𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗜𝗜𝗜 ━━ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗛 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘
101. an end of a dynasty

( song for the chapter:
bigger than the whole sky — taylor swift)

MINISTRY OF MAGIC
october, 1979

          𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗘𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗪𝗘𝗔𝗥 𝗚𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗦, 𝗕𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗡 𝗔𝗧 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬 𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗛. Raven gloves, black leather trench coat, leather books, black satin shirt accompanied with wide-legged, loose trousers. The only expanse of colour on her attire was the silver belt-buckle enclosed on her waist.

      Whenever she would smudge ink on her attire, it would simply melt into the black fabric. On this unfortunate afternoon, she had been sitting in her mildly decorated office and awaited for Kai's arrival with much annoyance. 

      Kai was Scarlet's secretary, he was a fresh Hogwarts graduate with little focus and big dreams. His main job around the office was to organise documents and letters, schedule appointments and annoy the living hell out of Scarlet on a daily basis.

After the fourth tap on the tiny bell on Scarlet's black walnut table which is used to summon the young boy, Kai finally peeked his head by the door, a goofy grin sprouted on his lips. "Hello there."

Scarlet squinted her eyes, "Where is Michelle and Donna's team?" She raised a hand in frustration, "we're already short-staffed and half of my people are somehow on missions I don't know abut. Go find out for me."

"They are..." Kai looked through some of the names on a spreadsheet, and lifted his head back up whilst adjusting his thick-framed glasses, "on the Black case."

"The Black case?" Scarlet raised a brow. "Another Black plague scenario within Muggles—?"

"No," he chuckled, taking her words as a joke. Seeing a stern glare rising to his boss' face, his smile was wiped off. "The Black case," he repeated, as though it would make more sense.

Scarlet raised a brow and a mocking look appeared on her face, "I'd prefer it if you tell me today."

Kai straightened his back, "It's meant to be classified but people here like to talk and I eavesdrop; word is, Regulus Black is a Death Eater, except, there is no trace of him."

"Regulus Black is not a Death Eater," said Scarlet, almost defensive.

Kai merely shrugged, "don't ask me — I'm just telling you weekly gossip."

"Thank you," Scarlet sighed.

"Always glad to help, m'lady," he did some sort of salute, touching his forehead with his index and middle and allowing his hand to hang in the air. Scarlet did not understand the motion and rolled her eyes.

Scarlet turned to the pile of work on her desk, and decided she was not in the mood to get through all these work that day. "Kai, why don't you take the evening off? I'll get going now."

"What, are you for real?" Kai raised a brow, a childish grin on his face when Scarlet stood up, shuffled together some paperwork into a large file and shoved it into her purse.

She sighed, "out of my sight before I change my mind." She threw her purse over her shoulder with a little smile, brushing past him.

Kai exclaimed behind her whilst she walked away, "hey! That rhymes!"

BRIDGET HOUSE

      When she arrived back at home, entering the expanse of the front yard covered in freshly organised lawns, two very familiar silhouettes loitering around in the corner in suspicious manners. 

"You know, it's rude to be lurking around someone else's house at this time of the night," she called for them humorously, it was nearing eight o'clock and the two should not be there.

Everest was standing alongside Alastor Moody, the girl's cheeks and nose tinted crimson and she was sobbing. Alastor looked a little sentimental, an expression unusual for the man.

"What happened? Is everyone okay?" Suddenly, she felt alerted, and her heart skipped a beat abruptly. 

"It's... uh—" Everest cut herself off, turning away from the blonde and letting out a loud cry. "I can't, I'm sorry."

"Everest, what happened?" Scarlet pressured more intensely, eyes wide and body filled with adrenaline. "Eve?"

      Alastor was the one to declare the information with grave difficulty. Nobody could admit that they have ever seen the man in such a fragile condition, his usual strong and stern aura fading away. 

      The news.

      The news that made the stars crumble down.

"He's been reported missing for quite some time... you may know." He mumbled.

"Who?" Scarlet asked harshly, yearning for the reveal already, "who are you talking about?"

"Regulus Black is dead, Bridget," said the man gently. Everest let out another cry in the back, and for Scarlet... well, she felt like a mess. As though... none of it made sense,

      Everybody knows war has casualties. She just did not want one of them to be Regulus. Not her Regulus. The full head of black curls that she cherished so dearly. The sweet boy she taught the piano to. The one who would always come to her because he could not tie a tie.

"That's not—I just saw him just the other day, he—" Scarlet felt the air getting trapped in her lungs. She had yet to process and believe the words.

      Out of nowhere, as though a switch flipped in her mind, the realisation sank.

Alastor saw her expression was no longer empty and vacant. It was pinched with distress, brimming with a sadness that was irreparable, even for Scarlet Bridget, who was forevermore accused of never feeling anything at all.

