Madness
Summary: 1st POV (Regulus Black). What is the Black Family Madness, exactly? Don't know exactly where this came from, rating is probably too high. Mention of abuse, death scenes. Spoilers if you haven't read the books. Definition of madness courtesy of dictionary-dot-com

Madness(Mad-nis) noun
1. the state of being mad; insanity.
2. senseless folly: It is sheer madness to speak as you do.
3. frenzy; rage.
4. intense excitement or enthusiasm.

The Black Family Madness. They whisper about it on hushed lips with wary eyes, staring at us. It is infamous, everyone in the magical world knows of it. But what is it? What causes it?

Cause. The orderly, logical explanation. Muggleborns new to our world come in and say it is our history of incest. Perhaps. We do not know, thought it seems unlikely. Almost every member of our family has had it over the years.

No one with the surname or former surname of Black, nor those who know them, have to ask what. It is beguiling, powerful and unmistakable. It lies in wait, poised and still. It is a hunting cat on the prowl, waiting for that helpless moment when it will spring, taking control with a single blast of white-hot rage, bloodlust, pleasure.

We have tried to fight it for years, spent entire futile generations trying to find a cure, a control. If it exists, it hasn't been found yet. Meanwhile, IT sings in our blood like the constant allure of the Dark Arts, swirls in our mind and fogs our senses like the most powerful of drugs.

Madness. It has controlled our family and destiny for too long. It was madness that drove my mother to torture and beat my older brother and I along with our female cousins until we left marks on the thick, luxuriant carpet. Marks that were easy to remove from fabric, but linger on in our eyes, burned into our sight forever.

It was madness that drove me to commit such a half-arsed, Gryffindor plan. Madness that caused me to fight the Inferius so futilely until my lungs and heart finally collapsed from the pressure of tons of water and thin, slick hands.

It was madness that drove my brother to taunt our cousin with a childhood activity, madness perhaps that drove her to bring him down, seeing our mother instead of the boy she used to tease and laugh with. Madness that drove my cousin's daughter to abandon her newborn son only to die alongside her husband.

Those of the current generation wave their hands and say that it has been diluted, that there is nothing to worry about. Perhaps.

Perhaps not.

Maybe it lingers behind the calm wolf-eyes of Teddy Lupin even now, or the very diluted blood of his girlfriend Victoire Weasley. It could be lingering in the diluted veins of the Potter children, or even the Light's shining hero himself. It could be simmering even now in the Malfoy Lord and his heir.

By the time they realize it's there, it's too late. Once it sears through your veins, you are lost to it. Brought on by just about any strong emotion, it never leaves and it almost always kills.

The Black Family Madness, they whisper. Oh no, this is no madness.

This is life.