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Chapter Text

The new house was huge. Almost all black, with dark brick. Nothing like the airy whites and open air of the summer house in France. And none of the tall brickwork and covered windows of grimmauld place.

Regulus had to admit, he liked this house better than the other two. There was a stained glass window near the top of the house, probably going into the attic, but Regulus had already decided that he would sleep in its room at least once this week.

He had always liked gothic architecture. Tall roofs, the bay windows, the balconies connected to gorgeous doors.

Regulus’ trance was broken by his brother, jumping out of the car and snapping a penny at him.

“Ow-” regulus complained, as the metal hit his hand, just below where his sleeve hit. “Sirius, that's mean.”

His brother laughed, “you’re just wimpy.” he stuck his tongue out at regulus. “All girls areee~” 

Regulus humphed and rubbed his hand, “You are an idiot,” he declared. 

Orion and Meredith– the newest conquest and potential stepmom– stepped out of the limousine. 

The two were talking about politics that regulus was truly and wholly uninterested in. But Regulus stayed to walk with them, while his brother ran off inside the house, no doubt to find all the flat pieces of roof he could get onto, and any trellis to climb down from. 

Regulus wasn't much interested in escape routes, Orion usually let him do whatever he pleased, and there were enough ‘respectable’ families in this town for him to be surrounded by rich people and only rich people. 

Inside the house was mostly dark wood, with a large brick fireplace and mantle in the formal living room. He could also see an archway that went into a nice dining room. 

Regulus followed his father for a little bit, taking in the house. But eventually he lagged behind and decided to explore the grounds. 

There was a gardener. That much regulus could tell immediately. 

The hedges were done neatly, the plants looked perfectly in order.

But he couldn't find the gardener. And that was a problem. In Regulus' eyes. 

Because he wanted to ask what could be planted here. He had had a window box on the window of his room in England. 

He had grown strawberries, orange lilies, and lilies of the valley. And he wanted to continue growing them. But he wasn't sure if he even could grow them in this climate. The humidity and weather was quite similar, but maybe the sun, or the soil, or something, would ruin his plants. 

The gardens smelled nice, there was honeysuckle, and an odd bush of garish pink flowers. They looked weird, the petals peeling back, there was a purple center, and a pink stamen with a white bead at the tip.

He made a mental note to ask the gardener what it was. Surely the gardener would be annoyed at the impending barrage of questions, but it was his own fault for being hidden away so Regulus couldn't find him to ask his first question. 

The sky was dark, rolling clouds that gave warning to impending rain. Perhaps lightning. A storm was welcome, Regulus wanted to find a room in which he could hear the rain on the roof. He found it soothing, to sleep with the sound of the rain. Back in grimmauld place, he had often snuck up to the attic with Sirius to sleep near the dormers where the rain hit the glass. 

Now he intended not to need Sirius, or to sneak up the rickety old ladder, or to be caught in the morning and to be locked in his room every night for a week. Just to hear the rain. 

He caught himself staring at one of the gargoyles on the roof, it was perched on the peak of the roof, but even from from down here, regulus could see the carved ribs, the horns, the somehow leathery texture of the carved wings, the horrible eyes and open mouth.

He liked it. Maybe he could get up there somehow, he wanted to get closer so he could take a picture of it. And hopefully paint it. 

He snapped out of his trance, and looked around again, spotting the gardener finally. 

Regulus sauntered over to the hunched over figure, standing behind him and waiting for him to turn and notice. 

The gardener was wearing a wide brimmed sunhat that looked a bit cheap, it was a pale blue, and had a flap of fabric that went over the gardeners neck. Regulus supposed that was to prevent sunburn, but it didn't really seem necessary in this weather. 

When the gardener finally turned, he found that it was not, in fact, a man as Regulus had thought. 

It was a woman, with a strong nose, and crows feet. Her skin was tan like she was always in the sun, which, Regulus realized, she probably did spend most of her day in the sun. She had a lot of freckles, probably she had gotten a bad sunburn and that had turned to freckles. 

Regulus found freckles rather ugly. They were imperfections caused by the sun, and mother had always made regulus cover him in summer. She had even dabbled in using visards, and making regulus wear one as well. 

But these freckles weren't so offensive, actually they were almost pretty on her. 

“Ah- hello,” the woman greeted, pulling off her plastic gloves and wiping them on her overalls. “You must be sssiirius…?” she guessed, stretching out the word septically. 

“Thats my brother,” Regulus corrected. 

“Ah- Regina then,” she amended. Smiling brightly, “my name is hope, im the gardener. Did you need something?” 

“Can strawberries grow here?” Regulus asked abruptly, a bit prickly after being called Regina. “And lilies.”

“Strawberries, yes, and it depends on the type of lily. Tiger lilies grow here naturally, calla lilies grow well-” hope explained, standing up properly. 

“day lilies and valley lilies,” regulus interrupted. 

“Well- i suppose they would grow here, i don't see why not. You mean lilies of the valley? Don't you?” hope thought aloud. 

“Yes.” Regulus nodded, “what of it?”

He was used to adults thinking it was weird that he was growing poisonous plants. He never used them to actually poison anyone. But grown ups were weird and didn't trust children.

“Bit dangerous, if you have any animals. Of course, all lilies are poisonous to cats, but a bird or a dog could-"Hope looked at Regulus with light brown eyes, a beam of light that managed to get through the clouds was hitting her eyes in a way that made them reflect and almost look yellow or gold. 

“I don't have any pets.” Regulus crossed his arms. “It's not something you should worry about.”

That was a bit of a lie. Regulus did actually have a pet, or he was going to get one. His uncle had promised him an exotic animal when he turned thirteen, and that was only a month or so away. Regulus planned on getting a lynx or some sort of wild cat. So maybe he should actually take the lily thing into account. 

Regulus went inside, grabbing one of his trunks and hauling it up the stairs, starting to search for a room that he liked. 

The house was already furnished, except the bedrooms.

There were a few things that regulus took into account when trying to find a room. 

He wanted nice windows, a bathroom closeish, a place to put his easel, a decent view, and off the first floor. 

He did not, in fact, find a room before a bell was rung for dinner. He sighed, mentally retracing his steps through the new manor, he set down his trunk and made his way down to the formal dining room, he had assumed that was where they were going to be eating. 

He was wrong, Sirius was sitting on the kitchen floor with a turkey sandwich, wrapped in green aluminum foil. 

The butler apparently did not have the time nor ingredients to make a proper dinner, and Orion was taking Madeline out to dinner, so Sirius and Regulus were left to fend for themselves. 

“I made you one as well,” Sirius looked up at Regulus, wiping mustard off the corner of his mouth with a black handkerchief. He pointed up to a counter. 

There were four small sandwich pieces on a piece of aluminum. White bread, no crusts, cut like tea sandwiches. 

“Thank you,” Regulus mumbled, leaning against the counter and picking one of the sandwiches and taking a bite. 

It was good, Sirius had long ago memorized how Regulus liked food. He hated the inside of tomatoes, he only liked the lighter, more crunchy part of lettuce, he didn't like crust, and cream cheese was always the replacement for mayonnaise. 

Sirius and Regulus ate their sandwiches in silence. Sirius finished first, but didn't leave, waiting for regulus. 

“What was the bell?” Regulus eventually asked, now nibbling on the second to last small sandwich. 

Sirius shrugged, “I thought kreature had rang it, but he wasn't here. It sounded like the dinner bell so I just made these.”

