I'm so sorry I made you guys wait this long. I know it's a lame excuse, but I've only been back at school for 3 weeks and I've already had 3 art projects and a paper. It's ridiculous. Also, I while I was packing for school (aka throwing random shit into bins) I realized that I am somehow missing my Chamber of Secrets and Half-Blood Prince books. Which the latter obviously poses problems with this timeline! I think I've got it worked out now though. Also excuse the total shift in decades for the chapter title/song. I love Muse. Not Twilight, but Muse is awesomesauce.


Juniper was shocked by the force of the wind blowing off of the sea and would have stumbled if Regulus hadn't been holding her arm. She stared out at the stormy water and gulped. The situation was finally weighing heavily on her nerves. She turned to the boy next to her and found that he was watching her intently. She realized that he was waiting for her to lead the way, since he had just dismissed Kreacher with the order not to return unless he was called. She scanned the cliff in search of the entrance, but she had no idea where it was. She couldn't see anything but sea spray and rocks. She bit her lip nervously. Then, the tide rushed out for a split second and she saw it. She adjusted the bag on her back and took a deep breath. She grabbed Regulus' hand and dove into the chilly water, pulling him along behind her. The water was cold, but she ignored her chattering teeth and swam as fast as she could towards the fissure in the rock. She could feel Regulus next to her and his grip on her hand tightened as they were pushed by a rather large wave. Fatigue was quickly catching up to her and she felt her kicks get slower and harder. She was struggling to breathe between the large waves crashing over them. When at last she thought she wouldn't be able to make it, she felt Regulus pull her up onto solid ground. She collapsed onto the stone floor and gasped for breath. He sat down beside her, looking just mildly out of breath. She would have glared, but she didn't have the energy. How the hell was she supposed to make it through the actual cave, when she was already worn out from swimming?

She rolled onto her back and watched as he touched the rock wall, trying to find the way inside. She had been dreading this part. She knew there was going to be worse when he found out about her plan, but this wasn't going to be fun either. She pushed herself up and stood next to him silently. Her eyes fell on a small slit in the rock wall and she shivered. She took the bag off of her shoulder and dug through it, ignoring the feeling of Regulus' gaze on her. She felt her hand close over cold metal and pulled it out. In a quick move, she flicked open the knife and ran it across her left palm.

"MotherfuckingbastardSHIT," she screamed, dropping the knife.

"What did you just do!" Regulus yelled, snapping out of whatever daze he had been in. He grabbed her wrist and tried to open her hand. She yanked it out of his grasp and wiped her bloody hand across the stone. They both stared at the wall, waiting for something to happen.

"That had better be enough," Juniper growled, cradling her hand to her chest.

"That was way more than enough!" Regulus cried, grabbing at her hand. She finally relented with a sigh. He quickly went to work trying to close up the wound, while she watched the wall. Finally, a single drop of blood ran down the wall and joined the majority of the splatter and an opening appeared.

"Yay!" Juniper said, jumping up and down. Of course, then it hit her that this wasn't even the worst part of the journey and she fell silent. By now, Regulus was done with her hand and they both shared a look before walking through the doorway. He used his wand to light their way as they walked through the inky blackness.

Juniper's eyes focused on the creepy green glow ahead of them and she felt her stomach drop. The lake was black and as still as glass. She thought about the dead things underneath its surface, waiting to drag them down. She pictured Regulus getting slowly pulled down into the darkness and almost threw up. She could feel her hands shaking as they grasped the straps of her bag. She didn't realize that she had stopped walking until Regulus hooked his arm with hers. She looked up at him, her eyes reflecting the fear that they both felt. She tried to force a smile and began to walk towards the edge of the lake.

They stopped a few feet away from the surface and stared out at the vast amount of water separating them from the glowing island in the middle. She shivered and grabbed his hand, the contact making her feel at least a little safer. She gently tugged on his hand and began to walk along the narrow ledge that led around the lake.

"We need to find the boat," she whispered. She was terrified that any noise or movement would awaken the Inferi, though the rational side of her knew that they had to touch the water for that to happen. He nodded in the darkness, his wand still held aloft in the hand that she wasn't clinging onto. They walked in silence for what felt like hours and she couldn't tell how far they had actually gone. Regulus was actually the ones to stop them. He dropped her hand and grabbed his left arm as if he had been burned. He suddenly let go of it and spun around so that he was facing the lake. Juniper tried to jump towards him as he reached the very edge of the pathway, but he put a hand out to stop her.

"I think I found it," he said, reaching out into the air. After a minute of feeling around, his hand closed on something. Juniper stared at him, completely shocked that he was able to find it so easily. Then again, Dumbledore hadn't had any trouble with it, but that was Dumbledore. She assumed that Regulus was able to feel the effects of Voldemort's magic through the dark mark.

"Tap it with your wand," she replied. Once he did so, the chain appeared and began to raise, what Juniper assumed was the boat out of the water. Regulus let go of the chain and stepped back next to her. They watched in silence as the boat bobbed to the surface and began to drift towards them. Juniper couldn't help but agree with Harry on the size of the boat. It was really freaking tiny. She and Regulus weren't large people by any means, but this was going to be a squeeze.

"Are we going to fit in there?" Regulus asked, staring down at the tiny vessel.

"Don't touch the water," she said. She glanced up at him and he nodded. He carefully climbed into the boat and held out a hand to her once he was situated. She took it and tried to ease her way into the boat, but her shoe caught the edge and she stumbled forward instead. Thankfully, Regulus was able to stop her fall and the boat only tipped a little bit. She choked out a cry and collapsed onto him, burying her face in his shirt. She tried to stifle the sobs that were escaping, but she failed. Regulus wrapped his arms around her, trying to get her to calm down. After a moment, she finally was able to breath, but she didn't move. She could feel the boat moving and she knew what was all around them. She didn't want to see the bodies floating in the water. She didn't think her nerves could take it. Regulus was completely still; except for the hand he was running through her hair.

