Jegulus - I'll be good

Part Five

Regulus stared down at the letter, his hands were trembling. The fact that he got this late at night was scary, because it meant something was about to happen.
He was about to sink down on his bed again, looking at his roommates, who were sleeping like nothing had happened. But he stopped himself. Suddenly he felt like he wasn't able to breathe and he needed to get out of here. Still dressed in his cloak he left the room as fast as he could, the letter put into his pocket. Also he didn't want anyone to see how thrown off the rails he was right now.

A few minutes later he had arrived the Room of Requirements. Now and then he escaped to this place when everything felt like it would be pushing him under water.
Today the room was quite dark, black walls, torches. A heavy red carpet on the ground, a chimney with a warm fire gave more light.
And in the middle of the room a black shiny piano finished the room.
Regulus immediately relaxed a little bit. Being here all alone and in silence was comforting. He wasn't brave. The letter gave him a racing heart and fear and he needed to calm down before he could open it. He sat down at the piano and let his fingers slide over the smooth keys, finally eliciting tones with them. It didn't take long until it turned into a heavy melody and he got lost in the music. Even though playing piano and violin was standard for the Black brothers, he really enjoyed it. It was his safe haven. And it made him forget the fear in his chest.

After quite some time his pale and slim fingers came to an end and he sat there for another minute or two, just watching the flames in the chimney flicker.
He took another deep breath and reached out for the letter of his parents, breaking the wax open and pulling out the parchment.

Our dearest son,

The time has come. I'm delighted to inform you that you will take your right place the upcoming weekend and that you will have the chance to bring good to our name.

Be ready on Saturday at 9 am, dress in your best clothes. Your father will pick you up.

We are so proud of you.
Yours truly
Walburga

Regulus had to read the few sentences more than three times to really understand them. And as he did, his vision started to become blurry. There was the trembling again. His head fell on the keyboard as he started to sob uncontrollably and he fell into this endless hole. That was it. The end of the line he hoped he could escape.