Prologue
29th August, 1976
Regulus stepped out of the fireplace. Floo was possibly the strangest sensation he had ever experienced, and it left his stomach a little bit queasy, even though he had been doing it all his life. Not that this was something he would ever admit to. He joined his mother and father, him on one side of his mother, his father on the other.
“Welcome, all, to the Malfoy Manor,” Lucius Malfoy said, an unnatural smile pulled over his teeth, making him look wolf-like. Regulus' cousin, Narcissa stood at his side, her hair still matching his as it did for the wedding. She did not share her husband's expression, though. Her face was unreadable. Completely blank. It was an expression Regulus had worked hard to master. He hoped he wore it well now. He scanned the room. Of course there was Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband, Rodolphus. Bella was his cousin. Narcissa's sister. The Rosiers were there with their oldest son, Elliot, he was 17, apparently they had managed to avoid bringing their 15 year old twins, Evan and Eileen. Then there were the Travers, the Macnairs, the Crabbes, the Carrows, including Amycus and Alecto, Alecto only being his age, and the Averys. Julia Avery stood slightly behind her father, her chin jutted forward and a frown on her face. He was surprised to see her there. He had known the Avery’s to be quite against either of their daughters' participation in these meetings. Her hair, a lighter shade of red, fell several inches past her shoulders, though it used to be halfway down her back. She must have cut it. He had always loved her hair, it was wild in the best way. He wouldn’t have minded running his hands through it, kissing her, loving her.
Enough.
He stopped the thought in its tracks. He wasn’t supposed to love someone. He wasn’t supposed to get to choose that. But he had always loved Julia. The way she seemed to radiate kindness and happiness. The frown she currently wore didn’t suit her soft features. He remembered the first time he’d seen her. How he’d watched the Sorting Hat put her in Slytherin, then begged the Hat to put him there too, not to please his parents, though it certainly did, but so that he would be able to talk to the red haired, freckle faced, girl, who had an infectious laugh and always seemed so happy. And so he had been put in Slytherin, though the hat argued for Ravenclaw. She’d introduced herself, a giant smile on her face. It hadn’t been then that he’d decided to love her, though. It had been several weeks later, when she’d found him crying in some obsolete corner of the school over some cruel thing Sirius had said to him. She hadn’t even said anything, when she found him there. She just sat with him, for what felt like hours, but surely couldn’t have been more than 25 minutes. She’d sat with him, on the floor, as he’d cried about his brother. And she never told anyone about it, never mentioned it. That was when he’d decided he loved her. It wasn’t the only time that she had found him in some dark place, completely defeated, and had just been there for him. She was the only person who’d seen him cry. Her and Sirius, but then of course there was the Sirius situation, which was a very long train of thought that he didn’t want to lead himself down. It ended with his older brother burnt off the family tree, though. And resulted in Regulus being there, at Malfoy Manor, taking Sirius’ place as the Black family heir, while another fairly boring political meeting began.
“As you all know, our movement has been led by a man who has chosen to keep himself anonymous to most, however, it has been decided that those that are here are trustworthy, and shall not reveal the identity of the Dark Lord. He should be here any moment,” Lucius continued, his smile dwindling.
As if on cue, there was a crack. A man, in his 40s or 50s, stood beside Lucius, who took a step back.
“Good evening to you all. I am Voldemort,” The man spoke, quietly but with great authority, enunciating each syllable. A chill ran down Regulus’ spine.