THE SCARS ON MY BODY ● JEGULUS |MARAUDERS|

✹SEVENTY-THREE✹

HAPPY NEW YEAR/NEW YEAR'S EVE...WELL, IT MIGHT NOT BE SO HAPPY WHEN YOU'VE FINISHED READING THIS...BUT...Y'KNOW...HAVE A GOOD LAST DAY OF 2021 <3

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✹ They all looked like children,

though, he supposed,

they were children ✹

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Regulus stared at the skull on his arm, his expression unadorned and his room unlit, the fresh wounds on his back pulsing. 'How dare you disobey me. How dare you think you could leave this house. Leave this family.' The curtains were closed, it felt like too much of a chore to open them. Maybe it had snowed, though, he did not care to know. He would not sleep. Sleeping in that room was something he feared greatly; nightmares were going to be the death of him.

Humphrey was asleep on the floor beside him, huddled so deeply in blankets that Regulus could not see his face. Mother had forced him to eat, stating that not doing so was stupid and childish. At least she had managed to do one good thing in her lifetime.

Crouch was reading silently in the corner, only a candle for light. Regulus liked to watch as his lips mouthed the words on the page ever so slightly, the candlelight focusing on his perfectly combed hair and tired eyes.

Regulus turned his attention to the ticking clock beside him.

11:59

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, waiting for the last tick.

12:00

"Merry Christmas," He whispered to himself, refusing to open his eyes. It was no different to having them open, it was dark either way.

"Merry Christmas, to you, too, Reggie." These words scared the life out of the young Black. His eyes shot open only to find Crouch standing beside him, his dressing gown hood up and his hands hidden away in his huge pockets.

"Wasn't talking to you," Regulus mumbled, looking over at Humphrey to make sure the two of them hadn't awoken him. They had not.

"Well, I was talking to you." Crouch shoved Regulus' shoulder, a movement that told him to shuffle over and make space for him to sit down.

"You're not getting in this bed with me."

"Why not? I'm cold and I don't want to sleep on the floor with only one blanket. Now scoot." Regulus looked at him for a moment longer before letting out a sigh of surrender, budging closer to the wall on his single bed so that Crouch could slide in beside him.

Crouch pulled a book off of Regulus' shelf and chortled, opening it up.

"Chapter 4, The Flight," He read softly, his voice calming and sweet, "'Second to the right, and straight on till morning.' That, Peter had told Wendy, was the way to Neverland; but even birds, carrying maps and consulting them at windy corners, could not have sighted it with these instructions. Peter, you see, just said anything that came into his head.
At first his companions trusted him implicitly, and so great were the delights of flying that they wasted time circling round church spires or any other tall objects on the way that took their fancy." 

Regulus soon found himself falling asleep peacefully for the first time in longer than he cared to remember. No nightmares. No fear. Just sleep.

***