Re: Remus - Regulus
"That's quite all right," Remus chuckled, throwing his hands up in surrender with an exaggerated shudder. "You've just provided me enough mental images with those few words to give me nightmares for weeks!"
Following Regulus' gaze, Remus nodded. "He does. I've never seen him this happy, or this settled. Unconventional as it may be, they're good for each other." He breathed out a soft huff of air. Padfoot really was happy, he and James suited each other -- which left Remus odd bachelor out amoung the couples.
"Honestly, I don't think I'd want immortality, myself. One lifetime is hard enough to navigate, let alone hundreds spent either watching all those cared about grow old and pass on without me, or never getting close to anyone to avoid that pain." Remus shook his head. "All questions of power aside, that's not a life."
When Regulus took his hand, Remus squeezed the one in his without thinking. "My self-preservation and learned behaviour started the moment I woke up in St. Mungo's to hear the Healers tell my parents it would have been kinder to let me die than grow up to be a monster.
"Magic isn't the only way to darken a soul. It's just faster than some. We went through the same war, Regulus. Then I spent seven years wandering through some of the worst parts of Europe looking for the gods know what. I've hurt others. I've taken lives. And a part of me has most certainly enjoyed it, no matter how much I never wanted to do it. Maybe it's not the same, but it's enough to understand at least a little."