GF: I'm back! It's only been about a month since the last update, so it's not my longest time away from this fic, but still too long. What can I say, I'm a procrastinator. I don't really have a whole lot to say. My girlfriends and I broke up, I have a B in AP Euro (NO!), and I joined speech and debate. So yeah...let's just get onto the reviews, okay?
Guest: Hey! Thanks so much! I know, Regulus deserves so much more love. Oh don't worry, I have plans incase old Voldy ever tries to use his freaky mind powers. Snape and Reg are definitely friends and I can definitely see where you are coming from about the other stuff. Ah yes, Sirius is a great hypocrite, something nobody else really seems to address. I love him too, but the dude has some serious hypocritical opinions. I think Regulus is ace too! Not aro, but I do agree on the asexual part. That may come up in this fic, who knows. Anyway, thanks for the amazing review and I hope this update satisfies you!
Trins xxx: Wow! You reviewed a lot! Yeah, Fate is extremely cliché, but she won't appear again for a long time. I'm actually a big fan of the Weasleys, so I wouldn't expect any confrontation. Maybe something will happen later on, I don't know. We'll see what happens. Thank you! I'm not a very funny person in real life, so I was hoping that it would be a bit better on paper. Yeah…I may have also translated my hatred for tea into Regulus, I don't know, to me tea has this bitter taste that's different than coffee. Maybe it's just me. Ah yes, Reg will be exceptionally smart in this fic, I mean he must be really intelligent to have fooled Voldemort. Again, I do like the Weasleys, so that will be part of this story. I think that Mrs. Weasley would be open-minded, although she did believe Skeeter about Hermione, I think that she's able to form comparisons between Reg and her own children. She's just a really motherly figure in the books, and I think she would be caring towards Regulus because of all he's been through for such a young age. You know, death and stuff. I don't know, one girl's opinion. Ginny is one of my absolute favorites and I've never been able to understand why people don't like her, so we'll agree to disagree there. Anyway, thanks for your reviews and all the lovely things you said! Hope you like the update!
GF: There weren't that many reviews this time, but thanks to all those who did review. With no further adieu, here's the update! Beware, lots of stuff is going to happen in this chapter. Probably too much for one chapter, but who gives a crap!
The Downsides to Sleep Depravity
"Okay, so if Voldemort doesn't know I'm back yet, something must be wrong with the Mark," Regulus thought out loud, pacing the dusty wooden floor. "It still looks the same, but I would have felt something when he summoned the Death Eaters. And he probably has since I got back, I can ask Severus later."
He kept walking back and forth, pausing to lean on the desk and to sit down on the bed before springing back up again. Regulus' hand was glued to the back of his neck. His spindly fingers toyed with the ends of his black hair and rubbed the skin continuously.
"Maybe dying somehow stopped the link to him," he hypothesized. "Yeah, that's probably it. Otherwise he would have known where my body was, and then he would have known what I'd done. The question is, then, why doesn't he know that I'm back? He would have done something had he known that one of his "followers" had miraculously come back from the dead. So, suffice it to say, he doesn't know I'm back. And the Mark has lost all power.
"But how? Me coming back to life should have…jumpstarted it somehow. Right? There aren't exactly a whole lot of books in the library on resurrected ex-Death Eaters."
Regulus sat down on the bed, finally wrenching his left hand from his neck and opting for running it, along with his right, over his face before resting his head in them. He sighed deeply, flopping back onto the bed with his arms flung out from his sides, spread eagle style.
"I just want to sleep," he murmured, letting his droopy eyelids close.
The dark circles that had become permanent tattoos underneath his eyes had also become a cause for concern from his suddenly caring brother. Every morning for the past week and a half had been an interrogation for Regulus. Had he been getting enough sleep? Did he need another room? Was he feeling ill? No, not ill, Reg had thought sarcastically, just lying awake with my head full of my last living moment on Earth.
