The Story of Regulus Black - Years 1-4

LIII. Regulus Black's Boggart

Gillian was extremely upset when she discovered that Regulus and Barty had been banned from Hogsmeade for the time being. She wasn't upset at them, though, just that they wouldn't be able to go together. And the boys truly did feel bad about it.

However, Carson was a whole different story. He didn't show how disappointed he was in the letter that he wrote to the boys, which made it that much worse. They could tell that he was probably even more upset than Gillian, seeing as how Hogsmeade was really the only time that the four of them could hang out again.

So, needless to say, they were all in quite somber moods. To add to this, Regulus had been avoiding Sirius completely - he hadn't even been looking to the Gryffindor table at meals.

It was Halloween when anything began to look up, even in the slightest.

Regulus and Barty left lunch, headed straight for their Defense Against the Dark Arts class. The two of them just wanted to get their classes for the day over with so that they could have fun for Halloween.

They were in the entrance hall, chatting away happily, when they heard a familiar voice. At first, neither of them could quite place it. That is, until the second voice - a voice which was a near carbon copy of Regulus's - came, too. The two of them looked up, and, sure enough, in came the marauders.

They were laughing heartily with one another when they suddenly noticed the two Slytherins. Regulus really didn't want to get into anything with them, so he hurried off with Barty trailing closely behind. He heard Sirius make a snide remark - one that he couldn't quite hear all the way - and then heard James Potter reprimand him for it.

Regulus felt an unexplainable rage boiling up in him at the sound of the older Gryffindor boy defending him. Regulus was still angry with James Potter. Any chance he got, he was rude to James Potter. So why, in the name of Merlin, did he keep defending Regulus? It made Regulus angry. It made Regulus dislike him more.

Though, he pushed through it and headed for Defense; he really just wanted to get this day over with. When he stepped into the classroom, however, he was surprised to find the floor of the room empty once again - it looked how it did the day that they had looked into the Mirror of Erised. Regulus really hoped that he wasn't going to be looking into that mirror again.

"Hello, you two! How's your Halloween going so far?" Professor Wilson asked, his arms crossed tightly over his chest (Regulus had noticed that this was just the normal position of their Defense teacher).

"Hello, Professor Wilson. It's been good, how about yours?" Regulus asked, dropping his book bag to the floor and taking a seat.

Professor Wilson shrugged. "It was alright. Spent half the day wrangling this little bugger," he pointed behind himself, and the two boys looked.

There was a large trunk behind him which appeared to be rattling. They both gave it an odd look, and then transferred said look to their teacher.

"What is it?" Barty asked.

"Today's lesson, Mr. Crouch," said Professor Wilson with a smile.

Regulus didn't think that that trunk would make a very good lesson. He stared at it cautiously as other students flooded into the room, all looking at the box with just as much caution and curiosity. Regulus broke his gaze away from the box just in time to see the three Gryffindor third years.

They were all discussing something that Regulus could only assume to be a muggle movie, though they stopped when they saw the state of the classroom. Professor Wilson smiled at them, asked how their Halloween was, and then told them to sit down.