Les Misérables | Regulus A. Black [1]

Chapter Fifty-Three

[Chapter Fifty-Three]

Emmarentia was not back in Éponine's good graces, but Éponine needed someone to vent to without it getting back to Bellatrix. She feared that if she opened up to Regulus, he would go to his parents and if she went to Avery and Mulciber, they would go to Regulus, and so on and so forth. While Emmarentia's previous behaviours had been foul, she had her own reasons not to go against Éponine, whether it was due to unrequited love or the fact that she hated what the Sacred Twenty-Eight stood for as well.

"I just don't understand how I could have been so blind to everything," she said eventually after a long bout of silence. "Ever since I was little, I've been part of the problem, and I'm only seeing it now. I'm just as bad as Bellatrix."

Sitting on her bed, Emmarentia scrunched her face up in confusion. She had never directly met Bellatrix, but through stories she had heard, it was safe to say that she and Éponine were nothing alike.

"Éponine, I'm not exactly following your train of thought there. Bellatrix would never help a muggle-born, especially if they were in Slytherin, so how are you just as bad as them? You said it yourself before, you didn't believe in violence, just segregation."

"But that's just as bad!" Éponine rounded on her. "Don't you get it, Emma? I believed in segregation because I was too much of a coward. I don't believe in violence, but I forced myself to believe in segregation rather than believing that any sort of discrimination is just plain wrong. Just because I wasn't willing to hurt someone physically, doesn't mean I haven't been part of the problem all along. First, it's segregation and then what? What happens when segregation doesn't work? Violence."

"So, you really believe that muggle-borns have a place in this school?" Emmarentia asked. "Even in Slytherin?"

Éponine let out a heavy sigh. "Yes, I do. They have every right to be here, just as we do. No, more right than I have being here. Look at the muggle-borns here, ones like Lily Evans? She just wants to help people, which makes for a better future as a whole. The muggle-born in Slytherin wants nothing more than to make friends. What do we bring to the table? Once we leave here, we basically get married, have children, and teach the same thing. There's no progress, no future in it."

"It sounds like you've been thinking about all of this for a long time, Éponine."

"I trusted my parents from the very beginning. Everything they told me to do, I did without question, "Éponine replied softly, "but now, I can see they did nothing but hold me back. They covered my eyes until I was able to cover my own eyes from the truth. I get it now. I get it."

"Get what?"

"Why Sirius ran away. Why Andromeda ran away before him, and those that did before them. They opened their eyes on their own."

Emmarentia shook her head. "I don't think that's true. They had support, remember? Sirius used to believe in the same things as us, he had no reason to not believe what his parents told him and Regulus until he started school. At one point, he trusted Walburga and Orion just as much as you trusted your parents. I think the same could be said for Andromeda as well. But they found people to help them open their eyes, whether it be James Potter or Ted Tonks, they found people. You, on the other hand, you've been figuring this out all on your own. Who has been your outside support? Who's willing to put you up in their home if you decide to run away?"

"You make me sound so much better than I am. But look at me, Emma. I know this is all wrong now, but what am I going to do? You all think I've become this strong person, but as soon as Bellatrix threatened me, my spine fell to the ground. I'm a coward. That's why, instead of defending the little muggle-born, I made him cry instead. I called him a mudblood, instead of telling Severus to go to hell and report that back to his superior."