Regency in Diagon Alley [Theodore Nott | Harry Potter AU]

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The catacombs under London were a maze, a maze of bones as Muggles and Magical folk have used it to bury their dead when there were no lands left to do so. To an ordinary person who walked these dark, damp paths surrounded by death, the bones were like any other, but to a magical person's eye they could identify who was a witch or wizard from the bones that piled against the walls. They just had to look at the skull and find a symbol. The Symbol of Merlin. Three spirals connected to one another. But before Merlin, it was simply the Druid's symbol.

Regulus Black has passed about a dozen skulls bearing that symbol, each one marked at the center of the forehead, but it was not separated from the unmarked skulls. It just goes to show that underneath that flesh, beyond that magic, Muggles and Magical folk were alike.

A chuckle must have left him, Regulus realized, as Tonks asked, "What's so funny?"

Pointing the light of his wand to the direction of the trousers-wearing witch walking towards him, Regulus said, "Nothing, I just remembered something. About what Diogenes the Cynic said to Alexander the Great."

"I am searching for the bones of your father but cannot distinguish them from those of a slave." Tonks shrugged when Regulus' brows shot up in surprise. "I still learned despite my track record in Hogwarts."

"I never doubted that, Nymphadora." He noted the restraint she had to not roll her eyes when he said her name. Only he, and her mother, were allowed to call that.

They continued in the dark path, wands lighting the way as they searched for any sign of the man they were hunting. Earlier that day – after receiving news from Tom that they were headed to Clach Dhubh – Regulus gained a visit from Tonks, telling him of what she found in the catacombs and told him to meet her at the north entrance quarter to midnight, where there were no suspicious eyes watching. The timing was perfect, for once, because he had to accompany his mother and cousin to Bath that time.

The silence between them neither comforting – that was the last thing he would say considering they were in a literal grave – nor tense. It was always like that with Tonks, even when she was little and would come to Grimmauld Place as an invitation by Emmanuelle. He had no doubt that it had something to do with the complicated nature of their relations. If her mother's face had not been blasted off on the family tree, Tonks would have been his second cousin in his mother's side, and fourth cousin in his father's side...

He decided it was best to just call Tonks a cousin than consider the number, especially when he and Carina made a realization his parents could also be his cousin. He and his eight-year-old niece then were cooped in the room studying the family tree when she came to the thought of it. Yes, best to just let things be when it came to the family tree of any pureblood family.

How lucky were the Notts to not participate in such practice since the Fourth Duke of Danu married a half-breed witch. If he recalled correctly, Cantankerus Nott married a Rosier, while his brother who became the main line of the family, married foreign witch. Then the duke's son, Theodore's father married a nymph.

The Notts may have stopped with the in-breeding, but Regulus had to admit, they are the only pureblood family to even consider marrying magical beings and continue their line.

"How is Andromeda?" Regulus asked, attempting to fill the silence.

"Fine. She spends her time reading and weaving." Tonks shrugged. "She sold a piece the other day, earned a patron too."

"That's nice to hear... out of curiosity, does any of our companions know about our familial ties?"

"Remus never asked, so I never told him. All he knows is that I was an acquaintance of the Marchioness. How is the Lady?" They made a right turn.