Author: HatefulRodeo
Story: Only Black in Name
Notes: Hola People! PLOT AHOY! Enjoy the update Lovelies; sorry it took so long! Thanks to all that fav'd, followed, and reviewed; even if I never read them.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I will make no money from the posting of this story.
Previously:
The Black heir happily scooted off Severus' lap and began to undress himself so he could lay down with his love. Once the letter was placed on the nightstand and he was stripped down to his underwear the younger wizard slipped under the warm covers and snuggled onto his dozing partner's side.
The older sleepily wrapped an arm around Regulus' lithe back and held him close. The smaller nuzzled in and easily slipped into a doze; maybe things were stressing him out a lot more than he realized if he was able to fall asleep so easily at one in the afternoon.
Well at least he was getting the much needed rest now and once he was awake he would use his newly gotten energy to ride Severus into the mattress. Now that was a plan he could get on, literally. With a silly grin plastered on his sculpted face his conscious mind finally shut down and Regulus slipped into sleep's welcoming embrace.
~*~*~*Chapter 10*~*~*~
Regulus was excited! This was just like one of those scenes out of Marvin Miggs the Mad Muggle! He and Severus were slinking in the growing shadows of dusk, sticking closely to the side of the building that housed the lab they would be robbing, well borrowing without the intention of ever returning, but those were semantics.
Slowly, and quite steathily, they made their way around the structure that held the Sulpheriac Acid; Regulus had resigned himself to never being able to say the blasted chemicals name, and soon they would be inside to seize their prize.
If all went well by tonight by midnight they would be destroying two Horcruxes and would be two steps closer to destroying the Dark Lord. As they came to the large metal door Severus paused and keyed in the four digit code of 1984 and then a weird symbol that looked like a star. For one instant Regulus thought it wasn't going to work and then the door gave a weird buzzing noise and the red light over the key pad went green.
With little ado the taller raven opened the once secure door and slipped inside; Regulus was hot on his heels. Together they followed the instructions the goblins gave them, stopping only to cast a specialized though much darker version of the innocuous Disillusionment Charm on themselves so they would not be seen by anyone other than themselves on the many cameras stationed around the building; the Charm was often used by the Death Eaters before they ambushed their targets.
As expected there were no guards inside the facility; the only muggles watching the building patrolled the outer fence and stood sentry at the locked gate at the front of the building.
When they reached a door that was painted with a red skull and bones along with the words Extreme Caution and under it Volatile Chemicals Inside. This must be where their Acid was stored and as Severus assured it was exceedingly dangerous; if the warnings on the door were anything to go by. He couldn't help but shiver when he looked again at the large morbid red skull and bones; it reminded him of the Dark Mark that was branded on his arm and made him shiver in disgust.
Pushing his somewhat foolish thoughts away Regulus waited for his partner to open the door and go inside. Once Severus was sure the door was not guarded with another alarm he opened the heavy door enough for them to slip inside. The grey eyed wizard peaked inside and was in awe at the many shelves placed inside the, all full of hazardous chemicals, and once his companion strode through the doorway he followed behind him.
"I'll go this way while you go the other. We'll track down what we need faster that way and Regulus remember it's Concentrated Sulfuric Acid." The Black heir nodded and rolled his eyes before walking to the right to find their target. He walked through the many shelves, carefully checking the names on the labels but not having any luck finding it until he heard Severus call his name; an underlying excitement coloring his lover's deep voice.
Regulus hurried to where he believed his man was and beamed when he saw the thick glass container holding the clear liquid that seemed to be suspended in midair. Severus quickly cast several powerful Anti-Breakage Charms on the container before slipping it into a bottomless bag, which also had powerful enchantments on it to protect what was placed inside.
Regulus was smiling like a loon as the two former loyal Death Eaters slipped out of the room. However, they did not leave immediately. The two men waited under their Disillusionment Charms to see if anyone was going to come and investigate the theft or the unsanctioned entrance into the room. After five minutes of no one storming the place Severus spoke; "Let's get out of here, Reg. We have work to do."
