Heart of a Lion

by justwhatialwayswanted

Summary:

Even before he goes to Hogwarts, Regulus knows he wants to be a Gryffindor. There’s no way he’ll let himself be a snake, like his mother, his father, his aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and every other person on the family tree. He likes Sirius much better than the rest of his family, anyway.
So when the Sorting Hat asks him where he thinks he belongs, Regulus knows what to say.

AU where Regulus is sorted into Gryffindor. This doesn’t actually really discuss their school days, it’ll jump right to after Regulus has graduated (but I do want to write about his time at Hogwarts at some point)

[Check last chapter for the link to the rewrite!]

Notes:

This is the first longer fic that I've actually completed, so I'm kind of excited about it! I've already finished the story, so I'll post a chapter every day. If I change something in previous chapters I'll let you know in the notes if you need to read it to understand what's going on now.
The other chapters will be longer than this one, so don't be disheartened by how short this is!

Chapter 1: Prologue

Regulus didn’t expect the Sorting Hat to ask him where he wanted to go.

As he’d sat down, he was resignedly thinking, It’ll be Slytherin, because all his family were Slytherin.

Except Sirius, of course, and Regulus would be lying if he said he didn’t want to be just a little bit like his big brother. They were both dark-haired and gray-eyed, but that was where the similarities began and ended, according to their parents.

Maybe the Sorting Hat sensed that little bit of resentment that he didn’t know how to be different, didn’t know how to set himself apart. He wasn’t Sirius, but he’d quite like to be, to have the courage to tell his parents they were wrong.

Regulus didn’t think he could do that, but then, he’d never tried, and Sirius certainly hadn’t done anything like that before he’d started going to Hogwarts.

Maybe being in Gryffindor was the key to being Gryffindor-like. It would explain why the Hat asked him where he wanted to go, after all: if everyone got more like their House said they would be after they were sorted in there, then whatever they were originally suited for didn’t matter, did it?

So he didn’t need to be the sort of person who would tell their parents that they were ridiculously wrong. Or at least he didn’t need to be yet. If he was in Gryffindor, he would learn to be that person.

So when the Sorting Hat asked, Regulus thought for a moment and then replied in his head, as politely as he could, I’d like to be in Gryffindor, please.

The Hat sounded rather pleased when it said, A fine choice. Then it shouted “GRYFFINDOR!” to the Great Hall, and there was only a split second of silence, less than he’d expected, less time for people to try and wrap their minds around the second Black son being a Gryffindor as well, before his new house started cheering, with Sirius and his friends, the third-year boys, loudest of all.