Truce
January 2nd, 1981
Regulus only held the ring in between his fingers for a second before he immediately dropped it, feeling a sharp pain sting into the tips of his fingers and travel slowly up his hand. The ring hit the floor and rolled away until it hit a wall and fell flat.
Regulus’ hand felt like someone had injected a corrosive liquid straight into his fingertips as it continued to move through his veins. His hand wouldn’t stop shaking and he slowly tried to turn it over to look at the palm of his hand. The veins in his hand had begun to change into an ugly shade of black and he watched as it only continued to slowly move from his fingertips and to the palm of his hand. He fell to his knees as the pain only worsened, holding his wrist with no idea what to do.
Fuck, this can’t be how I die.
Not knowing how he was going to stop whatever this dark magic was, he put his focus back on the ring. With his one good hand, he reached into his pocket, pulling out a silk cloth and crawling over to the ring. Carefully, he grabbed it with the cloth and folded it up, storing it back in his pocket. Then, he fell back against the wall, feeling his breath picking up again, but he wasn’t sure if it was the magic doing it or just from the panic he was feeling. He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.
“Reg?” He heard a voice say. “Reg! What’s wrong?”
Regulus barely opened his eyes, just enough to see Evan back in the house and standing over him, blocking the sunlight that was coming through the door frame back outside.
“Oh fucking hell, what did you do!?” Evan said, crouching down to Regulus who was starting to feel dizzy.
“Oh… you know… just… cursed myself… or something…” Regulus said back sarcastically through heavy breaths.
“Damn it, Reg, you’re supposed to be the smart one!” Evan said, annoyed.
“Are you… kidding? Barty’s… the smart one…” Regulus said.
“In school maybe…” Evan said under his breath as he reached out to grab Regulus’ arm. Regulus pulled away from him before he could touch him.
“Don’t touch… me… if I’m cursed… you could get… cursed too…” Regulus tried to explain as it felt like the room around him was starting to spin. He closed his eyes again.
“Fuck, well if I can’t touch you, how am I going to help you?” Evan said, starting to sound panicked. “We’re just going to have to risk it.”
“NO!”
But Regulus was too weak to stop him and Evan grabbed his arm looking at his black veins creeping up the back of his hand. Nothing seemed to happen to Evan as he examined Regulus’ hand and it helped put him to ease - at least, as much as it could.
“We’re going to have to get this looked at. It’s going to kill you if we don’t.” Evan said. “Can you stand?”
Regulus nodded once, though he wasn’t actually sure if he could. He was just hoping he could. Evan helped him up, throwing Regulus’ arm over his shoulder and pulling him to his feet.
It helped that Evan was bigger than Regulus, but it also scared him. Yes, his friend was claiming to be helping him right now, but he was still a Death Eater. He was still loyal to the Dark Lord. But he also had no idea what Regulus had been doing. For all he knew, he had been sent on a secret mission by the Dark Lord himself. He was just going to have to hold onto the hope that maybe Evan did want to help him. He was far too weak to fight back either way.
When they were both standing, Evan held onto his arm tightly, keeping him steady, then apparated away from the old house. Regulus didn’t have the faintest idea where they were going and frankly, it didn’t really matter to him anymore. He kept feeling himself drift in and out of consciousness as the pain in his hand slowly began to spread up his arm and his veins continued to carry the black inky colour up his arm.
During one moment while Regulus was somewhat conscious, he was able to see they were in some sort of old city end, somewhere he didn’t think he had been before, but the streets were lined with dozens of attached, grey, old townhouses, and he didn’t think he could see anyone around. Evan dragged him up the steps of one of the many houses and when he reached the door he began to rapidly bang his fist against it. After a minute of feeling like he was about to pass out and trying so hard to fight it, the door finally swung open and Regulus blacked out.
When Regulus finally woke up, he hadn’t the slightest clue where he actually was. He was laying in a single bed, in a small room with only one window. From the way the ceiling angled itself in a curve towards the window, he thought maybe he was in an attic. Other than the bed, there was a chair in the corner where his cloak and shirt were laying and a small table next to the bed, covered in half used potions and remedies, some still with the corks out.
As he looked around the room for any clues on where he might be, he realized he was no longer in pain. He looked down at his arm that had been turning black, and his veins still carried that same colour, but it was frozen, the black in his veins having stopped just below his elbow, but he no longer felt it. His hand didn’t shake and there was no more pain.