Regulus hummed and reached for his partner's arm, grasping it in his hand he led the other man out of the building and out the way they came. Severus reset the alarm code and continued to allow himself to be tugged by Regulus until they came to a dark section of the outer wall. With a sharp crack the smaller man apparated them out of there and back to their house in France.
When they touched down the two men shed the spell making them invisible and their cloaks before quickly making their way to Severus' lab. The man already set up the Protective Charms on one of the work tables so they needn't worry about the Acid destroying more that it was meant to and if the enchantments failed they could always vanish the Acid.
Hopefully, it would not come to that but who knew what would happen when a muggle chemical came in contact with something as highly magical as the Dark Lord's soul container. They'd also decided to not explore the Horcruxes magical properties in favor of destroying the damned things. Whatever could be gleaned from the cursed container would be almost useless to them as neither of them planned on making a Horcrux.
With quick movements full of suppressed eagerness Severus removed the glass container from the bottomless bag and set it on the table top. Regulus moved to fetch the Diary and the Locket which they left on the other work top to the right of them. Horcruxes in hand the Black heir placed them next to the Acid and stood back; this was Severus' area of expertise not Regulus' so his mate would have the floor.
The onyx eyed wizard removed the seal on the jar and summoned a glass ladle, specially purchased for this occasion. Ladle in hand the taller raven dipped the utensil into the Acid and slowly brought a spoonful out of the container and with a deep breath Severus dribbled some onto the locket and waited.
The results were instantaneous; the Locket flew open and the younger mangled face of the Dark Lord appeared, screaming in agony as it tried to leave it prison. The wraith cursed them; promising death and agony on them and to Regulus' horror the face within the locket began to surge outward, almost trying to create some sort of body. The Black heir moved away and had to stop himself from pulling Severus along with him.
This unsavory task needed to be done. Terrified, but resigned, the Black heir yelled to his lover; "Severus, Severus pour more Acid onto the damn thing!" On automatic the Potions Apprentice did as told and poured a generous portion of the solution directly onto the inside of Slytherin's Locket. Within a minute the screaming was lowered to hissing until the large piece of jewelry split in two and curled up on itself.
The two men breathed a sigh of relief when it appeared the Horcrux was destroyed but apparently Severus was not taking any chances and ladled a generous helping of the Sulphuris Acid into a smaller glass beaker and dropped the now dead soul container into it. As soon as the metal hit the corrosive liquid it began to bubble and disintegrate.
With a satisfied nod Severus stepped away and quickly moved to sweep Regulus up in a bone crushing hug. "We did it Regulus! It's done and it worked!" The grey eyed man wrapped his arms around Severus' shoulders and just let himself be held by his lover. Together they savored the thrill of victory for a few minutes before the broke apart to begin phase two of their plan; destroying the Diary.
The book was moved into the place where the Locket once stood; it didn't do anything. The book merely sat there, looking quite innocuous but they both knew better. That thing held a piece of the Dark Lord's mangled soul and Regulus knew killing it would be just as unpleasant as it was before.
He wondered what would happen this time. Would the Horcrux try to materialize and harm them? Regulus didn't know but he would soon find out; Severus and him both. Taking a deep cleansing breath he turned grey eyes to his love; "Do it, Severus. I'll back you up if need be." The dour man nodded and once again dipped the ladle into the beaker; this time filling the spoon with more Acid to be sure.
Swiftly, yet carefully, Severus doused the Diary with the caustic liquid and once again the result was disturbing. The book flew open but this time a fully formed young man of about sixteen emerged. Regulus looked closely at him and wondered if this was Tom Riddle; was this young man the Dark Lord they all feared?
He pushed these thoughts away quickly when the ghostlike thing advanced on Severus; murder was shining in the younger male's eyes and Regulus acted on instinct. He quickly levitated the large container holding the Acid and dumped a healthy dose onto the Horcrux. The chemical began to eat through the cover and them the pages, devouring them quickly.
