bitter longings

He rubbed the back of his neck, looking around the street and smiling sheepishly. “I wouldn’t pull you into a dark alleyway, you don’t have to think so highly of yourself, you know, I’m not interested in you.” Well. Atticus bit down on his bottom lip. Maybe that wasn’t quite humble enough to address one of the fancy Blacks. Hell, he didn’t even know if Regulus was into that pretentious stuff.

“I didn’t want us to catch any attention,” he pointed out, “with you being recently famous… I figured you wouldn’t want more gossip.” He arched his brows. “Because I know you went to Azkaban. Well, I don’t know if you did, but I know from others that it’s true in their case.” He gave a one-shouldered shrug. “I’m just curious. I’ve never known a prisoner of Azkaban.”

     Not interested. Atticus' instant response to Regulus' comment caught him off guard but for a moment. He'd been joking, of course, but he'd been going in the direction of a dark alleyway to kill him. Hell, maybe that's what the other boy had meant, too, but Regulus wasn't sure if that's what it had felt like.

     "Considerate," he replied, eyebrows slightly raised. "I went to Azkaban, yes, but you don't know me, do you? Unless you're saying that the reason you came over here was so that you can say you know someone who's been imprisoned." Really, he didn't care that much, if that was the reason or not, all he wanted was to see if Atticus would squirm, admit to it, or surprise him completely.

     Merlin, Regulus loved people. They were always so interesting.

But—what on earth was he doing? He was still moving toward them, looking for all the world as though he was the one with a wand, and she defenseless. As though she hadn’t just gotten the better of him. Bloody hell, did he have a spare wand or something?

Daisy stepped back as he drew nearer, her wand raised and pointed straight at him. A part of her felt like it was wrong, to hex someone who was unarmed, only she needed to, didn’t she? Because this was a Death Eater. She had disarmed him, and now she needed to immobilise him so she could turn him over to the aurors, so he wouldn’t hurt anyone.

And then he held out his hand. She looked at it incredulously—was he joking? She wasn’t going to turn his wand back over to him. There was being fair, and then there was just plain stupid. The hand holding his wand disappeared behind her back, and she took another step away.

“Make for an exit,” she said quietly over her shoulder, though she wasn’t the least bit surprised when her mother ignored her. Holly wasn’t the type to leave her daughter alone in a dangerous situation, even though there wasn’t anything she could do to help. It didn’t really matter, though; Daisy was confident that she had this under control.

She kept her wand trained on the Death Eater, barely moving as she watched him. She really didn’t want attack him while he was unarmed, but…

     Her wand arm moved—he found himself simultaneously disgusted and impressed—and she moved to attack a defenseless wizard. Without thinking, he moved, as quick as he could, drawing on years of fighting, years of moving out of the way of things, and didn't stop moving until he was directly behind her, and in front of her mother.

     Once behind her, his mind was quickly on locating his wand. That had to remain his priority. It was tempting to try and fight without it, to try and show her up even at a complete disadvantage.

     "Boo," he said, quietly and as near her ear as he dared get in the moment. It was important that he not loose track of what either woman was doing. Even though Muggles were magicless, they were, quite obviously, still in possession of limbs and some logic. An attack could come from either direction, and while he wasn't any bit safer here, he was closer to his wand.

     A teacher had once told him that muggles were basically their equals—even though they had no magic, they did almost as much as wizard, though barbarically, without magic. At the time, he'd been disgusted by the idea, but it had stuck with him, and he constantly reminded himself not to underestimate a muggle merely because they had no magic.

     Sirius’ usual mischievous glint lingered complacently behind stormy eyes as the brothers tip toed most carefully down the creaky old staircase of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. As a noble house from generations of purebloods, one might believe the Blacks to be vastly wealthy. It was true when comparing Sirius’ immediate family to, say, the Weasley’s but the state of their house and the lack of monetary gain from name alone was substantially less than some of the other Sacred Twenty-Eight. Their father still worked and the boys were taught that work was important for a Black. Building rapport or some other bologna.

     ”You’ve enjoyed every moment spent with me, Reg. Don’t try and weasel your way into making me think you cooler than you are. Now shut the fuck up until we get out of here.”

     Sirius ṡïlεṉτlÿ ṃαṉευṿεɾεḋ  down the hall with big eyes peering quickly into the living spaces in search of mum or father or Kreacher but the coast was ค๒ภ๏г๓คllא ςlєคг. It made Sirius Orion Black III proportionately uneasy but his decision was made and mischief was his middle name. With precision and expert silence, Sirius opened the front door and stepped precisely onto the front doorstep in wait for his brother. Grey eyes glanced at Regulus as the door shut behind them and they could walk down to the main road.

