Chapter Ten: The Hogwarts Express

It was the morning of Sirius's first day at Hogwarts and all four of us were ready to go to the station. Sirius and I were dressed identically down to the shiny, black shoes and robes that matched Father's boring work clothes, while Mother wore elegant, green robes with black lace. If it had been practical, Mother would have forced Sirius and I into dress robes to look our best for meeting the other students. However, Father had sensibly argued that we would have to walk through crowds of Muggles in order to read the platform and dress robes would not be practical.

Mother had insisted that Sirius packed his trunk the night before to avoid him throwing the clothes in unfolded like he did on holiday. She'd also watched him the whole time. Unlike on holiday there would be no grown-ups in the dormitories to magically un-crumple them and the Black heir could not go around Hogwarts looking like a "filthy Half-blood", which was what Mother called anything scruffy.

I felt uncomfortable: the garments under my robes were itchy and stiff, and I could feel my nose starting to run again. Last night I had barely been able to sleep due to the beginnings of a cold. My nose had been blocked, my throat had tickled, and I'd felt cold despite the warm September air. I had also been worried about Sirius leaving. I thought back to the conversation we'd had just before bed:

"Hey Reggie," Sirius had said, removing Sirius II so that he could sit down. "Don't worry, you'll be fine without me. You've got Cissy and Becky and loads of other people to talk to," he said.

I pulled a face. For most of the year I would still be left mostly on my own with nothing but tutoring and reading to do. "But I'll miss you," I said.

"I know. It'd be so much simpler if we were twins," Sirius said sadly. Then his eyes lit up and I knew he'd had an idea. "I know! You can borrow my broomstick while I'm away. Even Father can't bend the rules about first-years having broomsticks so mine will be here. You can practise for when I get back."

I had to admit that flying would be fun. I could sneak into the garden when Father was at the Ministry and Mother was out having tea. It was a very Sirius-ish thing to do.

"Thanks Sirius," I said. We talked a little more about Hogwarts, and about the new friends Sirius was going to make. Friends that weren't in the sacred twenty-eight.

"I wish I didn't have to share with Rosier and Mulciber," said Sirius. "At least you've got two years to wait until you're stuck with their miniatures."

Even two years away, the thought of sharing a dormitory with Evan Rosier made me feel sick. "I think Evan is definitely worse. And don't forget there'll be others in Slytherin than just those two."

"You're right, though they won't be anyone we know. Poppy Parkinson's a squib so won't be going, she and Emma are both girls anyway, and Avery is your age. I can't think of anyone else. Well even if it is just Tristan and Henrik it'll be easier to prank them if we're all in the same room."

"You'll write to me all about it, won't you?" I asked.

"Every day," said Sirius.

"Promise?"

"Yeah. I, Sirius Black, promise that I will write letters home to my little brother every day."

"You're the best," I said. Then Sirius tucked me in and left the room to finish his packing.

"Regulus, stop sniffing. Use a handkerchief!" scolded Mother, her stern voice snapping me out of my daydream. "I told you not to go outside in the rain! Merlin knows what muggle disease you've managed to catch."

…

We apparated to a quiet spot just outside the train station. The place was heaving with swarms of muggles all going in different directions. I couldn't help staring at them all and I could see that Sirius was doing the same. Mother and Father had always tried to keep the two of us as far away from the muggles as they possibly could when living in London, but every time I saw them they intrigued me. I'd asked Stephannie hundreds of questions but for every one thing she told me there were ten more things I didn't understand.

I wondered where all the muggles were going. I had heard that they had their own network of underground trains, which sounded fascinating, but when I had asked Father about it he had described it as dirty and primitive. It was obvious from the grimace on his face that he wanted nothing to do with them.

Soon we were through the barrier to the platform and I could see our Aunt and Uncle waiting with our cousins. There were also other families standing around by the train: some families that I knew and others that I'd never seen before.

"Good morning Uncle Orion, Aunt Walburga," Andromeda greeted warmly before focusing her attention on Sirius and me. A shiny prefect's badge was displayed on her uniform, which she had already put on. I said hello back and grinned at her and Narcissa. "All ready for Hogwarts then?" she continued, talking to Sirius.

Sirius nodded. For the whole journey he'd been jigging up and down with excitement that couldn't be contained in a dignified manner. Usually this would have meant chiding from Mother, but the excitement of Hogwarts was causing her to be lenient with him (it also wasn't the done thing to tell him off in public).

"I remember how excited I was on my first day," said Andromeda. "Bellatrix had been telling me stories of Hogwarts for the past five years, so I thought I knew what to expect, including the sorting monsters in the Great Hall. She told me I'd be greeted by a fierce eagle, a griffin, a basilisk and a badger the size of a house, and I believed her. Luckily it was all nonsense."

"So what is the sorting challenge?" asked Sirius. I wondered if a lion or cobra might be more suitable monsters to fight.

"I can't tell you that," said Andromeda, "but it isn't anything the average first-year would struggle with." Sirius looked very disappointed with her answer.

