the_noble_black | oo1. [Accidental Video]

[The video feed clicks on with a wet, sopping sound. The sound of waterlogged fabric slipping along itself. There's a resounding thud as the figure crashed to the floor. It's hard to see, at first- whirling, obscuring robes, collapsing in on itself, water flung off of fabric and skin and blurring the camera.

Black, waterlogged hair, clinging to soft, pale cheeks. Gray eyes, visible just for a moment, before the boy convulses on his hands and knees, retching, emptying murky water from his mouth, his throat, his lungs. The water tinges pink; blood stains at his lips. He trembles, shakes, screams, and the weight of his wet cloak overpowers him, drags him down into the ground his nails scratching bloody marks into the floor as if he's still drowning. There's only a flash of his left forearm, but the traces of a tattoo should be burned enough into the memory of anyone who cares to recognize it.

But this isn't about Regulus Black being a Death Eater, it's about Regulus Black being dead.

Or- close enough, anyway.

The feed goes black after another long moment]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

snarkypotions

_{[He had seen the effects off the poison with his very eyes, seen how it had reduced Dumbledore from the powerful wizard that he was to the weak, old man slumped against the wall in an effort to remain upright. It's not a pleasant memory, it's a memory he wishes never existed, and yet, tonight...]}

One would think you'd have had enough water as it is, Regulus.

[Sardonic, dry, almost humorous even if this wasn't Snape. But he squats down next to the boy, gripping the front of those water-logged robes and pulling him over so that he is supporting him in a sitting position. Conjuring a cup, he fills it with clear water from his wand before tipping it down Regulus' throat with one hand and running diagnostic spells with the other, his voice a low murmur of spells.]

From:

the-noble-black.livejournal.com

[Regulus drinks like he wasn't just drowning, thirst as if he'd gone for weeks without water. Every few gulps it goes down wrong and he chokes it up, only pausing to take quick gasps of breath.

There's no mortal injury on him- bruises around his ankles and ribs where they held him down, bleeding scrapes on his palms and arms from where they scratched him. The worst of the damage was internal, his waterlogged and bleeding lungs, raw and bleeding throat. He's still under the effects of the potion, but with time, it seems to be fading just slightly.

Regulus is trembling though, freezing in his ice cold robes, his lips practically blue from the hypoxia and chill.]

From:

snarkypotions

_{[There's a sound of disapproval every time Regulus coughs some of the water back out, but Snape is patient enough to manage to get all of it down Regulus before setting the cup to the side in order to get his potions pouch out. He's had the time to think about this in the time here, time to wonder what might have happened had the Headmaster trusted him enough to bring him along on his hunts for the Horcruxes. He's wondered, more than once, what could have been had he been with Dumbledore and got to the curse from the ring earlier, how things might have turned out if he had been there to undo the weakening effects of the potion before the man had returned to the trap waiting for him at the top of the Astronomy Tower.

The conclusions are all the same... Albus Dumbledore might still be alive.

So the potion he draws out is one that has been specially crafted to combat the particular one that Regulus drank, and he slowly pours it down his old schoolmate's throat as he dries the robes and casts a warming charm.]}

From:

the-noble-black.livejournal.com

[The warmth and the cure works its wonders almost instantly, and a trickle of life ebbs back into Regulus' cheeks, the color slowly seeping back into his skin, the brightness behind his eyes. He'd been on the brink of- not quite death, but hypothermia at the very least, though pneumonia was still entirely possible, especially with traces of the dirty water still in his lungs. Not much hope of helping with that at this point though.

He sucks in a deep breath like he's as greedy for air as he'd been for water just a few moments ago, his eyes opening wide, sitting up on his own as his heart gives a mighty few beats, jumpstarted by the potion, the sudden warmth.]

Severus-

[He coughs, but it's not as wet or deep as it had been before. He's not completely better, but he's come a long way.

There's a lot of things he wants to ask right now, but the confusion over his situation dominates everything, and he can't quite figure out how to ask the questions he's thinking. So he just stays silent, bright gray eyes watching his old ally, in hopes that at least he would start explaining.]

From:

snarkypotions

_{[The questions can wait, the water still in his lungs and the bleeding can not. So Snape is completely ignoring those gray eyes in favor of shoving another potion in Regulus' face.]}

Drink before you mangle my name even more.

_{[Because you sound like shit, Reg. And this whole coughing up blood thing? Not pleasant. Should also help with the fingernail thing.]}

From:

the-noble-black.livejournal.com

[Hey man, we can't be pretty all the time okay.

Regulus nods and drinks the second potion- he has second thoughts, of course he does, but he doesn't really have a second choice. He was dead without Snape's help (though wasn't he dead anyway?). And before he could go down the slippery slope of thinking that this is all some strange hallucinogenic spell of Voldemort's, the potion hits the back of his throat, and he sighs audibly in relief as the flesh starts to wind itself back together.]

From:

snarkypotions

_{[Once he's ran a second diagnostic and is satisfied with the results, Snape is moving out of the way and giving Regulus the most unimpressed look ever.]}

You're an idiot.

From:

the-noble-black.livejournal.com

[He looks back toward Snape for a long moment, his voice sounding much better- still weak, but not pathetic.]

And you didn't age well.

From:

snarkypotions

That should hardly be a surprise.

_{[He's not the pretty/good looking/vain one here.]}

From:

the-noble-black.livejournal.com

[Slowly, Reg struggles to his feet, using the wall for support.]

You really don't have any grounds to call me an idiot, you know.

From:

snarkypotions

I have plenty of grounds.

_{[He saw your death. Death by Inferi. Really?]}

From:

the-noble-black.livejournal.com

Tell me what's going on here.

[Cut the chitchat, he's fucking confused.]

From:

snarkypotions

You forgot the 'please'.

_{[But he continues anyway.]}

It's an alternate dimension by the name of Adstringendum. A compression of multiple worlds and timelines due to the brilliant mistakes of some Muggle scientists.

From:

the-noble-black.livejournal.com

[He raises an eyebrow.]

Now tell me the truth.

From:

snarkypotions

_{[The eyebrow loses a little something after the whole drowning and almost dying bit.

Have an eyebrow back. This is the truth, sadly.]}

From:

the-noble-black.livejournal.com

Right.

[He tries to breathe a bit.]

Harry Potter. Who's he?

From:

snarkypotions

_{[Immediate annoyance. Or rather, further annoyance.]}

Guess.

From:

the-noble-black.livejournal.com

And here I was hoping someone would get around to killing Potter before he reproduced.

[Dryly.]

From:

snarkypotions

A year too late, unfortunately.

From:

the-noble-black.livejournal.com

-oh.

[He doesn't know what to think about that.]

...my brother?

From:

snarkypotions

Did not reproduce, thankfully. Azkaban may have interfered with those plans had he ever made them.

_{[Not to mention the whole dying bit about fourteen years later.]}

From:

the-noble-black.livejournal.com

Azkaban.

[He goes quiet for a moment, thinking.]

Good. He needed it.

[It's meant to sound coldhearted, and a small part of it probably is. But Regulus, for all he disliked his brother, would rather have a living one than a dead one. And if Azkaban and Hogwarts were the only two places Voldemort couldn't reach, then that was where his brother needed to be so he couldn't do something stupid and get himself killed.]