Saturday, October 30, 2010

From the past era...Chapter-II

Chapter-II
Way to Hogwarts

Regulus pushed open the door of the cabin, where two mates of his brother dumped his trunk. He entered & settled himself at the window side sit & kept the cage beside him. The scenery outside was still a bit odd to him as they were still passing London & it seemed like they were actually making their way through different muggle streets & sometimes through some houses & to his utter bewilderment he discovered that the muggles didn’t get much bothered about it. “Ah! Must be some kind of hidden illusion charm is placed on this train.”, he thought & he mentally made a note of this that he would go to Library of his new school & would give it a thorough search to see if he could find anything about it. He heard about the library a lot from his parents & his brother. Although, both versions were so very different from each other but both confirmed the fact that The Hogwarts library is one of the finest, ancient & informative one. He also heard that there is a restricted section in it & you need a written permission from a teacher to set your eyes on those books. Actually he didn’t hear but overheard Sirius mentioned about taking a book from that section without being caught by any undesirables, to a mirror in front of him. He thought, by undesirable he meant any teachers, but he also thought that his brother is kind of obsessed with himself, as he grins & talks to himself in front of  a small mirror a lot. He often caught him doing so & once or twice he saw his brother hiding something small behind his back as soon as Regulus entered in his room. Regulus smiled as he remembered this. The scenery outside had been changed to a countryside. The day was exceptionally bright & just sparkling with bright sunlight.
“Nice weather, isn’t it?” Regulus turned his head & found a girl with shoulder length wild black hair, already changed in her brand new Hogwarts robe, standing at the cabin door. He guessed the girl must be starting her first year at Hogwarts too as there was no coloured tie  in his uniform & her new school robe is plain black without any usual red, blue, yellow or green hems in it. She was smiling brightly at him & smartly walked in to settle herself at the window side, opposite to Regulus. Regulus was a bit taken a back. The girl again looked at him & asked “First year?”
“Yeah…I guess you too” Regulas replied.
The girl nodded & smiled again. Regulas returned the smile reluctantly. “er…I am Stephaine…Stephaine Greene”
“Oh…I am Regulus Black.” Regulas replied.
“So you are aware with this world…”
“This world? You mean the muggleworld?” Regulus thought that like him, this girl must be wondering about this curious muggle world too.
“Er…no actually, I mean the world of magic.”
“Oh! Of course I am, as if you aren’t” Regulus grinned broadly at her, finally getting the joke.
But Stephanie continued to eying him nervously & nervously grinned.
“Wha..? don’t tell me you don’t know about our world…the normal world…”Regulus exclaimed in surprise.
Stephanie dropped her gaze & started to survey the floor of the train, didn’t say a word.
“Seriously? I mean your parents never mentioned it to you?”
The girl still remained silent.  Suddenly, a thought struck to Regulus, “Hey, wait a minute! Your parents don’t know about it. Do they? They are muggles. You are muggleborn.”
Slowly the girl raised her head & look at him. He saw that she blushed a bit & slowly she shook her head, and then dropped her gaze again.
“So, how come you don’t know about it.” Regulus sighed in relief to found out that she after all was not a muggleborn or in his parents’ term “Filthy mudblood.” He remembered how his parents warned him continuously against those filth. So he wasn’t exactly letting down his parents before even setting foot into Hogwarts.
“Er…I am half blood, you see. My Mom was a witch but dad’s a muggle.” Stephanie mumbled.
“Er..was?”
“Yeah! She died after a few months of my birth & my dad brought me up. He didn’t mention it either until the letter from Hogwarts arrived. Then he explained it to me.”
“Oh! ”
Regulus didn’t understand the full story that why her father didn’t explained it to her, but didn’t press further on that subject. “Um… I am hungry, aren’t you?”
Stephanie looked up & a  bit relieved at the change of the topic. She said brightly “Yeah, I am hungry. So do you have any food?”
& without waiting for an answer she started to rumble her small blue rucksack which until now Regulus didn’t notice & from the depth of it she took out a package, wrapped tightly & neatly with a brown paper.
“I’ve got some homemade bread & eggs.” She added brightly & started to open the package. Beneath the brown cover a small tiffinbox was there. She opened it & there lies two pieces of homemade egg sandwiches. She lifted up one & offered it to Regulus. The whole action of her took hardly a minute & Regulus found himself sitting in front of the offered sandwiches without finding any words to say.
