Romantic Homocide

10:13 P.M. Friday, 14th October 2022

His eyes were burning with tears that refused to leave. “You were shit parents!” Spit flew from Regulus’ mouth as he screamed for bloody murder, throat squeezing from his chest. 

“We gave you everything.” Walburga spoke with a forced calmness, and wavering voice. “You would be homeless if it wasn’t for us.”

He frowned, shaking his head. “I would rather sleep next to piss than ever have to be your son.”

“You were never our son!” Orion belched. The whites of his eyes sticking from his head. “You’re sick! And you need help.”

“I need you both dead.” Regulus broke into a sob. 

Walburga raised her chin. “Fine, if that’s how you feel then have your things packed by tonight. You’re evicted.”

“Fine!” He sucked a shaky breath. Stomped out of their apartment and slammed the door. Bringing a hand to cover his face, Regulus willed himself to remain calm. 

“Hey.”

Peeling his hand away, he saw none other than James Potter. The man who had been fighting his own eviction notice for two weeks now. From what Regulus knew, He lived on the ninth floor and taught tenth grade History. How he ever afforded to live in Grimmauld Place was beyond him. “Hello.” Regulus waved.

He pointed awkwardly to the door behind him. “Is um… now not a good time?”

“No, it's not the best time to advocate for your living situation.” He stated coldly. Raising his chin and padding his way to the elevators, unconsciously hiccuping as he pressed the button. 

James’ mouth closed shut. “How’d you kn-”

“Everyone knows everything here.” 

“Right.” He nodded. “Are you alright?”

“Just peachy.” The doors opened and he walked inside. 

Ringing out his hands, James gave a small smile. “I’m really sorry.”

“For?”

He shrugged. “You know… having them as parents and all.” 

Pursing his lips, Regulus met his eyes dead on. “You know nothing about that . ”

“No, I know, I just- If you ever need someone to talk to-”

“Oh look at that, the doors are closing.” He smiled with fake enthusiasm. 

James blinked, looking around a now empty hallway. He ran a hand through his hair. “Fuck.” 

Early that day  8:16 A.M. 

Grimmauld Place stood tall with fifty stories on the upper west side, housing hundreds of people. The Victorian elegance drew people in and created a community. However, no one was truly happy with Walburga and Orion as the owners. 

Orion was a wall street broker and then quickly fell in love with Walburga when he found her working at a French Cafe, who wanted nothing more than to be a housewife. And when she didn’t like the size of his checks she gave the idea of buying buildings to one day monopolize their part of the city. 

It took years to stabilize the production of Grimmauld Place, and when they did, Orion grew bored of being money hungry; said he didn’t want to buy anymore. 

The plan could’ve been effective, if only Walburga was in a similar mindset. She craved power and luxury. Started to raise rent with little to no warnings, and evict people for fun. With friends in the court systems, it became difficult to argue with her. 

The couple had raised two boys, Sirius and Regulus Black, only a year apart. Sending them to elite private schools with chauffeurs and champagne, they grew up in that building. Until the pressures got too high and Sirius left to pursue something that didn’t involve taking over the building. The family was obviously upset, but never made the decision to give Grimmauld to Regulus instead. No one knows why. He still lived in the building. Earning his own apartment on the forty-ninth floor, operating strangely against his parents. Their whole dynamic was mystery. 

Naturally people became curious and gossip ensued. Especially when Sirius moved back in December of last year. They had given him one of the smallest and rundown apartments in the whole building, but they still gave him something. It drove everyone crazy with hushed whispers and long stares. Everyone except Remus. 

Remus was an author with a hit novel that was published when he was only nineteen years old. Now at twenty five, he’s lived at Grimmauld Place for three years and couldn’t care less about jeopardizing his position there. The excitement of other people’s lives wasn’t worth it. Especially if Remus didn’t write something soon, he wouldn’t be able to afford it anymore. Best to stay on Walburga’s good side. 

At least that’s what he thought. 

Rolling his eyes at the birds chirping outside his window, Remus stabbed his cereal with the spoon. Waiting for anything remotely interesting to happen. It was New York City for crying out loud, surely there had to have been something worth writing about, but there never was. 

His phone rang and he jumped back to reality, running towards the kitchen and swiping the screen to accept the call. “Hello Lily.”

“ Hello Lily .” She mocked. 