Regulus nodded. At least he wasn't going crazy. He had been wondering that for the entire dinner. 

“I'm going to go up to my room now, I've got to put up some posters,” Sirius said, “tell the creature that i don't want any tea.” 

“You shouldn't call him that-” Regulus frowned, walking after Sirius. “Mr. Kreature is-” 

“Shut up about Quasimodo, will you?” Sirius turned and pushed Regulus. 

He did this a lot, one second he was nice, sitting with Regulus just to make him happy. The other half he was yelling and calling him a girl just to be cruel. 

Regulus couldn't help but flinch, he stepped back when he was pushed. 

“God, I'd think you had a crush on him, but you’re a dyke freak,” Sirius spat, grabbing the front of Regulus' blouse.

Regulus and Sirius stayed in that spot for a second, Sirius breathing heavily, regulus not breathing at all. 

Sirius turned and let go of regulus, storming away. Regulus scowled at Sirius' retreating form, and turned on his heel, deciding to go up the other flight of stairs. 

He shut himself in the first decent room he found, and got out his scissors. 

Plopping himself down in front of a mildly reflective surface, and started cutting his hair. And prayed to God and Maria or whoever was listening that the back didn't look rubbish.

Regulus sat in the mess of hair that he had made. His hair had been very long, now it pooled around his knees like ink on parchment, the white carpet stained by the perfectly curled ringlets that the maid had spent an hour on that morning back in England. The light green bow that had held it out of his face was the only hint of color in the otherwise grayscale floor below him. 

He stared in the mirror, his fathers Grey eyes staring right back at him. 

When Regulus was younger, he had been berated by his grandmother for looking like a boy, with a stronger nose than Sirius, and thin lips. He had always looked more like Orion than Walburga. Once he might have hated it, wearing visards to try and prevent freckles, just like his mother had. Wearing the same colors, trying to grow his curly hair, even though washing it made him want to choke on the water around him. 

Now he was very glad for his stronger jawline, and the fact that his hair had always looked shorter. Though he still would probably wear a visard. Freckles were ugly.

He closed his eyes,  pressing the heels of his palms into the sockets until it hurt just a little bit. He had always sort of hoped that if he stared into the sun, and read in the dark, that he would be able to make his vision bad enough to get glasses. Then he could get contacts, which meant he could get colored contacts. Which meant that he could have brown eyes. He loved how brown eyes looked, it would be so much better. 

But alas. All he had ever succeeded in was giving himself chronic dry eye. At the ripe age of twelve he carried around a bottle of eyedrops and migraine medicine. 

Regulus didn't like how he looked, most times. Once in a blue moon he actually found himself rather attractive, in the right lighting, in the right clothing, when the sun and stars aligned, he might have even called himself handsome. But no one else ever would. 

He let his thoughts drift somewhere depressing while he laid back on the hardwood. Staring at the crown molding and the smoke marks from past candles. 

The house was old, clearly. He had seen patched mouse holes; there were pulleys in a few of the rooms that might have, in the past, connected to bells in the servants quarters. Regulus was fairly sure they were still connected, and ran to the basement, but he couldn't really test it without Sirius or a second person in general. 

He had seen the stairway down to the basement, it was dark, the stairs had been nearly rotted, there was no railing or light to ensure safety. Regulus thought it was very inviting. 

But his father had told them not to go down there. Perhaps there was a body buried there, or something rotting. Regulus was quite curious why he was barred from part of his own house. 

 

Regulus hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep, his thoughts had been meshing and reforming into something a bit incoherent. But he only realized this when he woke up.

There was a boy in the windowsill, looking like a deer in headlights, he was blonde, his hair like straw in the sliver of light coming from the hallway. His eyes were wholly too blue, the sclera through the pupil. Not just the iris. At least the one in the shadow.

He looked like an animal, one pupil reflecting red like a cat's in a picture. 

Regulus sat up, he was fifty percent sure he was dreaming. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and got the stray strand of hair out from the corner of his mouth. 

The person in the window made eye contact with Regulus, and started to backpedal, swinging his leg -that had been inside the window- out. Beginning to drop down onto the roof below. 

“Hey-” regulus shakily stood up, his vision going fuzzy and black when he did so. He stumbled a bit when he tried to go forward, but made it to the window just in time to see the intruder climb onto a bike. 

It was raining and storming, mud rivers flowed over the gravel driveway, pine trees swayed with the wind, and the retreating form of the intruder disappeared with a flash of lightning.

Chapter Text

Regulus abstained from breakfast, he usually did. He found that only eating dinner was a good mix between his mothers preference for starvation (and subsequent advocacy for regulus’ starvation) and his own preference of eating what the cooks put labor into. 

 Breakfast wasn't necessary, but it was necessary to attend. 

So he and Meredith sat quietly drinking grapefruit juice and watching the other two eat.

Sirius was eating waffles, sausage, toast with marmalade, and chocolate milk. Shoving too big of bites in his mouth, not bothering to use a napkin. Of course he wasn't getting reprimanded for his impropriety, he was the son. He was the favorite. He had all the leeway. 

His father was just eating eggs and sausage. Though he wasn't really eating per say. More so staring at Meredith, and occasionally looking down to have a bite to keep appearances. 

 

After an excruciating fifteen minutes, Orion excused Regulus and Sirius. And the two of them went to the drawing room and stared at the phone on the table. 

Their mother was supposed to call, and surely she would be mad if they ignored her, or let the phone ring too long.

Regulus and Sirius had both sat on the carpet, on their knees looking up at the side table which held the telephone atop it. 

They weren't allowed on the couches until they had been properly wrapped. So the carpet was easiest on their skin, hopefully no bruises would be sustained, though the black family had a penchant for bruising like peaches. 

The black family had a lot of penchants for things, the mix of aristocracy and inbreeding (they went hand in hand really) granted a veritable mountain of ailments and afflictions, as well as annoying quirks. 

Just before Regulus was about to break the silence, the phone rang.

They started to scramble, but both straightened themselves out before they so much as touched the phone. Sirius was the one to pick it up. And a crackly voice yelled through the phone.

“Bonjour, mes adorables enfants, qui m'ont manqué toute la semaine.” Walburga's voice sounded a bit shot, like she had recently been yelling. And in all honesty, she probably had been. Walburga hadn't really taken the divorce well. 

It took a second before Regulus could translate the French in his mind. ‘My lovely children’, she had called them lovely. God, the manipulation was so annoying, and so obvious. 

“Bonjour, maman,” regulus spoke cordially, “Comment vont les choses à Londres?” asking how things were was a bit of a risky move, he could learn things he really didn't want to (like his garden having died, or his mother getting a new boy toy) but it was either him or Sirius who was going to ask, and he would rather rip the plaster off. 

“Things are well,” Walburga responded, in English this time. That meant someone had to be in the room with her. 

“We miss you,” Sirius said, straightening his posture as if walburga could see his slouch through the phone.

“Yes well,” walburga paused, “its been quiet around here, without you two.”

Well, that seemed too obviously backhanded, perhaps she actually missed them, regulus nearly laughed aloud at the thought, but she rarely ever made her comments so obviously rude. 

Sirius and walburga continued to talk, and Sirius quietly shooed regulus out of the room, with a flick of his wrist and a silent mouthing of ‘leave’ 

Regulus fled the room, and went back out into the garden, he wondered if, perhaps, Hope was working now. He needed new gardening gloves, his had mysteriously disappeared earlier that week. He needed a recommendation for a good gardening store. 

