As The Starlight Fades
“More tea, dear?” asked Regina kindly.
“Yes, thank you,” replied the tall dark beauty.
Kreacher happily served the two women from an old silver tea set that had once belonged to Ursula Black, Regina’s great-grandmother. She had no children to pass it on to now. She supposed Bellatrix would want it, or Narcissa. She smiled sweetly as she imagined the two sisters arguing over it.
“Well Bella, I hear you’ve been rising in the ranks of the Dark Lord.”
Bellatrix looked smug. “I’m rather more than one of his minions. I suppose one could call me his consort.”
Regina felt as if a knife had twisted in her heart. Tom had not only callously replaced her, his new lady in waiting was her own niece. It was all Regina could do not to keep her hands from shaking as she asked, “Cream, dear?”
Bellatrix was too preoccupied in thoughts about how much the Dark Lord cared for her to notice the strain in her aunt’s voice. She nodded, eyes gazing into the distance.
“How does Rodolphus feel about this?” asked Regina, feigning mild curiosity. She really could care less what Rodolphus Lestrange thought of anything; he reminded her too much of Orion. In fact, a small spark of happiness ignited within her at the thought of how Orion would have dealt with an affair between her and Tom.
Bellatrix took a sip of her tea and her eyes became even less focused as she replied, “Oh, he doesn’t particularly like it but there’s really nothing he can do.”
Regina was pleased that the Veritaserum had taken effect so quickly. It had been fortunate that Bellatrix always put cream in her tea, when Regina always drank hers black.
“What did you do for Voldemort to gain your new position?” asked Regina, all sweetness gone from her voice. She suspected her niece knew more about Regulus’ death than she let on, but this thought was quickly dashed with Bellatrix’s next words.
“I gave him a child.”
“You had his child?” spluttered Regina, aghast.
“No. It was a Mudblood child. He asked me to bring him one.”
“And you did?”
“Yes.”
“Why did he want the child?”
“I don’t know, I think he wanted to test a potion on it.”
“What did he say when you brought the child to him?”
“He laughed and said they were going for a trip to the seaside, but that only one of them would be coming back.”
Regina couldn’t believe her luck. Tom had told her about that cave by the sea years ago. She even had a vague notion as to where it was. It seemed a logical place for him to have hidden his Horcrux. After having asked a few more questions she gave Bellatrix the antidote and then modified her and Kreacher’s memories.
Bellatrix left number twelve, Grimmauld Place with the impression that her aunt had just told her a long and rather boring story about one of her old suitors. However, she couldn’t imagine why Aunt Walburga had told her the story or why her own teacup was still so full.
Kreacher was convinced that Miss Bella had thanked him profusely for the excellent tea and especially the cream. Regina bit her lip; perhaps she’d overdone the spell.
She had to admit, she’d grown… accustomed to Kreacher over the years. Her parents had given him to her and Orion as a wedding gift, but Kreacher had always made it clear that Regina was his true mistress. After each of her many spats with Orion, it had been Kreacher who brought her something to calm her nerves. She could often hear him muttering “my poor mistress” as he hurried out of the room.
Sometimes Regulus would try to comfort her as well. She remembered an evening after a particularly nasty fight. She had been certain Orion was about to use an Unforgivable on her. Instead he’d used a milder curse and vented his remaining anger on a portrait of her Granny Crabbe.
Regina was softly crying into a pillow when there was a gentle knock on the door. “Come in,” she called out, wondering why Kreacher had returned. To her surprise instead of Kreacher, her five year old son entered. Regina quickly tried to hide her tears.
“Don’t cry, Mummy. I fixed it, see?”
Regulus was holding a picture he’d drawn of Granny Crabbe.
Regina was once again overcome with emotion. “Oh, thank you Reg,” she answered, trying to control her voice.
He looked up at her with Alph’s blue-gray eyes and his lip trembled. “I can’t get her to talk though.”
The crayons she’d bought him in Diagon Alley would only make a picture move. Regina pulled out her wand. “What do you think Great-Granny Crabbe would say to you?”
Regulus screwed up his face in thought. “Have a cookie?” he asked, hopefully.
For the first time in days she nearly laughed. With a flick of her wand the picture asked in a rather high pitched voice, “Have a cookie?”
Regulus clapped his hands in delight. She pulled him up onto her lap and called, “Kreacher!”
The elf appeared with a loud crack.
“Bring us some cookies and milk, please.”
“Whatever Mistress desires,” answered Kreacher. The low bow didn’t conceal the smile of relief on the old elf’s face.
