Incandescent Dream
Regulus sat confidently at the piano bench with his back straight and slim, pale fingers hovering above the ivory keys. He rarely used the music sheet as he had mastered the instrument flawlessly, so his eyes wandered over his fingers, practicing the melody in his mind and moving his fingers in the air before he began playing on the instrument. He took a deep breath.
His fingers pressed gently against the white of the piano, a gentle touch that made a melodic sound. He moved his fingers swiftly and unhesitatingly, when the pit of his stomach threatened guilt and hurt he would reflect it on the force of his fingers pressing against the piano, turning the sweet song into sharp and agonizing sounds. He needn’t breath, the melody enveloped his being and he had full control of it. It offered him a comfort unmatched to any other.
Overwhelmed with the heightened emotions evoked from the moment, he shut his eyelids hard and centered his whole focus to the movement of his hands. He slowed down once he had noticed a change in brightness through the skin of his eyelids, abnormal in the darkness and solitude of the piano room.
He slowly opened his eyes, wincing at the sudden change of brilliance in front of him. Once his eyes had adjusted, he had noticed a ball of light hovering above the piano keys, like a white star. He was confused by this phenomenon and reached out his hand to touch it but the ball of light moved against the motion.
The light twirled around Regulus, like a moon orbiting a planet, and it stopped behind him, floating behind his head. Regulus stood up slowly from the piano bench and faced the light, which started to pull itself toward something. While he was following it, he noticed he wasn’t in the piano room anymore, rather a vast space of darkness where only Regulus and the star walked now.
The light expanded slightly, shining to reveal a figure standing at a long distance in the darkness. The star started moving faster toward it, and so Regulus followed suit, turning his slow steps into long strides and eventually even started running.
He finally came to a halt in front of the figure, Regulus couldn’t make out a face, which startled him, but it had alluring eyes that would reflect the light gracefully. The light, much slower now as they had reached the individual, kept moving towards them and it seemed as they combined, or as if the light and the person were the same.
It made them perfect, which was an understatement, but it made Regulus want to reach out and experience it. Regulus admired perfection, it was a pressure from his family he ultimately forced on himself too.
And because Regulus was distracted by this magnificence, he hadn’t the time to think properly, so he took their hand and led them to the piano.
I want you to see me too.
Once they had reached the instrument, Regulus sat on one end of the bench, leaving space for the figure to sit on the other end, able to see his flawless move of hands and perfect melody.
He started playing, and he wasn’t worried, he didn’t think about being perfect, he thought: do you understand me?
The figure sat perfectly still, head moving along to Regulus’ fingers which moved from extreme to extreme of the piano, composing an intricate yet extraordinary song. Regulus felt solace from the warmth of this person, he would hope he offered the same comfort to it too, but he hardly believed it.
Until he looked at its’ eyes.
And through them, Regulus was the light. Shining in the same perfect way the figure in front of him did, a halo of brilliance and beauty surrounding him. He stopped playing the song, astonished by the reflection he was seeing in the glossy eyes, and felt his own watering.
After that dream, Regulus would always sit at one end of the piano bench. Leaving the other end cushioned and elevated, unlike his who was compressed from his own weight.
His brother would be curious of this, and he would still be as he came to Grimmauld years after Regulus was gone, and saw that even now only one side was used.