Young wizards filed out with bags over their shoulders. Cuthbert shook water from his sleeve.
Alex repaired the shattered cup. Hermes had already reached the doorway. Lina and Samuel trailed at the back.
Flitwick tidied his lesson plan at the lectern, The Standard Book of Spells tucked under one arm, and waved the students off as they left.
Regulus stood, left the neat cup of ice on the windowsill, and walked out.
The Great Hall at noon was bursting at the seams.
The long tables groaned under food. Thick slices of Roast Beef lay fanned on white porcelain, Yorkshire Pudding drowned in gravy, mashed potatoes heaped into little mountains, steamed vegetables still smoking, and a whole roast salmon stretched across a silver platter with its skin crisped golden.
Pumpkin Juice and sparkling water lined the centers of the tables for anyone to grab. Baskets of garlic bread had just come from the kitchens, butter melting slow in shallow dishes.
The enchanted ceiling mirrored the sky outside, a bright, clean blue with thin clouds drifting high. Sunlight poured down and fell squarely on the Hufflepuffs at the east table.
Chatter filled the air.
A knot of fifth year Gryffindors argued about next month's Quidditch lineup. One said they needed a new Chaser. Another slammed the table and said the team had trained together all year, why change anything now.
At the Ravenclaw table someone had spread notes beside a dinner plate, stabbing at potatoes with a fork while eyes stayed locked on parchment, lips moving silently. Probably cramming for finals.
The Hufflepuffs had gathered in a circle around an older student who was acting something out. Laughter rippled through them. Some professor's joke that hadn't been funny in class, most likely.
In a corner two fifth years leaned against the wall, heads close together. The girl's blond hair fell forward and curtained both their faces. A boy nearby slid over without a word to give them more room.
Homework, quidditch, romance. The worries of young wizards never changed much.
Exams were still distant. Essays weren't due yet. It was Friday and everyone was waiting for the weekend. A lazy, restless buzz hung over the whole castle.
Regulus cut into the roast beef on his plate. Noise washed in from every side.
He chewed and let his gaze drift from the Slytherin table to Gryffindor, then to Hufflepuff.
All those faces. Smiling, frowning, whispering together, staring blankly at a plate of mashed potatoes. All of them held safe inside these walls.
Dumbledore stood by the doors. McGonagall patrolled the corridor. The professors kept the weather outside the stone.
So here they could laugh and shout. They could bang the table over a Quidditch lineup. They could spread notes beside a plate and memorize between bites. They could slip into a corner and do whatever they wanted with no one watching.
Outside wasn't always like that.
Most of the time the world beyond was peaceful enough, at least before any real war began. You could leave school without walking straight into something fatal.
But exceptions always existed.
Edgar Tomlin had sat in this very hall last year. He'd had a place at the Hufflepuff table, friends beside him. Some of the older students probably still remembered him.
This year he was holed up in an abandoned mining village in Yorkshire, bitten by a lone Werewolf. One bite and his life had taken a hard turn. Nothing would be the same again.
It hadn't been wartime. It hadn't even been a battlefield. Just an ordinary day, a trip to the marsh to gather herbs, and he ran into it.
There was no reason to it. If it found you, it found you. Bad luck, yes, but more than that, not enough skill to survive it.
Most people here fell into that same category. Not much skill, but carefree all the same, as if the only thing deciding their fate was whether they were unlucky enough.
Regulus looked away, put the last piece of beef in his mouth, and set down his knife and fork.
He glanced at the others at the table, stood, and headed out.
Cuthbert blinked, then scrambled up first to chase after him. Alex and Hermes got to their feet as well. Lina and Samuel brought up the rear.
Passing the Gryffindor table, Regulus let his eyes sweep over it.
Sirius sat beside James, shoveling roast potatoes into his mouth.
Cheeks puffed out, chewing and chewing and chewing.
Maybe he felt something, a look or something else, because he glanced up and met Regulus's eyes.
He froze for a second, still chewing.
Then he bared his teeth at Regulus in a grin. Crumbs almost spilled from the corner of his mouth.
He lifted an eyebrow. His eyes shone a little too bright, broadcasting look, I'm exactly the same as always with his whole body.
A little goofy, a little dazed, a little careless, a little too cool.
