Taking Alecto’s Lack Of Argument As Her Acceptance Of His Lie, Regulus Turned His Attention Back To

As soon as it was evident that Lucius was not going to leave her be, Cassandra set her book down carefully. "That's still a branch of healing, Lucius," she said matter-of-factly, before she offered him a smile. "Congratulations on your impending arrival. How many weeks along is she? Has the first trimester been difficult?"

Lucius had seen the witch and there were a million questions that popped in his head when it came to his wife's pregnancy. He took no hesitation sitting down across from her, leaning back in his chair. "I do not coming to ask about healing. I need to know about pregnancy and what to expect in the second trimester." He loved Narcissa, but her mood swings, he wasn't certain he'd make it to their baby being born.

"no one man should have all that power"

𝖇 𝖆 𝖘 𝖎 𝖈

NAME: Kingsley Nathaniel Shacklebolt NICKNAMES: Kings AGE: 29 GENDER: Cis Male PRONOUNS: He/Him

𝖋 𝖆 𝖒 𝖎 𝖑 𝖞

MOTHER: Yetunde 'Dea' Shacklebolt FATHER: Nathaniel Adewale Shacklebolt SIBLINGS: Sade Shacklebolt (younger sister)

𝖕 𝖍 𝖞 𝖘 𝖎 𝖈 𝖆 𝖑 𝖆𝖙𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖇𝖚𝖙𝖊𝖘

FACE CLAIM: Michael B Jordan BUILD: Tall and stocky. HAIR COLOR: Dark brown. EYE COLOR: Dark brown. DOMINANT HAND: Right. ANOMALIES: A deep scar on the right side of his ribs from a battle injury that didn't heal fast enough. FASHION: Deep colours (dark green, royal purple, navy blue) in clothes that he can easily run and fight in. NERVOUS TICS: Twisting the rings that adorn his fingers.

𝖑 𝖎 𝖋 𝖊 𝖘 𝖙 𝖞 𝖑 𝖊

RESIDES: Godric's Hollow BORN:  Shacklebolt Family Home RAISED:  Shacklebolt Family Home PETS: A black cat called Storm.

CAREER: Auror EMPLOYER: Ministry of Magic POLITICAL AFFILIATION: The Order of the Phoenix

DRUGS: Never SMOKES: Occasionally after a long day at work ALCOHOL: Kingsley is fond of a rich red wine, or a smoky whiskey. DIET: Varied. Kingsley did try a vegetarian diet briefly, but quickly reverted back to his old ways.

LANGUAGES: English, French, Spanish.

FEARS: Kingsley fears his sister and his nephew being used against him as the war grows darker. HOBBIES: Kingsley is almost always at work, but when he's not he enjoys wizard's chess and reading muggle books.

𝖒 𝖆 𝖌 𝖎 𝖈

ALUMNI HOUSE: Ravenclaw. WAND (length, flexibility, wood, & core): 10 and one quarter inches, Ash wood, unicorn tail hair core, flexible. PATRONUS: Lynx. BOGGART: A dark version of himself, with the dark mark burned into his arm.

Bio:

From a very young age, Kingsley Shacklebolt began to feel a sense of difference. His parents introduced him to other magical purebloods his age, but Kingsley always felt like he was on the outside of it all, more content to sit under a tree and read than run around in the mud or zoom about on toy broomsticks. His parents raised him to be better, whispering ideologies of supremacy and otherness. What his parents didn't know is that Kingsley had befriended a local muggle boy, who was teaching Kingsley aspects of the world that his parents would never allow him to know.

The weight of being an eldest brother was something that settled comfortably on Kingsley's shoulders. Sade was always trailing around after him, but he didn't mind too much. They had a closeness that it seems their parents had underestimated, especially when the two of them banded together. Sade was only two years younger than himself, but he was determined that she would grow up to reject their parents prejudices the way that he had.

At Hogwarts, the sense of difference from his peers became quickly evident. His wandless magic as a child had been incredibly strong, and on one occasion Kingsley had been able to actively control the magic rather than it being guided by his emotions. His magical skill quickly developed in Ravenclaw house, and Kingsley found himself topping each class amongst the many extra-curriculars he engaged in. His power and skill did not go unnoticed, and some of his peers in Slytherin house had tried to recruit Kingsley to their pureblooded gangs. When it became evident that he was not interested in their ideas of supremacy, Kingsley found a target on his back more often than not and quickly rose defensively to meet whatever they would throw at him.

