The Story of Regulus Black - Years 1-4

XIX. Happy Birthday, Master Regulus!

Regulus stepped into his bedroom at Number 12 and shut the door quietly behind himself. He dropped his book bag onto the floor and let out a deep sigh, looking at the room around himself.

His four-poster bed had been made recently - the covers, pillowcases, and duvet looked freshly washed. The curtains that surrounded it were fastened to the bedposts with small bits of black ribbon. His desk had also been recently organized - there was a neat stack of parchment in the middle with a quill and ink laid next to it.

He walked over to the desk and ran his fingers along the handle of the broom that he had received for Christmas. It looked like it had been recently polished, for there was absolutely no dust on it whatsoever. He smiled to himself at the thought of Kreacher caring so much about how neat and clean Regulus's room was.

He padded across the plush green circle rug that covered half of his room and dropped onto the bed. He continued to glance 'round the room - the curtains were pulled shut over the window, the lamps on his nightstands were on, and it looked like everything had been dusted.

The room was cold and dark, and it smelled quite musty and old - just like the rest of the house.

Regulus Black sighed and laid back on his bed, staring at the dark-green canopy above himself and crossing his hands across his stomach. He needed to find something to distract himself from the state that he would be living in until September.

Normally, he would be looking forward to his birthday, but considering that it had passed without so much as a mention from anyone, he didn't have it anymore. To be fair, he hadn't exactly told any of his friends (i.e. Barty) when it was, so he couldn't really blame them for forgetting. To add to that, his birthday was on the Monday of the last week of school, so everyone was quite busy.

He was hoping that Sirius might have at least wished him a happy birthday, but considering he hadn't done the same, he couldn't really expect anything from him. Aside from that, his parents hadn't even sent him a letter (though he played this off by assuming that they were just busy with their work for the Dark Lord). The only thing that he had received was his Hogwarts letter, which contained his book list for the following year.

Remembering the letter, he promptly grabbed his book bag from the floor and emptied the contents onto the bed. He rifled through the bits of parchment and books until he found the letter.

Sitting back down on his bed, he pulled out the letter and read it to himself once again; it was the only thing that he had received since the beginning of term that made him truly happy. When he was finished, he placed his Platform ¾ ticket safely on his nightstand and withdrew his supplies list for the year.

The only thing he needed to get that he didn't already have was The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk. Regulus was quite excited to start his second year, but nowhere near as excited as he would be to start his third.

Third year was the year that students were introduced to the other classes at Hogwarts. Regulus wasn't entirely sure which other classes he wanted to take, but he was excited to get the option nonetheless.

But, that wouldn't be for another whole year.

Regulus sighed and shoved everything back into his book bag, leaving his Hogwarts letter securely on his nightstand. Regulus spent the next few hours either pacing, ruffling through the pages of the books that lined his book case, or sitting/laying in precarious places 'round the room. He had completely forgotten just how boring Number 12 was.

He had tried to summon Kreacher a few times to play a game, but Kreacher seemed reluctant, so Regulus didn't push him. He didn't want to have to command Kreacher to spend time with him, if he didn't want to then he shouldn't have to.