Chapter 35: Back To School
As it happened, Regulus was distracted by a passing thought before he and Kreacher could apparate away. Not his own passing thought, but the literal thought of someone passing by the alley in which he and Kreacher stood. The thought shocked him, not because it was particularly shocking in itself, but because he truly hadn't expected it. The thought had come from a Death Eater. He knew this because said Death Eater was thinking about the orders he had just received from Voldemort involving stealing something from the Ministry For Magic from the Department of Mysteries. They were still in Muggle territory so a Death Eater in the area was rather one of the last things Regulus expected. "Wait here," he whispered to Kreacher. "I will be right back, I swear."Kreacher opened his mouth to protest, but Regulus was off with vampiric speed, snatching the man by the arm and spinning him around to lock their gazes. "Come with me," he said quietly. A surge of adrenaline shot through him at doing this to a wizard, because he never had before. Vampiric hypnotism should work on anyone, but assuming this and putting it into practice were two entirely different things. What if the man had wards against the Imperius curse? Would they block him? Regulus thought not, but the theory was as yet unpracticed. The vampiric form of hypnotism did not involve using a direct spell, though. For the first time in far too long, Regulus found himself interested and excited over this experiment. With Kreacher in his life again, he had room to care about the things he'd once found interesting when it came to magic and how it interacted with itself and with other factors.
Fortunately his theory was correct. Perhaps the man had no protections up or perhaps he did and they simply did not work against Vampires, but he relaxed and came docilely along with Regulus to rejoin Kreacher in the alley.
"This is a Death Eater," he told Kreacher. "He needs to die before he can carry out his orders to steal from the Ministry of Magic."
Kreacher nodded, eyes full of pride at Regulus's action. "Brilliant Master Regulus," he whispered. "What was this Death Eater going to steal, Kreacher wonders?"
"He wasn't thinking about it hard enough for me to be sure, but we are about to find out," Regulus said and drove his fangs into the neck of the Death Eater. Wizard blood tasted nearly the same as Muggle blood as it turned out. As he drained the man's life away, the Death Eater's mind relaxed in surrender, leaving it free and easy for Regulus to plunder. It did not take long to find the answer he sought. The man slid lifelessly to the ground as Regulus turned to Kreacher. "He wanted some veil that is supposed to lead to the land of the dead or something like that," Regulus said with a shudder. "If that doesn't sound disturbing I don't know what does! How would one even create such a thing?"
"Probably a necromancer," Kreacher replied thoughtfully.
"Let's go back to Dora's and talk...I want to think about this...We will go to Hogwarts tomorrow," Regulus decided. Kreacher nodded and Regulus took his hand and apparated them back to Dora's where they spent several hours talking of this strange veil. Together they came up with many disturbing uses for such a thing, none of them soothing. Of course both knew that they could not truly know the uses for this veil but they were still quite unsettled nonetheless. They were watching the eleven o'clock news with Dora when Kreacher brought up an interesting point. The weather for the next day was to be rainy and cloudy and the elf wondered if this meant that Regulus could move about as there would be no sun. "I've never tried, though on very dark rainy days, I do sleep rather fitfully," Regulus said.
"Kreacher remembers studying weather spells with Master Regulus for a school project in Master Regulus's third year at Hogwarts. Does he recall?"
Regulus frowned, then slowly nodded. "Yes...I do...it was about how to move clouds from one area to another if they are already present in the general area."
Kreacher nodded. "Kreacher thinks that if Master Regulus moves several layers of clouds over himself tomorrow he can make it dark enough to travel during the day to Hogwarts. It would be an interesting experiment, and it would allow Master Regulus more freedom if it works out. If it does not, Master Regulus will simply return to his sleep."
"I like that," Regulus said, giving Kreacher an eager smile. "It's a wonderful idea!" For the second time in a day, he was interested in something. For years and years and long years, all true interest and enthusiasm had died. With Kreacher once more at his side, though,, like night orchids blooming in a garden, interest flourished once again within Regulus.
