Sunday, November 7, 2010

From the past era... Chapter- V

Chapter V
The first row
Regulus woke up next morning, as a soft heat touched his face gently. He opened his eyes & blinked several times, as the room around him came slowly into focus. For a moment, he was wondering that where was he, as he couldn’t find his familiar bed , the familiar ceiling & the familiar room of the Black Manor, in which he grew up. Then he remembered that he had left that manor behind & already had taken his first step towards his independent world, “Hogwarts”. He sat up on his bed & looked around his dorm. Last night he was just too tired to observe the room, where he would be spending the most of his time for the next seven years.
His bed was at a far end of the room, just beside a large window. The window is glowing brightly, offering a faint bluish tinge through the ancient wooden frame of it. He got up, moved towards the window & intended to take a view outside.
 “Whoa…”, a soft cry emerged from him as he peered through the window. He saw nothing but a clear blue sparkling water outside. Fishes of different sizes & shapes were flowing gently. Their bodies were illuminated & sparkled in many colours. He also saw one or two slimey creatures having a blob like head & sickly tangled many legs, swam crossed the windows. He looked down through the window & saw ghostly brown soil was situated all over the place & different plants grew steadily from here & there. All the plants were light & fragile looking without a strong trunk or a strong base but they didn’t need one as they were simply floating upwards from the point, where they were clutching the soil with their roots. Regulus glanced upwards through the window & saw a bright ball of light, gently floating above. Its edges got blurred in now and then gently as the water broke it’s stillness in every now an then. He just stared & then slowly realized that, the orb of light is nothing but sun & that he was looking at it from underwater. As soon as this thought struck him, he realized that the soft heat that filled the bed & earlier, touched his skin gently to wake him up was nothing but the sunray, filtered through the clear, cold mass of water. He closed his eyes & was feeling the gentle tenderness of the scene.
“Oh! You are awake.”
Regulus jumped out & turned around.
“Er…Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”  the boy smirked.
Regulus ignored the apology & frowned. He didn’t like the tone of the boy. He watched him as he slid down from his bed, which was situated after two beds from his own and made his way towards him.
“I am Wattley…Aelger Wattley” & he stretched out his hand.
“I am Regulus Black” , Regulus shook the offered hand unwillingly.
“Aha, Black. An extremely pure bloodline. Of course I’ve heard about your ancient & noble background. All of your family turned out to be most decent & not to mention most acceptable to the wizarding world.” The boy continued with fierce pride in his eyes “…Just like my family…the family of Wattley. But of course you’ve heard about the name too.” The boy threw an expectant glance towards Regulus, that made Regulus shift uncomfortably. Regulus hadn’t heard that surname before but he didn’t want to say it.
“Er…” Regulus began but got cut immediately by Aelger, who seemed to take his ‘Er…’ as a positive ‘yes’.
“Well, at last we’ve made it to Slytherin, the only…” He deliberately put the effort in the last word ”…noble house, left in Hogwarts. My parents will be proud of me.” He stopped to take a deep breath as if to celebrate a kind of triumph.
Regulus was wishing wholeheartedly to leave his present company, as more & more time passed, the boy appealed more & more unpleasant to him.
“Your parents will be proud of you too, as I hope. After all, not all of their kids go rotten. I mean unlike your brother, who turned out to be a biggest humiliation & rotten case… ”
Suddenly, a hot anger boiled up through Regulus, he jerked his head towards Aelger & locked his eyes with him with a fierce angry glare in them.
“SHUT UP ABOUT MY BROTHER. DON”T YOU DARE TO CALL HIM NAMES.” Regulus yelled. His face was red with anger, jaws clenched.
Aelger fell silent out of shock. He looked at the angry feature of Regulus & actually took a step back from him. But he was not the ‘I apologies’  kind of guy. So within a moment he gathered himself together & wore the usual smirking expression just like the time he left his bed.
“Huh! And what are you going to do about it Black, brother of vernim?” Wattley sneered.
Regulus started towards Wattley with clenched fists. Suddenly, two arms grabbed him from two sides. He turned to see that two of the boys of his own dormitory have woken up & they were trying to force him back from Aelger. He turned his glance towards Aelger & found that he too was grabbed from behind by the third boy. They both were so engaged with each other that they didn’t even notice the appearance of the other three dorm mates of them until that point of time. Both were struggling against their bindings but remained unsuccessful.
“Give it a rest, you two, unless you want to earn some detention on the first day of your school.” The boy from Regulus’s right side blurted out.