     ”When we get to the sidewalk, run. I have this theory that mum set up some sort of alarm system for possible intruders, so we’ll want to get the piss out of here as fast as possible,” Sirius instructed. 

     At the door, Sirius was speaking to him, but all he picked up on was one word. Run. He wasn't surprised by it, but he was surprised by how early in the night it was coming. In good faith though, he didn't question it, just followed his elder brother's lead. The second he was at the sidewalk, his feet were moving, as fast as he could get them to. He wouldn't be what weighed them down, he wouldn't be the reason their escape went sour. Sirius didn't need any more reason to resent him than he probably already had.

     Once they were far enough away from the house that he felt safe, Regulus started to slow down. There was no need to run anymore, and suddenly, he was craving a cigarette. Slowing to a walk, he pulled his pack from his pocket. It flitted through his mind that he wasn't sure whether Sirius even knew he smoked. It was a habit he'd only picked up about a month prior, and had tried to keep fairly quiet. He had a hard time buying them, as he looked his age, and he'd not wanted to answer questions about how he got them.

A great deal of money and effort went into brokering this girl’s hand. She is a Malfoy. By that quality alone, there should be no doubt that it is a good match. As for her quirks, we are all human. 

This arrangement is under my authority, and that of Abraxas Malfoy. Question it again, and I will see that you pay dearly for it. 

Don't misunderstand me, I wasn't questioning it with the intentions of doing anything, it was merely curiosity. I'm sure that our marriage will be a fruitful one, that will benefit our family and our family name for many years to come. I will, no doubt, make you proud with our betrothal.

His feet led him to Diagon Alley, and he was content to watch the goods and the people for a while, with some vague plan of eventually exploring Knockturn Alley. Maybe something interesting could be found there.

Atticus was just admiring the display of owls when he let his gaze wander over the crowd, only to pause. The boy was watching him. Their eyes met, and Atticus frowned. Unlike Regulus, it didn’t take Atticus long at all to place his face, he always watched those with the right affiliations, and those with the wrong ones. But to be noticed by him, that made Atticus shift his weight uneasily from one leg to the other.

Regulus Black had never paid attention to him in seven years of going to school together. Discomfited, Atticus went back to watching the owls; he didn’t like change very much. But Alecto Carrow was still in Azkaban, and this boy had been there, too, if the newspapers could be trusted.

He abruptly turned on his heel and approached the boy. His classmate, though he was in Ravenclaw and Regulus in Slytherin. Atticus sized him up, not even trying to disguise his curiosity, as if he expected Regulus to have acquired a third eye or boils. “Shouldn’t you be in Azkaban?” he asked quietly, then looked around to make sure nobody had overheard. “That’s what the Daily Prophet said anyway.”

"The Prophet, huh? Believe everything in it?" He wasn't going to give anything up, at least, not until he knew more about this boy. The Prophet was a load of bollocks, anyway, his reaction had been genuine. "Bloody fuck," he muttered, as he stumbled half a step in surprise, before catching himself and following the boy's lead willingly. "I don't even know your name and you're already pulling me around? Next it'll be into a dark alleyway."

Doing what he could not to come off as rude, Regulus extracted his arm from the boy's grasp, his expression guardedly friendly. Much as he'd have liked to be completely grown and responsible, some part of him was naturally more comfortable with people his own age. To try and shake the uneasiness that he still felt from the touch of the Dementors, he leaned his shoulder against the bricks of the wall.

Behind her, her mother gasped and grabbed Daisy’s shoulder. The shift of pressure on her wand arm nearly caused her to break her resolution to maintain her shield, but with a little concentration Daisy managed to steady it again. Poor Holly; her exposure to magic was certainly larger than that of most muggles, but she had certainly never seen anything as alarming as this before. The greatest danger magic had ever posed to her had been when too-young-to-be-reasoned-with Daisy had begun performing accidental magic that her muggle mother could do nothing about.

The Death Eater was still casting curses at them, one after another after another, and each time one made contact Daisy felt her shield charm weaken just a little bit more. Finally, as he sent yet another Blasting Curse at her, the charm fell and Daisy and Holly were exposed.

Before the Death Eater could cast his next spell, Daisy aimed a Stunning Spell at him. Unfortunately, her mother grabbed her arm again at exactly the wrong moment, causing her spell to narrowly miss the cloaked figure. Holly was trying to pull Daisy in the direction of the exit, which likely made perfect sense to the woman. But to escape would mean turning their backs on the wizard, and they certainly couldn’t do that; besides, Daisy couldn’t in good conscience leave the surrounding muggles to be attacked. She was confident that she could defend herself and her mother, and thus keep the Death Eater’s attention away from all the defenceless muggles.

