[Chapter Twenty]

Regulus was plagued with dark thoughts throughout the night, he carried the weight of the guilt on his chest as if it were a heavy boulder, making it hard to breathe. He couldn't imagine what had possessed him at the time to say such a horrid thing to Éponine at the time. Laughing had been one matter, that's normally how he played off a lot of things, but to tell her that she was better off with her face being burned, it didn't sound like him. He tried to think back to the time where he had said it, what was going on around him? Then it struck him, it was shortly after Christmas, returning from the holiday. One would think it would be a joyous time, but it wasn't. 

Sirius was still at home and one of the family members had taken themselves to make an off comment about Gryffindor. It seemed to stir something within Sirius and from that point out, Christmas turned into a total disaster. Sirius decided to ruin the Christmas Roast, nearly taken the entire kitchen down with it. As Walburga screamed and yelled at him, Sirius screamed and yelled back. Orion tried to salvage the Christmas party but it was clearly over, there was nothing anyone could really do. 

One by one in a hurried fashion, everyone had left, leaving it to be just the four of them, along with the house-elves. Instead of opening presents, Walburga sent Sirius off to his room, but the boy had taken to slamming his door multiple times until Walburga threatened to take it. It grew worse as Regulus remained downstairs by the tree, listening to the scene further unfold. At one point, Walburga had entered the bedroom, maybe with the hopes of talking things over with Sirius, only to discover that the boy had placed up posters of bikini-clad Muggle women all over his walls. To add to it all, he had used permanent sticking charms, leaving them all in place, no matter what Walburga did. 

It was by far the worst Christmas to date, one that Regulus wanted to forget about and attempted to, but it seemed to come back with reminders every so often. That evening, Regulus remained downstairs, settling himself on one of the sofas of the home, only to hear his father cry in the next room over. Walburga eventually came back down the stairs, going to her husband to apologise for the scene, but Orion wanted to be left alone. Enough that the man gathered his coat and left the home for several hours, even though Walburga had begged him to stay. 

Sadness was quickly replaced with anger inside of Regulus as the Christmas had been ruined by the acts of his brother. He knew Sirius was growing tired of all the comments made about him in Gryffindor, for that, he actually sympathised with his older brother. However, his actions had gone above and beyond what called for the situation. It wasn't just taking a strain on the family anymore, it was taking a strain on their parents' marriage, having to deal with their oldest that insisted on causing trouble.

Sirius scoffed several times that Regulus had become the new favourite, that Regulus was the better son. But it wasn't solely on the fact that Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor, it was how he behaved before and afterwards. As Regulus had pointed out before, Sirius liked causing trouble, whether it was him being playful or not, many people weren't exactly fond of it. Regulus, while wanting to be like his older brother when he was younger, was very much his own person. He was quieter and when his parents told him something, they only had to tell him once. 

He didn't like the idea of getting in trouble, something that never seemed to phase Sirius. So, he listened to the rules set by their parents and often times, it meant that he didn't get into trouble. His parents did praise him more often than not and that left Sirius with ill-feelings towards Regulus as well. He knew it wasn't Regulus' fault, but it seemed the boy was hoping that Regulus would break into a rebellious streak eventually. But it just wasn't in Regulus' personality to be that way.

As the years went on after Regulus started Hogwarts, it seemed the brothers had become distant, really to no fault of their own. It was painful for Regulus, mainly because he shared pleasant memories with his brother. He did see what a happy Sirius looked like when they were younger. Regulus even had the memories where Sirius and their mother got along. But it just became so shattered and broken, so fast that Regulus didn't even realise it until it was too late. He never thought that Sirius would take to leaving the house and never coming back, even if the signs were there. 

All the built up anger of trying to keep a composed look had left it to Regulus taking it out on Éponine when he saw her again and that simply wasn't fair. He remembered how angry he was when he learned that someone had set his things on fire, but after Éponine told him why she had done it, reminding him what he said, Regulus couldn't deny that he deserved it. 

If she could still remember such things, then Emmarentia was right, just because Éponine was working towards forgiving him, didn't mean that she was working on forgetting. Obviously, the memories still held their pain and Regulus wasn't sure what he could do to make it all better besides remain on friendly terms with her. 

No one could say that Regulus wasn't trying, but he had to wonder to himself if he was trying as hard as he could? Could there be more that he could do in order to get the message across to her that he was sorry for what he had said and done in the past? The problem was, he was sure that Éponine wanted him to stop keeping Avery and Mulciber as his company and he didn't blame her. However, what he had told he was true, long before they had even met each other at around nine years old, Regulus had been friends with the two boys.

