Chapter Text
Fuck he was thirsty. And not the good kind. If only he could have just a sliver of water, but no, Kreacher just wanted him to die. No surprised there honestly. No one loved him, no one would mourn him, no one would miss him. His parents and family would mourn the loss of an heir. Sirius would probably celebrate. Merlin, he hoped and prayed that Sirius would get his message about the rat. Evan was dead. Barty was in hysteria from his grief. He wondered if Pandora would ever hear about his death or if she was still in hiding. His list of regrets honestly outweighed what he was proud of. Maybe if he were dead, he could escape everything. The expectations, the name, the pressure.
He barely heard the pop of Kreacher disapporating when he used the last of his strength to pull himself to the jagged shoreline, ignoring the sharp pain as the stone pierced his skin. Regulus had dirt, blood, and Merlin-knows-what-else covering him but all he could find himself to care about was quenching this fucking thirst. It felt as if his throat was on fire and stabbed over and over with a knife, the only thing that could give him a semblance of relief was fresh, fresh water. That shite would hit so hard right now.
If his parents saw him now; their heir to the most noble and ancient house of Black, covered in filth and his precious blood, crawling on the ground for some fucking water. It felt like decades of just crawling, but he finally made it to the edge of the rocks overlooking the clear water. Finally, some fucking water. Without hesitation, he gingerly reached into the abyss to get a handful of the precious liquid. Right as he felt the water touch his lower lip, he felt a strong force yank his arm into the marine.
Splash! Next thing he knew, he was underwater; his thirst finally quenched. His mind was reeling, trying to piece together exactly what was happening.
“Okay so I’m underwater… a little more than I asked for but sure. I drank a random potion that made me want to kill myself, check. I had Kreacher take the horcux to destroy it, check. I’m under the water… huh why am I still here???” He thought as he tried to wrap his mind around what was happening. “Air. Shite yeah, I gotta breathe. Gotta go up for air.” As he began weakly padding, he noticed a sharp pain pulling at his right ankle and another at his left hip. He glanced around, trying to see what he was caught on, but he was surrounded by darkness wherever he looked. Metaphoric really. He thought dryly.
Another force grabbed at his right arm. Shit. Are there mermaids in here? Wait… Fuck. It’s grindylows. Sweet Salazar I gotta find my wand.
Regulus attempted to summon for his wand wordlessly to no avail. Fuck! Fucking fuck. Okay Reggie boy, you got this. Just going to have to fight them off the muggle way. How fucking ironic. He began to pry at the multiple hands latched tightly to his arms. The hands tightly wound around his hip, ankle, and arm began to dig their sharp claws into deep into his skin. He let out a painful scream, realizing far too late that he was still underwater. His lungs became painfully tight as he attempted a wordless and wandless bubblehead charm, to no avail. “No! No, no, not good. Not good! Fuck!”
He began to thrash around in a panic, water bursting into his lungs and hands tightening further the more he struggled. Suddenly another pair of hands shot for his upper left thigh and another on his right foot. The hands began to multiply around him, completely engulfing him to where his flailing body was barely moving at all. Since when were grindylows this fucking strong?! Salazars balls on a stick, there’s no fucking way I’m dying to a bunch of tiny bloody grindylows. More determined than ever to not allow the little fuckers to be the reason for him to leave this mortal realm, Regulus began to claw back at the hands grappling him. When he felt the hand that was clawing at his right arm, it was larger than a grindylow’s. That’s for fucking sure.
“Fuck, I should’ve paid more attention in magical creatures. There’s no way the Dark Lord got mermaids to guard his horcrux. Wait…Hands. Claws. Strong. It has to be some kind of Dark Creature knowing him… Shite. Inferi.” That had him panicking more. Regulus thrashed as hard as her could to escape their clutches. His lungs were filling with water and his own blood as their claws dug so deep it began to hit his bones. “Bloody hell. I’m going to die aren’t I? This is how it ends for the heir of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. Death by inferus from trying to defy the Dark Lord. Gods I hope Kreacher destroys that fucking locket. Maybe they’ll have a chance to kill the fucker and Sirius can live out his life how he wants. Sirius… I hope he got my letter. I’m sorry brother. I tried. I really did.” With the last of his life, he thought back on all of the many regrets he held so close to his chest. “Live well Sirius. I’ll see you on the other side.”
The next thing he knew, he could breath again. He opened his eyes expecting the darkness that had enveloped him, but instead had to recoil from how bright it was. Fuck me. Why the bloody fuck is it so bright. Gods. He thought. As his eyes began to readjust, he noticed the outline of a rather familiar figure. “Evan?!” Eyesight pain forgotten, Regulus quickly strode over to what appeared to be Evan Rosier.
