Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, and Loomis Nott disappeared two days after Fae returned to the UK.
First she went to Petersfield, as agreed, and added the Diadem to the pile of Horcruxes. Then she took out Helga Hufflepuff's Cup. It had been protected by Bellatrix Lestrange once. Handled by her. She held it to the snout of a Portuguese Flash Rat. He'd been in Romilly's care package, along with a few other helpful friends and substances. Newt and Tina had done right by them.
The Portuguese Flash Rat, Meru, took a deep whiff and then apparated away. He had returned by dinner and then faithfully led them to a little shack on the outskirts of London, charmed to look unassuming, but far too grand inside. Far too extravagant and loud and cheerful for three foolish Death Eaters.
Isla Reynolds knocked on the door, pizza in hand, teeth wide in a euphoric smile.
The next day, Fae found Severus. She gave him his simple set of instructions and then he wisely gave her Tom Riddle's location and the locations of many others. He was keeping close to London, as were the majority of his forces. Perfect. Ring around the rosie.
Tom Riddle woke up the next morning to a little gift from Fae, accompanied with the standard love note. Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Loomis, tongues removed so they couldn't make too much noise, had died in the night, hung by the neck executioner style in the trees outside Tom's balcony. They'd been eaten alive by Doxies who were still going to work on them. Their blood dripped and their innards hung like ribbons, but he could still make out the words 'See You Soon' carved into their chests.
Fae had made sure to get both a photo of her handy work and a photo of the look of fear on Tom's face when he'd discovered them. The photos were then sent to The Daily Prophet and Fae was pleased to see them appear in the newspaper not long after. The magical community of London swarmed the mansion, identified from the photos by a keen eye no doubt, and burned it to the ground although he'd already long gone.
The first week back was supposed to be Callus Remton, and then Jude Savoy, and then some other supporters like Kristoff Asher, Rosalie Fitzgerald, and Evelyn Whitely. And then bigger fish like Yaxley the next week, or Dolohov. Start slow, build it up. Play it out over a few weeks to slowly make him scared, let him think he had plenty of chances to stop her before she got too close. Maybe even throw in a few close-calls, a couple survivors to give him some good news, get him tetchy and overconfident. Even her to-do list actually had Bellatrix and Rodolphus last, a large, bloody kill to welcome the dawn of Tom Riddle's Death Day.
However. For her werewolves, Fae had wanted blood. Romilly, although warning her not to do anything too reckless, hadn't bothered holding her back.
It was a satisfying revenge and a good 21st birthday present for her too.
She wasn't supposed to leave a message for Tom Riddle, not until the day of. She wasn't supposed to risk scaring him so much that he might check for his Horcruxes. But she couldn't just leave the attack on her wolves unanswered. She'd just have to speed up her timeline and keep him so busy in the next few weeks that he wouldn't have the chance to even remember he had Horcruxes.
Following the deaths of Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Loomis, Fae went back to the plan for the most part. Remton next, then Savoy, then Asher, Fitzgerald, Whitly. When she began taking out Death Eaters again, she dismembered them thoroughly and sent daily packages to Riddle. Yaxley's nose. Crouch Jr's eyes. Rookwoods teeth. Macnair's balls.
Fae made it clear that she knew exactly where he was every day. She killed his followers in an encroaching spiral, sending him deeper and deeper into London. Anytime he tried to move away, she killed the nearest supporter or Death Eater and sent him reeling right back.
A week out, he started burning London, moved all his forces into the city to protect him and to destroy anything in reach out of childish retaliation. If he couldn't hurt Fae, then he'd hurt her city and make her watch. He'd hurt her werewolves and her friends in the Order.
That just made the witches and wizards mad. The Prophet posted her photos of maimed Death Eater's daily. The Aurors fought beside the Order and the Brigade. The Ministry began to offer support, resources, and pardons to other rebel groups. St. Mungo's offered healing, potions, and shelter to victims. The Goblins of Gringotts approved more loans than any other time in history, helping people rebuild and supporting small businesses who wanted to help. Platform 9 ¾ was filled with witches, wizards, and werewolves come to join the fight while The Hogwarts Express took others to safety. Ollivander's offered free wand repair and wand enhancements. Joffrey's lent armor and magical weapons out by the cart full. Broomstix sold out of brooms and Gambol and Jape's sold out of smokebombs and dungbombs. The magical community fought back and kept Tom Riddle busier than she could've ever imagined.
On top of the Ministry Building, Fae watched the city, alive and fighting. United. She grinned. Then hugged and kissed Romilly goodbye as she left to do her job, promising not to do anything too reckless.
Regulus knew it had to be soon. Things had clearly changed, it wasn't supposed to be this violent or widespread. Fae had intended to keep the fighting between her and Riddle's forces up until the last battle, but things had clearly been changed by the slaughter of 1/4 of the Werewolf Brigade. Many had wanted revenge for the attack on their heroes and Fae had dealt the first blow.
He just wondered how that would change their timeline and what that meant for the final battle. If his numbers would be fucked up because now at least half of magical London wanted in on the action. Would she invite them all out to Petersfield? Freaking Fae, probably. Which really fucked up his and the Marauder's plans because Friendly Fire wasn't cool. He had about a million other questions too.
