A/N: First chapter. Ugh. No pressure, right? This is going to be a challenge. I can't think of one book/fan fic/song/poem/ANYTHING that I have written from a man's point of view. Ick. Oh well. Here's to R. A. B. everybody!
Disclaimer: I have this HUGE fear of lawyers. Kinda like doctors do, actually.
It was the most traumatic point in my life up to that point. That final battle with Sirius before he moved at had been a huge deal, but, hey! I knew what the eventual turn out would be. Me. Winning.
Now, I didn't know what was going to happen. I was just… there. Waiting. I had a feeling akin to that of the sitting duck right before a 2,000 pound truck wheels over him.
I had just asked Nessa to marry me.
Split-second by split-second, my mind ran through all the reasons she wouldn't want to. I mean, we were childhood sweethearts. That sort of thing is nearly always doomed from the start.
Though a Slytherin, she alwayshad reached out to Mud-bloods and Muggles alike. I, on the other hand, cursed them on sight.
True, I had changed over the past couple years, becoming more lenient and forgiving when a Mud-Blood was walking where I was walking.
But had I changed enough?
That traumatic moment was soon followed by the first and last moment in my life which was filled with complete and utter joy, nothing less, but maybe something more.
She just looked into my eyes and, smiling, simply said, "Yes."
Yes! She said yes! I pulled her up from her seat at the table and whirled her around, laughing. Nessa was going to be my wife! Somehow, I couldn't believe this was happening.
My life had been a storm of pressure and resentment until that day. Owls to and from Sirius were always a picnic. People thought that I was a Death Eater, and I had been called in to the Auror's office several times over the past several weeks. I had just gone to the five-year Hogwarts reunion. Boy, did that turn out well. The Dark Lord kept coming recruiting, and I always declined to my parents' disappointment. And I knew, that if he had come just two years earlier, I would have said yes. But Nessa had changed me.
For the better, I had thought.
I didn't know how wrong I was to become.
We walked for a bit after the restaurant. I kept looking at her, and she at me, so it wasn't a surprise we soon found ourself accidentally in a Muggle neighborhood.
In those days, you had to be careful. Voldemort had recently attacked London, killing thousands of Muggles, wounded many more, and was seen by perhaps a million. Needless to say, the Ministry of Magic hadn't been able to Obliviate everyone. There were still some Muggles who had seen the wizards, wavind wands spewing green fire, dressed in long black robes. They thought we were some terrorist cult. And the ones that survived the killing curses and memory charms were dead set on murdering each and everyone of us.
"Let's go back," I said, tugging at her arm.
She merely smiled at me. "I know Muggles. They wouldn't hurt a fly. Besides, don't you like walking with me?"
I let myself be led forward. That was my first mistake.
Nessa skipped ahead, singing at the top of her voice,a Celestina Warbeck song. I walked more slowly behind her. That was my second mistake.
An elderly man with frizzled gray hair seemed to be guarding his house. His eyes widened in alarm as he recognized Nessa as a witch- though we were both wearing 'fashionable' and unrecognizable variations of wizard-wear, her wand was sticking out of her back pocket.
Narrowing his eyes, he reached behind his chair and pulled out a revolver that looked older than he was.
Realizing what he was about to do, I plunged my hand deep into my robes to retrieve my wand.
Unfortunately, even pulling a trigger three times is much faster than yelling an incantation.
Nessa stood stock-still, not quite understanding what was about to happen to her. My fingers lost feeling and my wand dropped to the ground as I watched, horrified, what was happening is slow motion.
Finally, something clicked. I lunged forward, throwing myself between the bullets and my fiancée. I blocked two of the bullets, one landing on my left hand and the other halfway up my arm.
The third one hit Nessa in the chest. Right where the heart was.
She stumbled backward, looking in surprise at the blood that was now seeping through the hole onto her clothing.
Then she fell.
I screamed.
Louder.
And louder.
Picked up my wand with the hand that wasn't crimson with a sticky liquid.
Pointed it.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
That was my third mistake.