He walked around outside, looking for the tacky sunhat, or the rustling of leaves. 

Instead, he found a boy, probably Sirius’ age, cutting back hedges. 

“Excuse me,” regulus spoke, frowning when he was ignored. “Excuse me,” he repeated, louder this time. Still no answer. 

The boy was faced away from him, cutting back hedges, with cords dangling from his ears. He was odd, regulus decided immediately that he didn't like him. He was lanky, scrawny, all around homely, and the back of his neck was burnt. 

“Hey!” regulus finally shouted, he had to stop himself from stomping, that would’ve make him look childish, and girlish. And neither of those things should be applicable to him. 

Finally, the boy turned around, pulling one of the cords out of his ear, “me?” he asked, an ugly expression of surprise on his face. His bruised and scratched up face? What was that about, why was some hoodlum in his garden? Had he just gotten out of a fight? 

“Yes,” regulus responded, “who are you, and what are you doing here.”

“My name is Remus, and i work here on weekends,” the boy, remus apparently, responded.

“Well, where is miss Hope?” regulus asked shortly. 

“Ma’s taking a smoke break, d’you need something?” remus took out the other wire, giving his full attention to regulus. 

“Nothing that you can help me with,” regulus informed, raising his chin a bit. 

Remus shrugged, “okay.” he turned back to the bush he was trimming put the weird wires back in his ears, and worked without even a glance back at regulus.

Regulus huffed, and walked away. Still looking for Hope. 

He found her eventually, sitting by the trash cans, smoking and sifting through scratchers.

"oh- hi honey," hope greeted, snuffing out her cigarette. "whatcha need?"

"is there a good gardening store in town?" regulus asked, the smell of trash was unpleasant, it burned his nose when it mixed with the smoke.

"oh, yes, its called Pots and Plots." hope nodded, "on main. its down town." she hid the faces of the scratchers from regulus' veiw. he assumed that she hadnt meant for him to notice that, so he didnt say anything.

 

"may i go downtown today, please?" regulus requested, standing infront of his fathers desk, hands folded behind his back, feet together, back straight. perfect posture, maybe that would sway orion in his favor.

"why do you need to go downtown?" orion didnt bother looking up from his work. the sound of his pen scratching agaisnt paperwork.

"i want to go to a gardening store," regulus explained, "miss howell told me there is one there."

"do you have american money?" orion glanced up then, "how much do you think you need?"

"could i have a hundred, please." regulus didnt like to ask his father for money, it made him feel like some sort of spoiled daddys girl. but what must be done would be done, for the sake of strawberries.

orion produced his wallet from his pocket, then handed two bills to regulus. "go on, then, sweetheart." he put away his wallet, and leaned back in his chair as regulus walked out.

 

it had always made regulus a bit uncomfortable that his father acted like that. as if he cared, as if he didnt just want to fit in with all his friends and have a perfect greatful little daughter that called him daddy until he died and asked for unreasonably expensive clothes. it was annoying that orion thought that with a little bit of money and leeway he'd get anything from regulus.

if he wanted something, he'd have to call him by his actual name. and god knows how much he'd hate that.

 

regulus had shoved the money in his pocket, probably crumpling it, but who cared, he didnt need presteine bills to satisfy some cashier at a rundown hippy store, with a bad pun for a name.

he ran up the stairs to his bathroom, and sifted through his makeup, looking for sunscreen.

after opening every drawer thrice with no success. he went to sirius' room. it was down a floor, and had a better veiw of the gardens, but no bathroom attatched.

"sirius, did my sunscreen end up in one of your boxes- what are you doing?" sirius was sitting on his bed with a camera in hand, seeming to take pictures out the window.

"nothing-" sirius yelped, nearly dropping his camera. "im not doing anything, and no i dont have your fancy sunscreen. which, by the way, is useless and feels awful on the skin-"

"would you have me not wear sunscreen?" regulus scoffed, going over to sit next to sirius.

"whats the point even of it?" sirius pushed the camera away from himself, slightly under the blanket. obviously he was hiding something, but regulus really didnt care enough to find out what.

"well, you see, sirius. we're something colloquially called 'pale', and that means we get sunburns very easily-"

"shut up, i know we're pale. i mean why not go without, its not sunny outside anyway." sirius pushed regulus.

"that logic is why you have freckles and i dont-" regulus muttered.

"whats that?" sirius pointed to a small cluster of freckles on regulus' hand.

"thats- none of your businuss, you- uh, you-"

"asshole? or are you gonna go with shithead?" sirius grinned,

"ugh," regulus stood up, and walked out of sirius' room.

when he looked back, he saw the gardeners boy standing infront of sirius' window, assumidly taking care of the trumpet vine on the siding. and sirius, well he had gotten out his camera again.

it didnt take much to put two and two together.

what a stalker.

 

"hi welcome in," a cheerful voice mixed nicely with the sound of bells as regulus stepped into the garden store.

a girl, who couldnt be much older that sirius, with bright red hair and a happy smile, was sitting on the counter, crosslegged and fiddling with a sunflower, was the one to greet him.

 

the store was small, cramped isles of colorful tools, a huge amount of flowers in bouquets, pots, and a variety of macramay hangings, were all around the shop.

 

"do you need any help finding anything?" the girl got off the counter, and put down her flower.

when she stepped closer, regulus could more clearly see the nametag on her shirt, reading lily. her parents must've owned the businuss. but to own a gardening store and name your child after a flower, how up in the clouds must they have been.

"gloves," regulus responded simply.

"they're in the back wall, should be on a hanger next to some geraniums." lily pointed regulus in the right direction, then went back to her perch.

 

regulus made his way to the back of the store, and looked through the gloves, most of them were much too vibrant, the biggest offender, a hot pink and blue pair with flamingos printed on the plastic.

he couldnt imagine a person who seriously liked plants would ever let them discrace their hands. but he supposed there must be someone.

 

at the front of the store, he could hear a conversation, and, admittedly, he did eavesdrop, but it was ingraned in him from a young age to do so, so really he couldnt be blamed for being nosy.

 

"hi toony!" lilys voice rang out pleasantly, but it was ruined by a high, scratcy voice.

"dont call me that. we're working, idiot." there was a small bang, and a yelp.

"ow! you didnt need to push me-"

"be quiet theres a person in here-"

 

at least he wasnt the only one with a less than perfect relationship with their sibling.

 

regulus grabbed the least garrish pair of gloves, a purple pair with white rubber, they were bright, but not as offensive as many of the other options.

he went to the counter, and set the gloves apon it. 'toony' stood beforehim, behind the register.

she was sort of pretty, in a homely way. her hair was shock straight, her neck too long, she was thin, but regulus could have counted her pores.

she was wearing a floral dress that was clearly well taken care of, not a rinkle in sight. 'petunia' her nametag read.

"just these?" she asked, and regulus nodded. "thats five bucks."

regulus handed her the money. and she sighed, "we cant take hundreds. go get change or something."

"what? why not-"

"because." petunia sneered, and lily, from somewhere behind regulus spoke up.

"you should donate some to the library, they'll give you cash back if you want to do like, fifty or twenty," she suggested, "its like a block down, i can walk you there if you want."

"donate.." regulus said under his breath. normally he wouldnt waste money, but he really did want the gloves. "yes, i'll do that."

 

regulus walked in silence with lily.

well. he was silent, lily was happily telling him about the town, after he had made a comment about just moving in.

