The Story of Regulus Black - Years 1-4

LXXV. The Forbidden Forest

Regulus met Mr. Filch and Francesco Anderson outside of Filch's office at 7PM sharp that night.

He still had thoughts racing through his mind about the ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. Though, he quickly shut them out, and he put his full focus onto the old caretaker.

"You'll be cleaning the Quidditch stands," grumbled Argus Filch, thrusting buckets of soapy water and sponges towards the two boys. "No. Magic. Allowed."

"You aren't coming with us?" Asked Francesco, taking one of the buckets from the man's outstretched hand.

Filch let out a raspy laugh. "You'll be doing it on your own," he said.

Both boys looked at the man unsurely, but they didn't give further comment. They were just about to turn around and head out to the pitch when Filch stopped them.

"Wands," he held out his hand.

They both looked at him with surprised looks on their faces. "What?" Regulus asked.

"I said no magic, and I was told that this was because of a duel. Wands," he had a twisted smile on his face, and both boys suspected that he was getting quite a lot of enjoyment out of this.

Regulus and Francesco groaned and drew their wands, putting them into the hand of the caretaker.

Regulus didn't know why, but as soon as his wand had left his hand, he was overcome with a bad feeling. A very, very bad feeling indeed. It was as though he felt that something was going to happen - something that he would need his wand for.

He ignored it, and he released his wand into Filch's hand - he really just didn't want to get another detention. Filch got a satisfied look on his face, and he closed his fist around the two wands. "You'll get them back when your detention's over," he said, and he quickly retreated into his office.

Francesco and Regulus looked at one another, let out a groan, and then turned around.

The castle was dark, and it was only sparsely populated due to the late hour. Sure, it was a Friday night, but most students were still recovering from the stress of their exams. So, Francesco Anderson and Regulus Black passed no one on their little stroll.

The grounds were even more peaceful.

The sky was a dark shade of blue, and there was a smattering of tiny white stars across it. The moon shone brightly, and Regulus looked at it in interest - he knew that it was only three days away from the full moon.

The weather was warm, the air was fresh, and the grounds were silent. The only sounds were the sloshing of water inside of the buckets which the boys were carrying, and their footsteps on the dirt path beneath them.

"What does Filch even want us to do?" Francesco finally asked when the boys were only halfway to the pitch.

Regulus looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and then he held up the bucket of water which was being carried in his left hand. "Oh, hm, let me think. Maybe clean them?"

Francesco grimaced at him. "So, you're going to continue to be a stuck up prat throughout this entire detention, too?" He snapped.

"I'm not the prat, here!" Regulus said, his temper rising.

Francesco let out a breathy laugh which was dripping with sarcasm. "Oh, yeah, because I hexed you first. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't even be here!"

"You were the one making all of those stupid remarks!"

"They didn't pertain to you!"

Regulus gave him a sneer which was laced with disbelief. "Oh, yeah, because you know a lot of people with parents accused of being Death Eaters, and brothers who got sorted to a different house?"