Once upon a Midnight Dreary - Regulus Black

Chapter 6

"𝔜ou really don't have to do anything for You-Know-Who," Jiao began, then changed her mind mid-sentence and stammered, "I mean for V-Voldemort?"

Regulus suddenly stirred, causing the chair beneath him to squeak with indignation. I noticed his nervousness and decided to pick up the story instead.

"We're not valuable to him at all. We mostly just attend his meetings and listen to him brag," I said, thinking that at least there was some truth to this.

Lord Voldemort really didn't consider us useful assets in his private little army, though he was still intent on sending all his Death Eaters to launch an attack on the Order of the Phoenix. It was going to be an unexpected raid during a rescue mission. They were apparently protecting someone important the Dark Lord needed. I only knew what was deemed necessary. The exact details were always left unsaid. He had private meetings during which he usually informed his most trusted minions that would be in charge of the entire operation. In this case, it was going to be Lucius Malfoy and the Lestrange brothers, people on top of the Death Eater hierarchy. He usually distributed new tasks during these secret encounters, and would only call an assembly if he wanted to make an example of a new hostage or another Death Eater that had previously failed him.

"Then why did he allow you to join his ranks if he doesn't give you any tasks?" Jiao kept up with the interrogation. "Don't get me wrong. I want you to be as far away from him as possible, but I really don't understand."

She shifted position and sat cross-legged instead, staring curiously at Regulus and me from the other side of the table.

We found ourselves in her kitchen once again where we had taken refuge from the raging July heat. The shades were down at the windows, the sunlight leaking in at the sides making a dim light in the room. It was a Friday afternoon, and Jiao had just come home from the Ministry. We had talked about her internship before she had ventured to ask us about the Dark Lord, curious to find out more about the darker, more difficult aspect to our lives.

"It's more about declaring alliance with our families," Regulus answered, slowly overcoming his inner angst. "He thinks of it as a gift of some sort. He was merciful enough to let us serve him, so now our parents are in debt to him and ought to do their best to support him in exchange."

I sipped at my cold beverage, my gaze flickering between him and Jiao. We must have been the most peculiar trio ever to exist.

I studied her, her dark unkempt hair in a messy updo, her eyes that should have been scared yet they forever remained compassionate, and her small hands now clasped on the table. She sat perched like a bird, her frame once again lost beneath baggy shorts and an oversized blue t-shirt, leaving her scars clearly visible. She reminded me of an innocent mundane life filled with long strolls in floral parks, sunbaths under white fluffy clouds and a crackling fire on autumn evenings. She was nothing out of the ordinary, and perhaps that was why I found her company so soothing.

Regulus' world was on the opposite side of her world. It was a scheduled life of tea parties and posh soirees, boring etiquette classes and strict rules to follow. Even now, he wore his usual fancy clothes because he still had no Muggle ones, sitting upright in his chair as one would sit in a waiting room at the hospital.

A flood of memories began to pour into my mind, memories of us playing Quidditch for hours on end and spending entire afternoons in the dusty school library. That was the past, and our future still reeked of uncertainty, but I could already picture a vine-wrapped house somewhere warm. It was a place with long sunny days and short nights, a place with no menacing shadows, a place where we would live a life full of peace and justice.