Under Their Wing

A HariPo one-shot

by mew-tsubaki

Note: These characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not me. This little ficlet is for my buddy and Beta, Morghen, who is in love with Regulus Arcturus Black. :) *smirk* Yeah, she can have Reggie as long as I get Riu (Sirius). Anyway, please enjoy this little…I dunno, character sketch? I love English, but I'll just be frank and call it a story. Without further ado, please read, enjoy, and REVIEW! :D

- ^-^3

The preparations were bone-chilling.

Regulus Black squidged his eyes shut as he remembered back to meeting the Dark Lord this past Christmas break. So much for a jolly, "Happy Christmas." Regulus' present from his parents? Their turning over of his soul to pure evil.

Regulus was His.

Yes, he was –at sixteen –the youngest wizard to have ever joined the Death Eaters. But he did not want this.

As Regulus walked the halls with his new mates –Mulciber and Avery –he paled and pushed away his wayward thoughts. He had to be careful about what he thought these days. He had been subjected to an onslaught of Legilimency by the Dark Lord to make sure he was a good candidate to join the ranks. However, as some of the older student Death Eaters knew a little too much Dark Arts, he had to watch his back and guard his mind and make sure that his thoughts could not be penetrated. He did not know yet of what everyone else was capable.

So he trusted only himself. Not Mother or Father, or his cousins Bella or Cissy. And certainly not his former brother Sirius.

No, especially not Sirius. Sirius had abandoned him last year. Sirius had the friends he could go to; he had the people to love, to trust, to cheer him up when he got a bad Potions mark. Regulus had himself. Sirius had the Potter family to indulge him. Regulus had a house-elf named Kreacher.

That was why Regulus was following Mulce and Ave to a secret part of the Slytherin dungeons. He'd been a part of this younger generation of Death Eaters for about a month now, and it was finally time.

They were going to initiate him.

As he'd thought before, the preparations were bone-chilling. He now stood in a dimly lit, dank and damp room. He was starkers under his buttoned-up Slytherin robe and the robe did nothing to keep the chill from his bones. There were sickly, green-flamed candles in the brassieres around him and the ground was that kind of cold that made him wonder if it were also wet. If it were wet, he prayed to Merlin that it was not with blood.

There were footsteps padding quietly on either of his sides. He turned his head this way and that. Though the others –those who'd already been initiated –wore their hoods up, Regulus could still see their faces. Mulce and Ave were on his left and right; there was Rabastan Lestrange, Rosier, Macnair, Rookwood, Yaxley, Carrow and Carrow, Snape, Bellatrix, and Narcissa. Somehow, Bellatrix and Narcissa's fiancée, Malfoy, had slipped into the castle for this little gathering, despite having graduated last year. The idea that they'd return to the school for just a morbid reason… Regulus fought down another shiver.

"Are you ready, Regulus?" Bellatrix asked.

He felt his tongue swell with doubt and guilt. But he knew he could not escape this. If he did… He'd probably be better off dead. He had to prove himself to his new family. As words were lost to him, he nodded. He heard Mulciber and Avery exchange grins over his head.

"Good then." Bella turned to her baby sister. "Cissy, if you'd be so kind."

Narcissa stepped forward and pushed back her hood. "Regulus, you are chosen by the Dark Lord, the one who seeks to purge the sacred bloodlines of wizardry in order to form a utopian world where no magic-caster need be afraid of those weaker than them." Her blue eyes twinkled with a kind of craze near the same level as Bella's. That scared Regulus, as he'd always thought Narcissa more level-headed than that. "Do you promise to uphold his ideals and help him reach that goal?"

This was the moment. Regulus could be weak and back off. He could be weak and die. He could be weak and kowtow to them for the rest of their lives. Or he could be an even worse coward and accept their beliefs –his family's beliefs –and swear himself to a lifetime of murder.

"Regulus," Cissy said darkly. It was obvious by her tone and the others' eyes on him that she did not like waiting for her answer. "I repeat, do you promise to uphold his ideals and help him reach that goal?"

Again, it seemed like an agonizing, torturous eternity. Slowly, Reg nodded his head. There were a few audible breaths of relief.

"Then we welcome you, Regulus Arcturus Black."

He raised his left arm and his robe sleeve fell back, reveal the jet black Dark Mark that was forever carved into his skin and soul. He was now their brother. They were his mentors in the Dark Lord's absence, and he would be forever under their wing.

- ^-^3

Not too shabby, I hope. :D I liked doing this. It was dark, evil, and fun! Maybe I'll write a Reggie story in the future…maybe. ;)

So review! Thanks!

-mew-tsubaki :3

Thanks for Betaing, Morghen! I'm glad I siriusly made your day/night! XD