AN: Ahhh we're finally here y'all ! This story has been such a pleasure to write and reading all of your nice comments has genuinely been my main source of serotonin for the past six months. You've no idea how much you all have encouraged me to keep writing. I think this might be one of my favourite stories I've ever written. This is technically the last chapter, although the epilogue is pretty damn long. Anyway, I'm sorry for the little rant... please enjoy ! And thank you for your reviews !

cardigan – taylor swift

"tried to change the ending

peter losing wendy."

Sofia had been staring at the clock for exactly three hours, fifteen minutes, and twenty seconds. The longer she waited, the more she felt like she was going to throw up. But she did her best to remain calm. They needed her to be ready when they got back.

She has remained (mostly) calm for the first couple of hours, but the more time elapsed after that, the more restless she got. Four times in the last hour, she'd gotten up and walked up to the door determined to go down to that goddamn cave and help, but four times she had stood down, telling herself, what if they walk through the door right this second?

She'd written letters to her mother and siblings. She wrote them so often nowadays, they were probably getting sick of her. She gave no indication that anything out of the ordinary was happening. Mostly talked about movies and music and asked them about what they were up to.

Her eyes were drawn back to the clock. She stared at it for a full two minutes before she heard the unmistakable sound of someone Apparating and she rushed to the door. Sirius had an arm wrapped around his brother, who was limp in his arms. Sofia's heart dropped. She inhaled sharply and went over to help Sirius. Regulus's skin was deathly pale, his lips an awful shade of blue. Sofia's heart wrenched horribly in her chest.

"I managed to expel the water from his lungs, and he's breathing... he's just unconscious," Sirius said, out of breath.

He was alive. He was alive and Sofia's hands were shaking, she helped Sirius lead Regulus onto the sofa. He was drenched, but Sirius was right, he was breathing. Sofia quickly cast a drying spell.

Sirius held his brother's arm as Sofia punctured the skin of his hand and hooked him up to the IV drip—which yes, she had been forced to steal because of the short notice. She did not know nearly enough about Healing to know how wizards dealt with dehydration, so she'd settled for the Muggle way.

Sofia wrapped Regulus in every blanket she'd been able to find in the flat and watched his face closely for signs of consciousness. "Are you sure he'll be okay? Maybe we should go to St Mungo's?"

Sirius took a deep breath and sat on a chair next to the sofa. "If he doesn't wake in ten minutes, we'll take him."

Sirius started filling in Sofia on the events at the cave. It made Sofia's heart ache to know that Regulus and Sirius had had to go through that.

"If he hadn't cast that Lumos... I would've never found him," Sirius said, hunching over. "They already had him at the bottom of the lake... The flames I cast worked pretty well to repel the Inferi, but I had no idea where he was until I saw the light under the water. I thought it was too late. When I dragged him out of that lake..." he shook his head. "His lips were blue. I thought he was dead for sure."

Sofia looked at Regulus from her spot on the coffee table. She cast another silent warming spell, hoping he wouldn't get hypothermia. He was pale but not deathly so anymore. She stood and half sat on a tiny bit of sofa next to him. She just felt like she needed to be close to him. She reached over and brushed the hair away from his face. Then she pressed her palm against his cold cheek.

"S...fi..aa." His eyelids fluttered.

Sofia couldn't help the smile that took over her face. She leaned down to whisper in his ear. "I'm here. It's okay. You're okay."

Sirius handed Sofia a bottle of water and she made Regulus take a few sips. He looked at her with weary but content eyes.

Sofia caressed his hair softly. "You should sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

He dug his hand out from under the covers and squeezed Sofia's hand before closing his eyes. His skin was still slightly cold, so Sofia put his arm back under the blankets.

Only now that she knew Regulus was more or less fine did she remember to ask Sirius. "Did you get it?"

Sirius nodded. "Now we just have to figure out a way to destroy it."

"Do you think he knows? That you took it."

"I don't think so. But he'll definitely know when we destroy it."

Sofia nodded. "We have some time then. I doubt he'll be happy you ran but if he doesn't know you have the locket... I doubt you'll be his first priority."

Sirius looked pensive for a moment.

"You should rest too."

He sighed deeply. Looked at Sofia, then at his brother. "Yeah, alright... You'll be okay?"

Sofia offered him a small smile and a nod. "Of course."

Slowly, he stood and kissed the top of Sofia's head before going into his room.

Sofia watched over Regulus for as long as she could keep her eyes open, eventually being overtaken by sleep.

When she woke, Sofia was immediately relieved by the sight of Regulus. His eyes were open and he was looking at her with a tender look on his face. "Hey," he said in a low voice.

She smiled. "Hi." She shifted to sit properly. She'd fallen asleep draped over the floor, with her upper body mostly on top of Regulus's blankets. Needless to say, her joints were loudly complaining about that at the moment. "Have you been up long?"