A shrill scream of anguish came from the teenaged creature as it began to dissolve from the inside out. Those eyes shown crimson as its face contorted in rage before it exploded in whisps of shadows and disappeared from sight. Both men just stared at the now mangled Diary in shock.
They'd been expecting that something would happen but they never imagined this. It only went to show how dangerous those soul pieces could be. It appeared that they were sentient and able to act on their own. The Horcruxes also seemed to share their owner's sense of morality, or lack thereof. No doubt, in the wrong hands, they could have caused immense damage to some unsuspecting person.
Sighing in relief he watched as Severus secured the Diary in a box spelled to keep it contained; they wouldn't take any chances. They believed the thing was destroyed but they would be making no gambles. Slowly Regulus lowered the still hovering jug of Acid to the table while Severus proceeded to vanish the spilled volatile liquid.
Tonight had given him much to think about. Who was Tom Riddle? He'd given the subject a bit of thought before but pushed it away as unimportant at the time but what if it was something to look into? He had a feeling this Tom Riddle was somehow integral to their search for Horcruxes. He would look into it tomorrow, starting at Hogwarts; if this Riddle was magical he would have hopefully attended Hogwarts at some point in time.
The subject of an old student brought up the idea, once again, of involving Dumbledore. If this Tom Riddle was someone of intelligence there was no doubt that Dumbledore would know him or at least know of him.
A crack signaled Kreacher's arrival, turning Regulus' eyes widened when he took in the bruised appearance of the little elf; "Kreacher, what's happened to you?" Large bulbous eyes looked at Regulus before Kreacher bowed, begging his master's pardon; "I am sorry, Master. Kreacher was busy cleaning here today and forgot to prepare the lunch for Mistress and her friends."
Regulus stared down at the faithful elf and felt badly. He had meant to purchase another elf to tend to their home here in France so Kreacher wouldn't be stretched so thinly. He knew this was a long time coming and he was truly amazed that Kreacher had kept up tending to two houses all this time; the little elf was no spring Bowtruckle anymore and seeing to the needs of three people and two houses was taxing for him, even if the elf didn't complain.
Smiling down at the small creature Regulus spoke; "Do not worry Kreacher. Tomorrow I will procure another elf for this house so you will not have to do so much here. I merely need you to oversee the new addition to our family." The aged elf nodded, looking pleased that his Master trusted him so much; "Of course, Master Regulus. Kreacher be seeing that this new elf is fitting to be serving the House of Black."
The grey eyed wizard nodded haughtily before sending Kreacher away, assuring the elf that he and Severus could see to the cleaning and cooking for a little while so there was nothing to worry about. Regulus huffed and added the purchasing of a new House-elf to his list of things to do. He leaned back into his love's strong chest when Severs sidled up behind him, snuggling into his partner's taller body.
"Take me to bed, Severus." With little effort his lover swept Regulus into his arms and carried him bridal style to their bedroom where the older man stripped Regulus slowly, pressing loving kisses to the soft skin of Regulus' chest, belly and thighs.
The younger wizard knew nothing sexual was happening; all of Severus' touches and kisses were out of love and the desire to show just how much he adored Regulus. After he was naked Severus cast the necessary spells on their mouths and bodies so they would be clean and ready for bed.
He found himself smiling at his love's caring ways and when Severus finally slipped into their bed, equally nude of course, he wrapped his arm around the elder's waist and held him tight, using Severus' toned chest as a pillow. Together the two men slowly slipped into sleep; each relieved that there were two less Horcruxes left in their world.
Okay! We have destroyed the Horcruxes and we will be involving Dumbledore soon. Also, an update on Sirius' condition and Regulus gets a bit bitchy. ; )
Oh and a new House Elf will be making an appearance soon.
As Always All Mistakes Are My Own!