The Godmother

27. the second task

There wasn't much to do when they got home. Sirius turned to his sacred smoking window and lit a blunt, while Elizabeth slumped on the couch, wallowing in her own sorrow. She felt unsettled about Deborah Saunders' disappearance. Deborah was a muggle. Was sixteen. And Regulus took her in the night like a shadow.

Was that really how desperate Regulus was? To kidnap a girl while she was asleep. The middle of the night. A muggle. Regulus' attachment was severe and unbroken. All the years. Elizabeth could turn around, leave Sirius and fall into Regulus' arms, and he'd catch her willingly.

It was a kind of mental torment. All those years being couped up and abused by Walburga and her preaches about purity had made him see one side. Then, Sirius started to rebel, causing new opinions to form and develop. Because maybe muggles weren't that bad. Regulus branched off the sermons of his mother and believed in Sirius. Both of the Black brothers were in love with Elizabeth. There was no failsafe. No compromise. And in the end, Elizabeth had chosen Sirius.

She often wondered how she'd made that decision. It was one that she knew would be the hardest she'd ever have to make. Which brother? Each were damned in their own sense. Each were both as strikingly vibrant and deadly as the other. Each were both as attractive as the other.

The answer was in her gut. In her eyes and her heart. Her blood and bones. She belonged to Sirius. Regulus was her best friend, much like Lily and Severus. He would comfort her and study with her, but her heart truly belonged with Sirius. It was one of those things where it just was. A phenomenon that couldn't be explained. Her heart simply belonged with Sirius. Not Regulus.

Regulus had handled the news terribly. Elizabeth didn't know how he found out. Whether it were the rumours of Sirius and her relationship officially beginning or Sirius telling Regulus himself, Reggie became quiet and withdrawn. Once spending everyday with him turned into once a week, then once a fortnight, and soon enough, Elizabeth found herself drifting from her best friend. Shortly after that, he joined the Death Eaters. Voldemort. Darkness. He ran with Severus and the boys who liked to tease the muggle-borns and torture them in the hallways.

Regulus rose quickly in the Death Eater army. His blood status, wealth and combat ability was high for such a fit, young man that he was. Not only that, but his wit and intelligence were that far beyond his age. He was the perfect candidate to lead Voldemort's army into battle and was therefore seen high amongst the top Death Eaters like Bellatrix Lestrange and Antonin Dolohov.

Elizabeth always considered him a friend. Never at a point had she turned him down or refused his friendship. Regulus had gone off the trails. The incident happened, where Elizabeth put her trust in Regulus' hands, and then vice versa. She fucked up and he killed her child.

That was the end of their friendship. The end of everything.

Elizabeth new that Regulus was deadly. He was the monster underneath your bed or the person you warn in school to 'stay away from'. He was smart. He was able to fight unlike many others. To underestimate him would be a mistake. And to believe that he still had that same poisonous obsession for Elizabeth wouldn't be cutting it short.

Elizabeth was startled when Sirius moved from the window. He trudged over to the lounge and dove onto he couch, laying his head in Elizabeth's lap and crossing his feet at the end of the couch.

"Do you know anyone who would join the Order?", he asked, closing his eyes. Elizabeth softened her hand over his head and began playing with curls of his dark hair.

"No", Elizabeth sighed. She twirled her pointer finger around a wisp of hair. "Its just us, I guess", she said.

Sirius 'hmphed' and opened his eyes. The startling gold stabbed Elizabeth. She always felt bittersweet when she looked into Sirius' eyes. It was when he'd been attacked by Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest. The venom had only left physical damage- the gold in his eyes. They looked like the sun now, warm, melted honey that pooled outside of his iris'. Sometimes she thought, maybe if she'd been quicker... maybe if she'd gotten there sooner... then, other times, she found herself tranced by his eyes, hypnotised in a void of love and affection.