“What? What did I say?” Remus laughed into the phone. 

Lily could be heard shaking her head on the other line, her hair ruffling the speaker. “Nothing! You just sound so bland.” 

“Uh!” He choked. “I- That’s rude!” 

“Then put some pep in your step! You sound like someone has a gun to your head.”

“I think someone should put a gun to your head.”

“Remus!”  Lily balked, before calming herself down. “Anyway… you really don’t want to hear about my date last night?”

This shocked Remus, stilling him in place. “You actually went?!” Lily had a nasty habit of agreeing to dates she didn’t want to go on. It was hard for her to find someone that she genuinely liked.

“... I did.” 

“Get in the elevator right now!” He shouted. 

“I’ll be there in five minutes, promise.” 

When Remus finally heard the knock at his door, he opened it to find a disheveled Lily. Her bright red hair was a complete mess and her green eyes were blinking rapidly. She stalked past Remus, and plopped herself on his couch. “The date was amazing.” 

Cautiously observing, he took a seat next to her. “Then why do you look so upset?”

At that, she put her head between her knees and groaned. “He was so lovely!”

“Okay…” Remus bit down a smile. “What- erm what does he do?”

Lily immediately grew quiet and he shook her from the shoulder. 

“What? What aren’t you saying?”

Sheepishly, she lifted her head. “He’s a History Teacher…” 

“James!” Remus’ hand flew to cover his mouth. “The one person you go on a date with is the nerd from the ninth floor!”

“He’s not a nerd!” Lily quickly defended. “He’s funny and beautiful- and- and- well he is a bit of a nerd, but it’s endearing.” 

“Oh my god… You are so gone for him.” 

“I know!” She retreated back to her knees. 

Lily didn’t have a shift until later that night, so they stayed there on his couch relaxing and letting the day pass. They were best friends and could be in each other's company for hours. Eventually when she had to leave, Remus walked her to the door and waited in the doorway for the elevator to open. 

When it did a man with raven hair and fair skin popped out, with a polite hello to Lily. It was Sirius. Sirius Black was walking towards Remus. Who was uncomfortably shifting his stance. 

The two had never spoken a word to each other and Remus isn’t even sure he knows who he is. 

“Hi.” Sirius stopped a few feet in front of him. “It looks like your mail got sent to me.”

“Oh…” He stared blankly.

“Yeah, just wanted to give it to you.” Handing out the envelopes, Sirius smiled looking at his shoes. 

When Remus grabbed the envelopes his fingers grazed the other. “How did you erm… How did you know where to find me?”

“It’s on the letters.” He shrugged, laughing a little. 

“Right.” Remus nodded, and just when he thought the conversation was over Sirius cleared his throat and began again. 

“But I do know who you are.” He spoke quickly. Before Remus could respond, he continued. “Not in a creepy way, just I’ve noticed you and it’s a small place. Hard to not know where everyone is.”

His mouth made a small ‘o’ and swallowed hard. Trying not to obsess over the fact that Sirius does in fact know who he is. “Nice… and you’re Sirius.”

Sirius’ smile widened, and he finally locked eyes with him. “I am… but everyone- I guess that’s common knowledge.”

“A bit.” Remus found himself laughing at that. 

“Can’t go anywhere in this building without someone staring at me.” He bit his lip.

Shaking his head, still laughing, he asked, “You don’t like the stares?”

Sirius joined in, along with the pinks on his cheeks that did not go unnoticed. “Depends who they’re from.”

“I’ll remember that.” Their eyes trained on each other. 

“So… Do you have my mail by any chance?” Sirius said, breaking the small trance. 

“Oh erm-” Remus furrowed his eyebrows. “I don’t know, I never check the mail. Let me see.” He turned back into the apartment, holding the door open for Sirius, who silently followed, keeping a great distance as Remus haphazardly shuffled through his things on the kitchen counter. Holding up an envelope he grabbed his glasses from his back pocket and read the name ‘Funny White’. Sending him a confused look, Sirius nodded as his smile returned. 

“Yeah that’s me.” His eyes crinkled as he dissected the rest of the pile. “I’m sure you can put together how I came up with it.”

“Can I ask why?” Remus watched him closely. 

Sirius bit his lip again. “It started as a… a way to put distance between me and my family. But now there’s no point in that.” He sighed.

