It'd been a week since Aoife's little breakdown. She was quite embarrassed by it, and took extreme measures to remain out of Regulus's sight. Whenever he entered any room, she would dash out quickly, muttering something about "fresh air."
It was quite amusing for some time, to be honest. Regulus found it hilarious the first few days, but soon after it became irritating. Belladonna had told him to brief Aoife about everything in the Wizarding World, but it proved quite tough because of this. He tried in vain to get his brother to do it, but he would waggle his eyebrows everytime and saunter out with a hearty chuckle. It was maddening.
The only person Aoife talked to was Sirius, and at times, the dark haired lady who had later introduced herself as Aletheia. It was hard to catch her alone; she had impeccable knowledge about the nooks and crannies of the Manor.
One day, when Regulus was wandering around the house aimlessly, he came across an ajar door. Peeking in, he found Aoife. Quickly entering, he chastised her about the way she evaded him, and told her she shouldn't be embarrassed. He then left as quickly as he came.
His reprimands seemed to have worked. Aoife stopped avoiding her, and it became easy to commence the lessons Belladonna was talking about.
They'd been getting along quite well now, and Regulus found out that even though she was just like his obnoxious brother, they had quite a lot in common. Aoife too was quite good in astronomy, granted the skies were quite clear over her village. She'd taught herself out of the books she'd issued from a library in London (Regulus found out that she frequented London often) and loved to watch the sunrise in the morning like him.
They were all just sitting in the drawing room, Sirius and Aoife aimlessly bickering while Regulus watched them, amused (Sirius and Regulus had made up after quite a tearful hour, Aoife conveniently asleep in the meadow) when Belladonna entered the room, quite pale. Aletheia was behind her, her face impassive as always.
"Sirius, can you come with us? It's urgent," Belladonna said, her eyes darting to Aoife and Sirius, who'd fallen silent.
"Sure," he said, getting up gracefully from the sofa. Aoife and Regulus glanced at each other and chorused, "shall we come too?"
"You are not ... required now," Aoife noticed how Belladonna looked everywhere but them as she said this. "We will call you when you're needed."
Both of them glanced at each other and nodded. Sirius followed them out of the room, hearing snatches of Aoife's and Regulus's passionate debate about traffic lights.
"What happened?" Sirius asked curiously, his gaze flitting from Belladonna to Aletheia.
It was the latter who answered, Belladonna looked quite incapable of saying anything: "we have unearthed some startling information about your brother and that girl; a little life-threatening, but nothing to worry about."
These words had quite an inverse effect on Sirius. His worry increased tenfold. Regulus was his brother, they're bond had just mended while Aoife, he realised suddenly, had been almost like the sister he'd wanted over the past week. He has big plans, they shouldn't be crashing down so soon.
"Is it fatal? Is it about that mark which appeared on Aoife's neck?" he asked anxiously.
"Sort of," Belladonna spoke up, leading them inside the library. Sirius too would've appreciated the cosiness of the library, one of the places he hated, if he wasn't preoccupied by the grim news he'd just received.
"What do you know about magical bonds?" Aletheia asked, seating herself at a polished mahogany table. Belladonna and Sirius followed suit.
Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "I'm a Black, ask me about any type of gruesome magic, and I can give you an essay on it."
Aletheia repeated her question calmly, not at all fazed by Sirius's reply.
"Well, it's quite old and obscure magic, not used much nowadays. It's irreversible, so if you've made such s bond, and you break it, you most probably die or something more horrible than that," Sirius said nonchalantly, leaning back in his chair, two of its feet suspended. Belladonna looked ready to puke.
"Is that the problem? Reg took up some bond and now his life is in danger or something? What about Aoife?" Sirius asked urgently, tipping his chair forward now, it's back legs suspended.
"Something of that sort, yes," Aletheia answered stoically. "The Inferi seem to have some kind of bond with your brother, through some debt, and he will most probably die if it's not fulfilled timely. They are apparently in dire need of his assistance," she answered.
Sirius let the chair fall back, stunned. He too looked fit to puke like Belladonna. How could this happen?
"This means that they'll track him here, and probably try to cash in their favour," Aletheia said.
"It's horrid," Belladonna said hoarsely. "Such monsters, such ghastly, accursed creatures ...!"
"Oh .. ok," Sirius said, his voice reflecting a bit of his fury. "So what do you expect of me? To skip down to him merrily and congratulate him on his impending death?" He was almost shouting till the end. Belladonna looked morose, while Aletheia sat aloof. This angered him more.
"You're in charge here. If you can't find a way to reverse it, you're useless. You won't give us a full explanation, and expect us to help you. You're pathetic," Sirius spat, toppling his chair over in anger. He started to storm out, but was stopped by Aletheia's crisp words:
"Aoife's a witch."
YOU ARE READING
INFERI (REGULUS BLACK)
Fanfiction"If you ever need me, I'll be at the Potter's." These were the words that kept on rolling around Regulus' head. His brother's last words before he left the house, bloodied and bruised. He didn't blame him of course. It must've been hell living as th...