"Well, not last," he now corrected, opening his eyes again and sitting back up. "Ugh, I need to do…something. Anything."
He got up off the bed and made his way over to the box that was situated on the wooden table. Regulus slipped the intricately carved lid off of it and said the spell to remove the wood underneath. He gripped the silver chain between his forefinger and thumb, gracefully drawing the locket out of the box and letting it dangle in the air.
"You're a curious thing aren't you?" he murmured, allowing the pendant to spin around. The sunlight that crept in through the window reflected off of the golden surface, casting spots of light against the dark walls as it spun back and forth. "How does something so innocent become so corrupt?"
Regulus laid the locket in his palm, placing the chain behind his hand and letting it rest against the back of his fingers. He ran the tips of his fingers over the small, inlaid emeralds, tracing the S that marked the locket as Slytherin's. He gripped the edges of the locket, trying in vain to pry them apart. They didn't budge.
To anyone else's eyes it would appear to be a simple locket, an example of House pride. But to Regulus it was much more. A piece of a human (although he didn't know if that part was true anymore) soul was trapped in the locket, dormant for sixteen years. Untouched by anyone for much longer.
"But how do I kill you?" Regulus pondered audibly. The only information Regulus had ever come across on Horcuxes was in Magick Moste Evile, and then it was only a sentence or two. Obviously the locket would be very difficult to destroy; house-elf magic was quite powerful stuff.
"All the books we had on the dark Dark Arts were taken in a raid," Regulus began to think out loud once more. "And there's nothing in the Hogwart's library that I'm aware of, not like I could get in their anyway. But there's got to be something! Voldemort must have read about them somewhere, or heard about them from someone."
The youngest Black stood there, lost in thought as he turned the locket over in his hands rhythmically. The questions of how to deal with the Horcrux he held and how to keep it from the other inhabitants of the house bounced around in his head. After a few minutes of thinking that lead to a dead end, Regulus placed the locket back in its box, reestablished the enchantments to protect it, and was interrupted by a shriek that was emitted from the floor below.
Regulus raced down the stairs, taking two steps at a time. He skidded across the floor; he was only wearing socks, having had zero time to have put on shoes. He found himself at the open door of Ron and Harry's room, if he was remembering correctly. Regulus burst into the room, eyes wide and…finding that he had no wand to defend himself. Brilliant.
"What's going on?!" he cried. Only to be met with confused expressions from the two boys, the twins, Mrs. Weasley, and Hermione. "Is everyone okay?!"
It took them a few silent moments to formulate a response. "Yeah…are you though, mate?" Fred asked, seemingly legitimately concerned for once.
"What?" Regulus raised his eyebrows, the still alarmed expression on his face now mixing with confusion.
"Are you..okay?" George leaned forward slightly.
"Yeah, I'm…I'm fine," Regulus answered. "I heard a scream…thought someone was dying or being…you know…."
He trailed off, seeing the expressions of utter bewilderment on the group in front of him. Ron slowly held up a red and gold badge with the word Prefect blazed across it. The gears clicked in Regulus's mind as he glanced over at Mrs. Weasley, replaying the shriek that undoubtedly belonged to her.
"Oh, so…no one's been injured or attacked in any way shape or form?" he said, more than a bit awkwardly. His question was met with six shakes of the head and twelve wide eyes. "Okay…well…that's good. I'm just, I'm gonna leave now. Congrats on…your achievement." Regulus gave Ron an awkward thumbs up and proceeded to exit the room.
The people that were left behind looked at each other, George mouthing a question that caused Mrs. Weasley to hit him over the head.
"You okay?" Sirius slid into the seat next his brother.
"Oh my God!" Regulus exclaimed, slamming his coffee mug down on the table. "You are the fourth person to ask me that, and that includes Kreacher!"
"Sorry," Sirius leaned back warily, "Harry and the twins told me about earlier. Just wanted to check in."