It seemed a natural step to Kingsley to put his magical proficiency to work to protect others. He had always had a strong notion of justice, and as he had grown into himself his morals had grown even firmer. His parents disapproved of his career choice, but Kingsley knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let his abilities go to waste knowing others were suffering. The auror trials were a breeze to a man of his skill, and before he knew it, Kingsley was out on the field.

His desperate need to stop the growing darkness in the world only grew more urgent with the arrival of his nephew. Kingsley fights for a world where his nephew can grow up safely, without fear for the future.

If he weren't as riled as he was, Bellatrix's icy silence would have driven terror into his heart. Despite all of the his insecurities and fears, Regulus was at his heart still a Black - and he would not back down. He didn't want Bellatrix's involvement, and her fury was only solidifying that he had made the right decision. The slight changes in her expression that were only noticeable because of the intensity of his gaze left him vindicated that the information was not for the Dark Lord himself. Whatever way Bellatrix tried to spin this, Regulus knew now that she had been meddling when he had expressly asked her not to. He had attempted to put space between them before, but now he needed it desperately. He couldn't afford for her to be messing around in his life.

"I know, Bella. I know. I don't doubt your intentions, nor your devotion. But I have made my boundaries clear, and you are repeatedly crossing them. I want to train with Rabastan. I've asked you to leave me be...my ambitions are mine and mine alone, and I'm comfortable with where I am. I want to serve the Dark Lord, but I also want to get on with my job at the ministry and study magic itself. I have little interest in climbing ranks, I just want to study," he said, mentally building further occlumency walls in his mind in case Bella decided to pry.

Regulus hated using the unforgivables, but avada at least was smooth and painless. He didn't have the stomach for torture, he never had and he never would. On a battle field he would use avada over any other curse, wanting to end the suffering quickly and neatly. At her instruction, Regulus froze, staring at Bellatrix blankly as she finished her tea.

The issue with unforgivables was that you had to mean it, and Regulus never did. With a slight shake to his hands, Reg pointed his wand at his cousin. "Crucio," he said, voice weak. The curse appeared to bounce off Bellatrix harmlessly, so before she could say a word he tried to summon up some of the fury in his veins from their earlier discussion as he cast the curse again.

If her previous silence had been chilling, the utter emptiness that followed his next speech could have frozen hell itself. For a moment, her eyes widened exponentially, her lips pursed and nostrils flaring with an outrage that flowed her veins like a devastating tsunami. He had called her bluff and she did not like it. Of course she hadn't gone to the Dark Lord. He wouldn't care for such a pointless piece of information, but that was besides the issue. She'd still needed the whole picture before deciding what to share with him. As she glowered, she placed both hands onto the arms of her chair and dug her nails into the upholstery. Better that than around her darling cousin's throat. It was a long time before she spoke again. Long for Bellatrix, anyway - at least a minute, in which she had struggled internally with the desire to deny the fear he'd so aptly identified. She never admitted it. Never. Her mask was one of merciless rage and relentless disgust. These things were far easier to acknowledge. They were simple to redirect, channelling her fear and her hurt into something more palatable. Blacks did not show weakness. But her family falling apart made her weak in ways that repulsed her.

"I only want what's best for you and Cissy." She took his words on board, trying her utmost to give him space. But she would be damned if she abandoned him completely. There was only so far that her patient goodwill would stretch. "I only want you to be happy and secure. If your ambition is so lowly, then I cannot change that. But while there is strength in my bones, I will do my best to keep you alive."

Regulus's sighing and flinching did nothing to soothe Bellatrix's concern. Quite the opposite, she was left feeling anxious - a state she most despised. But she was at least relieved to see his killing curse hurtling into a bust of old Corvus Lestrange, even if he'd had to speak it. Raising her fresh cup of tea, she took a deep gulp. "That was good, cousin." Not good enough, but she wasn't going to say it. Even she could see he needed praise. "Now Crucio me. But let me finish my tea first, I need to wash down that horrible ginger snap."

