CIRCA 1977

For many years Regulus had admired the Dark Lord and his prestigious ideologies for what they were; embellished and mythicised, similar to fairytales. He had believed them like a child—for a child he was—thought them to be of such appeal and beauty on the lips of the older boys of his house, as they spoke of a Saviour, a King, a God, brought to earth to bring back peace and power to those to whom it rightfully came, to bring back nobility and beauty to people like him and his family, as he preached about protection and conservation, and Regulus, young as he had been, had believed him.

It was not something which you could judge him for, however. It was a common mistake, and people much older than him had believed the words of the Dark Lord too, for what they truly were and what they truly represented, and Regulus deserved mercy, for never had he known anything else than blood conservation and purity, those were practically the only words his parents had ever spoken to him amidst the teaching of mannerism and politeness, which at he was an exemplary model and much better than his older brother, Sirius, who had left the house the year prior.

Regulus had been brainwashed his whole life, and he was merely sixteen when he understood the horrid, hideous reality in which he was plunged.

It had been the announcement that he was to marry Gwendolyn Selwyn that triggered this epiphany, as he liked to refer to it (it offered this sort of dramatic aura which he had always been fond of). He didn't know how or why, but it just did. The realisation that he was expected to marry this ugly foot whose ancestors had all been cousins (much like his own family), that he was expected to give children to this same ugly foot, and then simply live in the same house as she and tolerate her on a daily basis, as aberrantly unintelligent as she was, was a fatality. It had been the slap in the face which Sirius had always told him about, in a desperate attempt to save his brother from their heartless, monstrous parents.

The young boy hastened his pace through the corridors, black and green robes as neat and clean as usual, hair combed to perfection, facial expression betraying no urgency nor worry, and his back and shoulders were straight, rigid, much like the rest of his family for whom an elegant posture was the key to everything else.

He ignored the lingering eyes of girls upon his handsome features, ignored the whispers and giggles as he moved forward, and veered into an empty corridor that would (hopefully) lead him faster to the library.

He ignored as a fellow Slytherin followed him and tried to catch up with him, calling his name and desperate for his attention which he refused to give to anyone else than the handcrafted letter in his hands.

"Regulus! Where are you going?"

"None of your business."

The other boy rolled his eyes, used to the Black heir's antics, and carried on nonetheless,"are you going to try to get into the Restricted Section of the library again?"

"I said: none of your business, Greengrass."

"I'll take that as a yes."

Regulus sighed, overwrought. Greengrass was, despite being the only acceptable person whom Regulus could potentially consider as an acquaintance, excessively cumbersome, in the sense where he always felt the need to be there, without really being there at all. He too was a complete outcast, yet a respected person for the family he came from, handsome and rich and pure, and intelligent as he was (which tended to become quite rare among the Sacred Twenty-Eight, already for a few generations now. The two boys tended to stick together for those purposes, even if Regulus simply hated to admit it, preferring to believe that he had no friends and was not in the need of any, for he was independent and clever enough to not rely on anyone else than himself.

Thus Greengrass followed him to the library, where Regulus handed over the note which had been written by Slughorn (after quite a lot of nose-browning), permitting him to enter the Restricted Section and look for a book which wasn't quite the book which he needed, but which he would smuggle out like he always did—Regulus had become an ace at stealing and swapping, replacing and then pretending as if nothing had ever happened, for he was liked and admired by most people, polite and talented as he was.

There was a reason why he had made it into the Slugclub and his brother had not, and why he was still touching his parents' inheritance.

The library was rather empty, taking in mind the fact that it was a Friday evening, and most students perceived that time as a moment of leisure and relaxation amidst all the studying. The two boys wondered over to Mrs Pince's  desk where she was busy noting down book references on a parchment all while eyeing suspicious looking Hufflepuffs, who seemed to be passing some sort of object among themselves.

"Hello Miss Pince,"spoke Regulus, placing the letter down onto the desk,"I love your outfit today."

"Thank you dear,"she spoke, and Greengrass gave Regulus a sour look,"what do you have here?"

"A letter from Professor Slughorn I believe,"he said, as politely as he possibly could, adopting the tone his mother had taught him to use while talking to ladies,"I think he needs me to check out a book in the Restricted Section for researches."

"Again?"

Regulus sighed dramatically,"Alas, a man must do his deed, Miss."

Mrs. Pince seemed suspicious for a second, and stared right at Regulus through her ugly, old glasses that reposed on the tip of her hooked nose, resembling the beak of a vulture. Greengrass shifted uncomfortably next to him which almost got him caught, but Regulus's flawless act got the librarian's best side, and she allowed them into the Restricted Section after vaguely reading through Sluggy-slug's letter.

The two boys hurried off to it, and Regulus immediately started analysing strategically every single book that had been resting upon the shelves, some old, others even older as spiderwebs covered them.

"Which book are you looking for?"asked Greengrass, in a hushed whisper.

"Leave me alone."

Regulus seemed satisfied as he picked one up from the shelf and quickly flitted through it before to slip it into his bag. He then took another book which happened to be his Arithmancy: Year Five out of his bag, transfigured the cover for it to be identical to the one he had just snuck into his school bag, and then grabbed another random book about poisons and their hardship.

The truth was that books located in the Restricted Section could not be magically duplicated due to all of the Dark Magic surrounding it—therefore Regulus had first transfigured his Arithmancy book in order to get a second one to replace the stolen book on the shelf. It had been an easy plan with a guaranteed success, and a ridiculously small crime for which Regulus would not be caught, not when so many other people were slowly starting to rebel and join the Death Eaters before to even finish their education—most of them were too stupid to stay anyway—while the others simply caused horror inside the supposedly safe sanctuary that was Hogwarts. Just last week, drama had gone down, involving a Gryffindor third year and Selwyn, alias his future brother-in-law. The girl ended in St Mungo's and Selwyn was expelled, of course. He was a snake and she was a lion. Dumbledore always had his favourites and had not even bothered to hear Selwyn's side of the story—Walburga and Orion had been outraged when they heard the news.

They sat down for ten minutes, during which Regulus pretended to read about poisons and Greengrass sent anguished looks from his housemate to the librarian, whose resemblance to a bird grew greater and more flagrant with every passing day. He'd ask hushed questions which Regulus ignored royally, too busy pretending, too busy thinking.

It was only when the Black heir knew that it was safe to leave that both gathered their belongings, brought the poison book back into the Restricted Section, then headed back to the Slytherin Common Room, Greengrass looking absolutely amazed by his housemate's smoothness, while the latter smirked in all of his glory, for he had succeeded easily, perfectly, without a single flaw in the plan.

"What's the book about anyway?"asked Greengrass as Regulus crossed the crowded common room soundlessly, discreet as he always was, light on his feet, and up to the dormitory.

"I don't recall it being any of your business, Greengrass,"he answered, rather coldly, rather heartlessly, with that tone that all his family had always used on people when in a state of mild annoyance,"thus I do not see why do you even bother asking. Goodbye."

"You're an arsehole, you know that?"

"I prefer the term misanthrope."

(written by kencbi)