"Are we winning the war against filthy Grimmauld Place?" Sirius asked smugly, peering into the room as the twins, Rhea, Harry, Ron and Hermione looked up from their cleaning. In his hands lay a huge plate of sandwiches and custard creams.
"Yeah, we are." Fred said sarcastically. "Totally victorious."
"Oh, don't sound so moody," Sirius grinned widely.
"Easy for you to say," Rhea sniffed as she walked towards Sirius and tried to snatch a custard cream. "You're not the one cleaning up."
"Not here!" Sirius protested, snatching the plate from the hungry teenagers. "Let's go to Harry's room."
They all trudged up the stairs, grumbling and groaning about how filthy the House was.
"In you get, in you get," Sirius called out to them, kicking open the bedroom door and they all filed in.
Rhea was still looking suspiciously at Sirius, and Harry was the only one who noticed this. He looked questioningly at the two of them.
Sirius grinned. "Eat," he invited, gesturing towards the snacks which lay in the middle of the messy circle of teenagers.
"Good, I'm starving," Ron said longingly, and grabbed a sandwich. The twins absently took the custard creams, looking exhausted. Rhea, Hermione and Harry, however, didn't bother to move and help themselves to the snacks.
"Not hungry?" Sirius asked in concern, looking at the three of them.
"No, I'm fine thanks," Rhea said with a sarcastic smile, and Hermione and Harry looked like they wholeheartedly agreed with her.
"Why not? Did you have a heavy breakfast?" Sirius asked insistently.
"You seem awfully concerned about our eating habits, Padfoot," Harry said flatly, looking at his godfather.
As though on cue, the three Weasleys present in the room froze, another bite of the snacks halfway into their mouths.
Sirius cursed. "I hate your legilimency," he told Rhea, a scowl on his face.
"Oh no," Ron muttered, looking at himself as he started developing quite horrifying tufts of hair on his arms and face. He looked murderous, and the hair on his body just increased that effect. The twins were getting stouter and shorter. Soon their arms turned into wings.
Rhea, Hermione, Harry and Sirius roared with laughter as the twins now turned into large canaries and Ron turned into quite a small monkey.
"Ah, yes," Harry grinned down at Fred and George, as they squawked indignantly. "You did this to Neville last year, didn't you? The day we were celebrating after my first Triwizard task?"
The two canaries tittered angrily, trying to poke Harry with their beaks.
"Don't bother my Godson now," Sirius grinned as he put an arm around Harry. "Shoo!"
But their minute was over. Soon the two canaries turned back into the twins and the monkey turned into a disheveled Ron.
The three Weasleys glared at Sirius, who shrugged. "It's been almost fourteen years since my last prank. Thought I'd give it a go."
"You stole our canary creams!" protested George and Fred in sync.
Sirius shrugged again. "You two are way too careless with your pranking items. I made the sandwich, though." He said quite proudly, looking at Ron.
"Oh, it was brilliant," Ron said sarcastically. "Bloody brilliant."
"Oh cheer up, Ronald," cooed Hermione. "You made an adorable monkey."
The others laughed heartily, leaving Ron quite pink in the face.
"That's my cue!" Sirius chimed, ruffling Harry's hair and walking out of the room. The Weasleys were still arguing, and no one heard what Sirius said before he left the room.
"Mischief managed, Prongs."
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"Why do we have double potions today?"
Rhea, Lily and the Marauders were walking towards the dungeons, not eager to sit in Slughorn's class for two whole periods. Lily was the only one who was chipper about the entire situation.
"It's an important subject," Lily said pleasantly, skipping down the corridor. Rhea noticed James' fond look, and immediately smiled discretely. "Aren't you aiming to be an auror, Black? They require an 'O' in the potions O.W.Ls."
"Then that option is ruled out for me," Remus said sarcastically. "Potions and I don't set well. At all."
"W-well, I have no chance at that, either," Peter said moodily, his fingers fidgeting with the strap of his bag.
"There are other jobs in the Wizarding world," Rhea said dismissively, "I'm sure you'll find something worth your talents, Pettigrew."
Everyone froze.
Rhea kept whistling under her breath, and when she realized the others had stopped in their tracks, she came to a halt. "What?"
