SET FIRE TO THE RAIN ━━ regulus black

you rose to claim it

CHAPTER IV

THERE WERE PLENTY royal dinners and balls to attend following the wedding and coronation. These days were filled with quarrelling and arguments not only between Arabella and Regulus, but also with Walburga. Now that Arabella was officially a member of the Black family, Walburga seemed to not have a single filter.

The first thing Arabella would do in the morning after waking up is have a fight with Regulus. It was also the last thing she would do at the end of her day right before going to sleep. It would sometimes carry on in her dreams even.

At breakfast one morning, a scarlet envelope was delivered by a jet black barn owl, which was then delivered by a house elf for Regulus. He turned pale when he read it.

“There has been an attack,” he declared, his hands fidgety of stress. “It is a letter from Rosier, he is leading the army troops in the north. They have lost half their men.”

Evan Rosier, elder brother of Constantine Rosier, was the king of an allied empire in this ongoing war.

“They know our new king does not know how to command an army, let alone a kingdom,” Arabella remarked.

“What did you just say?”

She met his cold eyes. “It is true,” she said, “you do not know anything about how war works, do you?” It was more a statement rather than a question.

“That is not true.” There was hesitation in his tone.

Growing up, Regulus had learned about half of what one would need to know to rule a kingdom. No one had thought he was going to need to supplant the position of his brother. On the other hand, Arabella had always been prepared, but most sanctioned the king to be in management of the military.

That day, Regulus went to the army base to discuss to the soldiers and Rosier.

Arabella smirked when the first thing Regulus did when he returned was take a large volume from the library titled War Tactics in the Wizarding World.

“What are you doing at my bureau?” said Regulus when he entered the war room and saw Arabella seated behind the round table.

“Your bureau?” she retorted. “This is the war room. I have been in here all morning coming up with new strategies while you were off having biscuits and tea with Rosier.”

He could not think of a response, so he furiously sat at the other side of the table.

“Looks like I was right,” she said, glancing at his opened book.

“You know what, Miss-Know-It-All, if you are so brilliant, tell me, what do you reckon we do, then?”

Arabella smiled. “Well,” she began, pointing at the map that blanketed the entire table, “I do not know whose idea it was, but it was a stupid one to have our base here. It is very low compared to the mountains and hills in the north, and the sea here just prevents an escape since all our ships are in the south. I am not brilliant, men just do not know what they are doing.”

“No.” Regulus disagreed, he always did for everything she said. “No, the base there is good, it’s the only way from the north to travel to the capital—here.”

“Well, if it is so good, why did we lose half our men there?”

Regulus stood up and approached her. “They just were not prepared. They were ambushed!”

“If we had higher grounds, we would have had the time to see them coming and prepared!”

The argument went on until their faces grew red and close to each other. Arabella gave up and stormed out and when she was gone, Regulus laughed to himself.

———

THERE WAS AN unseemly spotted owl perched at the window when Arabella retired to her bedroom one night. She let the owl in and received the envelope clutched in its beak. The parchment was thin and brown, most likely not from a royal.

Arabella,

I have finally found a permanent place to stay at the Potters, they have been generous enough to keep me a secret. You do know James, do you not? He is the son of some nobles. On a different matter, I know I will not be let near the capitol without being spotted, so I thought maybe we could meet at the Three Broomsticks? It is a peasant bar near the outside land. I will be there tomorrow night at twenty-two, it is less crowded that late. I hope to see you, make sure to hide your identity as best possible.

Sincerely,
Sirius

“What is the owl doing in here?”

Arabella gasped and closed the letter. “It was just giving me a letter.” She opened the window to let the owl out.

“You know it is not allowed to send you letters like that, right?” Regulus said. “The owl has to go to the Owlery, and then there the house elves check the owls and the deliveries for Dark Magic—”

“I know!” Arabella stuffed the letter under her pillow and began blowing out the candles. “You are such a menace,” she mumbled.

“Is someone sending you letters in secret?” he asked, an eyebrow arched.

She furrowed her brows at him. “No—it was from Constantine,” she said, looking away. “Why does it interest you so much?”

Regulus sat on his bed. “It does not,” he said, the green in his eyes flickered. “But Constantine would know how letters are supposed to be sent to a royal—”

“It was perhaps a new owl.”

“Well, all of the Rosiers’s owls are white barn owls, and that one was a hideous spotted one, it must have been from a noble, or even a peasant—”

“Shut up.” Arabella blew out the last candle and the room went dark.

“No.”

“Goodnight!”