Rabbits and Rattlesnakes [Regulus Black/OC/Tom Riddle ]

Chapter 22

His elf told me the news. He'd been instructed to tell me, but his words were harsh and vague. I can't explain what I felt when those words entered my ears, but I've presumed the way I reacted was not the way one should as I never seemed to react the way I should. I organised a burial to hide the fact that there was no body. I stood there for a while, watching the clouds darken above the grey stone. He'd shocked me. He'd genuinely surpassed what I thought him capable of. I had never expected someone exceeding my expectations to be so tragic.

As I looked up at the swirling skull in the sky I still felt someone watching me, and as an icy droplet of rain ran down my cheek I believed that drop was gifted to me as a tear I wished I could shed for him. When I turned to meet the eye of my admirer my body jolted slightly. He walked towards me warily, the darkness of his floppy hair matching his sombre suit. I edged towards him, trying to meet him halfway but my body seem to reject any proximity to him, but as he approached I felt the sting of another's eyes continue on my skin.

"I just came to pay my respects." He spoke quietly as we reached each other, but his tone didn't match the anger and fear behind his eyes. I stared at him as he didn't move, confused as to what I was supposed to say.

"I'm sorry for your loss." I stated, a slight furrow in my brow as I examined his face to see his reaction.

"If you're really sorry then maybe you can tell me how my brother died." Sirius' lips pursed together, desperately trying to contain his emotions.

"I'm sorry, Sirius. I wasn't there, I can't-" He lifted his hand dramatically to stop me from speaking. He squeezed his eyes shut but to no avail as tears began to stream down his face.

"I tried so hard Eloise." He spluttered through gritted teeth. "I tried so fucking hard to avoid this, but you just had to come in and..." He shook his head.

"Regulus had chosen his path long before he met me, Sirius. You know that-"

"Does that make you feel better?" He spat at me. "Telling yourself that he was doomed from the beginning? Well so was I, Eloise. I was brought up in that fucking house with... I could have helped him but now here we are, at his grave with that fucking symbol swirling above him." He laughed for a moment. "I didn't expect death eaters to be so sentimental." He went to move past me, and in a strange moment of complete thoughtlessness I reached out and grabbed his arm.

"You didn't know your brother like I did." I whispered, pulling him into my side to try stop him from wriggling out of my grasp, growingly aware of the hidden eyes looming. "That symbol is not one of respect for a fallen soldier, but a warning to the rest of us." Sirius looked down to the hand that grabbed him and I watched his eyes fall onto the edge of my mark peeking out from my jacket sleeve. He sighed heavily and reached his hand into his jacket. I quickly reached for my wand, in one swoop extending it into his chest where his hand lay. He slowly retrieved his hand from his inner pocket to reveal a letter.

"I received this a week ago, just before he..." He extended it towards me, his arms passing my pointed wand. "You might want to put that away before a muggle sees." I awkwardly retracted my wand, accepting the letter. A week ago was when this all started, he must have sent it the night we got home after the manor. The night everything changed.

"I presumed he'd lost his mind, but maybe you can... make sense of it." As I opened it and read the words my stomach turned, but that sickly feeling quickly turned to elation and I fought the overwhelming smile threatening to grow on my face as I re-read the words over and over again.

"Sitting under a willow is love, but heaven is sitting under a willow with another who appreciates the shade, R.A.B."

"I understand it." I whispered, turning to search for those damned pair of eyes watching us.