Silent Riot | Regulus Black

THIRTY FOUR

It was one day until Easter, and two days away from Gemma's birthday. She'd been pushed into the Greengrass library with Eva and Gage while her friends conspired about what to do for her birthday. They always threw her a mini party, just the four of them since it was over the holidays (and they didn't really have any other friends anyway), and it would always be spectacular.

She was playing a random card game with Eva- secretly letting the girl win- when Jace Snyde apparated into the room. He staggered, his head in his hands. Gage immediately stood and quickly helped his friend into an armchair. Gemma stood too, ignoring Eva's complaints about the unfinished game.

'Is it done?' Gage asked in a low murmur. Snyde's hands were shaking, but Gage was unrelenting. 'Did he do it?' He urged. Finally Snyde pulled his sleeve back to reveal the twisted black ink on his arm. Gage brought his hand near it, and a whimper escaped Snyde's lips.

'It still hurts? When did it happen?' He asked confused.

'Y- yesterday,' Snyde breathed. 'We had a meeting today. T- two more.'

'That's a really ugly drawing,' Eva commented. 'I can see why he's upset about it.'

Gage spun, as if only just noticing that the two girls were there. Snyde also turned, in alarm.

'Eva, go,' Gage said quietly. The girl picked up on his threatening undertone, and she bounded out of the room. Gage rounded on Gemma, and grabbed her arm. 'You can't tell anyone about this. Do you understand?'

'You...' Gemma was at a loss for words. Gage seized her shoulders and shook her lightly.

'Godammit, Aston, say you won't tell anyone!'

'Why is everyone joining the fucking Death Eaters like its a knitting club?!' She damn near shouted at him.

'I didn't know,' Snyde whispered, 'I didn't- I wouldn't have gone home if I knew- they forced me-'

'Tell me what happened,' Gage said to his friend. 'Who else?'

'Rookwood... Rosier... Fucking Snape... Nott...'

'Nott?' She interrupted. 'Which Nott?'

'I um- Teddy's second... cousin....um...'

'Shut up,' Gage snapped impatiently at her. He turned back to Snyde. 'I mean who joined?'

'The Hargreaves girl, and Black, I le-'

'What?!' Gemma blurted.

'Stay out of this,' Gage snapped at her, but she pushed him off and went to kneel in front of Snyde's chair.

'Snyde, I need you tell me everything that happened.'

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

Regulus watched as the Dark Lord removed his wand from Elladora's skin. A twisted black snake was now on her arm, contaminating her, permanently.

Now she moved aside, he found himself looking into the eyes of the very man who was about to tear his entire life apart. The man who beckoned him forward, the man who he obeyed, despite hating every fibre of his being for accepting this fate so easily, for every wrong decision he'd made to put him in this position, for not leaving when he'd had the chance, for not patching things up with Sirius when he'd had the chance.

Because now he never could. Now he was far beyond any possible redemption, in Sirius' eyes and in his own.

He kept his face a cold mask as he felt the Dark Lord's eyes bore into him, attempting to pick up on a hint of his thoughts. Regulus almost didn't notice when the tip of a wand was pressed against his skin.

And then the pain came- a horrible, burning sensation that flooded through him and brought tears to his eyes. He looked up at the ceiling, willing it to crumble and end him, end everyone, end everything.

As the wand was removed and he moved away, he went through his memories one by one, trying to find one that would relieve the pain.

He remembered playing chess with Gemma, reading in the library with Luke, getting drunk by the Black Lake for the first time. He remembered breaking into the Shrieking Shack with Gemma, studying with Elladora but just laughing instead, kissing Gemma for the first time when they weren't themselves, and then again in the common room when they were.

He thought of what he did when he cast a patronus for the first time. Him and her, lying side by side in the astronomy tower, staring at the stars. Barely touching, but impossibly close in more ways than one, barely talking, but saying a thousand things at once.

He even thought of Sirius, the two brothers chasing each other around the house, Sirius comforting him when he'd just received a particularly bad punishment, both of them following Kreacher around and pretending to be house elves.

His eyes were glassy and distant when Elladora took the Unbreakable Vow. But as the Dark Lord began talking again, reality came crashing back down, and he had to face the present, for now.

Regulus had never hated anyone more than he hated himself in that moment.

Elladora had taken the vow. He hadn't been forced to, but he wasn't surprised she had, by how 'weak' she'd become during her time away from home. His insides grew cold as he thought of how Mulciber, Snape and Avery might try to sabotage her and get her to fail. He'd be waiting for them to try.

He was frozen in shock, and didn't hear when the Dark Lord told them to leave, only obliging when his cousin Bellatrix whispered in his ear forcefully to get out.

Elladora showed him to his room, and he sat on the bed, still frozen. He wasn't thinking any thoughts. There was just him, and the hatred, and it was drowning him.

Elladora came back later, and tended to his arm with a warm soaked towel. He felt pathetic, hers hurt too yet she was comforting him, it should have been the other way round, but in that moment he knew he needed her, because she was the only friend, sister, someone that he had now. All other doors were sealed- Sirius, Gemma...

Gemma. She probably would not even look at him now. She'd been frightened by the mere hint of his allegiance, and if- when she discovered the mark, she would despise him. She would turn him in to the Order, she would get him sent to Azkaban-

- Gemma wouldn't do that, he reasoned with himself. She knew his situation. She knew he wasn't a bad person.

Wasn't he though? Here he was, pledging himself to take and destroy lives; how could he say he wasn't a bad person?

He heard a faint clang from the bathroom, as Elladora gripped the sink. He heard her sniffles, and it brought back the tears in his eyes.

'Elladora?' He called out. 'Are you okay?'

'I'm fine,' she responded.

She wasn't fine. He wasn't fine. And they never would be again.