He returned as steady as the Mountain Wind

The Return of the little King

"King" Years & Years

There were flames everywhere, as if the world was on fire. His lungs breathed in smoke and coughed out water. The stench of death hung thick in the air, promising death and misery. His mind was abuzz as memories flickered behind his eyes. It was as if life was flashing before his very eyes.

Memories of his brother. Perhaps the only light of his childhood. Sirius had always sought to entertain him with practical jokes, "pranks" as he called them, against all "proper pureblood behaviour" their mother indoctrinated them with. Sirius as the unruly heir apparent had it a lot worse than Regulus who was considered "unimportant" even by the branch families. At that time their great-uncle Alphard was the ruling Lord Black. But their grandfather Arcturus was the second eldest, therefore next in line. When Arcturus died, and Orion was deemed unfit to perform his duties, everyone flocked to Sirius, regaling him as the next-in-line. Walburga knew how to spin the situation to her benefit, although that didn't necessarily mean to the benefit of her sons. When he was a child, Regulus thought that was why Alphard all but adopted the two of them, to protect them from Walburga. It was only later, when Alphard died shortly before Sirius was to enter Hogwarts, when Regulus realized the real reason: All that craziness in the Black blood led to constant infighting, conflicts Alphard had protected them from. The last two years before Hogwarts were hell on Regulus. Walburga had claimed the title of "Black Matriarch" and while that didn't give her any pull in the Wizengamot, it did gave her power within the family. Power that made no one question what was going on behind the closed doors of Grimmauld Place no 12.

Once in Hogwarts things didn't get better. His relationship with Sirius was strained, being in different houses. That, and there was James Potter, and Dumbledore. Regulus watched in pain how his brother slowly got sucked into the maelstrom that was the "Light Side". It was only in fifth year when he realized the entire magnitude of it. That summer he all but begged Sirius to listen, just listen. And, to Regulus' surprise, Sirius did listen.

Compulsions, potions, obliviates, and even an imperius. That was the true extent of what Dumbledore had been doing. Sirius, Potter and even the spell-resistant lycanthrope Lupin. All of them had been pushed into a particular direction. They had started to plan. To try and make things right. Regulus pulled in a ton of favours he had accumulated over the years. But in the end, it wasn't Dumbledore who shattered that little flicker of hope. It was Walburga. She banned Sirius from the house, even tried to disinherit him. Alone with her in the house, Regulus became the new target of her ire.

Two months. Two months he spent with her, clinging only to the knowledge that Sirius was safe, safe, safe, safe. And he wanted out, out, out. Anywhere was better than that house. Anyone was better than her. That was his first mistake, assuming that there was no greater evil out there than Walburga Black. So he took the one step he knew that would save him from her. A step in the wrong direction. That was the second mistake, taking a mark.

The third was buying into what the Dark Lord (wrong, wrong, wrong, that's not what the Dark is about, remember Uncle Alphard!) was selling. The fourth was not asking Sirius for help. The fifth not telling the truth when Sirius asked. By the sixth (killing an innocent muggle) Regulus realized that things had gotten out of control, that he had switched his demon for the devil himself. It took him three years.

When he finished school, he started looking for a way to rectify his mistakes. To help vanish this evil. It took another two years, and a lucky coincidence (not really lucky for anyone, but it gave him the advantage he needed). He had gone into the cave expecting to die a watery death.

So why was everything on fire? Why was smoke filling his lungs, and why did his eyes feel so heavy? He imagined to die with his eyes wide open, widened in fear. He expected to die with fire in his veins, and water all around him. Instead there was fire all around him and his head felt as if it was under water.