Not wanting to intrude, he changed the subject. “I used to use a fake name too.” 

This perked Sirius’ attitude back up. “Really? What was it?”

“Erm… J. Romulus.” 

“No way!” Sirius jaw slacked to the floor. “You- You!”

Remus titled his head. “You know who that is?” It was quite popular, but that was years ago. The publishing company made good to remind him of this everyday. 

“Of course I know who that is!” He all but almost screamed. “That was the most influential book I’ve ever read.”

“It's just about a guy in London.” 

“It was so much more than that! It was about the human experience, and the lostness we all feel. It was beautiful!” Sirius belted.

“You really think that?”

“Yes.” He stated earnestly. “Is that really you?!”

“Yeah.” Remus laughed awkwardly. 

“What’s an amazing author like you doing living here?” Sirius had given up searching through the pile. 

“I dunno. Could ask the same for you.” His gaze flicked over to watch his reaction. 

He simply sucked in a breath and mumbled, “I don’t know either.” With a soft smirk. 

Soon they were at the door again once more, bidding their farewells. 

“We should hang out sometime.” Remus tried to say with a swift voice.

“I…” Sirius grinned facing the elevators. “I’d like that yeah. You should meet my friend, he loves your book.”

“Yeah, yeah, ‘course. Sounds nice.” 

When the doors shut, Remus ran to his phone and scrambled to text Lily. 

Remus: 

AHHHHHH

HE KNEW WHO I WASS

LILYYY

Lily: 

I GONNA TEXT YOU BUT I DIDN’T WANT TO INTERUPT 

AJLFJBFSLJBEK LOOK AT OUR SHY MAN GO

He was never one to show affection, or reveal much about his attractions, but Lily was the only one who he’d admit to the obvious allure of Sirius Black. Not because he was the building's unwanted celebrity, but because he was stunningly gorgeous. 

His embarrassed smile didn’t falter throughout the day. Even when he walked into the elevator alongside Regulus Black. Even when his eyebrows shot up as he couldn’t believe the coincidence of two Blacks in one day. 

They gave each other polite acknowledgements, but Regulus Black was always a cold one. He wasn’t one for small talk either. They stood in silence till it reached ground level, and walked out into the lobby. 

Walburga was on the floor spitting out insults, hovering over the doorman, who was a slimy little git with oily hair. This wasn’t an unusual occurrence. If it was anyone else, maybe people would take pity, but he was the worst doorman there ever was. 

“Hello Mother.” Regulus nodded to her as he padded his way outdoors, just in front of Remus. 

“Not now Regulus.” She scowled, but he kept his chin raised pulling at the door. 

He didn’t hold it open for Remus and it closed in his face as he tried to grab the handle. Closing his eyes, Remus grumbled softly. 

5:23 P.M. 

“There has to be something we can do.” Regulus picked at his thumb.

Barty, his lawyer and oldest friend, leaned back in his seat. “I’m sorry. There’s just nothing I can do, your mother is very persistent on the fact that you are not getting that property.”

“It’s mine!” 

The two were locked away in Barty’s office. Regulus came to him begging for help and he has deemed himself useless. “If it makes you feel any better, I never liked Grimmauld to begin with. It’s dark and gloomy. Like Dracula lives there or something.”

“Yeah, it’s my mother!” Regulus huffed, drooping his eyes. “I’m sorry. I just-”

“I know. You don’t have to explain that to me.” 

“Thanks.” He mumbled. 

“Ahh, don’t worry about it.” Barty tutted. “I heard she got the will changed again, if that’s any constellation … get it? ‘Cus you’re all named after stars?”

Regulus frowned. “Yes, I get it. And it’s consolation, not constellation.” 

“You know what I mean.”

“Unfortunately I do…” He picked his thumb. “Do you know what she put in the will?”

“Your guess is as good as mine… Hey, maybe she put you in there.”

“Doubt it.” 

“See you soon Reggie.” Barty picked up a pen and grabbed a file. “By the way, could you kill your mother for me? When you get the chance?”

Standing and clapping his hands, Regulus made way to leave. “I’ll try my best.” He called out. 

11:57 P.M.

Lily was sitting on his kitchen counter holding the only letter that Sirius left behind. “So tell me again, what did you say exactly?”

Turning his head from the pan on the stove, Remus answered. “Well, exactly what I said was ‘we should hang out sometime.’”