"so, the library is pretty nice, the man who stocks the shelves owns it, but he doesnt really show his face in any of the promotional meterial, so no one but his family can ever tell its him," lily explained as they walked, "alot of people just stay there to pass time. theres computers and a record room, so its often pretty crowded."

regulus nodded, watching lily press the button for the crosswalk, "sounds cool. i think my uncle owns a libaray, but its really just for tax writeoffs."

"oh.. thats. uhm, sad." lily tilted her head to the side. "so are you going to the highschool? im a freshman."

"no, im only thirteen," regulus shook his head. "but my brother will go to school with you."

lily started walking when the light turned white. "thats awesome."

regulus thought about the library again, "why do people like the computers at the library? they're sort of boring."

lily raised a brow, "maybe you arent using them right, then. i think they're really cool."

regulus scoffed, a bit offended at the suggestion. he couldnt imagine why a fancy calculator would be so fun, but maybe lily was just one of those mathy types who thought calculators were the best thing since sliced bread.

 

lily and regulus reached the library quickly, and regulus went to the front desk to make his donation. lily had wandered off to a chair, leaving regulus with the older woman who seemed sort of annyed that he wanted change.

but nevertheless. he got his money, and began to walk back to the flower shop. leaving lily behind.

 

"here-" regulus handed petunia the five and getting back his gloves.

"wheres lily?" a voice came from behind regulus. it was quiet like a whisper, but nasally.

a boy, with shoulder length black hair and dead seeming eyes, stood a bit too close behind regulus, his arms straight at his sides with fists curled.

"the library," regulus responded. turning back to petunia.

she looked, angry? uncomfortable? one of the two, but she didnt say anything, just went into the back of the store, through the tapastry beads in the doorway.

"thank you," the boy walked backwards, not breaking eyecontact with the back of regulus' head, befre backing out of the door and running off.

Chapter Text

The first day of school was both a breath of fresh air, and a splash of cold water.

"Regina! i have gift for you-" Madeline said excitedly the night before, while regulus was sitting with Sirius and looking over an old book of fairy tails. right now Sirius was dramatically reading little red riding hood, with accents and voices.

"Nothing for me?" Sirius shut the book slightly, grinning and Madeline,

"your father will give you something," Madeline smiled back. "this is for reg'."

"what is it?" regulus turned around on the couch to face Madeline, and lean over the back.

"its a phone!" Madeline handed regulus a box. "so there's no shot of us listening in on your conversations with your friends."

"thank you-" regulus took the box, opening it. inside was a silver flip phone.

"you can even take pictures on it," Madeline said excitedly, "you like it?"

"yes, i do, thank you," Regulus nodded, sitting back down and getting the phone out, studying it. "do you mind if i paint it?" he asked.

"you can do whatever with it," Madeline walked off happily, pleased that she had done well with her gift giving.

 

"what are you gonna paint on it?" Sirius asked, looking at the phone.

"I don't know… something simple to start." Regulus, opened the phone. "Stars or flowers maybe."

"That sounds cool.. i have a sticker you could put on it-"

"i don't think I'll put stickers on it, Sirius," regulus shrugged, "you should put it on yours when you get one."

there was a short pause, Sirius looked like he was debating the next thing he'd say.

"its a trans flag," Sirius said in a quiet tone, "uh, i bought for you- so."

"oh-" regulus paused, closing the phone with a satisfying snap. "you did?"

"to apologize for calling you a dyke," Sirius looked away, producing a circular sticker with the trans colors on it. it wasn't super obvious that it was a flag though, just different sized stars in the colors going inward. he could put it somewhere and no one would probably realize.

"thank you- I'll, uhm, put it somewhere, maybe on the landline in my room," regulus stood up, taking the sticker.

"groovy," Sirius muttered.

 

apologizing was always awkward between the two. because they both knew it wasn't going to last.

one of them would scream at the other, say something horribly hurtful, and then in a few days they'd reconcile. before the cycle repeated.

 

"hello class! my name is Brian Trawlny, you can call me Mr Trawlny, or Brian, i don't really mind," the teachers voice was overwhelmingly cheery. it was too much for the first day of class. honestly.

"some of you might have me as your english teacher!"

 

Regulus put his head down, blocking out the light around him. he was already getting a headache, and he really didn't want to reach into his bag for eyedrops. there were so many things in it that even just spotting them would be a process.

 

"psst," a tap on his hand made regulus look up.

a girl was looking at him, "we're gonna be partners," she whispered, "for the get to know you speech-"

Regulus sat up again, inspecting the girl.

she was taller than him, with shoulder length braids that had white beads strung on the ends. wearing a yellow tank top and a black skirt over yellow leggings. regulus personally thought wearing that much yellow was an affront to god, but the girl seemed happy with her poor choices.

"im Dorcas," she introduced herself. as the classroom got louder with people talking.

"regulus," regulus responded, turning slightly in his chair to face the girl better.

"are you British?" she made a face.

"sort of," regulus looked down at the paper on his desk.

"how are you only sort of British?"

"dual citizenship."

"oh. yeah that makes sense."

 

the assignment was to interview each other, a menagerie of questions that Regulus found both boring and nosy.

"Do you have any pets?" Dorcas asked, poised to write regulus' answer down.

"no, but i want a cat," regulus shook his head. "do you have any?"

"My parents have a dog, and I have a parrot," Dorcas smiled, "his name is skittle."

This went on for five minutes, Before they had finished all the questions. other people were still working, so the two of them got to talking.

"so, you just moved here,"

"yeah, why?"

Dorcas shifted in her seat, "well, there's a lot you need to know."

"like what?" Regulus raised a brow.

"Well, you see those two, the girl and the boy, blondes," Dorcas subtly gestured to two people, who were sitting next to each other, talking to each other.

"Yeah?"

"They're twins. I haven't ever seen them apart, and I've lived here forever. they live at the school. they're from.. I forget where, maybe France.." Dorcas explained, looking back at regulus. "the boys a freak, he has a collection of bugs, and pickled things in his dorm. I've spoken with the girl, shes nice, but a bit weird, makes too much eye contact and believes in weird stuff."

"oh," regulus looked at the twins, "they seem interesting."

"they ARE," Dorcas agreed, "I want to study them. I've been trying to become friends with them since fourth grade but they don't really talk to anyone but each other."

"oh," regulus frowned, "well, I'll help you then."

"perfect-" Dorcas grinned, and yelped when someone poked their head in between regulus and Dorcas. "Barty go away-" she scowled.

"nope." Barty smiled, "whatcha talkin' about?"

Barty looked oddly familiar, something about his eyes. the gleaming blue was distracting, and altogether unsettling.

"The twins," Dorcas admitted.

"Of course. Do you ever talk about anything else?" Barty pushed Dorcas with his shoulder, going nearly over her to look at Regulus' face. "You're the person who moved into the ghost house."

"you're the freak who tried to break in," regulus realized, crossing his arms.

"in my defense, last week that house was fully and truly abandoned," barty shrugged, "I nearly fell off the roof when i saw you, thought you were a ghost."

"do you actually believe in ghosts?" regulus asked.

"we do," Dorcas answered for both of them.

"me too," Regulus admitted softly, "My brother things its stupid, but i swear I've seen them before."

"I used to think Dorcas was crazy, but then i saw this kid all ripped up and bloody in the woods, and he disappeared when i went to go get someone, and i know it was a ghost-" barty said excitedly.