Regulus gently grabbed for the presumably Evan’s upper arms, and began quietly muttering to mainly himself, “Evan?! Wha- I thought you died?! Where are we?! How are you here?! What’s going-“
Evan (?) chuckled gingerly and cut him off, “Hey Reg. Long time, no see. But I guess that’s for the better, yeah? I’m real curious how your broody arse got here so quickly. Did ya finally follow in your brother’s footsteps and do something reckless? About time, I say”
Regulus just stared at him and began gaping like a fish. His mind was going at top speed with no conclusion in sight.
Evan just gave him a shit-eating grin and sarcastically quipped “What’s wrong Reggie boy? You looked like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Am I-Are we dead?” Regulus whispered as if saying it louder would speak it into existence.
Evan just rolled his eyes and struck him with an exasperated glare, “You know Reg, for the top in our year, I would’ve expected you to have better critical thinking skills than this…Use your broody little brain Black.”
Okay, ouch. Regulus scowled back “Well pardon me for being reluctant to process the fact that I fucking died in a lake of inferi! I doubt you’d have fared better in my predicament.”
Evan took a step away from him and just looked at him like he just told him he got him a date with Julia Wood, Evan’s favorite quidditch chaser from Puddlemere United. “YOU DIED TO WHAT?! Mate, that’s sick! One hell of a way to go, I’d say. Tell me everything!”
“He’s… not serious right now, right?” All Regulus could do was stare at him. He just told him he died in a traumatic way and he’s acting like they were talking about Quidditch. This had to be fake right? Just some insane dream where he died and then saw his deceased best friend all because life thought his pain would be hilarious.
Evan sobered up quickly, “Right. Sorry. You did just die… it’s uh-been a little bit since I had someone to talk to that er -you know- knew me. I mean, that’s good though! Don’t really want my loved ones to die because I’m a little lonely right?” He shot Regulus a weak grin. Regulus could tell he was just faking for him. Evan hated being alone more than anyone, and especially hated being separated from his twin, Pandora. Wherever it is they currently were, if Evan was supposedly left alone here…that would be his own personal hell.
Regulus reached back out and gently grabbed Evan’s hand to give a light, reassuring squeeze “Why don’t you tell me what you’ve been up to since I last saw you, yeah?” He gave Evan a small comforting smile which Evan returned in suit.
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“So, we’re expected to just… stay here in this white void for an eternity?” Regulus drawled out. From what Evan described, it seemed like the afterlife was dreadfully boring, just waiting around until the people you knew appeared.
“Oh! No! Follow me this way! This is just what I like to call ‘the Light Room’. It’s just where we appear and then someone is supposed to guide us to the actual afterlife. It’s kind of like a really non dramatic community. No food since we don’t need to eat so things are kind of weird, fair warning.”
The two began walking aimlessly until suddenly the white room was gone and they were surrounded by fields of flowers and small farm homes with white picket fences. To his right, he could see a shoreline just on the horizon; to his left, mountains right underneath the low afternoon sun. Evan led him a couple homes down to a house with a red roof and a white wooden door. He glanced around what appeared to be the entertainment room. The walls were a blank white slate, the floors were also quite bare with dark wooden tiles to contrast. There was a dark emerald couch and two reclining brown leather chairs on either side.
Regulus looked back at Evan with a raised eyebrow in question which Evan returned with a small smile and gentle reply “No kitchens in the afterlife since it’s just cruel with the whole no food thing. But! As more people we know appear, we can invite them over! No war, no fighting. Just company from what I know. Then again, I haven’t really met anyone yet. Besides you of course.”
Suddenly, there was a gentle chime and a door appeared on the other side of the hallway. “Evan? What was that?” Regulus said with a start.
“Oh!” Evan went over to a leather recliner and sat with his usual grace, “did you hear a chime?” At Regulus’s nod in confirmation, he continued “Ah! You’ve been summoned. That my dear Reg, is when someone you know has entered our world. You were chosen to be their guide like I was to you. No worries mate, just enter the door and bring them back here. I’ll be waiting for you both, don’t want to leave the poor soul just hanging about yeah?”
Regulus could only nod back again. For some reason, he understood even though it made absolutely no sense for him to. Guess his worries disappeared in the afterlife…nice. Within three quick strides, he was back in the Light Room and came face to face with a couple he never thought he would be associated with. At least directly.
“Potter? What the bloody hell are you doing here? And is that Evan’s? What happened?”
