Title: The Taste of Regret Pairing: Regulus/Barty Crouch Jr. Rating: PG13 Warnings: Character Death Summary: Regulus knows what to do, but he doesn't have to like it. Notes: I hope everyone's day is Spooktacular!
Regulus rose from the bed and looked back at sleeping Barty. It wasn't love - it couldn't ever be love - but he still Apparated away feeling complete and sure of his resolution.
Outside Grimmauld Place, the moon cast dull light on the too-close rooftops and iron fences around nonexistent yards. Regulus took a deep breath of damp London air and went inside to find Kreacher.
***
Staring down at the green liquid before him, Regulus’ senses worked overtime. He could smell the putrefaction of the Inferi lurking just beneath the cave’s lake; feel their ghosts pressing in, making his skin clammy. As much as he treasured Kreacher, who had always given him loyalty and protection, Regulus regretted that his last sounds would be the house elf’s tortured sobs.
Kreacher, Barty, his parents…even Sirius – love had broken the Dark Lord’s sway over him. Regulus was still damned, his very soul bound to a monster, but he knew how to defeat that monster and protect those he loved.
Drink. Drink. He gave his final orders to Kreacher.
As he lifted the poison to his lips, Regulus shifted his jaw, forcing his mouth open to accept it. They put the wrong son in Gryffindor, he thought grimly just before insanity took him.