“Er… I meant the lunch trolley.” Regulus said goggling her.
“Lunch trolley? There is a lunch trolley?” & an embarrassed silence fell between them.
“Oh…erm.. well, I thought…” Stephanie stopped, apparently lost of words.
“Ah, I can do with a bit of sandwiches” Regulus took the offered sandwitch from her & took a bite. “It’s good.”, he said grinning.
Stephanie, looking relieved grinned too & started munching the other one.
Suddenly, their cabin door wrenched open & Sirius walked in, “Hey you forgot your moneybag Reg.” Both Stephanie & Regulus looked up. Regulas beamed at his brother as he caught his money bag thrown by his brother to him. Sirius however eyed the sandwiches. “Where did you get those from?”, he pointed at the sandwitch, from which Regulus was about to take another bite.
“Stephanie brought them from home”  he pointed at Stephanie.
“Ah, found friends already”, Sirius said, eyeing Stephanie. She was nervously observing Sirius.
“I am Sirius Black, Regulus’s brother.” Sirius stretched out a hand.
“I am Stephanie Greene” Stephanie said nervously shaking his hand.
“Er… sorry, no sandwiches are left, I only brought two, didn’t know about the lunch trolley…” she finished in an apologetic tone.
Sirius chuckled, “Don’t worry its okay.” He assured her.
“You have got wizard money with you? ” Sirius asked her gently.
“Um…” Stephanie looked puzzled, “We have to pay for the food then.”
“Well, yeah, you have to.” Sirius put his hand inside the pocket of his trouser & took out a small leather pouch. He thrust it in the hands of bewildered Stephanie. “You will need them” He smiled at her & before she could say anything he strode out of the  cabin, shutting the door behind him.
Stephanie sat there, as if, in a state of shock & then opened the pouch slowly. A handful of gold, silver & bronze coins were jingling within the pouch.
“Whoa! He never gives meee money like that.” Stephanie looked up to see that Regulus was looking at the pouch with a slightly amazed expression in his face.
“Anything from the trolley dears?” A voice came from the corridor & almost immediately their cabin door was opened once again by a very old lady pushing a very colourful food trolley in front of her. Regulus leaped up to his feet immediately & moved forward towards the trolley.
“Yes dear?” said the old lady looking at Regulus.
“Er… one pumpkin pasty, a liquirice wand & five chocolate frogs please. What about you?” Regulus turned his head to his side, expecting to find Stephanie there but surprised to see her sitting in her sit.
“Don’t you want anything?”
“er… I didn’t even say thanks…” she murmured.
It took a while for Regulus to understand what she meant & finally getting her, he said “Oh! Don’t worry, it’s not like…you know… you’ll never meet him. Thank him then, if you must.Now come on…”
At these words Stephanie got up & moved towards the trolley & but stood there quite helplessly.
“What…. Oh sorry, I forgot you don’t know them.”
Stephanie looked up & nodded.
“Oh well I can give them a wild try, can’t I?” She said brightly & smartly started animatedly to the lady with the trolley, “A bit of these, um…okay one pack of that, a couple of these & five those. ” She completed grinning. Regulus gaped at her with his mouth slightly open.
After five minutes both returned to their sits with different sizes of bright packets in their hands. Stephanie’s hands were close to explode with so many packets. Regulus hastily dropped his & helped Stephanie with hers.
“Barty Bott’s every Flavoured beans, two pumpkin pasties, two liqurice wands, five chocolate frogs,ten droobles….” Regulus finished counting the packets, Stephanie bought, “Whoa.. you must be really hungry…”
“Well, don’t want to miss much” Stephanie finished defensively.
They both stared at each other for a moment & then rolled down with laughter.
Without any further ado they started on those. Regulus explained the name of the food to Stephanie while finishing them.

