Walburga Black was a storm.
That was an observation Elizabeth Rowle had made within five minutes of being in the proud woman's company.
Unfortunately she hadn't brought an umbrella to protect her from the rain.
"She is rather skinny isn't she? That isn't acceptable."
"She needs better birthing hips."
"Are you certain she is fertile?"
"Stand taller! A future lady of the House of Black should demand her presence to be known."
Elizabeth stood with stiff politeness as Walburga inspected every strand of her hair. Her mother and father stood to the side with Orion, anticipating the rest of the day, which they assumed would be spent discussing marriage contracts.
Regulus stood beside her; tall, dark and silent, waiting for the verdict on whether or not his mother approved. He'd already obediently endured through three other inspections his mother had conducted through out the week, as she was attempting to find the perfect woman to marry her precious son.
"Alright," Walburga finally let go of Elizabeth's chin, and bore her piercing gray eyes into her crystal blue ones. "She's acceptable."
Walburga left her swiftly, turning to enter the study with her mother and father. Ready to sign her life away to a stranger.
The door clicked shut, leaving Regulus Black and Elizabeth Rowle alone. She smiled politely to ease the tension. His lip quirked slightly in an attempt to smile back, though his stormy gray eyes gave away his exhaustion.
They had spoken before in the library at hogwarts, though briefly. However she knew he was a death eater, just like Thorfinn, though according to her brother Regulus was not quite as enthusiastic towards the tasks the Dark Lord gave them as many of the other purebloods.
The atmosphere suddenly became suffocating to her, the realisation of what her mother and father were doing right this minute sinking in.
She was to be married within a year.
"Is there a lavatory I could use?" She asked him suddenly, an urge to escape the room taking over.
He nodded for her to follow him, leading her to the first floor of the house. "Through that door," he told her quietly, pointing down the hall. "I'll wait downstairs for you."
She thanked him before shutting the door quietly. She turned and leaned her back heavily against the wood, the day's events taking a toll on her.
She hasn't even known of her mother and father's plans to betroth her to the youngest, and currently only Black son, and only five minutes after being told of why she was at Grimmauld Place, she spent minutes, which had felt like hours to the blonde, being poked and evaluated by the Black female patriarch.
She felt violated, every insecurity she hadn't even known existed throbbing against her bones. How could a woman see so much fault in everyone else around her?
Breathe in.
She stood up straight, placing her emotionless facade back onto her features.
Breathe out.
She entered her reality once again, passing the beheaded house elves without looking at them and gliding down the stairs, as a proper lady should.
"The papers have been signed," her mother told her as soon as she had entered. She sent them all a polite smile, one she used so often she was certain she could not muster a real one if she tried.
"That's wonderful!"
From the look on Walburga's face, she hadn't responded with enough enthusiasm. Elizabeth doubted anyone could show enough enthusiasm for marrying a Black son in Walburga's eyes.
LINEBREAK.
Narcissa Black's wedding was as grand as expected from a pure blood wedding. Though Elizabeth had been to several before where the mood was stiff and reserved, it was obvious that Narcissa and Lucius were pleased with their union.
She was made to sit beside Regulus, which was a much better situation than her older sister Euphemia, who was now betrothed to Nott, an undeniable creep almost thirty years older than her.
Oh how she dodged a bullet with that one.
Avery was seated across the table beside Rabastan Lestrange and Barty Crouch Junior, looking at Regulus with a smirk stretched across his face. Regulus only ignored him, deciding instead to carry on his conversation with his intended.
"Oi Black-" Barty was suddenly cut off by his father clipping him over the head.
"Don't shout across the table boy! This is a wedding!" he hissed, glancing around to make sure no one else noticed his behaviour. "I will not have you wreck my perfect reputation..."
Elizabeth stopped listening to Mr. Crouch's angry whispers, turning back to Regulus's waiting gaze.
"Don't worry about them, they're always bickering quietly among themselves. Most people are just too absorbed in themselves to care."
Elizabeth's eyebrows shot up at his jibe towards purebloods, though he never took notice as his stormy grey eyes caught Rodolphus Lestrange beckoning him. "If you would excuse me."
He rose from his seat, fixing his robes slightly as he strode through the crowd. Elizabeth followed his form until another body blocked her line of vision.
"Miss Rowle," a silky voice purred. She glanced up and watched Avery settle himself in Regulus's abandoned seat. "I don't think we have formerly met."
