An: Inspired by Tangerine's insistence that Robert Sheehan looks like Regulus (or vice versa), this shall be a series of instalments about Regulus. It's about him and his brother, about him and the deatheaters but I think the fact that it's about him is good enough. Oh, and the title is taken from the Beatles' song. Enjoy.

In My Life

Instalment One

He couldn't say for definite when they had first met. With all the balls and dinner parties and dances, one met vast numbers of people; so it was possible they had first met years ago. But the first time he remembered actually meeting her was when she ran into him in their first year at Hogwarts. She looked so…contradictory, as though she was torn between apologising and arguing about whose fault it was. (Hers. It was all hers.)

"In a hurry?" he asked, arching an eyebrow, before bending down to pick up one of the books she had dropped. She looked familiar, but she wasn't in his house. A quick glance at her tie soon told him she was Ravenclaw, which meant he knew her from outside of school, so she had to be pureblood.

"What's it to you?" Her tone was haughty, but she smiled as he handed her the Transfiguration textbook.

He shrugged, taking in her dark hair and glinting eyes. "Regulus Black." He offered her a hand, which she shook, watching him carefully.

"Henrietta Adams." She ran a hand across her hair, checking it was still perfect, and he unconsciously mirrored her, before realising what he'd done and smiling sheepishly.
"Do you run into people often?"

"Only important people," she replied sharply, her tone not matching the compliment she had just paid him. "Once I tripped on the bottom stair and knocked Mr Lestrange over. That was terrible."

"Which Lestrange?" he asked, as they began to walk down the corridor, falling into step as though they'd been friends forever.

"Senior," she admitted, her hand clutching her books. "Mother was not pleased."

He grinned at the thought of this gangly girl running into Lestrange the elder. "I don't suppose Lestrange was particularly impressed," he replied dryly.

She laughed, before stopping outside the door of one of the Transfiguration classrooms. "It was nice to meet you, but I have to see McGonnagall about my last piece of homework."

He nodded, shoving his hands in his robe pockets. "It was nice to meet you too."

She pulled the door open and it was closing behind her when "Goodbye Reg," floated through it.

It wasn't a particularly inventive nickname, but no-one in Slytherin used nicknames. One was known by one's last name, which did lead to confusion when there were several offspring from the same family. In fact, the only person to ever call Regulus by a nickname was his older brother, which was why it was such a shock when this girl used it.

It had been odd, speaking almost candidly with her; with a girl, but as he walked away he found that he had quite enjoyed the experience. Not so much that he would seek her out, but if he happened to bump into her, he wouldn't hurry away. It was lucky for him then, that Henrietta had felt the same, but had no such qualms about finding him again.

Between her running into him accidently on purpose, and the discovery that they were both fans of spending time in the library, it was little wonder they soon became friends.