Author's Note: Written for the 'Poem Prompt' Competition of All Competitions on the HPFC forum. I used the following poem as inspiration:
The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow ;
But a tyrant spell has bound me,
And I cannot, cannot go.
The giant trees are bending
Their bare boughs weighed with snow ;
The storm is fast descending,
And yet I cannot go.
Clouds beyond clouds above me,
Wastes beyond wastes below ;
But nothing drear can move me :
I will not, cannot go.
-Emily Bronte, The Night is Darkening Around Me
On the day the Hogwarts Express comes to take everyone home, the sun is shining and the air is warm, but Regulus doesn't feel it. It's as though Severus's removal of the warming charms in their dungeon room took all the heat out of Regulus's body as well. He watches the students mill around him on the platform, narrowing his eyes against the sunlight, but he does not move towards the train.
If he steps onto that train, he will be admitting that it's over. By lingering here, he can pretend that it's just another day. Maybe in a few minutes he would turn around and walk back up to the castle, and he could go to the dungeon room and find Severus waiting for him.
He catches sight of Severus boarding the train. The sun seems to go out, although no one comments on it. Regulus shivers and buries his hands in his robes, wishing he'd brought a cloak. At this point he doesn't care how many people ask why he's wearing one in the warm weather.
The faint breeze that drifts past is like a cold wind. Regulus knows it's all in his mind, but that doesn't stop it from feeling real. The few clouds in the sky are dark like stormclouds.
He knows he should move towards the train. Nothing is left to keep him here at Hogwarts. But somehow, he just can't seem to lift his feet.