Blood runs wherever his fingertips graze me | Jegulus

Chapter 2

Friday 23rd November 1979

There was hardly any current in the little dungeon, there were no windows or vents, or anything for air to pass through. The only entrance and exit was in an old wooden door with rusty gears at the top of some flimsy-looking stairs. The atmosphere was heavy, and the unpleasant smell of sweat and blood was constantly present.

There was no light; Regulus was completely plunged into darkness in the moments when James left him alone. Because of this, he had lost track of time quite easily; he had barely been there for a week, and he no longer had a clue whether it was day or night, or whether it had passed two hours or barely twenty minutes. He deduced that the longest periods in which James didn't come down to pay him a visit were the nights, and Regulus tried to orient himself with those little details so as not to descend into madness.

He had tried to call Kreacher, but his elf had not appeared; he wondered if there could have been any way the Order had managed to discover some magic to counteract that of the elves, and Regulus couldn't help but feel apathy and admiration at that in equal measure.

"What are you thinking about?"

Regulus raised his head; he was thinner, paler and dirtier, and his face was full of dark circles and wound marks. He looked at James with tired, bored eyes, raising his eyebrows with little energy. He didn't answer.

James paced around Regulus's chair, circling slowly, his black boots tapping on the floor.

"Cat got your tongue?"

"No," replied Regulus, "Your question just seemed so stupid to me that I've decided to ignore it."

"Why? Because you don't think?"

"Because your little brain could never understand what I'm thinking."

Regulus heard James chuckling, and tried to turn his head slightly to look at him sceptically; however, before he could, he felt the tip of a wand dig into his back. "Transmogrifian," James drawled.

Regulus felt as if every bone in his body was being broken. He thought about screaming but decided he didn't have enough strength left to do that. James waited patiently for the effects of the hex to wear off, crouching down in front of Regulus and looking at him with a soft smile.

"So? Are you finally going to collaborate?"

When Regulus stopped feeling pain, all he could do was breathe like he was short of air. Staring at James with narrowed eyes, he shook his head, adding sarcastically, somewhat smugly, "Could you repeat what you wanted to know? I ... I think I don't remember well..."

James licked his lips, and Regulus could see the exact moment his eyes darkened with anger. "Oh sure, baby Black," James snapped, grabbing Regulus's already bruised jaw tightly and digging his nails into his skin. "Tell me your fucking secret, the one you have against Voldemort."

Regulus gave a dark, listless laugh, "Do you know how unconvincing you are?" He mocked, "Even a Mudblood would do better, I've been here a week and you've still gotten nothing out of me," he snapped, "Don't you feel a bit sorry for yourself? I'd be quite ashamed to be you right now."

James raised an eyebrow, "Are you trying to piss me off? What a shame. Have you decided you want to die so quickly?"

Regulus cocked his head mockingly, "Oh yeah, I'm so afraid you'll kill me, someone who doesn't even dare to use unforgivable curses is going to kill me, I'm sure about that," he said sarcastically.

"What? Didn't you hear what I did?" James asked, pride filling his voice, "I thought all the Death Eaters were talking about me..."

"...yeah, you see, we really don't take you into such consideration..."