"I'm fine," Regulus insisted, taking a sip of coffee.
"Are you sure?" the older Black raised an eyebrow dubiously. "You apparently, and I quote, "Looked like a crazed banshee."
"There's no need to add crazed before banshee, banshees are already crazy," Regulus murmured, aggravated.
"Reg," Sirius stressed. "Are you okay?"
The younger sighed, seeing he was getting nowhere. "I'm fine, I swear. I just…I heard a scream and I freaked out. I guess."
"Okay, if you say so," Sirius didn't sound too convinced. "Just…." He shook his head as he trailed off, choosing to not finish his thought out loud.
"What?" his brother prodded.
"Nothing," Sirius said, rushed. "It's just…if you…nothing. Just try to…not freak out."
"Thanks Siri," Regulus nodded, his face slightly quizzical and slightly disturbed. "Solid advice." He nodded to the elder Black and got up.
"You're welcome!" Sirius called after him. He started to draw invisible patterns on the table, tracing swirls and spirals on the aged wood. The word "Siri" repeated over and over again in his head.
For the second time that day Regulus's thinking was interrupted by a loud noise. And again it was interrupted by Mrs. Weasley.
He had been wandering around the second floor, mentally cataloging all of the changes that had occurred since he'd last been there. He so far had counted six new additional elf heads, new wallpaper in two of the parlors, and about one billion new cobwebs. Not to mention all of the dust that had accumulated over the years. He was prompted to stop his search for new additions to his home by sobbing coming from a room two doors down.
He warily approached the door to what he knew to be a drawing room, careful not to repeat the events from earlier that day. The door was already open and as he entered he found a startled Harry standing quite close to the entrance.
"Harry? What's going-," he started to ask before he found the source of the sobbing.
Mrs. Weasley was standing over the corpse of her son, Bill. Regulus's mind immediately went to a very dark place.
"R-Ridik-kulu-us," she cried feebly. The spell had no effect on the, now identified, boggart in front of her.
"Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, starting to walk over to her. Regulus put his arm in front of him as the body changed into that of Mr. Weasley. He stepped toward the Weasley mother, careful not to spook her.
"Molly," he began quietly, "let's let someone else deal with this, okay?"
She shook her head, unable to make an audible response through her tears. With another loud crack the body turned into Harry himself, and Regulus pushed Molly and the boy behind him.
In hindsight it was probably one of the stupidest decisions of his life, right after joining the Death Eaters and the Haircut Incident of third year. Oh yes Regulus, brilliant idea. Step in front of a boggart without a wand. Let everyone know your greatest fear. Just ingenious. It was moments like these that made him question the pride he put into his intelligence.
With a final crack the boggart shifted into its new adversary's fear. A skeletal figure was crouched on the carpeted floor, its head bent down to show what was left of its scraggly hair and its off-white skull. It lifted its gaunt head and turned it upward to stare into Regulus's eyes with its own lifeless, milky white orbs. It began to reach towards him, causing him to back up into the two people behind him. The three of them became squashed against the back wall, Harry made unable to draw his wand and Mrs. Weasley still to shaken by her experience with the shape shifter.
Regulus, on the other hand, remained stock still. Finding nowhere else to go, his feet seemed to grow roots that burrowed deep beneath the floor boards. He stood there, rigid and unmoving, eyes wide, unable to so much as wiggle a finger. He simply froze as the Inferius crawled closer and closer toward them.
Three more suddenly burst through the door and began to take in the scene before them. Lupin was quick to act, realizing that there was a boggart in their presence, not a reanimated corpse; he rushed in front of Regulus, causing the Inferius to change into the moon. He shouted the proper spell and waved his wand, transforming the boggart into a puff of smoke.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief and pulled himself out from behind Regulus, Mrs. Weasley following him. Regulus, on the other hand, remained transfixed. His eyes were still the size of dinner plates and his breath was becoming short and ragged. Lupin was busy trying to calm down Mrs. Weasley, and Sirius was checking up on Harry. Mad Eye was the first to notice Regulus's odd state.
