MAROON

IV. First Year: Regulus's 12th Birthday and the Last Day of School

June 25, 1973 (Monday)

REGULUS ARCTURUS BLACK

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Regulus had a very uneventful first year at Hogwarts and quite a lonely one also. The only person he ever talked to was Hezekiah who he had grown very close with in one year. He always knew how to cheer Regulus up when he was down and he didn't push him to open up like Sirius did. If Sirius was going to find a new brother to replace him then Regulus could find someone to replace him too.

Today was Regulus's 12th birthday and it was also three days before the end of the school year. He was awoken in the morning by a pillow colliding with his face. He didn't even need to look at who it was to know who it was. "Piss off, Fawley."

Hezekiah hit him in the face again with the pillow. "Come on don't be lazy, it's your birthday!"

Regulus gave him a deadpan look. "Wow, thanks Hez for that piece of information I totally didn't kn-." He was cut off by Hezekiah grabbing his leg and dragging him onto the floor beside his bed. He fell on the floor with a thud. "Ow! What the hell, Hez!"

Hezekiah smirked, clearly proud of himself. "Come on, we have to get to breakfast you idiot."

After about fifteen minutes, and a lot of effort on Hezekiah's side, the two first year boys made their way down to the common room. When they made their way down the steps Regulus was thrilled to find his brother and his goon squad in the common room. As they passed by, Sirius just shot him a glare. Regulus didn't know what he had expected Sirius to do, but it wasn't that.

Much to Regulus's surprise, it was James Potter who spoke. "Happy 12th birthday, Black."

Regulus gave a strange look before muttering a thank you under his breath and walking out the portrait.

⭑ ⭑ ⭑

Nothing else had really happened that day, leaving for a pretty uneventful birthday. His dorm mates had said happy birthday to him at breakfast and a few other Gryffindor students in his year had also told him happy birthday. At dinner, Narcissa had made a pretty clear act of embarrassing him in front of the entire Gryffindor table.

Their finals that day were hardly bad too. Regulus was confident that he did well on them all. Hezekiah, on the other hand, was the exact opposites. "I failed them all! I just know it, Reg. My parents are going to kill me," Hezekiah complained.

"Welcome to the club," he joked. "Except my parents can't kill me because at this point I'm the heir to the noble and most ancient house of black." Regulus said the last in a dramatic and fancy tone. Hezekiah let out a little laugh at that.

⭑ ⭑ ⭑

June 29, 1973 (Friday)

Their dorm room was in chaos as everyone tried to pack their trunks and get ready. Regulus, being over the top per usual (as Hez would say) had already packed his trunks so he was just laying on Hezekiah's bed. "You know, at times, being a perfectionist and stressing about everything has its perks. Cause look, I'm not stressing to eat, pack my trunk, and get ready before the train leaves in two hours."

"Piss off, Black," the boy at the foot of the bed muttered before making a dramatic act of shutting his trunk. "And actually I'm finished packing."

Regulus rolled his eyes playfully. "Then can we please go to breakfast now."

"No one was stopping you from going, you know."

"Sorry I was trying to be a good friend," he joked playfully. "Don't worry, I won't do it again."

Hezekiah gave him a skeptical look. "Good. You better not," he joked back.

"I pinky promise that I won't."

⭑ ⭑ ⭑

Two hours later they were on the train back home. "I can't believe the school year is already over," Regulus said as he stared out the window of the Hogwarts Express.

"Yeah, it doesn't seem like it is," Hezekiah agreed.

The trolly stopped at their compartment and they both got loads of different candy. The rest of their ride back to London they chatted and ate their candy. Hezekiah got some that made you make different animal noises when you ate them and they had a lot of fun with those. They took turns eating them and laughing at each other. By the end of the box, Hezekiah was in tears from laughing too hard. Regulus knew it probably wasn't actually that funny, but in the moment it was.

When they arrived at the station they reluctantly got off the train. "You know, I'm going to miss your daily sarcasm all summer," Hezekiah stated.

"Hey, maybe I can convince my mother to let me come over. I know my father would, but my mother is a different story," Regulus offered.

Hez gave him a quick smile. "I would like that. It would be nice to have someone to talk to over the summer."

"Yeah, I'm stuck with my stupid brother all summer. It would be nice to escape it all once and awhile. I'll owl you every week too. I need to complain about Sirius to someone or I will probably end up murdering him."

"Ezkiah!" A little girl yelled running towards Hezekiah. He picked her up and spun her around and the little girl erupted into a fit of giggles. With the way she pronounced Hezekiah's name, he guessed it was too complicated for her to say.

"Reg, this is my little sister, Mirabelle," Hezekiah introduced. Regulus figured that made sense. They looked very similar. They had the same curly dark brown hair except Mirabelle's was longer and fell just to her shoulders. Their eyes also looked identical.

Regulus noticed Hezekiah looked over his shoulder, clearly looking at his parents who were waiting impatiently for their son and daughter to come back over to them so they could leave. "You should probably get going. I don't want to keep my parents waiting either," he suggested.

Hez nodded and he set his sister down on the ground before pulling Regulus into a hug. It was a big awkward at first because Regulus didn't necessarily like to be touched by other people, but he caved into the hug eventually. "Please stay safe, Reg. Don't do anything to piss them off."

Regulus flashed him a half-hearted smile. "I wasn't planning on it."

With that Hezekiah walked back to his family and Regulus walked to his.

This should be a fun summer.

✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼

JAMES FLEAMONT POTTER

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"Are you sure you are going to be okay being in that house all summer? I don't want you to get hurt, Sirius."

James and Sirius were standing on platform 9 3/4, their other friends had already abandoned them. James had a comforting hand on his friends arm as he tried to convince him to come home with him instead. He wanted Regulus to come too, but he knew that just wasn't possible.

"I'll be fine, James. I have to stay with Reggie even if he doesn't want me there and is being a total brat. I'm still his older brother and he has no one else to protect him there. Plus, my parents would just come and get me from your house anyway," Sirius reassured him.

James frowned. He hated how Sirius always convinced himself that he had to protect Regulus 24/7, but then again, if James himself had a little brother, he would probably do the same. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, James."

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