Chapter 5
Prongs
I wake up on a bed that is more like a rock. The room is dark, and smells of sewage, and I can hear the patter of rats. For a moment I think I’m in the Shrieking Shack, that Peter dragged me here to relive our old days. But then I realize this place is too sinister to be that.
I’m in a cell, with a bucket in the corner and iron bars as doors. There are chains on the wall. Possibly blood around them. I don’t have my wand and my glasses are cracked. And my gorgeous red Chuck Taylor's are gone.
Lily . If they have her I’ll burn this fucking place to the ground. Wand or no wand I’ll make sure they pay.
I get to my feet, and stumble to the bars. There's a hallway, but it's dark so I can’t see how far it goes in either direction. “Lily!” I scream, not caring if anyone else hears me. “ Lily !” I ram against the bars, letting the noise carry. I shout again, and suddenly light pours down from twenty feet away, a door at the end of what looks like the hall. Stairs are on the other side of that door, and two men are entering the hallway.
“For fucks sake, can’t you shut up Potter?”
I hesitate. That voice sounds familiar. Posh and harsh, with the ringing tone of sadism.
“We should’ve kept him unconscious longer.” Another familiar voice, quieter, more resigned then the first.
I watch as the two young men approach. My glasses are cracked, making it hard to see. The first man kicks the bars and they ring, making me flinch. He laughs, a cackle, that rasps.
“Who are you!?” I press at the bars again, straining to see.
“I always knew you were the thickest of that lot, Potter. Can’t even see with four eyes?”
“Not when my glasses are broken,” I snap, which isn’t the best retort but I’m stressed. Where is Lily ? The calmer boy sighs and waves his wand and suddenly my glasses are fixed. The urge to thank them comes from my mother drilling politeness into my head at a young age but I say nothing. The shorter boy of the two has spiky dark hair, and fierce green eyes. His arms are covered in tattoos, along with his neck. A jolt of recognition goes through me.
“Barty Crouch Jr.”
He howls, kicking the bars again.
“Aren’t you a quick learner, Potter?”
I look to his companion.
A mop of curls, white blonde, with glittering blue eyes. He has heart shaped lips and a flat nose, his face pulled into a look of disgust. “Evan Rosier.”
He nods ever so slightly.
“Potter.”
I spit, feeling my whole body shake. “You two work for him ? What did you do to Lily!? What have you done to Peter? If you’ve hurt either of them I swear to god!”
“Relax you lump,” Evan’s voice would be soothing if I wasn’t being kept in a prison by him and his “Lord”. “They’re both with your lot. We don’t have them.” Barty slugged his arm. “Why would you say that?!”
“What do you want from me?” My voice shakes. Rosier just grins. “That's for you to find out, Potter.” Then Barty’s wand is pointing at me, and I scream as pain riots through me, too much of it until I black out.
I wake up to the sensation of being watched. My whole body hurts from when Barty used crucio on me. It wasn’t the first time, but sleeping on a stone floor afterwards didn’t help.
Someone stands outside my bars, and for a second I think it’s Sirius. But the boy's chins is not as sharp, and his nose is slightly flatter. His hair is much more curly, and way shorter. And those grey eyes have never looked so cold, Sirius has never looked at me with that much hatred. He cocks his head at me, fingers tugging at a chain beneath his cloak.
“Regulus?”
He looks surprised.
“Hello.”
I snort. I am in a prison cell, at Voldemort's disposal, surrounded by death eaters, and this fucker says hello . Sirius’s little brother, who was their parents favorite. He did everything they asked, even joining the darkest wizard in the whole world's forces at only seventeen. He and Sirius haven’t talked in ages (that I know of).
“What are you doing?” I demand.
He cocks his head to the side, grey eyes gleaming. “Do you remember how you got here?” I’m thrown off by his question. “Someone kidnapped me. Someone kidnapped me and I don’t know why they let Lily and Peter go free. Unless they fought their way out. I don’t know the details.”
“Peter Pettigrew brought you here.”
My heart plummets and goes cold. I hear his words, and I want them to go back into his mouth, I want to be the person I was before I heard them.
“No.”
This time he snorts, I never thought I’d see Regulus Black snort.
“It’s true. The Dark Lord desired you and Lily Evans, knowing Peter was your best mate, knowing you would let him willingly into his house. Peter’s been a death eater for five years now, our Lord trusts him. Peter was supposed to kidnap both of you, but he only brought you here before he became indisposed.”
I look away, furious at the look on Regulus’s face. How could Peter do this to us? His best friends? How could he become a death eater ? Peter Pettigrew as a servant to Voldemort is laughable. And yet…
I want to cry and rage and I want to wipe that fucking look off Blacks face.
“Shouldn’t you go back to licking the scum off his boots?!”
Regulus takes a step back, physically affected by my words. I remember Sirius saying that one night after Regulus appareated to my house to beg Sirius to come home. Both boys were entirely different beings when they were angry, when they were under pressure from their parents. Sirius became loud, brash, abrasive and downright reckless. Regulus became cold, calculating, manipulative and heartless.
I use the sentence against him to remind him of who he left behind. Sirius.
It does the trick. Regulus goes dead behind the eyes and points his wand at me.