Chapter Nineteen: Strike

Regan toppled into the waking world in a gray haze, her eyes refusing to open under the dull sunlight. Her entire body was stiff and there was a dull, throbbing pain in her lower abdomen. She couldn't remember anything after Lucius had given her the ring, which annoyed her greatly.

What had happened?

"Regan? Do you need anything?" She finally forced herself to open her eyes and was greeted by Astoria's clean, concerned face. She had pulled her hair back in a ponytail and wore dark jeans and a pale pink scoop neck sweater. Regan had never seen her wear jeans before; it was always khakis or a skirt.

It was a nice change.

"It's January 13th, do you know where you are?"

Well of course she knew where she was, but was it really January 13th? Had she really been asleep for four days?

"The last thing I remember was the party," she murmured, slowly pushing herself up to lean against the headboard. She flinched, feeling her head pulse and a low pain settle in her lower abdomen. "What happened to me?"

"You were poisoned by Natalie. She had put a coating on your champagne glass and you absorbed it through your fingers." Regan sighed, staring down at her hands. "Apparently she had been having a sexual relationship with Lucius and she couldn't stand that you had come back and Lucius was intending to marry you."

"I know, she told me." She said as she closed her eyes, hoping that it would ease the pain in her head.

It didn't.

"She's been taken into custody, Lucius is pushing for execution." Astoria meekly told her. Instantly, Regan's eyes popped back open.

"They shouldn't kill her…not unless they know the whole truth about why she did it."

"She's been telling them the same story, but Lucius has been telling them something different…basically it's her word against his and nobody will believe her." Regan slowly shook her head. It wasn't fair, but she wasn't going to stand up and defend somebody that had poisoned her in an attempt to kill her. "Regan…I need to ask you something a bit personal." Regan nodded, put off by how nervous Astoria appeared. "Were you ever…intimate with Oskar?" Regan nodded. "Often?" Regan thought for a moment before nodding again. "Did he use...protection?" Regan had to think again. They had just never thought about using any form of protection. Regan wasn't even sure where you would buy any in their French hideaway.

"Not that I can recall." She answered honestly. Astoria shifted in her chair, the conversation making her uncomfortable.

"And…were you aware that you were pregnant?" The question made Regan's entire body go cold.

"Why do you say 'were'?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Astoria frowned, the words seemingly stuck in her throat.

"When the doctor came, he found that you were pregnant, at least four weeks." She said, her voice quivering as if she were about to cry. "When he told Lucius, I thought that he was going to kill you. He was so absolutely enraged and nearly tore apart the room, but…he calmed down and told the doctor to…get rid of it."

Tears spilled down Astoria's cheeks as she began to cry, but Regan felt no sorrow. She was sure that it would hit her later, but right now all she could acknowledge was her rage. Astoria kept apologizing and insisting that she begged Lucius not to do it, but Regan didn't want to hear any of it. If anybody should be apologizing, it should be Lucius.

Regan pushed back her blankets, forcing herself to stand despite the great protest of her body. She almost toppled to the ground the moment that she stood, but she caught herself on the post of her bed and propelled herself forward on numb feet. Astoria tried to get her to go back to bed, but Regan strode from her bedroom and marched in her capri pajama pants and her v-neck shirt down to Lucius's office. She could hear him speaking with Draco, something about the trouble they were still having with Sweden. When she heard him chuckle, she felt like fire would burst from her eyes. She hastily pushed the door open, her eyes instantly landing on a cool yet confused Lucius.

"What on earth are you doing out of bed? Astoria, take her back to her room and-." Regan slapped him as hard as she could, feeling her hand sting with excitement.

"You had no right," she said after a moment to collect herself.

"You would have kept the bastard?" He asked in a low tone, reaching up to gingerly touch his cheek where a red mark was now proudly displayed.

"It doesn't matter; it was not your choice to make!" She screamed at him, her face bright red and her eyes narrowed out of rage.

"I'm protecting you from rumors."

"I don't care what other people think of me, I'm not you!" She wanted to slap him again even harder.

"You will be my wife and people will judge you more than they do me. You will be a reflection of myself; do not ruin my image!" Regan balled her fists, the urge to strike him driving her to the brink of insanity.

"I wish that I could." She said through a clenched jaw. "I wish that people could see you the way that I see you; the way that we all see you." Lucius slowly chuckled, shaking his head.

"Nobody will ever listen to you." He muttered.

"People listened to Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore!"

That was the absolute wrong thing to say. Lucius knocked her down with a hard shove and let out an angry cry. The pain exploded through her hips and she gasped for breath, her whole body trembling from the pain.

"And look at where they are now! Dead and forever labeled as failures!" Regan slowly pushed herself, her arms shaking under her weight.

