Love, Life, And Lies- Regulus Black

.rookwood.

.guilt is rooted in actions of the past, perpetrated in the lack of action in present, and delivered in the future as pain and suffering.

"Come along Evan, we only have a small window to get this right." I hissed, turning back to glare at my almost useless brother who was taking his dear sweet time dawdling as he looked at the latest Comet broomstick model.

"I don't understand why you can't just put him under the Imperius curse," He stated, rolling his eyes as he picked up the pace to catch up to me. "Wouldn't that be much simpler than going through all of this trouble?"

"Evan, Evan, Evan. My dearest brother, you have much to learn. Not everyone needs to use the Imperius curse to get people to do as they please. There is also the fact that the curse is only a temporary solution, whereas manipulation if done properly, lasts forever." I explained, pushing my way through the crowds of people who were heading to their early morning jobs.

I had been trailing Rookwood for weeks. The task the Dark Lord had assigned to me had been quite simple. Get Augustus Rookwood to join his ranks. It helped that Rookwood had always fancied me while he was at school, earning his affection would be simple.

After weeks of tailing him, I realized that he was a creature of habit. That small fact made concocting a plan to win him over remarkably easy. Every morning he left his home at 8am, entered Diagon Alley shortly after, and stopped at Rosa Lee teabag for peppermint tea. Then he without fail would stop at Obscurus Books to see if there had been any new magizoology books released by Newt Scamander.

The plan was simple, and so were men. They liked to feel important and needed. Wanting to play the knight in shining armor, and come to rescue the damsel in distress was in a man's nature. All I had to do was play into that notion. That was where Evan came in, and the only reason he was with me. He was going to create a scene, where he would mistreat me in front of Rookwood, allowing him the opportunity to come to my rescue.

Simple.

I entered the bookshop, a small bell tinkling in the background to alert the shopkeeper. I quickly scanned the room, to see Rookwood where I knew he would be. I never took him to be one who would have an interest in magizoology, yet there he was, inspecting the section very closely, just as he had for weeks.

I sashayed over and grabbed the new Scamander book from the shelf, taking it up to the shopkeeper to pay for it.

Just as I had handed him the sickles he required as payment, Evan stormed in, looking angry and bothered, as we had rehearsed. It hadn't taken a lot to get him ready to play the part well. Evan was a natural when it came to anger.

"CASSIOPEIA." He barked, charging forward and grabbing my arm, harshly ripping me around so that I was staring into his eyes. "I told you to stay with me, and do as you are told. You are so insolent and irresponsible and can never do anything right."

"Evan. You're hurting me." I whimpered, fidgeting under his grasp.

"Maybe you should consider the consequences before you just do whatever you want you little slut." He spat, cruelty laced in his voice.

The look in his eyes brought actual fear to my heart for a small moment. The words almost seemed too easy for him to speak, and it stung as if I had been slapped. That made it easy to dip my head in submission. I nodded meekly, and he ripped my arm again, trying to pull me from the shop.

Just as I had anticipated, Rookwood was not one to sit by and watch a woman get abused. He stepped in front of Evan, his frame towering over that of my brother.

"That is no way to treat a lady. I think that it's time for you to leave." He commanded, glaring at Evan in such a way that it felt as if he was going to burn holes in his head.