"What did you tell him, Barty?"
Regulus had his wand to his now former lover's throat, his breath reeking of alcohol and betrayal. "How much does he know?"
Barty retreats a step, backing himself into a literal corner in an attempt to get out of Regulus's offensive. "Just – let me expla—" But a hand gripped his neck before he could finish, pushing hard out of desperation.
"No," Regulus growls, his voice throaty, hateful. "I don't want to hear excuses, and at this point, I'm not sure that I want to know the answer, either.
"Do you have any clue what you've done? You think, what? You think that he'll be grateful to you? That since you've told him all your dark, little secrets that you'll be off the hook? You know as well as I do that he's not nearly that merciful. You're one of us, Barty. You became one of us, it was your choice. How could you be so stupid?"
He gulped, fear in his eyes. Barty's knees felt weak, but he willed himself to remain – or at least appear – strong now, no matter how much he regretted his actions. He had no choice. None of this had ever been a choice, nothing he had ever done had been voluntary.
By the time he found his voice, it was small. Far smaller than he wanted it to be. But it was a voice, nonetheless.
"You know who my father is, what kind of a man he is. You know the power he has. There was nothing I could have done—"
"You could've protected me! You could've at least protected yourself. But now you've got both sides coming for you." Regulus paused for a moment, letting the words sink in. "And there's nothing I can do to help you anymore."
.
A/N: I haven't written these two in so long, I forgot how much I love them (and clearly, by "them," I mean all the angst). For the Investment Building Challenge with the prompt "I'm not sure that I want to know the answer."