"I presume you're waiting here for a reason, Black?" Belladonna asked, her blue eyes twinkling in the sunlight.
Regulus had been waiting for here last night, the night they met Bellatrix, and was up at dawn, waiting in the meadow.
"Yes," he answered but did not elaborate. Belladonna crossed the threshold, and gestured for him to follow her. Regulus followed her quietly, mulling over his thoughts.
She was leading him to the library on the first floor, but the joyous shrieks and laughs issuing from the kitchen were audible to them. Apparently, Sirius and Aoife were wreaking havoc there.
"Don't! Do not put vinegar in that! Sirius!" Aoife's muffled voice reached them, followed by a torrent of mad laughter.
"That seem to be having fun," Belladonna glanced at Regulus, smiling slightly. "Why aren't you with them?"
"I had other things to think about," Regulus said hesitantly. "And I have a few questions for you. Yesterday we -"
"Not now, Black," Belladonna gently rebuffed him. "At the library. This house is not what it seems."
Regulus looked as if he wanted to say something, but she quickly steered him into the library.
The library was like the drawing room, decorated with varying shades of magenta and red. The floor was carpeted, muffling their footsteps. It was not decorated as garishly as the drawing room, but there were one too many tapestries hanging around. A convoy of bookshelves dominated the left side of the room, bursting with beautifully leather-bound books. The right side was decorated with sconces and sturdy tables of mahogany, beautiful lamps placed precariously on them. Regulus hastily steadied one, lest it should fall. Looking up, he saw a beautiful chandelier, and there was a large balcony present, completely dedicated to books.
"Wow," he breathed. It was impressive in a way the Black library couldn't compete. There was a homey element present, which was entirely absent in his library. Nevertheless, he had an aversion to the bold colour scheme of the place, and prefered the sombre colours of his library more. Green would've been better, in his opinion.
"It's impressive, isn't it?" Belladonna said, seating herself on the beautifully upholstered sofa that was pushed into a corner, neglected. She looked expectantly at Regulus, her auburn hair glinting in the light. Regulus quickly seated himself next to her after shifting a few ancient tomes.
"So, yesterday," Regulus began after a few silent moments, Belladonna surveying him expectantly. "We ran into my cousin, Bellatrix. I think you've heard about her."
She nodded her assent, silently prompting him to continue.
"She, uh ... Aoife was hit by one of her spells, I saw it with my own eyes. It was a Dark curse or something, I'm sure of it, but when I asked her - Aoife I mean, she said that she feels fine and that nothing hit her. I'm sure something did, though. I mean, it might be something like the Imperius curse. But Bella doesn't have enough tact and ..." Regulus mumbled inaudibly, now talking to himself.
Belladonna cleared her throat subtly, bringing Regulus out of his thoughts. "Sorry," he said sheepishly.
"So you say she said she didn't feel anything? She was fine?" Belladonna asked, picking up one of the ancient tomes.
"Yes, she did," Belladonna was now flipping through it, looking for something. Regulus watched her patiently.
"This house is not a Muggle one, I'm afraid," she said after a few minutes of solitary flipping. "I daresay it belongs to a powerful Pureblood family, namely the Blacks."
Regulus jumped up, quite shaken. "How can you be sure it belongs to the Blacks? Look at it!" He waved his hands wildly around the room. "Does it look like it belongs to my family?"
Belladonna smiled gently. She knew he would react like this. Turning the ancient book to face him, she leisurely examined his face.
Regulus gaped at the open book, his mouth opening and closing, but no sound came out. He paled, flipping through the book frantically.
On the inside cover of the page, the motto Toujours Pur was engraved. Definite proof that the book was of the Black family. A brief look in the book showed us the portrait of Lucretia Black and her husband, Ignatius Prewett. Lucretia was his father's sister, his aunt and Ignatius was his father's brother-in-law, his uncle. They had mysteriously died before Regulus was 10. He remembered their funeral. Beneath the gilded portrait were the small engraved words:
Lucretia Black and Ignatius Prewett outside their new residence, Caritas Manor at Wales, a few days before their wedding.
"This is preposterous! Absurd! If this were a Black manor, not to mention at Wales, I would've surely visited it!" Regulus exclaimed, forcefully closing the heavy book.
Belladonna raised an eyebrow dubiously and silently pointed at a tarnished plaque partially obscured by a bookshelf. Regulus gave her an incredulous look, nevertheless went over to peruse it.
Lucretia, my love for you is eternal. Happy Birthday dearest.
Ignatius
At this Regulus blanched even more. He silently returned to the sofa, looking at Belladonna for an explanation.
"I believe there was a bit of a scandal before their death, wasn't there?" she waited for Regulus's nod before continuing. "I'm sure your father had nothing to do with it, he rarely ever does, but Walburga made sure to disregard this manor, causing it to fall in disrepair. I'm sure you know quite clearly what happened, and it would be useless to repeat it. The loyal house-elves surely wouldn't allow that to happen, and still faithfully clean this Manor. I happened to bump into one a few days prior, and he obliged me by narrating this story."
"That's ... that's okay, I think," Regulus muttered. "But what about Aoife?"
"I don't think there's anything to worry about, at present," Belladonna hummed thoughtfully. "I have my doubts, but ..." She trailed off.
"You will inform us if you gain any concrete evidence, right?" Regulus asked.
"Of course Regulus. This concerns you lot quite closely, but I will need something concrete, as you said, not the abstract conjectures I have," she hummed again.
"And what about -" Regulus started, but was rudely cut of by a cacophony of yelling and shouts coming from downstairs.
"What on Earth?" Regulus muttered, drawing his wand and rushing downstairs. Belladonna serenely followed.
Regulus saw Sirius yelling something on the top of his lungs while Aoife yelled at him to calm down. From outside, he could hear one of the Quirods, Regulus guessed Azalea, yelling for Belladonna. The woman in question swiftly went outside, leaving Regulus to deal with Sirius and Aoife.
Bursting a few crackers from the end of his wand, he quickly silenced the screaming pair.
"What is wrong!" Regulus yelled, glaring at them.
"Look at this!" Sirius gesticulated wildly. He lifted a bit of Aoife's curly red hair, exposing her neck. She was desperately trying to stop him.
Regulus stifled a gasp. A scorch mark, looking quite fresh, had made itself at home there.
"Merlin's soggy underpants!"
*****
Half century complete! (More than that, actually). I'm better that Rohit Sharma (if he's hit centuries or half centuries, I don't watch cricket much). And more that 1.5k reads, I don't know what to say! Thanks you SO much to all the lovely readers out there for showing so much interest, I feel so euphoric whenever I think about it! Our dearest Reggie and Aoife will get their story soon, but first our heroine has quite a lot of secrets bundled up, which she doesn't even know about!
Love to all the amazing readers reading this :-)
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INFERI (REGULUS BLACK)
Fanfiction"If you ever need me, I'll be at the Potter's." These were the words that kept on rolling around Regulus' head. His brother's last words before he left the house, bloodied and bruised. He didn't blame him of course. It must've been hell living as th...