      The grief and pain was buried so deep in her vessels, Scarlet was suffocating underneath the wait of her own throbbing torment. 

      No, no, she pleaded in her mind, not expressing the slightest of the enormous affliction she felt, I can't suffer from more loss, please. No.

"There are no trace of him. We failed to track down his last acquaintances, anything left behind that would give us the slightest crew but he vanished. There were talks that he wanted to leave—" As Alastor spoke, Scarlet gasped lightly, a hand flying to her mouth to avoid a sob from escaping. He wanted to leave, as in, he wanted to defy the Dark Lord—? "The best guess is that he was punished for being a dissenter. We have declared him dead, Bridget — and I know how much he meant to the pair of you," he gently pointed a hand between Scarlet and Everest.  

      Regulus Black knew he was going to die. When he came to visit, she should have made him stay until Sirius returned. Perhaps he could have changed his mind. She should've been more careful about his body language—how it felt like a goodbye. She should have listened to her inner instinct and kept an eye on him through the meetings. She should've forgiven him. Should've, should've, should've.

      She walked away, not sparing them another glance, Scarlet walked away with a faint echo of her shoes clicking against the ground. She pressed the key just with enough force into the lock, and stepped inside the house. 

      Sirius liked to make appearance the second he would hear the door unlocking, like a child awaiting their parents' arrival after a long day. After all, out of everyone, Sirius Black knew how to enjoy life, how to portray pure enthusiasm to every little good event.

"Sirius?" Her soft voice rang like alarm bells in his mind, he could see something was terribly wrong, and it hurt his heart to even think about all the possibilities.

"What's wrong? Is everyone okay?" He panicked, "Are you okay?" His eyes instantly roamed around her body, trying to find any sort of wounds or bruises.

"Sirius, love, they're saying... they found out that..." she trailed off, and then blurted it out with tears spilling down her cheeks and voice cracking miserably. "They're saying Regulus is dead."

      Crumpled and in ruins, he stumbled back, it was as though she had struck her across the face.

      Merlin. Death was unrelenting. It swooped it, carved it's scythe through the air, and took without any consideration for those left behind. Scarlet had a deep frown on her face as though she tried to stand strong for him. Endlessly. Staring into the lab's dark abyss through the door that had a view of the front yard, as if Regulus would miraculously materialise unscathed. That he would make it out. Alive, like them.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered with prickling ache. 

"Fucking hell," he muttered breathlessly, running a hand over his face. "He— he's... what happened?" He wondered to himself, eyes brimming with tears, except, he was filled with more rage than agony. "His stupid stubbornness and his hatred — he died hating me."

"That is not true," Scarlet dismissed it — Regulus thought of Sirius every moment of his life. Of course, he did. Sirius was always Regulus' brother, through hardship and silent treatments and disownment. Regulus loved Sirius, even if he could not forgive him for leaving. "He never hated you—"

"Merlin, I should have fixed this sooner, I should've—he hated me." Sirius placed his palms on the counter, leaning his weight on it. "God, I fucked up — I ruined everything."

"He never hated you, love," tears were damp on her cheekbones as she spoke, softly placing a hand on his tensed shoulder, "I swear Reg never hated you." he shoved her arm away almost instantly and she took a step back as he whirled around abruptly. Suddenly alerted. Careful.

"Jesus— Scarlet, will you just shut the fuck up for a second? I know the truth, and I really don't need another one of your lies," Sirius snapped back so cruelly, Scarlet almost stumbled away as though hit with an invisible force. "That's the last thing I need. Leave me."

"Okay," all she said before stepping back again, turning around to leave him alone. The one thing worse than an angry Sirius was grieving and angry Sirius.

Just before she made her way upstairs, the loud, alarming echo of Sirius punching a hole into the wall reached her ears. Instead of going back to check, she ran upstairs with trembling hands and quickened breathing.

OUTSKIRTS OF LONDON
early november

      EVERYBODY WAS THERE. All of Regulus' extended family with the exception of Sirius. The Rosiers, Malfoys, Lestranges, and most of Regulus' acquaintances from Hogwarts.

      The Black family surrounded the empty, lifeless coffin, sobbing and crying. Walburga was kneeling down beside it, an arm draped over it as she cried loudly. Her hair was all tangled, no makeup graced her skin and it was the first time the community had seen such a sight. To Scarlet, it was the most humanly she had ever looked. Orion had been in bed for the past few weeks—too sick to get out. Word is: he is too ill to even talk, he did not react to the news of Regulus' death.

      Druella Black was holding a crestfallen Narcissa in her arms as she wept. Scarlet was standing straight in a formal black dress and heels underneath the November flush that bit her skin. Evan Rosier stood besides her, his jaw clenched and a pinch between his brows. The two friends did not speak at all the entire time, not before or after. 