He wanted to get out of the bed and explore the house he was in and try and figure out where he was, but he was also afraid that if he did, he’d be met with more people to explain to. He had no idea where Evan had brought him and had no way of knowing if he was even still there. The last thing Regulus could remember was walking (or rather being dragged) up the steps to the townhouse. Now, he was here.
Regulus took a deep breath, then tossed the blanket on him aside, throwing his legs over the side of the bed and slowly standing up. His legs were still a little shaky, but he was able to keep his balance as he walked over to the chair and grabbed his shirt, putting it back on and taking his time to button it back up. He then picked up his cloak, feeling around it for his wand which was still tucked into a pocket inside of it. His hand then quickly went to the pocket of his pants, tapping it to see if the ring was still there. It was not. He checked around his other pockets, every pocket that he knew he had. It was nowhere to be found. He ran back over to the bed to see if maybe it had fallen out somewhere, ripping the sheets off the bed, checking under the bed and all over the side table. It wasn’t there. He was starting to panic again.
Not knowing where the ring was, his only option was to leave the room and see if whoever was here had somehow gotten a hold of it. Having pulled his wand from his cloak, he sprinted out of the room and into a hallway with a set of stairs that only went down, so he followed them, looking around for any sign of people. As he reached the next floor, he continued down a second flight of stairs and thought he heard the sounds of people chatting coming from a nearby room with a set of brown, double doors.
With only the thought of the ring on his mind, he grabbed the door handle and pushed it open into a small library, surrounded in bookshelves filled to the brim, a fireplace warmly glowing on the back wall, and two armchairs and a small loveseat facing each other in front of it. Evan was standing by the fireplace, his eyes fixed on a small, gold ring that was floating in midair in front of him. Standing on the other side of the ring with his wand held out as he slowly turned it, was Severus who was intently studying the jewellery.
Evan looked up at Regulus first whose eyes were fixed on the ring panicking that one of the two of them were going to touch it. Severus looked up two, holding out the silk cloth Regulus had wrapped it in and slowly placing the ring back down into it.
“Hey Reg,” Evan greeted, “glad to see you’re not dead.”
“This is quite the ring you have here, Regulus.” Severus said as he wrapped the cloth around it. “There’s a lot of dark magic in this, but it’s good to see my potions are working. Not too much longer and you would have been dead.”
Regulus straightened his back and scowled at Severus, ready at any moment to rip the ring from his hand and run if he had to, but Severus didn’t once move, his eyes entirely fixed on Regulus now.
“How much do you know?” Regulus asked flatly.
“Enough.” Severus responded.
Regulus scowled at him again before Evan cut in.
“Reg, look… we know you’re the traitor,” Evan said, “it’s not hard to put the pieces together.”
Regulus’ hand held onto his wand a little bit tighter.
“But what we want to know is why?” Evan continued. “Why are you doing this when we’re so close to winning? The Order is on the verge of collapsing, we’ve gained so many new followers, and Dumbledore’s getting older and weaker by the minute. So, why are you against us?”
“I’m not against you.” Regulus said. “I’m against the violence and the death and the suffering. You haven’t seen the things that I’ve seen. You haven’t lived the pain that I’ve lived. The Dark Lord is not saving the Wizarding World like he promises. All of his promises are lies. He may call us his Most Trusted, but he’d turn on any one of us if it meant keeping him on top.”
Severus scoffed and rolled his eyes.
“The Dark Lord always keeps his promises.” Severus said.
“He does, yes.” Regulus nodded. “But not without conditions. Not without fine print so small you would never see it. Every promise he makes comes with its downsides that only benefit him.”
“That only benefit him?” Severus repeated, narrowing his eyes at Regulus. “What about when you took my place by his side? I think that benefit you rather nicely. Now imagine how angry he’ll be to find out his number one wants him dead. I mean… remember what he did to your cousin, Bellatrix, when she lost his possession?”
“Then think of what he’ll do to you for not letting me die.” Regulus said. The room was quiet for a moment as Evan stared at the floor and Severus turned away from Regulus. “The Dark Lord does not feel compassion or love… he only knows power… and pain.”
Severus shook his head slowly, turning back to Regulus. He let out a single breath through his nose.
“I should have known something was off that day at the manor, but I stupidly let it slide… When you came out of the bathroom with a cloak you hadn’t arrived with… So who was the other one then?” Severus asked, crossing his arms.
