They had been searching through different documents for hours when Regulus suddenly kissed the top of her head and then, after hesitating for a second he pulled her into him and kissed her, really kissed her. "You are the most wonderful woman." He said before letting her go.

She kissed him back, "I love you." And she blushed lightly, "and you're the most amazing man"

"I love you too… and I'm really not, love" he smiled sadly as he walked towards his quill to write the letter. "Would you mind making some tea or coffee?" He said quickly before she could say anything. She really thought too high of him, and he never understood why. He had done many terrible things.

She nodded, "Of course." She kissed his cheek before going into the kitchen

After a while he went to the kitchen and hugged Melanie from behind. "We have to wait for the answer now" he murmured into her ear. He kissed her neck and then let go of her, grabbing the cup she offered. "We could go shopping if you'd like, you didn't bring much clothes and I feel like I have you prisoner in my home"

She smiled at him, "alright, but you don't die of boredom on me." She winked, "I'm just going to take a shower." She said and went up the stairs to the bathroom

He went up the stairs behind her. "Want me to join you?" He smirked as he pulled off his shirt; he wanted to change into another one.

"If you want." She smirked back and glanced back at him

He stopped midway into looking for a clean shirt and quickly followed her into the bathroom. "Yeah I'd like that" he said as they both entered the bathroom.

When they were back in the room he was smiling, more relaxed now. "Well I should offer to take you shopping more often." He said as he pulled a shirt over his head.

She smiled at him, "Maybe." She said as she brushed out her hair.

"I'll be waiting in the kitchen, I didn't finish drinking my coffee." He said as he kissed her on the cheek smiling. "Don't forget the potion!" He called back.

"I won't." She called as he left the room and got changed, grabbing the vile of potion on her way out of the room.

"Let's go." He said as changed Melanie appeared on the kitchen. He kissed her before taking her hand to apparate. "I like you-you a whole lot better that you-your cousin." He murmured into her ear. "You are way more beautiful"

She blushed at his comment and with that he apparated them into a street full of stores. She looked around a little since it had been awhile since she had been out of Regulus' house, then they walked around.

"Do you want some ice cream?" He said several stores and a handful of bags later. "You need to take the potion again." He murmured into her ear. Shopping wasn't particularly fun but seeing Mel smile and have fun was, besides, he liked putting his money into good use.

She nodded in understanding, "Where should we go?" She asked looking for someplace that would work and they wouldn't be walked in on.

"There's an ice cream parlor down the street, you can go to the bathroom there." He said softly as they walked. Some people looked at them, they weren't many people on the street, but it was clear he was a death eater and he was not afraid to be there.

She nodded once more and they entered the ice cream parlor, where she headed to the bathroom with the potion in hand. Once she had taken it she put the vile in her pocket and walked back out into the parlor to meet Reg.

Regulus was about to order some ice cream for Mel when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Mulciber!" He exclaimed as he greeted his fellow death eater with a hug. He was one of the few people he considered a friend, along with Severus Snape. His friend hugged him back and held him at arm's length.

"What are you doing here? I barely see you out in the open mate." He said with his typical grin. Now everyone in the parlor was looking at them.

"I'm just-" he stopped mid-sentence as Mel got out of the bathroom. "I'm here with Danielle," He said signaling for her to come closer. "She's from America," he added. As Mulciber checked her out with a smirk on his face Regulus slipped an arm around her waist possessively.

Mel looked at the death eater, "Hello." She said politely as he looked at her. When Reg's arm went around her waist, she relaxed a bit, but not fully, "You must be a friend of Regulus." She was so use to calling him Reg it felt a bit weird to say his whole name. She didn't want them to think they were so close though so she used it.

"Yes" He bowed a little. "I'm Mulciber, it's quite a pleasure to meet you" He smiled. "Well I'm leaving," He added catching Reg's eye. "I'm guessing Reg here wants you for himself and I'm not in the mood for being hexed by my best mate" He joked. "If you ever get bored of Mr. Seriousness here I'm all yours"

"Mulciber, shut up." Reg joked forcing a smile. "Do you want her to run away from me, afraid of my friends?" Mulciber laughed wholeheartedly, he always seemed to be in the best of moods. "Fine, see you mate" He winked at Mel before leaving and just then did Reg relax a little. "Do you... Do you still want that ice cream?" He asked still a little tense.

