It was the last Hogsmeade weekend before Hogwarts broke for the winter holidays. Regulus was at the Three Broomsticks meeting with Severus Snape, who was supposed to give him some information about his next Death Eater mission.

"He is very pleased with some of your new recruits for the cause, Regulus. In particular with Barty Crouch Jr. A very good find was what he said..." Snape said in a whisper, despite they been protected by privacy charms, they could never be too careful when expressing their support for the Dark Lord in public.

"I'm very glad to hear that," Regulus said having some of his drink. "It wasn't very hard to bring him to the cause, he was very eager to join us. It is going to be an honour for me to be there when he receives his mark..."

Regulus then noticed that Severus attention had completely gone to a red-haired woman who had just entered the pub with one of her female friends. Regulus recognised her immediately. Lily Evans, last years' Head Girl. She was popular, charming, pretty and talented. She would be a tremendously good witch on anyone's standards if it wasn't for the fact that she was actually a mudblood. Severus stood up, and Regulus was observing everything intrigued, certainly that his friend was fighting an internal battle about going or not going after her. In the end, James Potter and Sirius Black also entered the pub and sat down next to the two ladies, leaving Severus clutching both of his fists in anger. Snape sat down without saying anything.

"You like her," Regulus said giving Severus a known smirk.

"What sort of nonsense are you talking about, Black?" Severus asked giving him a mortal glare. The use of his surname didn't go unnoticed by Regulus, who gave him a wider smile.

"You like Evans. The mudblood..."

"Don't. you. ever. call. her. that." Severus said pointing his wand to Regulus face. "Do you understand, Black?"

"Wow! I guess that must be true love" Regulus said raising both his hands in a clear sign for peace, not letting the silly smirk to leave his face.

"I'm not in the mood for your Black sense of humour..." Snape glared at him.

"Don't worry, Severus. Your secret is safe with me. Obviously, like everything else, my silence has a price - just know that you owe me a favour, all right?" Regulus said with a grim.

Regulus could feel Severus multiple attempts to invade his mind, just to get blocked once after another.

"You have been practising..." Severus said begrudgingly. "What a shame."

"Indeed," Regulus said suppressing another smirk "Evans is a great witch... not surprising that you feel attracted to her. However, I can see that you are not the only one who feels that way about her." Regulus said observing how James Potter placed his arms around Lily Evan's waist.

"Do you have a death wish, Black? If you don't, I suggest that you stop talking about her, right now!"

Regulus knew that if looks could kill, he would have died at that instance, no doubt.

"Understood." He said solemnly. "Let's talk about what brought you here. Tell me about the mission..."

Regulus went back to London to spend his Hogwarts winter-break with his family, but also to join the Dark Lord's ranks in a couple of missions that they had planned for that merry festive session. He had just witnessed Barty Crouch Jr among others Hogwarts students that Regulus had selected to receive their dark mark and join Voldemort's ranks.

The problem was that Regulus didn't feel the sense of pride while he was watching it as he thought he was hoping he would be feeling. In fact, he felt sick. He felt like he had done something extremely wrong and had condemned their souls to a cursed life of murder, torture, death and fear. He left the Lestrange Manor, with a sense of sorrow that he did not foresee that he would end up feeling that evening. It was like he needed a break from everything. He felt like he needed that warmth he got every time he received one of Anna's letters. He needed her. His muggle - his Anna.

Without thinking twice he went to the place that he had previously been told that she was going to be that evening, hoping with all his soul that she was still there. It was easy for him to get inside the Sadler's Wells Theatre without raising suspicion.

After confounding the doorman he walked straight in and sat down at the complete empty seats reserved for the audience. He quickly spotted Annabel, who was the only ballerina at the stage. She was rehearsing for her solo as Odile, also known as the Black Swan. She obviously had already told him all about the story behind that particular ballet and had explained to him about all the different pieces that she was going to perform. Regulus sat down, mesmerised by her dancing as if she was a veela.

"Annabel, stop!" a woman said after she stopped playing the music. "You are too rigid! Where is your black swan emotion? When it comes to the white swan, you are absolutely marvellous. You have the grace, the innocence. But your black swan still requires lots of work..."

Regulus who was the only other person present at the theatre gave a mortal glare to the old woman. He really wanted to give her a piece of a truly 'Black emotion', but he decided to remain quiet and carried on to watch them doing their work.

"I think that is enough for today, Miss White. Please try to evoke or inner Odile during this Christmas break. I trust that you will capable of it, otherwise, I would not have chosen you for the role..."

"Thank you, Miss Lane, I swear that I'm not going to disappoint you." She said giving her a small courtesy before she left the stage.

Regulus discreetly followed her into the girls changing room. When he entered she had already removed her black tutu and was silently crying in front of the mirror while she removed her makeup. She didn't notice his presence in the room. Regulus felt a sudden urge to hug her. She looked like an angel, and he wanted more than anything to carry her on his arms and give her comfort. She only noticed his presence when he was just behind her, almost touching her shoulders.

"Regulus!" she said opening her eyes wide in shock. "How did you come in...?"

"Magic!" he said smirking at her. Then he grabbed one of her hands and brought it to his lips and gave it a small kiss on its back like his mother had taught him as being an appropriate way to greet witches from traditional families. Annabel blushed.

