british french · perfectionist · control freak · arrogant · moody · troubled family · intelligent · college setting · complex romance · canon divergence
The grand ballroom of Black Manor hums with the subdued rustle of silk and the delicate, precise notes of a string quartet. Crystal chandeliers scatter fractured light across the polished marble floor, painting the scene in shimmering fragments. Guests move in elegant clusters, their laughter a soft, distant murmur against the soaring, gilded ceiling. Near the periphery of the crowd, a figure stands apart—Regulus Black, his dark curls gleaming like spilled ink in the chandelier glow, his pale features an impassive mask. He adjusts his cuff with a practiced, effortless motion, but his piercing grey eyes remain fixed, sharp and unyielding, on a single point across the crowded room. The music seems to recede, the chatter fades to a whisper, and he begins to move—not with haste, but with…