ALLURE OF MURDER ━︎━︎ Regulus A. Black

Prologue

PROLOGUE,
not a dream

. . .

You know the feeling of drowning. When the whole world is spinning and you're struggling to keep the water out of your lungs until you feel like your head is exploding. At that point you just have to take a breath. That's when it all stops hurting. . . when you start to see small white dots dancing around before your eyes and you know your life has come to an end whether you wanted it to or not.

That was what Regulus Black was feeling right now. He felt like he was drowning in the blinding light reflecting off of the white walls in the auror's interrogation room. His body was sitting so motionlessly on the chair that he almost looked as if he wasn't breathing. He could've fooled someone for dead. His clothe-covered elbows were pressed against the table for six in front of him. His fingers were tangled in his hair, harshly pulling at the dark strands of the messy locks, as if wanting to tear the hair straight from his head as part of a punishment for himself.

Everything about those past few hours was painfully circling his mind, not daring to leave for a mere second. Sentences were spoken in front of him but he didn't understand anything. All he heard was the haunting voice of his first love begging for him to kill her. The memory of her tearstained face stung him like a thousand needles plunged directly into his pale skin with no remorse. The way her voice trembled as she said her final words sending a pang to his heart.

Regulus finally looked up. And at first he thought he saw her standing in front of him, but he had to remind himself that that was just part of his imagination playing games on him and it was simply an auror, standing there, waiting impatiently for the teenage boy to say something. Anything.

But he said nothing. She was gone. Forever. Never to be seen again. Never to be heard again. And all because of the Dark Lord. . . no. Who was he kidding? It was all because of him. He was the one pointing his dark wand at the innocent girl. He was the one to send the green light flying at her. He was the one to make her take her last breath.

And all that just to satisfy his family.

Bloody Blacks.

He hated— no. He despised them. All of them. Every single inch of their existence. His parents, Walburga and Orion, for brainwashing him into evil. His brother, Sirius, for leaving him for dead. His cousin, Bellatrix, for being such a "perfect role model" to him. And every other one for staying by the Dark Lord and having no second thoughts about the war he was brewing in his mind.

That brought him back a year. Back to when he was as innocent as a newborn baby. To when he knew nothing about how miserable his life was going to be. He remembered walking up the round black marble staircase that was lit up by nothing but hundreds of single candles hanging from a silver chandelier. It spun gently at the middle of the tower he climbed, the wax from the candles dripping down slowly, like the remaining water dribbling down from a cheap tap.

He reached an open archway that lead to an even darker hallway, his eyes curiously glancing around as he searched for a specific door. He was told he would know which one it was once he laid his grey eyes on it and that seemed to be true. The door stood out. It was bigger and situated itself on the wall in between two lit up candles that were placed on long silver candlesticks. It looked as if it wasn't there when the house was first built, merely fitting between the doors on either side of it, leaving barely half and inch of black wallpaper next to it.

Young Regulus walked up to the door. He knew exactly what was behind there. He just wasn't aware of the amount of trauma and misery it would bring flooding into his life once he twisted the silver handle and took a step inside. But, at that point in his life, he didn't know any of his future. So he opened the door and walked inside with a straight and emotionless face even though deep inside he was excited for today.