Marble green irises looked up at the blank ceiling as her eyes fluttered open at last after what seemed like deep sleep. The last thing she remembered was giving in to Tom Riddle after making the deal of sparing his life in exchange for Reg and Esmeralda's.

At first, she was worried that she had woken up in the Leaky Cauldron again due to the repetitive time loop. But the room she found herself in wasn't the dingy old room at the pub nor was it the luxurious room at the Malfoy Manor.

It was the room she had been longing to wake up for a very long time. Reg's room.

Out of instinct, she tilted her head to the side, hoping to see Regulus sound asleep beside her. But the bed was empty and her heart sank. She sat up, looking around to determine where she was.

It was no doubt that she was in Regulus' room, at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. But Regulus himself was nowhere to be seen.

She left the bed and went to check the bathroom, hoping that Reg would be inside. But there was no response when she called out his name.

Somewhat anxious and praying hard that her suspicions were wrong, she opened the bedroom door. An eerie silence met her as there was no one outside.

"Regulus?" She called out yet again, carefully descending the stairs.

Somewhere far off a woman was crying and as she stepped closer to the sound, her heart almost stopped. That was Walburga's voice and the only time she had seen the woman cry was back in the past when Regulus had died.

To think that the woman was crying brought back memories from that terrible time and she froze, not wanting it to be the same as before.

She had made Riddle promise not to kill Regulus but what if he hadn't kept the promise? What if in spite of all she had been through, she had failed to save Regulus?

With a heavy heart, she pushed open the door to Walburga's room and saw her sitting on the bed, clutching a photo frame close to herself. She was crying inconsolably and Orion was trying his best to console her.

But even on his face was the resignation of a father who had lost his precious son forever.

Seeing the sight in front of her made her feet sway and she held onto the doorframe to stop herself from stumbling. However, that slight sound made both the Blacks look up and saw her standing there.

"Eleanor... My dear..." Walburga stood up shakily, surprised to see her awake but definitely not in the state to be glad that she was okay.

The photo frame she was clutching fell to the floor and shattered, ensuing a pained gasp from the woman who bent to pick it up, collecting all the shards even though it cut through her fingers. It was then Eleanor saw that the frame held Reg's photograph and shock made her rooted to the spot.

"Where's Regulus?" Her voice trembled as she asked, dreading the answer that she would receive.

"Sit down, child," Orion had reached out to her, knowing that she wasn't in the state to hear the truth.

She stepped back, her green eyes wide in shock and disbelief "why don't you tell me where he is? He's not... He's... Please tell me that he's alright... Please..."

Walburga's sobs grew louder and the scene that was painted in front of Eleanor at that moment confirmed the worst of her fears.

Regulus was no more.

"No..." She stepped back in horror, hitting the wall and her head spun with the shock of finding out what she had been hoping against.

"Eleanor, you are not well yourself. Please sit down," Orion attempted to calm her down but the man was at a loss of who to look after as both his wife and Eleanor were in a terrible state.

"No..." Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she turned and rushed off, unable to stay there even a second longer. 

She had climbed up the stairs, frantically searching for Regulus through the whole house. She couldn't accept it that even after all the trouble she had gone through in that wretched paradox, she had still failed to stop his death.

"How could he kill him? How dare he?" Her anger knew no bounds and she wanted to rip Voldemort to shreds.

She had sunk down to the ground at the foot of the bed, clutching onto the post so tightly that her knuckles had gone white. It was taking all the will in her not to tear everything to pieces that were in her reach.

But most of all she wanted revenge on that vile backstabbing serpent.

The serpent who had poisoned her life and snatched away everyone she held dear.

***

Esmeralda flinched at the sound of footsteps approaching her cell. She had no idea how many days had passed in her captivity because there was no way to ascertain that.

The dungeons had no source of light and no connection to the outer world. But she felt like a long time had passed since she had been held captive there.

But the deathly silence was broken as the stone gates parted and someone entered. She dared not look up because she knew it would be Lord Voldemort himself.

However, instead of talking to her from the outside, the metal gate blocking the exit from her cell was pushed open and a thud sounded as if someone had been dropped inside.

She had squeezed her eyes shut, drawing herself away into the corner. She wasn't ready to face the torture again but surprisingly no curse was fired at her.

At that, she peeked out but couldn't see much due to the dark. However, she could feel Voldemort's ominous presence but along with it were the sounds of someone else's ragged breaths.

"I thought you would be getting bored alone, Miss Troy," that voice reached her and she squeezed her eyes shut again out of fear, "so I brought you a present."

With that cryptic remark, the gate was locked again and Voldemort left, the sound of footsteps fading at last.

Esmeralda waited to be sure that the Dark wizard had left and then slowly but carefully, she came out of the corner she had retreated to. Someone was sprawled on the cold ground and his breathing was jagged, indicating that he was terribly hurt.

"Elle..." His voice was a rasp as he spoke, hand reaching out towards her silhouette.

It was clear that he couldn't see who she was, all he had heard was Voldemort address her as Miss Troy so he had mistaken her for her younger sister. But it was then the familiarity of the raspy voice struck her and she gasped out in alarm.

"Regulus?" She rushed to his side, turning him over so that she could see him clearly. "Regulus, what happened to you? How...?"

His blue eyes looked up at her, trying to recognize her but failing due to the dim light and his own swirling consciousness. He was very unstable at the moment.

"You're not... Elle...?"

"Esmeralda," she spoke up, taking his wrist to check his fading pulse, "looks like the Dark Lord has a grudge with everyone close to Ellie."

"You're alive...?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry," his voice was fading too and he seemed he would pass out any moment, "I failed..."

"Hey, don't say that," she tried to reassure but she also wanted to know if her sister was safe or not, "do you know where Ellie is? Is she safe? Is she okay?"

His eyes flickered in sadness, "she's at home. Safe but... Not well..."

"Oh dear..."

"I'm sor-" But he couldn't speak further as he ended up coughing and Esmeralda tried her best to help him. The coughing fit seemed to have weakened him further as his eyes fluttered shut and he lost consciousness.

"Regulus, Reg!" She tried to shake him but received no response.

The way things were getting worse with every passing moment was making Esmeralda even more worried for her sister's safety. She had realized that Voldemort had a personal strife with Eleanor and in order to make her pay for it, he was intentionally using the people she loved and cared for.

The thought shook her to the core but as she was trapped and so was Regulus, there was nothing she could do to protect Eleanor.

All she could do was pray that she didn't fall prey to Lord Voldemort's evil schemes. But fate didn't seem to be in their favor and all her prayers were of no use either.

***