House: Ravenclaw

Year: 3rd Year

Category: Short

Prompt(s): [Date] April 13

W/C: 1969 (Word) / 1,969 (Google)

Notes: This could be canon compliant, I tried to make it fit timelines roughly, but I know that it's still in that AU territory too.


Read & Enjoy


I'm staring at the calendar: April 13, 1979. This means that we have to move again today. Every month or so we move on the third, thirteenth, or twenty-third, it keeps a rhythm for us but allows for enough variety to comfortably maintain our cover. We've been traveling all over Europe to remain hidden from Voldemort and his Death Eaters during this blood status war that they've created. Before, that wouldn't have been an issue for me. Before, I would've been considered pure. Before, I would've been safe.

But this isn't before anymore.

This is after - after Edward, after Nymphadora.

This is after Voldemort.

While other people are enjoying the streaking rays of sunshine, the warmth in the breeze, and the scent of flowers sprouting out of the ground, we're hiding away in abandoned homes in the basements or attics. My family has to stay tucked away from sight just to be sure that we'll survive. My husband says that it reminds of something called the Holocaust, but he never tells me how exactly. Honestly, I'm not sure I want to know either.

Ted is the man of my dreams, and I do mean dreams, because I have loved him before I ever knew it would be him exactly. I grew up knowing that I would be married off to some pureblood man with a reputation that would've made my parents bow in his presence. When I was old enough to understand love, I dreamt of being with the kind of man who would make me laugh, who would lift me up, and who make me excited for our future. My parents never would've picked that kind of man for me. Ted is everything I hoped for and so much more.

As for Dora, she is an absolute gift. When she was born five years ago, I hadn't even realized my life was incomplete. Ted and I were very happy, just the two of us, and we were enjoying everything around us. Then I found out I was pregnant and, somehow, things got inexplicably better. Everything felt more complete with three.

Unfortunately, the Wizarding world got much darker, and two years ago we decided to go into hiding. Muggle-borns, and the folks who married them, they were being hunted and killed. I don't fear them, but I won't have Dora lose her parents for something as petty as blood status. And I most certainly won't see her taken from me either. This is what's best for us.

I sigh. April thirteenth.

When Ted wakes up, we'll need to get as much done as possible before Dora wakes up. As soon as she's up and fed, we'll be apparating somewhere else. I've been trying to convince Ted that we should go overseas, but he can't bear the idea of leaving Europe. Unlike me, he still has his family. His family is here. If they died, he'd never know.

On our calendar, we crossed off days in such a way to signify if anyone we know has been found dead, or if there's been an attack somewhere on people we know. I can't believe Voldemort's managed to gain so much power. Over so many people… People that I loved… People that loved me once…

"Annie." I hear, swearing it's just a trick of the wind or my imagination. Surely that is the case, since Ted calls me 'Dromeda and Dora just calls me mum. It has to be my imagination.

But I hear it again.

"Annie," the masculine voice is clearer this time and it causes me to draw my wand. There are only two men who call me by that name, and neither of them should know where I'm at or even how to find me. Ready to defend my family and myself, at the cost of my life, I lean carefully towards the only entry into this rundown townhouse basement.

"Annie," he repeats a third time. "It's me. I promise I'm here to help!"

Baring my teeth, I can't believe my cousin has even dared to show his face. I've heard the news, despite being on the run. Maybe becoming a Death Eater, a follower of Voldemort, maybe that was good in the eyes of his parents, but it made him an enemy to her. Death Eaters would see her husband and her daughter dead before seeing them as equals. "Go away, Reggie," I spit.

"Sirius thinks you're dead," he says lowly, the tone of the little boy she used to play with at family reunions returning to him. Fond memories threaten her defenses. She almost lets her guard down. Only almost, though.

I point my wand towards him as he descends the staircase, a look of ferocity, I hope, greeting him once he's in full view. "How did you even find us? And what's that got to do with you coming here?"

Regulus pauses, considering his words carefully, I suspect, but settles on a simple answer after only a minute or two. "There's a priority on blood traitors. You can imagine the embarrassment."

I can. My parents disowned me the second they heard of my relationship with Ted. I was fine to be kicked out of their home and blow off their family tree. If they could not accept where I put my heart, then they were just as well not accepting me either. As for Voldemort, though, their loyalty is tainted by my divergence. My marriage is betrayal on its own, and my daughter is treacherous. Embarrassed? That probably doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. "What about Sirius then? He's in hiding last I knew."

"Two years is a long time," Regulus huffs, but it borders on a laugh as well. "And he's far less careful than you."

