The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part One

A Mighty Brave Kid

Lightening flashed.

Thunder.

So loud it shook the house tables.

"Slytherin!"

For a split second, Lily Evans had seen it - the disappointment in Regulus Black's eyes. He got up and took a deep breath and turned, a different boy as he swaggered off toward the table at the far side of the room. "We aren't really close," Sirius's voice echoed in her mind.

But they could've been.

Lily's hand shook as she copied runes, one stroke at a time, meticulous, careful, her mind weaving a tapestry of the complexity that was Regulus.

"I just didn't think you were that much of a half-breed lover! I'm sure the pups will be quite lovely."

"Alium!"

Regulus's head snapped as though he'd been slapped violently and a look of shock came upon his face. Unlike his brother, Regulus had never been physically reprimanded before. It surprised him, and when he looked at Lily, she could see it there, mixed in with the darkness.

"Apologize you little skunk!" she yelled.

Hurt flickered to anger behind his eyes, though even that anger was faulty - she felt it quivering, even as his words spoke otherwise. "Make me," he hissed.

It was a challenge, a plea almost. The sort of plea that children with no boundaries often had... children who were left to their own devices, who were overlooked in that strange way where they were looked after too much, too spoiled, too coddled. Regulus looked at Lily the way a rebellious child looked at their mother.

"Do you REALLY want to play at that game, Regulus? Don't think for a moment I won't. I'll hex you so good you'll be crying for your precious Mother."

A stunned stare... a muttered apology... a quick exit... Regulus knew she wasn't kidding.

"Bloody little prat!" she said, voice ripe with frustration and anger. "How in hell does he have your blood running through his veins? I'll never know." Sh turned to Sirius, breathless from anger as Regulus retreated, a wounded child running to his room.

Oh and how bloody terrible he'd been - how rude he'd continued being to Sirius, to James, to Remus, to Peter... but when he was unguarded...

At the battle at the Lestrange mansion, way back in fourth year, she'd seen him, gripped at the shoulder by his Mother, her hand so tight on him that he couldn't have moved. She kept him still, facing forward, even as his eyes winced and gave away the way he felt, watching the carnage and the fighting. The sparks of green and red flashed in the reflection of his eyes as they flew every which way, his tie tight at his throat, his mouth gaping in horror. His Mother could stop him from looking away, but she couldn't stop his heart from turning.

Lily saw it in his eyes later in the library at Hogwarts, when Regulus came over to her table.

"What do you want?" Marlene Makinnon had demanded, glowering up at Regulus.

"May I speak to you in private?" Regulus asked Lily, ignoring Marlene... The matter was so important to him that he refused to give it up so easily.

"The pureblood wishes to speak to me, a filthy little mudblood?" Lily asked, throwing Regulus's words back at him.

His eyes met hers and she could see the regret. "Yes," he said in as close to humble as his tone could ever be called, even as Emma told him to sod off. "Please, it's important."