Reg Put The Stopper Back In The Bottle Of Dittany, Watching As Caradoc's Skin Started To Knit Itself

There was something to be said about a mental block affecting magic, and Regulus privately wondered how much research had been done on this topic. He had performed unforgivable curses before, and yet the more confused he got about his place in the world, the harder the curses were to cast. He had always been the spare, but he felt that Sirius would've been better at all of this than he was - if only his older brother wasn't a coward who had chosen to leave him behind. It frustrated him that his personal turmoil was having such an effect on his magic, but the deepening frustration was akin to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Regulus had been both the attacker and the victim when it came to the imperio curse, and the peace on Rabastan's face was a feeling that he knew all too well. An all-encompassing peace where he felt like nothing could go wrong. His parents were fast and loose with the use of unforgivables in the home, and Regulus had found himself at the end of his father's wand on more than one occasion. Watching his mentor pirouetting made Regulus snort in amusement, and he knew he'd made the right choice in action. "I think you'd make a wonderful ballerina...we should get you some shoes, and a little tutu," he chuckled, his eyes full of mirth.

Whilst still laughing, Regulus subtly twisted the wand at his side and cast "imperio" once again, hardly giving Rabastan a moment to recover. This time he put all of his effort into willing Rabastan to surrender his wand to Regulus.

Rabastan thought nothing of Regulus's inability. The younger wizard was capable and keen. He had no doubt that he would master his challenges soon enough, and he understood that personal circumstances could affect one's efficiency. He did not approve of permitting emotions to cloud efforts, but not everyone could discard them as stoically as himself.

The spell washed over him. Sweet ecstasy pervaded his mind with the type of addictive peace that could be oh-so tempting to indulge. This curse brought no pain, but its potency should not be underestimated. There were worse things than agony. The Imperius was like a siren's call, summoning its victim to their untimely demise with nothing but exquisite calm. It felt almost like a warmth and he did not resist, having no desire to throw the spell aside. He had wanted to see what Regulus could do, so his mind was open and his heart felt freely.

Executing the pirouettes with a skill he definitely did not normally possess, he suddenly snorted, disturbing the spell by thinking of how ridiculous he must have appeared. It broke the curse, and for a moment he wobbled one one leg, losing all of his non-existing balletic expertise while loudly laughing.

"I'm sorry, Regulus," he wheezed, straightening up and staring at the other wizard. "That was very good, but I suddenly realised how stupid I must look."

Regulus had shown Caradoc more of his true self than he'd shown to anyone else in years - maybe even since Sirius left. He'd been able to show Caradoc his love of the muggle way of cooking, and hadn't had to pretend that the food he was serving had been made by a house elf. He'd shown Caradoc some of the gentleness that he thought had been left behind in the halls of Hogwarts along with the ghosts, and it had softened him. Caradoc had managed to break down his cold exterior, and with the slow removal of the bricks that Regulus had built around himself, the more uncomfortable he'd grown with his position in the war.

Leaning comfortably into his embrace, Reg smacked a kiss against Caradoc's cheek. "I'm sorry it's been so long...it's been kind of a wild time since I last saw you. I guess I've got a lot to say, and I definitely couldn't say it in a letter," he said, his voice taking on a tinge of nervousness. He wasn't entirely sure how Caradoc was going to take his news, but he wanted to be open and honest. "How nasty, my dear? I could never do your job...I seem to be better at setting curses off than breaking them," Reg said, thinking back to a recent mission where he accidentally tripped a curse because he was distracted.

As they settled onto the couch, Reg flicked his wand towards a pot of cinnamon tea that he'd made earlier and warmed it before charming it to pour two cups. The fire was roaring in the fireplace, and the world outside seemed to fade away as it always did when he was with Caradoc. "I won't keep you wondering too much longer. I've got a lot to tell you."

Caradoc immediately relaxed as Regulus’s arms wrapped around his waist, closing his eyes for a second. He always felt safer here, even more safe than his own home, because of the protective wards Regulus had. Plus, he knew that if this was bad news, Regulus wouldn’t have embraced him so warmly. It reminded Caradoc of how special this was, that he got to experience and see the soft side of his . . . Boyfriend? He wasn’t really sure what the label was, but it didn’t matter. They were together and they both knew it, that was enough.

He accepted the kiss with a smile, wrapping his arms around Regulus’s neck. “Hi. I missed you too. Receiving your owl was definitely a nice surprise. I didn’t want to risk my letter being compromised if I replied, so I came here as soon as possible. Just returned from a job this morning, had to deal with a nasty curse,” he replied, rambling on a bit. He was trying not to let it show how eager he was to hear this news. Caradoc had tried to speculate on what it might be, but couldn’t decide on a good guess.

Figuring that they should settle in, Caradoc took Regulus’s hand and wandered over to the couch, sitting down on it. He had dressed comfortably, with a snug jumper and jeans on.

