Word count: 1,068

Interlude 12: Regulus Black

Do What I Must

Regulus kept the hood of his cloak pulled over his face and his head tilted downward as he hurried through the streets of Hogsmeade. The darkness provided some cover, but he didn't trust the villagers to keep quiet if they noticed a student about. The town was too small for someone out of place to not be noticed. Regulus had learned after sneaking out in his first year that Hogsmeade was no London.

The punishment for trying to steal candy from Honeydukes would be nothing in comparison to being caught for this. He couldn't play off his excursion as an innocent meeting with his cousin. Not to Albus Dumbledore.

He found Bellatrix right where she'd promised to be, standing at the bottom of the hill where the Shrieking Shack was perched. As he approached from behind, she stared up at the house as if mesmerized. Though she didn't turn around, it was clear that she knew he was approaching.

"It's a shame it's quiet tonight," she said quietly, as if they were merely stargazing together. "Did you know they built this house only a couple years after I graduated? Everything interesting happens once you're gone."

She waved a dismissive hand at the house as she turned to look at Regulus, but her eyes lingered a second longer.

"I've yet to actually hear the screams everyone talks about. I think it's all hearsay."

Regulus shrugged. He couldn't attest to having heard the ruckus for himself, but he doubted the villagers were all been hallucinating the howls they'd heard since the house had been erected. There were any number of possible explanations, none of which Regulus found particularly interesting.

"Why did you ask me to meet you out here, Bella? Exams aren't that far away, you know? I should be sleeping. Tomorrow is a full day of studying."

"There are things that can't be asked about in letters," Bellatrix said briskly, getting straight to business after being redirected. "I want to make sure you're keeping the correct company."

Regulus raised an eyebrow.

"You couldn't ask me about my friends in a letter? You thought that would be suspicious?"

Bellatrix's frown deepened, and Regulus sighed deeply.

"I promise that my friends are the finest Hogwarts has to offer. I'm not Sirius. I have no intentions of sullying the family name for the purposes of a good laugh."

"All right, all right," Bellatrix said, waving off his irritation and rolling her eyes. "There's no sense in getting defensive. As your elder, it's only natural that I would bother myself with keeping you on the right track. One has to check in from time to time and make sure that no course correcting is needed. I trust that you've stayed close with Rosier? His father is doing very well at the moment; don't skimp on that relationship."

"I won't," Regulus said, not bothering to explain the way Rosier sent shivers down his spine when he listened to him talk. Rosier didn't just view Muggleborns as being less refined or equipped to handle magic. He viewed them more as objects. There was something unhinged lurking inside Rosier, and Regulus didn't want to be in the vicinity when it was released.

"Good, good," Bellatrix muttered as if she were praising a dog for its well-trained behavior. "Now, of course, I have one more important question: What have your friends been saying about the Dark Lord? Do they admire him like they should?"

Regulus held in a sigh. As soon as he had read her letter, he'd suspected the Dark Lord was the primary reason Bellatrix wanted to speak to him. The man was all anyone could talk about, and it was driving Regulus up a wall, not that he would admit that to Bellatrix. She was how he had first heard of the Dark Lord. During one of his breaks from school, she'd come to Grimmauld Place enthusiastically talking about the man who had taught her more than Hogwarts ever had.

Afterward, Regulus had pushed it aside as unimportant until his school friends started talking about the same man as they whispered about him down corridors and in their dormitory. He hadn't been sure what to make of it at first, but he'd adjusted and gone along with it. Bellatrix had direct access to the man who Regulus could only think of as somewhat terrifying though, and that made him cautious with his words.

"They're intrigued," he said truthfully, "just as everyone is."

Bellatrix smirked, clasping her hands together in front of her.

"Good," she said. "No doubt there's a lot of potential talent there. That's the favour I've come to ask of you, Regulus."

His stomach sank, but he didn't outwardly react. For all of Bellatrix's earlier talk about keeping him on the right path, she wouldn't have bothered to come herself unless she had a task for him.

"What is it?" he asked with a slight bow of his head.

"You must be mine—and by extension the Dark Lord's—eyes and ears at Hogwarts. We cannot enter the school ourselves, so we must trust you to do our work for us. Keep an eye on your friends and the other students. Discuss the Dark Lord with them, see who's interested and who isn't. Keep a particularly close eye on anyone you deem talented. I trust you can work that out for yourself."

He didn't confirm or deny his skills in that area. Bellatrix had already assumed that he'd said yes, and he hadn't believed there was another option regardless. Bellatrix wasn't someone you said no to. He'd learned that as a child, and she now had an extremely powerful wizard standing behind her.

"Am I meant to write?" he asked. "How will I keep you updated on what I see?"

"I don't think letters are necessary," she said with a shrug. "Prove yourself, Regulus. If you do your job well, the right recruits will find their way to us."

His stomach tightened. The threat was clear. If none of his classmates joined the Death Eaters, Regulus was going to pay for it. He focused on keeping his breathing even as he nodded.

"I understand," he said firmly.

Bellatrix was quick to disappear once he understood what he needed to do. As Regulus headed back up to the castle, his stomach twisted up in knots, but he didn't slow down until he reached his bed.

A/N: That's the last of the interludes! We have three more chapters, and then this story will be at a close, which is wild to think about. Wow.