She wished with all of her being that Regulus had never tried to please Orion by joining the Death Eaters. Regulus had always craved both his parents’ approval, so unlike his brother. It hurt Regina terribly to know that Regulus would be forgotten. No one remembered Alphard, no one would remember Regulus. Regina suddenly realized that they were at the entrance of the cave. It had taken her several years to find the cave’s exact location. She quickly cut her hand on an emerald encrusted dagger with a serpent’s head and then she and Kreacher entered the cave.
She found the boat that Bellatrix had described to her and the odd pair slowly made their way across the black lake. Once they alighted, Regina spoke to Kreacher in as firm a voice as she could manage.
“Kreacher, I order you to ensure that I finish drinking the potion in this basin, once I have finished it you are to substitute this locket for the one in the basin. Under no circumstances are you to permit me to drink the water in the lake. Once the lockets have been switched, you are to take us both back home. No matter what I say or do while drinking the potion, you are to carry out the orders I have just given you. Do you understand?”
Kreacher was trembling as he answered, “Yes, Mistress.”
She withdrew a goblin-made goblet, embossed with the crest of the Black family. She dipped the goblet into the green liquid and raised the cup to her lips.
“Toujours Pur,” she whispered, before gulping it down. It was painful beyond what she’d imagined. The potion burned her throat and flames seemed to lick her insides as she was plunged back into her most horrible memories.
“Sirius Orion Black you are not leaving this house!” she screamed. She’d just caught her eldest son hexing Regulus.
Sirius laughed derisively. “Yeah, you named me well, have you ever thought what the initials spell? I think it’s quite fitting!”
Regina stopped as if slapped.
Sirius shouted, “You can’t force me to stay! I hate this old house, I hate this family but most of all I hate you!”
And then he was gone. The last words he’d ever spoken to her were that he hated her.
As the memory began to fade Kreacher handed her the goblet, refilled.
“Where have you been?” she demanded.
“Taking care of some family business,” Orion snarled.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, somewhat fearfully.
“Cyg and I just ‘put down’ a stain of dishonour to the Black family.”
“What are you talking about?” she whispered, fear clutching her heart.
“Oh, so you don’t like it when you’re the one left in the dark?” yelled Orion. She could smell the stale Firewhisky on his breath.
“I d-don’t know what…” she faltered.
“Well let me clear it up for you then,” he replied, his voice dangerously low. “Cyg and I just killed that mangy half-breed brother of yours.”
“No!” screamed Regina, lunging at her husband. He gave his wand a flick and she was thrown across the room.
“Cyg told me the whole story. How your stupid grandmother was the Secret-Keeper and now that she’s dead, you, your parents and Cyg are all Secret-Keepers. So why is it that my wife isn’t the one to tell me that her twin is a bloody werewolf?”
Before she could answer he blasted a hole in the tapestry where Alph’s name had been. Nothing but a small round burn mark remained.
She knew she was speaking but she wasn’t even aware of the words anymore, only the memories and the burning thirst within her.
“Madam Black, it is with deepest regret that I inform you that the body of your son, Regulus, was discovered underneath You-Know-Who’s mark,” droned Crouch in a manner making it perfectly obvious that the man wasn’t the least bit regretful.
He ignored her shattered sob of grief and continued. “As is standard practice with You-Know-Who at large, his body has been burned so that he will not become an Inferius.”
“You… you didn’t even give me a chance to claim his body!” she cried out in hurt and anger.
Crouch looked at her with a depreciating stare. “Madam Black, we did examine your son’s body long enough to know that he bore the Dark Mark. You should be grateful that I’ve taken the time out of my busy day to tell you that your worthless son was killed on his master’s orders.”
She raised her wand, fully ready to use an Unforgivable.
“Just give me a reason to lock you up,” snarled Crouch. “I would love the opportunity to give you to the Dementors.”
Her hand was shaking but she lowered her wand. “You’re lying!” she shrieked, “He’s not dead! You foul blood-traitor, you’re lying!” She slammed the door and rushed to see the tapestry. To her horror, there was a date of death underneath her son’s name.
She could barely even focus on the memory, so great was her thirst. She could feel a goblet raised to her lips.
It was a dark night many years ago. She was only seven years old. Grandmother Black had told them a story about the faerie rings and how the faeries would dance there at midnight each night. Regina had been captivated by the story and Alph had agreed to sneak out to find them with her.
They were walking through the woods near their summer home, hand in hand. It wasn’t long before they got lost and started calling for their parents. When the light of the full moon broke through the trees, they thought that it would help them. Regina noticed a clearing and they were near the middle of it when a blood-curdling howl broke through the night.
