A/N: This chapter was betaed by the yellow pen 0203
Big time skip ahead. ^^
Chapter 1 - The Flames are Burning
It was quite when Regulus felt his teeth grinding against each other as he forced his lip to clamp to a thin line. Though his lungs were screaming, no, begging for the sweet taste of air.
He couldn't tell if up was down or down was up. Regulus knew that the cursed demons below, or was it above? Well, all he knew was that their skeletal hands kept on clawing and grabbing as Regulus kept on thrashing and kicking at anything that was moving. Those hands clutched every part of his body with vice like grip pulling and pulling.
Are sure you can do this?
Regulus knew that the numbing water surrounding him were almost unparalleled to the frozen rains of winter. If he was above the surface, Regulus knew he would have felt the pain of every single scratch and bruise he'd accumulated on his body. Maybe he wouldn't have felt anything and just died of hypothermia.
It isn't as bad as you think, you know that Reggie?
It was silent when Regulus started to feel his arms and legs moving through the lake like honey. He could barely see the very tip of his nose much less wherever was in front of him. Though, he vaguely saw shapes.
Are you afraid?
His vision had blurred so he could only see a various shades of murky of greys, greens, and blacks.
Yes.
He suddenly saw a flash of scarlet and gold through his slowly closing lids then–
Well, at least be afraid with a smile.
–then nothing.
He had felt the warmth of the crackling flames as his stormy grey eyes stared at their hypnotic scarlet dance. The embers flickered from red to gold to orange then back to red.
'Tap, tap, tap'
The grey eyes blinked and shifted when he turned his head.
'Tap, tap, tap'
With a heavy sigh, he got off of the recently bought rusted colored leather couch. The man crossed the wooden floored room and passed the empty boxes stacked atop each near the front door. He made his way towards the window where the tapping was and lifted it open.
With a flutter, a grey mass sped past the man then landed gracefully on a nearby table. The owl fluffed its feathers and stucked a claw out with an attached letter on it. The bird looked at the man with large, circular expecting eyes.
The man took hold of some owl treats and some bronze looking coins, and made his way to the grey bird. He detached the letter, handed the treats, and placed the coins in the small pouch tied around its neck. With a hop, the grey owl flew back out.
"Thanks."
His hands teared the seal without looking at it then read it's content:
Dear Mr. Sirius Orion Black
It is with deepest regrets that we must inform you that your brother, Regulus Arcturus Black had recently passed away. Unfortunately, the body couldn't be recovered due to the uncer–
There was a loud 'CRACK' as the letter fluttered down slowly to the quickly cooling hardwood floor. The fireplace's embers had continued to flicker from red to gold to orange then back to red.
As soon as Sirius appeared, his legs flew. His senses heightening with increasing intensity. His hearing became clearer as he smelt fresh birch. Feet then transformed to paws as they pushed against the prickly cushion of earth below him.
Creatures got out of the way sensing the black canine's mood. Sirius dodge incoming trees with skill of a predator. He had ran past the foliage of bushes, magical planets, and scattered rocks. He leaped over roots, fallen trees, and glistening streams. He just ran. Ran away from his problems. Ran away from the thoughts. Sirius Black was just running away from the feeling of the realization.
Sirius hadn't thought of his younger carbon copy in years. The last time he came face to face with him was when he'd discovered what the little brat had chosen to become. He would have thought that Regulus had gotten what what he'd deserved, but in Sirius's mind currently he didn't think that.
Sirius felt angry, frustrated, and . . . and something else. All he had been seeing in Regulus was a person who Sirius could've become if he hadn't left that place. A follower of the madman and someone who had fell into the dark. Someone who blindly follow a type of tradition that would eventually destroy them. A lost cause.
Now, all he remember was that Reg was kid who had a certain fascination with the little things. When Reg heard about something he had no clue about, he would look them up. Find any and all information on it no matter how useless whatever he was researching about.
Sirius had remembered letters in his earlier years that would ask about details about his time at a certain magical school. A castle nearby a dark forbidden forest and a lake that was the color of obsidian black. The letters that would ask him to sketch what he had seen. Images depicting the scale of towers rising above the clouds or of plants of unique shapes and colors from a Asphodel to a Puffapod.