As if to answer his prayers, a blonde angel on the back of a dragon suddenly descended from the skies into the backyard of Fae's house, startling the hell out of everybody around. Almost everybody.
He sprinted toward Reginald and met Romilly halfway there.
"Romilly!" he yelled, grinning, arms wide open.
She slammed into him, tackling him in a hug and wrapping her arms and legs around him with a laugh. "Regulus!"
He spun her around and held her tight, so relieved that she was okay. Even if she and Fae would have played it subtle like the original plan, he had been worried about both of them successfully attacking and evading an army on their own. When it got very bold and aggressive? He'd been terrified that Romilly would get hurt in the crossfire. Part of him had kind of hoped Fae would leave her in New York, but he knew Romilly would find her way here anyways and now he was just so happy to see her again, alive and kicking. The dragon was a nice touch.
"Romilly! Is Fae with you?!" Remus yelled, running into the backyard.
Romilly looked up from Regulus' shoulder and growled at Remus. "YOU."
Oh Merlin, yes.
Regulus opened his arms and Romilly sorted herself out, dropping down and stalking over to the Werewolf Commander with purpose. Said purpose was to punch him across the face with so much force that it sent him reeling back, nose broken and bloody.
"YOU FUCKING ARSEHOLE! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HER!"
"I'm sorry!" Remus cried, scrambling backwards as Romilly kept stalking toward him.
"I'LL FUCKING SHOW YOU SORRY, YOU CHEATING, LYING, USELESS SACK OF SHIT!" she screamed, stomping very close to Remus' bits. Regulus flinched and snickered at the look of fear on his face.
Remus tried to get up on his feet, but one of Romilly's long legs caught him in the chest and sent him sprawling back down. "I never meant to hurt her!"
"What did you think was going to happen when you slept with her and then showed up with another girl five seconds later? You dumb fucking son of a bitch! I should have pushed you in front of the Hogwarts Express!" The blonde woman punctuated several words with rib cracking stomps on Remus chest.
"I just wanted better for her!" the commander whined, rolling to the side and finally getting to his feet, backing away from her with his hands up in surrender.
"Better than the guy that she'd been in love with for years? She cried herself to sleep for months. Months." Romilly's voice was like ice and Regulus saw at least six werewolves take two steps back.
Remus blinked, looking as if he'd just had a revelation. "She did?"
"Why the hell do you sound so pleased about that, you fucking monster?!" Romilly screamed, beginning a barrage of punches and kicks on the tall werewolf. Regulus grinned and used a Flagrate spell to write out scores for her out of 10 for each hit. Lots of 9s and 8s across the board, a 10 for that knee to the gut. Wow, she was really going for it.
"No, no, Romilly, please, wait, I'm not, I'm not! I just- I didn't know-"
Oh he was begging now. How cute. Regulus gave Reginald some scratches under his chin and wondered briefly if Martha knew if there was any extra meat laying around for him.
"You didn't even write her! Not to say sorry, not to explain anything, not to apologize for missing the moon, not even for her fucking birthday!"
"I know! I should have-"
"Should have done a lot of fucking things, yeah, we know! But what matters is what you're going to do now?!" Romilly demanded.
"I'm going to tell her I love her! I'm going to fight for her and do my best to make her happy and commit to her every day!"
Many of the werewolves laughed lightly and gave him fond looks for that - everybody knew about his love for Fae and were rooting for him. Including Regulus. Romilly though? Oh, no, that wasn't going to be nearly enough. Romilly would probably demand that Remus bring Fae the Taj Mahal or buy all the chocolate in Belgium for her.
Romilly stopped hitting him to gape at him for a moment before she caught a handful of his shirt and brought his face close to hers so she could yell "THE HELL YOU ARE. GO FUCK YOURSELF LUPIN! OVER MY DEAD BODY ARE YOU GETTING ANYWHERE NEAR HER," past his pathetic, bruised face and down into his dying soul.
Remus ripped himself from her grasp and literally turned and ran for the woods. "Romilly, please! I just-"
"That's 'Sir' to you! Now shut the fuck up and stop running from me! You have some shit to answer for, Lupin, so take it like a man! MY BEST FRIEND DESERVES VENGEANCE."
Suddenly Christian was at Regulus' shoulder. "Should we stop her?" he asked, and Regulus greatly appreciated that they had come to him first instead of attacking her without question. Of course, the dragon nuzzling Regulus' side might've had something to do with it. Reginald was just such a sweetheart, but they didn't know that.
"Oh hell no, do you know how long I've been waiting for this?" Regulus said, smiling brilliantly.
"Uhm."
"Don't worry, she won't kill him or maim him that much. She'll lose interest when he doesn't fight back," he said. Which was true. Romilly, like Fae, enjoyed the hunt and Remus had probably done the worst thing possible by running. The lack of defense or fight though, that would definitely bore her and she'd run out of things to say. Eventually.
"Why doesn't he?"
"Because I told him that as Fae's best friend, he has to win her over in order to properly date Fae," Regulus said, tripping on words because he was too busy laughing at Romilly catching Remus' arm mid-run and swinging him around to fling him into a tree.
