Diptych

Chapter 18

Regulus didn't give much thought as to why Snape had been invited to that night's meeting and he hadn't, it seemed fairly obvious to him. Snape had the mark, and he didn't. Clearly, it was an important meeting and he was going to be unwelcome, in the way. An irritation. A problem to be solved. And the Dark Lord didn't strike him as an unkind man, he was certain that he'd let him down nicely, possibly ask Snape to escort him back to the school before getting down to business with those he had invited. He was given queer looks by some of the other men, one he knew worked with Lucius and another he was sure had a son or daughter in his own year at school.

He looked around the room, dimly lit and furniture scarce, for the man they were all there to see. There was no sign of him yet, though his presence already filled the room with a certain buzz Regulus had felt nowhere else. It was akin to the feeling he got before a Quidditch match, anticipation and nerves mingled with something unnameable, only now it was tenfold. Though he was the newcomer, he was sure that the others all felt it too. And when the Dark Lord finally joined them, the silence that fell upon the room felt more like the screaming crowds of students whenever Regulus mounted his broom to play.

A part of him expected the man to approach him immediately, to meet him with the same indifference or annoyance his associates had and to ask him to leave in front of all of them. But instead, he watched as the man took a turn around the room, shaking hands and sharing fond smiles with his friends and colleagues. It was only then that Regulus noticed Bellatrix's absence and found himself grateful that she wouldn't be telling his mother any time soon what a disappointment he was to the family, how he wasn't properly trained in the 'way things were done', something his mother held in the highest regard. By the time the Dark Lord reached him, Snape had abandoned him in favour of pestering Lucius, who seemed not to have noticed the boy's presence. Though he would ordinarily have been glad of his absence, his stomach lurched at the thought of having to meet the man alone for the first time.

And if he was worried that he would be expelled in an embarrassing ordeal before some of his father's and cousins' peers, he was mistaken. It seemed the Dark Lord at least had the decency to take him to one side to let him know how unwelcome he was. A cold hand laid upon his shoulder while a strained smile elicited a nervous one from himself, as eager to please as ever.

"If you've come along with a friend tonight, I hate to steal you away, but I wonder if I might get you alone for a moment, Mr. Black?"

"Not a friend, just Severus Snape," he answers quickly, and then realises how it sounds aloud. Before he can amend, the man lets out a short laugh.

"In that case, it sounds as though you won't be opposed to being stolen away."

"Uh, no." His answer was more bashful that time, and he could hear then silence which should be filled with a title, or a name, or something. It's impolite not to address an adult properly, and yet he's not sure in the moment that he can. He still doesn't know the man's real name, and he's never addressed him as the others all did. It just doesn't come naturally to him.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here tonight, Regulus, but I won't pretend that I'm not pleased," the man told him once they were finally alone, tucked into a small room with a chaise lounge in the middle and an easel in the corner. Though he'd been told before that the meetings weren't held in the Dark Lord's house for security reasons, he couldn't help but wonder who did live there.

"You are?" Regulus asked, and then mentally chastised himself for not responding in a more appropriate manner. He hadn't given the man a chance to elaborate before asking unbidden questions. He also still hadn't addressed the man properly, the way the others all did. If his mother had been there, she would have made him sorry. If Bellatrix had been in the room, he'd probably have been given a sharp whack to the head for his insolence. And there they still stood at the edge of the room, well hidden from the view of anybody else, should the Dark Lord have sought to punish him in a similar manner. Not that Regulus thought him the type of man who would do that.