The Search Is Over

Chapter 15

Chapter 15: You Are A Vampire, And Baby I'm The Walking Dead

Regulus was consumed by the need to make Voldemort pay. Nearly killing Kreacher was enough for him, but now Voldemort had racked up an entire list of crimes for which each and every one of his followers should want him dead if they only knew. Killing Orion then twisting the minds of Bellatrix and the Lestranges clearly showed that he only cared for himself. He couldn't care for the pure blood values his followers believed him to uphold. Not and do the things he'd done.

His injustices were too vast to tolerate, and Regulus could never live with himself if he let this be. His current state was nearly out of body, in a place both immersed in and yet beyond fear, anger and grief. Voldemort must pay and Regulus had to make it happen. Regulus knew he had yet to fully process the fact that his father was gone, but if he let himself break down now he wouldn't be able to carry through with his revenge. He would instead allow fear to get the best of him. He'd run away with Kreacher and his Mum and try to hide until someone else discovered the hard way what Voldemort was and killed him. He knew any attempt to flee would end as badly as everything else, though. Voldemort would simply track them down via Regulus's dark mark and end them or worse. Though he wished to talk with Bella and the Lestranges, he was concerned about what Voldemort had done to them. He wanted to tell them that Voldemort had compelled them and then use one of the many reversal charms to set their memory straight, but he knew he hadn't Voldemort's skill with mind magic. What if they'd been compelled to attack him on sight? Voldemort could've easily set such a command in place the previous night without speaking or even visited them privately later to do it then. The fact he hadn't compelled Kreacher and Regulus made this seem more likely to him. What better way to get rid of him and Kreacher than at the hands of trusted family under heavy compulsion, after all. Regulus had figured out his own next move, though. It had all clicked into place in his mind far more easily than he had any right to expect considering the amount of stress under which he currently functioned. He had a plan that wouldn't solve everything, but it would allow him to strike a blow against Voldemort while keeping himself and Kreacher safe. Kreacher was the most important thing in his life and he couldn't risk the elf's safety again for any reason. Not after what had already befallen him at Voldemort's hands. Not after what had happened to Orion when they'd tried to go up against the Dark Lord face to face. Promising Kreacher that he would return soon, Regulus departed for the library at sunset. His mother was worried about Orion and Regulus knew he could only plead ignorance for so long, but he had to solve one problem at a time. When he arrived, the library was quiet, and somehow it gave Regulus a much needed sense of calm. The implications of the plan he'd formed along with the trauma of the previous night had kept his mind racing all day so a little inner stillness allowed him to relax to a degree. If Pandora wasn't at the library, he'd have to try writing her home addresses in hopes she was at one of her two houses. Fortunately, she was at the library, though. Regulus found her seated on a straight back chair in the very back beside a corner shelf. She was reading a book of necromancy but quickly closed it at sight of Regulus.

"It's not Wednesday yet, but how did it go," she asked eagerly.

"It did not go very well at all," Regulus said. Withdrawing his wand from the right sleeve of the green robe he wore, he placed the anti eavesdropping charm around them he'd used during their last meeting. "I need you to turn me into a vampire. Please, Dora! It is a matter of life and death...Literally!" There. Now the words were out. Though it seemed the only option, he knew this would change his life forever as well as his status in the pure blood community. Though he was still a pure blood, that wouldn't matter to many of those in high wizarding society. To them vampires were little more than beasts. Of course Dora was no beast, and Regulus knew better, but this choice he was making would change a lot nonetheless. At his sudden request, Pandora looked taken aback, understandably.