( trans man | he/him | elliot fletcher ) —— isn’t that REGULUS BLACK? yeah that is them, sitting there at the SLYTHERIN table with those other SIXTH years. when sybill looks into that crystal ball of hers, she sees icy streets, a black cat sleeping on top of textbooks, a table covered in empty coffee cups, and vials of potions hidden under quidditch gear, which seems about right for that EIGHTEEN year old. anyway i’ve heard they’re pretty COMPETITIVE, HARSH, and LOYAL. apparently they’re in VENIT TEMPESTAS / MARKED DEATH EATER and a PUREBLOOD but i’m sure that’s not related…
bio (tw murder, addiction, abuse, disordered eating)
so you know the drill, reg’s the youngest son in the black fam. parents are a bit off their rockers, older brother is doing weird things like not wanting to kill people, at least his cousins are pretty ok
he grew up thinking of most things in zero sum terms: if someone else wins, he loses and losing hurts a lot
so you get an angry little porcupine that doesn’t believe in emotions-- by third year, regulus was out of running to be a prefect for ~unempathetic behavior~
reg also wants that attention and approval tho, more than he wants to remain alive, and doesn’t have the social skills to get it through being a decent person.
so he decided hard work was the way to go, signing up for a ridiculous amount of classes for OWLs on top of his quidditch position. takes the dark mark when he’s 16.
tw addiction: can’t handle it the normal way, so he starts brewing potions. first just one to focus and one to sleep after, but it keeps escalating. by the end of fifth year, he’s worried about timing taking the potions so that he doesn’t crash in the middle of an exam
tw disordered eating: it’s not the exam that gets him though, it’s quidditch practice. he blacks out during one-- falls less than ten feet, isn’t very hurt, but the staff learn that half of his bad habits. they’re watching closely, threatening to tell his mother.
regulus would absolutely rather they not tell his mother because he generally recommends no one talk to walburga unless they have to, but it’s actually not his biggest concern
his OWL grades come back and they’re as good as he hoped, but he actually doesn’t hear about it until three days later because he’d already all but moved out of grimmauld place
working overtime to try to finish as much as the healer apprenticeship as he can before he graduates (thanks to rodolphus)
“fuck that i’m leaving you,” regulus was the only one that she had known here and wasn’t leaving without him here. “we either go together or not at all,” she says giving him a stern look, holding a hand on his arm. “come on,” she’s trying to push him past the crowd of people, “i think i got a concussion from the impact but that’s beside the point”
“If you’ve got a concussion, you should definitely be going home.” Reg resisted the voice in his head telling him to get out a light and check Narcissa’s eyes-- if she was standing and aware of what was going on, then there wasn’t much point in doing anything other than getting out of here before she got a worse concussion. “But if I go with you, I’ll just have to turn around and head to Mugo’s anyways.”
malcolm had sent them off for something , in that moment mary couldn’t exactly mind what but they’d been halfway down the stands to the concessions before it all became a blur . had they tripped ? been thrown by something ? that also wasn’t clear but mary was no stranger to injuries she couldn’t quite place the how of . still struggling to pick themself off the floor when someone came across them . ❝ aye , a think am are ❞ she obviously wasn’t . ❝ heids fuckin loupin’ but ❞
“Double vision? Did you lose consciousness?” Reg looked around at their surroundings, not wanting to move Mary without knowing the extent of her injuries but also worried the bludgers could come near. “I’m going to use my wand for light for a moment-- don’t move, I just need to look at your eyes.”
who: open ( @beforedawnstarters )
where: quidditch match
Merlin, this was fun. Reg had seen some of the damage from those accursed bludgers up close, seen the explosion and all, and finally pushed his way into one of the more blown-up parts of the stands to see if anyone would let him do anything exciting.
“Are you alright? I’m a healer-- trainee healer, but I dunno if we’ve got better right now.”
“No, so, yes, I think you should leave.” Reg was thinking fast, trying to come up with anything to say to Cissa other than ‘like hell am I leaving right when the fun starts’. “And go back to Howlor Hall, right? To check if they’re there. And I’ll look for people here, yeah? We’d cover twice the ground.”