"No one else believes us, we told bartys mom and she said we were seeing things because we were hungry." Dorcas leaned closer to regulus.

"i saw the ghost of my grandfather at a beach house once. he drowned in the ocean, and showed up in my bedroom when i was nine, it freaked me out for a while," regulus recounted. remembering that day.

 

he had been peacefully sleeping, when his window creaked and slammed shut. it had only been held up by a precariously placed stick, so regulus hadn't thought much of it, only getting up to re-open it and regain the breeze he had lost.

when he had gotten out of bed though, he fell, his vision went red and black, and he hit his head on the floor.

it had taken a second to regain his vision and, and even realize he had fallen, when he did, he saw a man, who looked like his mother, standing over him and smiling.

"Wake up, Arcturus, there's no need to close your eyes," his voice was warm, but gurgly like he was under water.

his clothes were slightly frayed, cut up with knives presumably. there was blood dripping from his brow, and he was dripping water on the floor.

"my head hurts-" regulus had told the ghost, closing his eyes once more.

"don't close your eyes, Arcturus, stay awake-"

a door had opened through the ghost, and his mothers voice came instead.

"Regina get off the floor-"she had pulled regulus up, "stupid child what on earth are you doing-"

"i saw grandfather-" Regulus mumbled, "Pollux-"

"hes dead, you unreasonable thing," Walburga guided regulus to sit back down. "both of your grandfathers are dead, you will never see them, and if you do, its a hallucination and nothing they say could ever be taken as fact do you understand?"

"yes mother," Regulus mumbled.

"good, don't bring this up again, you'll upset your father and grandmother."

 

"hello," regulus walked up to pandora and Evan, "may i walk with you?"

it was after school, they'd been dismissed five minutes ago, but the twins hadn't moved.

"you may," pandora responded, "if you want it truly."

"I do, truly," regulus folded his hands behind him.

"we are going back to our dorm," Evan explained, "if you care to come with."

"I do, truly," regulus walked with Evan and pandora.

"good," the twins spoke in sync. and their steps matched, only one sound between them.

"what is your name?" pandora asked,

"what is the color of your heart?" Evan didn't even look at regulus.

"ah, im regulus, and.. in theory my heart should be red," regulus tapped his fingers together, "though i think i would like if it was blue or black."

there was a moment of silence, then pandora spoke, "you've got a soul, not many people here do," she whispered. "none of the teachers do, only half the kids."

"we aren't supposed to talk about that," Evan agreed, "our father told us that we were to ignore anything weird, but this town is strange all around."

 

when regulus ducked into the car that had been sent for him, he was met with kreachers eyes, looking back at him from the rear view mirror,

"sorry i took a while," regulus apologized, putting his bag at his feet and taking a sparkling water from the middle arm rest.

"no need to apologize, Master Black," kreature started the car, and began driving.

regulus looked out the window, seeing barty riding a bike down the road, he waved, and got a wave in return.

 

"how was your day?" regulus asked Sirius, while they crowded around their fathers computer to downlode songs onto regulus' iPod.

"it was good," Sirius responded, "i ate lunch with a boy named James and his friends… he ate something weird, it smelled odd, but no one said anything so i figured it must just be normal for Americans."

"i met a few people, a girl named Dorcas and a boy named Barty.. and the freakiest set of twins I've ever met. they were interesting," regulus recounted.

"this song looks cool," Sirius commented, pointing at a track called 'The Mother We Share' by CHVRCHES.

regulus clicked on it, and both of them fell silent. it was poppy, nothing like regulus had ever listened to before. he liked it though, the lyrics were nice.

he downloaded it and began searching again.

"barty said he liked this band," regulus mumbled, surching up 'pavement' ad downloading a random song from them.

"Out," Orion's voice came from the doorway, "I've got things to do."

regulus unplugged his iPod, and left the room with Sirius, he had gotten a decent amount of music so far, probably two hours worth, which was enough for a little bit.

"i grabbed something from my english classroom i thought you'd like," Sirius announced, producing a book of poetry by Edgar Allen Poe. "weren't you looking for it in the airport?"

"yeah, i was thank you," regulus took the book, flipping through it while he walked back upto his room.

 

regulus sat on his bed, happily listening to music and annotating the new book of poems. a knock at his window disturbed his peace. when he looked up he saw barty, with newly black hair and a cut on his brow.

regulus got up, and unlocked his window, "are you alright?" he asked, as barty tumbled in and landed on his back.

"im great, got into a bit of a crash but nothing major…" barty smiled up at regulus. "also I dyed my hair."

"I see that."

"Its like yours."

"I see that too."

Regulus sat down next to barty, pausing his music. "im flattered, i guess."

"you should be, its an honor to look like me," barty singsonged, pushing up from the ground.

"I'm pretty sure it was my hair first-"

Barty shrugged, "who's counting."

 

regulus and barty talked a while, mostly about the twins and the prospect of school,

"would you like something to drink?" regulus remembered his manners as a host, standing up and poking his head out of the door.

"uh, sure, what do you have?" barty turned on the ground.

"i think some sort of sparkling cider would be nice," regulus commented, "but we have sodas too, and i could probably convince my father to let us have some wine.."

"what." barty blinked. "that's insane, 'sparkling cider', wine? we're thirteen-"

"yes… do your parents not allow you to have such things?" regulus knocked thrice on the wall, then turned back to barty.

"no. im not allowed to have alcohol, that's insane," barty scoffed, "and my family isn't even poor, but I've never had any sparkling cider but at Christmas and thanksgiving-"

"oh, well, we could just have soda-"

"no, get the fucking wine and cider, im taking advantage of this," barty stood up, wrapping an arm over regulus' shoulders and kissing his cheek.

regulus didn't allow himself to blush, not even a little bit. not at all.

Chapter Text

"hi babes," Dorcas greeted, as regulus sat down, "how ya' doing?"

regulus didn't respond, just slumped over on his desk and closed his eyes.

"he called me at three am complaining about his parents making too much noise," barty leaned forward, "my dad nearly skinned me for that, by the way."

"good, let him," regulus pushed bartys head to the side with his elbow.

"okay grumpy, don't go giving barty any more bruises," Dorcas talked, leaning over to another girl and talking to her for a second, before presenting regulus with a pill. "its caffeine."

regulus took the offered medicine dry, not bothering to thank Dorcas.

 

"can i have two people pass these out-" the teacher asked, holding up a stack of papers.

a blond boy and brunette girl took the task.

 

reading through the packet that he had been given, regulus immediately found the contents to be unimaginably boring, and a bit insulting. but he didn't say anything.

a word search was much too childish for thirteen year olds, in his opinion, but he supposed some plebeian might find joy in it.

he discretely took his iPod from his pocket, put in his earbuds, and put his head down once again.

when the bell rang, barty and Dorcas, who both had classes on the opposite side of the school, went quick, Evan and pandora on the other hand, stood in front of his desk and waited for him.

"i had my classes changed, so we have more together," pandora informed. taking regulus' hand, she pulled him to stand, "come on, i don't want to be late to math."

 

regulus and pandora had all of their classes together now. their teachers mostly allowed them to sit next to each other, all but one, Mr Wellings.

he was an older guy, graying, tired, and didn't take any shit. one kid had gotten yelled at the first day, and when she had cried he sent her to the office.

regulus found him amusing, and pandora thought him reprehensible.

"hes an awful person, really, hes a creep. I've heard the younger girl teachers talk about him badly." pandora walked beside regulus.

