[Chapter Nineteen]

The world was full of hypocrites, Regulus didn't need the adults to inform him of such things, he had become aware of it by witnessing it all on his own. As the Sorting Ceremony was underway, he could see students from the other three houses clapping and cheering for students when they were sorted into Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Gryffindor. It didn't matter if they didn't belong to their house, they would simply clap or cheer to be polite or encouraging. When it came to a new student being sorted into Slytherin, it was clear that only Slytherin applauded the newcomer. Even the faculty members barely put an effort into their "polite" applause to not show any bias. 

But it was clear, it was made clear every year. 

The new students could see it too, they noticed that they received less cheering and applause as they walked towards the Slytherin table, it always left them with a confused expression. Had they suddenly done something wrong without realising it? It was only when they settled down at the table and witnessed it for themselves did they realised, they had only been discriminated against, due to the fact that they were sorted into Slytherin.

Hufflepuff, the house of the kindness kept their heads turned, Ravenclaw, the house of acceptance kept their gaze forward on the next student, and Gryffindor, the house of chivalry, took as far as allowing some of their house members to boo and hiss. Yet, Slytherin was labelled as the house that housed all prejudices and discrimination. 

The majority of Slytherins picked up on it rapidly, often taking to cheering loudly for the newcomers to their house to try and make them feel welcomed. After all, they had been worthy enough to be sorted into the house, they hoped they could make them feel as though they were worthy. When it came to other students being sorted into other houses, one wouldn't be able to tell that it lacked the Slytherin applause because the other three houses made up for it. 

There was a clear bias that the students picked up very early in their academic career, it even involved their headmaster. Dumbledore had been in Gryffindor and he made it quite clear from the beginning that he favoured students of his house. Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout, and Professor Flitwick were the heads of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw, and they were all close friends with one another. Most of them seemed annoyed by Slughorn a great deal of the time because he loved to talk constantly, but still, it furthered the separation of the houses to see that he wasn't included a lot. 

It seemed like a vicious, never-ending cycle between the four houses, a strong rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin since the time of the Four Founders, and very much like the Founders, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff seemed to side with Gryffindor more than often, leaving Slytherin the oddball out. 

No wonder Salazar had taken upon himself to leave. 

But then, there was an ounce of hope with students like Éponine, while the rest of Slytherin kept stoic expressions and ignored the rest of the sortings, there the girl sat quietly clapping under the table for all of them. Mainly because the girl didn't know the people that were being sorted, she didn't know if they came from a line of muggles or if they were half-breeds, or from a family of blood-traitors, she simply clapped her hands for all newcomers so that they would feel welcomed. Yet, it didn't matter to really anyone outside of herself because no one paid her any mind and the faint clapping of her hands was drowned out by the other houses. 

Thinking back to Éponine's sorting back in their first year, Regulus remembered as he sat with Avery and Mulciber, how he and the others fully believed that the girl would be sorted into Hufflepuff. It was a running joke among families that Hufflepuff was among the weakest of all the houses and as much as he hated thinking about it currently, he had thought that Éponine was weak back then. 

The boys were placing bets on how fast the Sorting Hat would call out Hufflepuff for the girl, placing all their bets at under fifteen seconds. Yet, they had all lost the bet, not simply because she was sorted into Slytherin with the rest of them, but because it took nearly a few minutes for the Sorting Hat to come to a decision. 

A hat stall was what they called it when the Sorting Hat took more than five minutes to come to a conclusion and Éponine had been borderline when the Sorting Hat finally called out Slytherin.

It made Regulus wonder in those moments as he sat next to Éponine, what other house or houses had the Sorting Hat been debating before coming to the conclusion. He was certain though that she would never reveal it, probably fearful that others would judge her for it. It certainly wasn't an irrational fear either because she would be judged for it, not by himself, but by the others. They were already quite upset with the idea of not being able to tease her appearance anymore and even with Regulus threatening them, he was sure they were not going to give up so easily. 

But then again, Regulus couldn't pass judgement on her nearly being sorted into another house because the same had nearly happened to him. Sitting on the stool back when he was only eleven years old, the Sorting Hat didn't call out Slytherin right away, leaving him surprised. When the enchanted hat started discussing Hufflepuff, Regulus immediately began protesting, thinking of what Sirius had gone through just by being sorted into Gryffindor. No, that couldn't happen to him, it wouldn't happen to him. 

