AN: Just an (extremely) short little chapter again, but I quite like it – although the absence of Luce and Finn really is tragic...I miss them already. But Reg definitely makes up for it ;) Yumm...

Chapter 8

Shame On The Name

The Great Hall was buzzing with excitement and anticipation and joy. However, two girls at the Slytherin table didn't have so much to laugh about.

Madison was slowly banging her head on the table, muttering something about how awful their final year at Hogwarts would be, how she would really rather just go die in a hole and how miserable their social life would be from that day forth.

Narcissa – although refraining from self-afflicting behaviour – was telling the fork in her hand all about how amazing Lucius was and how he didn't deserve her, and how that now that they were separated he would probably find someone much prettier than her with whom he'd run off with the first chance he got.

Yes, our two Slytherin girls were indeed drowning in their own misery and self-pity.

Just as Maddy uttered a short 'ouch' at having hit her head a bit too hard, the great doors slowly opened and a line of petrified looking midgets - which were the new first years – all but stumbled in.

"Psst!" Regulus Black leaned across the table to give his cousin Narcissa a jab in the ribs. When she looked up from the fork in her hands to give him her most sour glare, he just grinned and said, "The little monster is waving at you."

She turned in her seat to give Sirius – who was hopping up and down, his shock of messy black hair flying all over the place – a small wave back.

"N'awww!" Regulus cooed at her, "I think you've got an admirer, Cissums. Maybe you should forget Malfoy and run off with the little monster and have little monster babies." He suggested, grinning widely.

"That's disgusting." She threw her fork at him. "We should have let Bella drown you in the bucket after all."

"Now, now; do play nicely my dearest cousin. We wouldn't want anyone's feelings to get hurt."

"I don't give a fuck about your feelings." She said dryly, turning away from him.

"Ouch, harsh." Regulus clutched his chest in mock offence, but stopped pestering her after that.

Dumbledore twittered on and on and on.

After what must have been half a century the Hall erupted in loud clapping and cheers, and Maddy jumped in her seat, mumbling, "I'm awake, yeah. Yup. What'd I miss?"

The Blacks seated at the Slytherin table didn't have to wait long for little Sirius to be called up to the Sorting Hat. He stomped boldly up to the front, plonked himself down on the seat and pulled the old hat over his messy dark curls.

"Bet you ten galleons that he'll be in Hufflepuff." Regulus whispered to Andromeda, who was sitting next to him.

She hesitated for a moment, glancing up at her little cousin who was swinging his legs back and forth on the stool, before turning back to his older brother. "You're on." She replied with a smirk and a curt nod of her head.

No sooner had the words escaped her mouth, did the folds of the Sorting Hat open wide and announce their cousin to be...a GRYFFINDOR!

The entire Slytherin table froze and slowly turned their shocked eyes on the other members of the Black family.

Oh my. Trouble was headed their way.

"There must be some sort of mistake." Narcissa said after a moment of horrified silence, trying to keep her voice calm and steady.

Andromeda looked from her sister to Regulus (whose mouth was hanging open in a very unattractive manner) and back again; then shook her head slowly. "I don't think there is."

At this point Regulus seemed to snap out of his trance with a shudder and said feebly, "Mother will kill me. Lynch me. Rip me to shreds and feed me to the House Elf."

"Listen, Reg, it's not your fault..." Narcissa tried - and failed - to console her younger cousin, who continued to whimper something about thumb-screws.

"Walburga's going to flip when she hears of this: her own son, a Gryffindor!" Andromeda stated, running her fingers through her long, brown hair.

"Andy! Hush!" Narcissa looked pointedly at Regulus who, by this time, was twitching nervously like a mouse caught in a trap. However, her sister ignored her and went on, "Really, I wouldn't be surprised if she disowns him."

Narcissa was about to scold her sister once more, but couldn't help but comment on her last suggestion. "There's no way she'd disown him yet. He's only eleven, for Merlin's sake! There's some sort of law about that somewhere, I don't know. Alphard might have mentioned something about it a while back now. Something about the person being disowned having to be over the age of fifteen, not sure."

"Well," Andromeda said, perking up considerably, "the midget has four years before being blasted off that hideous tapestry; now he has time to sweet-talk that charming old aunt of ours."

"You can't 'sweet-talk' Walburga, Andy." Narcissa stated dryly.

"Whatever." Her sister gave a dismissive wave of her hand, before looking around at the other Slytherins – who still sat there staring, instead of eating the food which had by this time appeared on the table in front of them. "What're you staring at?" she snapped at them. The effect was immediate: everyone's head snapped right back down to their laps, and some even started stuffing their faces with mashed potato and gravy.

After everyone in the Great Hall had eaten their fill, the students were dismissed to their House dormitories.

"I've got to go sort out the first years," Maddy said, standing up from the table. "See you later, yeah?"

"I still can't believe they made you a last-minute prefect." Narcissa scowled, tossing a lock of hair over her shoulder.

Madison laughed as she walked towards the doors, "Cheer up, Blondy!"

This caused the scowl on Narcissa's face to deepen, before she, too, stood up to leave.

This left Andromeda and Regulus still seated at the table. The former had adopted a rather triumphant look on her face during the last few minutes, while the latter still had his head buried in his hands.

"Reggy..." Andy sweetly smiled at her cousin.

"What?" he answered gruffly, not looking up.

A grin spread across her face, "You owe me ten galleons." She stated proudly.

This got his attention, "WHAT?"

"I won the bet!" she chirped in a sing-songy voice.

"What?" he repeated for the third time, "No you didn't!"

"I did, indeed! I bet that the monster wouldn't be in Hufflepuff – well he isn't, is he?"

Regulus's jaw dropped open as Andromeda gave him her widest smile before standing and walking away. "You can't be serious!" he cried after her. But she just waved, her back still to him.

AN: Did I already mention how much I love "Reggy"? Teehee... :D

Review and I might send him over for a late-night visit ;)

P.S. The next chapter is the only chapter that I haven't completely planned out already and I have no idea what to put into it. So, your welcome to forward suggestions of what you want to happen in the next chapter and I'll see what I can do :)