“That is not important.” Regulus replied sternly. There was no way in hell he would give up Pandora like that. “But what you need to understand, Severus, is he is going to kill the Potters the second he gets the chance. He’s going to kill them all. He’ll kill James and he’ll kill Harry. He. Will. Kill. Lily.”
“YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW THAT!?” Severus suddenly shouted, his face growing red. Regulus could see that rare fear again, creeping up in his eyes. “YOU THINK I DON’T FEAR THE DAY THAT HE GETS TO THEM!?” Severus dropped his face into his hands, rubbing at his eyes as he let out a long sigh. “The Dark Lord promised me he would let her live, but I know she’s too stubborn to get out of his way… I know he’ll kill her…”
“So then help me, Severus.” Regulus begged. “Both of you, please help me. You don’t have to do anything, but just stay quiet. Don’t say a word to anyone and forget that this ever happened. I’m getting so close, I can feel it. Then we can all live peaceful lives, but please, please, pleeease, do not say a word of any of this.”
“Reg… we can’t… you know we can’t. We have to tell him.” Evan said, though he looked unsure as he said it. Severus didn’t say a word as his eyes grew watery.
“Evan…” Regulus said, feeling his voice shake. “I don’t know what more I can say to you to convince you that what I’m doing is right and you can choose to do what you will, but just remember when you’re facing the Dark Lord to tell him of what I have done and he summons me to torture and inevitably kill me, that you were the one with the choice that could have saved so many people and you were the one who chose not to.”
Evan didn’t respond to him as his eyes dropped to the floor again and he began to pick at his fingernails. Everyone fell quiet again and Severus let out another long sigh. Regulus watched them both, hoping that maybe he had convinced them, but if he hadn’t then they would tell the Dark Lord and he’d most likely be dead by the end of the night. His entire life rested in the hands of two Death Eaters who had known him since childhood and at this point, he was starting to believe they were going to crush it.
“What happens if we don’t say anything…?” Severus asked quietly as he still looked down at his hands. Evan and Regulus both looked up at him.
“I finish what I started before he can get to the Potters and we put an end to this war. Then everyone can go back to living in peace.” Regulus replied with pleading eyes. He waited a moment, watching Severus as his eyes seemed to search around the room like he was processing all of his thoughts. “I haven’t told the Order about Peter.”
Evan looked up at Regulus again, a little confused.
“He wouldn’t be at meetings any more if I had, would he? They would have sent him off to Azkaban immediately.” Regulus reasoned. “But if you tell the Dark Lord of anything I’ve done or tell anyone else for that matter… I’ll be sure they know before I’m dead.”
“But I could just kill you right now.” Evan said, but his hands didn’t move.
“But you won’t.” Regulus said, watching Evan’s hands before looking back up and meeting his eyes. “Because you know you can’t. How will you prove that I was the traitor if I’m dead? How will you prove that you didn’t just kill me and frame me for what you did?”
Regulus had no idea what he was saying. He had no idea if it would work or not and he had no idea if they would actually kill him or not, but he had to take the risk. Then, Severus stepped towards him with his usual look of disgust formed back onto his face and he raised his chin as he held out his hand. Regulus held out his hand as well and Severus placed the silk cloth into his hand with the ring inside.
“If Lily dies… I’ll kill you myself.” Severus whispered, staring sharply into Regulus’ eyes.
Regulus nodded once. Evan stepped forward as well, still looking at the ground. He sighed and shook his head before he looked back up at Regulus.
“You had better be right, Reg… because I’m sorry to say, but I’m not going to die for you.” Evan said as he put a hand on Regulus’ shoulder.
“I’ll say nothing if you say nothing.” Regulus said.
“Ok.” Evan nodded.
After that, they let Regulus leave. Neither of them questioned him any further, but he still couldn’t shake the sinking feeling that his days were coming closer to an end. How could he have been so careless with the ring? How could he have put himself into this situation? How many times was he going to have to dig himself back out of the hole he was in? Not only that, but he was now going to have to figure out how to hide his hand from everyone without looking suspicious. For now, he was going to have to figure out how to destroy a small ring with a large fang.
When he got back to his house, he went straight to his desk in his room and pulled the fang from its drawer, taking it and the ring back to his father’s old study. He carefully unwrapped the cloth from the ring and stared at it. This stupid ring. This stupid, useless, piece of shit. Of all the things that would get him caught, of course it would be this.