"Ah… Is that true?"
"Ha, no. Fae does what she wants."
Sirius then joined him, coming from the garage to check out the commotion. "Woah! Is that a dragon?" he said excitedly. Then blinked. "Is that Romilly?"
"Hey Si'us," Regulus greeted happily. "Good timing, you almost missed the show."
"That's Romilly? Romilly Rigby? The freckled, gapped-toothed, wonder bitch?" he asked, awestruck.
Regulus frowned at him. "Hey." Not that Romilly minded being called a bitch. She always said she'd rather be called bitch than doormat, but Regulus didn't like Sirius' tone. It wasn't like Romilly had been ugly in any way, shape, or form back at Hogwarts. He actually rather missed her thick-framed glasses, although they still made an appearance every night when she removed her contacts before bed. The lenses made her eyes big and cute like Bambi.
"She got hot! I mean, damn. If I weren't gay, I'd go there," Sirius said.
Then Romilly threw Remus over her shoulder and Sirius whistled low, looking at her with increasing interest. "Fuck it, I might still."
"HEY," Regulus growled, causing Reginald to growl right with him. Sirius, too busy watching, paid him no mind and Regulus gestured for Reginald to bite. The dragon nipped him on the ass which sent Sirius screaming and running with Reginald chasing after him like they were playing fetch.
"Good boy."
Romilly tossed Remus around like a ragdoll for an hour. It would've been longer, but Romilly was a regular witch, albeit pissed off, and Remus was a 6"3 werewolf made mostly of muscle and the power of true love these days, so Regulus stopped her before she strained something. Actually no, he suggested she use her wand and hex him with some of the fun stuff they'd used back in school, but she responded that Remus wasn't worth her magic. That and it wasn't as fun as beating the shit out of him personally.
She then tossed an easy arm around Regulus' waist and demanded he show her around, introduce her to the Werewolf Brigade who were now terrified of her. And Reginald, who loped after them like an overly affectionate puppy. Regulus snickered and cast a shrinking spell, mindful that it was the variation safe for creatures. Reginald shrank from school bus size to motorcycle size which was good enough. And then Sirius planted himself in front of them.
"I'd be happy to show you around, Rigby. It's been so long since we last saw each other and I'd adore catching up," he said, kissing Romilly's hand charmingly.
Romilly grinned sharply, twisted her hand out of his to tip up his chin with a gloved, still slightly bloody finger. "Go fuck a cactus, Black," she told his brother sweetly. Then tugged Regulus toward the house. "Come on Regulus. Got any wine?"
"Or course," he said, laughing. "What kind of question is that? I made sure they stocked a few bottles of your favorites."
Technically Remus had, and had struggled hilariously to keep his werewolves from stealing it. But Regulus was definitely taking the cred for it. It had been his idea anyways. Besides, Romilly had a thing about pathetic, injured creatures. She'd ease up on Remus soon enough, so long as he bore his punishment gracefully.
"Ugh, you're an angel. I missed you."
"I missed you too," he said, pressing his lips to her blonde hair instinctually. "So tell me, what did I miss?"
They settled down on the couch, Romilly remaining under his arm as they drank wine and Regulus called in each werewolf, one by one, so they could meet her. Sassy, blunt, and crude as ever, he found himself laughing with every greeting.
"I'm Fae's other best friend, Romilly Rigby. Call me Eleanor Rigby and I let Reggie eat you."
"Heya. Ready to fuck up some Death Eaters?"
"Nice to meet you, I'm here to herald war and almost certain-death in your case, so long as you keep following that loser Lupin."
"Oh, I remember you from Celeste's pack. She still hot?"
When the werewolves filtered out, Remus had retreated to lick his wounds, Sirius had been chased off by Reginald again, and it was just them, they talked about everything. How nice the flight to America had been which he was sure she totally lied about. How he was sick and tired of people always being everywhere around here and never having a moment of peace. How good it was to see her grandparents. How he'd told off Remus himself and conned him into getting gifts of appeasement for Romilly. The giant bottle of venom they'd received. The trick he'd discovered for Fiendfyre. Fae going half-mad waiting to get back. Romilly forcing Fae into taking her along and Regulus pouting because that wasn't fair. Brutalizing Death Eaters instead of baiting them. How the plans had changed and they had three days.
Three days.
Regulus had wanted to get to planning immediately, adjusting for the new changes, but Romilly refused to let him get up. She just sat on him and insisted that it was late enough, that he could relax for a little while longer and get to fussing tomorrow, tonight she just wanted to breathe for a minute. And if he got up and got to work, then she would have to also because they were a team and she refused to let him show her up. Regulus rolled his eyes and agreed. One night couldn't hurt.
Then he nearly tossed her off the couch when she produced the most obnoxious, cliche, ridiculous t-shirt he'd ever seen as his souvenir. He tried to burn it, she tried to force it on him, he hexed it onto her instead, and then she gave him his real souvenirs - a miniature of the Empire State Building that she'd charmed hollow and filled with two gallons of Reeses Pieces, a bottle of Long Island White Wine, and a postcard with the New York City skyline at night on it that flickered the building lights and shot shooting stars across the night sky.