Finishing it fairly quickly, she then pushed the cup aside and held up her hands with a laugh. "Ready when you are. Don't feel bad about it, I don't mind a little pain." Truth be told, she quite enjoyed it. All that carnal monstrosity coursing through her every fibre.... Delicious.

An owl had arrived early that morning with a time and a location for Regulus to meet one of his assigned protectors, which Reg had promptly burned. He was curious to know whether Edgar had been able to meet his request for any assigned protectors to be pureblooded, otherwise he was going to have to start thinking quickly a reason as to why he would be seen with them. He needed to speak to the auror again and see what kind of assurances he was putting in place to ensure that these protectors wouldn't turn around and betray Reg for the right price, as he was placing his life into these unknown hands.

Apparating into the back room at the Hogs Head, Regulus was grateful to see he was there first. A grubby looking pint of undisclosed beer was waiting for him, and Reg cast a few detection spells to ensure it wasn't poisoned before taking a sip with a grimace. He heard footsteps heading up the stairs before he saw the man, and as soon as James Potter rounded the corner Regulus immediately stood up. "No. No, no, no. This is not happening. This is not happening." @jamesffleamont

"Oh shit," Reg said, glancing down into Frank's basket as if the basket itself held his impending child. "Well congratulations," he offered meagrely, before glancing back down at the basket. "You'll need a lot more ingredients than that to see you through three months worth of sickness. Here," he said, shifting some of the mandrake root from his basket to Frank's. "It's not the easiest thing to get hold of given that the mandrakes need to stew, and I can't buy it for the sake of hoarding ingredients when you're soon to be a father," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "Oh, time is already doing a number on me Longbottom, don't you worry."

"Well, the next time I come in here will be with a wig and a moustache, and I'll be a friendly guy called Albert."

"I have a feeling I'll be making lots of morning sickness and Pepper Up potions in the upcoming months. At the very least, I can mail some to you when I find it." Frank said, gesturing towards the small basket already carrying a few essentials. Potions weren't quite a passion of his but he could make them and it was cheaper than constantly buying store-bought ones. He shrugged Regulus's comment aside. "Life will have plenty of opportunities to make you a miserable bastard. Let time work its course instead, enjoy yourself."

Frank studied Regulus's face in consideration. "Albert, yeah. Definitely more of an Albert."

Regulus couldn't help the way he flinched at James' easy joke. Sure, it was easy for James Potter - everything came easy to James fucking Potter. And like almost everything else in Regulus' life, Sirius was the first choice and Regulus was the unwanted extra. The little kid clutching his brother's arm, the teenager chasing after his brother's friends, the adult who was chasing everything that Sirius should have been and everything that he was not. "I know Sirius is your...I don't know, favourite person ever or whatever, but I'd appreciate not being lumped in with him any more. He made his choices, and I made mine....and you made yours," all traces of easy teasing gone from his tone, replaced with strained tension. "I'm Regulus, and I am ridiculous...and you've got no insight into my life any more. You wasted that chance."

James' innuendo made Regulus' brain short circuit for a moment, and his jaw fell agape for a moment before he collected himself. "Several years ago, maybe. But I think I'll pass on that now, I've moved on. I am, however, still interested in you grovelling. I am about to be the sole owner of all of England's jewelweed after all," he smirked. "Oh good, I'll make sure to frame it and put it over my mantlepiece."

"You're not Ridiculous, you're Regulus. Easy mix-up, I do it all the time." It was a joke akin to serious/Sirius, and something in that made James feel inexplicably guilty. It wasn't that he felt he was doing anything wrong right now, but the months when he did, years ago, threatened to resurface. Lying to his best friend had been the hardest thing in the world. In the end, he'd chosen to stop – that is, stop meeting Regulus on the astronomy tower every night, stop whatever it was that they had been doing. Sirius meant too much to him to go behind his back. And this wasn't something he could, or would, ever tell him. James made his decision, and it had been (it would always be) Sirius.

"Is that what you want? For me to grovel? Do you want me on my knees, Reg?" The double entendre wasn't intentional, but it floated in the air between them nevertheless. By the time he said it, it was too late to take back. He'd just pretend he didn't hear it. "I appreciate the concern, but I can do one more for you, don't worry."