❛ 𝑎𝑚𝑦𝑐𝑢𝑠 ? you can’t count extended family , that’s cheating ! i’m interpreting that as just me , ❜ he tuts , tone rather brattish . his smile fades with the disbelief coating regulus’ response . sirius clears his throat , fingers tapping absently on his bottle . ❛ no . i don’t know , ❜ he confesses , looking off . ❛ i thought about following james . and mcgonagall recommended something with the DMLE . said it’d be good to dispense my energy and make use of my grades , and … whatnot … ❜ he shrugs , turning back to his brother with a half - smile . ❛ believe it or not , reg — most of my friends have it together a bit better than i do . ❜
“Unless you want to tell me you’re not counting James as family, I get to count Amycus.” Reg laughed, trying not to read too much into what Sirius was saying about plans. People always said weird stuff once it got late, right? “The DMLE sounds like a good idea-- Evan and Jess are there, they could probably give you some advice, and if you asked Rod nicely he could probably pull some strings with Chao.” It was Chao that was in charge, right? Reg was pretty sure it was Chao. “Most of your friends don’t have the connections we do. You don’t have to have it together-- you could fail your NEWTs and have five job offers from people that didn’t look further than your surname.”
“not what I meant, yeah? last year to just .. play quidditch, and coast. there’s nothing wrong with that, either. everyone does it. sixth was my best year, I gotta say,” he said, chuckling as he leaned back, stretching for a moment before leaning forward again to rest his elbows on his knees. “no, i think that’s just her morning toy, the surprises are for you. but good, that means we’ve hidden them well, girls will be excited.”
“I’m back on the quidditch team at least, that’s better than nothing.” Reg tried to sound more sure about that than he was-- he’d meant to corner Lucius at some point to ask how it was going to go, but he’d probably put it off too long to get a change. “So the girls are going to like it? I’d say that narrows it down, but it really doesn’t.”
“hm,” is all she says, knowing the house that he had grown up in, though she was a bit biased if she didn’t have the same. she was an ambassadors daughter and a nott, though she resisted the urge to roll her eyes, instead, taking a drink of the alcohol. “because i feel incredibly old among most of these…. children,” she says, not being able to name one person that actually meant something other than narcissa herself and regulus.
Reg shrugged, not particularly happy to be reminded that the other death eaters thought of him as a child. Maybe that wasn’t what Arden meant, or maybe it was, but either way he had the same mark on his arm that everyone else did. “I’m sure there’s other senior citizens around-- Bella’s gotta be here somewhere.”
❛ 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 . 𝑖 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 be somewhere up there by not spewing constant hatred anyways . ❜ he takes another swig . it helps wipe the bitterness of his smile . ❛ hope the lead is at least the birthday girl herself . i'll knock out the competition myself if it’s coming from someone like our mother . ❜ sirius would be pretty confident in his answer , once . now , he isn’t ever sure where he lies with regulus . everything that made sirius love him as a brother is still there , but reg simply hasn’t shifted like sirius has . not the way sirius wishes he would have . ❛ oh ? ❜ sirius prods , a quirk to his brow and smile creeping up again . ❛ look at you ! fuck if i’ve even decided where i’m going . ❜
“People can have opinions,” Reg said carefully, not quite drunk enough to want to go down that rabbit hole. He didn’t like a lot of their family much more than Sirius did, but Howlor Hall was not the place to start talking like that. “but off course it’s Cissy at the top, and you and Amycus.” That was close enough to agreeing, wasn’t it? He wouldn’t have spent most of the summer hiding out at the Carrows’ if he enjoyed their mother’s company. “What do you mean you don’t know? James won’t stop talking about his plans, you’ve got to have some idea.”
bold what applies. i’d give credit, but i can’t find the original, so.