      The funeral and eulogies went by in a haze—well, only Walburga delivered a tear-filled eulogy. Considering the woman was so utterly disheartened and fragile to the bones from the death of her son, Narcissa was the one to make all the arrangements, and having to bury her little cousin whom she practically raised with all her love and advice, it ripped apart her heart.

      Narcissa was only a year older than Scarlet, and yet she was so much wiser. It put Scarlet's heart to shame at certain times.

      The funeral went by, and Scarlet made her way out the second it ended. She could not be there — her eyes burned and her head hurt from all those sleepless nights. Then came a deep, alarming ache of shame in her heart she could not dispose. 

      Out of nowhere, Scarlet felt a hand on her shoulder. Thin fingers clutching onto her comfortingly and it did not take a genius to figure the hand belonged to Walburga Black. Scarlet turned around slowly, sending her a small nod.

      Just for a mere moment, only for a second, the cold, hesitant touch and lack of ability to form warm words reminded her so much of her mother. She thought if she turned around, she would face her mother, erupting from thin air with unburned skin and soft smile. It felt delusional to think this way. Scarlet has been delusional about a lot of things lately.

      However, as Sirius once said, Walburga and Celeste—despite their differences—once were two sides of the same coin, tied together with a string. Although their outcome in the end was different, there were still parts of their souls that matched each other's—tainted with the haunting houses of Blacks and Bridgets. Celeste managed to escape in the end and it got her killed. Walburga never did but it killed her just the same anyway.

"Scarlet," she whispered, glancing shortly at the coffin and back into the girl's teary eyes.

Scarlet blinked, not knowing what to say. "I'm sorry for your loss," said the girl with sympathy.

Walburga pursed her lips in a gesture to avoid spilling tears. "He loved you, you know... Regulus." Scarlet bit the insides of her cheeks. "He looked up to you, and learned things from you that I couldn't teach him..."

"Because you didn't even try?" She finished the sentence for her.

The woman looked startled, as though she had been shot. "I tried my best to be a good mother... you should know, Scarlet... with everything Celeste had gone through—"

"Don't you dare—" she whispered sternly, "—compare yourself to my mother... my mother would never—" she stopped herself from bringing up the topic that was sensitive to all, hints of Walburga's mental overwhelm and abuse of her sons.

"They were my sons, I loved them," Walburga told her. "I just didn't... my trying wasn't enough."

"It wasn't," Scarlet blurred out. "You did horrible things no one asked you to—"

"I was only trying to helping him."

"What do you want from me, Mrs Black?" Scarlet asked, careful to not raise her voice. "Believe it or not, I find it hard to breathe most of the time through all my guilt — I cannot help you feel better about what you've done."

Walburga looked as though it hurt her to say the next words, as though the reputation she built was hanging low by thread. "Be there for Sirius," Fear must have encapsulated her heart, she could not lose another son — whether he is disowned or not. "He has a short temper and he does not handle grief well— his words shoot to hurt but don't leave him alone for it. Take care of him."

"Like you never did?" Scarlet whispered back venomously. Glancing at her from head to toe, she shook her head and watched as Walburga shut her eyes tightly. Her shoulders relaxed, her eyebrows relaxed. It was as though she was letting everything go; there was no reason to hold onto anything anymore.

      Scarlet was being cruel, she knew it but hatred overpowers sympathy. The woman was destined to be alone, perhaps if she didn't treat her other son as though he were dead, she wouldn't have to live in a house where she has no family — now that Regulus was gone and Orion was on his death-bed.

A sad smile sprouted on Walburga's dull lips, "it's so very strange, is it not?" She wondered aloud, "how both of my boys fell in love with you — I guess I cannot blame them, you are very exceptional."

"I will take care of him," she ended up exhaling sharply. "Of course, I'll look out for him— I... I love him..."

     Walburga's lips curled up just a little. "And he loves you, Scarlet, so much," she said with a confident tone—she tried indicating that she knows Sirius, he is her son after all—she knows his mind. However, Walburga Black also knows how her son is whenever he is upset. Sirius is never only sad, he mixes sadness with rage and it results in the entire world caving in. "Take care of yourself, too."

"Goodbye, Mrs Black," uttered Scarlet, turning away from her and hoping she would never face the woman again. But just before she was out of range of hearing from the woman, her faded, defeated voice whispered:

"Thank you," That was all she could do. Thank Scarlet for showing Sirius the love he deserved. The love he failed to get in his own family.

      To all the other societies, Regulus Black's death was merely the end of the greatest and most ancient English pureblood dynasty—but to Scarlet, it was a death that gave her the pain of losing a piece of her heart.

𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑨 𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑺

of course, I'm not going to brush over either
of their grief. sirius' will be more intense, more
present whilst scarlet's would be more in the back
bcs that's how she treats it, just buries it into the 
back of her mind and I needed to show that