Regulus looked away and kept walking.
Sirius hadn't used to be like this.
Before, in public, in corridors, in the Great Hall, anywhere other people could see, he would only give Regulus a nod when they met. At most he'd raise a glass of Pumpkin Juice. Close, but keeping his distance.
Only when they were alone, walking backward on the cobbles of Hogsmeade or measuring their heights in the hallway at Grimmauld Place, would he grin like that, lift his brows, say those nonsensical things.
Now here he was in the Great Hall, surrounded by dozens of Gryffindors and Slytherins, grinning at Regulus with potatoes in his mouth.
He was trying so hard to act like nothing had changed, like it was still just the two of them.
That effort itself was the tell. The forced nonchalance was easier to see through than silence.
It probably had to do with the fight yesterday. He'd hit Regulus's people, or his people had been hit, and now he didn't know how to face him, so he covered it with the loudest gesture he could manage.
Or maybe it was the funeral two nights ago, and Lucius, and everything he hadn't come to terms with yet.
Regulus kept walking toward the dungeons.
The Slytherin Common Room glowed with fire. Flames burned high in the hearth.
Regulus sat on the sofa beside it. Cuthbert dropped down right next to him. Alex took the sofa opposite, and Hermes leaned against its arm, staring blankly into the fire.
Lina and Samuel stood to one side of the sofa with no intention of sitting.
Regulus looked at them and tipped his chin toward the floor. "Sit."
The two exchanged a glance and perched beside Alex, shoulders hunched, knees pressed neatly together.
Regulus said nothing and looked them over one by one.
Alex studied his shoelaces. Hermes stared into the flames. Lina edged closer to Alex. Samuel kept his head down.
Finally he let his gaze settle, deliberately skipping Cuthbert.
Cuthbert squirmed beside him, knees bumping the armrest. He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. Regulus still didn't look at him.
He turned his whole body around, leaning forward, just short of raising his hand.
Regulus's eyes passed steadily over him and stayed on the fire.
Alex sighed. "We got into a fight with Gryffindor last night."
Regulus turned to him.
"After Herbology we were walking back from Greenhouse Three," Alex rubbed his fingers together, keeping his tone as even as he could. "James Potter came over with his lot. Black... I mean Sirius, Sirius was at the front. Said you weren't content laughing it up with Death Eaters at the funeral, you had to keep a pack of Pure-blood lapdogs too, said the rest of us were just your hangers on. Cuthbert shot back that they were four good for nothings who only picked on half bloods and younger years. They threw the first spell. Sirius pointed his wand at Cuthbert, Potter backed him up, Lupin tried to hold them back and couldn't."
Cuthbert couldn't hold it any longer. He leaned so close he was almost on top of Regulus, eyes gleaming with triumph, hand slapping the armrest.
"James Potter's Freezing Charm went completely sideways, spell flying left while he aimed right, and I tripped him with an Impediment Jinx. He went face first into the ground, blood everywhere, this long..."
He held his fingers up by his nose to show about two inches, decided that wasn't enough, and stretched the distance. "This long! He got up and hit me with a hex in the leg, just left a bruise."
He thumped his thigh and winced, but kept bragging. "That bruise is nothing."
"That hex on your leg was from him," Alex glanced at him and filled in the rest. "And Madam Pomfrey had to fix your nose."
"Madam Pomfrey's potions work fast, one drink and I was fine," Cuthbert said, grinning ear to ear. "I paid him back with a punch right in the face, blood all over... if you hadn't pulled me off I would have got him again."
Alex turned to Regulus. "Lina and Samuel took Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew's small and slow, honestly..."
He shrugged, his tone light. "Not much skill, but he's still a third year."
Then he looked at the two beside him. "Lina used Spongify on the flagstones under his feet, he slipped, and Samuel hit him straight away with a Disarming Charm and sent his wand flying. Then Lina followed with Freezing Charm. He froze right there, hand still stuck out grabbing for his wand. Two of them, just like that, put him down."
Lina looked up, eyes brightening for a second, the corner of her mouth lifting before she pressed it down again. She dropped her gaze and rubbed her fingers over her knees.
Samuel gave a soft hum beside her, met Lina's eyes briefly, then looked away.
Alex looked toward Hermes. "Hermes had Sirius."
