The Story of Regulus Black - Years 1-4

XII. Conditioning and Manipulation

Regulus Black spent the rest of the holiday worrying about his older brother.

There were a few times where he almost broke and asked his parents where on earth Sirius was, but he always thought better of it; he really didn't want to anger them.

Walburga Black had actually been treating Regulus relatively well since the meeting with the Dark Lord, and Regulus didn't want to ruin that.

He also just didn't want to get into Orion Black's way, for he was afraid that he would take out his tension on Regulus in the form of hexes and curses that Regulus couldn't even dream of.

Ever since the meeting at Lestrange Manor, Orion Black could be seen as particularly tense. He shut himself away in the sitting room or the library for hours on end, and he rarely even came down for meals; whatever the Dark Lord had said to him after the meeting, it had really gotten to him.

But none of these things answered Regulus's ultimate question; where the hell was Sirius?

In the absence of his brother, and the stress that it filled Regulus with, Regulus picked up his old habit of ripping and tearing the skin around his nails. He hadn't done this since the year where Sirius had been away, and Regulus had almost forgotten about the stress-relieving sensation that came with it. He still bit and tore at his nails when he was at Hogwarts, but the skin around them had been left alone.

Until now.

On the morning of Sunday, 7 January, Walburga Black brought Regulus to Kings Cross for the train ride back to Hogwarts.

Walburga kept her hands firmly planted on either one of Regulus's shoulders as she led him through the thick crowd. Regulus saw several of the students who had been present at the meeting with the Dark Lord, but it seemed that every single one of them had come to the silent agreement not to mention it.

Walburga stopped Regulus towards the back of the crowd and turned him around to face her. "I am proud of you, Regulus. Now, go help with the... plan. Be as useful as the Dark Lord intends for you to be," she said, looking squarely into his eyes.

"I will, mother. I promise," Regulus responded, and he puffed his chest with the pride of being told that his mother was proud of him again.

She nodded her head and released his shoulders, watching as he retreated to the Express.

Halfway to the train, Regulus ran smack into Barty Crouch Jr. "Sorry Barty!" He said, reaching a hand out to help steady the smaller boy.

"It's alright, Reg. C'mon, let's go find a compartment before they're all full," and Regulus led the two of them through the sea of students pouring onto the crimson Hogwarts Express.

Regulus walked through the train, dodging students and looking into compartments to find an empty one. He brought his hand up to his mouth and subconsciously started to bite his nails.

"That's a bad habit," Barty said from behind Regulus, pointing to his nails. "My dad used to get really mad when I did that."

Regulus shrugged and moved to a different finger, "Helps."

Regulus suddenly dropped his hand away from his mouth when he and Barty reached a particular compartment; without any further warning, he reached out, opened the door quite violently, and stepped inside.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?!" Regulus stared at his brother reproachfully, who looked quite shocked by Regulus's sudden appearance.

James Potter - who was sitting beside Sirius - stared at Regulus in surprise, Peter Pettigrew - who was sitting nearest Regulus on the left side of the door - was shifting uneasily in his seat, and Remus Lupin - who was sitting directly across from Sirius - was giving Sirius a pointed look that said I told you so.