It felt as though second year passed even more quickly than first year had. Mid-term exams had finally ended today and I was quite sleepy, having stayed up the night before with Dorcas to review Transfiguration. Marlene had just given up and went to sleep around four, Lily had already studied the week before and gone to bed at nine, shaking her head at us, and Alice had quietly slept on the couch besides us around two in the morning.
"Let's take a nap," Dorcas said to me wearily. We were in the Great Hall, waiting for the others to finish lunch. The only good thing about exams was that school ended quickly on those days.
I nodded and dragged myself up from my seat. We were almost to the Gryffindor common room when I noticed a small lone figure gazing curiously at the Fat Lady.
"Are you a lost first year?" Dorcas called out as we neared the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.
Startled, the figure spun around. My eyebrows raised, I couldn't help myself. It was Regulus Black. Dorcas didn't seem to recognize him as she kindly asked again if he was lost.
"I-no-I just…" Regulus was caught off-guard, his eyes wide. "I…"
I walked forward and said, "Dorcas, go on up and sleep. I'll show him how to get to the Great Hall."
Dorcas nodded and shot me a smile. "Thanks, Ray. I'll see you."
I waited until Dorcas was inside to stare curiously at the younger Black. His features were quite similar to Sirius's, except that his cheekbones were slightly less defined and his eyes were closer to a silver-blue than a stormy grey. His expression was also completely different; instead of the arrogance and confidence bordering on conceit that his brother always displayed, Regulus had an anxious and honest expression.
"Come on, I can take you as far as the Great Hall. You'll have to find the way to the Slytherin common room from there," I said quietly.
"You know I'm from Slytherin?" Regulus asked, looking slightly fearful.
I nodded and replied, "I'm not going to hurt you or anything. But you should leave before someone comes along and tries to bully you."
Regulus suddenly looked angry and his aristocratic haughtiness flooded his demeanor. "Just because I'm from Slytherin? Well then, let them come. I'll stand my ground against any prejudiced idiot."
I was speechless for a moment, considering for the first time in my life the prejudice against Slytherins. I'd always thought of prejudice against Muggle-borns and sometimes, Hufflepuffs. But never against Slytherin.
"You're right," I acknowledged. "It is stupid. But what are you doing here, anyway?"
His proud demeanor vanished as quickly as it came and he suddenly seemed rather meek again. "I was just… just curious."
Confused, I searched his face for answers, but got nothing.
"All right, let's go," I said and this time, he followed quietly.
When he left towards the Slytherin table, I made my way back up to Gryffindor tower. I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.
"Wake up! Wake up! I said, wake up!"
With a shout, I felt myself hurtling in the air, landing as a dazed heap on the floor.
I looked up blearily to see an amused Marlene, an impatient Lily, and an abashed Alice.
"Get up!" Lily insisted again. "We've got an adventure to go on!"
Besides me, I sleepily registered Alice gently trying to prod Dorcas awake.
Dorcas moaned loudly and covered herself with her blanket but Lily ripped it off and said, "Stop it, Dorcas. You'll wake up the whole Gryffindor tower."
"Like you haven't already," Dorcas murmured back.
"Lily, what time is it?" I asked, my voice cracking. I rubbed my eyes and stood up.
I knew Lily was a stickler for waking up early but…
"Two in the morning," Marlene answered.
So there we were, two in the morning on the banks of the Lake, bathed in the moonlight and with towels in our hands.
"The game is simple," Lily was saying, "I used to play it all the time with… with…" Suddenly, her bright exuberance faltered for a moment, but finally she said, "It's not important. Anyways, so you dare someone to do something. If they do it, you have to jump in the Lake. If they can't or don't want to, they have to jump in the Lake. Simple enough, yeah?"
"We've got to make it quick or we'll be caught," Alice said. "It's easy to see us from the castle."
"Right," Dorcas said. "Marlene, since you're at the end, you start. Tell Lily a Dare."
