occasus [regulus black]

𝐱𝐱𝐢𝐢.

Thick and steady snowflakes fell from the sky evenly, coating everything in a white blanket. With stiff hands, Estelle pulled the scarf tighter around her neck, pushing her shoulders upwards to shield her from the wind. Usually she wouldn't leave the castle, when the weather was this cold, but she had to get a few things from the greenhouse, before Regulus and her could start working on the antidote.

"Watch your step." A hard voice told her after she walked into someone. Looking up, she saw James with a handful of some leaves he must've found under the snow. He promised Lily to get her wildflowers, but forgot that there are none growing currently, so he just went with what he found.

"I can get you some real flowers if you want to?" Estelle asked apologetic, trying not to sound too desperate for forgiveness. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't even know why they hated her so much.

"I think Lily will enjoy the leaves more." His voice was cold but when he saw the pain in her eyes, following his sentence he felt a stab in his chest. The stab only lasted a second, before he remembered which side she chose.

"Can you at least tell me why you all just decided to hate me?"

"You and Regulus? You're teaming up with the enemy. God, you kept telling us how Nesrin was your soulmate, your other half, but couldn't even show up at her funeral. Guess now that she's dead you feel relieved, not having to pretend to be friends with someone like her anymore. You didn't just betray us, but also Nesrin. I have nothing to say to you anymore. Just don't talk to me, don't look at me and most importantly don't try to ask forgiveness." After that James turned around and left Estelle in the snow. Hearing him say all those things to her face made her stomach drop. The worst thing was that he didn't even sound angry or hurt, just done.

Done with her.

It was on her she knew that. They turned away from her as a reaction to her actions. Actions she chose to make.

When she had seen the funeral invitation Nesrins parents had send her, she just knew that she couldn't go. Just thinking about it made her feel sick. Having to explain to them how their daughter died, because she didn't see the signs earlier. How it was her fault that Nesrin ended with a dagger in her chest, falling off of the Astronomy Tower backwards, breaking every bone. Being forced to give a speech about Nesrin, about their friendship, her death, while looking into the countless faces of people that would be blaming her. She knew she wouldn't be able to bear it.

Her left hand was twitching viciously. Quickening her steps to the greenhouse, she kept thinking about what James had said to her. When she finally arrived, she immediately reached under the empty flower pot, grabbing the last joint and starting to smoke it silently. The second she inhaled the smoke her hand stopped twitching and she could feel her heart rate slowing down. Although she had promised Regulus that she would tune it down a bit, she couldn't help it, smoking was the only thing that helped her.

The ice cold water hit his tense back repeatedly, slowly causing him to go numb. Regulus let his head fall into his neck, the water hitting his face hard. The cold went into his head and made his eyes and brain feel like they were about to burst. He had woken up from a nightmare drenched in sweat again. Since his plan with Estelle was, now that he got the basilisk venom, almost complete, there wasn't a night where he didn't have nightmares. Gasping for air he stepped away from the shower, seeing black dots in his vision and feeling unnaturally light on his feet.

Everything seemed to be way louder than usual. His steps echoed through the hallways, on his way to the library. Thinking about what was about to come made his stomach drop. He knew he was being pathetic and way to emotional. Today was the day he had hoped for since he was little. Finally, he could make his family proud and show them what he was capable to do.