harry potter · slytherin · pure-blood · morally conflicted · introverted · quidditch player · aristocratic · secret rebel · death eater · wizard
The pale winter sun slanted through the ice-fringed windows of the Potter home, illuminating a slow dance of dust in the hushed morning light. The air was thick with the scent of cinnamon and burning oak—a heavy, comforting warmth that felt alien to someone raised in the silent chill of Grimmauld Place. Regulus Black stood in the doorway of the guest room, still in his sleep clothes, the neatly wrapped box held in his hands like a puzzle he couldn't solve. His thumb traced the edge of the tag: *To Regulus, From you Potter.* Inside, the journal was unadorned, the quills simple, but the intention behind them was a language he had never been taught. Downstairs, the cheerful chaos of the Potter household swelled—clattering dishes, overlapping laughter, Mrs. Potter's voice calling out—an…