Arcane (Regulus Black)

twenty

After a few weeks, I heard no response from Reg, I told Sirius. I told Sirius about my father and his parents and their vial methods of unbearable agony. I grew worried at the slightest chance that Regulus was being abused at the manor. I remembered the mark on his arm during the dance rehearsal which had caused him to flip and shut down, instantly becoming cold hearted. Sirius denied it, several times.

"Sirius, I saw a mark on his wrist, it was dark, it could have been a bruise."

Sirius's face fell and that was when I knew there was something he was not telling me. Something which he had kept for years. I reached out and enveloped my hand in his. His face remained staring at the table.

'Um, I don't really know how to say something like this,' he paused and looked up and in that moment my entire world turned upside down. Everybody loved the sun and how much it burned but nobody ever asked if the sun grew tired of making the shadows disappear. "I just... I never expected them to do it to him." he paused and tried to gather his breath. I felt his grip on my hand tighten. "They never did it to him before because I was... I was there instead. I always figured that's why I was like this. I used to act out or something so that their attention remained on me and they would not punish him. Thats why-"

"James makes you stay at his house. It makes sense and there's nothing wrong with that Sirius." I squeezed his hand and smiled n between my tears. "I just wished you told me this when it was happening."

"We were just mere kids and I thought they would stop eventually."

"Sirius" I whispered and enveloped his hand with mine but he pulled away and forced a smile on his face which disappeared in a mere second.

"Anyway" he smiled but his thoughts had taken him away. "Sorry, I just never expected they'd do it to him. He was always the good one" he paused.

Silence followed between us as we sat in each other's company.

I watched his eyebrows furrowed and grow as he sat with his thoughts. I had never seen him this quiet before. "Siri- "

"I think something's happening" he blurted out. I shrugged my shoulders as he took a cigarette out.

He lit his cigarette and inhaled, "What if there's a team like you said and our parents have joined them?" He whispered.

My face faltered.

"Because," he rested his hands on my arms in an attempt to comfort me. "With the rise in disappearances and attacks that has got to be the only answer. The pure bloods are up to something."

"And our parents are a part of it" I murmured, Regulus too.

—-

We went back to school but James, Sirius and the rest were piled up with studies for their upcoming OWLS alongside Remus and Lily to ensure they completed their studies. In a way it worked out for me because I was able to see Reg.

I waited on the rooftop for him that night. He never came. I waited and waited. Slowly I felt his presence vanish from the tower. The worst part was that he remained in my classes and I saw him but he avoided me.

Regulus. The boy who drew memories in my mind I could never erase. The boy who painted colours in my heart I could never replace.

Regulus

I watched at her. She was sat across the room on the couch, book in hand, her arms pressed down the blanket that wrapped her body.

Lost in words, but she still managed to sense my gaze, she glanced over the pages and immediately I looked down. Then her eyes and mind return to another world, but her heart stayed here with me. I wish I could take mine and give it to her.

Truthfully, there remained a feeling of inevitability when I met Elizabeth. I thought that force of attraction, that bond was between Sirius and her but I still felt it with me. The sense that we would be together; that there would be a moment when she would look at me in a certain way, and we would finally cross the threshold from friendship into something so much more. That would have made our parents proud. I always thought Sirius was the one.

Even after Sirius left, we promised that we would always find each other, no matter how many times the world came between us, like lovers. But the time had come where I had to break your break.

To keep you safe and protected but I hoped you would hold onto every feeling. Elizabeth. She remained the thought behind every feeling, the swelling in my chest, the starlight in the evening, the yearning when I undressed. She was the sound behind the sighing, the song of every bird; the tears in all my crying, the ache of every word.

Sirius black. Everybody thought of for you. But I think you were always meant to know me a little better than anyone else. You and I shared something between us, nobody could understand. I thought our lives were fated to converge like some cosmic dance, and our parents would celebrate and rejoice at that. I know there was a terrible distance between us and I may never hold you in my arms again but as long as you are safe and sound, I am comfortable with that. Even in the arms of another. For our bodies are made of celestial light, and we are hurtling through space and time, toward the beautiful collision. I promise you, that when this life ends, and the dust settles I will find you in the next. Elizabeth, you are the love that came without warning; you have my heart before I could say no. but nonetheless fate says otherwise. You and I were always meant to part ways, only so that we could find each other again. if two people are meant for each other, they will always find their way back.

I snapped out of it as my friend clicked his fingers in my face. "Come on Black where have you been?'' I dropped my gaze and looked elsewhere but not fast enough. Crouch snapped his head around and smirked back at me as I ignored him and continued with my research. He ignored me and walked over there, alongside Avery and Rosier.

Elizabeth

This happened every single day for a week. It was worse than normal. They waited outside of my class, inside the library. Some days, they just called me names, other days they'd take my books or trip me over. It hurt and the embarrassment was rough but not as much with regulus stood behind them.

"Hey Blackwood, are you still sticking it to the muggles are you?"

"Knowing blackwood she's definitely had her rounds, are there even any left?"

I gritted my teeth, "you know it's not like that."

"Why don't you ask Taylor" rosier whispered and smirked when my face fell. I wanted to scream and push her onto the ground but I'd see Regulus behind her and I felt everything all over again.

This time I was not going to rest, my gaze remained fixed on him. "Aren't you going to do anything about this Regulus?"

His face remained tall. I watched his eyes briefly fluttered as he saw the crowd had silenced around, as they waited for his response. "You know your fault. You should not be hanging out with this..." he paused as students walked away, and he turned.

I was not going to let it go. I grabbed his arm in one last desperate attempt and his entire body flinched. He tried to snatch his hand away but instead he pulled me closer. In that moment, I let go but our gazes remained fixed on each because he knew what I had seen. His bruises on his wrist but there were more. His cloak had shifted and his chest and back shared some too.

"Keep your nose out of things that do not concern you Elizabeth" he sneered and walked away, infuriated.