"Snap out of it boy," he growled, drawing the others' attentions to the Black heir. Sirius quickly made his way over to his brother, careful not to touch him.
"Regulus?" he asked, receiving no response. "Reg? Reg? REG?!" The last shout was able to jolt the younger brother out of his trance.
Regulus blinked a few times, still disorientated. He brought his hands up to his face, a motion that the other five recognized from his first arrival, and stared at them for a while, turning them over a few times. He suddenly became aware of his surroundings, jumping back slightly as he realized how close Sirius was. Regulus stared at the other very bewildered, disturbed, and concerned people that were gaping at him.
"Right," he mumbled. "Well…I'm going to go. Sleep is a very important thing you know. Good night." He waved slightly as he brushed past the others and out the door. Before they could even glance at each other, Regulus's head was peeking into the room. "OH! And if any of you ever mention this again I will personally slit your throats while you're sleeping." He flashed a joking, albeit creepy and downright sinister smile before disappearing down the hall.
Lupin and Sirius exchanged a glance and Moody remained as grave and intimidating as ever. Mrs. Weasley sniffled in the background; her sobbing had come to an end.
"Sirius?" Harry approached his godfather. "What was that? What did the boggart turn into?"
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with," Sirius answered rather rapidly before softening. "Come one Harry, you best be getting off to bed."
"But-," his godson started before being cut off by Remus.
"He's right Harry, big day tomorrow," the former professor smiled and then turned to the still traumatized Mrs. Weasley. "Molly, let's go down to the kitchen. I have some chocolate there and I'll make you some tea." She nodded drearily and followed Lupin out of the room.
Mad-Eye left after them, as did Sirius after he gave Harry one last hug. Harry decided to follow their advice and get some rest, after a brief meeting with Ron and Hermione of course.
"And he just froze?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, it was like he was paralyzed," Harry confirmed. "It was really weird."
"Well, people have reacted worse when faced with their worst fear," Hermione responded, thinking back to her Defense exam from two years ago.
"Well, yeah, but this was just odd," Harry shook his head. "From what we've seen of Regulus, which hasn't been much, he doesn't seem like the type to react that way. I mean, he says Voldemort's" –cue flinch- "name, so he probably doesn't scare easy."
"Harry, this was his worst fear," Hermione insisted. "And, to some people, a name is just a name."
"Still," the black haired boy frowned, "it just seemed off, like he'd seen it before. And the others seemed to think so too. They were awfully secretive about it."
"What was it that the boggart turned into?" Ron asked.
"I'm not sure," Harry shook his head again. "Like I said, it was skeletal and gaunt. I didn't get that good of a look."
"Wait!" Hermione exclaimed, scaring her two friends. "What did its eyes look like?"
"I don't know," Harry said, confused, "I think they might have been white, but I can't be for sure. Why?"
"It just sounds familiar," Hermione murmured. "I can look into it more once we return to Hogwarts."
The other two nodded and bid her good night as she left to go to her room. Meanwhile, a certain ex-Death Eater was pouring over books in the library, sipping his second cup of coffee. He would consume nine by the time the sun rose.
GF: I'm done! I stayed up till 12:32 AM to finish this. Granted, I would have stayed up this late anyway, but at least this way I was productive. I hope you all liked this chapter and I hope some questions you might have had have been answered. The plot is slowly starting to unfold. I'm hoping to update again before break is over, so in the next week or so. I also have to right up a three page double spaced case for my upcoming Public Forum Debate. So yay. This chapter was longer that the usual: 2,563 words. Woohoo! So…yeah. I'm gonna go sleep, than edit and update tomorrow. Until next time my little birds!
Question for you all this time: What is your favorite movie soundtrack? Can be a musical or not. (Mine's Inception, Hans Zimmer is God!)
