The Story of Regulus Black - Years 1-4

II. The Summer of 1972

The months following 1 September, 1971 were packed full of extra lessons for Regulus. Coming from a pure blood-line like the Blacks, Regulus and Sirius were taught from a very young age by their parents. These subjects ranged from manners, to proper situational etiquette, to ballroom dancing.

However, with the new revelation of Sirius's sorting came the new lessons. Walburga and Orion spent countless hours of the week pushing the ideas of blood purity into Regulus's mind. They had always, of course, mentioned the importance of this to their sons. However, it was made very clear to their parents that Sirius never fully learned his lesson on the subject. So, they worked tirelessly to engrave these ideals into the mind of their youngest son.

They taught him all about how pure-bloods are better at magic than half-bloods and muggle-borns (or, as they would refer to them as, mudbloods). They taught him that he would always be better than the people with a lower blood status than him. He was given in depth lessons on the pure-blood families that Regulus should avoid - the ones who were blood traitors.

They carved the ideas that Sirius was oh-so against into Regulus's head. They taught him that his brother, being sorted into such an awful house as Gryffindor, was no different than a blood traitor.

Regulus was taught to hate his brother.

And so, by the time that June of 1972 came around, Regulus was doing everything possible to avoid any sort of interaction with his brother, while Walburga and Orion Black pretended that Sirius wasn't there at all. This made for a very lonely summer for both of the Black brothers, but neither could really do anything about it.

Sirius spent most of his time locked away in his room, writing to his blood-traitor and mudblood friends. He only came out of his room for meals, and to leave the house every once in a while.

Regulus, meanwhile, found a small corner in the attic of Number 12 Grimmauld Place to be quite comforting. He would sit here for hours and watch the clouds dance about in the sky, reading books that he would nick from his mother's library.

On this particular summer day, Regulus was reading a book titled Secrets of the Darkest Art. It was quite a dark book, as to be expected, and made Regulus quite squeamish. However, he didn't want to leave the safety of his little attic nook, so he kept reading - skipping over the parts that made him particularly queasy.

It was while he was skipping a section about something titled a "Horcrux", when the attic door opened. Regulus was quick to hide the book, afraid that it was his mother coming to reprimand him for taking the book from her library. He shoved the book underneath the dark-green blanket that was draped over his knees.

However, Walburga Black was not the one to enter the library, instead, it was Sirius. He walked in and shut the door behind him, smiling sheepishly at his little brother. Regulus kept the book hidden, afraid that Sirius would yell at him if he saw what he was reading.

"Hey, Reggie, what'rya up to?" Sirius asked, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

"Nothing," Regulus mumbled, looking at his knees and studying the intricate pattern with which the blanket was sewn.

"Well - uh - just wanted to see what you were up to," he paused, staring at his brother's pale, boyish face. "Haven't really seen you around much."

"Yeah, there's a reason for that," Regulus said, breaking his eyes away from the blanket that was covering him and meeting the eyes of his brother. Regulus hadn't gotten a good look at his brother since the day that he had left for Hogwarts.

Sirius's hair had grown longer, shaggier, and hung freely just above his shoulders. His boyish-features had become sharper and more defined. He looked older.