For a split second, I worry that he's dead. What a rubbish thought, though, since Regulus has already said that he's worried about me. He's alive. Every bit the chaotic mess of a boy I watched grow up, but he is alive just the same. My chest rises, falls, rises, falls.

"We may be different, but he is still my brother," Regulus says, whipping some of his loose hair to the side. He's untidy, which is uncommon. I've always known Sirius to be the haphazard one. Everything that the Black family stands for, Sirius desperately tries to be the opposite of in every single way.

I am struggling with what to do about my cousin. I think he should be hexed without a trace to find us, move to the next location and make it further away than we've ever gone. Ted would say I should hear him out. In his eyes, our families will be awful and horrible and everything that makes us angry, but they can be incredible and amazing too.

And I think of my little Dora, lying curled up in a ball on her rollaway cot. If I'm wrong…

"Why should I trust you?" Harshness spreads past my tone and into my body language. Muscles tighten, my teeth are grinding. There is a war to consider, consequences to be wary of, and no matter how much I want this Regulus to be the one that I played with in the gardens when he was a little boy - I can't give into that idea of him without proof.

Regulus reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a yellowish locket on a gold chain. He holds it off to the side and I watch his eyes follow it. "This - is very powerful and very dark magic. If I'm right about what I think it is, destroying it could be the first step in stopping Voldemort's rise to power."

"Nobody uses that kind of magic anymore, not for centuries," I say, half rolling my eyes and half wondering if he's telling the truth. This could be a ruse. Such a thing would not beyond Regulus, as he was quite the performer as a young man.

Offering no further explanation or details, Regulus tucks the locket back inside of his jacket. Features contorting into something that tries to be relaxation, Regulus looks more like he's in pain. I'm still nervous about his presence, still unsure, but I let my guard down just a little. Lowering my wand, I start questioning him about he found us, correspondence patterns; how Sirius is doing, well; why has he come, to help.

But my mind cycles back to this locket. Why would he want me to see it?

"I love you, you know," Regulus mutters, cutting through my internal caution. I see him in front of me, forlorn and tired, and it hurts me. "You – Sirius – I wish I could've been more like the both of you."

Fear flickers in Regulus' eyes, but I don't know why exactly, but I'm sure that he is scared of the consequences that await him. Whatever this locket is, whatever his reason for coming to find us, there is a reason in it for him. There has always been a purpose in his actions, unlike what I've ever known in others. "How do you plan to help us?"

"Today?" He asks, distracted by the ground. I stare hard at his feet, too, unsure what he's seeing down there.

"Yes," I mutter. "Yes, today."

"I'll say when Ted comes out," he replies quickly. "It's a surprise."

A mother now, I scan his body to see if he is hurt or if there is something odd about him. Perhaps too late, I consider this could be someone using Polyjuice. Everything appears to be spot on, and it makes me doubt that this is mimicry of any sort. As I look at him, my eyes stop at his chest where he's put the locket away. "Are you going to destroy the locket it?

Regulus looks almost as if he's forgotten about it somehow. It scares me in a way that I cannot explain. "Yes."

Something doesn't fit and I cannot put my finger on it. As time passes, I'm more convinced that Regulus is no threat, but I'm more confused than I was when he arrived. I'm aching to ask difficult questions that I can't believe he'll answer, but I figure I should settle on the most important one.

"What will happen when you destroy whatever that is, then?"

Exactly as I'm expecting - Regulus doesn't answer.

As silence lingers between us, my wanting more information that he refuses to share, and his wanting to keep his secrets, Ted emerges from the hallway behind me. Dora is holding his hand. She eagerly asks who the man is that is visiting us. Mum's wand wasn't raised, in her eyes, so he must be a friend. I find that I don't want Dora to think of him as dangerous, and so I introduce him carefully.

"He looks tired," Dora says loudly. "Would you like a nap in my bed while we pack?" Regulus laughs at her but shakes his head politely. I notice that the amusement doesn't quite reach his eyes.

I think I know what's going to happen when Regulus destroys the locket, plain as it might appear.

"I've made permanent arrangements for you," he announces. Ted inquires in great detail about why and how and where, questions that I would be asking if I weren't mourning the loss of my cousin. Though he's alive, telling me that he's secured a home for me to share with my husband and daughter, it is clear to me that he is little more than a dead man walking. Nobody defies Voldemort and lives.

As far as I'm concerned, no matter when Regulus Black dies, no matter how long it takes – I mark his death on my calendar while everyone scatters to pack.

April 13, 1979

R.B. Deceased (18)


Acknowledgements:

Shout out to my BETA readers: TheCrownprincessBride and nottheonlyfangirl.