And then, caught up in the moment, Regulus let his attention slip for just long enough that his wand slid from his fingers at the witch's summoning spell. It was chance, maybe, mostly, but at least it was something unexpected. As pleased as he was by the turn in events, his irritation rose quickly to match. Disarming someone had always been such a Light maneuver. Instead of fighting back, they took away their enemy's weapon. Such courage.

With only a faint, amused smirk, he started towards her again, walking just as calmly as he had been with his wand in hand. Whether he was unnerved by the loss of his wand was for him to know, not her. It didn't matter though, not really. He could overpower two women for long enough to retrieve his wand, and he would.

I hear the Malfoy girl is somewhat eccentric. Please do not embarrass yourself. As for your role as Black family heir, I will not tell you this again: You are the only son left to our family line. There is no second-best, no comparison. You alone carry the bloodline. Bear this in mind. The more you can forget about the other, the better able you will be to accept your rightful place.

If this girl is a liability, why exactly are we marrying into the family via her? What do you mean by eccentric? I'll do as you say, but I question whether the positives outweigh the negatives here. Regardless of everything, I have not, nor will I ever forget my position and the importance of my actions. Don't worry yourself, you'll not have two disgraces to worry about in your lifetime.

No, you moron, of course I haven’t made any large displays of gratitude. That part is your responsibility. Find a proper, respectful gesture of thanks and give it to Abraxas Malfoy, not to me. 

Be cautious with him. Sirius’ shame is our mess to clean up, and this girl should not be made to feel as if she’s received our second-best. 

Lovely as always, speaking with you. Rest assured, Abraxas Malfoy will feel the full depths of my gratitude to him for accepting my engagement with his lovely daughter.

I'll be certain not to make any of the Malfoy family feel like they've gotten the short end of the stick in this. After all, I wouldn't want them to realize they've accepted an arrangement with the backup Black heir. I won't let them have even a moment where the thought crosses their mind.

Mother,

What matters would those be?

As the only Black heir, we have no need to arrange another, second marriage. It would no longer be appropriate for you to wed the younger Malfoy girl, so I’ve spoken to Abraxas, and he has graciously allowed for you to wed his daughter. 

Very gracious indeed of him. I'm sure that you've shown him your appreciation for his flexibility as is expected. Is there anything you need for me to do in relation to the situation?

     Sirius delivered a glance of glossy astonishment that was quickly concealed with a gaze of enthusiasm. Regulus Arcturus Black was embracing the inner lion Sirius invariably assumed he had and nothing was more exciting! Two brothers born of the same blood in the same chaotic household, two sides of the same coin, sharing in a night of lively fun! It was nearly too good to be true. With strict parents lurking deep inside the cold house that was Number Twelve Grimmauld Place this sort of evening was as rare as a wild dragon. A fulfilled smile etched over his sharp, Victorian-esque physicality and Sirius nodded to his brother.

    “I am thoroughly impressed by your sudden call for adventure, dear Regulus! I always took you as the more cautious type living in the den of snakes,” Sirius regarded passive aggressively. It was a minor jab to his brother but he hoped it’d cause no trepidation. “My toes twitch at the thought of sitting here much longer. Let’s escape from this black abyss we call home three months of the year for a night of uncharacteristic fun. For fuck’s sake, I might go madder than a hatter otherwise!”

     His handsome smile gave Regulus a warning of beware. Tonight was about embracing their limited freedoms because all hell would undoubtedly break loose the moment their feet touched back down in their bedroom prisons.

     ”Where are we going? oн regυlυѕ, don’т yoυ enjoy a ѕυrprιѕe?” tight lips questioned whilst an astonishing grin decorated his face. Not another peep was sounded whilst Sirius rose to boot-clad feet and treaded lightly to the door encompassing them in Regulus’ sound-proof personal hell. “Do keep up. Getting out is an art, dearest brother. One you ought memorize now for future reference.”

     Pale fingers opened the bedroom door.

     "Are you not already the maddest, my dear brother?" Regulus inquired, his voice quiet, with a touch of subtle amusement playing about it. It was hard for him, to be clever in Sirius' presence, and as such, it was a rare occasion. He wanted to impress him far too much to risk his words coming out as twisted and childish as he felt lately.

     Once the door was open, he turned and locked it, all three of the locks he had lined up on the frame. They were protected by magic, that he'd begged for for an entire year before he'd actually gotten. Only he and his father could open them, and if he left them locked, he figured it would buy some time. Maybe his parents would assume he was in one of his moods and leave him alone, let him be. Hell, maybe they wouldn't realize he was gone at all. Bloody unlikely, but still possible.