[ PERSONAL ]
$ Financial: wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty
✚ Medical: fit / moderate / ill / disabled / disadvantaged / non applicable
✪ Class or Caste: upper / middle / working / street trash / slave / unsure
✔ Education: qualified / unqualified / studying / other
✖ Criminal Record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no / has committed crimes, but not caught / yes, but charges were dismissed
[ FAMILY ]
◒ Children: had a child or children / has no children / wants children
◑ Relationship with Family: close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased
◔ Affiliation: orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by birth parent(s) / not applicable
[ TRAITS + TENDENCIES ]
♦ extroverted / introverted / in between
♦ unorganised / organised / in between
♦ close-minded / open-minded / in between
♦ calm / anxious / in between
♦ disagreeable / agreeable / in between
♦ cautious / reckless / in between
♦ patient / impatient / in between
♦ outspoken / reserved / in between
♦ leader / follower / in between
♦ empathetic / vicious bastard / in between
♦ optimistic / pessimistic / in between
♦ traditional / modern / in between
♦ hard-working / lazy / in between
♦ cultured / uncultured (swine) / in between / unknown
♦ loyal / disloyal / unknown
♦ faithful / unfaithful / unknown
[ BELIEFS ]
★ Faith: monotheist / polytheist / atheist / agnostic / doesn’t care
☆ Belief in Ghosts or Spirits: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care
✮ Belief in an Afterlife: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care
✯ Belief in Reincarnation: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care
❃ Belief in Aliens: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care
✧ Religious: orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious
❀ Philosophical: yes / no
[ SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION ]
❤ Sexuality: heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual
❥ Sex: sex repulsed / sex neutral / sex favourable / naive and clueless
♥ Romance: romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favourable / naive and clueless / romance suspicious
❣ Sexually: adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious
⚧ Potential Sexual Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all
⚧ Potential Romantic Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all
☕ Drinking Alcohol: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / alcoholic
☁ Smoking: trying to quit / quit / never / trying it / rarely / sometimes / frequently / chain-smoker
✿ Recreational Drugs: never / quit / trying it / rarely / sometimes / frequently / addict
✌ Medicinal Drugs: never / no longer needs medication / some medication needed / frequently / to excess
☻ Unhealthy Food: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / binge eater
$ Splurge Spending: never / sometimes / frequently / shopaholic
♣ Gambling: never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / compulsive gambler
“not if I play main league instead of summer league,” james pointed out, automatically, and entirely undeterred. “you can too, you already sound ill, trying to work in the summer when you don’t even have to, so you’re halfway there, let’s go. listen to yourself, you don’t even have to worry about cat sitting! see? what’s the problem?”
“You’d still be training, no? Wouldn’t be able to skip whenever you wanted or they’d bench you and send in an alternate.” Reg hated to admit how close James was to being right, which was precisely why he wasn’t going to. “Because unlike Siri, I’m not allergic to hard work? I’ve not missed a day this summer. And I don’t even know what you’re up to.”
Perhaps under a different set of circumstances Jamie might’ve pointed out the difference between a Glaswegian accent and his own, but his back’s already up, and he doesn’t have the patience for it. Not for the sake of some English bastard that probably doesn’t even care. “That’s not what I said,” he argues, feeling justified in doing so because for once he’s actually certain he’s right. “And it’s not my fault ye canna handle yer drink.”
“I might be wasted, but least I’ve not got a stick up my ass.” Reg rolled his eyes, taking a drink from the glass he’d grabbed. If he was completely honest he didn’t fully know what they were arguing over, but that wasn’t going to stop him. “Why are you even here, if you don’t like my family?”
❝ up to you then, i guess. but if it were me ? i’d make it final now so i could actually enjoy the night and not stress the entire time about the morning. ❞
“Ew, no, that’s way too much decision making. I’m gonna leave it up to the absolute last minute, flip a coin, and blame the hangover. Then I can’t say I didn’t try.”
“it’s summer, though, you’re not allowed to be busy. i’m trying to bond with and be nice to you! you can’t be busy if you don’t go to the stupid work thing, so just don’t go.”
“You’re going to have to work summers too, once you graduate.” Reg raised an eyebrow, as if he didn’t know that no one with blood that pure ever actually needed a job. “I can’t just call in sick because you’ve got some scheme going on; I already took Elara to her grandpa’s and everything.”
❝ i won’t drown , i grew up by the sea . always been a good swimmer so i have ❞ kicking , but not the sand this time , instead kicking off her shoes . ❝ wouldn’t blame you for that though , if you can’t swim what’s there really to do ? ❞
“Statistically, I think more people that grew up by the sea drown than people who live inland.” Reg watched uneasily, realising he had no idea where it was that the beach dropped off. Was it as close as the waves that were breaking? “Exactly, nothing. You go in, you drown, your problem.”
“you’ve only got, what, like a week left? you get all packed up, found everything you wanted? have you found your surprises, yet?” as if amycus didn’t know precisely when regulus was due back at the castle, sure he just hated to see him go – or, more accurately, hated not being handier when assistance was required. “it’s the last year, you could try and enjoy it, if you wanted, you know.”
“Second to last year.” Reg sighed, halfheartedly levitating a stack of textbooks into an open suitcase. “Elara’s been tearing apart a toy mouse she found-- I don’t know if that’s a surprise or if she stole it, but she’s been having a great time with it either way.”
“maybe you can get someone to sneak you into the department of mysteries, likely your best bet on taking that option.”
“I know a few people I could ask,” Reg said, thinking it was best not to say exactly who while talking to an auror. “But as appealing as it is, it’s kind of a trade off. Highest level of effort, same end result as if I decided to go swimming.”
