Regulus is eleven the first time he believes Sirius' assertion that he's the favoured child. He's only been sorted into Slytherin the previous September, and there are many expensive gifts waiting for him on Christmas morning, far more than he's received for past Christmases.
Sirius, meanwhile, is given one Slytherin-green sweater, and Regulus knows his parents are using him as an example. In the past, he have sworn they were teaching Sirius a lesson because they cared, but there's a sneer on their mother's face as she watches Sirius' reaction to Regulus' presents, and Regulus doesn't believe that like he used to.
At first, he feels guilty and wants to transfer some of the affection his parents feel for him onto Sirius. Soon, however, he begins to crave the attention too much to give any of it up. It makes him feel wanted and loved, unlike the detachment he's long felt from his parents. Besides, Sirius could have done what Regulus had and received the same love from their parents. It was Sirius who decided not to follow their expectations, who decided to become a Gryffindor and make friends from the inferior segments of wizarding society. That's not Regulus' fault, and he stops feeling like he should give up anything to keep Sirius from facing the consequences of his own actions.
His mother takes to calling him her golden boy, and she almost never yells at him. Sirius whispers to him as they leave the dinner table that golden boys always have a disastrous fall, but Regulus ignores him. Of course he would be jealous of Regulus achieving what he had wanted.
It's not just their parents either; Regulus has all the right friends at school, friends that Sirius could never hope to achieve. He knows that he's done something right.
Regulus is in his fourth year of school when Rosier brings some white powder to school and says it's the only Muggle invention worth anything. Regulus is wary of something created by Muggles at first, but Rosier swears that this Muggle drug, as Rosier calls it, is better than any potion.
His other friends scoff at Rosier's claims, but they all try the drug to show they're not afraid of something made by mere Muggles. Regulus has no choice but to follow suit.
Rosier teaches them how to snort the powder up their noses, which Regulus feels utterly ridiculous doing. At first, he's ready to write off the experience as the stupidest thing he's ever done, but when the drug's effects begin, he has a change of heart.
It's the greatest experience of his life. He's alert. It feels like he's finally able to take in the full scope of the world around him, whereas he'd only been seeing a fraction of it before. He has never felt as content as he does during that short, intense high.
The effects are over far too soon, and Regulus isn't the only Slytherin who begins requesting more cocaine from a suddenly popular Rosier.
By the end of his fourth year, Regulus can't function without the high and loses his temper when Rosier can't deliver more of the drug in a timely manner. If his parents have any questions about where his money is going, they don't ask him. Even when Rosier becomes a frequent visitor to their house over the summer, they smile as they let him in.
It's during Christmas holidays in his fifth year that Regulus learns Bellatrix has joined the ranks of the Death Eaters. He's not surprised by this, but he is surprised when she begins to ask what he plans to do after school. He knows what she's getting at. She's also been paying enough attention to know his weaknesses.
She points out that many employers won't hire someone who's always high on Muggle drugs, especially not respectable pure blood employers, but she assures him that the Dark Lord will see his talent regardless. Regulus has been using cocaine for more than a year, and it's the first time he's considered what his life outside of Hogwarts will be like. He has years of schooling left, but Bellatrix has always scared him. Nothing good comes from refusing her.
From that point on, Rosier isn't his only source of the cocaine he longs for. Bellatrix can get ahold of it too, and she doesn't ask him for money, only access to the students who surround him at school.
It's an easy enough job. Regulus gets the drugs, and in return, he repeats to the other Slytherins everything his cousin tells him about the Dark Lord and his followers. Even Rosier is easier to get drugs out of after that, happy to provide them in exchange for Regulus' connections to the Death Eaters that Rosier longs to join.
Regulus feels good with himself, almost as if he's playing both angles without the others being any the wiser.
Bellatrix hadn't been lying when she told him that aligning himself with the Dark Lord meant that he'd be taken care of in the future.
Regulus graduates Hogwarts, and he doesn't worry about getting a job. His parents are happy to provide for him when they know he's working for the betterment of wizard of society, even if it's unpaid. It allows him more time to do whatever the Dark Lord asks of him. As he's still relatively young, he does a lot of recruiting of others recently out of Hogwarts. The Dark Lord knows that Regulus can connect with them in ways the older Death Eaters can't.
Most of the time, Regulus doesn't see the Dark Lord himself. Bellatrix is their most frequent go-between, and she's still happy to provide Regulus with the cocaine he craves when he does a good job. He drives recruit after recruit her way in exchange for the drugs, worried all the while about what will happen if he runs out of people to give her.
He'd have to start using his parents' money for the drugs again, and he's not sure how long he could pull it off without them asking questions. They wouldn't be as accepting as Bellatrix. Of that he's certain.
After the recruits are handed off, he doesn't hear from most of them. His school friends are so busy that he doesn't know what jobs most of them have been tasked with, but he trusts the Dark Lord to have chosen what fits their skill sets the best.
He hears whispers of mass murders of Muggles and attempts to infiltrate the Ministry, but he doesn't pay much attention to the talk. They're not his job, and he never witnesses any of it for himself. He keeps his head down and does what's asked of him.
The system works for him until it doesn't.
A sobbing Kreacher Apparates directly in front of him, and all Regulus can do is blink rapidly for a few minutes until he processes what the house elf is telling him. Even in his drug-induced haze, he feels disgust settle in the pit of his stomach.
None of the rumours he'd heard had been like this, and suddenly, there's something driving him more than his next high. He has Kreacher lead him to the cave, and he drinks the potion. He hopes its effects won't be that different from the drugs he's used to. That he'll have a somewhat enjoyable death before sinking to the bottom of the lake.
That's not what happens. The potion drives him mad in a way entirely unlike the highs he's used to, and he cries out to Kreacher for relief. Kreacher sobs as he continues pouring the potion down Regulus' throat, promising him the drugs later though he knows that later will never come.
Prompt:
Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments
Seasonal Challenges - Flowers: goldenrod - (phrase) golden boy/girl
Word count: 1,292