Regulus nodded fervently. Whether he was talking about reality or the story he had dreamed up with Kreacher, he could agree with that. "When I came close enough, I saw movement under the surface, and realized that the lake was swarming with Inferi. I backed up, but I had disturbed the water, and it was too late. One of the Inferi grabbed me and dragged me down." Regulus shut his eyes and swallowed again. "My house-elf told me that he searched for me, but he assumed after a time that I had died, and left the place."
The scratching of the quill made the blackness behind his eyelids at least less threatening than the blackness of the lake had been, but when Ms. Ossory stopped writing, the moments before she spoke again seemed interminable. Regulus bit his lip a few times so that he wouldn't throw up on the spot.
"And then what happened?"
"I'm not entirely sure," said Regulus, which was only the truth. "There was a long time when I suppose what I felt wasn't much different from death. There was just darkness and—silence. I drifted, and I didn't feel awake or asleep or alive. I only woke up at all because I could feel something prodding at me. I didn't know it at the time, but a few cousins of mine were performing a major ritual. They called to all members of the Black family for their magical strength, and I gave them mine."
"Then you should have died."
"Believe me, I know that, Ms. Ossory." Regulus opened his eyes and licked his lips. The witch didn't look sympathetic, just watching him. "But I didn't. I've asked a cousin of mine, and he believes that the necromantic magic of the lake and the Inferi might have kept me alive, in a sort of suspended state. But no one knows for sure."
"This cousin of yours knows necromancy?" A sharpness in her voice for the first time.
"Theoretical necromancy only, Ms. Ossory, and some of the books that came into his possession during the war were ones that You-Know-Who commanded him to take." Regulus made a soothing motion with his hand. "I am speaking of Lucius Malfoy."
Ms. Ossory relaxed in a rush. "Of course, of course, I should have known." She wrote down a few more things, while Regulus tried to watch himself inside his head and figure out if he had done well or not. Well enough to fool her, he hoped.
"Do you think you could find this sanctuary again?"
Regulus shook his head. "Not without the help of my house-elf. Of course, if you would like to interview—"
"The Records Archive has better things to do than interview house-elves," said Ms. Ossory, with a sniff that ruffled her nose hairs, and tapped the sheets of parchment she'd been writing on into a neat pile. "Good day, Mr. Black."
Regulus nodded to her and left, meeting Lucius in the corridor. Lucius gave him a faint smile. "It went well?"
"Yes," Regulus said, mindful of passerby and portraits and Listening Charms. "Of course, I couldn't explain the magic that kept me alive and unaging, but I don't know that anyone truly could."
Lucius's eyes sparkled with mirth for a moment before he got control of himself. "Yes, well. I think we have an appointment with the dueling chamber."
Regulus swallowed and nodded. He did want to get better at magic. He wanted to make sure that he could take over the wards of Grimmauld Place from Sirius and get the locket Horcrux back, so that they could destroy it.
But he was finding himself far more appalled by the Malfoys' predilection for Dark Arts than he had ever believed he could be, and he hoped he could get his stomach under control before his practice duel with Lucius this afternoon.
Draco frowned as he watched the school owl that he'd used to send a letter to Mother stoop down towards him. It was over three days since he had sent the letter—using this owl so that Henry wouldn't know Draco was writing to their parents because he was worried about his twin—and this reply had been slow.
Draco offered the owl a piece of bacon as he opened the letter, noting that Mother had sealed it with a raven's head in black wax. Sometimes she did that, when she was feeling her Black heritage more strongly.
Her writing was the same as ever, but the content of the letter wasn't at all what Draco had expected.
Dear son,
I know that you're worried about Henry, but that's only natural after the ritual we performed to save him. The effects of literally risking your soul and magic for your twin are going to linger. That doesn't mean you need to worry all the time! I promise that things will be fine if you let Henry have a little independence and some time to himself.
If you become concerned with more than just general worry, please write to me again. For now, however, I'm preparing a surprise for you and Henry, and I need to concentrate on it.
Love,
Mother.
Draco blinked, and blinked. Then he shook his head and tucked the letter into his robe pocket, reaching for a bowl of blueberries with the other hand. He would write to Father, too, and see if he thought that Mother was acting strange. Draco hadn't expected rambling about surprises and the ritual from her.
Besides, the overprotectiveness from the ritual, which Draco had definitely noticed, and worn off weeks ago. He didn't need to follow Henry everywhere and keep track of him now. But he did need to know that his brother was safe.
"Draco, I wanted to ask you something."
....
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