Friday at noon, on the way back to the dormitory after lunch, Alex quickened his pace and fell in beside Regulus.
"Lina and Samuel want to see you."
"After last period. Library."
Alex nodded and left it at that.
Lina and Samuel wanted to see him but hadn't said so themselves. They'd gone through Alex.
Interesting.
Regulus treated them no differently from anyone else in the circle. They were his people, and he saw no reason to stand on ceremony.
But this time they'd followed a formal process. Report up, request a meeting, wait for a response.
These two were building structure.
Regulus had never asked for it. He'd never said that matters had to go through Alex first, never drawn lines between ranks.
They'd drawn the lines themselves.
---
The bell rang at the end of the last afternoon class, and Lina and Samuel were the first ones out the door.
Regulus noticed but didn't react. He packed up his notes and textbook and strolled toward the Library at his own pace.
The Library was nearly empty at this hour.
Madam Pince sat behind the desk, frowning at a newly arrived copy of Practical Potioneer Monthly. Some young wizard had gotten it dirty, by the look of things.
She glanced up, recognized Regulus, and looked back down.
He settled into his usual seat. By the window, facing the entrance.
He turned to where he'd left off. A few pages in, footsteps reached him from the doorway.
Two people. Quick steps, but controlled.
One paused at the entrance, scanning the room, then headed straight for him.
Regulus looked up.
Lina was in front, carrying a cloth bag. Small, stuffed full, the drawstring cinched tight and knotted.
Sweat beaded her forehead. A few dark strands of hair stuck to her cheeks, her face flushed, her breathing rapid, chest visibly rising and falling.
Samuel followed half a step behind, a thin sheen of perspiration on his brow, but otherwise composed.
Lina reached the table, steadied her breathing for a moment, then called out, crisp and clean: "Black."
Samuel stayed half a pace behind her, silent.
Regulus lifted his gaze from the book, swept it over both of them, then glanced at the cloth bag in Lina's hand.
A slight tilt of his chin. "Sit."
They sat down across from him.
Lina set the bag on the table and loosened her fingers from the drawstring.
Regulus closed his book, pushed it aside, and let his gaze rest on them without a word. Waiting.
Lina spoke first. She'd always been quick to decide, and her reports were just as direct. "Found the books. Following the list on the note: aerodynamics, wave mechanics, and a foundational text on Principles of Optics are all here. For jet propulsion, we only found a popular science book. Not technical enough. For information transmission, we couldn't find anything suitable."
She finished, glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then began pulling books from the bag one by one, stacking them on the table.
On top sat Fundamentals of Aerodynamics, published by MIT. Beneath it, Introduction to Wave Mechanics. Then Principles of Optics. Both hardcover, the dust jackets worn with age but in decent condition.
The bottom one was thinner: Jet Propulsion and Flight. Its cover featured a fighter jet, orange flames blazing beneath the wings. Flashy.
Samuel sat beside her, eyes on the tabletop rather than on Regulus. His tone was more subdued than Lina's. "The library had a power outage. Hardly anyone around. Easy to get in and out."
Regulus glanced at him, then looked away.
He reached out with his right hand, brushing his palm across each book. They shrank, flattened, and finally became a handful of palm-sized cards.
His hand turned over. The cards vanished.
A flicker of envy crossed Lina's eyes, mixed with longing. Obvious, undisguised.
Samuel kept his head down. One glance at the trick, then his gaze dropped again.
Regulus looked at them.
The task had been assigned last term. They were only delivering now.
Samuel's mother was a Muggle primary school teacher. A public library was no obstacle for her. She wouldn't even need to apply for a card, just walk in and search.
Lina's family lived in London. Her mother was a witch from Portugal, foreign-born but settled in a Muggle community in England for years.
Both families had the means. The task itself wasn't difficult. The note had been clear: which books, which subjects.
Nearly two months of delay. Not a matter of ability. A matter of willingness.
Each family had its own reservations.
Lina's family was a minor clan from Portugal. No Pure-blood title, small in scale, shallow in roots.
Her mother would know what tier the Blacks occupied. Coming from a small family didn't mean ignorance of the English Pure-blood power structure. She'd be at least passingly familiar.
And precisely because she knew, she'd be cautious.
Her daughter running errands for the Black heir in Slytherin sounded like an opportunity. But for a family that small, every step carried risk.
Small families couldn't afford mistakes. One wrong move and there might be no coming back.
Her mother's stance would have been to wait and see. Hold off. Don't rush. What if Black was just indulging a passing whim?
Having her daughter fetch a few books was trivial in itself, but once it was done, it confirmed a relationship.
Easy to take that step. Hard to take it back. So she hesitated, dragged her feet, withheld help.
Samuel's family was even simpler. His father was an ordinary wizard out of Hufflepuff, running a secondhand magical goods shop in Diagon Alley, married to a Muggle.
A small shopkeeper whose understanding of Pure-blood circles probably didn't extend much beyond knowing they existed.
The weight of the Black name, the reach of the Black heir's influence in Slytherin, the layers of meaning behind asking his son to find a few books... he probably hadn't thought that deeply about any of it.
His reaction would have been more straightforward. My son being in Slytherin is worrying enough. Now he's supposed to go fetch things from the Muggle world for someone?
Not supportive, but not the type to put his foot down, either. Hufflepuff people didn't do that.
He'd simply refuse to cooperate. Refuse to help. Maybe drag it out long enough for Black to forget his son existed.
As for Lina and Samuel themselves, they understood perfectly well.