She'd written 'Wish you were here. It's not the same without you' on the back and he smiled. She yelled at him to get that sappy look off his face or she'd rip up his gifts and make him eat them, sans the Reeses which she would eat herself and make him watch.
Sirius was kicked out of his bedroom because Romilly insisted that she was staying with Regulus and since Regulus was the Head of the House of Black, he got dibs on the room. And if Sirius tried to sneak in and be weird, Reginald was waiting at the door to greet him. She wasn't wrong about him being superior, but it still made him embarrassed when Sirius kept shooting him looks full of implication and wiggly eyebrows.
He forgot all about his dumbass brother though, getting wine-drunk with his best friend as they lay back in bed and giggled over their failed attempts to spell stars and fairy lights on the ceiling. Fae was always the best at it. So he made up stories and constellations about the cracks in the ceiling instead until they fell asleep, Romilly buried into his side and Regulus smiling into her hair. The straight perm was fading and her natural curls were coming back.
It was back to work the next day. His liaisons in the Order were called to meet alongside Remus, Christian, and Sirius. They had two days. On October 12th, the day before the full moon, they would be going to war. Fae would keep Riddle and his Death Eaters busy during the day while they were expected to prepare for battle in Petersfield. Showtime at sunset.
The Werewolf Brigade were all in and at least 80% of the Order had decided to participate. Moody, McGonagall, and Meadows left to rally the rest of the Order while Regulus pulled out his map and cheerfully showed Romilly all the plans he and the remaining Marauders had made. Or, he tried. Sirius kept talking over him, bragging about the pit he'd thought of or the lightning laced lilies or the flying razor clovers. That is, until Romilly charmed his mouth missing.
Remus presented his ideas too and she gave him a curt nod before dragging him off for a talk, not dissimilar to when he'd talked to Remus himself weeks ago. Oh, to be a fly on the wall. While Romilly bullied, and finally accepted, Remus, Regulus went with Christian to alert the Werewolf Brigade and give them the lowdown on where they'd be waiting, where they would attack from, how many should stick together, never attack a Death Eater with a wand head-on, how to charm a bubble around their heads in the event of percussion grenades, sulpher bombs, or any other sensory fucking weapons being used again and so on.
Romilly had showed up mid-way through and casually took a seat next to him, listening and thankfully, not interrupting until he was done and the wolves dispersed.
"Wow. Look at you, all official and serious and stuff," she teased.
It was low-hanging fruit, he couldn't help it. Grinning he said, "I'm not Sirius, I'm Regul-"
"Shut the fuck up."
Regulus laughed and then stood, offering his hand to her. "Come on, there's something I want to show you," he said excitedly. He'd been waiting for this too for a while.
Romilly arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow- seriously when had she even found time for upkeep on the run?- and took his hand. He pulled her onto Reginald behind him and she paused. "Should we be leaving the grounds so close to the battle, especially with Riddle and his Death Eaters hiding all over the city?"
"It's for a good reason?" he said, smiling hopefully. "Please don't tell Fae."
Romilly chuckled. "I won't tell if you don't tell her I beat the everloving fuck out of Remus."
"Deal," he said and they took off into the sky. As he cast a disillusionment charm around them, he asked, "Will he be able to walk again in time for the final battle?"
"I'm sure he'll be sprinting like a cheerful madman through hellfire, AKs, and pepper spray to get to Fae the second the battle starts," Romilly answered dryly.
Of course he would. He rolled his eyes. "Better not get himself killed, idiot."
Romilly laughed and then sighed, leaning over Regulus' back and looping her arms around him loosely. "He really, really loves her," she said.
He smiled and nodded. "Yeah."
"They'll be happy together," she said, voice satisfied and content and assured.
"Yeah." After all this was over, they'd be the happiest people he knew, together doing stupid, dumb, sappy stuff all day every day. He was truly thrilled for them and hoped one day, he'd find the same thing.
"Right," Romilly said. Then she hooked her chin over Regulus' shoulder and he could feel her cheeky smile more than he could see it. "Dibs on Maid of Honor."
"I will fight you," he said.
"Bring it o- Eep!" Romilly's voice got lost in a happy scream as he flew Reginald into loop-de-loops and barrel rolls.
They landed on top of a regular looking house in a regular looking neighborhood. Then, with great satisfaction, he cast a spell to cave in the roof partially, so Reginald could enter with them. This was for him too, after all. Regulus had brought them to the House of Black. While he'd been ransacking the place to find a way to control the Fiendfyre, he'd found a whole armory. And a set of armor that was shaped for a dragon.
"It'll make Reginald look so sophisticated, don't you think?" he said proudly, displaying the shiny, thick panels of high-quality, heavily-charmed metal.
"Reggie will love it! Thanks!" Romilly said. Then she was sidetracked by a set of swords beside the dragon armor.
"Ooohhh, are these diamond encrusted?" she asked, running her hands in the air over them, but not touching until Regulus gave the okay that it was safe.