He argued with the Hat, claiming that he had no business in Hufflepuff and the Hat begrudgingly sorted him into Slytherin. The entire walk to the Slytherin table, his heart had been racing the entire time, thinking of the close call he had almost been stuck with. 

Once the Sorting Ceremony was over, Regulus found himself a bit more at ease, especially as the food of the feast came to gather on the table. Down the way, he could hear Avery and Mulciber laughing away, but where he was sitting at the table, it was incredibly quiet. Éponine was taking small bites of her food, looking quite lost at the moment and it was only then that Regulus realised that she was so used to actually reading during meals that it was her first time at a meal in the castle without a book in hand. She looked confused as to what to say or do as she was normally occupied with something. 

Needless to say, small talk was not a strength of Éponine's.

Emmarentia seemed to sense the awkwardness between the two as neither one of them had started to say anything, only eating in silence. She looked back and forth between them, waiting, but nothing happened, leaving her to shake her head in disappointment. 

"So what do you think of our new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor?" She decided to ask to break the ice. "First time it's a woman since we started attending. She looks...docile."

"I was going more along the lines of senile," Regulus replied as the three of them glanced up. The woman had yet to be introduced, apparently, the Headmaster was going to wait until after the feast to make his announcement. In comparison to the younger males the students had over the recent years, the woman was much older with lunar-white hair that was braided all the way down to her waist. 

Tied at the ends of her hair were little ornaments of some sort, that reflected in the candlelight. "You think she'll last the whole year?" Éponine asked in a worried tone.

The year before, they had gone through not one but two Defence Against the Dark Arts professors, both leaving in result to terrible accidents. Ever since they started school and even long before that, they never had a professor in Defence Against the Dark Arts that lasted beyond one year. Something always seemed to happen that would prevent them from returning to the position. 

"Maybe," Emmarentia shrugged, " that's if she does keel over due to old age. How old do you reckon she is?

"I'm thinking she personally shook hands with the Founders at one point," Regulus answered with a chuckle. 

The other two laughed but Éponine didn't as she stared at the woman for a second longer. "I don't think age will work against her much. After all, it means she's been around for a long time, she's seen a lot of things that she could pass down to us, right? So maybe her old age is a good thing."

Regulus' laughter came to an end as Éponine turned back to her food, leaving Emmarentia the only one smiling at the moment. She thought about making a whipping noise to tease Regulus, but she decided against it as their part of the table fell silent once more as they ate. 

At one point, before the food and drinks cleared out, Avery made his way over, a goblet of some beverage in hand. Éponine instantly looked uneasy as the boy came to talk with Regulus, it seemed others were bringing up the Quidditch season already, talking about the first practice. Regulus took to brushing him off, telling the boy that they could talk about it later on in the dorms. Avery pressed his lips together, his face twisting in a sour expression as his eyes flickered in Éponine's direction briefly. He seemed to shrug it off but as he turned to leave, he somehow "tripped" over his own two feet, spilling his pumpkin juice all over the girl's lap. 

Laughter erupted as if someone had told the greatest joke in existence at the table, meanwhile, Éponine lower lip trembled in the slightest. Regulus stood up to yell, but Avery was up on his feet walking away. However, before he could make it a short distance from them, there was a loud crack that sent the boy right into the wall, smacking his face into the stone. When he pulled away his hands reached for his mouth, blood pouring out, along with two teeth falling into his hands. 

Regulus quickly sat back down, turning to face Emmarentia with a bewildered. "Are you trying to get yourself in trouble on the first day back?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't do that!" She spat back at him. But that caused the two to suddenly come to the realisation that it fell on another person. Looking over, it seemed Éponine had returned back to finish the meal on her plate. Her robes were dried from the pumpkin juice spill and she looked awfully content. 

McGonagall had made her way over, scolding Avery for being so clumsy as she sent him with Madam Pomfrey up to the Hospital Wing and Regulus swore he heard Éponine laugh to herself. It reminded him of how she confessed and apologised over the summer for setting his trunk on fire back in Third Year. 

He looked back to Emmarentia, who had a look on her face that said: you better watch yourself.

Finally, Dumbledore approached the podium, giving his usual speech of no one being permitted to enter the Forbidden Forest, what areas were restricted, and to keep the corridors clear and clean for the sake of the caretaker. Regulus figured the majority of the rules being repeated over and over, were probably directed towards his older brother and his friends as if they would listen to anything being told to them. They truly thought they were above the law in all ways. 

The headmaster went on to introduce the woman as Cadence Azariah, she would be their next professor for the jinxed class as they all suspected. Leaving the question in everyone's mind of how long would she last?

