Mastermind

Bruises

There must be something in the water
'Cause everyday it's getting colder
And if only I could hold you
You'd keep my head from going under
Bruises by Lewis Capaldi

Narcissa is assigned a room in the Potter house. Regulus takes her upstairs and closes the door behind them, keeping any noisy ears out.

Narcissa turns to him. For a moment they just stand and look at each other. Her eyes search him for change, for something that doesn't add up, a flaw in an illusion.

"How are you not dead?" she whispers, "They said you were dead."

"You should sit down," Regulus says, gesturing to the bed. She looks around the room as if every inch of it is too dirty to even look at. "Just sit."

She walks to the bed and sits down on the edge.

"You remember our conversation that last Christmas we spent together?"

"Yes."

"I couldn't go on like that. Especially with this thing," he raises his left arm, "I lost so many people because of it."

"I've heard of the little Rosier," she says neutrally.

Regulus bites his lip hard. "Yes, him. But him, later. Before... Sirius... his friends... James."

She looks at him with a hint of surprise. They know each other too well. They can read each other too well. The little shift in his voice when he says James' name? She heard it. The rush of feeling when he looks at him and thinks of him? She can see it.

"Are you... with him?"

"Not anymore." He twists the bracelet around his wrist. "That's why I decided to work against Voldemort. I will kill him."

"You will kill Voldemort?"

"Yes."

"Regulus, you are eighteen. You didn't even finish Hogwarts."

"I uncovered the secret of his immortality and destroyed two of his Horcruxes."

She blinks and almost smiles. "You've always been the best of us. Horcruxes – are those that book Lucius had? And Bella's cup?"

"Yes."

"They make Voldemort immortal?"

"So to say."

She nods to herself and stands up again. "We shouldn't lose any time then. Let's go to Gringotts and get that cup before someone gets suspicious."

Regulus looks at her for a moment. The typical look on her face is replaced by determination. The wedding ring sparkles on her finger. The fabric of her dress hugs her stomach.

"Why are you so eager?"

"What kind of question is that?"

Regulus can't help it. The paranoia and suspicion anyone harbours for him and his family slowly seeps into him, too. It just seems too convenient, doesn't it?

"You love Lucius. You loved Bella. The Narcissa I know would never oppose them."

She masks her emotions again. Regulus can see the look of boredom coming down on her like a curtain. He wonders whether it looks the same when he does it. He remembers how shocked James has looked at him once when he did exactly that. Regulus is used to it from her, but he hasn't seen anyone do it in so long, he has to admit, it is uncanny. The true danger of it lies in the fact that it doesn't look fake. The smile James uses to mask his sadness looks unbearably fake. Narcissa and Regulus can tuck away the deepest emotion and replace it by a genuine expression of nothingness.