Flowers
Regulus woke up to the overwhelming scent of flowers. When he focused on it, he couldn't exactly recall which types of flowers he smelled, as it seemed to be a heavenly combination of every single flower he had ever smelled, magical ones included. In a perfume this would have made him nauseous, no doubt, yet now it only made him smile. It was like walking through an open field on a warm spring day.
With great care not to make a sound, he slipped from his bed and put on his big lion slippers, which were incredibly comfortable and were one of the only colourful items he owned and actually wore (he was dedicated to his Black aesthetic, even if his parents thought that merely to be because he wanted to look even more like his father). There was also a tiny orange lion on the otherwise black shirt of his pyjama that appeared to be roaring!
He carefully opened the door and followed the flower aroma all the way to his baby sister's bedroom, which fortunately was on the other side of the hall, closer to the bedroom of his mother. Regulus technically knew that he could have been reborn as a peasant, but he was glad that Maria di Angelo was a very rich woman, and that was without even mentioning the many, many gifts - mostly ancient, yet still gorgeous jewelry - his father gifted to her.
When he slipped through the bedroom door of his sister, he was greeted with the sight of her entire room being decorated with the most gorgeous flowers he had ever seen. From black roses that were so dark even Regulus had never seen that shade of black to tulips in colours he had never even seen before and thus had no idea what to call them. He even saw several magical flowers he knew to be extinct (or at least thought to be extinct), even in the magical world.
His sister was shrieking joyously in the middle of the now be-flowered cot, appearing to be playing with narcissus flowers as vividly white as her name. The white blossoms appeared to only emphasise just how dark her hair was.
Over the months, it had grown significantly darker, until now. It was just as dark as their father's eyes, making it much darker than even Regulus's hair, which was the exact same shade as both of their parents had. He had no idea how her hair grew so quickly, as his hair seemed to be forever stuck at his shoulders, refusing to grow longer. Yet Bianca's hair was already on her back, thick and wavy, and she wasn't even two years old!
He must have looked long enough at Bianca to catch her attention, as she turned her head away from the flowers (although she still had several pure white narcissus flowers stuffed in her tiny hands), and shrieked even louder at him. Regulus didn't mind the slight way it hurt his ears.
He stepped closer to her, at which she held out her hand and gave him a flower.
“Oh.” He breathed out surprised. “Thank you, Mia Sorella.” He said half in English, half in Italian. Regulus would be damned if his little sister wouldn't be fluent in at least English too. They may have been born in the past, but that was no excuse to not at least speak English on top of their (now) mother language.
Although, he could admit that after not having spoken English for five years, he had gotten a quite heavy Italian accent when he spoke the language. It shouldn't be possible, right? It was another thing he blamed Death for. Five years shouldn't be enough time to completely lose his well-refined proper pureblood English accent.
Bianca huffed impatiently, making him snigger. She even sounded like their mother at that moment! To say that Maria di Angelo was not a patient woman would be like saying that magic is real. Apparently, Bianca had also gotten her personality from her.
“Do you want me to braid your hair?” He offered. The joyful shriek she answered him with was more than enough for him, but it wouldn't do for his sister to have poor manners.
He waited patiently, until Bianca huffed. “SÌ, pwease.” She answered in half English, half Italian. Her accent was just as heavy as Regulus's, though.
He smiled widely at her, at which she beamed happily. It did not take much to make Bianca happy, fortunately. He liked to see the big smile on her face appear every time he did something small that made her day.
He hummed the tune of ‘Ave Maria’ as he started to braid the narcissus flowers into her hair, making her look the way that Elves were often portrayed in Muggle fantasy books. Regulus had not often read them, but when Sirius sneaked out of the house to go to the local Muggle library (which had happened far too often and yet not quite often enough), he always came back with books he had ‘borrowed’.
Muggle fantasy books had been the kinds that Sirius frequently came back with. He probably knew that Regulus secretly loved them, but he always pretended that he loved them, even though Regulus knew better. It was one of the few secrets even Kreacher had never found out, and if he did, he had never said a word about it.
“You look like a princess.” He said satisfiedly when he was finally done making a crown braid. It was one of the most complicated braids ‘Cissa had taught him when they were children, but he had always liked it. Because there wouldn't be any hair in the way, it was practical, and because it looked like a crown, it was worthy of someone related to Regulus.
