A summer chill hung over the lake; the waters tinged gold as the morning sun rose, the rays of light slowly bathing the ancient castle as the students within stirred. A lone student jogged beside the lake, enjoying the morning interval before the school erupted in a cacophony of students heading to breakfast in the Great Hall.

A hand reached up to brush aside locks of curly black hair from silver-gray eyes as the young wizard let out a deep sigh as moisture from the morning mist that reddened his cheeks and ears started to melt away under the morning sun. His eyes focused on the appearance of a few students flying high in the sky on their brooms to make the usual morning loop of the school before breakfast.

Regulus scooped his bag up from the shoreline and started the path towards Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, his muscles aching from the morning exercise while his mind felt refreshed for the after-breakfast lessons. Thin fingers reached up, tugging nervously at the collar of his robes, the green indicating he belonged to Slytherin. Soon, he arrived at the castle, still not running into other students.

His pace slowed upon catching sight of a group of students exiting the Ravenclaw tower, their collars touched by the characteristic blue of Ravenclaw. Regulus' jaw dropped, taken slightly aback at the candid way the young man draped his arms across the shoulders of the two girls unabashedly.

"What are you looking at?" The young wizard brushed a lock of black hair away from skin touched with tones of gold as his blue eyes glared at Regulus for intruding on whatever was going on between the three.

"Nothing," Regulus said, quickening his pace to escape the awkward situation, swallowing as he did so, almost glancing back to answer his question, "Isn't he in my year as well?"

As such, he didn't notice a fellow Slytherin leaving the grand staircase until he bumped into them, their hands roughly grabbing his shoulders and pushing him away. "Black."

Regulus looked up at the sound of irritation, swallowing. "Snape?" The older youth let go, heading to the Great Hall, while Regulus stopped in his tracks, frowning. "Severus Snape seems to be in a fowler mood than usual, but why?"

"If you just stand there," another said as they passed, "You'll be late for breakfast."

Regulus' silver-gray eyes blinked, taking in the sight of a Hufflepuff hurrying past him to the Great Hall from his year.

Regulus shook his head, heading towards the Great Hall himself. When he arrived, he sat at the Slytherin table next to his dorm mate and cousin-by-marriage Evan Rosier, who didn't look up when Regulus sat down, focused as he was on eating and catching up on some last-minute studying.

Pulling his school bag into his lap, Regulus opened his mouth to say something when someone wrapped their arms around his and Evan's shoulders, quietly slipping between the two as Evan let out a sound of annoyance at the sudden intrusion upon their personal space. "Shouldn't you be at your table, Barty?"

"You're no fun! Tell him, Reggie!"

Regulus turned his head, taken aback by his fourth cousin's boisterousness, his entire body tense from the unexpected touch while Evan's mouth pressed together, his eyes glued to his book.

"He's right, you know," someone other than Evan said.

Regulus glanced up to see a young man with vivid red hair and a scattering of freckles across his cheeks. "Another cousin-by-marriage—a Prewett."

Barty let out a sound of irritation. "Go away, Prewitt."

Regulus tensed even more, a hand reaching up to move aside his fourth cousin's arm as his eyes drifted down. "Great. Barty and Addy are going to get into it this morning."

He glanced at Evan, wondering if his other cousin-by-marriage would intervene or take a side.

The confrontation never came, everyone's attention drawn to the ceiling as the owls arrived, descending from the rafters with the morning mail, the argument quickly forgotten when—"Black's got another Howler from that mother of his!"

Regulus swallowed, knowing he'd not received any mail that day, nor was he the Black constantly receiving a Howler. He turned his head, looking towards the Gryffindor table where his older brother sat with his friend group, holding up the red envelope of the Howler as if it were some kind of prize rather than a form of punishment, grinning ear to ear as he did so.

As he watched his brother, he saw his Gryffindor cousin's eyes widen, his mouth pressing together as he muttered, "What did he do this time?"

Without hesitation, the elder Black sibling ripped the envelope open, and when he did—

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK!"

The smile on Sirius' face was cringe-worthy enough. Still, their mother was breaking into French rather than her usual English—horror settled into the pit of his stomach as the seriousness of Walburga Black doing so sunk in. "He's done something she doesn't want to get out.

"COMMENT OSES-TU?" she continued, yet Regulus knew as he cringed as the Howler continued spitting out his older brother's crimes that asking Sirius why he dared to defy the family order was a pointless question; as he listened, the younger Black sibling couldn't help but feel as if crimes were for once an apt description of what Sirius did, the horror Regulus felt growing.

"Sirius almost 'tuer'ed another student," Regulus thought as the conversation unfurled. "But he almost 'tuer'ed his friend that's a 'loup-garou' as well."

"Hey." The conversation ended, allowing Sirius' friend, whom Regulus could never remember the name of, to ask, "What did she say this time?"

Sirius shrugged his shoulders, blowing the whole thing off as Sirius' other two friends tried pretending they didn't have an idea what kind of trouble Sirius got himself into, and yet one of those friends was the friend Sirius almost 'tuer'ed. "Don't know. My French is rusty." his older brother said as Sirius' turned his head away. "But his isn't." Regulus stiffened, sitting up straighter. "Hey, Reggie!"

Regulus stood up, having lost his appetite, heading straight for the entrance of the Great Hall while Evan said something to Barty about not following after him. His attempt to get away—

"Hey, Reggie?"

He felt Sirius grab his arm and froze, refusing to look his brother in the eye.

"What did the old bat say?"

Regulus felt his lip tremble.

"Come on. Don't be like..."

He turned, his temper flaring, his lip still trembling. "As if you don't already know, Sirius."

Sirius rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh. I forgot. I'm an embarrassment to you and the rest of the family, right?"

"You almost got someone killed," Regulus said, gritting his teeth as he glared at his brother.

"Old Snivelly, you mean?"

"I'm talking about your friend!" Regulus swallowed. "That explains why Snape was extra disgusted at the sight of me this morning, but a friend?"

"James?" Sirius blinked, swallowing. "Oh. That. Yes. I guess..."

"You brought Potter into this as well?" Regulus said, his voice straining his throat painfully. "Are you..."

"Hold on. You didn't..."

"I meant Lupin!" Regulus said. "You almost..." He stopped, noticing the presence of his Prewett cousin. He pulled his arm away, shaking his head. "You, Sirius, should know his time at Hogwarts is the only chance at normality he'll get!"

"What..."

"His once in a blue moon, you might say," Regulus hissed.

He watched his brother's silver-gray eyes widen, and Sirius wiped a hand across his forehead to brush away a lock of hair. "Wait. You knew?"

"How could I not?" Regulus said.

"You've not blabbed..."

Regulus lowered his voice. "You, of all people, know what the Ministry of Magic would have done had he killed Snape." He took a deep breath. "It's a death sentence."

"That..." Sirius narrowed his eyes, folding his arms behind his head. "As if I'd ever listen to a snake in the grass for advice."

He swallowed, knowing the mascot for Slytherin was a snake. He threw up both hands, saying nothing before walking away, wondering how much of the conversation his cousin in Gryffindor had overheard.