The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

The Shoulder of The Star

Regulus, who had been halfway up the steps to the dorms, turned slowly, his hand still on the bannister. "No where," he replied.

"Where?" asked Mulciber, lounging across the couch with a wicked gleam to his eye.

"I said no where," Regulus answered, puffing his chest out like the little prince he was.

Mulciber smirked, "Funny you coming in the door if you've been no where, isn't it?"

"No where important," Regulus amended with an eyeroll.

Mulciber started across the room and Regulus hurriedly backed up a couple steps, clutching the rail of the stairway. "Leave me be!" he yelled importantly. "You don't know my business with the Dark Lord! My family's closer to him than yours is! I've stood in his presence, he's given me assignments that are not for you to know of!" His voice was a warning tone. "You step down! You are not the boss of me, the Dark Lord doesn't even know your name!!"

Mulciber snickered.

"Just wait 'til you see him next," Regulus said, his voice hard and unforgiving. "He's already right angry with you for the toilet incident." He held his bluff, hoping that Mulciber was less connected than he acted like he was. He kept his face very straight, kept his eyes from leaving Mulciber's. It was very hard, but he managed it and finally, Mulciber turned away and Regulus breathed in relief as he watched the other boy go back to the couch and sink down, grabbing a cannister of candied pecan clusters his mum had made and return to trading with the other boys, as though Regulus didn't exist at all.

He'd rather not exist to them.

He turned and ran frantically to his dormitory, and waved his wand to lock the door and he put his pyjamas back on and sank into his bed, pulling the blankets up 'round him again and closing his eyes.

He instantly started falling again - through space again with the stars and moons and planets and as he fell he found himself searching for constellations and he spotted the dog in the sky, the star, Sirius, and he wished he could go there and catch himself on the star... he pictured hanging off the edges of a childishly drawn five point star, his fingers 'round the horizontal bar that made the arms, scrambling to pull himself up, the star reaching over to help pull him by with one of it's tips so that he was sitting up on the shoulder of the star...

The shoulder of the star was most comforting, to his surprise... and he fell asleep. Real sleep. Deep sleep. The sort of sleep that made up for all the sleepless nights. It was precisely what he'd wanted for Christmas - and although there were brightly coloured gifts, wrapped and resting at the boot of the bed, just waiting for him, Regulus Black let himself sleep the day away because there was nothing in those shiny parcels he wanted more than he wanted to be with Sirius.

Maryrose opened the present that Regulus Black had sent her by owl post. It was a leather journal, embossed with sunflowers, and inside he'd made a bookmark shaped like a salamander, and Maryrose laughed as she flipped it over and found he'd written the words, Have a Happy Christmas. R.A.B.

Lily Evans sat, staring at the flute of sparkling cider her mum had thrust upon her, seated on the couch in the Evans's living room. Across from her sat Petunia and her stupid git boyfriend, Vernon Dursley, who had arrived a bit ago just to say hullo because he couldn't stand to be away from her so long, and Lily thought she might throw up at the sentiment. She stared at the bubbles rising through her drink as Vernon Dursley went on and on and on about drills and how smart and wonderful he was and how grand every bloody thing he ever did was.