A/N: I play a bit with my tenses and capitalization here , as well as with a narrative that is not completely linear. I hope the end result (though weird) is enjoyable. I just want to give Regulus a happy ending.
After the potion, after the first touch of his hand to the cold, still waters of the lake, there is nothing but the Dark.
The Dark permeates his (soul?) every thought and bites (flesh? is he still flesh and bone?) with razor teeth. What's left of him floats through black water in a state of (death? undeath?) constant awareness. In watchful agony, he endures every second, every hour, every year of torment, wishing (can I just die already?) for an end. Even nothingness would be a relief.
But there's only the Dark.
Until she comes.
Fleur smiled, admiring the way her husband took charge of the mixed group of Aurors and members of the Magical Law Enforcement squad. It pleased her to see Bill receiving the respect he deserved.
"All right, I think we've all got it." She watched Bill shake his hair from his face. The winds in this place were terrible. "To summarize, I'll remain here, where I'll cast the circle and act as a focus to draw the spirits of the dead out of the cave so their bodies can be retrieved for burial. Fleur will take point inside—"
"I'm still not certain why your wife is involved at all, Mr. Weasley." The tall, cadaverous man in Unspeakable's robes spoke in a flat sonorous voice that should have been swallowed by the roar of the ocean but was heard by everyone, nonetheless. "The Ministry asked for a Master curse breaker. Not a curse breaker and a housewife."
She could feel Bill bristle, but before he could speak up on her behalf, she stepped up beside him placed a calming hand on his arm. "It is true. I am no more a professional curse breaker zan I am an Auror. But I 'ave worked extensively with Bill on the creation of zis ritual." She drew herself up to her full height. "Zere is no one among you 'oo is better prepared zan I to 'andle everyt'ing that might 'appen in zis cave."
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Bill said with a smile. "Are there any other objections?" He surveyed the group. "Fine," he nodded in satisfaction. "Fleur's team," and she bit her lip to keep from grinning at the way he emphasized her name, "will fly on broomsticks to the four compass points and dump their powders into the lake at the pivotal moment."
Fleur pulled a Muggle stopwatch—so useful—from below her neckline and pointed to the one around Bill's neck. "I am timekeeper. Bill and I 'ave timed ze ritual precisely."
"That's why it is of utmost importance that you maintain the correct height above the water and that you listen for Fleur's signal," Bill warned. "All four powders have to hit the water at once. If even one goes in too soon or too late—"
"Ze Inferi—Voldemort's last army —will arise," Fleur finished grimly. She saw one of the Aurors shiver involuntarily, and she couldn't blame him. The thought was terrifying.
She pulled her long hair over one shoulder to keep it from blowing in her face and eyed the mouth of Voldemort's cave with a mix of fear and excitement. Such a frightening, forbidding place…and such a sad place, too. She couldn't believe anyone ever brought orphans to this stretch of coast thinking it would a holiday for them. Even the cliffs above were grey and dismal. As for the cave itself, the opening seemed to leer at them, darker than dark. The thought of the horrible things that had happened within was chilling. It was a relief that most of Voldemort's enchantments had died with him. The Emerald Potion had been removed by the Unspeakables, a bridge had been constructed to the island, and large boats had even been launched in the lake and sailed just fine loaded with a dozen adults.
All that remained were the Inferi, trapped in their watery grave.
Fleur squared her shoulders and summoned her broom to her hand. Harry had told her that some of Voldemort's first crimes were committed here. Well, today, she and Bill would undo the last of his magic and turn this cave of horrors into just another hole in the rock.
At Bill's mark, she clicked her stopwatch and rose into the air, flying swiftly toward the opening, more than ready to end this.
He (always, forever) waits. Every sensed intrusion into the cave means there is a chance for (help, please, help me) that terrible call, that compulsion, to drag him from the water to rend, to maim, to kill, until there's nothing left of the interloper, and the lake swallows him again.
He knows (inferi. i'm an inferius. god, no) it just takes a touch upon the water. His clouded eyes don't even have to see it; he'll feel it (don't. be careful).
There has been a change, a weakening of magic, and more people have been coming and going in the past month than in all the time (decades) since he drank the potion and touched the water. The (blasted) cave has changed, and he knows, somehow, that the new intruders are doing things no one has ever done before, like replacing the boat. Like flying (he remembers flying, longs for it).
