── Wednesday 1st September 1971

AS THEY PASSED THE BARRIERS to Platform 9¾, Regulus sucked in a breath, seeing Sirius do the same a few metres away from him.

His mother scowled, eyeing the other witches and wizards at the station with distaste. A child, slightly younger than Regulus, probably either halfbreed or muggle (as Regulus didn't recognise her) stumbled into them and she gulped, backing away as Walburga stared down at her. The woman was clearly about to explode, she had been in a horrible mood all morning and Sirius had only provoked it, in fact Sirius had- wait. Merlin, where was Sirius?

The boy glanced around the platform. No Sirius in sight, but he'd be back, yes? Regulus was... well, unsure of that; his older brother was finally getting his taste of independence (Sirius' words, not his) and it was unlikely he would just come back to their mother now that he'd gone off. Not that Walburga seemed to care where he'd went. Regulus thought maybe it was better if he went to Sirius. After all, they couldn't be separated without a final goodbye.

He took another look around, this time noticing Rodolphus Lestrange, (better know to the boy as Bella's fiancé), paired with a grinning Antonin Dolohov - the latter waving off his brother as he stepped onto the train. Both young men seemed tense, as though being around each other brought them much discomfort, but Regulus' focus had moved onto Rabastan. The younger Lestrange brother stood there, seeming awkward as ever - like he'd rather be anywhere but in between his brother, his brother's best friend and whatever problems they had.

"Mummy?" he said, sneaking a glance at Druella Black, Narcissa's mother, whom Walburga was conferring with, before quickly looking back at his mother. The woman paused, darkened eyes falling down onto him. Regulus suddenly felt much smaller than before.

"Mother." She corrected him with a hiss and, suddenly, he was made aware of the utter annoyance in her eyes in response to his disruption. He cringed.

"Mother." Regulus repeated timidly, thinking over his words carefully now. "May I please go and greet Rabastan?"

"I didn't realise the two of you spoke outside of our festivities," she responded, lifting her right eyebrow.

"We do," he lied, tone of voice getting quieter as his mother's had gotten louder. "He's very good company."

"Let him go, Walburga," Druella Black said. "I'm sure the child knows better than to cause any trouble. He'd be aware of consequences." The boy shuddered. Oh, he was well aware.

Walburga narrowed her eyes, "You have ten minutes."

Ten minutes to say goodbye to Sirius. Ten minutes to find Sirius. Regulus rushed over towards the Lestranges and Dolohov seeming as calm and composed as the ten-year-old possibly could. "Hello," he greeted, stopping in front of them. "I'm Regulus."

Rabastan turned to face him, relief evident on his face. "Hi. Rabastan."

"Yes." Silence followed his words. That was a stupid response.

They both knew each other, they'd met many times before. Rabastan, like him, was the younger son of a rich, and well-respected pureblood family. The boy was also usually seen in the company of Evan Rosier, one of Cissy's cousins from her mother's side of the family. Regulus didn't know why he'd bothered with introductions at all actually. He supposed he didn't know what else to stay, he'd just needed an excuse to step away from his mother for a moment.

"That's Toni." Rabastan spoke up again, gesturing to Dolohov, despite knowing Regulus was already acquainted with all three of them. Perhaps the other boy felt the same way as him about this interaction, the same sensation of 'I don't know what I'm doing'. Toni offered Regulus a smile, before turning his attention back to Rodolphus. "And that's Ro," Rabastan continued, making a face that emphasised dislike.

"Ahem, anyways I'm glad you're here. I was getting slightly bored watching uh... Cesarin? Yeah, watching the blonde leave."

"It's Cesare," Rodolphus, who hadn't seemed interested in them both till right then, drawled out, raising an eyebrow.

Rabastan rolled his eyes, to which the older brother frowned in return, "Right, whatever. Cesare."

Regulus blinked.

"He's such an arse, I don't know how Toni puts up with him."

"I'm still here, you ignorant child."

"I'm almost eleven."

"Child."

"Old man."

"I am eighteen."

"Gross. Old man."

"At least I'm not a blubbering foetus."

"No, but you're still so sensitive. It's funny."

"I most certainly am not. Speak for yourself, Bastan."

Regulus glanced back to see his mother had turned away from their direction. Thank Merlin, he could get to looking for Sirius. The ten-year-old took another look at the still bickering Lestrange brothers, wondering if they were always like so, before quickly walking towards the train.

Those ten minutes he'd been given seemed to have quickly disintegrated into perhaps five, but it seemed today luck had chosen his side, even if just for a moment.

Regulus felt someone tackle him from behind and his head spun around in surprise, alarm clear in his eyes before he realised it was just his unheeding older brother and his embraces. Regulus turned around completely, clutching Sirius tightly, before pulling back and glaring at him.

"Don't ever leave like that again!" he huffed, frowning at Sirius.

Sirius only smiled, patting him on the head, "Sorry, Reggie. Wasn't really going to leave without saying bye to my little brother." The older boy hugged him again, "I'm going to miss you so, so much."