These two had been Sorted into Slytherin, and that alone said something.
The Sorting Hat must have seen plenty. Ambition, perhaps. Discontent, perhaps. Some instinct for climbing toward a better life. Maybe all three at once.
Lina had a drive to push forward. Sharp, direct, decisive, unafraid to take initiative and put herself out there.
Samuel was steadier. Understated, careful, unhurried, not one to compete. But his eyes were always watching.
What they wanted differed, but the direction was the same: up.
That desire came from inside them, not from home. Home was, if anything, holding them back.
The children wanted to climb. The parents wanted to play it safe.
A generational divide. Nothing to do with blood. Everything to do with the size of the family.
Then news of the welcoming feast had spread. The spectacle on the first day of term, seen with their own eyes.
The result was plain. Less than a week into the semester, the books arrived.
Proof that the task had never been hard. The delay was purely about willingness. Once the landscape became clear, the job was done in days.
As for the power outage, that was just a convenient excuse. Probably something the two of them had cooked up together.
Nearly two months late, they needed a passable reason.
Public facilities shut during the outage, staff gone. They'd seized on it as a face-saving step.
It wasn't that we didn't want to help. It was just inconvenient before. The power happened to go out, nobody was around, so we rushed to get it done.
Not brilliant, but it held together.
Regulus didn't care.
He pulled himself back from his thoughts and looked at the two sitting across from him.
Lina sat straight, meeting his gaze without flinching, though her lips pressed together slightly. Waiting for his reaction.
Samuel kept his head down. One brief glance up, then back down.
Both were nervous. One let it radiate outward. The other pulled it inward.
Regulus took it all in and gave a single nod. "Good."
They exhaled at the same time.
Lina's shoulders sank a fraction. She let out a quiet breath, and then the corner of her mouth lifted, her eyes brightening for an instant.
The performance was well-executed. It didn't look fake, but it wasn't entirely unguarded either.
Samuel kept his head bowed throughout, though some of the tension left his body.
A beat of silence.
The upturn of Lina's lips lingered, but the brightness in her eyes slowly faded. She'd realized, probably, that after "good," there would be something else.
"The Lestrange business." Regulus watched them, his tone casual. "You've heard?"
Lina blinked, then nodded.
Samuel gave a small nod as well, barely perceptible, head still lowered.
Regulus said nothing further.
He knew they knew.
Alex had told them on the first day back. The events at the feast. Lestrange Manor burned. Bellatrix, broken.
They would also understand that last term's scheme against Rabastan Lestrange and what happened at the feast were connected.
He was simply confirming.
Since they knew, they could draw their own conclusions.
A flash of disappointment crossed Lina's eyes, and the corner of her mouth drooped. Still the same as always, every emotion written on her face.
She'd understood. Last term they'd done the work. By Black's usual way of doing things, there should have been a reward.
Now he'd brought it up but said nothing about compensation. That meant it was off the table. The delay with the books had cancelled it out.
Regulus hadn't asked why, but he also hadn't said it didn't matter.
She schooled her expression, every trace of feeling tucked away, and gave a serious nod.
There was no hiding this from Regulus. She'd never expected to hide it. He simply hadn't pressed the issue.
She could accept that outcome.
Samuel understood too. He accepted it as well.
Regulus watched their reactions.
Their attitude had never wavered.
From the moment they'd accepted the task last term, to serving as bait in the operation against Rabastan, to voluntarily reporting through proper channels in the first week of the new term, they'd wanted to do the job right from start to finish.
It was their families that had held them back.
Now their families had moved, and the whole thing had fallen into place.
But that was their problem. If home dragged its feet, then they'd dragged their feet. They accepted the logic of it, and accepting it was enough. The matter was done.
He leaned back in his chair, letting his gaze drift from the two of them to the window.
Lina and Samuel rose.
Lina dipped her head slightly, turned, and walked out. Samuel followed.
Samuel fell in beside her and asked quietly, "Why did you do that in there?"
Lina turned her head. "Do what?"
"In front of him," Samuel said. "You knew you couldn't fool him, but you acted relieved."
Lina's stride didn't break. A few steps passed before she answered. "You think he didn't know it was an excuse?"
Samuel didn't reply.
"The power outage." A flicker of a smirk crossed her lips, gone almost instantly. "My mum's a witch, not an idiot. We live in London. The nearest library is a few streets away. Over a month of nothing, and then we magically find everything right as term starts. Does that really need explaining?"
She went on. "You think that gets past Black?"
Samuel shook his head.
"Then don't bother pretending." Her words came fast. "Letting him see that we know we can't fool him is better than acting like nothing happened."
Samuel said nothing. He nodded.
They walked a few more steps before Lina spoke again, a faint note of complaint in her voice. "Can't use magic outside school. Otherwise I could've handled it myself."
Samuel hummed in agreement.
His family was the same. If he hadn't needed his parents' cooperation, he wouldn't have taken this long either.
A few more paces, and Samuel said abruptly, "Black brought up the Lestrange thing."
Lina's stride hitched for half a beat, then continued.
"But didn't mention a reward." His voice came from just behind her.
She didn't turn around. A few seconds passed before she spoke, a thread of regret in her tone, though she didn't dwell on it. "Then it's done."
Samuel nodded.
The two of them continued down the corridor, footsteps echoing off the flagstones, growing fainter.
In the shadow of the corridor's corner, someone had been standing there the whole time. Leaning against the wall, part of the shadow itself.
Snape.
He watched their retreating figures until they disappeared, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
---
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