"i think hes funny." regulus shrugged, "who cares what an overdramatic teacher says, I'd bet they're lying, many do about those things-"

"that's awful, regulus," pandora scolded.

"lots of things are. i don't see how that pertains to our teacher being a bumbling idiot, and that fact being objectively amusing."

pandora went quiet, until they got to the courtyard. "im going to sit with Evan, you and your two friends can join us if you want," she said, floating off to where her twin was hanging from a tree.

 

lunch was a meandering process, or rather, it was just overall boring. with Dorcas reading for her next class, barty eating and poking forks into an apple, and regulus not eating.

"regulus, whats the quiz on in english," Dorcas sighed, closing her book.

"pages 13-28," regulus responded.

"well, yeah, i know that. but what were the questions,"

"i don't know, Meadowes, they change every period,"

"damn, they do? fuck."

"his name is snorkel," barty interrupted, showing off his homunculus of fork, apple, and tin foil. it was almost shaped like an animal, but it looked in pain.

Dorcas grabbed a ketchup packet, and fought barty to get the sculpture, regulus dodged a flying bit of sauce, watching as Dorcas made it bleed.

barty threw the apple at Dorcas' head, and Dorcas threw the sauce packets.

 

a rather unfortunate girl at the table over, shrieked and stood up, looking at her white skirt, there was a large glob of ketchup on the front panel.

she stepped forward, and grabbed Dorcas by the hair, pulling her up and screamed in her face.

barty stood up as well, and he pushed the girl away,

 

regulus sighed, watching barty punch the girl, and Dorcas get in on it too.

"teachers coming," he advised, "she started it." he told them their story in a subdued tone, expecting unwavering acceptance of his alibi.

Dorcas and barty sat down, Dorcas made herself look more hurt than she was, leaving scratch marks on her arms with her nails, and making her clothes look like they'd been pulled at.

 

"he punched me-" the girl told the teacher, looking weepy.

"she attacked Dorcas first," regulus interrupted, "barty was trying to get her off of Dorcas, anyone here could tell you."

the teacher looked surprised at being assaulted with the information and evidence.
she was on the younger side, inexperienced, maybe doing an internship for the school, or just in her first year.

"yes- well. please don't fight anymore, and clean up your table- and. don't do that anymore, or I'll have to write your parents." she took a step back, and barty stuck his tongue out at the girl.

 

"I want to get back at her," barty muttered, stabbing yet another apple with a plastic spoon this time.

"you punched her in the face, isn't that enough?" Dorcas raised a brow.

"No. its not, shes a bitch. shes the one that got music banned in PE."

"put maggots in her gym locker," regulus recommended, closing his book.

"what." Barty and Dorcas looked at regulus in sync.

Bartys eyes got brighter, more blue, you probably could have seen them in a dark room. Dorcas on the other hand was looking at regulus like he was insane.

"What? we you not planning what to do to her?" Regulus blinked, "Moths would also work, do it over a weekend so they have time to eat through anything in the locker, maggots are generally scarier though."

"I'm in love," Barty grinned.

"Where would we get them?" Dorcas interrupted Bartys joy.

"For maggots? put some meat outside for a few days, go back and collect them. moths are harder, we'd either have to get the larvae and hatch them, or just collect them from lights."

"I'm swooning," Barty sighed, looking at regulus with an exaggerated dreamy expression,

"Me too," Dorcas conceded, "You're wonderful. why don't we do both."

"Marry me Dorcas-" Barty put a hand to his heart.

"We're cousins, dumbass,"

"You're adopted."

"Your dad doesn't love you,"

"Kill yourself!"

"You first!"

"I can get the moth larvae, probably, if you two will deal with the maggots," Regulus put one earbud in.

"Yeah we can do that," Barty agreed, "What should we put them in?"

"Glass jars with plastic wrap over the top, poke holes in them and put the ring back on," Regulus explained, "Its what you do with crickets or lamp bugs."

 

"The twins are looking at us," Barty noted, as Dorcas and Regulus got up with the bell, "like, really looking hard,"

Regulus looked up, and sure enough, Evan was staring at Barty with unblinking eyes, and Pandora was looking at Dorcas the same.

Regulus nodded at the two.

"Regulus, you should invite them to get bugs with us," Dorcas tugged on regulus' sleeve, "I need to meet them, they're so odd-"

"I will," Regulus nodded.

"We love you regimentation," Barty kissed Regulus' cheek, and hurried off to his math class.

"That's not my name-" Regulus called after him.

 

"You upset pandora with what you said," Evan caught regulus' wrist, pulling him into the boys bathroom, "she Wouldn't repeat it even."

"I said it was funny that Mr. Wellings is a bit of a loaf," regulus pulled his hand free from Evan,

He wasn't particularly comfortable being in the boys restroom, the thought of being found out in here was terrifying, and Regulus really didn't want to even think about what it might look like if he and Evan were found together, so close in a secluded room.

Regulus knew he looked like a boy only at face value, if it was confirmed, no one would question it, but if someone even slightly suspected, he would be done for.

"oh.." Evan crossed his arms, "Well, it is, I don't know why shes acting like this, I shouldnt've grabbed you, sorry."

"Its fine," Regulus looked at his wrist, there was a small red mark, not that Evan had really grabbed him that hard.

Evan and Regulus both looked up when the bell rang, and both made eye contact when they looked back down.

Regulus could be assured that his father wouldn't care if he was marked tardy, but he very much did.

"I'm going to skip," Evan said, "come with,"

"Yeah okay," Regulus agreed.

 

Evan went into the handicapped stall, and climbed up onto the toilet, pushing the panel in the ceiling to the side. he hoisted himself into the ceiling, and offered a hand to help Regulus up.

Regulus was a bit more awkward when he climbed, he was shorter and less accustomed to the movement. but he managed.

Evan crawled through the ceiling, until they got to a softly lit area, there was a flashlight hanging from the top bit of the crawlspace, like a light.

"This is where i go to skip," Evan whispered, "No ones ever caught me."

"This is Bartys class," Regulus whispered back, looking down through the small crack in the ceiling panels.

"Who's that?" Evan leaned over to look down. "oh, that boy you were sitting with at lunch?"

"yeah,"

"I guess it is.."

"You should sit with us, Dorcas and Barty want to meet you," Regulus commented, "they're going out to get bugs for something."

"Pandora likes bugs," Evan informed, "she takes notes on them, she might like it."

"you don't like bugs?" Regulus crossed his legs, attempting to sit comfortably in the cramped space.

"I don't mind them, but i don't share Pandora's enthusiasm for them."

"oh."

 

regulus had a bit of trouble climbing down from the ceiling, so Evan, precariously balanced on the toilet, lifted him down.

it was wonderful for Regulus' ego, self esteem, etc etc. but, something weird happened to Evans left eye.

"ow- fuck fuck-" Evan whisper-yelled. clutching at his eye,

Regulus staggered back, flinching when Evan doubled over.

something fell from his eye, it was a dark speck, a bit of plastic maybe.

 

when Evan stood back up, his left eye was blue, scary blue, the same blue as bartys, bleeding into the sclera.

Evan ran to the sink and splashed water on his face, from what Regulus could see it turned to steam, while he sprinted out of the bathroom.

 

Regulus hurried out of the bathroom, into the soon to be packed halls. the bell would ring in a few minutes, so Regulus began making his way to his next class, thinking about what had happened with Evan.

his hands had been hot, regulus had felt them through his three layers of clothes, maybe he had a fever, or something of the sort. but what had been in his eye? a contact most likely, a brown one at that, why had it hurt him? his eye was so similar to bartys.