All of them exchanged unreadable looks. Finally, Peter spoke up, "You, er," he hesitated, "Did you just say something nice to me?"
Pursing her lips, Rhea forced herself to glare at Peter (it didn't take much effort). "I meant," she clarified rudely, "I'm sure you'll find something worth your talents. If you have any, that is."
James rounded on her angrily. "What is your problem?" he hissed, glaring daggers at Rhea. Sirius mirrored his actions with brutal hostility while Lily and Remus exchanged worried looks.
"Boys," Lily cut in, "Now's not the time. Let's go."
"Now," Remus muttered forcefully, pulling Rhea away from the others, a grim look on his face. Once they were out of earshot of the others, he looked at Rhea with a frown and said in a low voice, "I thought we had a deal?"
She looked away guiltily, feeling a coppery taste in her mouth. Why was she being so rude? Maybe the toll of the isolation of the run was to blame? Why couldn't she just let it go? Her trauma wasn't supposed to be her excuse. "I'-I'm sorry," Rhea sighed, rubbing her temple and yanking her arm out of Remus' grip.
Remus' expression softened ever so slightly and he nodded. " 'tis alright, I suppose."
They entered the potions classroom in frosty silence, each to their own thoughts. Lily was cheering Peter up by explaining the various fields he could work in, while James and Sirius were still glaring at the back of Rhea's head, as though trying to burn holes into her.
The entire classroom was a mess as usual; Slughorn was making conversation with some influential student in the corner of the room, several cauldrons were emitting a foul odour, and nearly everyone was chatting gibberish instead of paying attention to the lesson.
"'Lo, Professor," Rhea drawled loudly over the noise of all the fourth years in the classroom. She spotted Luna, Regulus and two other Slytherins she didn't recognize several feet away from her. "Are we too earl—Luna, move out of the WAY!"
Her voice turned to a shrill yell when she saw Amycus pointing his wand at Luna's cauldron, his lips mouthing words Rhea couldn't hear. Next to him, Gibbon cast a shield charm that protected only the three Slytherins in the table, skilfully leaving Luna out of the protected bubble. Lily, who was next to Rhea, let out a loud gasp.
Luna, who realized what was going on a second too late, couldn't move out in time. Slughorn was still staring at Rhea, as though wondering why she was shouting, and as were the rest of the students. The cauldron, which was bubbling with boiling potion ingredients, promptly burst; the liquid splattered everywhere—the walls, the desks, the blackboard...
But Luna suffered most of the damage.
There were large burns on her bare forearms, and a few drops even stung her pale cheeks. The unfinished potion caused her skin to shrivel up with dark red blotches littering her skin.
"My mother," Luna said sadly, and Rhea held her hand in hers."Died when she experimented with a spell she was trying to create. I was with her when it happened—the spell made her wand erupt with a small explosion, and she was, quite literally, thrown against the wall. The force was enough to break her spine and skull. There was nothing I could have done."
"Oh, Luna," Rhea said softly, her eyes squeezing shut.
"The thing is, even if the spell didn't make her collide against the wall," Luna continued, "it would have still killed her—the burns would have made sure of that."
"Luna!" Rhea cried out, abandoning all grace and throwing her bag aside to reach Luna, who was now clutching her arms in pain, the white hot searing pang of pain relentlessly clawing at every fibre of her skin. Behind Rhea, the Marauders and Lily came rushing to Luna's aid as well.
"Professor! Do something!" Rhea shouted, looking at Slughorn pleadingly while the classroom dissolved into chaos. Students were huddling around Regulus' table, while the Slytherins looked shell shocked.
The potions Professor, for once, was at a loss for words. His presence of mind was thrown out of the window, just like the day he had frozen in shock when Ron was poisoned in their sixth year. Because every time he saw one of his students suffer in front of him, he was reminded of a certain charming young boy Horace Slughorn failed to save.
"Out of the way!" a voice shouted, and everyone turned to find Dorcas and Timothy rushing towards them with panicked expressions. Once they reached Rhea, who was desperately trying to heal the burns on Luna's skin, Timothy rounded on Regulus, Amycus and Gibbon.
