Black Rose [Regulus Black]

03 - different worlds & confused witches

For the second day in a row, Alessandra's dinner was interrupted by a stranger. However, they had the manners to knock on the door than sail through the window, thankfully.

Putting aside her dinner, she got up with a sigh and pulled open the door, to see the same dark-haired boy who'd barged in through her window yesterday.

"Nope," she tried to close the door, but he stuck out his hand.

"Wait, I have proof. You're a witch."

"That's not a very nice thing to say!" she spat at him, grudgingly opening the door slightly because she was kind of interested in what he had to say.

"Witches are female wizards. Anyways, here's your proof." He held out a book, which was opened to a page of a small family.

"What is this?"

"A book."

"I will quite literally slam this door in your face."

"It's the page about the Rosier family."

"There are thousands of families with the same name. I fail to see your point."

"Alessandra," he urged, holding out the book to her. "I think Dabria Rosier is your mother. Just look at her, it makes perfect sense. You look exactly like her, and share the same last name."

She slowly grabbed it, eying the portrait of the woman who resembled her in more ways than one. The women at the orphanage had raised her well enough. They didn't have many resources but they treated her incredibly well. It could've been a lot worse. She remembered a time when she used to resent her parents for abandoning her while other children her age could go to malls and trips to the zoo. She may have looked alike to the woman in the portrait, but she felt absolutely nothing.

If this was real, if this woman was truly her mother, she could go to hell. If she could afford to wear expensive gowns and have pretty pictures of herself published in books, she could've afforded to raise a child.

Alessandra wanted nothing to do with her.

"So?" she shrugged, her eyes still not leaving the moving picture. She could feel thousands of negative emotions course through her, emotions she thought she'd gotten over a long time ago.

"So?" he repeated in disbelief. "Don't you want to know more?"

"No."

"What do you mean, no?"

"I mean, no. Why is it any of your business if I want to look for them or not?" she snapped.

"Because I have questions," he replied. "I want to know how I landed here, I was seconds away from dying."

"Congratulations, you're not dead!" She planted a big smile on her face, and clapped. "Goodbye."

"I'll pay for your culinary school!"

She'd been pushing the door shut in his face but the moment he'd uttered those five golden words, she knew she had to do it.

Damn it.

She pulled back the door and narrowed her eyes. "What's in it for you?"

"Like I said, I have questions that pertain to you and me, so I need help to solve them."

"And why aren't you asking for help from people you actually know?"

"About that..." he scratched at the back of his neck, uncomfortable. "I may be a fugitive."

"A fugitive," she repeated in disbelief, and he reached for his wand because she looked like she was about to throw something else now. "So you mean to tell me that you're on the run from wizard police and just decided to come to my house? What if they catch you, I'll be an accomplice."

"Something like that...but they won't arrest you, they'll think you're some ordinary Muggle." He decided not to mention that he was on the run from a murderer and his cult, and that if they caught him they'd probably strike her dead because of her assumed blood status.

She sighed, allowing him inside. "I'm only not throwing things at you because I need the money. Don't flatter yourself."

It was his turn to shrug this time. "Fair enough."

"Anyways, what is it you need from me?"

"Your blood."

"I beg your pardon?!"

"I want to see who your father is," he said calmly.

"But...you said you know my family."

"I said I know your mother, not your father."

She blinked, perplexed. "What? I am so confused right now."

"You look exactly like Dabria Rosier except for the eyes. Dabria Rosier is married to Pyrrhus Rosier, but you don't have Pyrrhus Rosier's eyes either. So, I'm guessing you're the product of an affair, and were placed in an orphanage."

"And you got all of that by my eyecolour?" she questioned him skeptically. She didn't know how to feel. On one hand, it was extremely convincing. On the other hand, it sounded absolutely ludicrous and she felt like she was getting scammed.

"Yes."

"Okay, but even if I was the product of an affair, hypothetically, it doesn't really matter. What difference would it make to you?" She still couldn't understand why she was still listening to him, all the signs pointed to it being a hoax.

"I am a wanted fugitive, and therefore have a lot of time on my hands. So, I'm willing to help you and I'm just interested in finding out. You weren't invited to Hogwarts for some reason, that has never happened before."

"And how is this related to you... wait, what's even your name? I forgot."

"I am Regulus Black," he said patiently. Perhaps it wasn't the Muggles that were dumb, but the Muggle world. This girl had at least a little bit of pureblood ancestry in her, yet she didn't really appear smart. Clearly, the Muggle world had befuddled her brains, it was probably all the needles they kept sticking into each other. "And, I want to know why I came here of all places, when I was just seconds away from dying. To know how that happened, I need to know more about you."

She remained silent.

"Don't you think this is mutually beneficial?" he asked her, patience beginning to wear thin. "I get the answers I want, and you get to know more about your past."

"Not really," she muttered. "I will help you, because it's clear you are evidently jobless and won't leave me alone. But, if you're some kind of fucking fraud, I will kill you, and even your stick can't save you."

"It's a wand."

"There are wands?"

Regulus sighed. This was going to take a while.