She screeched with excitement. “Perfect!”

“You think? It’s a little forward, but I just didn’t think I’d get the chance again.” 

“No, I definitely think it was the perfect thing to say.” Lily hopped off the counter and peeked over Remus to see how the toast was doing. They had decided on cinnamon toast before Lily had to leave for her shift that started at 12:30. She was a nurse so there was always a weird schedule for her. 

“We’re probably never gonna see each other again.” Remus muttered.

She slapped his arm. “Don’t say that!”

He flipped the bread with his fingers. “It’s true, I didn’t even get his number.”

“You didn’t get his number?!”

“No, I-” 

Remus was just about to explain, as a loud noise went off. So loud they both stilled, staring at each other. 

“Did that come from inside the building?” Lily whispered.

“I don’t know! I don’t think so.” He whispered back. 

Another sound went off, and they knew something was wrong. 

They ran to the front door and opened it to see Evan Rosier gaping right back at them from his door down the hall 

“Do you know what that was?” Evan asked.

Poppy, his neighbor from across, then ripped open her door. “What in the bloody fucking Jesus- Oh Hello Lily. What are you doing here? I saw you on the call sheet for tonight.”

“Hey Poppy, and yeah I should be leaving right now.” She turned to face Remus. “Have my toast?”

“You can’t leave now, we don’t know what the fuck that was!” He gawked. “Also I spent twenty minutes on that toast, so you’re at least taking it to go.” 

“He’s right.” Evan nodded. “Not about the toast part, but what the fuck was that?”

“It sounded like a gunshot.” Poppy babbled with her eyes wide. 

Lily tilted her head in thought. “There’s no way it went off here though… I know it’s New York, but this place is safe. Feels safe.” 

“Let’s go down stairs and see what everyone's thinking?” Remus suggested. 

Lily and Poppy agreed, but Evan mumbled something about being busy and rushed back inside. In the lobby they found all the residents just as confused as they were. Babbling about what they heard. Everyone was there. Except for the Black family. And perhaps Evan.

He tugged Lily’s shirt. “It’s weird right? You would think they would be down here. Everyone is.” 

“Huh? Oh yeah, really weird. Does my hair look okay?” She spoke distractedly.

“What? Yes, your hair looks fine.” Remus furrowed his eyebrows until he saw the deep brown skin that was James Potter walk their way. 

“Hi Lily.” He smiled earnestly through his round glasses. 

“Hi.” 

“Who's your friend?”

“Who? Oh, sorry.” She chuckled under breath. “This is Remus, my best friend. Lives on the twenty-seventh floor. Always brooding.” 

Remus blinked at the description. “That’s- well that’s me.” 

“Oh! So you’re the famous Remus.” James lit up.

“Who do you know that knows me?”

“Err, Lily ‘course! On the date!”

Catching her reaction, Lily was confused for a split second but recovered quickly. “Yeah, I did mention you.” 

That was as far as that conversation went before a girl with beautiful thick curly hair and dark skin interrupted them. “Do you guys know what the sound was? If it’s nothing, I would like to get back to my plans.” She laughed a little, almost nervously.

“What are your plans exactly?” James gave her a very pointed look. Giving her an up and down on her very scandalous dress and heels.

“Seeing this club promoter, supposed to get me into this underground rave tonight.” She grinned proudfully. 

“And you didn’t send it in the group chat.” He shook his head disapprovingly. 

“Yeah so Mr. Funny can throw up on another speaker.” 

Remus turned to Lily and both read each other’s mind. Are they talking about Sirius?

“Sorry.” James returned his attention quickly back to them. “Guys, this is Mary. We went to school together and she lives on the ninth floor, next door to me.”

They exchanged their hello’s before Mary pulled James aside for a moment. Remus and Lily gave each other a look and knew to be silent in order to eavesdrop. 

“Why isn’t he down here?” Mary hushed.

James ducked his head down. “I don’t know, none of them are. Why are you worried? Do you think they caused this?” 

“I don’t know, but if they’re all in the same room together it can’t be good.”

In the next moment the two excused themselves, and Remus bent down to whisper to Lily once they were out of earshot, “You have to call in sick tonight.” 

She nodded frantically and they made way for the elevators.

11:57 P.M.