Whatever Regulus had thought was going to happen when he had approached Edgar's office, he hadn't anticipated this. All of the emotion that he'd kept bottled up within him seemed to explode out, in a way that was entirely undignified of a pure-blooded heir. Still, he would not entirely break down in front of this man - no, he would save that for when he got home. He could feel it brewing within him, magical energy thrumming to escape his veins. "I wanted to be enough for them. I wanted them to be proud," he said, knowing that he had no family now that would be proud. He had done too much evil for Sirius to ever look at him with pride again, and his parents...well, if this ever came out, he would be surprised if they didn't kill him themselves. "I always tried to make it painless. I didn't like...I don't like the torture. It never sat right with me. It was always quick, and painless," he confessed quietly.

Reg scoffed quietly as Edgar continued to speak on his relationship with Sirius, and he shook his head. "I appreciate you can't weigh in, but I doubt Sirius will want to have that conversation with me. Why would he want his little brother hanging around again with all his baggage when he has his wonderful, perfect friends who do no wrong?" he said, a little childishly.

"That is one thing for you to say, sat there at your auror's desk. I appreciate you risk your life on a battlefield...but I have family who will kill me, if this comes out. Friends who won't take this betrayal lying down. This is a significant risk, Mr Bones. I am putting my life in your hands to feed you information...there is very little I am comfortable with now, but I will do it anyways. It may grow easier, but for now...I am betraying all I have ever known," he said quietly, the weight of his decision now settling on his shoulders.

"No names, not yet," he said quite abruptly. He would not betray his friends in such a manner, not so openly. "There will be a raid at the docks in Liverpool this coming Friday, several Death Eaters will be present...if you get there early, you may be able to lay anti-apparition wards when they arrive. Several important members of the muggle parliament are currently under the imperius curse, and are working to bury news of any muggles that go missing," he said, reaching for some parchment and a quill to write their names down. "I'm sure you already are, but keep an eye on the businesses down Knockturn Alley. Illegal artefacts are being sold there that are being used against muggles and mudbloods, and some heirlooms are being transformed into cursed objects...the Black artefact you showed me earlier is one of them."

The more he etched away at the cold exterior that surrounded the youngest Black, Edgar felt that there was hope from the darkness there were having a hard time coming out from. Since the incident with Frank Longbottom and his near death experience, a fuel lit underneath him and he was more determined to shift the scales in their favour. It took one word, genocide, that broke the young wizard and relief washed over him.

He sat there in silence and let Regulus unpack it all, allow him the opportunity to let it off his chest and talk through all that pained him. This only confirmed that the Black's were death eater's, though for now, he wished to keep that information to himself. "I think you knew from the beginning that you were not like them. That what they are doing was wrong and I understand why you would hang on like you did. Family is family, even if they are evil." He paused. "I will say killing from either side is not easy, the idea of taking a life, but sometimes in battle, it's about survival, and you do what needs to be done."

"I cannot speak for your brother on why he left the way he did. That is a conversation the two of you will need to have at some point." There could be tension between the brothers, but he knew Sirius, family was still family, even if they chose the right side a little later in life. "I will keep that in mind." He was not going to argue, them sorting it out was a bonus.

"At this point, with this war that is hanging in the distance, we have all signed our death warrant, it is a matter of what side do you want to be on when the inevitable happens." Edgar knew his position would have many eyes on him, paint him a target, but he was a man that fought for what was right, no matter the cost. "I would not ask you to do anything you were not comfortable with, but all I ask is if you have anything that could help us. We would gain some advantage with having someone on the inside, even for a little while." The last thing he would want was to put Regulus at risk.

"What do you know now? Names?" They could always start with names. "This would allow us to watch them, to know who might come after us." With enough evidence, they could be at least start building a case.

It was shameful, truly, that they'd had to go through such loops to meet up as brothers. To meet in a room booked under another man's name, under heavy warding, and even then to be so suspicious of each other than they couldn't even sit down casually. He knew that Sirius' air of nonchalance was a mask, and he wasn't sure that his brother would ever trust him fully again. Their relationship was broken, potentially beyond repair, but Regulus wanted to at least try. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't try.