She politely shook the dark haired man's outstretched hand, wondering what he wanted with her.
"I must apologise on Regulus's behalf for leaving, just some business needs taken care of." He glanced towards the direction where Regulus headed and shook his head. "Nothing personal against you if course."
Elizabeth suddenly understood why he was here. He mistook her watching Regulus leaving as irritation.
Not curiosity.
"Understandable Avery," she replied in a formal tone. "Regulus's business is his own. Now if you could excuse me, I must use the lavatory."
Elizabeth wondered how many more times this winter she would need to use that excuse.
She fleed to the exit, leaving the ballroom to enter the foyer. She stilled for a moment to gaze at the chandelier, with water-like drops of crystal hanging off, threatening to fall.
If I was a manor, where would my bathroom be?
She entertained herself with such a daft question, picking a hallway at random and deciding to follow the white marble path. There was no one around, making her drop her straightened posture and relax her poker face. There was no one around to judge her every move.
"He is insisting you join a raid before you graduate from Hogwarts Regulus. I know you wish to wait-"
Her ears perked at her brother's voice, following the sound until she met a cracked open mahogany door.
She only had a sliver of vision into the room, yet she spotted Regulus's stiff posture and Rodolphus leaning against the wall beside him.
"Perhaps you should join us after new years Black," Lestrange spoke, crossing his arms. "Can't let the muggle filth celebrate without us now can we?"
She held back a gasp, backing away from the door. Unwilling to hear Regulus's reply. They were plotting murder.
Of course she wasn't oblivious to what was going on. She knew there was a man who took muggle hunting to the next level. She knew they were so full of hatred that they were willing to stoop as low as the muggles by killing them. She knew their leader's name.
But to marry a murderer...
She struggled for breath as she fleed, stumbling into the bathroom she told Avery she was going to.
Breathe in.
She was to be married next summer.
Breathe out.
She was to be married to a true death eater. She let out a laugh before brokenly sobbing into her hand. She felt torn between her innocence and her duty to her family. Once again she was leant against a bathroom door, attempting to regain her sanity.
She re-gained her composure instead, taking slowly steady breaths, practicing her blank stare on the wall.
Breathe in.
Muggles do not matter to her.
Breathe out.
Her future family does.
LINEBREAK.
"There were once three brothers who were travelling along a lonely, winding road at twilight-"
"Midnight," she interrupted the dark haired wizard, causing him to look up at her in confusion.
"I'm sorry?"
"Mother always said midnight. Sorry you can continue," she replied sheepishly.
Regulus grinned at the blushing girl sitting cross legged beside him and went back to reading the book.
"There were once three brothers who were travelling along a lonely, winding road at midnight."
His mother had invited the girl over to stay until they had returned to Hogwarts for the rest of seventh year. Apparently Walburga wanted to set an example of a fine lady.
Father knew that they needed time to get to k ow each other so their marriage wasn't miserable.
At first things were tense between the pair, though they soon relaxed after discovering the other's love for books.
This was the third story he had read to the blonde, though he didn't get to the ending. For he was interrupted by a burning sensation in his right arm.
He yelped in shock, still not used to the mark he'd obediently received during the summer. He knew what the burning meant, even if he hadn't been summoned until now.
"Reg?"
He inhaled sharply, before getting up from the comfort of the sofa. "I'm sorry, something's come up. It's- I have to..."
"I know."
She knew.
He never realised that she was aware of his affliction to the Dark Lord, though he supposed her brother Thorfinn was also a death eater. She really shouldn't be surprised.
He noticed a tinge of sadness in her soft blue eyes. "You can go on."
"I'll be back soon," he reassured her, not sure why he felt the need to make such promises.
LINEBREAK.
His breathing was heavy as he stumbled up the stairs of Grimmauld Place.
Breathe in.
He had killed her.
Breathe out.
He was a murderer.
He stopped a few steps from the first floor, not having the strength to continue forward. He was a murderer.
He hadn't expected this... this agony. He hadn't expected the sudden wave of guilt and fear after he uttered those unforgivable words.
"Avada kedavra!"
They had taken him to a muggle village for his first raid, finding him a suitable family to slaughter. He knew they were vermin. He knew they did not deserve to live while their superiors, the magical world, lived hidden in fear. That's what he was told. That's what he had known for his entire life.