Regulus had been pacing in front of his parents door for thirty minutes now. Working up the courage to go inside and apologize. He could hear them from the hallway yelling, most likely at each other, and perhaps for other families this would have stopped him, but they were the Blacks. This wasn’t unusual. 

Their earlier argument was just that, an earlier argument. Surely they could get over it and come to some compromise. Digging his fingers in the hoods of his eyes, Regulus tried not to heave. He knew deep down there would be no meeting in the middle. That he would meet them on their side, as he always did. Agree to their terms. 

They wanted him to get a cushy office job and keep his head down. Neither of his parents truly saw him as a man, so they couldn’t marry him off and they couldn’t pass down the building. Regulus was caught in a weird limbo that involved no independence, and despite his loud testaments, he couldn’t be homeless. He wasn’t built for it. Regulus grew up with private chefs, not worrying about his next meal. All he could do was apologize. 

He was just about to knock on the door when a loud noise went off that made his ears ring. Bending over his middle and gripping his head, Regulus watched the door widely. Waiting for the ringing to fade, only to hear that their screams were gone. Then another loud noise popped like a canon stinging his ears once again. 

In quick movements, he was jiggling the handle so hard it could’ve broken off. “Mom!” 

Regulus started to bang at the door. “Mother please!” 

Running past the elevator and straight to the stairs, Regulus rushed his feet as fast as he could to the floor below where he lived, prying it open to find the spare set of keys he had secretly made for his parents apartment as a child, hidden in the vase in the entryway. He threw the fake flowers to the floor and smashed the top of the vase aggressively on his palm till the key fell into his hand. 

He didn’t bother to close the door when he ran back upstairs, jamming the key in the lock. Sweeping the door wide open, his gaze raced throughout the apartment, before it landed on two bodies draped on the living room rug. Bleeding red all over. So much so that it seeped into his shoes.

Sucking in a breath, Regulus fell to the floor. It was none other than his parents. Lying dead. He struggled to breathe before he started to choke on his tears, quickly turning into a weeping mess. 

“I’m sorry mom!” Regulus wailed gripping onto the floor boards, hands turning red. “Mom!” 

His vision became blurry, and mind hazed. 

I’m so sorry was all he could think. 

It couldn’t have more than a few moments later when he felt tugging on his shoulders. 

“Regulus.” A voice so far away spoke. 

“Regulus.” It repeated more sternly. 

“Regulus!” 

This snapped him back, and he whipped his head around to find Sirius standing with his mouth dropped open and his eyes frozen over, helplessly staring at the scene in front of him. “Regulus, we have to get out of here.” He watched as a singular tear slipped down his face.

Regulus couldn’t move from his spot on the floor. “I’m so sorry.” 

“What did you do?” Sirius’ breath started to become shallow just as his. 

“I’m sorry!” His face screwed his hands. “I’m sorry!”

He shook his shoulders again, stronger this time. “What did you do?!” 

“I’m sorry!”

“We have to go. Regulus, get up! We have to go!” Sirius was now dragging him by the shoulders. Sweeping him through the apartment, back into the hallway. 

He fought to stay. He fought so hard. “ I’m sorry! ”

12:09 A.M. 

Remus and Lily waited until James and Mary had gone in their elevator to walk over and call their own. 

In the elevator, just the two of them, Remus pressed the twenty seventh floor out of habit. 

“We’re just going back to your place?” Lily asked.

“No, but we can’t stay on ground level long before someone else wants to use the elevator there.” 

“Okay so… what are we doing? What’s the plan?”

“I don’t know.” Remus admitted. 

Lily pushed her lips to the side. “Well it has to do with the Black family for sure.” 

“So fiftieth floor then.”

When they eventually reached the fiftieth floor, it looked like they had walked into a war zone.

Mary was on the phone, with presumably the police, by her tone and the information she was giving. “Grimmauld Place. Yes, we need an ambulance.”

James was holding Sirius’ hair as he retched into the corner. He was steading himself on the wall as tears hit the floor. Hastily whispering, “We need to go.”

Regulus with blood on his face and hands, was sobbing into Evan’s arms on the black tile that was now stained scarlet. It led all the way to the apartment with the open door. Peering in, Remus could just make out the pools of it coming from the living room. 

Turning to Lily as elevator doors automatically shut, they both thought to each other What the hell did we just get ourselves into?