"All right," Marlene thought for a moment before her eyes lit up. "Hey, Lily. You know how we'll be able to visit Hogsmeade next year?"
"Yeah?" Lily said, anxious.
"Promise to go with us instead of Sna… anybody else" Marlene finished.
Lily stiffened a bit at the mention of Snape and Alice and I traded nervous looks, but no one, not even Marlene, could stop her squeals and laughter when Lily shut her eyes tightly and with a magnificent jump, leapt into the lake.
"Cold?" I called out to Lily as she broke the surface.
"Not really," Lily answered, smiling, "It feels rather nice."
"Okay, Alice" Marlene said. "Say one mean thing about Ray."
I looked over at Alice, who was looking at me questioningly. I knew she hated large bodies of water like lakes and oceans. I shrugged and said, "Say anything. S'long as you don't have to jump into the lake."
Alice smiled kindly, but then shut her eyes and splashed into the lake.
I smiled in gratitude, feeling humbled that she wouldn't say one bad thing about me.
"You okay?" I asked and Alice's head bobbed up and down as Lily swam over to her.
"Dorcas," Marlene dared. "Strip to nude."
In awe, we watched in admiration and disgust as Dorcas cheerily whipped off her shirt, pants, socks, bra, and underpants.
Alice and Lily both shrieked in the water, covering their eyes.
"In you go," Dorcas said smugly, pointing at the water. Marlene rolled her eyes before cannon-balling into the water.
"Your turn," Dorcas told me, grinning.
I tried to think of something ridiculous, something not even clever and confident Dorcas would do.
"Prank Sirius Black," I blurted out, sure she would not take the challenge.
"I don't even know him," Dorcas protested.
"Then jump," I said, half-laughing.
Dorcas hesitated, fidgeting.
"Oh, will you hurry up and get in here?" Marlene called.
Dorcas looked at me and said stoutly, "Fine. I will, but as soon as the deal's done, you have to jump straight into the Lake."
"Fine, just not during classes," I agreed.
Suddenly, we heard a bark. I whirled around to see Fang far in the distance, at Hagrid's hut… yipping at us.
"Oh Merlin, there is no way I'm going to let Hagrid see me naked!" Dorcas shrieked, grabbing her towel.
"Hurry!" Lily cried and she, Alice, and Marlene quickly got out of the water. I threw a towel around Alice and grabbed her hand as we raced back to the Hogwarts doors.
We made it through just as Hagrid opened the door to his Hut.
We were all completely silent as we jumped into our beds, save our hearts, which were absolutely thundering.
But after a few minutes had passed, Dorcas giggled, though her laugh was shaky because of her heavy breathing from running.
Then Marlene chortled lightly, and Lily started to laugh. Even Alice started to laugh and then none of us could help ourselves and I nearly cried from how much I was laughing.
"Will you shut up!?" someone bellowed angrily from a nearby dormitory.
We instantly fell quiet, but couldn't help the mischievous and satisfied smiles from spreading across our faces again.
A moment later, Marlene slid into bed beside me.
"What?" I whispered to her.
"Move over, loser," Marlene quipped. "I'm dry, but my bed's still wet from that lake water."
"Just use that spell we learned in Charms," I responded, but Marlene ignored me and snuggled next to me in my bed. A moment later, Alice joined us, and from the conversation, I knew Lily had joined a now-in-her-pajamas Dorcas.
Feeling as content as I ever had, I fell asleep as the first rays of dawn of Easter Holiday crept in.
Easter Holidays were filled with family, which was just fine by me. Seeing Jamie again gave a little more spark to my life, and though he had definitely bulked up a bit physically, his familiar brotherly smile and hair-ruffle made me feel at home again.
On the other hand, I felt more and more estranged from Sola. Her version of spending time with me was all about self-improvement. She wanted to help me tame my hair and change my wardrobe. She also encouraged me to study on my own or to learn new spells before they were taught in class. It was all very kind of her to try to make me feel more beautiful or to make me more intelligent, but I also simply wanted to treasure my days off. It was hard to say no to her, though, and so there was a strange tension in our interactions that summer.
