—thrum—

Regulus brushed his fingers across the electric guitar strings.

—thrum, thrum—

"This is fun!" Regulus blurted out, his fingers playing a few notes on the brand new instrument, one of the many Slughorn provided for the Come and Go Room for recording purposes, but Fabian and Gideon—

"I'm glad you're having fun," Adrian said. "Does this really seem like the bad thing your mother thinks it is?"

"If it involves Sirius," Regulus said, still strumming out one of the tunes, starting to hum the song.

"He's so easy," Elias said. "To the point I'm scared to let him leave this room even because the world's going to chew him up and spit him out, isn't it?"

"Did you say something?" Regulus looked up. "Who's going..."

"Nobody. It's just a figure of speech," Oscar said, smiling. He turned to Adrian. "I didn't know your brothers figured out how to convert electronic instruments so they can be used by us easily. And amps."

"Well, I've always been interested in music and them inventing stuff, but I guess it was..." Adrian paused, cringing, then lobbed a crumpled paper from his failed attempt at a school essay at Regulus' head. "Hey! Knock it off with the math equations! Math equations don't make for good song lyrics!

"Oh," Regulus glanced up from the guitar, the instrument swamping him. "Not that. I know that. And math doesn't work to determine what went wrong with Sirius either."

Elias and Oscar both chuckled while Adrian frowned. "Then what's with the math?"

"Oh? It's the math for Fabian and Gideon's project to transform Muggle electronic devices into magical current devices. However, that is more for their patent than anything, as the process is very simple, though they say it's not, and thus the math is needed."

"Did you understand anything he just said?" Oscar asked, turning to Elias.

"Why the bloody Merlin, weren't you in my house again?"

"Because I didn't know anybody in Ravenclaw." Regulus' face crinkled slightly. "Well, I know Barty, but he's a year below and clingy."

"Barty's clingy?" Elias asked. "I just avoid the lunatic. I can't believe he's in my house; some of the crazy things he's pulled. Like, today, he got caught telling the first years that the stairs in our common room will eat them and making them believe it."

"Yeah. That sounds like Barty," Regulus said.

"And you hang out with him?"

"He's my cousin?" Regulus tilted his head. "And maman would be displeased if I didn't?" He breathed, humming again, and then, "Brother of a monster, monster of a brother."

"Not that one," Adrian said, returning to writing his essay.

"No! But I like that one!" Elias said. "It's cool, like the mother..." He paused, looking at Regulus. "Bloody merlin banshee one."

"You've only heard that one line!" Adrian protested. "I've actually read the lyrics, and for Regulus' sake, no. At least not yet."

"Let's see," Oscar said, flipping through. "Regulus came up with a lot of good ones, so we do need to eliminate some." And then he stopped, stared.

"What?"

"Bee...bee!" The notebook flew a few feet as Oscar fell off the futon he'd chosen to sit on, laughing his head off. "Oh, Merlin!"

"I—what's so funny?" Elias asked, walking over, picking up the notebook, and thumbing through it.

"Bee—bee!" Oscar continued laughing, then said. "Bee—key-knee!"

Adrian looked up as Regulus flinched, his fingers going across the electric guitar strings wrong. He brought them up to his mouth to negate the string. "He wrote what in there?"

"I don't understand what's so funny about bikini," Elias said, still thumbing through.

"We probably shouldn't do that song as bikinis are port," Regulus said, still thrumming the guitar. Then he realized outside of Oscar, still laughing on the floor, that Adrian and Elias were staring at him, their jaws dropping.

"Uh, bikinis aren't porn," Adrian said, then threw a blank sheet he crumpled at Oscar. "And it's not funny."

"But..."

"No! It is porn!" Regulus held his finger up. "Grandfather said so!"

"Yeah, I'm not sure..." Adrian said.

"And he told that boy he'd better not have any stuffed under his bed, or he was going to let his grandfather know, but he actually doesn't keep any there because he's got a sister!"

Elias started laughing, then toppled over, letting go of the notebook.

"It's not funny," Adrian said.

"But he—there's no way that's the conversation that went down."

"It was because grandfather said it would be the same scare as Sirius' posters plastered on his walls of those poor Muggle girls in bee-key-knees."

"Bee-key-knees," Oscar said, stumbling, then reaching for a pick and handing it to REgulus. "You won't hurt your fingers if you use this instead.

"Oh. Alright."

"It's not funny."

"It, well, Oscar's the one laughing at bikinis, just bikinis," Elias laughed.

"No. Uh, Regulus?"

"Yes?"

"How do you spell bikini?" Oscar asked.

"That's simple. B-E-E..." He frowned as Elias started laughing. "K-E-Y-K-N-E-E-S."

"That..." Adrian stared. "Is not how you spell bikini."

"It's not?" Regulus frowned. "Then the song I wrote..."

"Wait. What did you write about bikinis?" Adrian's voice cracked. "Why would you write a song about bikinis?"

"Uh, Sirius? And porn?"

"You, uh, wrote a song about bikinis and porn?"

"Yes, so we're not..."

"No, he didn't," Oscar said, picking up the notebook and flipping through it. "Here. Take a look at this, Adrian."

Adrian reached for the notebook. "You're supposed to be helping me revise, Regulus."

"You've not yet written the essay," Regulus said, strumming the guitar.

"He's right."