He smiled, happy she'd learned her lesson about touching things with dark magic. "Feel free to take whatever you want. My mother's jewelry is downstairs if you want to see some really nice diamonds. Just ignore the screaming," he said, feeling no guilt whatsoever about handing off his mothers' things. Romilly was three times the woman she'd ever been and as such, deserved all the nice things. He'd certainly have no use for them and he just knew Romilly would go nuts for the three-stringed diamond choker that his mother would wear for Christmas if the Minister of Magic stopped by. It would go great with that white body-con dress she'd bought in Rome.
Romilly thought it over for a second and then said, "Mmm… I think I'd rather raid your Great Great Aunt Antares' stuff. She fought in the last war, didn't she? Probably has some armor for me too, so Reggie and I can match."
He blinked at her. His Great Great Aunt Antares? How had she even known about her? Regulus barely knew that much about his own lineage. "I think that can be arranged," he said, grinning and moving on to give her a grand tour of the House of Black, with a great big pause in the kitchen as she met Kreacher. Regulus had flinched when Kreacher had immediately insulted her for being a 'dirty half-blood' and he'd meant to chastise him, but Romilly just shrugged it off and proceeded to win him over in five minutes flat. Soon enough, Kreacher was rolling out the good knives for her with a selection of cheeses, their finest wines, and the nice, crystal glasses.
They left the House of Black, both matching Reginald, decked out in dark, sleek, protective gear, designed thicker than a dragon's skin to protect them from dark spells. In some cases, the curses would even reflect. They managed to snag a set for Fae as well, snickering as they charmed it super small to fit her frame. Romilly also took a set of daggers and coated them in Runespoor Venom, because she just casually had some on her. Honestly.
For Regulus, she had an entire set of antidotes, rare potions, and homemade solutions to use as one of the battlefield's primary healers. That, and a silver protective charm, made from Occamy shells and Ramora scales. It was surreal, finally gearing up for battle after being behind the scenes and preparing for so long.
Then, upon returning to the Potter House, they found Remus speaking with the smallest, fittest, most gorgeous and intimidating blonde woman that Regulus had ever seen in his life. This woman, werewolf actually, looked like the love child of Romilly and Fae and acted like it too. Headstrong, charming, confident, dangerous, effortlessly brilliant. Romilly had leapt off Reginald before they touched down and eagerly went to greet her, Celeste. The Alpha of the Northern Pack, which it seemed she'd brought a large chunk of.
"I thought you weren't fighting the battles of cruel humans?" Romilly teased.
"It is good to see you, Romilly." Celeste offered her a rather sensual kiss on the mouth in greeting and then grinned. "We do not fight for the humans. We fight because I owe Athena, or Fae I suppose, for killing Greyback."
Romilly smiled back and smacked Remus' heavily bruised shoulder. "Well that's great! The more the merrier! Commander Lupin will sort you guys out and fill you in."
Remus swallowed noisily and looked nervous. But to his credit, he straightened up and put on his 'leader' face pretty fast, welcoming Celeste's pack and beginning to show them the grounds and explain how things worked in his Brigade. He'd heard a lot about Celeste and to see her willing to follow Remus of all people spoke volumes about how grateful she was. Regulus remembered the video and wondered what her name had been when she'd been bitten. He wondered if Fae knew. She probably did, she knew everything.
The next day was tense and most of them took it out by practicing their dueling or hunting. To Regulus' relief, Romilly hadn't gotten rusty in the slightest. Had only gotten better, if anything. And the Swooping Evil, Erumpent Powder Bombs, Liquidized Nundu Breath, and bottled Thunderbird Lightning she carried left him confident that she'd be just fine.
At sundown, the training stopped.
Sirius worked on his motorbike in the garage, listening to his and Fae's favorite songs on her boombox, and chatting with James who was readying all of his materials to prep the battlefield. Lily was settling Harry at Hogwarts and would be back with more fighters the next day in time to fight.
Christian asked Willis to marry him, in the wizarding world for all to see, for real when this was over. They'd get a house in St. Ives, or maybe build a town entirely new for their pack and for other werewolves to have a home to go to.
Jim and Maddy argued about Maddy going to the battle because she was pregnant, but not that pregnant yet. No way was she missing out on this fight and Jim knew better than to challenge her and expect to win.
Nile, a survivor of the Lestrange massacre, kissed Alex Diggory and then they broke apart laughing because it was nice to have their first kiss before the end, but it wasn't right without Silas there. But they'd avenge him and Hannah and Joy and Dritte and Zweite and Patrick and all of them.
Celeste led her wolves in a hunt on the outskirts of town, feeding up to be energized for the battle ahead and howling loud and proud to scare their enemies.
Moody sat, calmly sipping coffee and watching while Lucrecia taught Martha how to heal wounds and how to bandage and suture the dark injuries that wouldn't heal without advanced help - a thousand loaves of fresh bread baking in the ovens.
Sirius had teased Regulus about dying a virgin, but he just kicked him out and laid down with Romilly, floating fairy lights around the room. Or, technically stars. He'd charmed the ceiling with stars to tell stories, but they fell off and decided to hover instead, casting them in the middle of some strange galaxy. Like any other night, they got slightly drunk on wine and talked about whatever came to mind. They swapped stories and laughed for hours about all the crazy shit they've done over the years, with and without and for Fae. They fell asleep easily, knowing everything would be okay because they'd have each other, and Fae, no matter what.