Detention seemed like to be a too much of a price to pay in the first day. So both the boys stopped struggling.
“He started it…” Aelger shouted. Regulus almost melted him with his fierce glare.
“We don’t care, who started it Aelger, but we want it to be finished now or you’ll be in trouble, both of you.” The boy from the right side of Regulus shouted again.
“Fine” Regulus shouted back as he pulled himself free from the grips of the two boys & marched towards his trunk & found three new sets of Slytherin hemmed robes & green- silver ties were kept neatly on the top of the trunk. He grabbed one of them & dressed in a top speed, grabbed his school bag & then left the dorm room without any backward glance.
He entered in the common room & found that some elder students were sitting here & there, doing homeworks, chatting warily or just stretching & yawning before making their way to the great hall for the morning breakfast.
He silently made his way through the entrance wall towards the great hall.
Entering the great hall, he looked around. He was a bit early he guessed, as the hall is pretty empty except for a few students, scattered here & there eating their breakfast lazily. He moved towards the Slytherin table & settled himself down. He noticed that in the morning, the ceiling, no longer reflecting the outside sky but remained as a normal ceiling. He noticed that like the slytherin table, each table has got their own symbol etched on the top of it. Hufflepuff’s, a black  badger against a yellow Hogwarts symbol, Ravenclaw’s, a bronze Eagle against the blue Hogwarts symbol & the Gryffindor’s , a majestic golden Lion against the fiery red Hogwarts symbol. Looking at the golden lion in the Gryffindor table Regulus spotted Stephanie, sitting their alone & eating her breakfast quietly.
“Oi Stephanie! ” Stephanie looked up & found Regulus was waving at her & gesturing towards the empty sit beside him. Smiling, Stephanie stood up with her tray & went to his table & took her place beside him.
“So, had a nice sleep?” Regulus asked. He wanted some normal conversation desperately as the morning’s fight disturbed him to the root.
“Um..not bad. What about you?” Stephanie yawned widely.
“Not bad either.” & then after watching yawning Stephanie he added “Looks like you can do a bit more sleep.”
“Oh! I am never a morning person. Besides, last night, We were up until midnight, chatting & then fell asleep. I’ve got four dorm mates, Ailith, Daisy, Ivy & Annis. They are really nice & all are excited to be here. ”
“Where are they?”
“In the bed I guess. I tried to wake them up & have earned myself a flow of some excellent swear words.” Stephanie smiled.
“But I do hope they hurry up & come down now. Surely, they don’t want to be late for their lessons.” She finished, casting an eager glance at the door.
“So, what about you? Have you made some friends?” Stephanie asked, turning to Regulus.
Regulus sighed. “No, but have made an enemy for certain.” Regulus muttered.
“How come?”
“Well, a boy name Aelger Wattlay in our dorm called Sirius names & …”
“Hello you two.” Both Stephanie & Regulus turned around to find a smiling Rick, standing  behind them.
“Hello Rick.” Stephanie said brightly as Rick took her sit on the other side of Regulus.
“I said HELLO Reg.” Regulus looked at her with a kind of disbelief in his eyes.
“REG?” He said.
“Yes, Reg. Someone told me at the train that nicknames are to be picked by others so for that person I picked this name. Nice & short & less unnatural. Isn’t it Stephanie?” Rick innocently looked at Stephanie with a solemn face.
Stephanie bit her lip to control the laughter & nodded delivering an equal solemn expression.
Regulus tried to look outraged but couldn’t manage it & after a few seconds, he burst out in laughing. Rick & Stephanie joined in whole heartedly. Three of them threw their heads back as the laughter issued continuously from them like anything.
“You are….” Regulus started, looking at Rick, eyes watering with the force of his own laughter “…impossible.” He finished.
“Aha! Reg & Rick nice nicky namies for two ickle firsties…” uttering this, Stephanie rolled down in laughter.
“What are you laughing at” Rick said suddenly, pointing at Stephanie. Stephanie raised her eyebrows. “I have got one for you as well…a step with a ‘H’ that is STEPH.”
“Ah, I like mine. Not really weird.” Stephanie said happily & all three were continuing their laughing.
“What on earth these two little Gryffindor & Ravenclaw toerags are doing in our decent table?” A voice sharp as a knife & cold as ice shot out from behind the three.
Stephanie, Rick & Regulus whipped around. To his utter disgust, Regulus found Bellatrix Black was standing there with a twisted cold sneer all over her face.