If there was any apprehension running through his veins about the evening's upcoming events, Regulus did his best to banish them long before he apparated into the forest clearing. It had been drummed into him at a young age that anything other than blatant confidence was weakness, and weakness was to be punished. Indeed, when he turned around to face Rabastan, there was no hint of the complicated mess going on inside Regulus' brain to be seen. He nodded curtly at his mentor, before gesturing around the clearing. "Have you set protective enchantments around the area?" Reg asked, hardly waiting for a response before he began muttering spells beneath his breath. Whilst Regulus was fairly confident that they could take a few aurors between them, it would do no good for their cover if they were to be found. "Thanks for agreeing to help today...I'm not...well, I'm not the best at unforgivables," he said, his tone almost sheepish. @r-lestrcnge

At the end of it all the fundamental truth was that Fenrir would burn the rest of the world to keep Magnus and his extended family safe. He was grateful that almost everyone he cared about was within his pack where he could ensure their safety, and though this thing between himself and Pandora was still new he would protect her the same way he would protect any member of his pack. Holding her a little tighter, Fenrir made a noise of approval, brushing a kiss to her temple. "We can speak of my mother sometime, of her warmth and her joy. Not tonight...but Freya Greyback deserves to be remembered warmly."

"You never need to cook when I'm about," Fenrir assured her. It was a pure-blooded thing, he assumed, that they relied entirely on elves and refused to learn basic cooking skills themselves. Fenrir's years in the pack where he barely lifted a wand had honed his skills, both basic survival cooking and some of the finer aspects simply because he could. "I want to take you away somewhere. Somewhere that's just for us. Meet me here at dinner on New Years Eve, and we'll eat here and then head away."

Pandora truly believed that Fenrir would give his son the love that he never got from his father, a love she was certain her parents did not hold enough like the man in front of her did for his child. She showed a virtue that was important to the witch and she was certain that was one of the many things that captivated her. "Then we shall never speak of him again, because his memory will not longer live on." She would never bring up his name again.

A soft smile lingers on her lips, pleased that he appreciated her gift and she felt light knowing that she could protect them both in a way they needed. "The necklace is beautiful. I will treasure it always."

She let out a sigh of relief when Fenrir said he would do the cooking. "You really saved me there." There was a comfort that came with his touch, returning back to her position of laying beside him on the couch. "I would love to spend new years eve with you. I don't care where we go, or we can stay there. I want to spend it with you."

"If you needed the whole stock, and you were here before me, then that's your right," Regulus said with a shrug. The whole thing seemed quite simple to him - he wasn't sure why it was so complicated for everyone else to understand. "I'm fairly well known for being a bit of a grump, Longbottom. Politeness to others is something I have to think quite hard about."

"Oh, I know the owner is avoiding me. Perhaps I should enter next time under a disillusionment charm, or indeed under some other disguise."

"But what if I had needed the stock that was there?" Frank asked, enjoying this debate. Regulus structured his arguments well and speaking with him wasn't nearly as frustrating as talking to Bellatrix. "Perhaps you ought to start asserting your boundaries as the customer there first. Just, you know, politely."

He hummed and glanced over at the counter where the owner seemed to have disappeared, just as Regulus said. "I think the owner's avoiding you. You'll have to take them by surprise."

I've become so numb, I can't feel you there, Become so tired, so much more aware. I'm becoming this, all I want to do, Is be more like me and be less like you.

@battle-scvrs

Regulus glanced back at Frank's basket again before plucking some ginger from the shelf and dropping it into the other man's basket. "I hear ginger's quite helpful for warding off sickness. Make her some teas or something," he offered, recalling from an advanced potions book he'd read a few years back. "Nothing like a screaming mandrake to ward off potential burglars," he said with a small smile, before the smile quickly vanished. "I think it might be too late to stop the passage of time...maybe I can study it though, at the ministry. See what I can do."

"It's gotta be a fake moustache...gotta commit, y'know. It can't be Regulus Black's shitty moustache. Maybe I should use a hair growth potion."

"Thanks," Frank said, sorting the ingredients to make sure he'd have enough for the few other things he had to pick up. "Now I'm definitely picking you up some other ingredients when I come back. I might plant a few for our apartment, they're good for security as well. Then I won't have to buy as many. Tell time to give you a break, you're too young for it to do so much damage."

He laughed before he could help himself, smothering his smile when the shopkeeper gave them both a confused look. "Well future Albert, it will be a pleasure to meet your mustachioed future self."

Sighing longingly at Nick's words, Cassie thought that perhaps she was long overdue a proper vacation. Even when she went away, she still seemed to end up bombarded with owls asking for advice. Perhaps if she went international that was less likely to occur. "I don't want to dash your dreams, Nick, but I'm a perpetually busy healer. I rarely have time to get up to anything exciting. I can tell you some of the most exciting wounds I've healed recently if you want."

"Blue seas and cloudless skies. It was the anti-Britain." Nick said with a sigh. He did miss the views, even if the company here was much better. Clinking his glass against hers he took a sip and gave her a look over. "What did I miss, then? Surely you've done something exciting. Emir was a bore when I asked him."

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET AS PAUL ATREIDES Dune: Part Two dir. Denis Villeneuve

Her response was even more confusing than the initial statement, and Regulus continued staring with his jaw agape. He truly couldn't understand Greta's world view. "You are one of the most baffling women I have ever met. If I never had to talk to anyone ever again in public, I would not mind it one bit."

"Of course I do. I love catching up with friends or meeting new people. And sometimes other people are in the shops for the same things you are and can give you advice or their opinion on something. It's incredibly helpful." Greta was a people person through and through, she had no problem walking up to someone and starting a conversation. Not talking to anyone all day would make her feel extremely lonely.