Hello hello my lovelies.
Some questions may or may not be answered in this chapter. Either way hopefully you all like it!
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As always for my loves Sable and Lais xxx
Tuesday, 29th May, 1979
Undisclosed Location
A figure swaddled in darkness stands facing the window, silent as a grave. He stiffens when the door on the opposite side of the room creaks open, the noise scratching at the insides of his ears. He catches a glimpse of the wizard cautiously approaching him in the window's reflection.
His expression remains placid, eyes flicking away from the other wizard, back out to the trees that are gently swaying in the warm light.
Summer is swooping in, engulfing everything in brightness, the vibrant colours bursting forth from the earth and painting its way across the sky.
"It appears a dead man has appeared to cast a shadow across my doorstep."
"Let's not play naïve now, Severus. I would appreciate if you saved that polished bullshit for your Dark Lord," the other wizard replies coldly. "I know you followed me that day."
Severus remains silent, eyes fixed on a small brown bird hopping back and forth along a short branch, his ears just catching its joyful chirping.
"Nothing to say?" The other wizard sighs heavily, muttering under his breath as he enters and settles himself in the leather armchair in the corner of the room—a large stack of thick books is lined up beside it, and on the other side is a short table with a meagre table lamp on it.
Severus finally turns away from the window; he raises his chin, looking down at the other wizard through half-lidded eyes, cold dark eyes unflinchingly boring into the grey ones across the room.
"I put a trace on you a while back. It came in handy since I was unconvinced that you were dead," Severus shrugs.
"What? Why?" Regulus asks, his tone suggesting that assuming Severus had followed him was a stab in the dark, and that he was wholly unprepared for that assumption to actually be correct.
"The Dark Lord may not have cared enough to check and ensure that you had indeed departed from this world, but I did," Severus answers, slowly, narrowing his eyes as he did.
Severus takes several confident steps towards Regulus, his shadow falling across the other man.
"Then it appeared that I was right, so I followed you and found you spying on that Order member...Michael or whatever his name was," Severus waves a hand dismissively.
Regulus does a marvellous job of smoothing over the surprise that is threatening to smear across his features, his eyes sparking with an indescribable emotion. He didn't think that Severus would so easily disclose that particular nugget of information.
Regulus leans back further in the armchair, regaining some of his composure. With a quirked eyebrow he says, "then you scampered back to your Master and told him everything."
Severus ignored his comment and swiftly continued on, "I wanted to ask you myself about what really happened to Grimmauld Place and where you've been hiding away."
"Why? Do you want to stop following a deranged, evil fucker and come over to the side of light and all that other shite?" Regulus asks dryly.
"You defected?" Severus queries lowly, the thought had obviously occurred to him, but until that moment he hadn't entertained the idea that it was true.
Regulus taps his finger against the chair's arm, pursing his lips before carefully replying, "not exactly."
"But you're staying with some of them?"
Regulus smirks, "you know I won't fall for that."
The other wizard's tone bristles along Severus's spine and he tucks his hands into his cloak to hide his clenched fists. Regulus's eyes follow the movement and one of his hands slides over to his own side—most likely readying himself to draw his wand if the need arises.
"How about this, why would you come here? Risking everything, revealing yourself to me."
"Don't know if I'm being completely honest...perhaps I was just looking for a familiar face or a friend after the last few days," Regulus responds reticently, a sliver of his true feelings peeking through. He clears his throat and his serene expression neatly fits back into place.
Regulus stands up, nodding curtly at Severus, "I shouldn't have come...I'll be taking my leave."
Regulus turns to make a hasty departure, his hand now in his pocket and firmly clasping his wand, when Severus's softly spoken question makes him halt abruptly.
"Aren't you going to ask that I keep the knowledge that you are alive to myself?"
"For whatever reason...I trust you, Severus," Regulus replies and then he strides out of the room, disappearing as quickly as he had come.
The unspoken questions—the ones he really wants to ask—lingers on the tip of his tongue.
Who is that girl that was with Lily that day in Muggle London? How is Lily doing?
Questions that plagued him every day, desperately begging to be answered.
"Is she okay?" He murmurs, turning back to the window to once more drink in the nature outside, clinging to the miniscule amount of goodness that is afforded to him these days.