It was the first day back from Easter Holidays and classes would start again tomorrow. Half the Gryffindor class seemed to be cramming in last-minute homework (like Marlene) and the other half consisted of socializing (like Lily). Alice was perched on her bed, away from company, staring worriedly at Dorcas, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor with her hair totally pulled back. She was adding disturbing ingredients to a brewing potion.
"Dorcas, are you sure that's completely safe in here?" Alice asked, her slightly fearful eyes peering anxiously at the bubbling cauldron.
"Yes, Alice. I know what I'm doing," Dorcas replied impatiently, as she always did when she was focused.
I crossed my arms and leaned against the door. "Is that what I think it is, Dorcas?"
Dorcas smirked and said, "Dinnertime. Get ready to meet the Giant Squid, Ray."
We seated ourselves unusually close to Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter that night. Usually, we were seated as far from them as possible, as they tended to test their pranks out on the nearest schoolmates they could.
For quite a while, dinner was perfectly normal and I eyed Dorcas, expecting to see a flicker of disappointment or confusion. But she seemed strangely pleased, and after Sirius had finished his third dish, I understood the subtlety of her potion work.
"Sirius, you-er, you put on some weight over break, did you?" Remus asked Sirius cautiously, trying to be sensitive.
James, however, took one look at his mate and laughed loudly. Sirius's stomach was starting to bulge. It wasn't ridiculously exaggerated, and that made it look all the more real.
Sirius looked down at his stomach, his shirt twisting around his belly as he did so. His eyes popped open and he leapt up from his seat, but by now the potion was working at full speed and his belly sagged over his jeans.
Girls started to whisper behind their hands and all the boys looked rather smug.
"What?" Sirius said, astonished. He'd probably never been anything but fit in his young life.
"I think the real question is who," James smirked. "Clever. A spell or a potion?"
"Potion," Dorcas replied, standing up from her seat. Everybody stared at her in awe as she threw a small vial at Sirius, who caught it instinctively. "That's the counter-potion. It'll bring you to normal."
Then, with the most angelic smile on her face, Dorcas turned to me. "Ray?"
I groaned, but reluctantly stood up and trooped my way out to the grounds.
Trying not to be aware of the curious classmates watching, I started running down the hill and then jumped full-speed into the Lake.
Dorcas had won that round.
Too soon, we were boarding the Hogwarts Express, which would take us back home for the summer. I had a suitcase in one hand and a book in the other but as we began to board the train, someone jostled my arm and my book went flying out of my hand.
I bent over to pick it up someone accidentally kicked it and the book went flying even further. I tried again to pick it up but this time, someone beat me to it.
I accepted the book, thanking the person before I realized who it was- Regulus.
"You're welcome," he said, smiling warmly at me.
I felt a tinge of surprise run through me. His smile was so wide, innocent, and bright. Nothing you'd expect from a pureblood Slytherin. In fact, even his elder Gryffindor brother had never displayed a smile so free from burden and arrogance.
Directly behind me, Marlene's voice could be heard, "Hey, Black, did you like that prank Dorcas pulled on you? The one that made you charmingly fat?"
"There's no such thing as charmingly fat, unless you're Peter," Sirius replied, not even bothering to look at Marlene. "So no, I don't like extra baggage."
"Does that apply to your family relationships too?" Regulus said, uttering the words so softly I doubted if he'd even spoke at all. And then he was gone, swept into the mass of Hogwarts students boarding the train.
And as I finally found an empty compartment, it hit me why Regulus had been standing in front of the Gryffindor common room that night. He had been curious… curious as to his brother's willingness to separate himself from all Regulus had ever known. Regulus missed his brother and admired him, even if he couldn't quite understand or reach out to him. Regulus was lonely.
And even if I didn't know any else about Regulus, I could understand that feeling of estrangement from one's siblings- wanting to earn their love and wanting to be as good as them and yet- not quite knowing how.