She shook her head, "No, I'm fine… Thanks though..." She said and they left the parlor, "Are all the death eaters like that?" She asked, thinking about Greyback and Mulciber both 'joked' well probably Mulciber was, about her getting tired of Reg or something like that, "and that Mulciber, doesn't seem to be that bad, or at least better than the other death eaters, though I trust him about as far as I can throw him"

"No, they are not all like that, Snape... Well you know him, he's kind of grim and he has only eyes for Lily. Some of them are plain evil and some of them are kind of crazy. Mulciber is one of my best friends... Though I wouldn't like to be on his bad side, he's very good with the imperius curse." He said as they kept walking. "You know" he added after a while "I've never wanted you to be part of this world, I'm sorry you had to meet them, specially Fernier"

She shrugged, "Don't worry about it... I mean you can't control everything, and not everything goes the way you want it to... If people got everything they wanted, the world would be in chaos, well more then it already, if anything." Then she soon added, "Plus I decided this for myself, it's something I chose and I have to live with, but it's not something I regret."

They suddenly heard screams; Reg put a protective arm over Melanie's shoulder. "We should go." He said as the screams got louder and they could hear a laugh. He apparated them quickly into his house and let out a breath he had been holding. He knew that if he had been closer he would've had to torture the woman too, and he couldn't imagine doing something like that in front of Mel. "There goes our nice shopping day…" he laughed humorlessly, getting very serious for a moment.

She swallowed, and nodded the person's screams ringing in her ears. That had snapped her back to the reality of what was going on, they were at war. For that moment she had almost forgotten that she was being hunted and that as soon as she was found she would probably be killed. That those screams could be anyone's... Evens Jess's... 'No!' She quickly though, pushing it away, 'Jess is away and safe in Ireland...'

Regulus felt the memory of Mel being tortured coming back to make him miserable. "I'll never let anyone even touch a hair on your head again" He said determined. Even if he died, he would die protecting her. He didn't think he could ever hear her scream like that again and not do anything or go crazy.

She nodded slightly but his words didn't fully process through her mind, and she didn't even notice that her face had gone pale and lost most of its color. The memory or her being tortured came after words when Reg spoke. She voice sounded fine now, but if she yelled one could still hear that her vocal cords had been damaged.

Reg saw the way the color drained from her face and immediately regretted he had ever said anything. "I'm so sorry." He said holding her in his arms tightly. "I shouldn't have bring that up, I'll make you a cup of tea." He said as he caressed her back over and over and kissed the top of her head.

"It's fine... You should be able to talk about it..." She said softly leaning into his touch, "It's happened and it's done..." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than tell him

He put his head over hers, he could not forgive himself for causing her so much pain and his eyes were tearing up at the sound of her broken voice. She was trying to sound strong and ok but he knew better, and he was very annoyed with himself for the fact that he felt broken too, he had to be the strong thing in her life, not her crying partner. Not like she cried, she was the strongest women he had ever met, she stopped at nothing and those were some of the reason why he loved her. He felt her shift under him, and his Melanie was back in his arms, not the body of her cousin. "I'll go make you that tea now." He said reluctantly letting go of her and giving her a swift kiss.

She watched him go as she changed back into herself, and she didn't want him go but she also needed a minute to be alone. When he returned she took the cup and gave him a smile, she hoped she didn't see that it was slightly forced.

"Thanks..." Then she continued and went into the plan, she didn't want to fuss over anything that wasn't worth it. She had calmed herself down and said, "Have you heard anything?"

"No, nothing yet, it's been very quiet, too quiet" he said. "But we have most of London won and I'm not part of the group that's getting more giants and creatures in general on our side"

She nodded, and laid her head in his chest stifling a yawn, "I love you Reg..." A sudden wave of exhaustion started to come over her and she was trying to stay awake.

Reg smiled a little. "And I love you" he said softly. Suddenly his mark started to burn. He cursed under his breath and sat straighter. "I need to go love." he said softly standing up to apparate.

She nodded, knowing what had happened and watched him go, once he was gone she laid back against the couch and shut her eyes for a brief moment before falling asleep.