From the past era...Chapter-I

Chapter- I
The Black Haired Boy
It was 10-30AM & the King’s cross station was already swimming with the busy muggles, most of them were dressed up in their office attire, very neat & clean & organized & in one word, utterly boring. A small boy with a lot of dark hair & very deep dark eyes was actually looking with a strange sort of wonder in his eyes. This was the world that the boy never witnessed before, although heard a lot about them in his dining room, in his living room but in hushed voices of his parents. Several times, he also witnessed certain amount of yelling & beating due to the fact that his brother uttered the word “muggle” aloud. Now he couldn’t imagine why exactly the muggles are supposed to be filthy & unutterable. Inwardly, he had been started to agree with his elder brother that “Muggles are okay, kind of cool, in their own way…boring but certainly not disgusting.” But he couldn’t dare to voice his thought aloud, especially not now, when he was pushing his trolley, loaded with his brand new trunk & an owl, fast asleep in a delicate, yet magnificent golden cage, towards a brand new world. Yes, at last he is going to be there, going to be a part of it, about which he heard a lot but imagined even more & dreamed the most, “The Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft & Wizardry”.  A grin spread across his thin & pale face at the thought of it & he quickly stole a look at his parents, in case they were watching him, as grinning is for weak & fools, as he was taught from the very childhood. Now they weren’t watching. He inwardly sighed with relief. His mother was wearing a snobbish expression, which she considered as a dignified way to appear & his father was wearing a proud & smug smile, worthy for the lord of the universe. Seeing, that his parents were just too busy to show their proper appearance to the whole world he looked at his 14 year old brother. He was walking by his side pushing his trolley just like him except that the fact that his trunk has got a large symbol of golden lion on the top of it & glimmering red letters, showing the word Mr. S. Black were glowing brightly beneath the lion. He was handsome, extremely attractive & good looking.  He too had dark hair that fell on his forehead with careless yet elegant locks. He was wearing a boring expression in his face & now & then throwing a clearly annoying look at his parents. It couldn’t be clearer that he was waiting longingly for the opportunity to get away from his parents. Their parents were least bothered about him or rather happy to pretend that the younger one is only their son. After his brother’s first year at Hogwarts or more precisely from the moment the sorting hat put him in the GRYFFINDOR house, his parents turn a cold shoulder towards him & in his 2nd & 3rd year he came to King’s Cross station all by himself & boarded the legendary Hogwarts Express, that carried the students to Hogwarts, the most ancient & historical school of magic in the world. “Over here Regulus, with me, now pretend to be all casual…like me”. The younger boy hastily down his gaze from his brother & looked at his mother. Beside him the older boy smirked loudly. His mother turned her head slowly towards him with eyes flashing dangerously towards her elder son, she said in a whisper & barely opening her mouth, resulting some sort of hissing “What are you smirking at?”
“Well, if looking like being constipated is casual to you then …”, Sirius’s voice on the contrary is loud & clear, “…he better not follow that”, he gestured at his younger brother.
His would be casual tone & indifferent way almost made the younger one smile but he managed to suppress it, because he knew it perfectly that his smile will earn his brother some pretty harsh words & he didn’t like that. His mother’s nostrils flared up with rage. She turned to look at her husband but found that he already disappeared through the barrier between the platform nine & ten, the gateway which only witches & wizards can pass to get to the platform nine & three quarters, from which Hogwarts Express starts. She returned her gaze to Sirius & added in an ice cold whisper, “Why don’t you go first, so that I can save Regulas from your shameful influences.” Sirius merely shrugged & started towards the barrier with his trolley & his mother added, “Don’t appear in front of my eyes on the other side & stay away from Regulas as far as possible, I don’t want you to corrupt our son.”
Sirius stopped dead at his track for a moment, and then continued to pace without a backward glance. It was hard to say whether he at all got affected by those words. Regulus wanted to shout for him but being with her mother that was impossible. He hoped really hard that he definitely was going to see him on the platform. After Sirius disappeared through the barrier, her mother waited for at least 5 minutes before turning to her youngest son & gestured him to follow her. Regulus did as he was told & crossed the barrier with apparently satisfactory way, at least according to her mother’s opinion. He knew, not to run, as running is also stored for weak minded people & perhaps for Sirius, the indecent ones. But he knew inwardly that a bit of run could make it a lot easier & comfortable. He also didn’t clutch his mother’s arm for support because he is a brave one & a pure blood. He remembered vividly how his mother snatched her arm from the grip of her elder son, at this point in his first year. He remembered his brother’s eleven year old shocked face too. “Ah…there you go my son.” At this Regulas hastily opened his eyes, which he managed to close without being caught by his mother. All of his thoughts got detached from himself as he was just staring at the magnificent scarlet engine, fuming great white smoke in front of him.
