(A/N)Much of the philosophy found in this chapter belongs to Orson Scott Card, but it's applicable to my Regulus, so here it is. This is me begging on my knees for reviews, by the way, both here and for Decorum and Tranquility. Please, please give feedback.
Regulus Black, aged seventeen, watched a glittering crowd of partygoers and wished desperately for the dark and dismal room of smelly potions, for the sardonic presence of Severus Snape, even for the constant scrubbing required to keep the slimy walls mold-free. His target, Theseus Clearwater, was flirting with Cassandra Austin across the room, cheerful and carefree, unaware that one unhappy boy was making an utterly complete study of his life and interests and opinions, getting to know him better and better, until the one fact came out, the fact that mattered.
It was so close to the soul, that definition of loyalty. To get there, you had to go through loves and hates and family jokes and school feuds and petty dislikes. You had to go through people and place and ideas and things that really mattered, or ought to matter. You had to know a person inside and outside before you knew what they were loyal to, and by the time you knew someone that well, there was no way you could hate them, no way you could believe they were truly evil, truly in the wrong.
At least that was what Regulus found. He'd watched Cousin Narcissa waft through fashionable London, picking up information and emotions and dirty secrets with the ease she did everything, simply by not caring. I'm not Bella, that people will tell me things out of fear, Regulus sometimes wanted to yell. I'm not Sirius, who people tell things out of friendship. And I'm not Narcissa, who just knows things. I'm only one person, one unnoticeable person, with no particular notion of who I am and what I do. I have to know you, as a person. I have to know you completely before I know what I need to about you.
Now he knew Theseus Clearwater, in and out. He knew that as a child, Theseus had been ignored by uncaring parents, so his education had fallen to a nutty muggle-loving aunt. He knew that Theseus, no matter how much he flirted here and there, was completely in love with Narcissa Black, even though she was as good as engaged to Lucius Malfoy. He knew that Theseus, regardless of upbringing, had joined the Death Eaters because he wanted to, and the blood-traitor aunt's rejection had hurt him badly. He knew that the same Narcissa Black had said not a word to Theseus in a month, and it grated. He knew that Theseus was at heart a coward, and had never said no to his parents. He knew that Theseus's older brother, who Theseus thought the world of, was an Auror, and hated the Death Eaters. Regulus knew all these things about Theseus Clearwater, and more. Together they painted a picture Regulus understood, someone he could have been if his life had been different.
A day later, Regulus stood before the Dark Lord and made his report. That night Theseus Clearwater died.