"We're almost there," he whispered. She knew he had seen them too, but she didn't say anything. She didn't move until she felt the boat bump into the side of the island. Regulus gently lifted her off of him so they both could stand and climb onto the platform. Juniper walked shakily towards the glowing basin in the middle of the island. She knew what was about to happen and she was terrified. She turned around to face Regulus, who was only a step behind her. He looked tired and scared, which was only intensified by the green glow of the potion. He looked down at her, confused as to what she was staring at him for. She tried to smile, before throwing her bag on the ground and rifled through it. She stood up and he recognized one of the goblets from his house clenched in her hand. She stepped backwards toward the basin and he understood what she was trying to do. Kreacher had told him about the potion and its effect.

"I'm sorry," she said, dunking the goblet into the green liquid. Anger flashed over his face, quickly replaced by terror as she brought the cup to her lips and swallowed the contents. She coughed and made a disgusted face, but leaned onto the basin to refill her goblet. Regulus rushed to her side, but she would not let him take it away from her. "Don't listen to what I say," she whispered her voice hoarse and her eyes closed. "Even when I scream. And don't give me water or those things will come out."

She brought the goblet up again and downed the next glass. She reached to fill it once more, but she found that she moving was suddenly very hard and painful. She felt hot tears begin to run down her cheeks. She gasped for a breath, but felt like her lungs were desperately empty. She couldn't possibly reach it like this, but then she felt something warm on her wrist. She barely registered that it was Regulus' hand taking the goblet from her. She looked up at him; blinking through her tears she could barely see his face. Her vision was becoming extremely blurry, but she could see the look of pain in his eyes and the tears that were beginning to form. She watched him fill up the glass for her and she felt herself smile softly through her pain.

After that goblet full, she couldn't register anything, but agony and terror. She could see nothing but blackness and it felt as if her throat was being torn to shreds from her screams. She couldn't remember why she was being hurt like this, but she begged the person doing it to stop. She just wanted it to end. She was beginning to see images flash before her eyes. Regulus was crumpled on the stone floor screaming for death. Then, she looked on helplessly as he was dragged into the water by the pale, dead arms of the creatures in the lake. She begged for someone to stop the visions and the pain. She couldn't take it anymore. She wanted to die. She had no concept of time and every second felt like a lifetime. Her throat felt like it was closing up, but she continued to scream.

Then, the pain seemed to stop. She was so thirsty. Something in the back of her mind told her that water was bad, but she wanted it more than anything. Her throat was on fire. She could feel herself moving, but she didn't know why. She felt cold hands on her skin that felt amazing compared to her feverish state. She could begin to hear someone desperately calling her name. She opened her eyes and struggled to focus on the person in front of her. She blinked and stared into his grey eyes.

"Regulus," she croaked. His face lit up and he quickly brought his lips down to her forehead. She realized it was him that felt so cool and that he was holding her in his lap, huddled next to the basin. She suddenly felt more alert, though her body was taking longer to catch up. She looked around to see a ring of fire surrounding them and numerous Inferi prowling outside of it. They were even worse than she imagined. They were ghostly pale and waterlogged. She shivered and Regulus tightened his grip on her with one arm. The other was maintaining the fire with his wand. She could tell he was getting tired and she had no idea how long he could keep it up.

"You've got the locket, right?" she asked. He nodded. "Then let's get out of here." She tried to stand up, but found she couldn't go past her knees. She felt completely drained and stumbled back to the floor. In one quick motion, Regulus grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder. She grabbed onto his shirt for dear life as he made his way towards the boat. She could tell that he was clearing a path with the fire as they went, though some of the Inferi were following them rather closely from behind.

"Behind you!" she cried. He quickly turned and shot at them with more fire, giving them enough time to reach the boat. Instead of carefully climbing into it this time, he jumped in feet first, making the boat splash unstably. Only once it began to move, did he set her down in boat. He remained standing, focused on keeping the Inferi at bay. Juniper felt like all of her energy was gone and she slumped to the bottom of the boat, incapable of moving an inch. She had never felt so tired in her life. Voldemort was such a sick bastard. She struggled to keep her eyes open. Finally, she felt the familiar bump of landing and Regulus picked her back up. Once they were on the shore, the lake was once again completely calm.

After a moment, Regulus set her down on her feet, but she still couldn't stand. He ended up carrying her on his back the rest of the way around the lake. She kept her arms loosely around his neck and placed her head down on his shoulder. She felt bad for making him carry her. She couldn't be the easiest thing to carry. But then again, after today, it was probably the easiest thing he had done. They reached the wall where the blood door had been, but it had closed on them. This time, Regulus sliced his hand and wiped the blood on the wall. The glowing archway appeared once more and he ran through it towards the sea. Juniper held on as tight as she could without choking him to death while he swam them back to the nearest piece of land. Her whole body felt like it had gone numb from the cold, but it was almost refreshing compared to the searing heat of the pain. When they reached a fairly flat rock, he helped her up first. She staggered and fell to the ground, her whole body shivering. Regulus vaulted onto the rock and pulled her up to him.

"Come on, June," he whispered into her hair. "Please stay with me. Only a little bit longer, I promise." She felt the strange feeling of apparition begin and everything went black.


And now I have to be up in less than 4 hours for class. I hope you people are happy damn it. Also, excuse my grammar spelling on this one. I'll check it in the morning.