They didn't deserve to live.
They didn't deserve to live.
He doesn't deserve to live.
He imagined how Dolohov would laugh at his display of weakness, the thought driving him to stand. Instead of going to his room, he turned and went back down the stairs, instead following the ground floor corridor to the kitchen.
He knew where Orion kept the good stuff.
Just as he removed the cork from the half full bottle of matured fire whiskey, he heard a voice interrupt him.
"Have fun?"
He hadn't expected the coldness in her usually silky, musical voice. He refused to meet her gaze, instead choosing to stare at the contents of the bottle.
"Tell me something good."
He turned his head to look at the blonde against the door frame. "What?" He was too tired to decipher what she had meant.
"Tell me something good that came out of your adventure."
He stared into her soft, blue eyes, observing the smouldering fire within them. How long had she been keeping that fire away from mankind?
He returned his attention to the whiskey, taking a long swig from the bottle.
"Nothing," he ground out, anger now replacing the inner turmoil of guilt he felt for murdering a mother of three.
He turned his stormy grey eyes back to his future wife, rage swirling within them.
"Not a goddamn thing was good about it."
She observed him for a moment, making him nervous that she would tell the world his thoughts, before turning from the kitchen and disappearing down the hall.
It took him a moment of doubt, but he followed her retreating back anyway. She disappeared into the library, flicking her wand to light the cold fireplace, the raging flames encasing the room in warmth.
"Come here," she said, louder and bolder than he'd ever heard her speak. He came to sit beside her, frowning as he attempted to read her intentions.
"Do you know his name?"
He watched her intensely, waiting for her to elaborate.
"The Dark Lord. What is his name?" Her tone was fierce and demanding now, her blue eyes were icing over as she stared back at him.
"Voldemort."
She smirked darkly, showing Regulus a darker, scarier side of the girl. "Wrong," she declared, crossing her legs and straightening her back. "His real name."
He frowned, mind spinning with thought. His real name? That was something he'd never thought before. Did the Dark Lord change his name?
"I don't know."
She nodded at him, not really surprised. No one knew his true name. That was why all the purebloods believed in his blood purity agenda.
"I was speaking to Professor Slughorn at the start of the year. You know how interested I am in potions, and he told me something interesting, about a boy he taught years ago. Named Tom Riddle."
"Riddle? That's his name?"
She hummed in agreement, leaning slightly closer to him, the light of the fire dancing in her eyes. "That's his name indeed. Taken after his muggle father."
Regulus's eyes widened as she rested her arm on his shoulder, his heart beating hard. Though he wasn't sure if it was from the knowledge that the Dark Lord was a half blood, or Elizabeth.
"How do you know all this? If he finds out that you know he will slaughter you," he whispered, grasping her arm gently to face her, pure blood customs on boundaries before marriage flying out the window.
She smiled, unphased. "I'm glad you care."
"You're no good of a wife to me if you're dead are you?"
She only laughed at him, stoking his curiosity even more. Making him wonder what other secrets she had hidden.
LINEBREAK.
A great weight lifted off Regulus's shoulders once he'd returned to Hogwarts. Thankfully the Dark Lord could not reach him there.
He quickly got back into the routine he had before the Christmas holidays. The only difference was he seen less of his 'friends' and more of Elizabeth.
He had no objections to this new development, the excuse of spending time with his intended suited him well. It meant he wasn't under Avery and Rastaban's watchful gaze.
He needed time.
At first he decided to ignore Elizabeth's claim of Lord Volemort's lack of purity, everything he's sacrificed; his beliefs, his innocence, his left arm. To accept the truth would mean that it was all for nothing.
But the more he thought about it, the clearer it became.
The Dark Lord lied.
He never wanted a society that Pureblood's would rule. His true ambition was to become the king himself. The Pureblood's were only tools. A step ladder, willingly allowing him to climb to the top.
He needed to be stopped.
LINEBREAK.
July arrived quickly, and the wedding of Regulus and Elizabeth Black was soon upon them.
The ceremony was elegant and extravagant, as it was completely planned by Walburga.
"I do wish the traditional Black gown suited you, but your lack of curves would have never pulled it off," she sniffed, making sure her opinion on her soon to be daughter-in-law's appearance was known.
Mrs. Rowle said nothing as she fixed one last sparkling pin to her daughter's hair, only smiling brilliantly at her handy work.