Hermes kept staring into the fire, harder than before.
His posture hadn't changed at all, hips perched on the arm of the sofa, legs stretched straight, ankles crossed on the floor, as if the flames were the most fascinating thing in the world.
But he knew everyone was looking at him.
Alex waited a moment. When it was clear he wasn't going to speak, he continued for him.
"No Dark Magic, it was back and forth. Sirius opened with Avis and a Disarming Charm, fast casting, Hermes blocked them. Then Sirius switched to an Exploding Charm, Hermes blocked one with an Impediment Jinx, the second went wide and grazed his arm, burned a hole in his robe. Hermes answered with Reducto, hit the ground by Sirius's feet, not at him, Sirius dodged. They went at it for six or seven minutes, both got marked up, Sirius scraped his face, Hermes burned his arm, Madam Pomfrey put salve on it after. Then Professor McGonagall showed up and pulled them apart."
"Five against four," Alex finished. "Call it a draw."
"We won!" Cuthbert glared at him, dissatisfied with that verdict. "Lina and Samuel took Pettigrew out, so it was five on three... whose side are you on?"
Alex insisted, "Potter and Lupin were still standing."
Cuthbert corrected him, "Who hit Lupin with that hex? I did! He couldn't even recognize himself in the mirror after..."
Alex added, "And then Potter hit you from the side."
The two stared at each other for a moment, Alex calm, Cuthbert's nostrils flaring.
Then Cuthbert huffed and flopped back against the cushions, arms crossed. "We won anyway."
Regulus listened and thought they had done well enough.
Five second years against four third years, and they held even.
On Sirius's side, James and Sirius were known as the best fighters in Gryffindor's third year, the top tier, and Sirius especially, you could argue he was number one.
Lupin wasn't bad either. Peter was timid, but his actual level was low.
On his own side, Hermes had traded blows with Sirius without using Dark Magic, Cuthbert and Alex hadn't been overrun, and Lina and Samuel had worked together to drop Peter.
They'd been training long enough. They were starting to look the part.
As for Potter's lot, three third years plus Peter, held to a draw by five second years.
When he reached third year, fighting second years wouldn't be that much work. No number of them would be enough.
Hermes was still staring into the fire.
He was the guiltiest of the lot. The others mixed excitement with nerves. He hadn't looked at Regulus once from start to finish.
Alex probably hadn't told the whole story. He'd likely hit Sirius hard yesterday.
But that was fine. Sirius needed pushing.
Lily hadn't even stepped in yet and he'd already been held up by second years. Whether he won or drew, if he couldn't finish them instantly, that was poor.
Lina and Samuel were genuinely nervous, both watching him now, shoulders tucked in like kids waiting to be scolded.
Regulus nodded to them first. "Not bad."
Lina froze, braced for a lecture. They'd fought, they'd been caught by a professor, and the other side included Black's own brother.
Instead Black said not bad.
A smile burst across her face, eyes shining, back straightening in an instant.
Samuel lowered his head, let out a quiet breath, shoulders easing.
Regulus turned to Alex. "Help them out when you have time."
Alex nodded at once. "No problem."
"Thank you, Black!"
Lina's voice was bright, Samuel's lower, the two speaking almost at once and overlapping.
Regulus looked at Cuthbert.
Cuthbert was grinning, chin tipped slightly up, eyes full of expectation waiting for praise.
Regulus asked, "Is that it?"
Cuthbert's smile stiffened. His eyes flicked to Alex. Alex stared at the fire.
They flicked to Hermes. Hermes stared at the fire too.
He cleared his throat, voice smaller than before. "Professor McGonagall caught us."
Regulus said nothing and waited.
"Points off, twenty from Slytherin, twenty from Gryffindor."
Cuthbert tried to make it sound as small as possible. "Professor Slughorn said since it was a first offense, detention would do."
Regulus asked, "What detention?"
"Tonight, in the Forbidden Forest, collecting a few things for the professor, said it's for a Calming Draught, Hagrid's taking us."
Cuthbert curled his lip. "With Potter and the others."
Regulus heard him out and said, "Nice."
Cuthbert's mouth fell open again. Alex looked up. Hermes turned his eyes from the fire.
Regulus said, "I'm going too."