"This is your fault!" Timothy snarled, glaring at the three Slytherins. Sirius whipped his head towards Regulus, his eyes narrowed.
Regulus, on his part, couldn't find it in himself to meet his brother's eyes.
"Don't be daft," Gibbon tried to scoff, a small smirk on his face despite the nervous dilation of his eyes. "She was meddling with a spoilt potion. It was bound to happen."
"Lies!" Dorcas hissed, lashing out at him in an attempt to slap him. Timothy held her back. "There was no way that spoilt potion was going to burst—you hexed the cauldron!"
Lily, Rhea and Remus paid them no mind as they continued to mutter healing spells that nullified the effect of burns. Rhea's hand was shaking so badly that Remus asked her to stop her incantations so that he could take over instead.
"Is it true?" Sirius asked in a voice of deadly calm, staring at Regulus. The younger Black, for once, had removed his cool, aloof exterior to reveal a guilty boy.
"I—" he faltered, looking torn as he gazed at Luna, who was whimpering slightly. "I didn't mean—"
"One way to find out." Rhea said coldly, pointing her wand at Amycus. He immediately stiffened.
"What're you—?"
"Priori incantatem!"
And a wisp was emitted out of his wand, a yellow halo surrounding them all. The entire class took in a sharp breath, and before they knew it, the strange glow was gone. Professor Slughorn was slowly regaining his composure.
"The blasting curse," James said quietly, his scowl deepening. "Why were you using that curse, Carrow? I doubt it's in your syllabus."
"None of your bloody buis—"
"Regulus was in it too," Sirius snapped, his grey eyes flashing darkly. "I know it; it's written all over his face, the bastard."
"Rhea," Lily whispered urgently, and Luna let out a soft whimper. "We don't have much time—we need to get her to the Hospital Wing."
That seemed to distract Rhea from her anger. She whirled around to face the Marauders, her expressions cracking.
"Harry," Rhea begged, looking at James Potter with a vulnerable expression. "Please, please, just take her to the Hospital Wing."
It was clear her panic, fear and exhaustion had clouded her judgement and thoughts. Everyone was staring at her as if she'd lost her marbles.
"Okay, Rhea, calm down," Remus instructed, as he gingerly took Luna and placed her arm around his shoulder. "James, go to Pomphrey and ask her to keep the antidotes for potions burns ready."
James nodded stiffly and dragged a shaking Peter out of the classroom with Remus and Luna in their wake. The classroom slowly regained their senses, and Slughorn was hastily instructing them to sit down. Lily and Sirius made to follow their friends, but Rhea was not done yet.
"Volatilis Lutum!" she hissed, her wand pointed at Amycus and Gibbon as the jet of light hit them square in the face. Both of them cried out in pain as they clutched their noses, but the bat-bogey hex had lived up to its name.
"Miss Cadieux!" Slughorn shouted, scandalized. But Rhea ignored him.
"Next time you even think about hurting Luna," Rhea snarled, her eyes flashing with anger as Amycus and Gibbon kept spouting out bats through their noses. "You'll regret it, I swear to Merlin."
***
Regulus didn't know why he was standing next to the Hospital Wing.
A few months ago it would have amused him that a blood traitor had learnt her lesson. He would have said, 'Good riddance', and he would have moved on without an ounce of guilt. Why should he feel guilty, when he was simply doing the right thing?
But that was not the case this time.
This time he felt guilty. Not only because Luna was Sirius' friend, but also because the burns could have been fatal.
And Sirius... if he didn't hate Regulus before, he would certainly despise him how.
That thought made him wince.
All his life he'd been told that he was perfect; that he could do no wrong. As long as he obeyed the his parents and the pureblood laws, he was fine.
But it wasn't all about that, anymore. What happened was beyond him. Beyond them. It was not a petty school grudge. This fight was beyond the reasons of school matters. It was about Blood.
And Regulus had just watched an innocent girl suffer because of their prejudice. Their beliefs.
If anything, he was as responsible as Amycus and Gibbon were.
But in the blur of emotions, he could make out the clearest of them all:
Guilt.
He was interrupted by Madam Pomphrey, who had finally opened the front door. She was slightly taken aback by his presence, but seemed to let it slide.