Sirius had sketch corridors and hallways putting his own tidbits on the side. He had mapped out the best hiding places to sneak out to when he didn't want to be found. Sometimes he had sent results of the pranks he had pulled with his friends when he had knew it would have made Reg laugh.
Sirius didn't remember when he had stop, but all he had recalled that he had just ceased writing.
He didn't feel his next step and just felt air. Next thing he knew was that the world was spinning before for him as the wind rushed through his fur coat.
The Day of the Cave, 1979
A women with light skin danced from the stove to turn down the heat for the soup before she went to chop the green onions. She came back to add the minced greens and sprinkled a bit of black pepper. The women carefully stirred then tasted her creation. She nodded then took out a smooth wand and tapped the pot. The silver pot begun to sustain its heat.
The witch brushed away some of her caramel colored locks that tickled her cheeks as she hummed to herself. She glanced around her making sure the white porcelain dishes and bowls were ordered correctly in their cabinets, while she made sure the hardwood tables were cleaned of residue.
Satisfied, the women took an already worn book and gracefully sat down allowing the window above the sink to let soft cheery light to beam through. The young witch's content hadn't lasted long when a sudden pop echoed throughout the kitchen following with a crash and ugly sobs.
The women had barely stood up and grabbed her wand before the wrinkled creature shot up and met her with two large, circular, bloodshot eyes. Her own dark eyes widened as she let the words "What–" before being cut off.
"Master is in grave danger. Bloodtr– Misses must come."
She looked closer and recognition flooded before her eyes, "Kreacher. Wait– What do you mean by 'Master' is in grave danger?" She paused and suspicion begun to rise as she tightened the hold to her wand, "How would I know that this isn't a ploy to lead me into a trap?"
The old house elf fidgeted while tugging his oversized ears, "Master Regulus. Misses is not considered family. Orders not considered to Misses."
"I– Regulus is–" she sighed and reluctantly said, "Of course." Kreacher quickly took hold of her hand and the two popped out of the room.
They landed roughly on the ground while a splash cold wet wind slapped against their faces. The sky swirled with raging clouds as they only filtered through misty grey light. The witch tasted salt and noticed a vast ocean slamming furiously at the rocks below. She also realized that her clothes wasn't the most proper things to wear as soon as the elements touched her exposed skin.
I really shouldn't have let Kreacher take me. This was a really risky choice. He could've taken me to a trap and I do not have the strong skill set for advanced combat magic. Her mind paused as the old determined house elf led her to an open cavern she hadn't noticed.
Why would Kreacher even come to me? What had Regulus done that led Kreacher to come to me out of everyone else, especially since I know which side he'd picked.
"Quickly Misses. Not enough time."
As it was getting increasingly difficult to see, the witch cast a lumos spell. She saw Kreacher was mumbling in distress to himself too fast for the caramel haired women to make out while he looked around, as if searching for something on the cavern floor when they reached what seems to be a dead end. The witch noticed that the temperature had decreased as she started to shiver. Before she could stop the old elf, he'd sudden grabbed a rock with a sharpened edge and sliced the palm of his hand then slapped it to the wall in front of them.
"Kreacher!" She rushed forward towards the elf. Though before she could look at the elf, he led out terrible scream. The women snapped her head around and saw pale grotesque bodies splashing near the edge of an island with some type of glowing crystals on top.
The young witch's mind suddenly catalogued the vaguely familiar creatures she had recalled from a distant memory, "Inferi." She then faced the crying elf and grabbed hold of the little thing's shoulder while she, herself was shaking, "Kreacher, Regulus is down there isn't he?" The House-elf bobbed his head furiously as his ears flopped along.
The caramel haired witch then dug into her mind trying to remember what someone in her past said about Inferi, "What did she said about Inferi?!"
She blinked when she'd remembered, "FLAGRATION!"
A stream of intense scarlet flames burned the first corpse it touched and continued to burn the rest in masses. Most of the infernal creatures started to swim away from the heat, and there were already too many that noticed duo.