 

"I think somethings wrong with Evan," Regulus opted out of greeting pandora when he sat down, cutting straight to the point.

"Why? what happened?" Pandora's head snapped up,

"i think he has a fever of some kind, he was really hot, and just ran off after helping me down from the ceiling."

"oh- he'll be fine then," Pandora let out a breath, "that's normal, don't mind it."

"he seemed hurt though-"

"hes a big baby about it," Pandora frowned, "its never that bad."

"whats never that bad?"

"nothing," Pandora blinked, "its personal stuff, don't think about it."

Regulus crossed his arms, he didn't want to not think about it. he wanted answers. now rather than later. but he didn't push, he felt a tiny bit bad for making pandora feel bad earlier, and didn't want to do it again.

"Barty and Dorcas are going out to collect some bugs, this weekend, you should go with them," regulus watched pandora lay her head down on the table after she finished her work.

"what type of bugs?"

"maggots," regulus closed his book. he could answer the questions in the comfort of his own room. preferably on the roof.

"why are they getting maggots?" pandora didn't lift her head, but she did turn so that regulus could see her eyes.

"barty wants to put them in a girls locker, shes apparently awful."

"that sounds fun," pandora sighed, "I'll see if i can, tell them i want to go!"

"okay," regulus put the book in his bag, and stood up. two minutes until bell, until he could go home.

"go on and get out of here before the hallways get jammed," the teacher dismissed them, while she cleared the white board.

regulus was the first out of the classroom, and made his way towards the science hall, where barty would be.

 

"pandora is maybe coming with you this weekend," regulus informed, "she said she'll see if she can."

"sweet, thank you babe," barty cheered, brushing his hand over the lockers.

"don't call me that either," regulus scowled, "just regulus. my name is regulus."

"okay Regina George." barty rolled his eyes, bumping regulus with his shoulder.

"that's not my name either!" Regulus heard his voice get shriller, felt his nails digging into his palms, and saw Bartys face change, from a grin to concern.

 

Regulus stormed off, leaving Barty behind him.

why had he reacted like that? it was stupid, it was girly, it was immature. it wasn't becoming of a young man in his place in society.

Barty probably knew now, and probably hated him. no doubt he would tell Dorcas, and Dorcas would tell anyone who'd give a listening ear, and then the whole school would know and he'd be a laughing stock. Anything else was wishful thinking.

Chapter Text

ENCOUNTER ONE.

 

"wake your brother up," a voice pulled regulus from sleep, "his window is open, its not safe."

when he opened his eyes, he saw a face he couldn't quite place, it was almost familiar, but regulus had no name for the person hovering above him.

he was a hauntingly beautiful boy, older than regulus, but not an adult. he was bleeding from his forehead, his eyes bloodshot and blue.

"what-" regulus sat up, looking at the apperation.

"the monsters out, the monster will get him," the ghost began wailing, pulling at its hair and fading into the dark room.

regulus stumbled out of bed, nearly falling down the stairs.

he opened Sirius' door, looking at his brothers bed. it was empty.

regulus stepped forward, he could swear the floor was turning to molasses beneath his feet.

he closed the window, which took more might than one might have expected.

a bang came from outside, and regulus fell back,

a bloody hand print on the window. regulus ran, out of Sirius' room, and up the stairs, back to his room. he opened the door to his closet, and hid himself in the clothes there, counting breaths and listening for footsteps.

 

CHAPTER 5

 

Regulus was tired. but he didn't know why. he had gone to bed at a reasonable time, for once in his life.

"good lad!" the voice over the phone buzzed, "how are you this fine day? settling with your father and sister?"

"yes, uncle Cygnus, we're settling," regulus did his best Sirius impression, willing a french accent into existence and making the le at the end of uncle sound like elle. as Sirius did.

"what do you need my boy?" Cygnus asked, regulus heard the flick of a lighter on the other end of the line.

"moth larvae," regulus responded, tapping anxiously on his desk. "for personal experiments."

"ooh, following old uncle Cygnus into the world of science?" Cygnus was loud, and his phone wasn't good, a crack made regulus flinch.

"yessir," regulus confirmed, looking out his window at what Sirius was actually doing. sitting outside with the gardener boy and two of his friends from school.

one of the boys was gorgeous, he looked like a statue with hair, without a shirt on helping the gardener boy, perhaps a work of bronze.

"good. good lad." Cygnus repeated. "how many do you need? I'll ship them to you posthaste."

"two hundred would suffice," regulus caught himself, and deepened his voice again, "sorry, my voice is cracking more than usual, can you hear me?"

"yes yes, you're fourteen! i don't hold becoming a man against you Sirius," Cygnus laughed, "i imagine you'll sound quite like your grandfather."

"what did he sound like?" regulus asked.

"did you never meet him?" Cygnus asked, a crackling sound meant he was blowing out smoke.

"which grandfather are we talking about?" regulus leaned against his desk.

"ah. not Pollux, Arcturus- not your uncle Arcturus, but your fathers father-" Cygnus tsked, "so few names in this family, aren't there?"

"oh, grand-pere," regulus mumbled,

"that's what your sister calls him, isn't it?" Cygnus asked,

"yes. she uses french for fathers side of the family," regulus cringed at calling himself she.

"well, our side of the family has more french in it. the Macmillians were… well, i don't really know, but they weren't french," Cygnus laughed again. "Walburga kept that lovely family tree tapestry that mother made.. I'm not quite up to date on everyone in this family anymore."

"there are at least three Arcturus' that i know of," regulus commented.

"i know of four my boy!" Cygnus laughed, "alas, i have things to attend to, your cousin is throwing a fit because Druella is having people over," he sighed, "i must.. tend, to that."

"yes, sir, you should," regulus agreed, he took a breath when the line went dead, then dialed the next number.

"mère, tu m'as demandé de t'appeler," regulus spoke in his natural voice, he had always thought it too high, too grating. it made him sound like Narcissa. he liked Narcissa, but she was such a girl, in every imaginable way, he couldn't be associated with that.

"et tu as appelé avec cinq minutes de retard, je n'apprécie pas les retards, cette école n'a rien fait pour toi?" walburga snapped. "sois plus comme ton frère, il n'est jamais appelé en retard, tu sais."

"forgive me, mother," regulus apoloized, looking out the window at his brother and his brothers friends again. the boy made of bronze smiled up at him.

"your father has tricked you into thinking forgivness is given out freely to pretty girls, i assure you hes lying."

"I'm sorry, mère," regulus muttered, closing his blinds. he must have made a nasty face.

"in any case, i expect you and your brother to come to me for your holiday break, i must ensure your father hasn't polluted your minds," there was a crash, and a few curses, "Bon sang! Appelez une femme de ménage! Cette table est pourrie."

"are you alright?" regulus held the phone a bit away from his ear, trying vainly to save his hearing from his mothers screaming.

"the liquor table collapsed," Walburga snipped, "idiot child what do you think happened."

"i cant see whats going on, mother," regulus reminded, holding back a sigh.

"don't take that tone with me young lady, you ingrate, incompetent slut of a girl, i cannot believe you're actually my child, you-"

there was a tussle over the phone, and someone nicer sounding spoke, "I'm so sorry, Mademoiselle Black, your mother is having an awful hard time, her mother is handling her right now, please forgive her, shes very drunk at the moment."

