Whispers followed him.

Curiosity—prying into the private lives of others didn't seem to matter to the other students at Hogwarts when they sensed some juicy gossip. Not knowing a secret often led to those gossiping imagining up something far worse than reality, yet for once, the whispers wondering what kind of trouble heir Black got into this time paled in comparison to the truth.

"Sirius almost got another student killed, and in the process almost got one, no two of his friends killed."

Knowing the truth left Regulus with a nauseous stomach with no recourse in relieving his stress, yet there was that buzzing feeling of anxiety in his ears as he thought of—

"Sirius isn't."

—isn't—

"Isn't the person I admired."

Regulus attempted to keep his head down more than usual, feeling that an apt response to finding out one's brother almost killed someone because the constantly escalating pranks got to that point.

"I'd noticed. Noticed things were getting out of hand."

Regulus felt the back of a hand pat against his cheek, then turned his head to look at his cousin Evan, who said, "It's not like you to be distracted like this."

"Ah! Mr. Black?" Professor Slughorn called out. "And Mr. Prewett. Would the two of you mind switching potion partners today so I might talk to the two of you after class?"

Evan frowned, speaking in a low voice. "What is this all about?"

Regulus' eyes blinked, his head turning to see his other cousin-by-marriage arrive at their potion table, or the potion table Regulus usually used with Evan. Evan glared at him before heading to the other table, shaking his head, yet it sank in.

"What is this all about?" And then, "Did you?"

"What?" A red eyebrow shot up.

"Sirius?"

There came a frown, then a shake of the head before his Prewett cousin started into the assigned portion for the day.

Regulus frowned. "Addy?"

"What?"

"Do you..."

"No. What did you call me?"

"Addy," Regulus repeated, frowning.

His cousin let out a curse. "Addy? My name's Adrian, not Addy."

"Yes, Addy," Regulus insisted, feeling frustrated. "You're Addy."

"I never told you," Adrian let out a sigh. "Look. I never said you could call me that, so stop acting so familiar."

"Don't you mean familial?"

Adrian's head jolted up, his eyes—

Regulus looked away.

"Familial?"

"As in family."

"We're not family."

"Yes, we are."

"How?"

"Aunt Lu and Uncle Iggy," Regulus said, not looking up, trying to instead focus on the potion, frowning as he did so.

"Aunt..." Adrian sighed. "She's your aunt, he's my uncle."

"Yes. Cousins-by-marriage."

"Does that term even exist?" Adrian asked.

"Yes," Regulus said, nodding his head.

"I wasn't looking for an answer, Black."

"But we are cousins-by-marriage," Regulus said.

"I—never mind." Adrian shook his head. "Can we just focus on the potion?"

"Yes, yes," Regulus said. "Yes, we can."

The early distraction existed, thus not resulting in the perfect endgame potion Regulus usually produced. Still, as class ended, Evan made to stay after class, only for Slughorn to say, "You can leave, Mr. Rosier." He then turned his attention to Regulus and Adrian. "So the two of you are acquainted?"

"Yes," Regulus said.

Adrian said, "No." Then, Adrian sighed. "Cousins-by-marriage?"

"Oh! I had forgotten at the moment that Ignatius Prewett married Lucretia Black. Very lovely wedding."

"And this is about?" Adrian asked.

"Well, you should already know," Slughorn said with enthusiasm. "We talked about it, didn't we, Mr. Prewett."

"You mean Sirius?" Regulus squeaked out.

"Young Sirius?" Slughorn frowned. "Well, no. It's—"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Adrian said.

"You know. That project of yours."

"My..." Adrian sucked in his breath. "I'm sure Mr. Black wouldn't be interested."

"You don't know unless you ask."

"Does he even," Adrian started to say but then stopped.

"It's a project to unite the houses, Young Regulus."

"Unity?" Regulus stood up straighter if that was even possible. "Unity between the houses?"

"See? Mr. Black, here is your best choice. Your only choice, really. Trust me on this one, Mr. Prewett, as I said you should when you told me you wanted to start a band. The power of words."

"Band?" Regulus tilted his head. "Words?"

"I'm not sure," Adrian started saying.

"Give him a chance before you decide he's not the right fit with you and the other two. Young Regulus may very well surprise you, Mr. Prewett, so why don't you introduce him to the other two? I do believe you three planned on meeting in that room you found once class was finished for the day, and class is finished, so be off with the two of you."

"Yes, sir," Adrian said. "Come along, Black."

"Be a little more cheerful, Mr. Prewett," Slughorn called out after him. "Oh, and Mr. Black? I know your older brother's actions often speak louder than words and not in a positive manner, but sometimes words can speak louder than actions. Think about that?"

