostly, it's the really old Pureblood families that really care about blood purity. Like my family and Phronsie's. Although there are some Pureblood families that don't think that way-" Regulus took in the blank looks on Alasdair and Keegan's faces and paused.
"er, hold on, I'm not explaining this well. Let me try again." He thought for a minute before starting over.
"Okay. It sort of started at Hogwarts. Hogwarts was founded by four people, over a thousand years ago. Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built the school together, but when it came time for them to accept students, Slytherin only wanted to accept students with magical parents, but the others wanted to accept everybody who had talent. There was a big fight, and in the end, Slytherin left, but not before they put a spell on Gryffindor's hat to make it into the sorting hat. They each put some of their brains in, so the hat would be able to sort people into their houses based on whether or not they had the characteristics that particular founder valued. The system was supposed to help the students make friends and find a place to belong by putting similar people together. Hufflepuff wanted hard working, fair minded people, Gryffindor wanted brave, loyal people, Ravenclaw wanted clever and studious people, and Slytherin wanted ambitious people of magical parentage.
That works pretty well, except that since the hat puts people who care about blood purity in Slytherin, and people who don't in the other houses, the Slytherins don't really get along with anyone else. They especially don't get along with the Gryffindors. Even after they leave school, there's sort of a split, although iof course it's not a perfect divide along House lines."
"Why don't they just end the house system, then?" Keegan asked. Regulus frowned.
"Slytherin was a great wizard. He contributed a lot to the school, even though he was prejudiced. He deserves to be honored. And even though our numbers are dwindling- there's not much choice if you're only going to let your children marry purebloods- purebloods still have a lot of the power and the money in wizarding society. After all, we've had centuries to build it up. My family is one of the most powerful and purest in our world. And everyone knows who's pure and who's not- the names of the pureblood families are also the most well known, and when a pureblood marries a non pureblood, everyone remembers, because it's a scandal. Even the non prejudiced purebloods usually marry purebloods, because they've never had any interaction with muggles. They never have any reason to."
"So one quarter of the entire wizarding world is going to treat us like second class citizens?" Alasdair said, scowling. "We should have stayed in London and gone into theater, Keegan."
"And not have any magic?" Keegan protested. Then he frowned. "Can you even do that? Refuse the letter?" Regulus had to stop and think about that one. It had never occurred to him that anyone wouldn't want to accept their letter.
"No one has to come to Hogwarts, I don't think. But untrained magic is dangerous. All kids do accidental magic before Hogwarts, but as you get older, it gets more powerful and therefore more dangerous. Accidental magic in general is more powerful then controlled magic. Kids do all sorts of things by accident that it takes years to learn to do on purpose. If a lot of muggleborns refused to go to Hogwarts, the Ministry would never be able to cover it up. There are a lot of purebloods who don't protest muggleborns coming to Hogwarts just because of that." Regulus explained.
"I guess I can see that." Alasdair replied thoughtfully. "Keegan and I both set things on fire sometimes, and Keegan fixed things we broke a couple of times, and once I turned us invisible, but when the Welcome Witch came to explain our letters to us and help us get to Diagon Alley, she said that fixing things and invisibility were advanced magic and we probably wouldn't be able to do them again until we were much older." Alasdair frowned. "But don't a lot of muggleborns just get trained and then leave the wizarding world because of all the prejudice?"
"Well, it's kind of complicated. For one thing, it's I would think that it would be hard for muggleborns to go back after Hogwarts, because they're not prepared for any non magical career. And secondly, it's not as bad as you're making it sound. A hundred years ago, my Aunt Elladora led a campaign to legalize muggle hunting that almost passed. Now, although some families still think that way, it's not acceptable to say so right out. It's sort of an open secret- everyone knows but no one talks about it, and if someone from the old families does do something they usually get away with it, but hate crimes are unacceptable. So muggleborns get called names in school sometimes, and they can't win any kind of legal argument against a pureblood, but they can have jobs and families and money and stuff. Another part of it is that a fair mount of the people who are prejudiced aren't really interested in doing anything about it. They won't marry muggles, they won't intervene when they're being mistreated, but they won't do anything themselves." Alasdair nodded, although Keegan looked a little lost. "It's a little hard to explain." Regulus added apologetically.
"It's all right." Alasdair said. "I can see that it's complicated. But I still have a couple of questions."