The two figures swung around, both with faces of sheer terror. The man, with his bespectacled glasses and usual messy raven hair spoke first “Regulus? Wha-where are we? I thought you were dead? Sirius said you were dead! Are we in some death eater torture chamber? If you want to hurt Lily, you’ll have to go through me!”
Regulus didn’t hesitate to cut him off with a blunt “no, you both are dead. I am dead. We are dead. I’m here to bring you to the afterlife. I can answer your questions there, yeah? It’s a little too bright here for my liking and I’m sure your glasses are emphasizing it more so… that is if glares exist here. Huh, never thought of that-“
The red haired woman cut him off with a quiet whisper which slowly turned into a loud plead “We- we’re dead? No, no. Wait is Harry here?! Please tell me he’s NOT here! He’s just a baby!”
Regulus gave her a sympathetic grimace “I don’t know all who’s here, I was only summoned to bring the two of you. I’m not sure who this Harry is, but I’m going to assume he would’ve appeared either for or with you if he was here.”
This seemed to calm her down marginally as her grip on James’s arm loosened considerably. James looked away from her to Regulus, “Well… let’s go then.” He said with a nod forward and resignation sprawled across his face. As Regulus led them to the house he knew Evan would be in, he turned back over towards them and calmly stated “Listen, I know how you both thought of us when we were alive but… bloody hell this is going to be harder than I thought- the afterlife doesn’t really have the conflicts and worries that the living world had. Just-er- try to keep an open mind when I open the door, yeah?”
With a look of suspicion from James and a sharp nod from Lily, he continued on to enter the home. He gave a warm smile and wave to Evan but paused when he saw there was yet another familiar face in the room. The two abuptly yelled over each other
“DORCAS?! When did you-“
“REG?! You’re here too?! I thought-“
He sprinted over and engulfed her in the tightest hug he’d probably ever given, with her returning the favor with vigor. The two friends began mumbling to each other in heartfelt sobs only to be broken apart with a loud cough. Evan gave an unamused look at the pair and drawled sarcastically “I sure am glad that the two of you missed each other oh so much. Not like I was the one to greet you both first-OH WAIT I WAS!”
The two looked back shamefaced and ushered out quick apologies, leaving a perturbed Evan in their midst. The trio quickly brought in the two other additions to the group and the quintet began exchanging stories of how their life ceased.
And then, Regulus heard it. The chime. He gingerly sat up from his seat, excused himself, and made his way to the door at the end of the hall. The Light Room he had expected never appeared; instead what greeted him was a vast dark room, encapsulated from entirely by sculpted obsidian. He suppressed a grimace as he strode further into the ominous room. At the head of the room sat a large figure cloaked in similarly dark cloth, with only green piercing eyes to illuminate the surrounding area.
He stood there awkwardly amongst the imposing figure, unsure when would be appropriate to ask what exactly it was that he was to do here. Much to his chagrin, the figure rasped “Regulus Arcturus Black. You’ve certainly lived a short life, far too short for what I had originally planned for you. But of course, that wasn’t your doing. If anything, you were attempting to correct the natural order of things.”
“Was I ever this dramatic? Sweet Salazar- wait… originally planned?” Regulus thought.
The figure gave a dry chuckle, or at least an attempt of one, when it continued “Yes my dear child, originally planned. You see, you were supposed to live far longer than what had happened. You, like many others, were taken far too soon because the natural order was disrupted. But unlike them, your destiny is one I can change. You have assisted the fates in correctly the natural order, so we will give you a choice.”
Regulus prided himself throughout his living life for being graceful and eloquent throughout his life, another thing for his parents to be proud of after all. So of course, his response to a figure in the afterlife giving him a choice would be just as eloquent. “Ah—a ch-choice? Assisted? What did I do? What do I do?” He stammered.
Unimpressed, the figure continued “Yes, a choice. Stop making me repeat myself. The fates and myself will allow you to choose but you must stand by your choice, regrets only taint your mind. We will allow you to be reborn to assist the master of death in correcting the natural order or you can continue life here, and this conversation never happened. Choose wisely.”
Wasn’t the choice obvious? Before he could open his mouth to reply, the figure responded “In your living life, you were but a follower. Only in your final moments did you do something that was put into motion by your own violation. It would be in your best interest to continue that path.”
Immediately, Regulus responded confidently “Rebirth. I choose to assist the master of death.” He then hesitated “but-er-who is the master of death? I don’t believe I remember anyone of that magnitude.”
The figure gazed back calculating “You will know in due time. I will allow you to keep your memories from life before and after death so that you may correct the events that occurred. Your magical core will also be the same, as such, express caution. I hope I will not see you in my realm for a significant time.”