ARSONIST'S LULLABY ━━ r. black¹

𝖛𝖎. pandora's box

彡 chapter six
( pandora's box )

REGULUS GINGERLY PROBED his jaw, wincing at the flesh that had been mottled by bruises in shades of twilight and noon. He cursed loudly, glaring at his brother with extreme contempt. "What was that for?"

"Don't touch Mora ever again," Sirius spat, fists clenched, eyes raging. "I know exactly what you're up to."

"Both of you, stop!" Morgana cried out, breaking herself free from the grasp of Peter Pettigrew and throwing herself between the two brothers. She turned towards Sirius, head cocked to the side, oblivious to the eyes trained upon the scene they were causing in the middle of what was supposed to be a party. "Sirius, you had no right!"

Sirius cowered under her gaze, flinching at the forceful rage punctuating her usually soft-spoken, lilting voice. Morgana spun on the spot, emerald eyes flashing. "Entertainment is over," she called out. "You can get back to your party."

"I know my brother, Mora," Sirius said, his voice hushed. "He's going to do nothing but hurt you, just like the rest of my family."

"I can handle pain," she scoffed, a dry, mirthless laugh, escaping her lips. "And I can snog who I please, you twat."

Regulus had been standing to the side, watching warily, a cloth wrapped around ice pressed to his jaw that someone had handed him, it might've been Margot. The haze of his brother physically resorting to blows was going to make him sick, and his head was pounding. Morgana backed away from Sirius, until she was standing next to the younger Black brother.

She was taller than most of her peers, bronzed limbs spilling from her dress, heels bringing her up to the same height as Regulus. "Let's leave," she whispered in his ear. "I don't think the best place for you to be right now, is in a room full of Gryffindors."

Everyone was staring. The pair could feel eyes boring into their bodies, as if they were translucent, pearly, ghosts that everyone could look straight through. Morgana felt as if she was burning under their gaze as she yanked Regulus's hand, pulling him out of the Room of Requirement, and down the corridor. They found a small nook, which was when she pushed him against the wall, and probed his chin. "Episkey!"

"Merlin," Regulus hissed, as the wound stung fiercely for a moment, before the throbbing subsided. "You could have warned me-"

Her lips quickly pecked against his, and she drew back, laughing. He lead the way to the Slytherin Common Room, hand in hers, fingers entwined as he gently traced circles on her silky palm with his thumb. She smelled like jasmine, whiskey, and cedar wood, tendrils of her perfume wrapping themselves around their little bubble.

Morgana Fawley rather disliked the color green, yet the scent of peppermint and ash, and the emerald glow of the common room lent it an eerie sort of charm, damp stone walls and all. The room was rather empty, due to the late hour, and the party currently taking place, so Regulus led her over to the couch that was pushed suspiciously close to the fire. Ornate rugs, elegant silk tapestries stitched with golden thread, and hundreds of portraits of distinguished Slytherins, it really was no surprise to her that this was the house that most pureblood families favored. It didn't have the same rustic, homely charm, of the tower, but it had a charm, nonetheless, even if it was absolutely freezing from being under the lake.

Regulus seemed to notice her shiver, and summoned a jumper that flew from one of two hallways that led off from the room, boys and girls presumably. It was green and silver- his Quidditch jumper. She shrugged it on gratefully, knees curling into her chest, when her eyes flitted to a portrait fixed near the fire place that was no bigger than a small mirror. Her mother.