AN: Because of a review someone left, I've added a little bit to the last chapter :)

The day was too nice.

The sun was shining brightly in the sky, birds chirping, and a gentle breeze blew to counteract the sun's rays. It was too nice for a funeral. Knowing that this would be the kind of day Nat would love was bittersweet.

I hadn't gone up to see the casket yet. I was so scared to see her body. It would make this whole situation a thousand times more real, besides I felt like I would break down if I saw it.

They weren't sure who killed her. She'd gone out to the field with her Auror mentor, and they had been ambushed by Death Eaters, both had died. Dumbledore had told Lily first, so she'd break it to me. He probably thought I'd break down when he told me, I mean, he was right, but I was still upset with him.

I'd met Nat's parents. Huh, what a way to finally meet them. Her mum had been especially distraught. I knew Nat had left some unfinished business with her mum, she'd been upset about Nat's career path. I felt bad for the woman.

Lily had come with me to the wake, and I was thankful for that, but she didn't know Nat, she couldn't do all that much to comfort me.

The door opening behind me snapped me out of my train of thought. I turned around to see Tessa, her eyes gleaming with tears, a distraught look on her face.

I heard her breath catch softly when she saw me. We stared at each other for a few seconds before Tessa took a few steps forward and slowly wrapped her arms around me.

We held on to each other tightly as a few tears escaped my eyes.

She pulled away. "Bow, I'm so sorry. I've been such a shit friend."

She had. We'd only spoken a handful of times after I left Hogwarts, and she still hadn't forgiven me for lying about the whole Muggle thing. But I wasn't going to throw that in her face now.

"It's okay. I'm glad you're here now." I assured her.

Tessa's eyes darkened as she spotted something behind me. I was pretty sure it was the casket.

She looked at me. "Have you – ?"

I shook my head quickly. "I haven't gathered the guts." I knew I had to do it though.

Tessa took a deep breath and held out her hand. I stared at it for a brief second, it was now or, well, probably later, but I had to get it over with at some point.

I took Tessa's hand, and we walked down the aisle of chairs to the open casket. My footsteps felt heavy, and I started to slow down as we neared it.

I took a deep breath and stepped forward at the same time as Tessa.

Nat looked like she was sleeping. If I didn't already know that Nat was not a graceful sleeper, I'd probably believe she was, in fact, just asleep. But she was dead. Because some psycho had decided she didn't deserve to live. My beautiful, joyful, silly, determined, brave, loving friend was gone.

The tears had started overflowing and the knot in my throat tightened. Tessa held my hand as if it was a lifeline.

I took in Nat's lifeless, peaceful body for a few more seconds, before reaching in and stroking a bit of her hair.

I took a deep breath and one last look at her face. So long, baby.

"Rainbow, I've arranged the food in the fridge, remember it all just need to be heated and it's ready to eat. Please try to eat all your meals at appropriate times, Regulus already promised me he'd try his best to nurture healthy eating habits around here." Lily ranted.

I made a brief noise of agreement from my position on the sofa. It was rather funny how my sister still treated me like I hadn't ever lived by myself before.

I should explain. Reg and I were moving in together. And when I say moving in together, I meant I was going into hiding at the same safe house as him, but that sounded less romantic.

After much deliberation (not by me, of course, since apparently I couldn't be trusted to make my own decisions), it had been decided that it wasn't a good idea for me to stay with Lily and I would be allowed to stay with Regulus instead. Lily had been a little hesitant about letting me move in with my boyfriend, but she'd been nicely reminded that I was an adult, and she was not the boss of me.

I felt a little bad about not helping the boys more in moving my stuff, but I still felt a little rough about Nat's demise, it'd only been a couple of weeks after all. I still tried hard not to think about her, which I felt kind of bad about, but if I thought of her my emotions would get the better of me.

I'd also been really pensive lately. It was partly because of Nat, but also because of my sister. She was set to go deeper into hiding, she was moving to a different house with more protection but I still felt like it wasn't enough.

Lily finally realised I wasn't listening to her instructions about food or whatever and came around the sofa to sit beside me. She leaned her head on my shoulder and took my hand in hers. "What's on your mind?"

I hummed. Well, a lot. "I just, really need you to be safe."

"Oh, Bow. We already talked about this. James, Harry and I are the most well protected family in all of Britain, you don't have to worry." She assured me.

My gaze stayed straight ahead, if I looked at Lily I would not be able to tell her this. "I'm so nervous."

"I'll brew you a calming drought." Lily rubbed my arm in a calming manner. "I know this situation is complicated, and the harsh reality is that we're all in danger, and I know sometimes you feel a little helpless because you can't do magic, but rest assured that we're all doing our very best to keep everyone safe. And in the meantime, why don't we just relish in the fact that you just moved in with your boyfriend."

Lily shook me by the arm excitedly. I knew she was only saying this to make me feel better, because she hadn't been too happy about this whole situation in the first place. But it made me happy that she at least pretended to be excited for me. And just like that, my sister hot not only the first smile in days out of me, but she also got a goddamned giggle.

