Death is an Art - I am an Artist

“Reggie, look!” Bianca shouted excitedly at him, pointing at the three-headed golden retriever puppy she had randomly found in the backyard. She couldn't pronounce his entire name yet, which ironically made ‘Reggie’ his nickname once more.

Every time she called him that, it felt right just as much as it hurt. The last time someone had ever called him that before, was before Sirius left. Which made it only right that his little sister called him that again, he supposed. It was a nickname only his siblings got to call him.

He carefully walked to Bianca, who sat down in the snow next to the three-headed golden retriever with glowing red eyes that appeared to glow extra with the snow around them. Bianca's white dress, scarf and gloves were somehow, despite the snow, turned grass-green. Their mother would undoubtedly be displeased, as this was the ninth dress Bianca had ruined this week and it was only Tuesday yet.

From the moment she could safely walk, no one could make Bianca sit still again. She appeared to be even more energetic than Sirius had been on sugar. Except, she was like that all the time. Again, it was something that Regulus found to be pretty impressive.

“A three headed dog?” He asked, putting his gloved fingers over-exaggeratedly on his chin. “What a coincidence that you managed to find one in our backyard!”

Bianca nodded energetically. “SÌ! Can we keep him, pweaeese?” She must have secretly discovered how to do magic, as her eyes seemed to turn twice as big and thrice as shiny as before, making her at least 110% more adorable than before.

He thought back about the dangers of monsters his parents had told him about, before humming thoughtfully. “Let's ask mamma?" He suggested, knowing she would probably say no.

Bianca gently stroked every head of the three-headed dog. “Giallo!”, she chirped excitedly, at which all three heads licked her face. Instead of scrunching up her nose, like Regulus was doing, she only giggled and gave the dog a big hug.

Not waiting for Regulus, Bianca and the now dubbed Giallo ran inside the house, taking Gods knew what with them inside. He hoped their mother wouldn't make them clean the entire house up again, like she did the last time when Bianca found a new friend in the garden.

Two weeks ago she found a one-eyed child that looked like he was about her age without telling anyone, and let him secretly sleep in Regulus's room. He only discovered that when the child tried to eat him in his sleep. It certainly had been a new experience, and one he wasn't keen on repeating any time soon.

He never went to bed again without checking underneath his bed and in his closet, though, so at least it probably wouldn't happen again.

Still, the one eyed child had apologized to Regulus after Bianca had glared at him when she found out he tried to eat him (her glare was just as scary as their mother’s), and called him ‘Bad one-eye’, at which the kid guiltily told him that he smelled so good that he couldn't resist to try to eat him. Their mother only needed to raise a very threatening eyebrow at the child for him to leave again and never come back.

Regulus hoped that he managed to find food somewhere else, as he had been his sister's first non-family friend, and despite the whole ‘trying to eat him when he was asleep’ thing, he had not been that bad overall. Quite cute, even. Regulus had wondered about what species of ‘Monster’ he was, but he had enough self-preservation and tact to not ask, however.

Seeing no other option but to follow his sister and her new monster friend, who might still be a gift from their father, especially since he felt familiar, as if Regulus instinctively knew him, he quickly followed them, wincing at the sight of filth and snow on the hardwood floor that extended all the way into the kitchen, where their mother was preparing the di Angelo family recipe version of tiramisu.

He'd never tasted anything better, including Kreacher's dishes (which he'd never mention to his Elfen friend if he saw him again). The entire kitchen smelled amazing! He had no doubt that amortentia would smell exactly like this now. When he scented it, it smelled like Kreacher's special extra dark chocolate-raspberry fudge.

Oh no, he also craved that right now on top of his tiramisu cravings! His body must have loved to torment him further, as his stomach decided that it was the exact right moment to try to perform an entire play on its own without ever having practiced any of the instruments and with a singing voice as pure and melodious as an unpotted mandrake.

He smiled warmly at his mother, who had turned around upon hearing his stomach rumble loudly throughout the entire kitchen.

“Madre Mia! Regulus Phylax di Angelo! Why have your sister and you brought a hellhound into my kitchen?!” She asked with her hands on her hips and a shocked, yet stern look on her face. “A puppy, at that! Those are extra playful, like Bianca!! If you weren't your father's children, it most probably would have eaten you!”