Adrian looked at the song, his jaw-dropping. "Regulus. How? How did you?"

"Hmm?"

"What's wrong?"

"This might be worse," Adrian said, handing the notebook to Elias, who stared.

"Huh. Wait? How the bloody Merlin—we're not doing children's songs, Regulus!"

"So, it's not trashy?"

"That—no," Adrian shook his head. "But seriously. How did you get what looks like a children's song from Bikinis, bees, keys, and Knees?"

Regulus shrugged. "As I've said before, I don't know how this mind of mine works."

"Anyways, we need to come up with names for ourselves," Elias said. "Stubby, because someone's short?"

"Elias!" Adrian hissed.

"But the girls have..."

"You mean for Regulus?"

"Huh? How did he come up with Stubby because I was short?"

"And how about Boardman? He can be a very boring man if you're not careful, spouting off math equations as song lyrics." Elias said."

"Now you're being mean," Oscar sighed.

"I think it's funny," Regulus said. "Though I don't get it."

Adrian sighed. "You think the name's funny but don't get it?"

"I don't get the logic, but the name sounds funny, so I like it."

"Stubby Boardman it is," Adrian sighed. More names were tossed out as Oscar dug out cookies and milk for them to snack on, along with napkins to clean their fingers before touching any of the instruments.

"So, I like Carlos," Elias finally said.

"Sow, cow, milk,"

"Huh?" Elias said. "Sow as a last name? Why would...."

"Regulus! Don't you dare write a song about cows!"

"Uh, too late?"

"Milk?" Oscar offered when Elias looked over him.

"He decided to write a song about a cow because of the milk and cookies?" Eias tilted his head. "You don't have to write a song about everything."

"It got stuck in my head."

Elias shrugged his shoulders. "We can put it on the don't bother with the pile."

"Regulus, you're wanting to, you know, send a message with your words? To reach Sirius?"

"I didn't want us to perform the song about bee..." Regulus sighed. "However you spell that word, nor do I want us to do a song about cows."

"Elijah Dogbane," Adrian said.

"Hammers!" Oscar said. "Since I'm on drums."

"Sow," Elias muttered. "Wait! A sow isn't a cow; it's a pig! How did you get a pig from a cow?"

Regulus shrugged his shoulders. "I think, for words to be effective, maybe not all of them need to be said, and instead, the words that need to be most said need to be said, and maybe that's why I don't like talking?"

"Huh?"

Regulus pointed at his head. "There's a lot of nonsense up here, I think." He tilted his head. "Oh. Wait. Both of those songs..."

"Don't tell me you were trying to channel Sirius again?"

"Yes? Maybe?"

Adrian frowned. "If you were trying to channel him when you wrote the song about bikinis?"

"Keep in mind Regulus doesn't actually know what porn is?" Elias said.

"Yeah, but knowing Sirius, if Regulus told him..."

"Nope! Nobody ever mentioned to Sirius that Regulus was thinking of Sirius hiding porn under his bed."

"No. Sirius' porn isn't hidden," Regulus said. "The bikini-clad Muggle girls are right there on the wall so maman can see the naked girls..."

"They're not naked!" Elias said, placing hands on his head, then pulling them across his cheeks. "Oh, my gosh! Girls in bikinis aren't naked!"

"Nearly naked then?" Regulus said. "He doesn't hide it from her. Didn't. It's right there, so you can't not see it, so I don't go in his room anymore."

"Does your brother have a death wish?" Elias asked. "I mean, I've heard Walburga Black is—yeah. I wouldn't want to pull that if I were her kid."

"You mean you'd be far less of a casanova than you are, Elias?" Adrian asked.

"Can't compare to Regulus' brother, so yeah—Sirius has a death wish."

"He's not living with us anymore, remember?" Regulus muttered, writing down more lyrics and editing them.

"So, with Lennie Hammers, Stubby Boardman, Elijah Dogane, and Carlos Sow..."

"Someone, please tell me how I ended up with pig for a last name?" Elias asked, tilting his head over. "Regulus?"

"I don't know."

"Uh-huh. Continue, Oscar. What's the next step."

"Band names. They often name them after creatures they like..."

"House Elves!" Regulus' head jolted up. "House Elves!" He paused, then, "Why is everyone staring at me?"

"We are not naming ourselves the House Elves," Elias said.

"Uh, that can't possibly be your favorite creature, right?" Oscar said.

"Why wouldn't Kreacher be my favorite Creature? House Elves are amazing," Regulus said. "Don't care what you say. Like Sirius, you can go stick your head in an oven."

"And where did that last part come from?" Adrian said.

"Oh. Kreacher taught me. He mutters that and a lot of other things whenever Sirius gives him an order, and he can't find a loophole out." Regulus frowned. "Did, because Sirius isn't there anymore."

"Bloody Merlin. Your favorite creature is actually bloody House Elves."

"Yup," Regulus said. "I like all creatures, but House Elves are my absolute favorite, and Kreacher is also family."

"Stop him! Adrian, please."

"Uh."

"How about The Hobgoblins?"

"Huh?" Elias looked at Oscar. "What?"

"You're the Ravenclaw, so shouldn't you know they're in the same family?"

"That could..." Adrian frowned.

"That actually sounds cool," Elias said.

"So we're indirectly the House Elves?"

"Sure, sure, Regulus. But don't tell anybody in any interviews that?"

"Right."