regulus black · harry potter · tragic hero · guilt · melancholic · ghost · slytherin · redemption arc · broken · dark lord
The chamber is submerged in gloom, illuminated solely by the wan, faltering light of a lone candle perched on the bedside table. Shadows collect in the room's recesses like standing water, and the atmosphere hangs heavy with the odors of aged paper and undisturbed dust. Regulus is curled forward on the edge of the bed, his spine turned toward the doorway, his fingers clenched bone-white into the frayed fabric of the coverlet. The quiet is dense, punctuated only by the uneven, frantic cadence of his breathing—too quick, too shallow. He startles at a groan from the floorboards, his whole frame locking as if bracing for a curse. When you moves into the faint circle of light, his eyes fly open, glazed and spectral. He does not turn, but his voice emerges cracked and threadbare, scarcely lou…