Blackthorn and the Expedition

Fall

Regulus was neither small nor a king but his namesake would beg to differ. Son to Orion and Walburga Black, Regulus brought pride to 12 Grimmauld Place from the moment he set foot on platform 9 ¾'s. A boy of average build for his age, jet black hair, and a long mature face was barely ready to start his first year at Hogwarts. After sending their oldest son the year before, the Black house had become less cheerful that summer. The Black's, being one of the oldest pureblood families in England, were almost always sorted into Slytherin. When they were informed that their first born Sirius had been sorted into Gryffindor poor old Walburga had almost died right there in her chair. The entire year that followed those events was by far the worst of young Regulus's life. His mother spent more time ignoring her children that year than in any other that either of them could remember. Regulus would surely bring honor back to their name and be sorted into Slytherin. "Where the Black family belongs!" Walburga had reminded Sirius of this on more than one occasion during that summer of 1972.

Having already tested extremely well, Regulus was skipping a year in almost every class. His test scores were so high that some of them were the highest ever achieved by a wizard of his age.He would most certainly be attending some classes with his older brother during his first year at Hogwarts. Unlike many boastful youths his age Regulus was much more reserved. Instead of reminding his brother of his intellectual prowess Regulus chose not to speak at all and keep to himself...he was a boy of few words.

Growing up a year younger than Sirius, Regulus never really had to speak much...Sirius handled most of the talking. Sirius argued with his parents. Sirius spoke for the boys. Sirius was always getting into trouble. Sirius had always been their favorite...the center of their parent's attention. That all changed the day that the news made its way back to 12 Grimmauld Place... he had been sorted into Gryffindor...in fact...Sirius received a howler and was forced to spend Christmas break at his new friend James Potter's house. Once they had a week...or 9 months...to cool down he was allowed to return home for summer break. Orion wanted the chance to confront him...but no good ever came from Orion confronting anyone.

Orion Black was a well-to-do pureblood wizard that was in fact afraid of his own shadow. He cowered at the mere thought of confrontation. The head of the Black house was not really the head of anything. Walburga wore the pants at 12 Grimmauld Place. She spoke for the family name being both Orion's wife and second cousin. If anyone had bothered to ask Regulus he would have simply told them that his mother had missed her oldest son and wanted him home that summer...but she would never admit it. Three months with Sirius had done more damage than good and that was the last full summer he would ever spend under that roof. Posters of muggle items...muggle girls...and a shrine to Godric Gryffindor had basically sealed Sirius's fate...in Walburga's eyes Sirius was not behaving like a pureblood wizard. Walburga made one attempt to reconnect with her son that summer. She reminded Sirius of the importance of being a good pureblood in the wizarding community and Sirius reminded her what had happened the last time the pureblood families backed the same cause publicly. "Isn't Grindelwald sitting in Azkabahn right now mom? Didn't Dumbledore put him there?"It was probably at that very instant that Walburga had finally given up for good...as she had been a staunch supporter of Gellert Grindelwald when she was his age.

Regulus never bragged about being Regulus in the way that Sirius had. He let his extremely high test scores and superior athletic abilities speak for themselves. He was better than everyone else at everything else and spent more time shrugging and smirking than speaking at all. Sirius would jabber and flap his gums while Regulus would stare and nod. He didn't seem to care about much of anything and even at the tender age of 11 seemed to be going through the motions of life. He almost always knew the answer but rarely cared to share it unless he was asked for it directly. His shortcomings were few and far between...except maybe potions...although he tested through the roof he simply saw room for improvement.