Ch 1: A very Black day

"We're going to be late," Dahlia's voice was overflowing with contempt as Elsa took the stairs two at a time to come to a rest on the landing where the haughty blonde waited.

"Late for what?" Elsa's voice was gentle in stark contrast to her sister's, despite the annoyance building in her, "It's just Diagon Alley, there's literally nothing we have to be late for there."

"If you must know, Freak, I'm meeting Daniel and I'd really rather not be late," Dahlia knocked her shoulder into the slight girl as she passed, "Your hair's blue again, Freak, I would go fix that if I were you."

Elsa felt a hot blush creep up her neck as she hurried to the bathroom to check on her tresses. Unfortunately, Dahlia had been telling the truth, blue was bleeding into her soft blonde hair once again. She concentrated on making the few whisper streaks of color return to the same platinum as her haughty sister. It took a lot more effort than it should have been for someone with her… talents, but after what felt like nearly an hour, she had managed a uniform color once more and headed out to join her sister at the floo.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you, Princess?" their father fawned over Dahlia as fiery seeds of jealousy spark to life in the pit of Elsa's stomach, he would never call her pet names like Princess, "It really wouldn't be a bother."

"Of course, Daddy, Freak and I are just getting school supplies it'll be a bore, besides we both know you have work to get done," Dahlia's voice still hadn't quite lost its haughtiness, "If you just give us money, we'll be fine."

He looked towards Elsa for reassurance, only to instantly become enraged, that girl could be so trying, "Salazar's snakes! Elsabeth your eyes are bloody orange! Can you at least try not to be so freakish? I mean, how in Merlin's name do you even get them to be orange?"

Unshed tears welled in said orange eyes as her father berated her until the offending irises finally lapsed into a deep cobalt, "I'm sorry, Daddy, I'll try harder."

Her promises fell on deaf ears as he merely nodded his approval of her somewhat normally colored eyes and turned back to Dahlia, "Here's some galleons dear, but don't be afraid to stop at Gringotts if you need more. Be sure to get something nice for yourself along with all the supplies."

The spoiled blonde barely batted an eye at the amount of gold suddenly handed over to her and Elsa felt her eyes drifting towards orange again as annoyance circulated in the pit of her stomach. She gritted her teeth against the color change, hoping to reverse it before-

"Elsabeth! That's twice already!" she earned a hard slap to the face for her efforts, "Once more today and you're going back to the room."

Tears threatened as Elsa's throat constricted in panic at the mere thought of the room, turning her eyes a deep grey. She managed to keep everything natural colors long enough for her father to bid Dahlia goodbye and usher them both into the floo. Elsa forced a halfhearted mumble into the green flames as she lost the battle to remain the right colors, her indignant anger and resigned sorrow wreaked havoc on her metamorphmagus abilities, twisting her into a brilliant rainbow. When they landed in the Leaky Cauldron, Daliah's shriek of laughter was a sure indication of that. The natural blonde managed to fish a mirror out of her bag after a moment or two and the sight that met Elsa was, as expected, horrifying. Her hair had managed to find itself in a completely curly and azure state while her eyes had turned a brilliant magenta.

"Freak," Dahlia managed between peals of laughter, and then she was off.

Elsa assumed to find Daniel.

That left her alone and without the money to buy the school supplies she was supposed to. Annoyance flashed through her once more, but she quickly quelled it. Dahlia had probably just forgotten she had all of the money, she was a blonde after all. It wasn't her fault she just wanted to escape from her freak of a sister and get back to the normalcy of Daniel. Having a sister that was always ruining your life with her oddness could hardly be easy for Dahlia. The thoughts swirled angrily in her mind, reminding Elsa once again that she would always hurt everyone she touched. She frowned again as a blue curl fell in front of her eyes. She looked like such a… freak. It was another five minutes of staring purposefully in Dahlia's mirror before she managed the same smooth platinum hair and crystal blue eyes as her sister.

The Leaky Cauldron was empty, well, there was always the stray ruffian nursing a fire whiskey or bowl of stew, but the Leaky Cauldron was largely empty. It was a rare occurrence that Elsa thanked her lucky stars for before heading out into Diagon Alley. The typical hasty bustle of back to school shopping caught her up as she tried to make her way to Grigotts. Some accidental pushing and shoving by various unaware strangers found her outside Quality Quidditch Supplies. She scoffed at the universe's idea of a joke like she could ever play quidditch, she turned to head back into the streams of people that filled the alley, intent on finally getting to Grigott's when she was quite unceremoniously knocked off her feet by a speeding blur.

"Sorry love," the now non-blurry figure managed as he struggled to his feet and offered a hand.

"No worries," she replied quickly, "It's my fault really. I'm always in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Nonsense," what she could now tell was a rather handsome boy with longish silky black hair and steel grey eyes fixed her with a rather piercing stare, "I wasn't looking where I was going."

His eyes flashed in the afternoon sun, trading between the color of cool steel and a cloudy sky. She found herself quite entranced in the stunning color and was only made aware of the fact that she was staring when he cleared his throat.

"You didn't hit your head, did you?" he shifted on his feet nervously and Elsa felt herself flush once more.

"Oh no, I'm fine really, thanks for the hand up," she glanced shyly at the ground and he lamented the loss of such a pretty sight, her clear blue eyes and pale as cream face with just a touch of rosy flush were hardly dissatisfying, "I should be off then."

He regarded her for a moment more, noting the way the wind toyed with her strawberry blonde hair, funny just a moment ago he could have sworn she was platinum blonde, "Where are you going? Perhaps I could help you make your way through what seems to be a rather rough crowd."

"It does seem that way," she cast a rather nervous look at the crowd, "But I couldn't possibly take you away from your shopping."