"Go ahead." Regulus looked over at Phronsie, who was steadfastedly pretending to be asleep. He'd thought that Phronsie was like him- a blood-traitor at heart, but not willing to act like it. Maybe he'd been wrong. The thought was unsettling. He didn't think Phronsie would betray his sentiments to her siblings- or, Merlin forbid, his mother- but if they didn't feel the same way about something so important, their friendship could hardly stay the same.
"Are all purebloods prejudiced? Either the indifferent kind, or the actually open about it kind?" Alasdair asked finally, struggling to find the correct terms to ask about what he wanted to know.
"No." Regulus shook his head emphatically. "The traditional ones call the unprejudiced ones blood traitors. Whole families or just one person can be blood traitors. My brother is one, and that's a huge deal, because the Blacks have been all pure and all Slytherin for centuries, and he's been sorted into Gryffindor and made friends with a blood traitor and two half bloods, among other things. It's causing a family feud, although it's really more like everyone's either against him or staying out of it. He'll be out the door as soon as he comes of age, if not sooner, and my mother will be glad to see him go. There are others like him, although mostly they rebel more quietly, or as adults. And then there are the blood traitor families. The Potters, the Weasleys, the Prewetts, the McKinnons, the Bones, the Longbottoms, and others. There are even fewer of them then the traditional purebloods because they aren't working to keep their blood pure."
"And your family is traditional?" Alasdair asked quietly. Regulus sighed.
"My family is the worst. The richest, purest, most powerful, and most prejudiced of all of them. And everyone is going to be watching me especially carefully because of what Sirius did. My family won't allow him to inherit if he's not going to uphold traditional values, so everyone knows that I'm going to get everything. And that's why I was so rude earlier. I'm sorry. I'm probably a blood traitor at heart, but I'm also eleven years old and I'm not ready to fight my whole family. I'd rather pretend to be something I'm not then have to fight my way through seven years of Hogwarts and have everyone talking about what I did all the time, and be miserable at home. Sirius will be disappointed, but he'll still be my brother. So I'm not going to bully you or call you Mudbloods or anything, but I won't be your friend or even a friendly acquaintance. Last name basis only." Regulus sat back in bed and took a noisy gulp of water.
"What's a Mudblood?" Keegan asked. Regulus gaped.
"That wasn't really my main point, you know." He pointed out incredulously.
"Oh, I know. But you said we could ask questions." Keegan replied cheerfully. Regulus was unsettled. Even Alasdair looked a little bewildered by Keegan's attitude.
"Er.." He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Well, it's an insult. Means muggleborn. It's extremely rude, and is considered a curse by the staff, but a lot of the Slytherins use it as a matter of course. You should be very offended if someone calls you that."
"Thanks." Keegan said tranquilly, "Alasdair, could I have a word?" Alasdair still looked confused, but he climbed over to Keegan's bed, where they began a whispered conversation. Regulus looked over at Phronsie and felt very alone. He'd been so sure he'd always have her, but it looked like they were going to be friends only as long as they did not talk about this issue, and with that kind of wall in the way, what kind of friendship could they have? He still had Sirius, but Sirius had never been his friend, only his brother. His dorm mates in Slytherin would be like Phronsie at best, and even if he ended up somewhere else, he would have to pretend to be like Phronsie. Regulus burrowed miserably into his covers.
"Well, we've decided." Keegan announced. Regulus looked over, startled. Keegan had a satisfied grin on his face, and Alasdair was expressionless. "We'll be friends with you anyway."
"Er- Come again?" Regulus asked blankly.
"I said, we'll be friends anyway. Even though we have to pretend not to be. We can meet privately, and send notes, or work together in class and say it's just to be polite. We don't like cowardice, but really, what you're doing isn't cowardice, it's compromise. And we can respect that. Besides, after what happened on the lake, we have to be friends." Keegan grinned triumphantly, as if Regulus couldn't argue with his logic.
"But why would you want to be friends with someone who's never going to stand up for you and is going to pretend to not like you?" Regulus asked, bewildered.
"We told you, because we think not wanting to lose your family is reason enough to want to pretend, and we think we should be friends anyway." Keegan said.
"And as a purely practical matter, it'll be useful for us to have a friend who can explain how our enemies are thinking. What you just told us will be immensely useful. All your brother told us was that Slytherins were all wankers. Not very helpful" Alasdair added, saying "Slytherins were all wankers " in Sirius' voice. Regulus laughed out loud.
"You're a mimic!" He said delightedly.
