Hogwarts Entertainment Magazine

HP Character of the Month - Regulus Black

Born in 1961, Regulus Arcturus Black was the youngest son of Walburga and Orion Black and younger brother to Sirius Black. Despite being the younger son, Regulus was favoured over his older brother in the eyes of his parents as he showed loyalty towards his family, whereas Sirius was rebellious and disregarded the family traditions (something which eventually led to him running away from home and being disowned by their parents).

Regulus attended Hogwarts from 1972-1979, and was sorted into Slytherin House, where he played in the Quidditch team - it’s thought he played as Seeker, though this isn’t confirmed - and was a member of Horace Slughorn’s famous “Slug Club”. During his Hogwarts years, Regulus developed an admiration for Lord Voldemort and aspired to be a Death Eater, cutting articles about Voldemort and his followers from The Daily Prophet and sticking them up in his room. At around the age of sixteen he received the Dark Mark and joined the Death Eaters.

Not long after joining, Regulus started to wonder whether he had made the right decision, and his doubts were strengthened when he discovered Voldemort’s intentions to kill off the Black family House Elf, Kreacher, to test the defenses for one of his Horcruxes. However, Kreacher was able to escape and returned to Regulus to tell him what had happened.

After hearing the lengths that Voldemort was willing to go to cement his power and try to gain immortality, Regulus decided to defect from the Death Eaters and fight against his former master. He made a copy of the locket Horcrux that Voldemort had hidden with Kreacher, and inside left a note which read;

“To the Dark Lord,

I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more.

R.A.B.”

Regulus then ordered Kreacher to take him to wherever Voldemort had taken him. When they reached the cave, Kreacher led Regulus through the cave’s defences to where the Horcrux was hidden. Regulus decided he would be the one to drink the potion, and he told Kreacher to make sure the lockets were swapped once he had finished drinking, then escape without him and destroy the Horcrux. Once Regulus had drunk the potion, Kreacher managed to switch the lockets and escape, but Regulus was dragged to his death by the Inferi which lived in the surrounding lake.

The events surrounding his death remained a secret to everyone, including Regulus’s own family (his brother, Sirius, assumed that he had simply gone too deep into the Death Eaters’ ranks, before wanting to back out and being killed for it), until Kreacher revealed the story to Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger almost twenty years later in 1997.

Grace Waterson
(Source: HP Wikia)