"What was it like on the train?" I asked. I couldn't remember ever going on a train as it wasn't a method of transport that my parents liked to use. The few times we'd gone on a long-distance holiday, Father had arranged to travel by Portkey rather than risk rubbing up against the muggles milling around at the station.

Andromeda paused before answering. "Well at first it wasn't great and I had doubts about the train being an efficient way of travelling. In fact it may not be a fast way of travelling but it is a good way of making friends."

"How so?" asked Sirius.

"The train forces you to either sit with people you know for hours and get to see all of their personality, or it forces you to find new friends. Either way, sitting in a carriage with someone for six hours gives you a full introduction to their character and how they act outside of Quidditch and formal get-togethers. In my first year, I boarded it with Rabastan since my parents had been talking with his." Sirius winced at the idea of sharing a compartment with the brute. "However, I only spent about twenty minutes with him before I decided it wasn't worth tolerating him any longer. I went to see if I could find any girls to sit with and found Amelia, who was intelligent and wittier than any of the other girls my age. We talked about our upbringing and the books we liked and even played chess. We're still friends now, despite being in different houses."

"Well Amelia seemed surprisingly well brought up for a Hufflepuff when she came to stay," said Narcissa. "Usually they're far too nice about muggles."

Andromeda ignored that comment and continued to advise Sirius. "As I was saying, the friendships you form on the train are often the friendships you keep throughout Hogwarts, so make sure you make the most of the journey. You don't have to sit and antagonise Tristan all the way to Scotland."

"I wasn't planning to," said Sirius. He was already dreading sharing a dorm with the Rosier boy, and hadn't even contemplated choosing to spend the train ride with him.

The Hogwarts Express hooted. "Come on, I'll help you find a compartment," Andromeda said. Sirius hugged me goodbye and was about to run off to the train when Father stopped him.

"Slow down, son." He put his hand on Sirius's shoulder, which was the closest I'd ever seen him get to hugging us in an open public space. "Now, remember what we've taught you. Be good, do well in your studies, and make sure Slytherin wins the house cup this year."

"Yes Father," said Sirius.

"Alright, run along so you don't miss the train," said Father. "We'll see you at Christmas."

Sirius actually had a good ten minutes before the train left, but that didn't stop him running eagerly towards it, metres in front of Andromeda, who was floating the trunks along. I waved enthusiastically after him and then stared sadly at the train when he disappeared from view.

"You'll get used to being on your own, Regulus," said Narcissa. "And by the time he gets back you'll have -"

"Oh look, there he is!" Sirius had appeared again and was now waving at me through the train window. It looked like he had a compartment all to himself. I waved back.

Suddenly I heard a giggle beside me. I looked to Narcissa who had her hand over her mouth.

"What?" I whispered.

"Look at that snake," she whispered, though her laughter made it hard to be sure that was what she said. When I looked confused as to what she meant – snakes were neither funny nor allowed at Hogwarts - she pointed across the platform towards where the Rosier family had just arrived. Lying like a scarf around the neck of Tristan Rosier was a bright green, life-size, fluffy toy snake of the sort you could buy in the toy shop in Diagon Alley. "That's going to be so awkward if he doesn't end up in Slytherin," Narcissa added.

"Blacks and Rosiers always get into Slytherin," I told her. Even Sirius was sure to get in, although the only Slytherin trait he ever used was the ability to plot devious pranks and sneak up on people. Speaking of Sirius, he was still at the train window.

"Their Mother was in Hufflepuff," said Narcissa, "and Bella says it's really hard to get in."

"Bella makes stuff up. She told me that Mudbloods were made of mud and that if socks weren't paired up properly they would get infested with sock monsters – neither of which is true."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up in Hufflepuff too. Look at him," argued Narcissa. I looked away from Sirius and back at Rosier, who was now clinging on to his father while his older brother laughed at him. Their parents were telling neither of them off for their behaviour. "He also managed to forget that squibs can't study at Hogwarts, so he's definitely not a Ravenclaw," she added. I'd heard that Rosier had been extremely upset to discover that his childhood friend, Poppy, was not going to Hogwarts too.

"He's going in Slytherin with the rest of his family," I insisted. In my opinion there was no other house that he would fit into. He wasn't brave enough for Gryffindor, kind enough for Hufflepuff or clever enough for Ravenclaw.

"We'll find out by tomorrow anyway," said Narcissa. We watched from a distance as Fawley and Mulciber both approached the Rosier family. Mulciber said something to Damien, which made him stop laughing, and then the pair of them forced Tristan away from his parents and onto the train.

By now, Sirius had been joined at the window by another black-haired boy, who was also waving at his family. I shouted goodbye to him over the noise of the train and waved madly as the train started. Mother gave me a disapproving glance. We finally left after the train had disappeared from sight.

…..

As soon as we arrived home, Mother decided to inform me of how indecently I'd behaved.

"Regulus, I told you to be on your best behaviour and you acted like a muggle! Explain to me why you thought flailing your arms around and shouting was appropriate."

"Well Sirius couldn't hear me over the train so I…"

"Sirius's behaviour was as bad as your own. A small wave of the hand was all that was required, and no one needed to hear anything over the sound of the train."