Kreacher returned Regulus's smile with a pleased one of his own. "Kreacher is glad," the elf rasped happily. "If it works out, Kreacher and Master Regulus will have more hours to spend together on rainy days."
"Indeed," Regulus agreed, hopeful at that prospect. Though he enjoyed the advantages of being a vampire more than he'd expected, the shorter nights of summer could feel limiting. Even more so now that he had a reason to be awake. The next day, Regulus and Kreacher slept until the afternoon. Kreacher woke first and after shaking Regulus for nearly five minutes, he got the vampire to wake up. There was no sun, but as there was literally always some sun even when there appeared to be none, the thick layers of cloud coverage that Regulus drew from all over London served as a shield against any stray rays. As soon as Regulus was out of the coffin and dressed, Kreacher apparated them to the edge of the Forbidden forest. The walk across Hogwarts grounds was surreal. So much had changed from the last time Regulus was here at the end of his sixth year. In truth after all that had occurred, he never thought he'd return for any reason. He'd chosen to walk to the castle rather than having Kreacher apparate them in around the wards because he did not wish to appear as an intruder. Now that they were actually here, Regulus wasn't very surprised to discover that he was nervous. Albus Dumbledore was well known for his kindness and tolerance, but Regulus still had a lot to explain and own up to. He hoped Albus would want his help, because he needed to do something to at least try to balance the scale of his crimes. As he and Kreacher crossed to the castle, hand in hand, there was no one in sight. It was around the middle of the summer, give or take, so he wouldn't be running into any students or disrupting anything. That was good. It eased his anxiety a bit to know that few people would be present. Hopefully if there happened to be any professors about and they saw him, they wouldn't recognize him. Everyone believed him dead. Even if not, they would expect him to look over a decade older. Being a vampire and looking into the minds of people, Regulus had learned over and over again that people saw what they expected to see and no one expected to see Regulus Black. Even though this was true, he was still uneasy about walking the halls of Hogwarts, or anywhere else while in hiding. He did, though, entering the castle and hurrying directly for the office of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. In truth, he was pleased that he'd remembered the way after so long. As they moved through the halls, Regulus did something rare. He opened his mind completely. Normally he kept it at least semi shielded, but right now he wanted to know how many people were here. The school was closed during the summer but he'd hoped that considering Voldemort's return, Albus would be about and actively resisting. To his surprise, Regulus felt more people in the castle than he expected. There appeared to be at least a dozen witches and wizards present, though at this distance, he could not be certain who. They were all scattered around the castle in ones and twos for the most part. Kreacher walked quietly at Regulus's side, large round eyes scanning their surroundings as if looking for danger. Neither spoke, and Regulus found himself giving a small sigh of relief as he knocked at Albus's office door. The man himself opened it before long, blue eyes flying wide as all the color drained from his bearded and dignified countenance. One hand shot out to clutch at the door jam, and Regulus suddenly hoped he hadn't given the older man a bloody heart attack! If Albus was about to die, would Regulus turn him into a vampire, he couldn't help but wonder. It was the only way to save his life, after all. He couldn't just allow the old headmaster to die...yet another death on his hands. What sort of vampire would Albus Dumbledore make? He would hate it! He would hate what he would need to do to survive. Fortunately Albus did not collapse or clutch at his chest, so Regulus did not have to take any sort of drastic action that would end in yet another bad decision on his part. Instead the Hogwarts headmaster spoke in a near shocked shout.
"Regulus Black?"
In a flash Severus Snape was looming in the doorway at Albus's shoulder, his black eyes flying wide in shock as he registered Regulus's presence. On the bright side, at least Regulus didn't have to worry about Severus having a heart attack. He was young enough to have a heart that was strong enough to handle a bit of shock. Ah the little things for which one must be appreciative, Regulus mused dryly.
Echoing Albus's greeting, Severus said, "Regulus Black? How?" While this reaction was understandable, it was getting redundant.
"Please, may I come in," Regulus asked.
Severus blinked, his mind obviously struggling to take in what his eyes were seeing.
"Of course," Albus said and stepped back to allow Regulus and Kreacher to enter his office.