An amused, flowery chuckle caught his attention. He immediately slipped in front of Bianca, ready to defend her in any way possible, as he did not recognize the voice belonging to the person that had just chuckled. For all he knew, it could be one of the ‘Monsters’ his parents had warned him about after Bianca was born.
His father had even given Regulus a pure golden lion ring that could turn into a sword that could slay those monsters! Which he surely would use, should someone be as foolish as to try to hurt the ones he loved. Regulus had killed people before. He didn't like it, but he was not afraid to do it again. And these ‘Monsters’ would only come back after death.
“With whom do I have the pleasure to make an acquaintance?” He asked, politely bowing his head to the area the voice had come from. He wasn't sure why (it must be magic), but he had entirely forgotten about the flowery scent around him, which now he had acknowledged the invisible person in the room was back again as if it had never left at all.
The invisible woman only chuckled again, before turning visible. Just like Bianca, this woman's hair was braided into a crown braid with narcissus flowers in it. She wore a loose dress entirely made out of flowers that although it wasn't revealing, only made her look even more beautiful. With fiery red hair, one blue and one green eye, and a face that looked like it was a statue brought to life, Regulus couldn't help but think that this lady was dangerous.
She wore her beauty as his cousins and mother had done. She was not someone Regulus would have thought about courting in the past, simply because he had never been interested in romance, having only considered it after hearing about his arranged marriage to Pandora Malfoy (who everyone knew was 'secretly' courting' Lovegood. Good for them. Regulus hoped they were happy in a universe far away from this one), but he could respect her for utilising her looks like a weapon. If he were an ordinary child, he would have been intimidated.
“My, my, such a polite child.” The lady - for what else could she be but a Goddess? - hummed airily. “You really do resemble my husband to an eerie degree.”
Regulus gasped softly, before bowing the proper way he had been taught as a child when you meet the lord of an important house (such as when he met his grandfather). “It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Persephone.”
She chuckled again. This time, it was a sharper sound than before, yet no less soft. A woman like this did not need to be loud to get what she wanted. It only made her more dangerous. Especially to Regulus, who had no idea whether she wanted his sister and him gone because they were not hers.
It was easy to forget, with how much they were loved by both parents, but Bianca and him still were bastards of his father. He had seen how that occasionally ended in his past life. People he had known as children suddenly disappeared, never to be heard from again (they had always been half bloods, children of Lords who had ‘fun’ with a Muggleborn or even Muggle woman. Regulus made sure to stay as far away from those people as possible, even when he fought alongside them as a death eater).
“Of course it is!” She smiled widely, cherry red lips turning to a blood red. “When I found out that my husband had one child, I wanted to meet him. When I discovered that he had another one with the same woman, I really wanted to meet her. When I realized that your mother and my husband are expecting a third child very soon, I honestly was so offended that I had not been invited to meet you yet that I thought about just turning you into flowers and calling it a day. Despite having made it abundantly clear that I wanted to, I had not been invited.”
As the air around them turned so heavy with the strong scent of flowers, it was hard to breathe, Bianca hid her tiny face into Regulus's pajamas.
“So I decided to invite myself into your home!” She continued, heavy air gone, again, as if it had never been there at all. His sister's face was still hidden inside his shirt, making him glad that she was clever.
She sat down on the fauteuil next to Regulus and Bianca, who still both were in Bianca's crib, as he had climbed into it to be able to braid her hair, cursing his short-ness again.
Persephone smiled calmly. “Once again, I was so offended that I had considered changing your sister and you into flowers. Really, it would have probably been a kinder fate for you Demigods too, especially considering who your siblings are and who your father is.” She said, conjuncting another white narcissus flower out of thin air and putting it in the crib Bianca and him were in. “However, you have managed to do something very, very difficult, Regulus.”
He tilted his head curiously to the left, not knowing whether it would be wise to say something at the moment. Yet, clearly acknowledging what she had said. It wouldn't do to accidentally offend the already offended Goddess who had a clear motive to turn him into a flower and had literally just admitted to having thought about doing so.