He didn't agree with everything that they did, but he did share a lot of decent and good memories with them. The thought of just giving up over a decade-long friendship with them seemed out of the question. He hoped that they could change their ways and that Éponine would give them a chance. But perhaps Regulus should have been looking at the bigger picture of "what ifs." What if his friends decided not to change their ways? 

Regulus couldn't ignore that he had asked them to leave Éponine alone and just in the same day, he knew it wasn't an accident the drink was purposely poured on the girl when she was just trying to enjoy her meal. If they continued to do that, disrespected and mistreating the girl that was going to be his wife, Regulus couldn't stand by and allow that. He couldn't support them with his friendship, he could only pray that they would change. Hopefully, Éponine's revenge had been enough to knock some sense into both of them. 

Hardly getting any sleep, Regulus got up for the morning before any of his dormmates, retreating to the showers before he got dressed. He decided to head to the Common Room and wait, hoping that Éponine would be up soon and perhaps they could enjoy breakfast together, much like they did at home. But as he walked downstairs, he was surprised to see that Éponine was already in the Common Room, only she wasn't awake. If he wasn't mistaken, Regulus would have bet good money to say that the girl had ended up falling asleep in the chair in front of the window that looked into the Black Lake and remained there for the night. 

He hesitated with the idea of waking her, mainly because she looked comfortable, but at the same time, he figured that she would probably want someone she knew waking her gently before all the students filed into the common room for the morning rush. 

Walking over, the sun was out, reflecting off the water, offering a nice green glow through the window. Regulus reached his hand out and nudged Éponine's shoulder until she stirred and opened her eyes. For a few moments, she seemed awfully confused until it dawned on her that she had fallen asleep in the common room the night before.

"Good morning," he said as she looked up at him, " I was...erm, heading to breakfast, and I was just wondering if you wanted to join me?"

"Uh," the girl peered down at her robes, blushing in embarrassment that she was still in her clothing from the night before. "Yes, I would like that, but I would like to head to the girl's dorm and get a shower in if you don't mind?"

"No, not at all," he took a step back as she stood up, " should...should I wait here or should I go to the Great Hall?"

She paused for a second before looking over her shoulder at him, looking unsure of how to answer his question. Yet, he seemed patient enough to wait.

"Whatever you're comfortable with," she answered. "I don't really mind. If you want to head to the Great Hall that's fine, I'll meet you there."

All the way to the girl's dorm to the room where her trunk was resting by her bed, Éponine could hear her heart skipping beats within her chest. The last thing she had expected was waking up and the first thing she saw was Regulus. But then to have him invite her to breakfast, she had to wonder if she was still partially dreaming or something along the lines. When they were back at the Grimmauld Place, it was common for them to eat breakfast together because they really didn't have any other option to do so. But to actually hear him ask her, it left her with a smile that she attempted the hide so she didn't look foolish. 

However, even during the shower, which was nothing exciting, she couldn't help but smile. It stayed with her as she got dressed, placing her prefect badge on her robes, and leaving the Slytherin Common Room. She had made note that Regulus had gone to the Great Hall to wait on her, which she expected to happen. She thought about inviting Emmarentia but the girl was long out of bed and gone by the time Éponine thought of asking. It left the girl to walk the corridors alone as she headed in the direction of the Great Hall. 

Éponine should have suspected something would happen as the morning was going far too smoothly. But she ignored the feeling in her stomach, thinking it was only butterflies that were left over from the breakfast invitation. But it was her gut feeling that was warning that something was head and she didn't recognise it until she collided with it, or rather him.

Coming face to face with Sirius Black after what had taken place the day before was not a good start to the morning for Éponine. She was honestly hoping to avoid the boy at all costs, especially as she had been seeing how Regulus was reacting to him. However, it was bound to happen one way or another inside the castle. He was alone, which made it less intimidating rather than him being surrounded by his friends, but it left her uneasy that he didn't look happy to see her. 

"Well, don't you look proud of yourself?" Sirius asked her, leaving Éponine confused by the question. "You've accomplished what you and your family set out to do. You'll marry right into the Black family. Congratulations, you and the rest of them have corrupted Regulus into thinking he's doing the right thing."

"But I didn't-"

She was caught off guard by the amount of hostility in his voice as she stared at him blankly. 

"Don't try to play innocent, you spent the whole summer there, didn't you? Just so you could cosy up to him?"

"I spent the summer but not because I want-"

"My brother doesn't deserve that life!" Sirius raised his voice causing her to jump in place. "He deserves to be happy. He deserves to be free from all of that, what you all poison his mind with. I know my brother, better than you ever could. Regulus could go out and do great things for the world, but instead, he's going to be tied down to the likes of you. He's going to live a life just like my parents, preaching all that purity rubbish to your young ones that you push out."

