Aquila screamed and hugged her baby brother to her chest tighter as the snatchers closed in for the kill, scrambling against the gravel road. Regulus clutched at his sister's shirt, looking up at her with the same stormy grey eyes that Aquila had, that they had both inherited from their father.

She darted into a side tunnel and pressed herself flat against the wall, trying to pant quietly. There was the thunder of feet against the ground, and then it was gone. Aquila sobbed into her brother's hair with relief.

"'Lia?" Regulus asked quietly.

Aquila took a deep, steadying breath. "Yeah, Reg?"

"I cold…" Regulus said quietly, looking remorseful, like he'd been caught doing something bad.

"No no no," Aquila assured him. "It's okay, Regulus. Don't worry, we'll get something going. We just have to get somewhere safe. Far away from here. Here." She took off her jacket and wrapped it around him. The entire thing was way too big—it was that way on Aquila, so it absolutely dwarfed Regulus—but it gave Aquila an idea. She set down Regulus momentarily and turned the jacket upside down, and instructed him to step into the arm holes. She zipped the jacket up, hoisted Regulus onto her chest again, and tied the loose part of the sleeves of the jacket around her waist. She took off her belt, looped it around Regulus and her own torso, and cinched it tightly enough so that Regulus would be secure, but he wouldn't be crushed. This left Aquila 's hands free.

Regulus smiled up at his sister. "Warm."

Aquila smiled and gently poked his nose with a finger. He giggled and covered up his face. After a couple of seconds, he peeked through his fingers, and then raised one hand, and poked Aquila 's nose as well, which tickled. She laughed and rubbed her nose so that the feeling would subside. Regulus laughed at the face his sister was making.

People passed by the alleyway, talking noisily, and Aquila abruptly stopped laughing and clamped a hand over Regulus's mouth. As quickly as she could with a two-year-old strapped to her chest, she darted out the other end of the alley.

She quickly settled into a brisk pace. Keeping to the shadows of the night as much as possible, she eventually left London. At one point, she looked down to see Regulus curled up in the jacket, his head resting against her collarbone, sound asleep. Aquila unwound her scarf enough so that Regulus's other ear was covered up, so that he wouldn't be at risk to infections in his ear, and so that his head wouldn't get so cold. She guessed that he had been lulled asleep by the steady swaying rhythm.

Aquila made it to the edge of the city, and was now surrounded by trees. She gathered together a pile of dry wood and zapped it. Fire ignited instantly.

FLASHBACK STARTS

Aquila knew the only person who rang the doorbell this late was: Abraxas Malfoy. Mom would be in her dressing room right now scribbling on three layers of bright red lipstick, waiting for the god to come deliver his next gift to her whether it be a glowing white pearl necklace or a new diamond sequenced scarf.

Aquila didn't sit around once she heard the Malfoy's footsteps leading to the bedroom where her mother would be waiting for him to please her. The ceiling creaked.

"Hey." Aquila pulled away a blanket to reveal Regulus sitting in the corner of a dark room, hugging his knees.

He peeked out from behind his hands. "Did it stop?"

Aquila breathed slowly, reaching out her hand for Regulus to take as she gathered her little brother into her arms. "There's nothing to be scared of," Aquila whispered in his ear. "he won't hurt you'

Regulus shivered into her chest, and Aquila held him the way she always did when the night sky turned into a whirlpool of darkness above their roof.

"Did she give you anything to eat?" Aquila broke the silence, looking into her little brother's frightened eyes.

As Regulus shook his head quietly, anger towards her mother sparked in Aquila. He was hungry.

Aquila smiled slowly, burying the anger as she looked back at the cute and innocent frown on Regulus's face. "It's alright," Aquila said, picking him up into her arms as she stood. "We'll eat together."

The ceiling creaked louder, and Aquila set Regulus down on the dining room table.

She put together the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich she could in a hurry and watched Regulus chew each bite as if his mouth was numb. Aquila wondered when the last time he really ate was. She remembered her mother's slurred and drunken words from the night before when she had promised Aquila that Regulus had eaten dinner. Anger flicked through Aquila again.

Regulus was too little to help himself. Aquila knew that she was his only security. She lived for him. She was all he had now, and Aquila knew it.

...

She found Regulus hiding underneath her bed. Tears were welled in his eyes when she finally got him to come out. She didn't know how long she held Regulus until he stopped crying enough to speak.

"Tell me what happened." Aquila touched his face, wiping away the tears.

"She - she crazy," he choked out quietly in his toddler words. "I do nothing."

"I know you didn't do anything. It's not your fault," Aquila told him softly, "What did she do to you?"

Regulus put a hand to his right cheek, and he didn't have to speak for Aquila to know that Mom had hit him. A strange kind of pull tugged at Aquila 's heart, and she closed her eyes tightly, refusing to let the anger of her emotion take over.

"She yell at me," Regulus told her innocently, and Aquila knew these were the things Regulus was too young to understand no matter how badly Aquila wanted to explain it to him. All Aquila could do was hold him as she tried to make out his words in between his hiccups from crying. "She said daddy didn't' want us and he left.

That was the last time Aquila ever went to play with Cissy.

...

Aquila gripped Regulus's hand tighter, watching her mother closely as she led them to a strange location. They had never been here before. Stone decorated the steps, and the air was freezing as if it could have started snowing again any second. It was a weird place for a picnic, but Aquila tried to free her mind of those thoughts.

Ever since Father had died, her mother had never acted like this - so calm and collected with her actions. A family vacation was the last thing Aquila expected, but she had a small hope stirring inside of her. She couldn't ignore her mother's hands shaking or the unusually pale composure of her face, but Aquila thought that her mother just might have been trying to make an effort for once. Maybe Mom was getting better.

Regulus gripped Aquila 's hand tighter as he looked up at his sister's face.

Right then, something crossed Aquila 's mind. Something worse than a bad feeling. Aquila suddenly felt like darkness drew over her heart and a harsh wind hit her from the back. But it was only for a split second, and Aquila barely had time to notice it.

She turned to see her mother pressing a wand in Regulus's forehead Avada Kedav. Aquila let a shout her magic reacted and Walburga fell down unconscious

She smiled at Regulus, squeezing his hand to let him know it was okay. She would never leave him alone.

FLASHBACK ENDS

Soothed by the warm light, Aquila propped herself up on a nearby tree, arms wrapped loosely around her baby brother, and was lulled to sleep by the crackling fire and crickets chirping around her.