"Sorry Mother."

I didn't like the way Mother always wanted me to behave but I could see her view. On reflection I felt a little embarrassed at how over-the-top the pair of us had been. However, it made me think about the way our family behaved compared to others. Families like the Malfoys were always polite and spoke in an official-sounding way, whereas families that my parents thought less of, like the Macmillans, were always friendly and talkative. I wondered if it was their behaviour itself that caused my parents to dislike them, or whether it was just that people who behaved like that didn't rise very far in the Ministry and therefore didn't deserve the respect from my parents.

Muggle behaviour was different again. When I had first met Stephannie, she had been eager to laugh, play and address me in informal terms. She acted with a brashness that I found fun but that my parents would hate – the same sort of behaviour that my parents always tried to discipline out of Sirius and that I had displayed today. Her parents had seemed more relaxed than any others I'd ever met, allowing me into their house with almost no explanation and treating me like they had known me much longer than they had. Stephannie had also been allowed to leave her bedroom in an absolute mess. I wondered if this was true of all muggles or just that one family, and if the way muggles behaved was one of the reasons by parents did not like them.

As far as I knew, Stephannie's family were not prominent in the muggle newspapers. I didn't even know if muggles had newspapers and she would have mentioned it if they were. What I did know was that my own family were almost always mentioned somewhere in the Daily Prophet, and that Bellatrix had been interviewed for Witch Weekly. It was important to my parents that I was good, because everything I did could be seen by others and reflected back on them. In future, I would try harder to be respectable.

Luckily, Mother didn't punish me other than just a scolding, so I retreated upstairs. The house felt oddly silent without Sirius even though he'd only been gone for a few hours.

…..

"GRYFFINDOR! How can a son of mine be in Gryffindor house, for blood traitors and mudbloods?" screamed Mother, waking me up. Outside the sky was dark, so the owl must have flown quickly and directly after the sorting.

I thought I heard Father say something about nobility, and then Mother began shouting again. I could hear every word from two floors above them, and some of the things she said were so bad that I don't think I should repeat them. It included what she would like to do to Sirius if and when he dared to come home for Christmas. I didn't think that she'd do any of those things but I didn't like to hear about them anyway. She didn't seem to care that I was trying to sleep.

I buried my head under the pillow, trying to block out the noise. I wished I knew how to do one of those silencing charms that Mother knew how to do, but even if I did know how, I didn't have a wand to do it with. Instead, I grabbed hold of Sirius II, which was the closest thing to the real Sirius that I could get, and waited for the noise to stop.

For the first time, I realised that Sirius wouldn't always be there for me in the middle of the night.

…..

The next day, I woke up feeling worse than I had yesterday. A temperature, headache, hurting legs, and a sleepless night did not go well together. Mother didn't come in to see me, and I was glad of that, as I didn't want to hear her saying bad things about Sirius. I didn't know how she knew so quickly about his sorting – I hadn't realised at midnight, but it had only been about a few hours after the feast at Hogwarts that she had been yelling about it.

I didn't want to see Father either. Although he had been a lot less harsh than Mother, he had also said quite a lot of horrible things, calling Sirius 'a disgrace to the most ancient and noble house of Black' and other similar statements. Needing some company, other than myself, I called for Kreacher.

"Kreacher, please can you get me some parchment, a quill, ink and fetch Athena for me." Kreacher disappeared, and reappeared with the owl, and the other things that I had asked for. "I order you to not tell Mother about this, Kreacher. I'm not supposed to be doing anything except sleeping."

I wasn't sure if my orders would count against Mother's, but unless she specifically ordered Kreacher to tell her what I was doing, she would hopefully never know. I dismissed Kreacher, before placing the parchment and ink on the bedside table. I dipped the feather in the ink and began writing:

Dear Siri,

I heard that you were sorted into Gryffindor from Mother. She yelled about it for hours last night and I couldn't sleep at all. I don't mind at all that you are in a different house to the rest of the family. Remember after I got back from Bellatrix's house from doing the invites, and we agreed that it didn't matter about houses and we'd be favourite brothers forever? Well I don't care what house you're in, you're still my brother, and I'll always look out for you no matter what. Gryffindor is for brave people anyway, so whatever happens, you'll be OK.

Mother was shouting about what she was going to do to you when you get home. If I were you, I would stay at Hogwarts for Christmas. I'll miss you if you do that, but I don't want Mother to hurt you.

On a lighter note, have you made any new friends at Hogwarts. The Prewetts are in Gryffindor and their friend Frank, but we've never really talked to anyone else in that house. I hope they don't hate you because you are a Black or because your family is in Slytherin. Have you met any halfbloods yet? If so, are they all as weird as Xenophilius, or are they just like us? Please tell me.

Hope you enjoy all your lessons. I know how you adore sitting still.

Love from Reggie.

I folded the parchment, and put in an envelope that I'd found on my bedside table. I attached the letter to Athena's leg and watched as she flew out of the window to Hogwarts.

…..

AN: Thanks for reading.