Remus sat on Fae's bed, flipping through her favorite books and reading the notes in the margins, listening to her tapes playing softly in the background, looking at Peter's photos of her over the years, reading the messy scrawl in her various notebooks. Unable to sleep because he was so excited to see her. Around 3 am, he got up and joined Sirius and James in the garage, going over plans one last time, reminiscing about their long history as pranksters and as friends, toasting to Peter and to all those lost, who would soon be avenged.
Fae hadn't slept in 40 hours, but that was okay because it was the day before the full moon and Romilly's latest rendition of her miracle shots were like ten times better than espresso.
She'd broken into a print shop, an unfamiliar one because hers had been burned down, and printed off a million and one sheets of paper. When they were shrunken and ready to go, she sauntered over the Daily Prophet building, intending to take over their distribution sector and sticky charm her little love notes to the front page.
Turns out, she didn't have to take over shit. The employees and Editor-in-Chief were all too happy to help her add her page to the morning's newspaper. In fact, they were mad that she hadn't just asked them ahead of time. She could've had the whole paper to do with what she wished. Really go all out and piss him off.
It was too bad, but Fae was grateful for their help nonetheless and warned them to be ready for the fallout. Everybody knew what happened to Pop Prints Plus after all, and they probably had about an hour or two hours to vacate the building, sorry dude. The Prophet Owner, Markus Bimms, shrugged and showed her the extensive color-changing, acid-spraying, toxic flower-showering bombs they'd rigged the outside of the building with and told her that the Death Eaters were welcome to try.
Also, if she ever wanted a job in the newspaper industry after this, they'd be happy to have her. She had an excellent eye for layout design and a real way with words.
TOM RIDDLE THUMB-TWIDDLER TOO STUPID TO CATCH HOT HALF-BLOOD HUFFLEPUFF
Fae grinned at the hot-off-the-press newspaper in her hands. Charmed to the front page was a little poster - just a cute picture of her blowing a kiss and then flipping the bird. With the Gaunt Ring on her middle finger.
She thought it was a pretty nice good morning for him and decided she deserved a nice morning of her own. She was going to make this last day count. So she skipped across the street to a coffee shop, ordered herself half the pastry case and sat down to read the paper, drink coffee, and wait for Tom's Death Eaters to show up. The Prophet had outdone themselves today, covering The Brigade's latest successful attack on Nigellus Bromwell's hidden bunker, the rioting group who had found and lynched Victor Portmouth, and the uptake in business for local florists.
The Death Eaters, and a large mob of supporters, showed up about an hour later, only a few minutes after the papers had gone out. Prompt. She hadn't even finished her carrot cake. But at least the Daily Prophet's bombs kept them busy long enough for her to chug the remainder of her coffee.
Then she dove into the fray, no disguise, no Invisibility Cloak. Full-frontal Fae in her peak form, wrecking a path through them with a House of Black innovated shield-charmed necklace that answered curses and spells with a steel spike through the chest. Fae posed for the camera and ripped out the throat of this group's leader, Hugh Wilkes.
"Tonight we end the war!" she declared to the Prophet reporters and the crowds of people who'd come to see the commotion. Then she disappeared in a trail of flower petals as the ground opened up into a massive pit full of flesh-eating slugs. Newt was right - they were super easy to catch if you mixed rice and honey with gasoline. Her enemies screamed and many tried crawling over each other to get out. Some succeeded and chased her flower trail, completely unaware that she was just back across the street under the cloak, finishing her carrot cake and licking off the last bits of cream cheese icing with her finger.
The city descended on the remaining struggling Death Eaters, rainbow in color, flesh half-melted-half-eaten, and faces covered in footprints. It was a good morning.
Her next stop was the Ministry Building. They were less happy to see her so she had to actually sneak in with the Invisibility Cloak. She made it to the communications' offices and knocked out the employees, flooing them to St. Mungos. Then she got cracking, going through the boss's desk for instructions on how to manage the Floo Network. She got what she wanted about an hour later, set-off the magic hazard alarm in the whole building to keep people busy, and then took over every Floo in the city.
Fae's grinning face, Slytherin Locket hanging from her neck, peaked out from the green flames and her voice rang through every nook and cranny of London. "Tom Riddle! You are a boring, unoriginal, B-grade Baddy, with poor taste in fashion! Seriously, who even wears necklaces like this anymore? So old-school," she taunted.
Then she took off the necklace and twirled it around her finger. "Ope, that's right! I've got your other trinket too! Lookie, lookie!"
Fae made sure he got a very clear picture of it, and the ring, before putting them away and smirking devilishly into the fire. "So here's the thing. Above all things I've said, you really are quite boring. In fact, I'm just about done playing with you. I'm thinking, it's time to end this. You free tonight? Ha, of course you are. You don't have plans. You just have your shitty, pathetic, predictable little Death Eaters," she said.
Then she flashed her teeth, big and wide and pretty and happy. "I can't wait to kill you, once and for all."
After a dramatic pause, she laughed lightly. "And for the rest of you curious listeners - tune in to Channel 56 and 1/2 for more at dinner. Of course, you're all invited to Tom's Happy Death Day Party. It's going to be a rager. Ta, loves," she said, winking and waving.