"I'm well aware, Madam," regulus tsked, "i recommend getting her outside, she gets worse when shes indoors."

"thank you, Mademoiselle," the maid hung up the phone. and regulus went to the window again, grabbing a sketch book and sitting on the window sill, looking out and beginning to draw Sirius' friends.

 

there was a knock on regulus' door at 13:20.

"enter," he said, just loud enough to be heard without yelling.

"hey," it was not the boy made of bronze, instead a blonde with freckles and those goddamned blue eyes.

why was it that half of the town had horrifyingly blue eyes? it hurt to look at, and it was just all around god awful to look at.

did the bronze boy have those blue eyes? that might have ruined him. regulus didn't really know if that would distract from the beauty.

"hello," regulus responded.

"wheres the bathroom? sirius is busy with james and gave me instructions but they didnt make sense and i dont want to bother him any more-"

"theres one downstairs, it has a marble bust infront of it. next to the kitchen."

james, was that the boy? it must have been. he needed to meet james, he needed to confirm he didnt have those awful eyes.

peter left, and regulus looked back at his drawing. he had shoved it behind his bookshelf when the knock had come, in the case that the subject had seen, and not apreciated, it.

he thought it was rather good, for being a very quick sketch with a moving refrence. he was probably going to paint it at some point, but he wasnt bothered enough to do it now.

 

after a short debate with himself, over weather it was safe to go downstairs, hopefully without getting pulled into some awful task by hif father or brother, regulus snuck down the dumbwaiter. it connected to his adjoining room, and went down to the kitchen.

although a rather tight fit, regulus had little trouble other than his shirt getting snagged on a nail at one point about halfway down.

"O pro diabolo," regulus muttered, inspecting the rip in his clothes. his new shirt was ruined. he made a mental note to get a bit of sandpaper and sand down the screw next time he went down.

regulus sat down in the breakfast nook, letting himself pout while he was alone. only the chef was there, and he didnt really count.

"gradiresti uno scone?" the chef asked, holding a plate of scones.

it took a moment for regulus to translate in his head, but eventually he nodded, and took the scone. "grazie, signore."

regulus stayed in the kitchen for a while, ocationally asking the cook what he was making, or how he was doing it. trying not to bother him too much, but eventually he stood up, put his plate with the other dirty dishes, and went out to the living room. sirius and his friends were sitting on the floor, getting dirt on the carpet while they.. regulus didnt actually know what they were doing. some unholy amalgamation of wrestling and studying, with loud, obnoxious music in the background.

getting a closer look at the bronze work boy, he did not, in fact, have awful blue eyes. regulus was satisfied in confirming that he could continue to use him as a muse, and began walking away.

"hey- do you want to stay and hang out?" the boy, james, the blonde had called him james, called after him.

"no," regulus scowled, covering the snag in his shirt with a well placed hand over his back.

"go on, shithead-" sirius shooed. "its a boys hang out-"

regulus could have died right there, suddenly he had tears in his eyes and fire in his throat. why had sirius said that? how much joy did he take in being horrible and cruel and vindictive.

regulus' feet moved without his permission, but not towards sirius, to punch him, or kick him, or retaliate, as regulus very much would have liked. but away, up the stairs, away from his mothers blue eyes.

regulus couldnt help it, he stood in his bathroom with the door locked, scrubbing at his face in some vain attempt to make the redness, and the puffyness, and the saltyness, go away. but every time he did he began crying again.

it was unreasonable, why was he taking one little thing sirius had said so hard? he had been told worse, he had been outed in awful ways. he shouldnt have cared. it wasn't like him.

"why did he say that-" regulus' voice was too high, too clear too girly too annoying too muh too little everything was wrong and it would never ever be right again because regina had made the mistake of thinking her brother was kind to people and it was all going to go badly barty and dorcas and evan and pandora and his entire school was going to find out through sirius' awful friends that some delusional girl had been masquerading and decide that they needed to right that wrong. it was going to be like in new york and london and everyone who had ever known her would go out of their way to make her feel awful about herself. 4and now she- he, was thinking about himself as a girl. it was like he didnt actually care about his own claims of masculinity. he couldnt ask so much of sirius if even he himself couldnt remember. he was just an attention seeking spoiled bitch who wanted to have a hard life. all signs pointed to yes. barty already hated him because of how he'd reacted, and now sirius' friends knew, and probably thought he was annoying and horrible and only thought of him as sirius' little sister. he would never make up with barty, and barty would tell dorcas. evan and pandora might keep him around, as some sort of lackey, or reason to get out of their dorm. but that wasnt good enough, everyone needed to know him and think of him as better, his friend group as better. him as a man, his friends as his.

Regulus washed his face for the sixth time, and finally his eyes were normal, and his face wasnt red, and his throat didnt hurt. he brushed his fingers through his hair, and tried to look some part put together.

he changed his shirt, and threw the old one in the trash, barty has said he liked green, perhaps wearing green would make him, subconciously at least, like regulus more again.

he grabbed his ipod from its place on his night stand, and a jacket.

it was time to find the stained glass window. that would undoubtedly make him better.

he climbed out the window and onto the roof, walking around up there, and making a beeline for the window.

it was gorgeous, a snake wrapped around a woman, in a blue background, here eyes were clear, and allowed regulus to look through them to see the inside of the room the window faced out of.

"ladder.. its sealed… dumbwaiter.. the dumbwaiter!" regulus thought aloud, nearly falling back when he exclaimed. as quickly as he could, he climbed back into his room, and went back to the dumbwaiter.

climbing up proved much more difficult than climbing down, especially with the shoes regulus was wearing, loafers with very little grip, apparently, we not ideal for climbing up duct work.

regulus didnt make it all the way up, he started slipping before he could even get close, but he did see that there was a total of zero light coming from the top.

had that been sealed too? it couldnt've been, he has seen the hatch unlatched. maybe something was blocking the chute, or maybe the room was pitch black some how, he didnt really know how the light would go through the stained glass, how dark or bright the room would be at any one point of the day. it had looked bright enough when he had looked, but that could have quickly changed with the sun going down for the late afternoon.

when regulus had eventually lowered himself down to his room, he found his father in his room, looking for him, assumedly.

regulus quickly closed the hatch to the dumbwaiter, and let himself half fall down the the kitchen, apologizing to the chef when he bumped into him.

regulus ran up the stairs, and to his room pretending he was surprised when he saw his father.

"ah, regina, i've been looking for you," orion nodded, "tomorrow, sunday, september the 8th, we are having a portraits done, family, one for sirius, and one for you. prepare accordingly."

"yes, father," regulus nodded, walking forth into the room, "what is the standard of dress?"

"you'll be provided clothes, just have your hair done," orion folded his hands behind his back, and walked out. "straight is preferable."

that would get on mothers nerves, no doubt.

regulus knew what orion was doing. to fray mother even more, it was petty, and rude, but regulus really quite apreciated the payback. walburga has always been especially horrible to regulus, her favorite was always clearly sirius. the attention he got, the praise and lessosns, genuine and productive.

he had never known why walburga hated him so, but he didnt ever mind making her upset.

straghtening his hair would make it a little bit longer, but he minded that little, he could pin it if he really wanted. he could request the portrait to be neck up, to hide the inevitable dress he'd be forced into. orion really didnt understand the difference of tightlacing and crushing a persons ribs, he prayed that he'd finally be allowed to dress himself for one of these paintings.