“Ah! What a start of a day, as our table already got contaminated with these little red & blue germs.” Bellatrix smiled unpleasantly.
“Oh! No look it’s my fault. I invited them over here.” Regulus tried to save his two friends.
Bellatrix took no notice of his words but continuing eyeing Stephanie with great interest in her eyes.
“Ah! A Greene, don’t tell me you’re the abandoned Greene.”
Stephanie flushed scarlet & glared back at Bellatrix, with utmost fury in her eyes. Regulus was surprised to see Stephanie like that. Rick however muttered something about not knowing the rule of & tugged the sleeve of Stephanie in the intention to leave the table.
“Don’t be a fool. Come on.” Rick whispered behind her. But Stephanie didn’t move but continue to glare.
Bellatrix was thoroughly enjoying the scene & she beckoned another Slytherin girl.
“Look Cissy, what we have got today. A Greene, abandoned Greene, wants so deperately to taste a bit of royalty & glory that she dared to come down here to contaminate the place with the touch of her dirty skin, not to mention dirty blood.”
Cissy, who is none other than Bellatrix’s elder sister Narcissa Black laughed out loud.
“ooooooo look at her, glaring at us, I am petrified.” Sneered Narcissa.
Regulus desperately looked around for any sign of teachers, but found none in vicinity. Stephanie was actually shaking with anger. She started towards Bellatrix with a mad look in her eyes. Rick was restraining her from moving forwards but was unsuccessful by so far.
“oooo want to hit me?” Bellatrix showed a mock fear. She quickly scanned her vicinity for any sign of teachers as she drew her wand.
“It is time I teach you a bit something now. Something like respect Slytherin seniors…” Bellatrix pointed her wand towards Stephanie.
“STUPIFY” She yelled. A flash of red light issued from the tip of her wand. But immediately another yell, “PROTEGO” & a white shield had been formed between Stephanie, Rick & Bellatrix. The read light was bounced of from the surface of the white shield.
Regulus spun around to see the caster of the later shield charm & found Sirius was standing there with his wand held high.
“Ah! You need to be a bit more faster Bella. You need to work on your reflexes, too slow I must say.” Sirius said sarcastically moving forward & bodily shielding Rick & Stephanie from Bellatrix & Narcissa. Bellatrix’s lips curled out of disgust & anger.
“Don’t you tell me about my reflexes SIRIUS, you filth, you….such a stain in noble Black family.”
Sirius raised an eyebrow.
“Noble?...you mean noble? & jinxing a wandless first year with a stunning spell enhance such nobility of yours I guess.Honestly Bella, I am proud to be the pure & white stain against such a noble lurking murky Black.”
Bellatrix’s eyes narrowed but Narcissa this time took charge & with a loathing in her face she placed her hand on Bellatrix’s shoulder, eyeing Sirius. 
“Show respect to seniors, Sirius” Narcissa said in her steely voice.
“I must ask then, have you earned it?” Sirius replied smoothly.
“Oi, What’s happening?” James Potter arrived at the scene & with a quick glance at the scene he seemed to understand the situation & quickly side with Sirius, drawing his own wand.
“Ah Potter…another…” But Bellatrix got cut in as prof. Mcgonagall swept her way towards the Slytherin table.
“What on earth do you think you are doing, making such a racket in the middle of the great hall?” Prof. Mcgonagall demanded in a dangerous voice.
But without waiting for any answer she said, “Mr.Potter, Miss Black & Miss Black & Mr. Black…” then with a glance at Regulus she added “I mean Mr. Sirius Black, I want four of you tonight a sharp eight in my office for detention.” & she departed without another word.
“That’s so not fair.I haven’t even said anything this time.” James said indignantly as soon as prof. Mcgonagall left.
Sirius dragged Stephanie & Rick by the end of their scarfs & with a last furious glance at the Black sisters he left towards the Gryffindor table, followed by James. Regulus stood there without knowing what to do. He glanced at the Gryffindor table, where his brother along with his mates James & Remus & another short plump boy with mousy hair, were saying something to Rick & Stephanie & pointing at the Slytherin table. Both were nodding silently & Stephanie was rather pink in face, not looking anywhere but at her shoes. For a brief moment, when Sirius glanced again towards Slytherin table his eyes met with Regulus’s. Regulus tried to smile, but to his surprise Sirius looked away from him almost instantly without giving any sign of warmness or recognition. Regulus sat there silently as the morning owl post had started to come to great hall with a whoosh.

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