"Not long. I didn't want to wake you."

Sofia glanced over at the clock on the wall and let out a soft gasp. "Shit. It's almost nine. You have to get to the Ministry."

Regulus put his hand over Sofia's. "Relax. If I don't make it, we'll reschedule."

Sofia looked at him nervously. "Did you agree on a time frame with Travers? When you made the deal?"

Regulus took a breath. "He gave me a year. It expires in a week."

"Then, you have to get there. You know how the Ministry can be, they might take weeks to reschedule," Sofia argued while standing up. "Give me your hand so I can take the IV out."

Regulus made a face as she pulled the needle out, then muttered something about not understanding Muggles.

"You do remember I'm supposed to meet Kreacher so he can give me the locket?" Regulus asked.

"Shit. What time again?"

Regulus glanced at the clock. "Like fifteen minutes ago."

"I'll go. You can go straight to the Ministry."

Regulus grimaced. "Yeah... well as much as I trust and appreciate Kreacher for all he's done for me... I do not trust him around you."

Sofia groaned. "Ugh, fine. We'll both go. Just let me go fix this"—she gestured to her face—"real quick."

He gave her a dumb smile. "You look beautiful."

She rolled her eyes playfully and rushed to her room. She fixed her hair and threw on new clothes in two minutes stat. She smiled when she saw Regulus leaning on the kitchen counter. He held out a cup of tea to her.

"I was afraid you'd run out on me," Sofia admitted.

His lips tugged upwards. "I meant it when I told you I wanted to spend as much time with you as possible before..."

A lump rose in Sofia's throat. She took the tea from Regulus and took a sip. Before he was married, and they couldn't see each other anymore. That's what he meant. Sofia certainly hoped she might see him again... but it would hurt too much to do it often. Not to mention, he and Eliana might have to go into hiding once Regulus defected from the Death Eaters properly. She tried to put it off her mind.

She took a breath. "Let's go."

Regulus had agreed to meet with Kreacher in an abandoned building a few blocks down from Sirius's flat, as Sirius wasn't too keen on the idea of the elf knowing exactly where he lived.

Regulus held Sofia's hand as they entered the building and she let him, even if she could already feel him slipping away.

But what greeted them was a sight that in retrospect, maybe Sofia should've seen coming.

In the shadows inside of the old abandoned building, stood none other than Travers. He looked the same as the last time Sofia had seen him a year before. The only noticeable difference being how his eyes had become even colder.

He held Kreacher by the skin of his neck with one hand, the elf's hands were tied, a gag over his mouth. Travers spat at his feet. "So this is why you left my sister crying all night. You just had to get in one last fuck with your whore."

Regulus's jaw clenched. He didn't let go of Sofia's hand. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Travers laughed drily. "What am I doing here? I'm here because your mother wrote to my sister to ask if you were with her when you didn't get home last night, and Eliana came to my place in tears this morning saying your parents still hadn't found you. She thought you were backing out. And now I had to follow your fucking house elf here to clean up your fucking mess."

Regulus glanced at Kreacher. "Let him go."

Travers ignored him.

"I'll go right to Eliana's place. We can still make it to the Ministry. Just let me speak to Kreacher first," Regulus said in an even, cool tone. As if Travers were a rabid animal that should be handled carefully.

"Oh, you'll marry Eliana today, that's for sure... but now that you mention your beloved elf. He seemed intent on hiding something from me when he realised I was here... a necklace."

"It was a present for Sofia. I asked him to bring it here discreetly," Regulus said without missing a beat.

Travers levelled Regulus with a glare. "Is that your final answer?"

Regulus stood his ground. Sofia didn't miss him discreetly slipping his wand into his hand. "Why do you care?"

"That is not a normal necklace. And you're going to tell me what it is." But before any more words could be exchanged, Travers had drawn his wand and pointed it directly at Regulus. "Crucio."

Sofia's eyes widened. Wow, going straight for the big guns.

Regulus barely managed to deflect the curse in time.

Sofia drew her wand. "Stupefy!"

But Travers shrugged the spell off with a flick of his wand like it was nothing. Fuck, she really should've tried harder in Defense.

Regulus tried to throw out a body-binding spell but Travers deflected it as well. They went back and forth a few times, with Travers only managing to nearly destroy a wall behind them. Then he yelled out, "Expelliarmus!"

And Regulus's wand went flying. Travers didn't waste any time. "Sectumsempra!"

Sofia didn't think. She just acted. She threw herself in front of Regulus. For a second she thought she didn't make it in time, but then she felt the pain searing through her. He'd gotten her on the shoulder and collarbone, even a part of her neck. She slumped back into Regulus's body. He caught her and knelt on the ground with his arms around her. "Why would you do that, love?"