"I wished you had told me you were coming instead of... just appearing like... magic..."

"I... did not plan to come in... I just needed to see you tonight. But I can go away if you think that I am being inconvenient..."

"No!" she had a sense of urgency in her voice "I mean... please stay. I wanted to see you too. For a long time." She said wiping her tears away. "Do you always dress up like that?"

"What do you mean?" Regulus asked feeling a bit confused.

"Like you have just run away from a film set which is filming a store from the last century…"

"This is how my people dress up," He informed her before he observed her black bodysuit "and I'm sure that in my society, this weird thing that you are wearing would be considered extremely inappropriate for a lady to wear in a presence of a man…"

"Well, fortunately, I'm by no means wearing inappropriate clothing for my people standards, despite the fact that you just invaded the girl's changing room. Which, remind me, please, turn around"

"Turn around?" Regulus asked confused.

"Yes. So I can get dressed in my normal clothes."

"Oh, right..." Regulus turned to a small window and tried to make some conversation to help him to ignore the fact that there was a pretty, intelligent, marvellous girl getting naked just behind him. "So... I hear that you need to evoke your inner black side... maybe I can help you with that..."

"Maybe you are the only one who can... Black is your name after all, right?"

"And you are Miss White... my white swan..."

"Who also needs to learn how to become a black swan... so, if you have any ideas how I can do that... please, enlighten me,"

"Well, I don't... although I must say that black colour does suit you. Maybe we could brainstorm something together if you come down on a walk with me..."

"A midnight walk with a dark sorcerer... that sounds like a very dangerous idea."

"Extremely dangerous... but I promise you on my wizard honour that you will be safe by my side."

"Good thing that I like to take risks... you can turn around now."

And so he did. For once her hair was loose, falling down up to the length of her breasts. She was wearing a winter dress that accentuated her body shape very nicely. Regulus felt suddenly very nervous, and he didn't know exactly why he felt that way. He told himself that this was because he was afraid that someone else would see them together. However, despite that fear, he knew that there was nowhere else in the world that he rather be at that moment.

"Where would you like to go, Annabelle?"

"I don't know... I don't really have curfew time to be back home tonight, so... the sky is the limit."

Regulus gave her a smirk after hearing the last part of her phrase.

"How would you feel about flying on a broomstick?"

Regulus was very excited to take his muggle for a broom ride. He knew that he was broken a million rules on doing that, and there would be no Ministry of Magic norBlack family or Death Eaters that would come to his rescue if he got caught doing that. For a once in a lifetime he had been completely reckless. But just the look of awe and amazement on Annabelle's face seemed to be good enough payment for the risk he knew he was taken. He landed on the top of Tower Bridge, protected by the pry eyes of muggles and wizards alike with a disillusionment charm placed by Regulus.

"I never knew that magic could be so amazing. Thank you so much for taking me here..."

"My pleasure. You haven't seen anything yet..."

They went silent for a moment, she was looking at the sights like she wanted to take everything in, to never forget. Regulus attention, however, was totally focused on her.

"This view is stunning, Regulus. Do you always take your female friends up here?"

She turned to face him with a sly look in her eyes.

"No. Only the very special ones..." he answered giving her a genuine smile for the very first time.

"You should smile more often, you know? You have an amazing smile..."

Regulus felt his stomach flip and his face burn. He did not know what was happening to him. She was only a muggle... he should not be feeling so vulnerable near her.

"I don't think I had many reasons for smile lately..."

"Why is that? What is so gloomy in Magical Britain?"

"Honestly? Everything," he answered with a sigh. "there is a war about to erupt, and I'm nothing more than a soldier... and I don't even know what I am fighting for anymore."

"So why do you carry on fighting? Can't you just leave?"

"Because... it is complicated. It is not like I'm allowed to just quit. Be a Death Eater is a lifelong commitment. If I quit, he would kill me."

"Who is he?"

"The Dark Lord..."

"The Dark Lord?"

"Yes... nobody should say his name..."

"Why not?"

"Because it's a taboo. You just can't say it." Regulus said in the middle of a sigh. He felt frustrated. He wanted… needed her to understand.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders you know? The Dark Lord missions, the Slytherin Quidditch team, my Head boy duties, studying for my NEWTs. But the worse is the weight of having the mission of marrying a pure-blood witch that will give me heirs to carry the Black family name... I fear that my family might collapse if I fail to do this last one..."

"Why is that so important?"

"Because... it is what my family expects me to do. The Blac family is very powerful, ancient and traditional in the wizarding world, Anna..." He looked at her feeling helpless. He did not know if she had really understood the weight of being the last non-disowned male Black heir, but somehow, he wanted her to understand it.

"Is that what you want to do?" she asked him feeling curious. She was looking deep into his eyes. They were so close that Regulus could almost count all the freckles she had on her cheeks.

"No. I want... I want to kiss you..."

He was caught by surprise by his own honesty. However, he was even more surprised when he noticed that she had closed her eyes and was bringing her lips next to his, making it an extremely irresistible invitation for him to avoid for much longer. Regulus held her head with his hands and started to kiss her slowly, savouring every single second of that new experience to him. Despite having many girls who pleaded for his attention, he had never kissed a girl before. He felt her own hands grabbing his hair in a possessive way, and it was then that he knew he was doomed.