The Life and Lies of Cassiopeia Rosier- Regulus Black

.an army whom all fear.

.if there is one thing gods love, it's tragedy. with wings that burn and men who fall.

The honeymoon didn't last long. We had a few blissful days by the sea with no one and nothing to bother us. For a few days it almost felt like we could leave it all behind.

But then one day, the dark marks on our forearms started burning with a fervor I had never felt before. A burning so deep and intense that it brought tears to my eyes. And just like that, we were summoned back, where reality came crashing back down around us.

A dark reality where terror like never before had settled over the world. Terror that reigned far and wide, none escaping its grasp.

It was so thick around me. Every breath I took contracted painfully in my chest. Anxious thoughts ran rampant through my mind. The whole world it seemed was charged with an atmosphere of paranoia and complete fear.

I had never experienced anything quite like it before, and I wasn't a stranger to terror.

Even the muggles had began to notice that something was wrong. Their newspapers broadcasted terror attacks, natural disasters, and strange disappearances. Little did they know that the truth behind it was far more terrifying.

"They have escaped our clutches yet again, my Lord."

I snapped back to attention at that comment. I had been filtering the meeting out, lost in the sea of darkness in my mind. My sanity was hanging by a thread, and if I had to hear anymore descriptions of how muggle or muggleborns were tortured to death, I would vomit all over the large onyx table.

But I recognized the rumbling voice. It was Travers. The Dark Lord had an elite few Death Eaters who were so brutal he sent them after his biggest targets. Travers, Bellatrix and Rudolphus Lestrange, and Barty Crouch Jr.

Whoever Travers had been looking for had been fortunate to escape his grasp.

"We raided the Potter mansion, but they..." He wasn't able to finish his sentence.

Horror gripped me as he was ripped from his chair and suspended in the air, above the table. He desperately clutched at his throat, pulling at invisible hands that threatened to choke the life from him. His silver veined mask covered his face, but I didn't have to see it to know that he didn't have long.

The Potters? He was going after James and Lily? I knew they were very vocal in their opposition of The Dark Lord. And James came from an influential family, so people listened to him. I was sure that was why he wanted them snuffed out. They were beacons of hope in this dark world. They all were, the entire Order of the Phoenix. Every step The Order claimed set the Dark Lord on edge, which was such a dangerous, dangerous thing, as he took his rage out on us. His ever loyal supporters. Not a meeting had passed recently without a torture or death of one of his followers.

I schooled my face into a controlled mask, merely blinking at the blinding rage displayed by the Dark Lord. I was still the only one he didn't let wear a mask. The only one whose name was known to all. There was no anonymity. No hiding. He wanted me to know he controlled me. And this was how.

"How have they escaped?" The Dark Lord hissed, his voice sounding more and more like the sharp slither of a snake. "You outnumbered them."

Travers choked, swinging his feet, still grasping furiously at the invisible hands at his neck. The dark Lord let him dangle for a few moments longer. Before flicking his wrist, allowing Travers to crash to the ground. He hit the side of the table before falling to the floor.

A horrible gurgling escaped from his throat, followed by the sound of him gasping for air. He slowly got to his hands and knees, chest heaving, his hands still clutching his neck, desperately gasping, trying to fill his lungs with air.