The Floo Network disconnected and she quickly set off an explosion in this particular fireplace so nobody would try to come through. Of course, she hadn't counted on the Aurors being quite so fast and several burst into the room, surrounding her with their wands out. Fuck.
"Hey guys! Any chance I can convince you to tell your boss that you never saw me?" Because she really had to peace out. Gods, she was so dumb sometimes, why didn't she use the fucking floo herself instead of blowing it up.
The Head Auror, Orson Windsor, bound her arms with an Incarcerous and said, "Fae Potter, you are being taken into custody under orders of the Ministry for Magic for slander, illegal entry, illegal crossing of international boundaries, stealing, arson, voluntary manslaughter, conspiracy against the ministry, homicide, and intentional destruction of public buildings."
Fae counted them off in her head, thought about it for a bit, and then made a face. "That's it?"
The Aurors blinked at her and she began working on getting out of her bindings. "No seriously, that's all you guys got me for? For real?" she asked. Because, honestly, she'd done a lot more than that surely.
"God damnit Fae, just shut up!" one of the Aurors said.
Fae squinted and then laughed wickedly. "Oh shit! Henry, is that you?" Holy fuck, it was her old boyfriend. Well, they were never official actually, not after Fae handed his ass to him for not believing she was badass.
Before anyone could say anything, a huge explosion rocked the building.
"Code Red! Everybody evacuate the building in an orderly fashion. This is not a drill," blared over the speaker system repeatedly as the lights began to flash.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Fae said. "Oi! What's Code Red?"
"Death Eaters have broken into the Ministry Building."
"OH SUCK A FUCK, SERIOUSLY?" she yelled, struggling in earnest to get out of her bindings. She sincerely thought Tom wouldn't send his Death Eaters and supporters into certain-death in the fucking Auror-stocked Ministry Building. Good lord, he must be really mad, in all senses of the word.
"Shit! Guys, let me go! He's after me! They won't leave unless I-"
"I said shut up Fae!" Henry yelled as the Aurors apparated to the battle. Only Henry and two others stayed, shoving her about and leading her to dungeons or something. Captivity. Well, she certainly could not be captive. She had shit to do today. But bloody hell, this Incarcerous was really strong.
Either they went the wrong way and found the battle or the battle had found them, but they took a left and suddenly there was shouting and debris and jets of light everywhere. OH, not good, not good, not good. The Incarcerous finally broke and Fae ducked backwards, under the arms of her captors. The hallway circled around the atrium and she ran for another opening, peeking out and then firing off a Stupefy at the nearest black mask. Damn, there were a lot of them. The duel was at least thirty to forty people, some who she had no clue what side they were on. Fuck! And there were way too many innocent bystanders in here.
She darted into the atrium and under the welcome desk where six people, receptionists and an elderly couple and the door guy, were hiding. Fae slipped her shield-charm necklace over the head of the strongest looking one and then sent them moving in a group towards the exit, protruding spikes and forcefield keeping them safe as they escaped.
Fae popped up and down like pop the weasel, peaking over the desk and taking out every Death Eater she could. Or, alternatively, identifying people she knew were cool and downing their attackers.
"THERE SHE IS! GET HER!" someone yelled and Fae sprinted away from the now-destroyed receptionist desk. She ran in winding paths, faster this close to the moon than anybody else in the building. Everybody, but Henry Jacobs who stood at the end of the hallway, blocked a hex aimed at her back, and pulled her into a room as she reached him. He slammed the door shut and cast several locking spells, only some of them cancelling out the ones Fae was also casting.
When the door was secure for the time being, he whirled on her. "Way to go, Fae! You just had to use the Ministry Floo Network!" he yelled.
"I had to make sure he'd see it!" she argued back. And fuck, she really, really hadn't thought that people would be stupid enough to attack here.
"Whatever, just get out of here and make sure he dies slowly and painfully!" Henry said, pushing and shoving her backwards.
"What? No! I can't just leave you guys-"
"Bye Fae!" Henry threw her into a shower stall, cranked the water, and she began to disappear down the drain as the water cascaded. Last thing she saw was the door breaking open and a bright, green AK hitting Henry's back.
Fae found herself in the sewers and exited out a few kilometers away from the Ministry Building which had a giant smoke tower coming off it now. She stared. Then nodded once and left in the opposite direction.
Make sure he dies slowly and painfully? She wished she could fulfill that promise, but Fae had to be real. She just didn't think she'd have the patience for that. The second she got her hands on him, it'd be over in an instant. And she'd parade his bloody body through every street in London.
The Ministry for Magic had been dabbling in television broadcasting specific to the wizarding community. However, only dabbling, and as such, there was only one building. The British Wizarding Broadcasting Corporation operated solely on Channel 56 and ½. She'd been stupid, saying that much. Should've just hinted at the channel and let them search. An hour or two before sunset, Fae arrived at the Wizarding Broadcasting building to find all of its inhabitants slaughtered, save for the Death Eaters roaming the halls, waiting for her.