Elizabeth only focused on Regulus as she glided down the aisle with her father, ignoring the fake smiles and stares of everyone around her.
Breathe in.
Engaged for only seven months, now goung to be married within an hour.
Breathe out.
A kind and compassionate man Regulus was. She could have done much worse.
LINEBREAK.
Walburga, though a proud and arrogant woman, wanted the best for her only son, so had generously given the newly wed couple the Black Manor that had been unoccupied for three years. They both didn't sat anything, but they had a mutual hatred for the beheaded house elves that hung on these walls also.
The pressure of getting married had been relinquished, however now Walburga was consistently hinting every time they came over for dinner to begin producing heirs.
They only told her that they wished to wait a year or two.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Regulus stilled in his haste to pull his robes on, his arm throbbing. "Go back to sleep, I'll be back later."
"I can't go to sleep with you so frantic can I?" she rolled her eyes, sitting up from their bed to watch him. "What does the Dark Lord want with you at 3 in the morning?"
"Probably another mission," he muttered, grabbing his mask from the bottom drawer, he leant down to press a kiss on her forehead. "Be back soon."
She watched him dissapparate with a crack, and sighed to the empty room.
She woke up, feeling the shift of the mattress as Regulus settled down as gently as he could. She supposed it wasn't his fault she was such a light sleeper.
"What happened?"
He tensed at her voice, before relaxing and turning on his side to face her. "Another raid against the order."
He stayed silent for a moment before speaking again. "He held me back after the attack, he said he wanted to ask me something."
She frowned, though it was too dark for Regulus to see. "What did he want?"
"A house elf."
LINEBREAK.
She woke up again to Regulus getting changed, though this time he attempted to be quieter.
"What are you doing?"
"I've been called again."
"Those aren't your death eater robes."
He froze, not expecting to be caught in his lie. "I-I have something to do."
She sat up and moved closer to him, giving him a demanding look. "Tell me."
He stared at her intensely for a moment, his stormy grey eyes swirling with determination.
"I'm going to destroy him."
Who he was speaking of was clear, though what he was going to do still confused her. "What do you mean, where are you going? Regulus!"
He prepared to apparate, but stopped as Elizabeth grasped his hand tightly. "Don't go."
Her heart pumped quickly, an unsettling feeling flooding her senses. She knew this was going to end bad.
"I have to," he argued, trying to pry her hand off. "I'll come back, don't worry. Kreacher came back, he's going to take me to the cave-"
"Cave?" Elizabeth questioned, exasperated from Regulus trying to escape her hold. "Reg stop that and talk to me. What cave?"
"The cave where he hid a piece of his soul!"
Her eyes widened, and her has blackened in shock. Only one thought was going through her mind. He made a horcrux.
"Regulus... just stop and-and think for a moment. You can't just rush in an destroy a soul," she stressed. "Only certain things could destroy a horcrux-"
"We can think about it later," he dismissed. "I need to get it now incase he decides to move it."
"Regulus no."
"Elizabeth..."
"Please! Please just stay here, don't go." Her eyes held so much fear, he had to look away.
"I have to."
"Regulus it's a suicide-"
He interrupted her words with an abrupt kiss, holding her cheek softly with one hand. She inhaled in surprise, before returning the action with passion. She slackened her grip on his arm, giving enough time to grasp his wand and hold it to her forehead.
"Obliviate."
Her eyes turned glassy as he stepped away from her solemnly. "I'm sorry."
He disapparated with Kreacher, leaving no one to know the true character of Regulus Black. Because whilst the rest of the world, including his disowned brother, seen him as an obedient son of blood supremacists, the only one to know of his sacrifice was left with nothing but distant memories.
word count: 3350
Wriiten for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft Wizardry (challenges assignments) forum.
Prompts:
ASSIGNMENT 3. LESSON: MYTHOLOGY.
Task #1 - Zeus, God of the Sky:Write about someone who thinks they're better than everyone else. (Walburga Black. Barty Crouch.)
FEBRUARY EVENT: LIBRARY LOVERS
FLOOR 1: BOOK 1
Me before you- Mojo Joyes
-(dialogue) "Tell me something good."
-Write about trying to change someone's mind
-Write about eavesdropping
Insane house challenge
Plot Point - Being kissed unexpectedly, mid-sentence