SET FIRE TO THE RAIN ━━ regulus black

and i was over

CHAPTER VI

A BATTLE HAD erupted at the northern frontier.

The capitol flared up with panic.

Healers were being transported.

Weapons were being conveyed.

Hearts were pounding. Hearts were stopping. Blood was spilt.

“Stick to the plan,” Regulus mumbled as he walked abruptly with his traveling cloak and Arabella right behind him.

“Stop treating me like a fool,” Arabella retorted, checking that her knives were strapped onto her.

She presented her arm in front of them, a suggestion to Disapparation. He glanced at it and back at her, then vanished into thin air. She rolled her eyes and Disapparated herself.

She showed up in a tent. Right away, she began casting a number of Protection Charms on it. There was not much she could do there, their plan had been that she stayed in the tent and helped around with the Healers and generals, and that Regulus joined the bloodbath.

The battle was long and bloody. In the end, many men were lost, but the enemies retreated.

———

“YOUR HIGHNESS,” SAID one of the generals, “we have terrible news.” He was pale, holding his hat in his trembling hands, but Regulus did not move, as though he already knew what was going to be said. “Your highness, it is . . . it is your mother . . .”

It became still and silent, all eyes on Regulus. He did not move or said a word, and his expression was not mournful, not anything, in fact, it was just still. He had not even blinked.

“She has—”

“I know.” His tone sliced like a frigid blade, but it did not seem in a bitter way, just in an irritated way.

The general slightly bowed his head. “It was the Killing Curse.”

Dead silence, as Regulus’s eyes penetrated the general’s with a stone cold expression. One would await for him to cry or weep or tear up or mourn, but he did none of those.

“Are you waiting for someone to escort you out the door?” said Regulus after a long moment.

“No,” the general sputtered, “Your Highness. I will depart now.”

When it was just Arabella and Regulus alone, he glanced towards her questioning expression, but did not say a single word.

“Who do you think—?”

“I do not know.” He was swiftly walking away.

“Do you not want to know?” she asked as she followed him.

“When did I ever say that?”

Arabella struggled to keep up with his pace as they walked down the dark and lonely corridors of the palace, their footsteps echoing against the marble in the large vastness.

“Well, you seemed quite unfazed when the general informed you.”

“That is because I did not know how to react,” he chided.

“You did not know how to react? Are you serious? Your mother just died!”

Regulus did not pause a single second. “She never really treated me like a mother,” he answered, jaw clenched.