Sofia didn't answer. She looked at Travers, who had lowered his wand. His face was pale and he was muttering to himself. "Nonononono I didn't mean it, please."

Then he slumped to his knees and his body sagged like a rag doll and he fell to the ground, unmoving.

Sofia could only stare. "What the fuck just happened?"

Regulus was busy casting a silent spell over Sofia's injuries. "Oh. Well, I guess that was the Vow in action. He said he wouldn't do anything to hurt you. And he broke that vow. Obviously."

Sofia was slightly in shock. "So he's dead?"

Regulus finally lifted his gaze to look at Travers's body. "Seems like it." He looked over at the elf huddled on the corner. "Could you check if he's dead, Kreacher? And then come over here so I can take that spell off you."

Sofia glanced down at her shoulder. The skin seemed to be mending itself. "Did you just heal me?"

Regulus nodded.

"Since when do you know how to do that level of healing magic?"

He shrugged. He seemed far away. Lost in thought.

"Wasn't that the same hex Travers used on me back in Russia? When we played Quidditch there?"

Regulus nodded.

Sofia gaped at him. "Then why didn't you heal me then?"

Regulus's lips tugged up. "I didn't know how to do it then. But I recognised the hex when Travers used it. I knew Snape had made it up. So I went and asked him how to fix it easily after we got back. Just in case."

Kreacher limped over to them and Regulus took off his bindings with a wave of his wand. Tears streamed down his wrinkled face. "Kreacher is sorry, Master Regulus. Kreacher didn't realise he was followed."

"It's okay, Kreacher. Did Travers have the locket on him?"

The elf nodded.

"Will you bring it to me?"

Sofia sat up. "So... are we gonna leave his body here?"

Regulus thought for a second. "Well, someone's bound to discover it at some point."

Kreacher then returned with the locket, which he handed to Regulus. He looked at Sofia. "So Master's Mudblood will live?"

Well, he didn't need to sound so disappointed about it.

"Kreacher!" Regulus scolded. "Go back to the house. Before Mother notices you're gone."

The elf sneered at Sofia one last time before disappearing with a loud crack.

Sofia started getting up, still feeling a little rough. "Alright. That took longer than expected, but maybe you can still make it to the Ministry. I can send a message to Eliana from you that you'll meet her there and—"

"Sofia," Regulus cut her off. "You should take it easy. I'm not sure if my spell will hold up so well."

Sofia got to her feet. "I'll be fine. Just come on."

She hurried over to the exit but Regulus grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Stop. Stop, Sofia."

Sofia turned to face him, getting slightly exasperated. "What is it?"

Regulus looked back at Travers's body and then turned to Sofia.

Sofia frowned. He was freaking her out. She looked at him expectantly.

He took a breath. "Back when we made the Vow... Travers was worried that if I ended up dead... just as a casualty of the war or something... that he'd still have to hold up his end of the deal. So... he put in a clause saying that if either of us died, the deal would be rendered null and void for the other person. When I decided to try and get the locket... I thought if I died, at least your family was safe now overseas... and you were gonna join them soon. But I'm sorry... I should've told you about that bit."

Sofia didn't know what to feel. She blinked at Regulus. Was her mind playing tricks on her or had he just said what she thought he said? She gaped at him. "You're saying that... Travers's death... releases you from your vow?"

He nodded.

Sofia tried hard to stay calm. She really did. "Then why the fuck didn't you kill him before?"

Regulus's eyes widened. He looked taken aback. "Uh, well, he made me vow not to kill him too. This was a very thorough vow, we had to write it down and everything so we'd remember."

Sofia crossed her arms over her chest. "Then why didn't you tell me so I could kill him?"

Regulus frowned, hunched his shoulders. "Well, I didn't think you'd want to do that. And I wasn't going to ask you to kill someone. I'd never put that on you."

Sofia almost rolled her eyes. He had too high an opinion of her. "Well, it's not like I would enjoy killing someone, but you know I hate Travers. I don't care if this makes me sound crazy, but for you, I would've killed that bitch in a heartbeat."

Finally, Regulus smiled. "Good to know that for the future, then."

They stood there in silence for a moment.

Sofia was getting impatient. "You know, I am extremely mad at you still for not telling me this when we could've literally avoided all of this mess very easily last year. But... I am kind of wondering why the hell you haven't snogged me or at least declared your lifelong devotion to me yet."

Regulus raised a brow, surprised. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well... I'd love to do all that, I just... I wasn't sure you still wanted... you still wanted to be with me. After all I've put you through. You'd be right to never forgive me. To want to get the hell away from me."

