Poly-Marauders Torture Hell

[rab]

TIMELINE: 2 mo after Find Out Pregs. Relatively soon after getting Remus to return from being a TRASH HUSBAND. Bun In Oven about 3mo along.

Regulus finds out about the plan before he knows he's even supposed to be involved. He finds out when he overhears Bellatrix talking about it and his blood runs cold. He slips away quiet and hidden to send off a panicked owl with what information he can give without being incriminated.

S.

Do not go home tonight. B going there. Will be V. BAD. Safe elsewhere.

R.

Each emphasized word is underlined twice.

He barely gets it sent off and goes back among the others when Bellatrix slings an arm around his shoulder and asks him if he's excited to go on the mission. He forces a smile at her, but he feels like he's going to vomit. It's easy to get there though, easy to get to the flat with Bellatrix's...methods. They're left waiting for Sirius to return home and Regulus is only barely not shaking. Bellatrix is draped over an armchair like this is a social call, leg hanging over the arm of it. Regulus is standing nervously behind it and looking at the door every so often.

"You know he's not going to change his mind," said soft. They're not wearing their masks tonight.

There's a silence before Bellatrix's voice slithers out from her perch where he can't see her. Her knife smile is in his mind. "That's not the point, darling cousin."

(Regulus isn't religious, obviously, but what he does now is something very like praying.)

WARNINGS: torture, violence, Mean Things Being Said, Bellatrix Lestrange.

Comments

I LOVE PAIN

[effingsirius]

Sirius' mind is not necessarily on his personal safety, at the moment. It's dangerous, with a war on, but he's got a pregnant girlfriend and a werewolf boyfriend lost and now returned and two other partners in their own levels of panic. It's distracting.

It's got him careless.

So he isn't as sharp about checking the wards as he should be, when he gets home. He isn't looking out for any signs he isn't alone when he opens the door.

Isn't at all thinking to scan the room or properly turn on the lights before he settles properly into the flat and locks the door behind him.

All of them are mistakes. Mad-Eye Moody would probably be furious with him, if he'd known.

Too late to fix it now, though.

DO U WANNA STEAL A HORCRUX

[rab]

TIMELINE: 1 1/2 mo after torture thread. Long enough for Sirius to heal. Lily Preg 4 1/2 mo. No prophecy just yet so Potters not in hiding.

Regulus isn't sure when his vindictive anger has turned into a real plan, but it has over the past few weeks. Kreacher is doing better but he'll never be the same - Regulus wonders if the same will happen to him. He knows what to do though. He creates a replica of Salazar Slytherin's locket and folds a note into it cleanly, sealing it waterproof afterward. He smiles grimly at it and leaves it at home when he goes to meetings. He has to wait for the right time. There's another couple of weeks' preparation afterward, though it's for his new job spying on the Order.

(He has to be able to withstand torture, they say, as though the Order are the ones that torture people for information. It's fine. He can take it. They don't break him. It leaves them satisfied with his skill. Will make the Order believe he's defected, they say. Regulus wonders if they realize they're not being consistent with their reasoning.)

Finally, finally, he's meant to be sent off on his first mission to them. It's harrowing to think about what he's really going to do, but Bellatrix kisses his cheeks and tells him he'll be wonderful and he manages to smile at her, knife-like and smug. If they think he disappeared on the job, it means they won't suspect him of doing anything wrong. They won't go after his family. All right. That night he gathers what he needs, which isn't much. The locket, himself, Kreacher. It's enough.

He almost laughs aloud when he's meant to cut himself to pass wards. What a smug fucking bastard, he thinks, not for the first time, slicing open his palm jagged and raw. It hurts, but he's used to that. He's practically in a maelstrom of worry as they progress, Kreacher leading the way. It's only when they've ridden the small boat all the way to the center - to the potion - that Regulus comes back to reality, staring down at it. Right. He has to do this. Kreacher knows what to do. Make sure Regulus drinks it all no matter what, then switch the Horcrux with the fake locket. Then leave him there to die and go destroy the real one. It's a simple line of reasoning to follow. He starts drinking the potion on his own, dipping the goblet in and bringing it to his lips, hands shaking.

His entire body feels as though it is on fire.

Every nerve in his body is singing in desperate pain, feeling in equal parts burned away and raw - maybe they are both, he doesn't know. He manages to get through half of the potion before Kreacher has to help him, sitting on the ground as the Elf pours more of it down his throat, crying himself. Regulus can't see - what he can see is the way everything terrible he's ever done in his life is played back behind his eyes. Joining the Death Eaters, hurting people, not being able to save Sirius. He's going to die but he deserves it for everything terrible he's done, doesn't mind it because he can finally do some good--

--Kreacher is already switching the lockets when something slices through the torturous haze. Something he hasn't accounted for.

They don't know how to destroy it. Kreacher doesn't.

"Kreacher," he gasps out, desperately - "take--to Dumbledore." It's all he can get out before the thirst consumes him utterly and he crawls toward the water. By the time Kreacher finishes deciding whether Regulus means the locket or himself he's being dragged into the water and there's a yell of alarm, a small hand grabbing him, and a loud crack--

Side-along Apparition with a House Elf hurts more than it does with people. Or maybe it just does because every part of him is dying. But the thing about House Elf magic is it ignores the wards of Wizards and Kreacher is able to take him directly to Dumbledore's office inside Hogwarts, soaking wet and sobbing and laying at his feet bleeding and broken. Even Dumbledore doesn't know what to do with him but Kreacher explains and he can help, settling the younger Black brother in hiding and tending him until he's able to travel.

It takes days, but finally he's well enough to be moved. There's permanent damage to his right leg and he'll never walk without a cane - his nerves really were being singed away - and he's pale and wan and sunken but he's stable and that's all they can ask for right now. Dumbledore chooses where to take him carefully before bringing him along to an Order safe house, pausing outside before sweeping in. It's the house that Sirius is currently at, naturally.

Regulus inhales sharply because he never expected to be here. Never expected to be alive. Never expected to be forced to face Sirius again, to account for his failures with a man that surely hates him. He stands rail straight and resolute in the entry even though he's gripping so tightly to the head of his cane that his knuckles are white. It's a little funny maybe, that he looks well put-together even while so clearly ill.

Finally, Dumbledore speaks, booming as he ever does when he's calling for attention. "Mister Black, if you would come here and assist with our newest ward? I'm afraid I can't stay long."

He's not talking to Regulus.

ONE-SHOT AU: WHAT IF

[rab]

Regulus had done his best. He really, truly had. He'd tried to save Sirius from getting tortured at Bellatrix's hands but he'd just made it worse, in the end. He'd tried to keep his brother coherent too, but Bellatrix had made sure to give Sirius a concussion before they had to leave. A bad one. The sound his head makes is sickening.

He's shaking. Bellatrix leaves first but he doesn't have the time to do anything constructive. He flicks his wand to cast the strongest numbing charm he knows on Sirius to dull the pain, whispers an "I'm sorry," and leaves.

(Cruciatus, Imperius, broken bones, a concussion.)

He finds out that Sirius is in St. Mungo's later and he'd known it would be that way but his heart sinks anyway. He waits until he can get away without fear of being caught and sneaks-bribes-slithers to his brother's room, barely even breathing as he pushes open the door carefully. He just wants to check. He needs to see he's alive. Needs to know he's going to be (physically) all right.

He needs a lot of things.