Nodding slowly at Sirius words, Regulus swallowed back a lump of emotion in his throat. The words he had practiced were gone as he stared at his brother, fearing that if he fucked this up that he would be lost to him forever. "It won't come as a surprise to you that our parents marched me in front of the Dark Lord as early as they could. They didn't want to risk it. And I wanted to do the right thing, to make them proud. That's all I've ever wanted. To be a good son, to be a good brother. You were gone, so they were all I had left," he said, his gaze falling. "But I was awful at it all. I was having lessons to teach me to be better. For all intents and purposes, there was nothing stopping me. My magic is strong, I have an iron-clad will like a true Black, and I had an outstanding teacher. I could have been like Bellatrix, I know I could. But I had a mental block that was preventing me from casting truly dark magic, because in my heart I knew it was wrong. I knew it. And I can't live like that any more. I can't fight for their cause."

Regulus lifted his gaze, his eyes fixed intently on Sirius. "I'm not sure I believe in your Order. I'm not sure they have a chance at all. But I'm hoping that by providing them with information, it will give the Order an edge. A way in. He's just a man....a very powerful man, but he's just a man. The regime has to be undermined, the Death Eaters...some of them just seek power. If we can prompt some in-fighting, along with disrupting raids and attacks...I don't know, maybe it's a chance." He paused for a moment, stuffing his hands in his pockets to disguise the shake. "I know this doesn't fix anything. I don't expect you to trust me, I don't expect anything from you. I know you have your own life, and I know there's no place in it for me any more. I'm not asking for anything at all. But I wanted you to hear it from me."

Sirius put his hands casually in his pocket, his hand fingering his wand in his pocket. While he leaned against the door, looking every bit the part of a bored and unbothered man, he was alert. He leaned against the door so he could hear everything on the other side, his hand in his pocket so he could whip his wand out at a moment's notice. Some part of him - the part that had been working with the Order for years - thought this might be an ambush. It would be just his look to speak to his brother for the first time in years and end up killed because of it a few days later. He still came though, because despite the estranged years between them he just couldn't believe Regulus would do that to him. He hoped as much anyway.

His face was set, unreadable - a skill they had both learned from all their years in the Black family manor. "Edgar told me something alright," Sirius said with an unamused laugh. "But I want to hear what you have to say." Double agent. Yeah right. Sirius had it in his mind to tell Dumbledore he should keep an eye on Edgar, not entirely sure someone wasn't doing an Unforgivable on him if he was so easily convinced of something so stupid. All that had been proved to Sirius so far was that he was right to think Regulus had followed in Bellatrix's footsteps; the two of them doing the Black family proud as they traipsed after Voldemort.

Knowing that Pandora got truly stuck into her work, Fenrir wondered if there was some benefit to teaching her some additional warding magic. He was sure that her older brother would've taught her well, if her parents hadn't, but the fact he had stumbled across her entirely unprotected...well. Pandora wouldn't turn her nose up at his dirty magic the way that the other pure-bloods did, who would brush off his offer due to his blood and his lack of magical education - as if attending Hogwarts made some of them any better than he.

"Oh darling, I know you like wild beasts," Fenrir murmured lowly, his gaze lazily resting on the woman. "Is that a command, or a request? And will this be business, or pleasure?" he said, attention turning to the object she'd been working on. Fen let Dora pull him closer, noting the look in her eyes that told him she was still focused on magic. "Is there anything I can do to help finish it off?"

Amber hues pulled away from the clock placed on the stone, that looked more like a table, to the direction of Fenrir who was closing the distance between them. That is when she realised that she had not set up her wards to warn her of others close by. She had been too eager to further replicate what happened earlier. That was a mishap on her side.

"Perhaps I like wild." The corners of her mouth turn into a coy smirk. The lack of fear that consumed Pandora would concern others, but for herself, she embraced it to her advantage. "Then you will be mine for the night." She was eager to see if she could get the same reaction she did with Bellatrix with the spells she had manipulated, already twisting the threads to strengthen the new spell. Absentmindedly the witch bridges the gap and reaches for his hand to pull him over to the object. "I wish you could see what I do. It was so close to working earlier. I need this to work. "