Pressing her lips together, Éponine could only shake her head in response, knowing that every time she opened her mouth that he was only going to talk over her. It seemed that he didn't have a chance to approach Regulus again and he was still angry about the day before, but she never expected for Sirius to approach her in such a way. 

"It's not my fault," she finally whispered to him, bringing Sirius to give her a look. "It isn't. You can look at me with as many faces as you want, I'm used to it, but it's not my fault. You're the one describing your brother as if he's some sort of puppet. As if he can't think for himself, but you forget that he's extremely intelligent and more than capable of making decisions for himself. Just because he doesn't want to listen to the likes of you doesn't mean that I've corrupted him.  No one has corrupted him and no offence, Sirius, but as of late, the only person who makes Regulus unhappy seems to be you."

She inhaled a breath as shaky as it was before continuing.

"Regulus doesn't want to follow you, he wants you to come home. You can call it rubbish if you want, but just because you don't believe in it, doesn't make us wrong."

"Oh, so you believe that every muggle-born should be removed?" Sirius asked her, his voice resembling a growl. "Just wiped off the face of the earth? Along with the muggles?"

"Of course not,"  Éponine answered. "I don't wish harm or death on anyone. But I do believe that for the safety of wizarding kind that our schooling should be kept separate. Countless witches and wizards lost their lives during the witch hunts-"

"That happened ages ago-"

"It happened ages ago, but it happened more than once in different parts of the world! There's nothing stopping it from happening again! History has been known to repeat itself.  I do not wish to see my loved ones hurt, simply because others do not understand that magic isn't some sort of evil. You can stand here and argue with me all you want, Sirius, but I'm not going to change my mind and neither is your brother. "

Emmarentia came around the corner, hearing all the commotion from where she was trying to enjoy her morning tea in peace. She spotted Éponine standing before Sirius, her body trembling, but her voice seemed to grow stronger as she spoke to the older boy before her. 

"Just because you speak in a louder voice, it doesn't make you right. You don't take anyone else's side into consideration but your own. If you wished to have a civil debate then you actually have to act civilised. Not rushing me in a corridor so you can take your anger out on me. I've had enough people do that when I've done nothing wrong. Your fight is with your brother, not me. You've made your point clear, but Regulus has made his points clear as well. You just chose to listen to yourself."

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "And I don't appreciate being confronted in the corridors in such a harsh manner. I-I-I'm a prefect now, so if you w-wish to speak with me in the f-future, y-you will do so with s-some respect!"

Unbeknownst to her, Éponine was almost about to outnumbered as James, Remus, and Peter came around the corner as well to join Sirius for breakfast. Seeing the little prefect attempt to threaten Sirius was almost laughable, but before any of them could think to join in on the conversation, Emmarentia shoved her way between the three of them and made her way right over to Éponine. She linked arms with the girl and decided to be Éponine's escort into the Great Hall, leaving the boys behind.

"So, what exactly did I offer you my help for again?" Emmarentia laughed. "Because I'm pretty sure I could gather some pointers from you."

"Really?"

"Uh, yes, the way you said everything in such a calm voice. That's a talent, Éponine, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The angrier you are and the calmer your voice is, the scarier it comes across and let me tell you, I was almost shaking. You put Sirius Black into his place without hesitation."

"I was only speaking the truth," Éponine admitted.

"Well, don't sound apologetic about it! It was amazing! If Regulus had been a witness to that, he would be snogging you all over the corridors right now."

Éponine's eyes widened in horror. "Um, I don't think that's how it works, Emmarentia."

"Oh nonsense, boys love a girl who knows how to stand up for herself and take charge. Why do you think he was so happy yesterday when you caused that git to lose his two front teeth? He likes you standing up for yourself. You should like it to. Put everyone in their place. "

"I'll admit, it's nice in some ways, but I don't think my heart can take doing that often. I thought it was going to give out back there."

"Well, once you establish yourself as the queen that you are, trust me, you won't have to do it often. Everyone will know not to mess with you. They'll hear it from word of mouth and they'll know better."

"You think so?"

"Of course, now, go have yourself a nice breakfast with Regulus. Look at him, he's been waiting for you."

Pushing her along, Emmarentia smiled to herself as Éponine made her way over to the Slytherin table and took the seat next to Regulus. He did seem happy that she was there, a smile on his face as he leaned in to talk to her about something. She sat with him, listening, a little laugh here and there escaping her and once or twice, she said something that made him laugh as well.

During one of the times, Sirius finally entered the Great Hall, casting a look over in the Slytherin table and at that moment, even he couldn't deny that his brother actually looked happy. 

The happiest he had been in a very long time.