The platform nine & three quarter was filled with kids of various sizes, pets of different varieties, sounds of different types & parents having different ways to embarrass their kids. ‘Yes, now this is normal world’, thought the eleven years old kid. He turned his head wildly for his brother. “Oh! There he is…”, Regulus whipped around at his mother’s words so quickly that his neck got a cramp, but utterly disappointed to see that his father was walking towards him, accompanying a girl of 15 with heavily lidded eyes, long, thick, black shiny hair that elegantly falls on her waist. “Ah, Bella Darling…” “Aunt Wally” She kissed her on both cheek, then gazed down at Regulus. Her eyes were cold & grey & her smile was hollow like a sharp knife. She is beautiful but in a very different sort of way. There is something terrible about her breath taking beauty. “This is our son Regulas”, Wallburga continued, “…& this is Bellatrix Black your cousin.” She finished looking at Regulus. “Hello” Bellatrix said to Regulus. Her expression was curious & greedy, as if a hawk is looking at a particular juicy piece of meat. “Hi” Regulus mumbled. Bellatrix continued to glare Regulus & that make Regulus uncomfortable. He is used to his brother’s disgusted look but that look is nothing compared to this. He always felt warmness about his brother, so lively, so loud, so broad, so open… not a feeling of being stuck in a dingy dungeon with whispers & deadly silence & darkness. She made him feel hard to breathe. “He will do fine…with me around.” Finally, she turned her head towards Walburga & then towards Mr. Orion Black. Both smiled & then gazed down his son “Make us proud!” they turned & started walking towards the exit. Bellatrix looked at him again & then said “Want help with your possessions?” & without waiting for an answer she marched away. Regulus was standing there with his mouth slightly open. “Shut your mouth, you idiot.” Regulus turned & to his enormous relief he found his brother standing behind him. “Want to board the train at all? Get a move on then.” Then staring at his trunk he bellowed to his left direction “Oi! James, Remus, over here…”. Regulus saw as two boys, hurried towards their direction. One is already changed in his Hogwarts robe having a brownish blonde hair & slightly taller than the rest two & had a kind expression, the other one didn’t seem like a sober one at all, having extremely untidy hair & a pair of bright hazel eyes shining behind his round spectacles, wearing a broad & slightly mischievous grin across his face. He bowed in front of Sirius “At your service.” Sirius grinned & pointed towards the trunk & owl cage of Regulus. Two boys clutched each side of the trunk & carried it away towards the nearest compartment & lifted it up to the train. Sirius took the cage in one hand & grabbed the wrist of his younger brother in other & marched towards the same direction. He kind of thrust Regulus in the train & got up behind it just when engine began to move.
 “So, this is Regulus I guess…” The boy with untidy black hair said as he helped both Sirius & Regulus to their feet. “Yes James as it was really hard to guess” Sirius replied sarcastically. Regulas grinned. “Hello youngling” James said to Regulus & Regulus brightly said “Hello” to James & then turned to the other boy with brownish blond hair & again said “Hello…”. “I am Remus Lupin& Hello Regulas”, the other boy said kindly, gently shaking his hand.
“He grins a lot Sirius, nice grinning sibling you’ve got” James blurted out.
“Yeah! You better not say this within the earshot of our mother, because according to her grinning is ….what is it….oh yeah…INDECENT.”
James chuckled. Sirius however faced Regulus, “Well get going then…they placed your trunk…where...” he turned to James & Remus & James pointed to the nearest cabin, “…ah in that cabin. Change into robes at around dusk & you know about the lunch lady…so all set?” He handed the cage of the owl to Regulus & about to follow his mates who already headed towards the opposite direction but got interrupted by a solid tug at the back of his shirt. “What?” he turned around. “Where are you going?” blurted out Regulus. Sirius wasn’t expecting this question. He observed his brother for a while & then said “Learn to stand out for yourself Reg” & then after a pause he added looking at the pained & slightly frightened expression at his brother’s face, in a kinder tone, “You will be fine…don’t worry!!!” & after giving a rare smile to him he further added “Don’t get contaminated with Sirius germs”, he winked at him & strode away. Regulus looked at his brother’s departure & started towards his cabin.