Readying the fang in his hand again, he raised it above the ring and to his surprise, it didn’t make a noise or try to fight back. He supposed the curse itself was meant to be its defence. The Dark Lord probably hadn’t expected anyone to survive the curse, but then again, he probably hadn’t expected anyone to find out about the horcruxes in the first place.
He swung the fang down on the ring and it slipped off the edge of the stone as it missed the ring. He tried a few more times, feeling like it was going to be impossible to break the ring without being able to touch it until finally he swung once more and hit it. This time, the ring let out the blood-curdling shriek he had grown used to as it died on the desk that now bore some indents on its surface.
When the shrieking finally ended, he looked down at the ring, ready to clean it up, but he noticed something he hadn’t seen before. The stone of the ring had popped out of it and had oddly changed its colour, but only just slightly - just enough for Regulus to notice. The stone had been black before, nearly the same colour as the curse in his arm, but now there was something gold shimmering in it and the stone itself was still completely intact.
Before he touched it, he made sure to check the stone first for any signs of a curse or dark magic on it, but he only seemed to see it on the ring itself, nothing on the stone. Sure, there was definitely powerful magic in this stone, but it was not even close to what was on the ring. It was something entirely different.
Hoping that he wasn’t about to curse himself again, he hesitantly picked up the stone - nothing happened. He took a closer look at it, there was a gold symbol shining inside of it, one that he recognized, but he couldn’t remember where.
Maybe Remus will know what this is…
He was going to have to go to Sirius with the ring anyway, so he pocketed the stone and wrapped the reminisce of the ring back up in the cloth, then he left again for Sirius’ flat and when he reached the door, he didn’t even think to knock, letting himself in.
Kreacher was more than pleased to see Regulus as he entered the flat, quickly greeting him as he shut the door behind him. Regulus gave him a quick greeting back before calling out for Sirius and Remus.
“Sirius? Remus? Anyone home?” He called out to the flat.
Remus poked his head out from their bedroom at the end of the hall.
“Regulus? Is there a problem or something?” Remus asked as he stepped out of the bedroom with his wand behind his ear and a large book under his arm.
As he got closer, his eyes immediately darted towards Regulus’ blackened hand and his pace quickly picked up. He grabbed his arm without hesitation, yanking Regulus forward a little as he looked over his arm.
“What the bloody hell did you do now!?” Remus asked, studying Regulus’ black veins.
Regulus pulled his arm away from him, unphased by the state of his arm.
“Oh you know, just got myself cursed with the Dark Lord’s magic, but that’s not important right now.” Regulus said nonchalantly. “I found another horcrux, it was a ring, and when I destroyed it, this stone popped out of it and there’s this symbol in it, but I can’t remember what it is. I’m just really hoping you know.”
Remus stared at Regulus, his mouth agape and his face stunned.
“Well?” Regulus asked.
“I’m sorry, you were cursed by you know who!?” Remus finally said in shock.
“Yeah, but Severus gave me some kind of potion or something that seems to have stopped it.”
“What!?”
“It’s fine, I handled it.” Regulus shrugged. “Now do you know what this symbol is?”
Regulus held out the stone to him and Remus stared at him for a second before finally shaking it off and taking the stone, but still looking perplexed at the entire situation in front of him. He took a closer look at the symbol inside the stone and squinted at the small lines, trying to see what it was in the stone.
“It looks like… the Deathly Hallows symbol, I think?” Remus said, looking back up at Regulus.
The Deathly Hallows symbol - that’s what it was. He had seen it a few times before and he knew the story of the three brothers, but why was the symbol on the stone? The Deathly Hallows was just a story, a fairytale you read as a child… or maybe it wasn’t…
“Is Sirius here?” Regulus finally asked as he took back the stone from Remus.
“Um no, he’s with James… can we go back to the whole curse thing?” Remus asked, trying to look at Regulus’ hand again.
“Just don’t directly touch this ring.” Regulus said, pulling the cloth wrapped ring from his pocket and holding it out to him. “Just ask Sirius to take this to Dumbledore and tell him to be sure no one directly touches the ring. Oh and uh, don’t tell Sirius about my hand, he’ll freak out too much.”
“I- uh… okay?” Remus said, cautiously taking the silk cloth and ring and holding it away from him as far as he could.
“Well, I’ll leave you alone now then.” Regulus said, leaving Remus looking dumbfounded at the entire interaction, but he didn’t care very much. The only thing he was thinking about now was the little stone sitting inside of his pocket.