Chapter-III
The first sight of the castle
“Hey, what’s up with you? You seem quiet!” Regulus looked up & found Stephanie, watching him with a slight concern in her eyes & at the same time he got immensely surprised to found himself on a small boat with none other than Stephanie, Rick & Edwin. They were gently floating through a giant black lake. He vaguely remembered being out of the train & grouped together with other first years towards the edge of the lake, lead by a giant man , called Hagrid, with a very kind face & a set of bettle black beady warm eyes. As soon as he got off the train & set foot in the Hogsmeade station a strong thought engulfed him, “What if, he won’t be sorted into Slytherin?” He shuddered at the thought of that. He remembered the time when his parents got the information that their elder son was sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin, vividly. ‘Mad, upset, angry, these words are understatements to describe his parents at that moment…’, he thought wildly.
He couldn’t reply immediately to Stephanie. He swallowed hard & shook his head without meeting her eyes.
“’m fine.” He said with a tone that made it clear that he just not in the mood of chatting. Stephanie caught that tone & didn’t push him further.
A movie had been started to play inside his head. He could see the celebration of Christmas, three years back, in the Black manor with his parents & his brother, a fresh first year from Hogwarts. An enormous Christmas tree was standing in the middle of their drawing room & they all were eating the creamy chocolate Christmas cake.
“Regulus will you excuse us for a bit?” eight year old Regulus looked up at his mother holding a still unfinished bit of his chocolate cake piece.
“Why mother?” He was amazed at his own bravery. Generally, in Black manor children are not supposed to question back the elders but do what they are told to do. He hastily dropped his gaze in his plate, as he saw his mother pursed her lips, always a sign of danger. He moved quietly out of the chair & out of the room. A bit amazed that her mother didn’t gave him the usual punishment for his cheek. He heard a slam behind him & saw that the door of the dining room had been closed . Then the door started to vibrate a bit & again became still, only emitting a black pearlish glow. He immediately recognized the sign. ‘The impenetration eavesdropping charm’, he was wondering. ‘What is it that his parents want to hide from him but confide his brother in…’ . He stood rooted to the spot. Suddenly a panic began to rise inside him. He knew too well that his parents weren’t happy about his brother being sorted into the Gryffindor, the house of mudbloods, blood traitors & emotional fools, as they described it. He also knew that his parents didn’t write a single letter to their elder son since the news came & it is the first time that his brother is away from his family. ‘What if..’ Regulus thought,‘ they want to punish his brother for it?’. He adored his brother & loved him very much, he just couldn’t stand there and slowly moved forward & leaned closer to the door. His eyes shut & face were red as he just thought with all his concentration about his brother, about what kind of punishment his brother could get & praying hardest for his brother. He knew that his parents were strict but he couldn't stand it either that his brother would be going to be punished for no reason or for something which was certainly not his fault. He didn't ask to be sorted into Gryffindor. As far as he was concerened this sorting doesn't count student's will. He felt a warm senation grew through his spine as he thought about his brother with all his might. The sensation was growing through his entire body, rising up from shoulder to throat & then flowing through his mouth, nose & ultimately halted as it reached to his eyes, waiting quietly behind the shut eyelids, as if wanted them to be opened. He felt a strange kind of heat behind his eyelids, but he really didn’t care as he was too busy to think about his brother. The heat grew & it was painful, really painful & then with a sudden burst of heat inside his eyes, he let out a soft cry & propped open his eyelids. He found with his amazement that a triangular hole had appeared at the door in front of him. He leaned closer & peered through the hole & found out that it was no hole but a transparent portion in the door & it seems to overcome the impenetration charm casted on it as well, as it offered the sound from the other side of the door too. Regulas was too busy to worry about his brother to appreciate the real magic of it.
“No mother…please, please …nooo.” Sirius’s cry filled his ears. To his horror he found Sirius was shrieking in agony at the foot of his mother just in front of the enormous Christmas tree & pleading to her as she raised her wand at him.
“You... blood traitor... you family disowning moron... such a stain & disgrace in the name of ancient & noble Black family...” Walburga Black shouted with utmost loathing in her voice.
“...CRUCIO” Sirius let out an agonized shriek & was thrashing dangerously on the floor.
The unforgivable torture curse. Regulus felt numb & hollow. Using this curse on anybody is more than enough to buy a lifelong ban from wizarding world & a lifelong sentence in the wizard prison Azkaban & she is using it against her own eleven year old son?
“And for your Christmas gift you’ll get this”, Orion Black moved forward this time as his wife lowered his wand.
“A mean to remember.” His lips twisted in hatred as he swished his wand in one flashy movement & a large gash appeared on the chest of Sirius, ripping his clothes & tearing the skin beneath. Blood started to ooze down from the wound venomously & Sirius, too agonized & exhausted to react just lay there.
“Chuck this lump out” Wallburga pointed at Sirius.
Regulus pulled away & just hide behind the stairs as the door flew opened & Orion Black threw Sirius bodily out of the room. He stood at the door & silkily said, “You are NOT to embarrass us in front of our relatives, so don’t dare to show yourself at tonight’s dinner party.” And then he shut the door.
Sirius slowly gathered up & headed towards the stairs to his bedroom. He was pale as chalk white. With one hand he clutched his chest & with other he hold the railing of stairs as he moved. Regulus watched from his hiding place, just watched. He didn’t know what to do, didn’t know what to say. He just stood there. Hearing a soft ‘thud’ he realized that his brother was finally in his bedroom. Slowly he came out of his hiding place & followed the suit. There were droplets of blood on the stairs.'My brother's blood' Regulus thought. A huge lump was growing inside his throat. It's hurting. He swallowed & made his way towards his brother's bedroom. He stopped just outside Sirius’s bedroom door & heard a muffled sound. He had to strain his ears & he found that it was a sound of crying. Never in his life he had seen Sirius crying. He froze. This was surely couldn’t be the moment for him to go inside & comfort his brother. Sirius would be just too embarrassed & without mentioning it, would go mad & probably would thought him as a rude intruder to his personal grief. Slowly he turned to his own room & went inside shutting the door behind him.
“ooooooooooo look at her. Isn’t she gorgeous!” Regulus brought back to present with a yank & was forced to abandon the movie in his head. He looked around at the sound of excited squeak from Rick & saw a great magnificent castle were slowly coming into sight. The legendary Hogwarts Castle
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