She was surprised Tom Riddle himself wasn't here, trying to end it now. That was the only lucky thing about this and she supposed he was probably checking the hiding places of the ring and the locket to confirm they were indeed missing. At least Fae hadn't fucked that up - specifying the ring and the 'other trinket' which was the locket. Implying those were the only two she had and thought that he had. The Diadem would be impossible to check, Bellatrix was dead and the Goblins wouldn't let anybody but her or a member of the Black line into her vault. She supposed he could check for the diary and really hoped he wouldn't, or he might see through Regulus' replica and realize she'd taken them all.
For now though, she had to worry about getting into this building and getting her message out. She pulled out a few Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder rocks and tossed them up and down. The smell would be murder on her nose, but these guys couldn't see in the dark. Not like she could.
There were a total of 15 men and women waiting for her. She killed them all, attempting to do it stealthily one-by-one, but ending up having to take the last three on simultaneously. Good dueling practice, she supposed. They had managed a decent slicing hex which fucked up her left leg and took a few shots at her arms as well. Fuckers had collapsed the ceiling too while Fae had been dispelling the instant quicksand trap so now her head was bleeding pretty bad and she had a concussion. But they'd made a mistake breaking down the room - that just gave her access to trees and their bodies shortly became embedded with thousands of splinters from the cedars just outside.
Fae, covered in blood, but still grinning cheerfully and confidently, kept her message on the TV short. "Hey Tommy, thanks for the little gift. Are you ready to face me yourself now, you coward? Sunset, west of London, look for fireworks. I'm sure these babies will burn beautifully. See you there, fucker."
And then hit repeat before activating the portkey she'd made out of Regulus' disguise-charmed earring studs. "To Peter," she said, leaving the station behind.
Romilly and Regulus were waiting for her in the throne room. The smell of fire and scales let her know that Reggie was pacing close by. She fell into their waiting arms with a relieved sigh and then smirked devilishly while Regulus lectured her and patched her up, making her good as new in record time. He was getting so talented and the white armband on his arm designating him a healer looked excellent on him.
She listened intently while Romilly fixed her hair, strapped on her armor, and informed her of their estimated forces. How badly the field was fucked up for the first wave of enemies, which had her laughing hysterically. Looks like Peter would get to make one last mark in spirit with the Marauders. Then Romilly handed her a red armband and a red bandana. From Remus, she'd said. Fae tied them on, heart bursting with pride and with joy. These were reeking of his scent and she resisted the urge to pull the bandana up over her nose so the smell was all she could recognize. Riddle should see her face when he died.
Finally. Everybody was ready to go.
Together, her two beautiful, wonderful, perfect best friends excitedly showed her the time-bomb. Triggered by the lack of sun - shining on it from a series of mirrors that Regulus set up to be extra, she thought fondly. The sun would set, the light on the mirrors would disappear, and the bomb would go off, breaking open the container of Basilisk Venom onto the Horcruxes. All five of them. Leading outwards from the pile of knick knacks on the ground were painted lines- lines that formed a complex and powerful alchemic circle. They'd take their places at each of the triangle's points, wands into the ground, a perfectly controlled and low-magic-costing Fiendfyre of unimaginable proportions to finish off the Horcruxes. Just in case. Connected to their little firework show. They just had to get out fast, that was all.
"Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant, both of you," Fae said, beaming to hide her shaking voice and trembling body.
This was really it.
Standing over the Horcruxes in the center of the throne room, decked out in armor, alive on thrill and fear, she cupped a hand behind both of their heads. Brought them gently in so they were all leaned together. Hands around shoulders.
"When I started this journey, I thought I'd be ending it alone. I never imagined I'd be so blessed as to find not one, but two outstanding suckers such as yourselves to take along on this insane ride," Fae said, prompting light, watery laughs from the three of them. Even Romilly was tearing up a little.
"I wouldn't want anybody else by my side at this moment. Or through all of it. You two are what made everything possible. I love you, so much more than you can imagine," Fae said, pulling them in for a bitingly tight group hug. She kissed what skin she could reach and took their strength, their support, one last time. Stopped shaking. Pulled back.
With them by her side, with her brothers and her wolves and Remus in the field to support her, Fae could do anything. Win, lose, triumph, die. Everything would be okay. Whether she lived or not, they would be okay.
"There's nowhere else I'd rather be. You two are...everything to me and I will stand by you no matter what," Romilly said.
Regulus sniffled and wiped away his tears before they fell. "I'd have been dead without you two. Or worse, I'd have been alive and hating every second of my existence. Ever since I met you both, my life has been filled with laughter and happiness and perfect madness. If this is where it ends, then I know I've lived a good life these past seven years with you."
"So bleak, Regulus," Romilly teased, making Fae snicker.
He made a face at her. "Well, let me finish then!"
"Guys," Fae said fondly, grinning.
"Here's to many more years of insanity together, starting with winning this war. There, done."
Romilly rolled her eyes, but smiled. "I love you guys."
"I love you both too," Regulus said.
Fae caressed their cheeks. And then let go.
"Now let's wreck this bitch."
A/N: Well. Here we are. Only a few chapters left.
Hope everybody had a Happy New Year, and just an overall wonderful holiday season. If you find it as hard as I did to come back to work, or school, then imagine yourself as Fae going to war, confident that Voldemort will die.
Cheers my loves.