Alph grabbed her arm and screamed, “Run!” She would have stood there, too scared to move except he had dragged her by the arm. They got to a tree but the branches were too high. Alph told her to get on his shoulders so that she could reach the lowest branch. Once she’d scrambled up he asked her for her hand.
As she was pulling her brother to safety, her grip slipped and he fell part way down. It was just the opportunity the werewolf needed to bite Alph’s leg before she could help him back up into the tree.
“Make it stop!” she cried. She knew it was her fault that Alph had been bitten by that monster and by the same token it was her fault he was dead. She had avenged him as best she could years ago, but the guilt would haunt her to her dying day. She vaguely hoped that the clammy hand gripping her arm was that of Death’s.
There was a loud crack and she was back in number twelve, Grimmauld Place’s sitting room. Kreacher was forcing a glass of water down her throat sobbing ‘my poor mistress’ over and over. After a pitcher of water, she felt somewhat better and retired to her bedchamber for the night.
All night she dreamt of the memories she’d relived in the cave. By morning she neither felt rested nor at peace. She went downstairs to the drawing room where she normally had Kreacher serve her breakfast. She couldn’t help but dwell on the events of Alph’s death and her subsequent revenge.
Regina had felt numb. Alph was dead. Orion and Cygnus had killed him. She had explained the burn on the tapestry to Regulus as being for Alph’s having left so much of his estate to Sirius. She knew that Alph had written his will the day after Sirius’ birth and had simply never thought to change it, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell Regulus that his uncle was a monster.
It sickened her that after years of secrecy and Grandmother Crabbe’s protection, Alph had been killed by their own brother and her pathetic excuse for a husband. Her father had only been thirteen when she and Alph were born. Grandmother Crabbe had raised them until her parents had both graduated Hogwarts. Apparently their births had caused quite a scandal.
When Alph was first bitten, Pollux Black had been all for quietly disposing of his eldest son. Grandmother Crabbe had defended him though. She hadn’t spent five years raising her grandson so some ‘blithering idiot who’d barely come of age’ could murder him. Pollux Black hadn’t been quite prepared to deal with his wrathful mother-in-law; naturally, he asked his own mother to back him up. Violetta Black had been fully prepared to defend her son’s position and had even brought a bottle of the Draught of Living Death, reasoning that Mrs Crabbe would likely see it as being a solution; after all, it was a painless death. Mrs Crabbe did not see it as being any sort of solution and made this view quite clear by threatening to force the potion down Mrs Black’s throat. Mrs Black lost her temper and said that she absolutely refused to have a ‘filthy half-breed mar the family tree’. Apparently ‘mar’ was a poor word choice. Grandmother Crabbe immediately reminded Violetta that she had once had a son by the name ‘Marius’ and that if she didn’t want the fact that she had given birth to a Squib to become very public knowledge she was going to have to accept having a werewolf for a grandson.
Grandmother Crabbe had been wise enough not to simply leave Pollux and Irma Black in charge of her grandson’s safety from that point. She cast a Fidelius Charm, making herself Secret-Keeper. Only those who might be close to Alph near the full-moon were told about his condition; his grandparents, parents and two siblings. She had also taken a great deal of time in helping Alph to learn Occlumency. Grandmother Crabbe was a rather skilled Legilimens, which is likely how she had discovered the secret of Marius.
After Orion and Cygnus had murdered Alph, Regina decided to take matters into her own hands. She wasn’t about to murder her only remaining brother, no matter how much she hated him. However, Orion wasn’t held in such high regard. It had taken her some time to brew the poison, then one afternoon while Orion was out on business the carefully took the book he had currently been reading, Nature’s Nobility and dabbed some poison on the corner of each page. She’d always hated his habit of licking his fingers when turning the page of a book.
She then went to her parent’s old summer home for a few weeks, taking Kreacher with her. As expected, no one ever connected Orion’s accidental poisoning to the book, or his widow.
Suddenly she was overcome with a strong desire to see her brother’s grave. She called for Kreacher and told them to prepare for another trip.
“Yes, M-mistress,” the elf replied, trembling too hard to make his usual low bow.
“We won’t be taking another journey like that, Kreacher. We’re going to pay our respects to Alphard and Regulus.”
“I shall get your traveling cloak immediately, Mistress,” answered Kreacher, the relief evident in his voice.
