Mastermind

Down

One of the best warnings I can give you for this chapter is that for no other chapter the song and the theme of the chapter match as well as they do here.

Warnings:
Death / Murder
Self-harming behaviour
Another Voldemort Speech so any kind of warning that comes with that
This time I have not taken a speech from modern politicians and rewrote/translated them until they fit but wrote the thing myself (and simultaneously remembered why I usually don't do that to myself) but I did quote Hitler in it.

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I shot for the sky
I′m stuck on the ground
So why do I try?
I know I'm gonna fall down
I thought I could fly
So why did I drown?
You never know why
It′s coming down, down, down
- Down by Jason Walker

23rd of December 1977

Narcissa waits for him at the train station a few hours after the Hogwarts Express departed. She is clad in a dark coat with a white fur line. Her cheeks are painted with a soft rose colour, making her look almost sensual in contrast to her posture and the look on her face giving the impression of unmoving stone.

"Missed the train," she says calmly. "That is what you're going with?"

"Sirius tried to prank me by locking me into a cupboard until the train was gone."

She regards him for a long moment. Her hands are clasped in front of her stomach. She nods. "Better."

She apparates them to Grimmauld Place.

"Will you still join us for Christmas?" Regulus asks quietly, staring at the door, "Or will you spend it with your new family?"

She looks up at the house, then further up to the sky. Grey clouds are hanging over London. If it rained, it would probably snow. She exhales, Regulus can see her breath.

"You will always be my family, Regulus," she says it slowly, like she means to say more. She turns to him and gives him a smile that won't quite reach her eyes. "I will see you the day after tomorrow for Christmas Dinner."

She reaches out and traces his arm but doesn't quite touch him. She turns around and vanishes. Regulus looks at the spot where his cousin has stood mere seconds ago. Then he goes inside.

25th of December 1977

Regulus presses James' scarf to his face. He inhales as if it's an oxygen tank.

He carefully folds it together and hides it in a box in the back of his closet together with the lion bracelet. He doesn't take off the Prongs necklace. He fears, he will break down without it.

He calls the image of James' face back into his mind. The way he has looked and laughed at the train station when Regulus told him he loved him. Then he pushes the memory away, locks it in a room where his mother won't get to it. He has spent four months brushing up on his occlumency skills. He can beat her in his sleep. Voldemort is the real threat. But Voldemort won't be here tonight.

Regulus stands up and looks at himself in the mirror. His mother has gifted him two new sets of evening wear. The second best for today. The best for another day.

He looks good in it. It suits his features. The hair is neat and short, shorter than usual, making him look older. He puts a ring of his grandfather on his hand. It looks too big on his hand.

A soft knock comes from the door and Kreacher informs him, his cousins have just arrived.

He goes downstairs, greeting his uncle Cynagus with a handshake, his aunt Druella with a kiss on the cheek. He greets Lucius and Narcissa in the same manner. Bellatrix spends Christmas Dinner with her husband and his family. Regulus is glad he won't have to see her tonight.