Regulus nodded, expression instantly softening as he buried his face into Sirius' shoulder, "I'm going to miss you so much more. You're going to come back for Christmas, right?"

"Definitely." It was Sirius who pulled away this time, glancing over at the train. "I think it's going to move soon, everyone's inside." He looked at his brother, grinning. "Bye, Regulus. I love you."

"I love you too. Bye, Siri."

Regulus watched his brother rush off towards the train and sighed. That would be the last time he'd see Sirius for a while.

"You shouldn't deceive your mother, Regulus Black," Walburga's voice seethed lowly, as she placed a hand on his left shoulder from behind him, "I'd assumed you knew the consequences for such a thing." Regulus didn't need to turn around to know he was going to relearn those consequences as soon as they got home.

── ✧ ──

IT DIDN'T TAKE SIRIUS LONG to find a compartment to settle into; he'd stopped outside one with a trio of boys and a red-haired girl. Sirius slid open the compartment door, taking a look around and they all went quiet for a moment, glancing over to see who the new arrival was (save for the girl who seemed to be sulking). A boy with glasses slightly too big for his face and messy, dark hair offered him a wide grin, "Nice hair, mate." he said, looking up at his purposely ruffled hair. Sirius snorted, proceeding to take a seat beside him, spreading himself out and making himself as comfortable as possible.

"Thanks. Matches yours, doesn't it?"

The boy laughed, "Sure does."

"I'm Sirius. Yes, my name's Sirius. Sirius Orion Black. My parents were doomed with that one, I'm not very Sirius usually. Who are you lot?"

"James." the boy beside him responded before gesturing to the others; one boy, blonde, a little on the chubby side with bright blue eyes, and another, dark-skinned and lanky with scars across his face that piqued Sirius' curiosity. The latter boy seemed too engulfed in the book in his lap to care for introductions. "Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin."

Sirius blinked. "Do they speak?"

At that, Remus looked up from his book, seeming just slightly irritated. Sirius wondered what his deal was. "We speak. Just prefer to read."

"Oh, I don't really read much." Peter squeaked, his face turning a shade of red as they all looked at him, realising he'd brought all attention to himself. Remus looked back down at his book.

"Well, I don't know about you lot, but I do love reading about Quidditch." James said, "Quidditch is bloody amazing."

"You like Quidditch?" Peter piped up, sitting up straight as his meek demeanour evaporated, like it was never there in the first place.

"I love Quidditch!" James exclaimed eagerly, stuffing his hand into his pocket to take out a scrunched up Quidditch magazine and flattening it out on his lap.

"Me too! Woah-" Peter leaned over to get a better look of James' magazine and Sirius did the same.

"Merlin, I didn't know those were out. I've been meaning to get one for my brother." Sirius said.

"They're not, my dad got me some early. He's friends with people who make them and well, who doesn't like Nathaniel Stevens? He's the best chaser ever. Well until, of course, I grow up and become the best chaser ever."

"You're going to try out for the school team then?" Peter asked him, as the lady with the snack cart came round.

"'Course I am."

They all bought a bunch of sweets and chocolates and whatever else there was with the generous amount of money James' parents had provided him plus the few coins Peter had nicked from his mother. Sirius offered Remus a chocolate bar, noticing the boy hadn't taken anything and Remus stared at him for a moment before offering him a smile and thanks, Sirius smiled back. Remus wasn't bad at all, he decided.

The boys continued talking and laughing, Remus even putting his book down and joining, voicing his own opinions on the topics at hand. None of them really bothered paying attention to the redhead or her friend (that had earlier entered the carriage) - though the others told him they'd tried conversing with the girl before he'd come along; her name was Lily, but she had seemed upset so the boys hadn't discovered anything more.

"You'd better be in Slytherin!" her friend, a slim boy with long, dark hair, encouraged Lily a little loudly and James paused in the middle of his sentence, turning to stare at the two.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James then asked, looking at Sirius. Sirius did not smile.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin," he admitted glumly.

"Blimey," said James, "and I thought you seemed all right!"

Sirius grinned at that, "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

James brought his arm up as if he was lifting an invisible sword, "'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad." The boy beside Lily made a small, dismissive noise and Sirius found he rather disliked him. "Got a problem with that?" James said, turning on the boy.

"No," he said, though his slight sneer suggested otherwise. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" interjected Sirius, cocking a brow. A smirk played on his lips. James roared with laughter at his comment, Peter also snickering. Remus had gone back to his book.

Lily sat up, her face having gone a few shades too similar to her hair. She threw both him and James a deep look of dislike, before grabbing her friend's hand, "Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment." she said, standing.

The boy, Severus, followed her out, but not before giving all four of them a nasty glare. Sirius grinned, "See ya, Snivellus!"

── ✧ ──

hello hi guess who finally updated after months woo, can you tell had absolutely no inspiration for this so i just rushed it so we can get on w the story <3

anyways rabastan, toni, ro lomls bc i said so theyre all so <33

dedicated to regan bc theyre the reason i'm gonna continue writing this bc we need more books that focus on the slytherins wow

yeah okay that's all i have to say bye

21.07.21