blackleonisâ:
A puppet of the Dark Arts.
Was that what he had become?
Dark magic had surrounded him ever since he was a young child, artifacts and spells decorating the corridors of Grimmauld Place in such a way that couldnât have been safe for children to be near. It was all he had known, even if Mother hadnât deigned teaching him any of those spells and curses worth her time, and heâd found himself drawn to the artifacts that were stored away in boxes in the attic or hung on the wall to get at any unfortunate passersby. It was what Regulus knew, even after heâd gone to Hogwarts and saw that his familyâs views werenât the norm. He took comfort in the dark arts, even if he was bad at it, and had submitted himself wholeheartedly to Bellatrixâs training back when he had failed his first mission as a Death Eater.
But did that make him a puppet? To find comfort in what heâd always known?
Andromedaâs words hurt more than he had expected, and hit that every-lingering doubt in his mind hard enough to dislodge it at least partially. Enough to make him think what am I doing? but not enough to get past his pride. He was a Black, proudly so, and he couldnât let his family down. Being disowned might very well kill his parents, and he couldnât begin to imagine what Bellatrix or Narcissa would think. Narcissa might understand, but Bellatrix⌠heâd likely face his death at the end of her wand personally.
And here Andromeda was, unknowingly testing him in the middle of Diagon Alley.
Her laughter was strained, perhaps a bit manic, and Regulus fought the instinct to take her hand and go talk like they did as children. He couldnât afford to do that, not when people were staring and he had a reputation to upholdâeven if he wasnât doing a very good job of upholding it in the first place. âHe taught you how to be human? Thatâs rich. Youâre nothing more than a blood traitor who followed her infatuation far enough and canât admit that youâd made a mistake. Just admit you were wrong, Andromeda, and move on.âÂ
Maybe if she did, he could move on too.
A part of Andromeda regrets the words the instant that they spill from her lips. They were words meant to hurt, and that was something she had always strived not to do.Â
She had been on the other side of such scathing remarks before and she knew how much they stung.Â
Much like Regulus, her childhood had been one tinged by dark magic. The books in her fatherâs study, the ones not meant for childrenâs eyes, had landed in her hands, in Bellatrixâs hands regardless, and had taught Andromeda a world she since wanted no part of.
She had often struggled to hide her disdain, had perfected the blank expression to give her parents no inkling of how much she despised everything they held dear.Â
Andi often felt that if Ted had not given her an out, she would have found one herself, had grabbed for it, kicking and clawing, no matter if it took her life to do so.Â
But she was unsure if Regulus had that drive, not if he wanted to. He had the bravery, she knew that, the same bravado that all the Black children had thrumming through their veins, but she doubted that he would leave the harsh comfort of home as she and Sirius had done.
Andromedaâs heart pounds painfully in her chest, a tightness she had not felt since the night she had left. She fights the urge to look at Regulusâ face, knowing that doing so would only lead to one of two things; she would burst into tears or pull him into what she was sure would be a very unwitting hug.
âDo not,â she hisses, her voice low and her eyes flashing. Andromeda had been taught to never be seen and never be heard, and she knows she is running the risk of both, but her stomach only twists further. âI may be a blood traitor, but donât you ever, ever, assume that I made a mistake. I know what choice I made Regulus. And I will not regret it.âÂ
The words burn their way through her, and in an action that she may come to regret later, Andromeda reaches out, gripping her cousinâs wrist tightly before spinning on the spot.
It would be very un-Black of them to bicker like this in public.










