𝓟𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓸𝓹𝓱𝓸𝓫𝓲𝓪 || Regulus Black

1.5 - Real Slytherin

As Ophelia walked over to one of the many empty seats on the train, she couldn't stop thinking about how her parents considered telling her to stay away from Regulus. It was even worse than when James told her to stop being friends with him, because her parents had real power over her.

Ophelia was glad her parents didn't say anything about Regulus beyond their Christmas Eve dinner. She couldn't leave her best friend.

She sat down in the empty train car, leaving the door open for when Regulus gets on. 

"He's not here yet?" Barty said from the door, startling Ophelia.  

"No." Ophelia said softly. 

"Alright, move your cat, then."

"Excuse me?" She asked, misinterpreting what he was asking. 

"Your cat and its cage are taking up a whole seat. Tell it to move." He clarified.

"Oh, yeah. Alright."

Ophelia moved Dusty's cage from the seat onto the floor. Barty sat down in the empty seat across from Ophelia, but the two didn't say much to each other. Then, Regulus arrived a bit later than they had all anticipated. He was only a few minutes away from missing the train entirely. 

"Hey, sorry I'm a bit late." Regulus said as he entered the train cart. 

"No problem." Ophelia smiled, happy to see Regulus for the first time in two weeks. "We saved you a seat." 

Ophelia scooted over a few inches closer to the window, making a bit more room for him to sit next to her. 

"Thanks." Regulus sat down and said. "How was your holiday break, Lia?"

"Good. What about yours? Is your family alright?" Ophelia inquired.

"It was alright, they're alright." 

"Did you see any extended family? Or was it just a close family thing again this year?"

"Our family doesn't really see any extended family much since Sirius started at Hogwarts. It was pretty much the same as last year, but you weren't there." Regulus said, pulling out some money from his pockets for when the sweets trolley rolled by. 

"My break was fine too. Thanks for asking, you both." Barty said. 

Regulus and Ophelia both let out a brief giggle. 

"Sorry, Barty. How's your family?" Ophelia asked, trying to be nice. 

"My mother is wonderful. As for my father, I wouldn't know, he was working at the Ministry all break." Barty said. 

He didn't hesitate when he said that. Ophelia could tell that Barty felt resentment towards his father. Regulus noticed the tone as well, and he caught on to how Barty feels toward his father too. It was the same way Regulus talks about Sirius sometimes. Resentful, hateful, angry, even though he's still family.

"Would you like any sweets, dears?" The Trolley Witch said as she walked up to the door of the train car the kids were sitting in. 

"Three bags of jelly slugs." Regulus said, handing her the money.  

"Oh, you don't have to pay for mine." Ophelia said, rushing to grab the money from her suitcase before the trolley leaves.

Regulus thanked the Trolley Witch and then closed the car door behind him before Ophelia could even find a single coin.

"Too late." Regulus smirked. 

He handed one bag over to Ophelia and another over to Barty, even though Barty doesn't have much of a sweet tooth. 

Without even thinking about it, Ophelia immediately began picking out the green slugs to hand over to Regulus, and Regulus did the same with the red ones. 

"So, Reggie, what's our grand entrance? Who's the target?" Barty asked. 

"I haven't thought about it." Regulus said in a hushed tone. 

Ophelia didn't know what the boys were talking about, but it worried her. Whatever they were talking about so secretly couldn't have been good.  

"What grand entrance? What target? What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Don't worry, it's nothing." Regulus lied. 

He didn't want her finding out about the boys getting into mischief, especially after overhearing what James told Ophelia outside the Detention Chamber. He liked Ophelia, and he didn't want to lose her as a friend. 

"A grand entrance when we get to school. A prank, hopefully on a mudblood or at least a half-blood." Barty spoke up. He wasn't ashamed of what he was doing. In fact, Barty was proud of himself and Regulus for it.

"No." Ophelia shook her head. "We've barely started school, you two can't keep doing this. And definitely not for the reasons you're doing it."

She liked Regulus too, and didn't want to lose him as a friend either. She didn't want Regulus and Barty getting into mischief so soon after coming back to school. Especially when she was sure James would be keeping an eye on Ophelia and her friends. 

Barty groaned and rolled his eyes, then turned to look at Regulus. 

"I guess you were right about not telling her." He said. 

Ophelia shot a puzzled look at Regulus. She didn't know anything about the prank, and she definitely didn't know it was Regulus' idea to keep it a secret from her. 

"Regulus, what is he talking about?" She asked firmly. She reminded herself of Euphemia, but she didn't care. 

"It's nothing." Barty chimed in. 

"I wasn't talking to you."

"I just—" Regulus started. "We want to do something fun, and it was my idea not to tell you. I didn't want you to be worried or upset."

Ophelia took offence, but didn't want it to soak through her and show to Regulus and Barty. She quickly composed herself and dropped her angry tone.

"Why? I'm not your mother." 

"So, you're not upset? About the prank in general, or us not telling you?" He asked. 

Regulus was confused as to why she was acting like this. He was sure she would have been upset, either angry at them, or sad about him keeping secrets.

"Upset? No." Ophelia said. "I want in."

The boys' eyes widened and their eyebrows raised. Neither of them expected Ophelia to be okay with the prank, let alone for her to want to be included.

"As long as I get to choose the target." She added. 

"Deal." Regulus said. 

"Huh." Barty eyed Ophelia up and down. He kept his eyes on Ophelia, but spoke to Regulus. "I guess you might have been right. Maybe she is a real Slytherin after all."