Sofia searched Regulus's eyes. They looked pained. She took a deep breath. "Regulus... you have definitely made some pretty major mistakes in this relationship... but the most important thing to me is that your heart has always been in the right place. Always. The other stuff I can get over with time. But I don't want to ever get away from you. After all of this... I just want to be happy. And you make me so happy. Right now... I just want to hold onto you."

Regulus got an odd look in his eyes and slowly closed the gap between them. He took her hand in his and without any more preamble, he leaned down and caught Sofia's lips in a kiss that couldn't be described as anything but joyous. Sofia smiled into Regulus's lips and kissed him hard but slow.

Eventually, they made their way out of the building when Sofia caught a glimpse of Travers's body out of the corner of her eye and got extremely turned off.

They walked the four blocks back to the flat and Sofia felt like an entirely new person. She would be lying if she said she hadn't been holding out the tiniest bit of hope that some kind of miracle would happen and Regulus wouldn't have to marry Eliana, but she had been trying her best to stifle it.

It all felt too good to be true. But they deserved it. They deserved this freedom to be together. That Sofia knew. They had suffered for so long, and they had never ever gotten a chance to be a relatively normal couple. They had had to lie and cheat and hide for something as simple and innocent as loving each other. They had suffered because of things out of their control and now they were getting a new chance. Sofia would be damned if she didn't grab it with both hands.

Sirius was finally up when they got to the flat.

"Well, look who's awake," Sofia said with a smile.

Sirius frowned at them. He looked at Regulus. "Weren't you supposed to be getting married or something?"

Sofia grinned and plopped down on the sofa next to him. Sirius looked at her weirdly.

She took a breath and launched into an explanation of the morning's events, with some input from Regulus.

Sirius looked more tired than surprised. "So... you're telling me that while I was asleep, you almost bled out, killed a man, and got back together with Reg?"

Sofia smiled. "See? This is why sleeping until noon isn't a good idea. You miss everything!"

Sirius rolled his eyes and stood. "Alright. I'm happy for you kiddos. But I got shit to do. There's some breakfast on the counter."

He took his cup of coffee and retired to his room.

Regulus sighed. "I should probably at least write to Eliana. She deserves to know her brother's dead. And that I'm gone."

Sofia rolled her neck, took a step towards him and draped her arms over his neck, leaning her head against his chest. She took a deep breath. "There's a lot of shit we've got to deal with still, I know... but, could we just have today? To be together, to not worry."

He placed a soft kiss on top of her head. "Of course, love."

They stayed wrapped in their warm embrace for another minute before Sofia pulled away, her stomach calling her into the kitchen. Regulus followed her.

"Can I see the locket?" She asked.

Regulus dug it out of his pocket and held it out to her before sitting down at the kitchen counter.

Sofia ran her finger over the shining silver, traced the S on the surface. It felt heavy in her hand. "How the hell are we supposed to destroy it?"

Regulus rubbed his temples. "I've got a few ideas... but it won't be easy. It might take a long time. And... even if Voldemort doesn't know we have it yet... when he figures out I've deserted them, they'll come after me."

Sofia had an inkling where his line of thought was going. "I know this will be hard, and there will probably be times when I'll wonder if I did the right thing, and I'll be insufferable but... I'll be with you, that I can promise. No matter what happens... we're in this together."

He looked at her with those beautiful eyes and smiled softly. "You're right. This will probably be the hardest thing we'll ever do. There are no guarantees and things will most certainly not end up going the way we want them to. But I'll be with you for as long as you'll have me. I can promise you that." He held out his hand to her.

She draped her hand over his and sat. "I love you, you know that?"

He smiled. Nodded.

Then Sofia's stomach grumbled and the moment was gone. She laughed and picked up the toast Sirius had left for them in their messy kitchen. There was stuff everywhere from their preparations for the previous night and Sofia spotted a piece of paper that gave her a pause. She dragged it out from under a plate. "What is this?"

To the Dark Lord,

I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.

I have stolen the real Horcrux and plan to destroy it as soon as I can.

I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.

R.A.B.

Sofia raised a brow, took a bite of her toast. "Well, that's a little dramatic. Even for you."

Regulus smiled. He'd smiled so much that day, Sofia fell in love with him all over again. "Yeah, I thought you'd say that, so I changed it a bit, left a different note."

"And you probably won't be dead by the time he reads this."

He shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly. "Yeah, I just figured, it might not be such a bad idea for him to think I'm dead... might make going on the run easier."

Sofia's brows went up. "You want to fake your death?"

Another shrug. "Well... if the Death Eaters don't find me soon after they realise I've defected, they'll probably just tell everyone they killed me either way."

Sofia glared at him. "When they don't find you."

He gave her a loaded look. "Are you sure about this?"

"Stop asking me that, I've been sure. I know this will be hard but..." she took his hand with a smile. "I'm ready if you are."