They were finally dismissed, but Regulus and Éponine found themselves lingering behind as they had to make sure the first years were accounted for. They had been given the password by Slughorn before being able to lead the way towards the dungeons. To the right of the Entrance Hall, there was a door that most Slytherin students commonly used to get to the common room. 

Heading down the steps to the dungeons, Éponine could see the fearful look on some of the new faces as she led the way along with Regulus. It did seem frightening at first and nothing sounded pleasant about being led into the dungeons, but it wasn't as bad as they believed it to be. It was deceiving as they entered the cold corridor, many of them thinking they were just heading down an empty corridor, but that was just to ward off those trying to sneak in. The entrance to the common room was actually hidden behind a bare stretch of stone wall. 

"Aconite."

Regulus delivered the password and then stepped aside to allow the first years to enter first. From that point on, the older Prefects of the house took over to explain to the students that they would head off to their designated dorms and find their belongings at the end of their assigned bed. 

When Regulus turned his head, he could see that Éponine had already entered and he figured she had hurried off to her dorm. However, as he walked in, he saw her over by the large windows that peered into the Black Lake, a couple of first-year students at her side. She was trying to point out the merfolk that dwelled in the Black Lake, some of the children seemed to be in disbelief until they actually saw one approach the window, pressing their hand against the glass. Some of them let out startled cries, which brought the others to laugh. 

Eventually, they all ran off in different directions, to tell others what they had witnessed. Éponine smiled to herself as she was kept company by the young playful mermaid that danced about in the water in front of the window. Regulus decided to make his way over, taking the empty spot by her on the sofa, waiting until she noticed his presence. Only she didn't notice until the mermaid nodded her head in his direction, bringing Éponine to look over. She jumped, clutching her hand to her chest and taking a deep breath. 

"I thought you had gone to bed already," she admitted.

"Do you want me to leave?" He asked.

"No, that's not what I mean," Éponine replied, " I just thought...I thought you would be upset for what I did earlier."

"Upset with what? Oh, you mean slamming Avery into the wall and causing him to lose a couple of teeth?"

She shamefully peered down at her hands. "I didn't mean for it to come across that harsh of a blow, it just happened that way. I was only trying to trip him because I knew he didn't trip the first time. He only did it so he could spill his drink on me, and I-"

"Éponine, relax, I'm not upset," Regulus told her, " I actually thought it was well-deserved. You should have seen what I was going to do with him. I already told him and the others to leave you alone. But it seems old habits are hard to break in their heads-"

"Why are you friends with them?" Éponine suddenly asked him, causing Regulus to fall silent for a moment. "You see the things they do, you hear the things they say, why are you friend with them? I mean, surely you don't want to keep telling them not to do something only to have them do it. It's a not a habit of theirs, it's what they like doing. It's a hobby."

"I've been friends with Avery and Mulciber since I was four years old," Regulus admitted, " long before I met you. I...I know they can be cruel but I wasn't much different from them. If I can change my ways to be a better person, I have faith that they can do it too. I don't want to give up my friendship with them, I want to give them a bit of time."

"The difference is, Regulus, you didn't seek me out to bully. They did. They actively seek me out to say something cruel. You were just there laughing along. There's only one time you made a comment towards me before they did."

"I did?"

"Yes, when you told me I would be better off with my face burned," Éponine told him. "You told me back in third year."

Regulus was about to start apologising profusely but something else struck him at the back of his head, something he had been thinking about earlier. "Third year, you said? So that's when you lit my trunk on fire, isn't it? It burned all my robes, my clothing, my bed...you set my bed on fire in the process. My parents had to pay a fine for that and of course, I got into plenty of trouble when I went home for Christmas..."

It sounded like he was complaining, but he realised that Éponine had been justified in her actions as she raised a brow at his tone. 

"But, I guess I deserved all that for what I said. I can't believe I actually said that....I'm sorry."

"It's fine now," Éponine replied, "I already got my revenge."

"H-how did you manage to set my trunk on fire without getting caught?"

"It wasn't that hard, Regulus, I was already practically invisible to the people around here, doesn't take much to go unnoticed."

She turned her gaze back to the cheerful little mermaid that was swimming about, attempting to bring back a smile to the girl's face. Leaving Regulus to watch, sitting in guilt before he picked himself up and decided to head off to bed. He muttered a "goodnight" in her direction, but he doubted that she heard it as she laughed at the little show of the mermaid making faces through the glass.