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 2^nd & 3^rd 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.