Silent Riot | Regulus Black

THIRTY

Regulus growled in frustration as the faint wisp of light from his wand disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. He looked at the blonde girl that was supposed to be helping him, but was instead lounging on the sofa examining her nails. He stomped over to her.

'You are supposed to be helping me,' he growled. 'That is why you are here.'

'You won't listen to my advice,' she said nonchalantly. 'So why should I help you?'

'What advice could you possibly give me?' He scoffed, folding his arms. She sat up straight.

'Well, Black, Gemma sent me for a reason, and that is to show you that her teaching does work and maybe you should just bloody listen to her instead of being a stubborn mule!'

'So you can do the spell?' He asked, intrigued.

'Of course I can,' Isolde said, still looking at her nails. 'She taught all of her friends the second Edward taught her.'

'But she never taught me,' he said bitterly. 'Of course.' Iz looked at him rather sympathetically.

'Well, you weren't friends with us back in third year. Also, I did tell her you seemed too gloomy to have any good memories.'

'Thanks,' he said dryly. 'And I still don't believe you.'

'Fine,' she said, pulling out her wand. 'I'll prove it to you. Expecto Patronum.'

A proud black stallion was produced from her wand, and it galloped happily around the room.

'How,' he said in disbelief. 'How can you do it but I can't?'

'You want to know a secret?' She said. 'I didn't have a very 'fun' childhood either. Well, neither did Ted, come to think of it. Or Luke actually. Maybe it's a pureblood thing... or a Slytherin thing...anyway, I can still do the spell, and you want to know how?'

'Obviously.'

'Firstly, I'm amazing, and good at everything.' Regulus rolled his eyes. 'Secondly, I don't use a real memory... more like, a dream. Like what I want, what I wish was true.'

'What would you imagine?' He asked sceptically. 'Yourself being the most beautiful person in the world?'

'I am not that shallow,' she snapped. 'And besides, I already am the most beautiful person in the world. I imagine myself with... you know what, it doesn't matter what I imagine, the point is maybe it'll work for you to picture something that would make you happy, since nothing seems to actually make you happy.'

Regulus was still sceptical. Isolde didn't seem like the cleverest girl on the planet, and their situations were vastly different. But he'd already wasted almost two weeks, and was absolutely desperate to learn the spell. So he pictured the moment he'd fantasized for a long time, since almost the beginning of the year, every night and even now. He closed his eyes, and pretended it was real, the longing for it almost painful.

'Expecto patronum.'

A corporeal patronus emerged from his wand. He watched as it glided gracefully around the room.

But Regulus was far from pleased. His expression was one of shock, and maybe horror.

'Oh my god,' Isolde whispered.

'No,' he said. 'That's not- that's wrong.'

'It's not wrong,' she breathed. 'I- you were thinking of her, weren't you? In your-'

'No!' He snapped. 'Of course I wasn't!'

'Don't yell at me,' she snapped back. 'That patronus speaks a lot louder than you ever could.' Regulus went silent, and took a minute to compose himself. His anger had long meant the animal had disappeared.