Disclaimer: This story is written for entertainment purposes only. The only characters I own so far are Steph and Ryan.

Summary: Almost all we know about Regulus Black from the Harry Potter books comes from Sirius and Kreacher. From what Sirius says, it is clear that his relationship with his brother was not a good one, so is what is said actually the truth? How well did he know his brother and did Regulus keep secrets from him? This tells the story of life in the Black family from Regulus's point of view from ages nine to twelve. First in series (next story is ages 13-16).

Authors Note: This story is AU because Narcissa and Andromeda are younger than their cannon ages because I wanted them to attend Hogwarts with Sirius and Regulus. I have also placed Andromeda in a different house to Narcissa to make the later plot work better. This first chapter is set around 1970, the spring before Sirius goes to Hogwarts. Bella is 18 nearly 19, Andromeda is 15, Sirius is 11, Narcissa is 10 and Regulus is 9. All nick names in this chapter are those used by Regulus, not by Sirius. The names change according to who is speaking.

Chapter One: Not Mud People?

I try not to react as Cissy's new shoes collide with my shin. I know it was her because she's trying to suppress a giggle, and Sirius can't reach. I don't want to admit it, but it actually hurts a lot. However, I know that if show any emotion at all, Mother will start screaming at me, or Bella will tease me forever about being a baby.

We are supposed to be sitting quietly at the dinner table, as Mother says it is a special occasion. We are celebrating my cousin's recent engagement to Rodolphus Lestrange. Bella doesn't actually like him that much…

"He's slow, ugly and has no heart whatsoever, but if he's pureblood and it stops my Mother complaining about me not finding a husband then he'll do," she had said to me once in private. I don't really like Lestrange either; once when I was four, he locked me in a cupboard with a Boggart, which turned into a dead Sirius and Narcissa with blood flowing everywhere. I still have nightmares about it sometimes.

While Bella is pulling her "can you please just shut up" face as my Aunt rants on and on about Lestrange being a 'respectable pureblood', Andromeda (otherwise known as Annie or Andy) is trying to stay unnoticed, and occasionally sharing sideways glances at Bella. I think she is hoping that my Aunt and Uncle do not arrange a marriage for her to Rodolphus's sadistic brother Rabastan.

I try hard not to laugh as Cissy, who has now stopped entertaining herself by kicking, is now trying to get my attention with a series of weird blinking which only I can understand. Luckily Mother is not looking. After a quick glance at Sirius, I decide to take up a silent conversation with her.

When dinner is over, Sirius is the first to leave the room. Cissy soon follows, and heads upstairs to the nursery to play with girls' things. I quite like her, but she is a little too frilly and girly to play with. I prefer Andromeda who is kind to me and allows me to sit near her and just read in silence. She's in Ravenclaw, much to my Mother's distaste. Once my Mother tried to get my Uncle to disown her, but he refused, saying that he was proud to have such a clever daughter.

Mother, Father, and my Aunt and Uncle retire to the drawing room. That just leaves me, Andromeda and Bella.

"I wish Mother and Father could just let me do what I want. I don't even like Rodolphus that much – he isn't even good looking," Bella ranted.

"Oh come on, it could be worse," Andromeda said calmly.

"What do you know? You're not the oldest! They don't expect you to be the perfect pureblood!" Bella shouted. "At least your boyfriend's good looking," she added quietly.

"How do you know about that?" Andromeda asked, surprised.

"I saw you together by the lake. His name's Ted isn't it?" Bella said. "Is he muggle born?"

Andromeda nodded. Bella laughed and said in a singsong voice. "Mother's going to hate this!"

"You're not going to tell her are you?" Andromeda was beginning to get worried.

"No," said Bella, " but I might just go and tell Aunt Walburga right now." Bellatrix started to walk towards the door, but after a quick glance at Andromeda's expression burst into fits of giggles. I wasn't quite sure what was so funny. Mother would have thrown a fit and shrieked and howled the whole house down if either of us had even looked at a 'muggle born'. Once she had caught me talking to a 'muggle' and had thrown this horrible curse at me that made my whole body hurt (Bella said that one was called the Cruciatus Curse), so I couldn't imagine what she would do if Andy had been kissing one.

"Not funny at all, Bella," said Andromeda, dryly, but I could see she was smiling.

After a few minutes, Andromeda follows the grown ups into the drawing room. Bella and I watch from the doorway.

"Mother, is it alright if I go out for a while," she asks Aunt Druella.

"Yes of course dear, but will you take the boys with you so that we may enjoy some peace and quiet?"

"Yes Mother."

Andromeda asks me and Siri if we would like to go to the park. I say yes immediately, but Sirius refuses to come saying the park is for babies. I think Andromeda actually has something else she wants to do instead, but if Sirius would rather stay in his room on his own that's his choice.

…..

Five minutes later, we are out of Grimmauld Place and heading down the main road in the opposite direction of the park.

"So where are we actually going?"

"Well I'm supposed to be meeting my boyfriend and his other friend in a few minutes. Are you OK to come too?"

"I think so," I say. "What's he like? Is he scary like Rodolphus is?"

"No, he's really nice. I think you'll like him actually."

We round the corner and see two boys about Andromeda's age wearing muggle clothing. Andromeda runs and hugs one of them, who has brown hair and blue eyes.

"Hello, sorry I couldn't get away without an excuse. I told them we were going to the park. By the way you two, this is my cousin, Reggie."

"Hi, I'm Ted Tonks," says the brown haired boy, holding out his hand. I shake it, noticing it is clean and soft like mine. I'll have to talk to Bella about that later – she said that muggle-borns were dirty and made of mud.

"Bellatrix said that all muggle borns were scary mud people, but you look normal." Ted is laughing, the either boy just looks confused. Andromeda just looks furious.

"Reg! Don't just say the first thing that comes into your head! And don't just believe everything Bella says, because most of it's blood-purist rubbish!"

"What?" asks the boy that isn't Ted Tonks.

"Some wizards don't like others whose parents can't do magic," explains Ted. "They refer to as mudbloods because apparently we have dirty blood. That's why me and Andy are dating in secret, because her parents would hate me."

"Oh right," the other boy says, flicking his black hair out of his face. "My name's Ryan by the way."

The three of them discuss what to do for the rest of the day, and decide to go to Ryan's house. He is actually a muggle, not a wizard and I've never been to a muggle house before. I wonder what they look like. Ryan says he has a sister my age that I can play with. I hope she is nicer, and more fun than Cissy is.

…..

A/N: That's all for now. In the next few chapters, Regulus makes a friend, gets a pet, and has a major fall out with Sirius, and takes some not-very-good advice from one of his cousins. Guess which one…

Please review. I have planned the main events of this story and at least two sequels, up to Sirius's seventh year. PS, if you have any ideas for how to continue my other story, please feel free to leave it reviews for either of the stories.