Upside Down Mirror: Free Falling (Harry Potter Fanfic)

Shaken

What his grandfather said brought no comfort to Regulus as he sat there now staring at his breakfast.

Knowing now like he did that he needed the calories didn't help, as he couldn't help but think how difficult it might be for them to retrieve some of the objects, particularly the ones places in the care of other Death Eaters who were most certainly loyal to the one he'd so carelessly just a few minutes before reformed to as the Dork Lord simply because a small child put that nickname into his head.

"Put any planning on how to get the Horcrux out of your head Regulus. That's my job now, and not your worry anymore. Everything will be alright."

The moment his grandfather finished speaking, repeating what he'd already said, an all-to-familiar voice called out from outside his grandfather's dining room. "Arcturus! Arcturus Black!"

Regulus stood up in that moment, his entire body trembling as he did so, his eyes glued to his plate of half-eaten food. The chair he sat in clattered to the ground rather loudly, making every eye at the table look at him, yet the voice stopped. Without looking up, he heard his grandfather's chair scrape across the ground. "Bloody woman." Glancing up, Regulus saw Arcturus Black heading for the door of the dining room before stepping out halfway. "What do you want, woman?"

"Regulus! Have you seen Regulus?"

Regulus froze where he stood, looking again at the half-finished food, having completely lost his appetite. One finger pushed the plate away, but his head didn't lift to see Andromeda or her husband's reactions, at least not until Andromeda said in a rather low voice, "Nymphadora, no."

"Now why would you be looking for Regulus?" Arcturus asked while Regulus looked up to see why Andromeda said no and saw one of her hands firmly latched onto the back of her daughter's clothing to prevent her from leaving the room to see what was happening, but when Nymphadora opened her mouth to say something, Ted placed a finger on his mouth.

"Why? Because Regulus didn't come down to breakfast this morning, and when I went up to his room, I found his bed not slept, nor was he asleep at his desk! This has never been the case!"

"I'm so sorry," a third voice which Regulus recognized spoke up. The voice was quieter than the other two, yet he recognized that voice, his body possibly trembling even more. "Walburga and I've been losing sleep ever since Regulus joined up with that lot."

Which, Regulus for one moment didn't believe, but then his mother muttered frantically. "That lot, that lot."

"I'm not in the mood and would like to eat my breakfast in peace."

"I don't care if you want to finish your breakfast in peace!" Walburga bellowed out, her voice getting louder, indicating she was getting even angrier... "I've even more important things to worry about." ...or... "Regulus?"

Regulus didn't look up from the half-eaten food, now feeling like vomiting, the stress starting to get to him. "Oh, there you are."

"Orion, don't say it so candidly as if he were playing hide and seek with us!" Walburga snapped. "And what is she doing here?"

"It is none of your business, but Ted Tonks is my healer and he brings his wife and child along with him at times, particularly if I have to call them during the middle of the night because of an emergency."

Regulus looked up, right at his cousin, and saw a look of discomfort on her face, but at that moment Nymphadora escaped her mother's grasp and hurried over to the two newest additions. "Hi! I'm Tonks!"

"Well, hello Tonks."

"Orion!"

Regulus glanced up, quite confused regarding the matter, but watched his father bend down and look Tonks in the eye. "Now, what was the emergency last night that you and your mother were also rushed out of bed?"

Tonks pointed a finger at Regulus and quite enthusiastically said, "He almost turned into a zombie and looked like a drowned rat."

"Nymphadora!" Andromeda called out, a hand-clapping over her mouth. She glanced over at Regulus, that look of apology he always remembered being on her face when Bella overstepped, or even Sirius.

"What..." Walburga hurried over at that moment, her thin fingers reaching out and grabbing his shoulder tightly. "What is meant by you looking like a drowned rat last night?"

Regulus simply looked at the floor, where the chair had falling, but then Orion spoke in that clam manner which always seemed even scarier than Walburga, the calm coldness ever so calculated, just like a Black should be. "Regulus?"

"Hold on. You're all bandaged up." It was then that Walburga began unbuttoning the front of the pajamas, nor was she gentle in how she went about it.

"Maman..." Regulus' cheeks flushed.

"Walburga! Get ahold of yourself!" At first, he'd thought his grandfather spoke, but when he looked up the young wizard saw the one looking at his mother in outright fury was his father. The man walked over, grabbing her hands and pulling them away. "Enough!"

"That." She gave Orion a rather wild look then. "He's bandaged from head to foot."

"Well, not quite." The man gave him one of those looks which always indicated they would talk when his mother wasn't around, that he'd majorly crossed a line. Regulus instinctively took a step back.

"Regulus..." His mother's hand reached out for him, but Regulus instinctively back away, but the sound which escaped his throat sounded like a wounded animal. In front of him was his worst nightmare he might imagine, even more, frightening than the one he'd only a few minutes early called a dork.

"Enough. He's made his choice and there is nothing we can do about that," Orion turned, pulling Walburga away.

"Regulus, sweetheart. Please. Please come home like a good boy we know you are. Home, where it's safe."

Those words of course confused him, but his hands clenched, anger feeling him, the same bravado from the night before feeling him. "Good boy?" There was so much venom in his voice as he looked at his feet. "You want me to be a good boy? Do either of you even know what that means, because I certainly don't if it means being a Death Eater!"

"Wait..." His father's voice softened, which sent chills down Regulus' spine. "You've defected?"

Which of course confused Regulus even more.

"Regulus." Somehow his mother managed to escape his father's grasp and stepped forward. "Come home where it's safe dear." Regulus bolted around to the other side of the table and behind Andromeda, his hands grasping onto the back of her dress, his entire body trembling as he hid his face in the small of her back. Andromeda's arms reached back, comforting. "Why the bloody hell are you hiding behind her of all people!"

"He's afraid of you," said the voice of the one person everyone forgot was in the room, including Regulus.