After

After

When Regulus was five, he tripped over a rock and skinned his knee.

It didn't hurt very much, but the sight of the wound with blood and dirt made him cry. Sirius and Bellatrix were too busy chasing each other up the big tree in the corner of the gardens to help him. Besides, Sirius would have thought it looked too interesting to help him clean it off or make it feel better. The moment he began to cry, Regulus saw Andromeda rush to his side. She helped him inside and gently cleaned off the dirt with cold water before running to his mother to heal the wound. Andromeda was always the one who did these things.

"You should watch where you go," Mrs. Black said, before performing the spell.

After Mother left, Andromeda leaned over and whispered, "I'll always be here to help you, Regulus."

At age nine, Regulus was left all alone. His brother and cousins were at Hogwarts, and his other companions from different families rarely made appearances. There was nothing to do in 12 Grimmauld Place with only his mother to talk to and books he didn't understand on the shelves. Instead, he wandered around the darkened house and talked to the portraits. Sometimes he would sit still in one place for a long time until, one by one, his limbs would fall asleep. Then when he tried standing up, he'd fall back down because his feet and legs didn't know what to do with the strange weight pressing them down.

At first, Sirius wrote home everyday talking about how much he hated it in Gryffindor, with all of its Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers. As time passed, Sirius wrote home less and less, even after Regulus sent him lengthy, desperate letters hoping for some sort of response.

As soon as Sirius stopped writing more than once a month, Regulus began sending his long, childish letters to Andromeda. He was certain she would read what he wrote and answer him, because she promised she would always be there to help him, and she was his favorite.

Just as he thought, Andromeda wrote back to him with colorful stories about her days in Slytherin. Regulus thought that being a Slytherin must be the best thing in the world. He always made sure to write back with equally long letters, telling her about anything he could think of, and hoping she still cared. Andromeda never seemed to get bored or frustrated with him like Sirius sometimes would. She patiently explained things and answered all of his questions, making sure he understood.

After he finished reading and replying to each of Andromeda's letters, Regulus always placed them in a special pile in his wardrobe, all the way in the back so that his mother wouldn't spot them and be ashamed of his sentimentality.

Regulus turned eleven on his first day of school. It was the first of September and everyone was too busy with last minute preparations to pay much attention to him. Narcissa was polishing and re-polishing her new prefect badge over and over, smiling proudly when anyone commented on it.

Only his mother said anything about his birthday, but it was just a prelude to her demand that he listen to anything Bellatrix had told him. Bellatrix had spent most of the summer evenings telling Regulus how to act like a Slytherin. She was going into her fourth year at Hogwarts and constantly spoke with the pretentiousness of an adolescent who thinks she knows more than everyone else. But Mother thought she was the perfect Slytherin, and no one wanted to take risks with the other son.

Sirius gave Regulus advice, too, and it was always the same: "Don't get sorted into Gryffindor." But Regulus already knew that he would be a Slytherin; he would be a better Slytherin than even Bellatrix, and Mother would be proud.

When they went to King's Cross Station, Regulus reminded everyone that it was his birthday. "We know, Regulus," Bellatrix said haughtily, before striding off toward a group of her friends. Sirius and Narcissa soon followed her lead, and Regulus frowned as he watched them go. He knew they forgot about it, but they didn't seem to care.

"I didn't forget," a voice whispered in his ear. Regulus turned his head and saw Andromeda leaning over and smiling at him. He brightened and smiled back.

Andromeda held out a small package. "Happy birthday, Regulus." She led him onto the train and made sure he was comfortable in a compartment before going to find her friends.

After she left, Regulus clutched the unopened package tightly and reckoned that he was in love with her.

On the day that Andromeda was disowned, Regulus was having trouble with his Transfiguration homework. It was the summer between his first and second years at Hogwarts, and he was utterly clueless when it came to the theory work. Andromeda was brilliant with Transfiguration, and Regulus decided that he wanted to ask her for help.

As he walked down the steps to ask his mother if he could visit his cousins, he heard a loud shriek and the sound of glass breaking. Regulus ran the rest of the way and stopped abruptly when he saw Sirius pressing an ear to the door of the drawing room. Sirius beckoned him over and the two boys slowly pushed the door open and stepped into the room, looking around curiously. Inside, Mrs. Black was pacing, her expression murderous. Behind her, his Aunt Eugenia sat in one of the chairs, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.

"Boys!" Mrs. Black barked.

Regulus jumped, startled, before straightening and smoothing out his robes. Both boys tried to look as though they hadn't been sneaking, but Mother seemed unconcerned with that. "Regulus," said Mrs. Black. "When have you last heard from Andromeda?"

"Andromeda?" Regulus repeated, surprised. She couldn't be what Mrs. Black was angry about. "She wrote to me last week."

Mrs. Black stopped pacing. "What did she say?"

Regulus frowned. "She talked about what she would do now that she's finished with school," he replied. "Things like that."

"Did she say anything about a boy?"

Regulus was mystified. "No."

Mrs. Black looked furious still. "That traitor," she seethed, turning to Aunt Eugenia. "She's a traitor! Going off with that Mudblood.."

Regulus looked at Sirius for an explanation, but Sirius didn't look back at him. "What did she do?" asked Sirius loudly. "What did Andromeda do?"

"She eloped!" Mrs. Black exclaimed angrily, but she seemed to be talking more to herself than Sirius. Her face was red with anger. "Eloped with a good-for-nothing Mudblood. Nasty excuses for wizards, those Mudbloods!"

Regulus turned to Aunt Eugenia, and saw her openly weeping. It looked like Andromeda had died instead of eloped.

"Sent a letter to your aunt and uncle, saying that he was a nice man whom they'd all love! What a laugh!" continued Mrs. Black; her tone was scathing. Regulus instinctively took a step back. "Andromeda had such potential. There is only one way to deal with a fool such as her. That blood traitor will not stay in our family!"

Mrs. Black took long steps forward until she was standing directly in front of the tapestry, and drew her wand out. Regulus had seen this before, this very scene, when Uncle Alphard announced his marriage to a Muggle only a few months after his pureblood wife died. His mother had been livid then, and immediately burnt Uncle Alphard's name off the tapestry, effectively disowning him from the family.

And now they were doing the same to Andromeda.

To the Andromeda that promised she would always be there to help him. The Andromeda that wrote him long letters when he was lonely and bored at home, and never teased him for the childish things he said in his own letters. The Andromeda that remembered his birthday and even gave him a gift. The Andromeda he trusted beyond his brother and other cousins.

"Amburo!" The spell was sudden, and Regulus was startled when he saw the jet of red light shoot out of the tip of his mother's wand. The spell hit the tapestry where Andromeda's name sat between Bellatrix's and Narcissa's. When Mrs. Black lowered her wand, there was a round black mark and Andromeda was gone.

"Let that be a lesson, Regulus, Sirius! You do not betray the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black!"

But Regulus knew that Andromeda didn't just betray the history of the Noble House of Black that his mother spoke of. Andromeda betrayed him when she abandoned him to the rest of the family alone while she went prancing around with some stupid Mudblood. Regulus knew he was much better than any of those Mudbloods could ever be.

Regulus stumbled blindly up the stairs and took the first photograph he could find of Andromeda out of its frame, and stood in front of the fire. He hesitated for an endless moment, but when he thought of his mother cursing Andromeda's name off the family tree, he quickly threw the picture into the fire.

After he saw the flames crumbling the photograph to ash, he burned everything else in his room that reminded him of Andromeda. Then he lay down in front of the fireplace, making sure he didn't cry, because this time Andromeda wouldn't be there to make him feel better.