A dark look crossed her face. “At least, it would have tried.”

Regulus winced again. The hellhound suddenly looked far less cute. He shot a concerned look at Bianca, who had started to giggle uncontrollably at his bad fortune and their mother's reaction. She was lucky, as her cuteness ensured that she had never been in trouble yet. Regulus being six years old meant that it was far more difficult to be so cute to not get into trouble anymore. Especially now he was the older sibling.

“Bianca made a new friend.” He settled on, despite his inner thoughts still managing to speak calmly. He gave his little sister a tiny nod of encouragement. Her adorableness would surely save them in this situation. At least, it couldn't possibly make it any worse than it already was. Right?

She enthusiastically went forward, followed by Giallo, whose three heads were angled to the right. Her white dress, gloves and scarf no longer resembled anything like it did before, but rather looked like a well-worn Quidditch shirt after a long school year of matches. They smelled like it too. The hellhound didn't appear and smell much cleaner.

“Giallo!” She chirped excitedly, introducing the hellhound with jazz hands.

Their mother's stern look morphed into a far less stern one. Regulus would recognize the look of someone trying to hide her laughter from a mile away. It was funny to see that look on his mother's face. He still had enough self-preservation to not snigger at the sight.

“Bianca?” Their mother asked, hands still on her hips.

Bianca hummed carelessly, while gently stroking Giallo's heads and getting even more dirty as a result. “Mamma?”

“Did you name the dog ‘Yellow’ because of its colour?” She asked, not even trying to hide her laughter behind a cough. Her laughter sounded like flowers come to life. At that moment, she sounded eerily like Persephone had. Regulus would also never mention that.

Bianca nodded energetically. “SÌ! Giallo is yellow!”

Even Regulus couldn't help but to crack a grin now. “Just like you're white, Bianca?”

Bianca's eyebrows furrowed as she thought about what he said for a moment, before looking at her skin and outside through the window as if to compare them. “No! Snow is white, I am tanned.” She grinned mischievously. “You are white too.”

He shrugged. “You got me there, Bi.” No matter how much he was outside, his skin stayed the same colour as his father's, resembling the freshly fallen snow outside more than anything else.

Minus the eyes, he resembled his old self to an almost uncanny degree, which was probably for the best. Even though having had six years to get used to this body, he could imagine that it would have been different if he didn't resemble his old self at least a little bit. Or Gods forbid, if he had been born as a girl.

Bianca frowned again, now looking at their mother's gigantic stomach. “Will our lil’ sibling also be white like you and papa? Or tanned like mamma and me?”

Maria huffed amusedly. “That does not matter, my little flower.” Ever since the time Regulus braided flowers in her hair (and the many times after, which was practically every morning), she had gotten the nickname ‘little flower’ or even ‘my little flower’. Persephone and Hades also called her that.

Bianca sat down on the floor next to Giallo, who decided to lay down, making the floor even more dirty as a result, and frowned again. “Why?”

Maria looked thoughtful for a moment, as if thinking about what she was going to say, before nodding to herself. "No matter what Nicola or Niccolò will look like, they will be your little sibling." She smiled gently at both Bianca and Regulus, who gaped at the name reveal of their little sibling. "It does not matter whether someone has the same skin colour as you, if they have the same beliefs as you or if they like other things than you do." Her expression was slightly frustrated but she still smiled gently at them, “No matter what other people may say, everyone is important, and no one should be excluded because they are a bit different."

Regulus looked away from her to stare through the window at the snowy pine tree in the garden. How different would his past life have been if he would have had Maria di Angelo as a mother? If he had not believed in the bigoted views his family had taught Sirius and him from before they could even walk? If he had been a bit less naive? If he had been a bit more like Sirius had been?

He breathed out resolutely. That was in the past, he could not change it anymore. And even if he could, he didn't know if he would. If he wanted to.

“Do you understand what I just said, Bianca?” She asked seriously.

Bianca smiled widely at their mother after a moment. “SÌ!” It never ceased to amaze him just how clever his little sister was. She put her head on Giallo's fur. The dog's three mouths opened and happily stuck their tongues out.

Regulus looked away from the sight of his sister and the dog they now would undoubtedly keep. Looking at Bianca and his new life, he was sure. No matter what, he was glad that everything he had lived through, everything he had done, had led him to this moment. To this life.