"It's no bother really," he felt his cheeks warm as he realized he still hadn't stepped away after helping her up, he could pick out every individual dark blonde eyelash against her roses and cream face.

"I don't even know your name," she turned the full force blue-grey gaze on him, "Besides I'm sure you have better things to do."

She was already slipping into the crowd when he grabbed her hand and pulled her to face him again, "Regulus."

"Elsa," she barely managed not to cringe at the sudden physical contact as her chest constricted with panic. Instead, she followed his example in leaving off her last name, not that she didn't already know his.

Of course, she knew the Blacks, having attended the Malfoy Ball every year since she could remember, she knew all the old and noble pureblood families. She hadn't recognized him, but with the name established, his coloring gave him away as the younger of the two Black brothers. She wasn't surprised, however, that he didn't seem to recognize her. Sure, the families loved to gossip of the disgracefully freakish Rosier daughter, but she was hardly ever presented to anyone of their preciously pure sons. She was much too much of a freak for that. Regarding him silently, she felt yet another blush came over her as she realized he still had a hold of her hand and she had been staring into his eyes.

"Well, you know my name now," he murmured, enraptured by the darkening rose of blush that bloomed on her creamy cheeks, "Where are you off to?"

She shook her head lightly at his unshakable confidence, what are earth did her stand to gain with her anyways, "Gringotts."

The reluctant reply brought a smile to his face as he tugged her into the crowd. The warmth of his hand seemed to travel up Elsa's arm and settle in her stomach as they traveled on. A smile worked its way across her lips as Regulus murmured sarcastic comments about the shoppers they passed and she found herself regarding him with a warmth she rarely, if ever, felt towards Slytherins, omitting family of course. It wasn't long before they had made it past the crowd and Elsa found herself staring up at the old stone façade of Gringotts, the most secure bank in all of the wizarding world. She absently wondered if her father would be upset with her small withdrawal, but quickly shoved the thought to the back of her mind. She didn't want to think of the punishment for withdrawing money she wasn't supposed to now, not with Regulus close enough to notice the sudden hitch in her breath and the blue in her hair. Instead, she managed several calming breaths while he regarded her still strawberry blonde hair thoughtfully.

"Do you go to Hogwarts?" he finally burst out after several seconds of brooding.

Elsa brushed a stray strand of hair from her face, more than a bit flustered, "Yes."

It was more of a squeak than and actually reply, which he didn't seem to understand by the way he regarded her with confused eyes.

She took a deep breath, and another before she was able to manage an understandable answer. Using the proper manners, she'd had drilled into her with the aid of a crucio or two, "Yes, I'm in Hufflepuff."

"I can't remember ever seeing you before. What year are you in?" he trailed his hand across hers as he finally retracted it.

"Fifth," Regret of the loss of the warmth he had been filling her with swirled in her chest. She didn't comment on his lack of divulgence in regard to his house as she already knew why. Hufflepuffs and Slytherin's weren't known to get along all that well, seeing as one house valued loyalty above all else and the other cunning ambition. They didn't exactly mesh well.

"Oh! That's the same as… as my brother, I'm sure you know him," his momentary burst of excitement quickly cooled at the thought of his brother. Certainly, he remembered how much more receptive to Gryffindors Hufflepuffs tended to be and how enamored most of the female population at Hogwarts seemed to be with the brave Black. He cast his steel eyes towards the ground and dug the toe of one of his gleaming dress shoes into the cobblestones.

"Regulus!" A shout interrupted Regulus' staring contest with the ground. His eyes traded between cool steel and cloudy sky again as he picked out the source of the call.

"So, I guess now's as good a time as any to say I'm in Slytherin," Regulus sighed, clearly expecting this would end their association.

"Reggie! There's my favorite little silver snake!" A taller raven-haired boy interrupted, his stormy grey eyes lit with excitement. Sirius Black, the heartthrob of nearly all of Hogwarts' female population positioned himself between the two, causing yet another blush to sweep across Elsa at his proximity.

"And a Black," Regulus released another heavy sigh and reluctantly turned towards his brother not wanting to lose her to his more popular brother already, "I'm sure you're at least heard of my brother, this is Sirius."

"Elsa," she shook his hand, hoping it wasn't noticeable that she was nearly trembling.

"Rosier?" Regulus's steel eyes went wide at Sirius's accusation.

Elsa cast her eyes shyly towards the ground and hoped desperately that her hair hadn't managed the full pink of her usual blush, "The one and only."

"I could have sworn you were a blonde," Sirius grinned roguishly, "But I have to say, I've always had a weakness for redheads."

She blushed even deeper and glanced at Regulus from the corner of her eye to gauge his reaction. She found he was staring at her hair rather thoughtfully.

"Just a moment ago I swear your hair was strawberry blonde, but now it seems decidedly ginger," Regulus commented as he gently picked a lock from her shoulder to twist in the sunlight.

The pale auburn strands glistened a deeper red even as he turned them in his hand and she felt as if she would explode from all of this bloody blushing, "Trick of the light."

Her throat was dry, and the reply came out as more of a croak than actual words, but it didn't matter. Knowing her cover had run out, Elsa took that as a sign to take her leave. As soon as he released her hair, she took off tossing a vague goodbye over her shoulder and claiming sudden important business. The brothers just stared after her with an odd mixture of curiosity and confusion in the similar steel grey and stormy eyes.

"So, she's a Rossier?" Regulus asked as they watched her disappear, "I don't suppose you know which one exactly?"

Sirius shook his head, "You know already so don't go pretending to be so thick, she doesn't need you ganging up on her as well. Hair going from blonde to red with her blush like that- she's the freak of course."

"Shame really, I was beginning to like her," Regulus sighed as Sirius smirked.

"I think she's going to be my new best friend."