"INFERNO! IMPULSE! INFERNO!"
The inferi had started to make their way towards them, but avoid the heat of the flames by diving underneath the water. The woman had noticed that most of them had swarmed were she expected Regulus should be. She gripped her wand tightly as she thought, this isn't enough. She cursed, then the corner of her mouth twitched sadly.
"I guess big sister's Dark Art lessons paid off. She had said I was gifted at it like her." The witch shuddered, but a new sense of fire had lit within her dark eyes as she turned to the sobbing house elf, "Kreacher! Once I say my next spell, get Regulus! I can't get him while doing this spell and I'm not certain I'll be able to hold it for long! This is not an order, it's a request! Understood?!"
The young witch looked at the old elf through the corner of her eye. Kreacher had stopped crying and nodded with a determined "Yes Misses."
She smiled gratefully, "Thank-you for trusting me to help Regulus, Kreacher. You're a good elf."
The witch focused he attention back in front of her then closed her eyes and took a deep breath when her magic crackled with energy around her. As the witch knelt down and pointed her wand to the ground and firmly said, "Infierno Ignis."
The flames had ignited and gathered around her then covered the young witch's skin causing her to glow like the sun, but they didn't burn her. Afterwards, the witch pushed the flames out creating a fiery, circular ring causing it to dance around her. She then expanded the circle outwards towards the concaving inferi causing them to screech like the hell beasts they were. Many begun to be driven away from the scarlet and gold flames that had transformed into crimson blazing fire.
The young witch had then found it harder to breath while beads of sweat slid down her brows, not caused by the ring of fire's heat, but caused by the energy that she had spent controlling the massive flames in which she had assumed for about one and a half minutes. Though she held her ground.
"Misses! Kreacher got Master Regulus! Misses and Master must leave with Kreacher now!"
The witch had let go of the spell, though the flames kept churning. The ground slowly came up to the women.
"Misses!"
The exhausted caramel haired witch picked herself up slowly towards the distressed elf. "The flames should keep the inferi at bay without me before dying out on its own for a bit. I don't think I could disapparated from here myself, and I need to take a look at Regulus before we go."
"There are wards Misses."
"Of course," the woman sighed then ushered, "let me tend to Regulus now."
The witch ignored the panic that resided within her when she saw how dead Regulus looked and went into her healer's mindset. Bruises and scratches are prominent around his body and would be infected eventually, but treated as soon as we leave. Focus on getting air to his lungs for his heart to circulate blood again. Deduction: There's large amount of water in his trachea. She intricately waved her wand from around the younger raven haired man's neck down to his chest before going up again while chanting softly.
Blurry grey eyes suddenly snapped open while Regulus began to cough and hack remaining water out of his system as he attempted to sit up, which led to Kreacher to shout with relief. Though evidently, the young man passed out soon after and the older witch caught him before he hit the cold stone ground.
Scarlet light had started to diminish around them when the witch look up at the old elf and quietly said, "Get us to my house Kreacher. If you would, please."
The house elf took hold of both the older witch and the young wizard then the unusual trio disapparate with a pop. The blazing ring of fire then died soon after, leaving the cave in the cold dark.
A/N First off, Sirius was running off in a random forest to blow some steam so he didn't end up anyway specific. This took place after Regulus journey to the Cave, obviously.
Secondly, I actually started to wonder who would be the one when had drawn and sketch Hogwarts in such detail for the Marauder's Map, therefore I took the liberty in making Sirius the artistic mind of the group. He can also get scary creative when he wants to.
Thirdly, I think the witch I've written would be powerful enough–magically–to know and handle Dark spells such as the Infierno Ignis spell, but couldn't hold them for a long period of time like Dumbledore had in the original series. Can anyone guess who was the witch? I suppose I gave enough hints. Just to clarify, this scene had took place the day of Regulus's endeavors.
Finally, yes this will be an alternate universe, though I'm mostly sticking to canon. Also I decided to stop here cause I can.
Happy 2017!
~FairyRave