“And you, Regulus?”

He crouched down and put a hand on Bianca's tiny shoulder. “I understand.” He replied.

Maria nodded. “Good. Now, off you go, I have a dish to finish. My little king, please help your sister clean herself up and then you may clean the floor together and eat some tiramisu.”

…….

The day had started out just like any other day. Regulus was woken up by Bianca, who somehow managed to climb out of her crib and into his bed, only to warm her ice cold feet up by stealing his stomach warmth. How she managed to always have cold feet, he wouldn't know.

He groggily opened his eyes, not knowing the time, but it must have been somewhere in the middle of the night, as it was still entirely dark everywhere he looked, the only light being that of the moon and stars outside.

“How'd you get here?” He asked sleepily, but curiously. The door always creaked a bit when it opened, yet it was still closed and he was a really light sleeper (especially after the incident), so either his little sister was secretly a ninja, or she had found another way to get to his room.

Bianca giggled loudly. “I used the shadows.” She explained, in a tone that clearly said ‘Are you stupid?’

He nodded to himself. “Ah, right. You used the shadows. That makes sense. How did you do that?”

Somehow her feet seemed to only get colder, as if they had finally found a worthy victim in him. Regulus mourned the warmth he had gotten from his warm bed.

“I used the shadows.” She replied impatiently.

Regulus looked thoughtfully at the darkness around him, until his eyes suddenly grew wide. “You apparated!” He gasped, sitting upright, much to the chagrin of his little sister.

“Reggie!”, she whined petulantly.

“I want to be able to apparate too.” He replied, looking resolutely at the shadows around him. Despite it being completely dark, he could see everything just like he could when it was light.

“What's apparate mean?”

He sighed. “It's ‘What does apparate mean?’”

Bianca pouted adorably. “What does apparate mean?”

He sat down next to her again and looked thoughtfully. “What did you think of when you ‘used the shadows’?”

She smiled widely. “You!”

Regulus nodded to himself. It appeared that shadow-apparition worked just like any other type of magic. Intent, practice and power were the basic concepts of using magic. Without power, you couldn't do anything. A near squib would be lucky to do something as simple as the colour charm.

He had enough power, though. They both had, considering who their father was.

Practice made perfect. Regulus knew that better than anyone else. As the Black spare, he had been mostly spared from the worst, but that had not changed the fact that he needed to be better than his peers. ‘A Black needs to be perfect’, was a phrase Walburga loved to use. He had practiced everything until he could do it in his sleep. Apparation included.

Then, of course, there was intent. The more a wizard focused on something, the easier it would be. This applied to everything. The more you wanted something to happen, the easier it would be for it to actually happen.

“You wanted to see me?” He asked his sister, just to be sure.

She nodded mischievously. “We did.” She said, at which Giallo jumped from underneath the bed.

What was it with monsters and hiding under his bed?!

Her eyes somehow grew even more mischievously. “Let's go to mamma!” She chirped, before grabbing his hand and touching Giallo, who apparently also could apparate.

He had not forgotten what it was like to apparate. It really was not something you could ever forget, and even Regulus had thrown up the first few times he had done it in his past life.

Which was the only thing that saved him from throwing up now. He dropped down on the floor, though, sitting against the wardrobe of his mother.

“Mamma!” Bianca shouted on the top of her lungs, waking up their mother and possibly their neighbors who lived in the mansions in the area.

She immediately sat up and looked around them in panic. “Is there a monster?!” She asked, grabbing a golden dagger that looked just like the sword their father had given to Regulus for his sixth birthday, from underneath her pillow.

Regulus shook his head, before remembering that their mother did not have night vision.

“No. Bianca woke us up.” He replied, voice still tired.

Maria sighed relieved, putting the dagger back underneath her pillow. “What's up, my little flower?” She asked, slipping out of bed and putting her feet in red satin slippers that matched her nightgown.

Before Regulus could warn her, Bianca whistled highly, at which Giallo and Bianca quickly grabbed him and their mother. The next thing he knew, they were in some sort of gigantic, entirely black throne room with a pure golden throne in it, surrounded by skeletons and flowers. When he looked at the black carpet underneath his feet, he saw and even felt faces moving.

“Madre Mia!” Maria gasped. “My waters just broke!”