The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

Regulus's Choice

Regulus's Choice

Regulus Black sat at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, listening to the sound of all of the students leaving to board the Hogwarts Express for the holiday. He leaned his chin against his forearm and stared at his porridge and moved the spoon about through the thick of the food, turning it over and trying not to feel very sorry for himself.

Maryrose was going home for the holiday.

Regulus's Yule Ball was possibly the only one that had gone exactly as it ought to have done. He'd gotten dressed nice in his dress robes, sent to him from home by his mum in a box with a big red bow upon it, carried by Adolf and two other owls. He'd done his bowtie just right and neatened his hair - which wasn't quite as long as Sirius's had been before Rosier had cut it, but it was getting close. He was excited about that. Regulus had pinched his cheeks a bit, trying to make himself look less pale and he'd paced about in the toilet, glancing in the mirrors and trying to decide which smile to use to greet her with upstairs. He'd stood and stared into his own eyes and practiced saying things like I had a wonderful time this evening and May I have a dance?and Thank you for asking me to the ball with you, Maryrose Jenkins, and You're the most beautiful girl in this entire school no matter what colour your hair is so please, please, please for the love of Merlin, pleaaaaase kiss me.

That last one might not be a wise one to say out loud, he'd decided.

But perhaps the others.

And he had. He'd had all the right words at all the right moments. She'd laughed at his jokes and she'd smiled when he told her happy things and frowned at bad things and they'd snuck off from the Great Hall somewhat early on and sat in an empty classroom on the third floor and they'd talked - talked and talked and talked - and Regulus had told her about Kreacher and how good an elf he was. Maryrose, it turned out, had an elf too, and she loved her elf just as Regulus loved Kreacher and it made Regulus excited to hear that somebody else in the world loved House Elves like he did.

Regulus was fairly certain that he was falling for her, with great chunks of his heart at a time.

He sighed.

Finally giving his porridge up as a bad job, Regulus drew himself away from the Slytherin table and started back down to the dungeons. He was walking down the corridors when suddenly - the prefect toilet door opened up and he was pulled inside by rough hands that jerked his arms behind his back and held him fast at attention, his shoulders pulled back so tight that he felt as though they might just pop right out of their sockets.

He found himself facing Geoffrey Mulciber, held fast by Walden McNair and Antonin Dolohov. Mulciber studied him a moment, then nodded in the direction of the toilet itself and McNair and Dolohov shoved Regulus head first into it and pushed the flush, soaking his head and face with water that smelled and went up his nose and into his mouth as he yelled and fought to get away. But they were stronger than he was and they had their fun for a few minutes, chortling and sniggering for several moments before finally pulling him back up and out of it, sputtering and choking on water.

Mulciber stared at him as Regulus caught his breath and shook his head to get the long strands of hair out of his eyes. "Enjoy that?" Mulciber asked.

Regulus was still coughing.

"Consider this a warning."

"A warning against what?" Regulus asked sharply as McNair and Dolohov released his arms and he stumbled forward, nearly depositing himself back into the toilet from the unexpected release. He turned and sank onto the floor instead, staring up at Mulciber with wide, surprised eyes, his hair dripping toilet bowl water down his nose and over his cheeks.