“You managed to impress me.” Her smile turned more genuine. “Your father has had some… let's say, unfavorable children as of late. Normally, I would not have minded it too much. Who doesn't have some unfavorable children now and then? Aphrodite has some heartless children every generation! Which, now I think about it, really isn't that weird, considering her personality, but I digress.”
She looked him straight in the eyes. “The problem is that Hades has had only insane children recently, and far too many! He's had three of them! For Zeus, this would have been an honestly impressive sign of restraint, but Hades rarely has children. We both do, because we love each other.”
When Regulus nodded, she continued. “Your half-siblings have always been extremely powerful. Really, too powerful for a mortal, if I'm honest. The power over Death, shadows and even in some cases, riches, should not be wielded by a mortal's hand and your father likes to say ‘Death often makes the most sane mortals insane”. It's true, I've seen it happen really often. Do you understand, Regulus?”
He nodded again. “Insanity and power do not go well together, and power often corrupts.” He stated, thinking about a certain dark lord, who turned out to be a Half-Blood, clearly not even caring about what he preached. He thought of Dumbledore, who had far too much power than any wizard should have. Both political and magical. Or even his own family, infamous for the ‘Black madness’, who could practically do whatever they liked without any consequences.
Persephone nodded. “Exactly. Normally I couldn't care less if some unhinged, powerful Demigod would cause some problems.” She waved her hand. “Those kinds of problems are inevitable. We are Greek Gods after all, and our children often inherit our dramas along with their powers. Your siblings's actions, however, reflect on your father and thus also on me.”
It made sense for Persephone to care about that. Still, Regulus could only imagine what kinds of things his half-siblings must do for his step-mother to act like this. What kind of people must they be for a Greek Goddess to think they are unacceptable? Did he even want to know?
She must have seen the look on his face, as she sighed softly. “You only have three living half siblings who are old enough to cause trouble.” She said, “One of them is an Italian, like you and your sister. He really isn't that powerful for a child of your father compared to the others. His powers are focused on riches, which he uses to support the political careers of himself and your brother who needs it.”
Regulus looked at Bianca, who had taken her head out of his shirt and was sitting next to him now, looking at the flower dress Persephone was wearing. He briefly wondered how adorable she would look, wearing a dress like that. Now was not the moment for that, however.
“The second living brother you have is Japanese. He is powerful both because of his mortal family and immortal father. The shadows are his speciality, but one should not underestimate his tactical mind.” She hummed. “He got your father's brain, along with his arrogance. Together with being mortal royalty, that's a dangerous combination.”
It was quite ironic, he couldn't help but think. Regulus might as well have been royalty in his past life, and now he was related to mortal royalty, as well as his father, who was the king of the Underworld. Still, it would undoubtedly be unwise to try to get to know his half brothers, with the way his step-mother talked about them. He didn't even need to read between the lines to get that.
“Your last living half-brother is an artist.” She grinned sharply. “He's not very good, mind you, but that only makes him more dangerous. He's got charisma, creativity and has gotten a taste of what it feels like to be responsible for the death of someone. I have seen it happen before to children of the Underworld and even in mortals with too much power for their own good. Ruling over death and feeling what it feels like to cause it can be a very dangerous thing for a mortal. Especially when said mortal already is fairly unhinged to begin with.”
Regulus hummed thoughtfully. “Then why don't you just… get rid of him? Turn him into a flower?”
Persephone's eyes sparkled amusedly. “I knew there was a reason I like you. Keep it up and you may become my second-favourite step-child.” She waved at Bianca, who happily waved back. “Your sister is, of course, my favourite. Especially since Hades hasn't had a mortal Greek daughter in over a millennium.”
She abruptly stood up. “I really wish that I could just turn them into flowers and not care about the consequences, but it really isn't that easy. Ares loves them, which can only mean that the brewing political problems will only get much, much worse.” She looked away for a moment. “Which means that another big war is coming, and Regulus, your siblings and you existing at the same time as those half siblings of yours I just mentioned really is not a good sign. Especially, as when your other sibling is born, there will be three of you. Seven in total, if you count your Roman half-sister too. And three and seven are very, very dangerous numbers.”
Persephone left Bianca and him behind, leaving nothing but the flowers in the room as evidence she had ever been there. All in all, he thought that this first meeting could have gone much worse. He glanced at the flowers around them. It could have gone much, much worse, indeed.