Arcane (Regulus Black)

fourteen

"Another party you were not invited to?"

I turned and saw Regulus. "Piss off Black I am not in the mood right now." I replied and went back to stare at the sky.

I heard footsteps but they turned louder each step. He stood in front of me. I ignored him and continued to look up at the sky. I felt my throat closeup and looked down. He sighed and crouched down to sit opposite me. We sat in silence together. I remembered our childhood. How whenever I was mad at Sirius, regulus would be the one to comfort me. We would be sat together for minutes in silence. He knew what I wanted without me ever asking him. He just knew. Even after all those years he knew. I heard him shuffle and his hand was on top of mine. I gasped and jolted back. He touched me and it felt as if the sears were dancing across my skin. The cold air around me immediately turned hot. The very place he touched felt like a blaze of fire. For the moon, he was definitely the opposite.

"What did he do?" he whispered. But when he whispered it felt like a tone of anger.

I paused and looked at the empty space next to him. What if? "You know when McGonagall announced my name and placed the hat on me, I prayed practically begged the hat to put me in Slytherin. I just..." I sighed "I did not want to be parted from you or disappoint my parents. I have always wondered what could have happened if I had just listened but I am me and that's the greatest problem somebody can have. I am not what my parents wanted." I shook my head. Or Sirius's. I thought.

He cleared his throat. "You know Elizabeth I am not surprised the hat did not put you in Slytherin" I looked up at him. He placed his hand on top of mine but this time I did not move. I looked at his piercing green, emerald eyes. "You were the light in my life and are in many other lives. You are not for Slytherin. Do you hear me? You are the light; you belong in Gryffindor. Do not let anybody tell you else."

I bit my trembling lip but it is too late, tears strolled down my face and I looked down. My eyes stared at our hands, intertwined. I did not even realise I had my hands intertwined with his. I remembered his hand on top of mine. "My life is ruined Reggie" I choked out in between sobs, "I lost everybody when I was placed there. I lost my dad, my mother. They do not even talk to me anymore. They do not even consider me their daughter. I lost the only person that was ever truly there for me. I lost you."

His finger touched the edge of my chin and I felt a tingling sensation that escalated through my entire body. He looked straight at me, "you never lost me Elizabeth. I will always be there for you. I know I may not the most perfect one, I have done something I am not entirely proud of but" he cleared his throat, breaking away from my gaze. "I thought I was doing the right thing when in reality I no longer think so."

A part of me screamed to ask him but I kept that inside of me. Perhaps if I had asked would you still be alive?

"During the rehearsal" I hesitated. "Your arm. I saw a mark. Did your parents ever?" he moved back and looked directly at me. He thought I would not have noticed it. How his body froze when I asked. His eyes grew in alarm.

"I am pretty sure you are aware of my parents and their methods" he hesitated. "Sirius must have told you" I shook my head. "Well," he pursed his lips, "Sirius is everything my parents do not want in a son but he is the oldest black and thus all attention is on so my parents use very extreme traditional methods and actions to make sure he sticks to their expectations".

"But he does not" I blurted out and he smiled.

"He is a stubborn one my brother" regulus smirked, "but they found other ways," he murmured and my heart dropped. Silence surrounded us as I remembered Christmas and Sirius. When I found him in that state at James's house.

"Have they ever treated you like that?" I asked.

He shook his head, "I'm just the only option left for them now. Hogwarts is the one place they cannot touch me but ever since Sirius left..." he paused.

"What happened since Sirius left?" I immediately asked, he hesitated. I put my hand on his arm. I heard his breath shake.

He looked straight up at me yet he did not look me in the eyes. "Tell me Elizabeth, if I told you about the darkness inside of me, would you still look at me like I am the sun?"

I squeezed my hand in his hand, as I moved my forehead to lie against his. That was our thing as kids. I used to do that so he could read my mind to know what I truly felt.

I felt him smile. "Just like the moon, half of my heart will always love the darkness. Even in a crowded room, I'd still look at you Reg" I whispered. He pulled himself closer towards me and placed his lips on to mine. It was soft and slow, yet heavy and rapid. I raised my arms to wrap around his neck, pulling myself closer to him to take in his kiss and to sink into the way he breathed. He pulled my hair back and grabbed one side of my neck as he pressed his lips harder on mine. His hands travelled down my back, the temperature of his hands melting with the warm breeze of the late spring and his left hand stayed at me hip, his right traced back up to the nape of my neck.

While his hands enveloped me, his tongue traced my lower lip and coaxed my mouth open to taste each other. A low groan rumbled from his throat, the vibration of his lips reverberated against mine, and I felt a fluttering at my core.

As his right hand gently pushed my neck forward to apply more pressure to our smouldering kiss, I gasped. He jolted back and looked like he had awoken from a trance and walked away. Quite quick too. More like ran away.

I sat on the tower puzzled over what had just happened in the last couple of minutes. I saw the time and figured it was quite late now too. I walked back to my common room only to find Sirius and Remus stood together. They were talking in harsh whispers but stopped as soon as they heard me come in. Instantly, Sirius broke away from Remus and asked me what I was doing out so late.

I saw Remus held his head down towards the ground. He looked even worse than usual. I thought perhaps because of his condition but this was different. His eyes were swollen red as if he was sobbing or angry. I tried to look at him to ask if he were okay but he would not even look me in the eye.

I stood there numbing a few phrases to answer what I was doing out there. Truthfully, I was still trying to figure out what had just happened. And the defect of that. I wanted more. I did not want it to stop? It kept replaying in my head over and over again. "Nothing" I cleared my throat, "just wanted some time away" Sirius nodded and I paced myself up to my bed.