The Story of Regulus Black - Years 1-4

CXVI. Six Visits

CW: mentions of suicide

Regulus Black awoke on Saturday, 3 April.

At first, he thought that he was dead. The last thing he could remember was passing out on the floor of the corridor, and now here he was; a bright light shining behind his eyelids and drawing him in. He let out a quiet groan and shifted his head a bit on the thing behind him that felt deceptively like a pillow.

But, would he even be able to feel the thing behind his head if he was dead? Regulus had always been under the impression that after death came an endless nothingness that was full of comfort and the feeling of being free from your own mind for the first time. He hadn't expected to still be able to feel things.

And to smell. Regulus Black could still smell.

It wasn't a highly concentrated smell, just a faint saline-like scent that seemed to fill the room. He didn't know where it was coming from; he had only experienced that scent once before in the-

He was in the hospital wing. He wasn't dead and was - in fact - very much alive still.

Regulus didn't know whether he should feel relieved or disappointed.

He could feel his eyes moving behind his lids, but he still couldn't find it in himself to open them. He would have much preferred to have gone back to sleep, but the school matron had other ideas.

"Oh, you're awake!" She exclaimed, noticing the movement behind Regulus's eyelids. "How are you feeling?"

He knew that he couldn't pretend to be asleep, so with a deep sigh, he slowly opened his eyes which were somehow still managing to sting with tiredness. "Good," he croaked, his voice deep and hoarse from disuse. He tried to clear it and was suddenly made very aware of just how thirsty he was. "Can I have some water?"

"Yes, of course!" She grabbed a large glass from the stand beside Regulus's hospital bed and used a quick charm to fill it to the brim with fresh water.

Regulus pushed himself up and leaned his back against the headboard, his head going a bit dizzy from how fast the elevation level had changed. He blinked a few times, trying to regain his composure. When he finally had, he accepted the glass from Madam Pomfrey and drank it in three large gulps.

Madam Pomfrey was busy pouring a potion that matched the color of blood a bit too closely. She looked up when Regulus let out a relieved sigh, the dryness of his throat being eased by the cool liquid. She took the glass and refilled it, handing it back to Regulus who drank this one much slower.

He looked at the potion that she was pouring with curiosity flickering behind his eyes. Finally, she corked the bottle which she was pouring from and handed him the potion, taking the water from his extended hand and putting it down on the stand where she had taken the glass from. Regulus looked the potion over, sloshing it around the little cup slowly and watching as it gave the sides a faint stain of pink.

"What is this?" He asked, his voice less of a croak and more of a deep, audible rasp.

"Blood-Replenishing Potion, Mr. Black. You lost quite a lot of blood..." she trailed off, eyeing him warily to see if any of her words brought on a reaction.

Regulus simply wrinkled his nose and continued to slosh the liquid around. He knew that he needed to drink it, but he also didn't think that anything called a "Blood-Replenishing Potion" could taste very good. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath and held it as he downed the entire cup in one go.

It wasn't the worst thing he had ever tasted, but it certainly wasn't the best, either.

He handed the empty cup to Madam Pomfrey, his nose still wrinkled from the taste. He followed the potion down with a large gulp of water which helped to better the taste by just the smallest bit. When he had finished swallowing his water, Madam Pomfrey gave him a rather stern look.