Regulus followed after his cousin, keeping in step with him, following Adrian to the seventh floor, but as they headed there, Adrian said. "Look. I'm only bringing you there because Professor Slughorn insisted you're the right choice, Black, but what is this whole Sirius business?"

"You didn't," Regulus started to say. "What did you hear this morning?"

"It was none of my business," Adrian said. And then he slowed, stepping backward to latch onto Regulus' school uniform. "Hold on. You said something about, I don't know. Did I? Did I what?"

"Rat Sirius out?"

"You little..." Adrian shook his head. "Look, I don't know what that brother of yours did any more than anyone else, except possibly you."

"His answer is evasive, I think?"

"I'm not the reason he got in trouble this morning."

Regulus' eyes blinked. "No. Not this morning. About our conversation this morning?"

"That?" Adrian paused.

"I thought that's why Professor Slughorn..."

"I didn't," Adrian snapped. Then, he stood there. "You're worried about that?" Regulus swallowed. Adrian looked away. "Look. What's the point in bringing that up? What I overheard if the professors have already dealt with it?"

"But you said," Regulus frowned. "You said you didn't know any more than anyone else other than perhaps me."

Adrian let out a sigh. "Fine. Uncle Ignatius and that wife of his fret enough about you as it is, but obviously, whatever Black—Sirius did manage to get you rattled. Nor am I inclined to repeat what I overheard, either. Do you understand?"

"Family," Regulus blurted out.

Adrian stared. "The connection you're making is tenuous at best, Black." There came a sigh. "But then Black's your brother."

"Yes," Regulus said.

"Anyways, we're going to the Come and Go Room, or at least that's what I think it's called," Adrian said. "Of course, I'm not sure they'll be sold on your joining."

"I'm not," Regulus started saying. "It's one of Professor Slughorn's projects?"

"It's my project," Adrian said. "I wanted to start a band."

"But he's backing it?" Regulus said. "And you're family?"

"Look, just hold off on any bright ideas until I introduce you to the other two?"

"Uh-huh," Regulus said, following Adrian.

"Think of having a room, though, where we can practice music without anyone asking questions or prying into our business."

"A secret place to do music?" Regulus thought, but soon, after they'd walked around the seventh floor a bit, a door appeared that shouldn't have been there, and they entered.

Regulus' eyes blinked, taking in the grand piano, coffee table, and chairs. Two were already waiting there, yet he distinctly remembered running into them that morning. The one from Ravenclaw—

"What is he doing here, Adrian?"

"He's Slughorn's selection."

"Nope," the other said, standing up. "I'm not going to be around a judgemental little prick like him."

Regulus' eyes blinked.

"Don't pretend," the Ravenclaw said, poking him in the chest. "You don't know what I mean, Black. You saw me this morning. I saw you watching."

Regulus' eyes blinked again, and then. "Oh."

Adrian sighed. "Oh, what? What did you do, Black."

"He was being judgemental," the other said, huffing.

"About what, though?" the Hufflepuff asked. "What did he say to you?"

"He didn't say anything?"

"Just so you know, I'm unaware of anyone's blood status, if that helps," Regulus blurted out.

"No!" The Ravenclaw let out a deep breath. "That makes things worse. Everyone knows that the Black family is prejudiced against half-bloods like me and..." He glanced over at the Hufflepuff.

"Muggleborn?" Regulus asked.

"See. Can't associate with us, can you."

"Contrary to what you may think, we can associate with those with inferior blood status."

And then he felt his ear pulled by Adrian. "Hey! Don't start something you're not ready to finish here."

"Give him a chance," the Hufflepuff said. "My name is Oscar Figgis, by the way."

"Hey," the Ravenclaw said, turning to shake his head at Oscar. "What do you think you're doing? We can't trust him. Why do you think we can?"

"He didn't call me a Mudblood," Oscar said.

Regulus cringed.

"And I don't think he likes that word either."

"He thinks your blood is inferior," the Ravenclaw said.

"Because..."

"Uh-uh. I don't..."

"But I do," Oscar said. "Why is my blood inferior?"

"Because you've no family ties to the magical community," Regulus blurted out. "Which means you don't have the same kind of resources someone of my blood status has."

"So you hold it against them?" the Ravenclaw said. "Against us?"

"Against you?" Regulus frowned. "I admit that society as a whole does, as does the law."

"There are no bloody laws that are against us?"

"Figgis can't practice magic at home like we can," Regulus said, letting out a slight hiss as he glared at the Ravenclaw. "So we've got an unfair advantage."

The Ravenclaw stared, eyes wide, while Oscar said, "I'm sold."

"You're!" The Ravenclaw turned, shaking his head.

"That's Elias, by the way, Elias Ruiz," Oscar said, grinning ear to ear.

"Well, I'm still not convinced," Elias snapped.