The Story of Regulus Black - Years 1-4

XXI. The Wedding at Malfoy Manor

It was the morning of 26 August, 1973.

Regulus was checking himself in the mirror, smoothing down the front of his black dress robes. His hair had been cut by his mother to prepare for the wedding, so it was back to the normal length that Walburga Black considered presentable. He reached up and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to make it look better.

With a deep sigh, he gave up and let his hands drop to his sides. Despite his sour mood when it came to having to wake up early and get dressed into uncomfortable clothes, Regulus was ecstatic to be able to leave the house.

However, he was a little disappointed that Sirius wasn't coming. Walburga and Orion had resumed their normal task of ignoring his presence at all, and so they hadn't mentioned a word of the wedding to him. For this reason, Sirius was staying behind.

Sirius and Regulus had been on civil terms since the day that Regulus had been sick on the landing. They weren't exactly close again, and they didn't go out of their way to talk or hang out, but they had waved to one another on the landing once, which was much more than could be said about before. Although, it did seem like Sirius was trying to avoid the topic of that day altogether.

When Regulus had awoken mid-afternoon, Sirius was gone. In fact, there was no trace that he had been there at all. If Regulus didn't know any better, he might think it had been a sort of stress-induced fever dream. But, they were on ok-terms now, so it couldn't have been a dream.

Regulus still longed to be able to walk over to his brother's room and just hang out with him like they did when they were younger, but he knew that - realistically speaking - that would probably never happen again.

"REGULUS! REGULUS GET DOWN HERE, WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" Walburga shrieked from downstairs, and Regulus took a deep breath.

He strode out of his room and closed his door behind himself. When he had turned back around to continue to the staircase, he noticed Sirius leaning in his door frame, staring at Regulus in amusement.

"Look at the ickle posh boy," Sirius teased, and Regulus felt his cheeks burn red. Sirius smirked and raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. "Not gonna be sick again, are you?"

"No!" Regulus said defensively, crossing his arms and staring back at his brother.

"Where are you off to, anyways? Special trip to a posh party with mummy and daddy?"

Regulus furrowed his brow in confusion. "It's Lucius and Narcissa's wedding. Didn't you know?"

Sirius was silent for a moment, and Regulus stood quite awkwardly in the doorway. "REGULUS ARCTURUS BLACK, DO NOT MAKE ME COME UP THERE!" Walburga roared from downstairs, and both brothers went stiff.

Sirius stood up straight and sniffed, raising his chin and narrowing his eyes at Regulus. "Have fun at your stupid little party, you stupid little brat," and he slammed his bedroom door closed.

Regulus stood still on the landing for a few seconds in shocked silence; what on earth just happened? Regulus and Sirius had been getting along! And then one mention of the wedding, and everything seemed to go downhill.

Regulus walked down the stairs at a swift pace, not wanting to anger his mother. He pushed the thoughts of his brother to the back of his mind - he was determined to have a good day away from Number 12.

Malfoy Manor was absolutely beautiful.

There were elegant white peacocks striding 'round the garden, and there was white tinsel woven through the back rests of the benches that lined the perfectly cared-for lawn. There were bushes of white roses surrounding the wedding, and there were white flower petals strewn everywhere. There were vines with small white flowers that wove its way up and around the wedding arch in the front, and it was giving off a lovely floral scent.