"Failures to you, but martyrs to the rest of us." She defiantly glared up at him, silently daring him to strike her again. "You may have killed the people, but you didn't kill the spirit. New generations will emerge and they will question you and keep fighting until you're overthrown and dead in an unmarked grave. You will be remembered as a dark evil that plagued this country and nobody will mourn your death when you're gone!"

Lucius was tense, as if he wanted to strike her, but was holding himself back. He looked absolutely enraged, but Regan didn't care. She had been waiting for a very long time to say that to him.

"Take her to her room and make sure she does not leave…I will deal with her later." Astoria helped Regan to her feet, smoothing back her hair as she helped her from the room. Regan was scowling, kicking the door aside and shooting one final chilling glare at Lucius. She wished more than anything that she had had her wand with her. She would have cursed him to walk the earth as a roach…and then she would have squashed his body and left him on the bottom of her shoe.

When Astoria helped her back into bed, she offered her a silent smile. Both knew that Regan had made a bold move, but it was something that needed to happen.

"I'll have Mrs. Harvey bring dinner up for you and a couple of books, will you be all right? I can bring Scorpio upstairs so that we can sit together."

"I would like that," Regan quietly answered. Astoria nodded, smiling at her once more before she disappeared from the room. Regan waited patiently, settling down on her bed and feeling extreme anger pick at her stomach. She waited and waited and waited, but there was no sign of Mrs. Harvey or Astoria. Regan was actually beginning to worry, but calmed when she heard footsteps.

Unfortunately, it was not who she expected.

There was Lucius, carrying a tray with her dinner on it…and bridal magazines. He set the tray across her lap, offering her a small smile.

"I thought that I'd come and sit with you for a while," he said as he claimed the chair that had belonged to Astoria. They stared at each other for a moment, Regan refusing to touch the food or the damn bridal magazines. She couldn't believe that he actually had the audacity to bring those, but she really shouldn't be surprised. With a small grunt, Regan flipped the tray from her lap and waited for the satisfactory crash, but it never came. The entirety of her tray was frozen in mid air, controlled by Lucius. In reverse, the contents of her tray fell back onto her lap and seemed to press down into her body. Lucius sighed, sitting down beside her. "You are mad at me."

"I can't imagine somebody being happy after they were pushed to the ground…" She didn't want to mention the baby. That would come up later…and she would make him suffer for what he had done to her.

"Well I'm none too happy with you either." He said sternly. "I am trying to take care of you and I am trying to be a kind future husband, but you're proving to be extremely difficult." Regan sighed, shutting her eyes for a moment to calm herself.

"I do not want to be your wife…I just want to leave…"

"I've already made the announcement, there's no backing down now." Regan's eyes snapped open.

"I don't care. Sacrifice your pride and let me go."

"I can't…I like you too much." Before Regan could argue with him, he let out an exasperated sigh and slumped over in his chair. "You remind me so much of Narcissa…and I didn't realize that I would miss her so much." She involuntarily moved away from him, her brow furrowed together.

"Then you should go after her." Regan insisted. "You found me, so I'm sure that you could find her."

"Don't you think that I've tried?" He asked bitterly. "She has completely disappeared…I've still got men searching through Asia, but they've turned up nothing."

"Then maybe you were meant to be alone." Regan bit out, her stomach crying out as she got a good whiff of the food in front of her.

"Perhaps…" He admitted. "But I do not want to be alone." Lucius shifted uncomfortably in his chair, awkwardly clearing his throat. "I want to explain myself...but you cannot repeat to anyone what I am about to tell you…understood?" Regan nodded, slightly put off by how calm he was. "When I was much younger, a student at Hogwarts, I had a friend that was completely smitten with this girl. I was dating Narcissa when he first told me, so I never told him to his face, but I thought that she was one of the most beautiful girls that I had ever seen. I wanted her…we both wanted her so badly, but she went with a different group and dated another boy. The reason why you intrigue me so much is because you could pass as her sister…well, more like her daughter now, but still. Your hair is the exact same color and you have her skin…when I saw you, I thought for a moment that she had come back to life."

"Did you kill her?" Regan asked, the question coming out harsh.

"No…but my Master did." That wasn't too surprising for Regan to hear. Still, she felt sick about Lucius comparing her to some dead woman that he had lusted after.

"What was her name?" Regan asked, watching as Lucius's eyes became dreamy and glassy.

"Lily Evans…she was Harry Potter's mother…"

...

A/N: I'm currently sick, so my thoughts are a little cloudy right now...I hope my editing was fair on this, but if not just let me know and I'll come back and fix it. Sweeney opens in five days; I will be resting a lot.

Dragoon Dave: I would argue that you are very twisted, but that's to be done in private ;) I hope this answered some of your questions...and I hope that it raised many more! *cue evil laugh*