They Apparated to an old graveyard that had been owned by the Black family for generations. Regina was dressed in her finest black robes and carried herself with all the poise and dignity that would be expected of a daughter of the House of Black. Her façade vanished upon seeing Alph’s gravestone and the tears began to well in her eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Alph,” she whispered, “You saved me and I was never able to save you. You were always so kind to me, you even called me ‘Regina’ instead of ‘Walburga’. You always knew how hurtful names could be, didn’t you?”
She waved her wand and small blue flowers grew up on either side of Alph’s grave. Regina knew that no one would likely ever visit it again and thus felt the forget-me-nots quite appropriate.
Her next stop was at Regulus’ grave. Simply staring at the name, “Regulus Arcturus Black” caused her to cry hard enough that she couldn’t form words. She repeated the gesture of the forget-me-nots, realizing that no one was likely to remember her dear Regulus either, her poor son who had died on Tom’s orders. Then she noticed something, without the ‘W’ in her own name, she and Regulus had the same initials. Tom Riddle wouldn’t be so stupid as to think that Regulus had managed to get the Horcrux, but… anyone else would. Suddenly, Regina knew what to do so that her beloved son would not be forgotten.
She Apparated back home and set to work. Try as she might she couldn’t find a way to destroy the locket. Her plan was becoming more complicated than she had anticipated. After a good deal of thought, Regina re-wrote her will, leaving all that she possessed to Sirius. He was sentenced to a life-time in Azkaban, so there was no need to worry about him ever claiming the inheritance, however it would give Kreacher more time to complete the task she was to set before him in the event that she failed. She couldn’t risk Narcissa taking ownership of Kreacher or Grimmauld Place as her loyalties were still to Tom. Bellatrix too, was serving a life sentence in Azkaban so she was no longer a concern.
She also commissioned Kreacher to do her portrait. After several weeks, the old elf had nearly completed it. Regina was not at her best, she hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep since her trip to the cave. Whenever she slept she was immediately thrown into nightmares of the memories brought back by the potion. She knew she was becoming paranoid, especially of the werewolves. She’d run from that half-breed who’d bitten her brother every night for weeks. Perhaps it was her overworked imagination but it seemed as though it was getting closer to catching her.
Once Kreacher had finished her portrait, Regina asked him to join her in the drawing room. She sat down on the sofa and indicated that the elf need not stand.
“Kreacher, I don’t want Regulus to be forgotten. There’s something I need you to do for me.”
“Kreacher, lives to serve the most noble house of Black,” replied the elf bowing low.
Regina smiled. She then ordered Kreacher to remember events differently. She detailed how it had been Regulus and not her, who had stolen the Horcrux. She created another memory for him to explain how they were able to find the cave. She ordered him to tell this to none of the Black family and to destroy the locket if she failed to herself.
Next, she sent him back out to the kitchen with instructions to return in exactly an hour. Regina rolled up her sleeves and withdrew her wand. She had one plan left to destroy the Horcrux. She aimed her wand and yelled, “Avada Kedavra!”
For a moment she thought it had worked when the spell hit the locket. Then, the jet of green light rebounded, hitting her squarely in the chest. Her steel-blue eyes went blank as she fell gracefully to the floor, facing the centuries old tapestry which was already inscribing the year of her death under her name.
A/N
I know this doesn’t appear to be canon-compliant at first glance; however there seem to be a few oddities in the plot that it clears up nicely.
-Why Voldemort used a house-elf instead of a Muggle child. A Muggle child would have been in better keeping with tradition and would have been considered even more expendable.
-Why Mrs Black left Grimmauld Place to Sirius instead of Narcissa
-Why Lupin had the impression that Regulus had been killed a few weeks after deserting the Death Eaters. If Kreacher’s version of events were true, at best Lupin should have thought that Death Eaters had eventually killed Regulus, no body would ever have been discovered and it would have been more likely that everyone would have thought that he deserted and successfully went into hiding.
However, I did eventually realize that the tapestry may be like Mrs Weasley’s clock and thus updates itself. In this way, I suppose it would be possible for people to know when Regulus died. Assuming Death Eaters killed him for deserting seems a bit of a stretch though. I still would have expected it to have been assumed he was killed by an Auror in battle and the body simply wasn’t recovered.
Also, I adore reviews, but if you do decide to leave one, please be extra careful not to mention a DH spoiler in it. If there are any plot points that you would like to discuss that do require mention of a DH spoiler, please PM me on the forums instead. My forum name is the same as my penname, Hypatia.
A Woman Scorned by Hypatia
Chapter Notes: My apologies for the change in warnings and ratings… my plot bunny mutated.