They've brought in candles, but he thinks their light doesn't reach through the water to shine on him (because the Dark is inside him, and nothing outside gets in). He's bumped by another body (hollow companion) and feels himself spinning upward, and as he rolls face up—
(he feels the Dark crack)
-he sees something above him.
As she hovered above the water, one hand on her stopwatch, one hand on her vial, she thought, I can see them. Mon Dieu.
Magical Law Enforcement had enchanted candles to float above the surface of the lake everywhere except the four cardinal points Fleur and her team needed to be. She was reminded of her first meal at Hogwarts, when she had pretended disdain for their illuminated ceiling, but had secretly thought it beautiful.
This was a nightmare.
Bodies, so many bodies, floated gracefully below the surface, buoyed by strange currents. As she watched, one sank, bumping into another and sending it on a slow roll toward the surface. It rose, face up, until it broke the surface and floated almost directly underneath her.
She clenched her hand on the vial, noting she still had 2:02 minutes before she and the Aurors would be called to do their part. She called out a two-minute warning, adding "Steady on!" just in case any of them were as shaken as she by the sights around them. She hoped the Inferius below her would drift away before she poured out the powder.
She clenched her teeth and studied the body below her. Thick black hair waved around his head like seaweed, and he stared up at her through milky eyes that seemed to track her every move. His black mouth gaped, filled with the dark lake water. She shuddered.
When the the shifting water pushed his chest above the surface, she noted he was wearing the decayed remnants of wizard robes in an old, but not too old, style. Maybe the late 70s or early 80s. Could this be Regulus Black?
Harry had told everyone about R.A.B. and the locket and the heroic but terrible fate Regulus Black met in this cavern. Other than Dumbledore and a house elf, he was the only known victim of Voldemort's potion and the only one who died here . She glanced at the clock, 1:13 to go, and let herself drift a tiny bit to the left so that, if he didn't move, she wouldn't dump the powder onto his chest.
1:00. "One minute," she called.
Regulus, if that's who he was, had pale, greenish skin, marked with dark patches of decay, but unlined. He could be in his late teens, she thought, which certainly fit with the idea that this might be Regulus Black.
His poor face. So much fear and pain. How awful to wear that expression for an eternity. He looks like he's suffering. The Unspeakables said the Inferi felt nothing, but looking down at his face, twisted in a silent howl of agony, Fleur wasn't so sure. She felt another wave of sadness.
"It is almost over," she whispered. "We are going to take you out of 'ere."
Only thirteen seconds remained on her stopwatch. "Counting down now! Ten…nine…eight…
She (is like the moon) shines with a silvery light, and Regulus feels it illuminating the all the crevices of his soul (chasing away the dark). Her long silver-white hair ripples around her like clean water. He used to fly through skies as blue as those eyes. He doesn't know why he can see her, except all the magic (all the pain) is draining out of him, and—though his body is still floating—he (Regulus) is being pulled toward the mouth of the cave, toward someone outside. She's filling up the hollow spaces where the magic used to be. Filling him up with (love, love you) light.
She (silver angel) bends toward the water.
It is almost over. We are going to take you out of 'ere.
(Yes. Yes, take me away from this place.) And he feels something breaking inside him.
…one. NOW!
"…two…one. NOW!"
Fleur pours her grey powder out of the vial, and as soon as it hits the water near Regulus's head, she knows the ritual is a success. The cave is filled with silver light as the water begins to glow and a pale mist rises from the surface. The water ripples faintly as whatever force that animated the Inferi drains away.
She clings to her broom and peers down at Regulus's face. Her breath catches when thinks she sees, just for an moment, a glimpse of what he must have looked like when he was alive, peering up at her with dark, intense eyes and a look of love and gratitude on his face.
Surely a trick of the light. But she remains there, hovering over his remains, until Bill flies into the cave to lead her out.
Her name is Fleur, and he'll love her forever.
He has so much he wishes he could say to her, but now that he has left his body behind, he is being pulled Onward at great speed. He is out of the cave and into the Blue, moving faster and faster, knowing only that wherever he's going…
…is filled with Light.
End
Written for the Fanfic Dominoes Game: Regulus/Fleur
Prompt Relay Challenge, Section 10: silver
Fill the Calendar Challenge: warn (February 25)