"Come in," she said stiffly, ushering him inside. "I don't doubt you want to see Miss Cadieux, but her other friends haven't left her side for ages... They've all gone now, but Rhea's still here, poor girl. She won't even have some lunch..."
Regulus had a fleeting urge to run away. He didn't want to face either of the Cadieux girls.
Keep Going.
Pomphrey led him to a a bed in the corner of the large Hospital Wing, where Luna was lying down and Rhea was sitting next to her, her head in her hands. They were talking in hushed whispers, and for a second, Regulus halted.
He saw how Rhea's eyebrows were creased in worry, the amount of love and concern in her eyes visible through her vulnerable state. He saw how Luna tried her best to soothe Rhea's anger and concern, and how her pale skin was now back to normal, devoid of any burns.
And he was suddenly hit with the realization that he and Sirius would never be as close as Luna and Rhea.
"Regulus?"
Regulus froze. Even though he had made his decision to come here and apologize, he still couldn't bring himself to look at her in the eye, let alone talk to her. Rhea looked between Luna and Regulus slowly and let out a small sigh.
"Come here." Rhea offered, gesturing to the chair next to Luna's bed. Regulus awkwardly scuttled over before sitting gingerly and avoiding their gazes.
"I hope you're alright, Miss Cadieux." Regulus said in the most courteous voice he could muster, which, at the moment, wasn't the best.
Luna ignored that. "Can I talk to you?"
Rhea sighed once again, recognizing the dismissal. "Luna—"
"You should eat." Luna said firmly. "Remus and Lily are getting worried—"
"Fine!" she threw her hands in the air. "I'll go, if my presence bothers you so much." she said dramatically, the small smirk on her lips indicating that there was no sting behind her words. With that, she left the Wing, giving Regulus a long look before doing so.
Pomphrey had already left when they were bickering, so the two were quite alone. Regulus squirmed under her gaze, like he did always. Not because she was a girl, but because his guilt was eating him up from the inside. Her arms were still tinged pink, as though they were still sore.
Regulus cleared his throat. "What did you want to talk about?"
Luna stared at him for a while longer. "I don't blame you for what happened there."
Blame.
She didn't blame him.
Regulus felt several emotions at once: shame, guilt, fear and gratitude. Never, once in a million years, had he ever experienced kindness like this. Sure, Sirius had always been there for him, but the moment Regulus had got into Slytherin, they'd drifted apart.
But it wasn't about Sirius anymore. She wasn't forgiving Sirius' brother. She was forgiving Regulus. She wasn't doing it for Sirius. She was doing it for him.
"Ho—how?" he asked, his voice slightly hoarse. "Why would you forgive me?"
Luna smiled at him kindly. "You aren't as bad as you think you are, Regulus. I know you'd never use such a curse on anyone. I saw it, on your face. You never wanted to do this in the first place."
"But I was rude, and awful—" Regulus began, desperate to end this guilt he was feeling. If there was one thing Regulus was certain of, it was that guilt was the most horrible emotion one could ever feel.
Well, it was true. He wasn't going to excuse himself. At some point, he did hate Luna Cadieux. He did think she was a blood traitor. He did think she was extremely annoying and weird.
However, all those thoughts became irrelevant when he realized that the war was no safe place even for a pureblood. Hell, she was a pureblood, a French one at that, and she, along with her sister, was a part of the war. So when Regulus realized all of this, he began to question everything he was taught.
"Yes, you were," Luna cut him off, looking quite amused. "But I could tell your heart wasn't in it."
"It was," Regulus said, before he could stop himself. "I mean, I did find you annoying sometimes."
And he doubted he would ever be friends with her. Acquaintances, maybe, but that would be all, he reckoned. Because he wasn't going to give up his beliefs about the pureblood system. Yes, he was questioning it, but he still believed it. Maybe he did feel guilty for hurting Cadieux, but did that mean he was going to go against the Dark Arts?
No.
Well, he didn't know.
He was confused.
But he had a lot of time to figure it out.
Right?
Luna's smile widened. " 'Sometimes'. That's a good change."
Regulus rolled his eyes, smiling faintly. Maybe it was better to stop thinking about it for now. Maybe he'd just pretend everything was fine. "Don't push your luck, Cadieux."