"A very good mimic." Alasdair said smugly- in Regulus's voice. Regulus laughed again. He kept smiling as ge rubbed his nose in thought.
"So, a secret friendship?" He asked hesitantly.
"Yeah! Whatever you feel like is safe." Keegan nodded enthusiastically. Regulus was about to agree when he thought of Phronsie.
"Phronsie." He said quietly.
"Don't worry." Keegan assured him. "She can be in it too." Regulus ignored him.
"Phronsie." He said again. She shifted in her bed.
"I don't want to be a part of it." She asserted quietly. 'But I won't tell." Then she pulled the covers over her head, indicating the end of her participation in the conversation. Alasdair frowned.
"Can we-"
"Yes." Regulus said firmly. "I trust her."
"Well then. If my friend trusts her, so do I." Alasdair said, a crooked grin creeping over his face. Keegan was beaming, and Regulus was smiling so brightly that he knew his dimples must be showing.
"So Regulus," Keegan asked. "What's special about these sweets?" He waved the package of Bertie Botts.
"They really mean every flavor- they have all the normal ones, and then they have steak and popcorn and spinach and water and dirt and wood- everything." Keegan and Alasdair both looked skeptical. Alasdair tried a white one and Keegan a green. They both made horrible faces.
"Well?"
"Grass." Keegan said in disgust.
"Paper." Alasdair added with a grimace. 'Oh well. They're not boring."
"Can we ask you questions about our textbooks?" Keegan asked eagerly. "We read them as soon as we got them, but there are so many things we have questions about-"
"You know, I don't know everything just because I'm a pureblood. We wouldn't need to go to Hogwarts if we did. But I'll answer what I can."
The boys talked happily for the rest of the day, eating beans and laughing at Alasdair's perfect mimicry, and by the time Madam Pomfrey released them to go to the feast, their secret friendship was cemented. Phronsie was quiet as they followed Professor McGonagall down to dinner, but when Regulus reached for her hand on the moving staircase, she squeezed it briefly before letting go, and Regulus knew that they would still be friends, albeit not as close as before.
They stopped in the Entrance hall, before a massive set of closed double doors.
"You would have gone into an antechamber over there to wait for the other students to sit down if you'd come off the boats as planned." Professor McGonagall explained apologetically. "As it is the rest of the school's already in there waiting, so we'll just go in." Regulus gulped nervously as he followed her through the door, and he could see Keegan turning green with anxiety. The whole school laughed and cheered as they walked up the aisle. Clearly, their mishap had made them infamous. When they reached the sorting hat, sitting on a plain wood stool in front of the teacher's dais, Professor Dumbledore stood and gestured for quiet.
"I would like to offer Hogwarts' most heartfelt apologies to these four first years. You will not have to make up the homework that you missed. Please ask your House prefects to relay the start of term announcements to you after you have all been sorted." Professor Dumbledore sat back down. Regulus noted thankfully that Sirius had been right when he said that Dumbledore was not one for long speeches.
"Black, Regulus" Professor McGonagall called. Regulus climbed onto the stool.
"Well, Well, another Black." The hat said. "Usually you are quite routine, but your brother gave me a shock two years ago. And you are different again, I see. But not difficult. It is never difficult to see where a Black belongs. And you are quite precocious, young man, knowing where you belong. Willing to pretend, not ready to fight... yes, you do belong in Slytherin. You are only wrong in one particular."
"What?" Regulus thought.
"you are far too brave to have ever been a Ravenclaw. SLYTHERIN!" Regulus stumbled off the stool in shock. He barely remembered to take the hat off. He dimly registered wild cheers over the polite clapping from the Slytherin table. Wait...Cheers? Slytherins don't cheer. It's too undignified. He thought. He looked for the source. And there was his brother, who was not only cheering wildly from the middle of the silent Gryffindor table, but who had also gotten his friends to cheer with him. Regulus met Sirius's eyes as he sat with his new house. Regulus knew that Sirius was saying with his cheers 'You will always be my brother.' And he was sure that Sirius knew that with his smile, Regulus was saying thank you.
Regulus had a warm glow in his stomach for the rest of the night, while Alasdair and then Keegan were sorted into Gryffindor, while Phronsie was sorted into Slytherin, while his dorm mates introduced themselves, and while the older Slytherins congratulated him on escaping his brother's influence. Regulus began to believe that he would enjoy Hogwarts after all, knowing that his relationship with Sirius was not going to suffer and he had two true friends.