The first week I spent cohabiting the same space as Regulus was pure bliss. We loved being able to see each other all the time, and Lily's rule of each of us sleeping in separate bedrooms (as if she hadn't actually gotten married at the same age I was now) went out the window the first night.

It was during the second week that things started getting a little more down to earth, and we had to start dealing with some actual issues.

Oh, how to explain. After two years of relationship, I knew Regulus was a neat freak, but I truly didn't understand the extent of it until I actually lived in the same household as him. I, personally, wouldn't say I was too messy, I just I wasn't much for tidying up, but compared to Regulus I felt like a complete slob.

Don't get me wrong, I understood the appeal of having a clean, orderly house, but god at what cost.

I was grateful though, to have clean dishes so I could serve a cup of tea to my somewhat unexpected guest, Fabian Prewett.

I set down the two cups of tea on the coffee table as I heard a small explosion coming from down in the basement, god knows what complicated potion Regulus was working on at the moment.

Fabian had pulled out a quill and parchment while I was gone. "So, what are we going for? Brief and to the point? Emotional and long?"

Fabian was helping me write my retirement statement. I was set to announce my retirement from competitive figure skating this week. I'd been struggling with what to say, so I'd asked the Order to lend me their most eloquent writer, and I'd ended up with this.

"Mm, a mix of both, if possible." I requested.

Fabian sighed. "Alright, what do you got?"

"I got nothing, that's why I asked for help."

"How about we start with, what this sport means to you."

I took a deep breath. Oh boy, could he have asked a more loaded question. "I think that figure skating is the perfect mix between art and athleticism. For years it has been a medium for me through which to express my deepest feelings, while also challenging me physically. Skating is the only time I feel completely safe and comfortable and free.

'It seems weird, when you think about it, I'm talking about attaching blades to my feet and carving figures on ice, that's what it comes down to. But there's a certain feeling when you're on skates, you feel like you're so light, almost like you're floating, and when you're up high in the air, you feel like your troubles are gone. But there's also a certain instability to it, you have to find your balance, through strength and patience, which makes it all the more rewarding.

'I guess what I'm trying to say is, skating is the best thing I've ever done, and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to share my passion with the world, and I hope to continue to do that outside of competition."

Fabian, who had been quickly scribbling down on his parchment, briefly looked up, a thoughtful look on his face. "What about what you've contributed to the sport?"

"Um, I think that it's enough for me if I inspired one person to try skating. I hope to have contributed to the sport, and helped it move forward and grow as much as it has helped me grow. I hope the skating community grows in the next few years and I shall continue to do my part to see that through."

Fabian wrote for a few more seconds after I stopped talking, then handed over the parchment. "What do you think?"

I carefully read over the long-ish paragraph Fabian had summarised my ramblings into. It was perfect. He had put what I said in far less messy wording. Huh maybe they do teach something useful at Hogwarts.

"It's great, thank you!" I said with a smile.

"Do you mind if I ask why are you retiring so young? Is that common practice?" Fabian asked.

I shrugged. "It's fairly common. Since you can't actually get paid for skating until you retire, and at some point you gotta start making money out of it, most people retire young. I actually planned on competing a few more seasons, but with the whole being in hiding thing, that doesn't seem like it's going to happen, so I'd just rather go straight into doing ice shows once this is over, start earning some money."

Fabian nodded thoughtfully. "Makes sense." He picked up his quill and parchment. "Anyway, next time you need a scribe, keep in mind that that's not exactly the purpose of the Order of the Phoenix."

I feigned shock. "What? I thought the Order's sole purpose was to help me with my redaction needs!"

Fabian chuckled. "It's a common misconception."

I smirked. "Nice to have cleared that up then."

I heard the sound of my blade badly scratching the ice as I fell down. Fuck. I felt a searing pain on my hand and realised I'd cut my palm open with my blade.

I heard the door to the house being thrown open and looked up to see Reg running through the light layer of snow to my side.

"Bow! Are you alright?" He yelled out as he hastily pulled his wand out of his robes.

He must've seen me falling through the window of the house.

I got up slowly. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Regulus frowned as he reached me. "You slashed your hand open!"

I looked down at my bleeding hand. Yeah, it was kind of bad. "Not the first time this happens."

"What happened?" Regulus asked as he took my hand in his delicately and started muttering an incantation.

I sighed. "I was doing an I-spiral and I stupidly put my whole hand over my blade but then my edge caught and I fell in such a way that I cut myself."

I watched as the cut on my hand slowly closed into a small scar. That was cool.

Regulus shook his head. "Why weren't you wearing gloves?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, it wasn't that cold."

As Regulus let go of my hand, I realised he had dropped something on the ice when he'd been desperately trying to pull his wand out of his robes. "Hey, you dropped something, babe."

Regulus looked down and his face dropped.

I frowned. He'd dropped a tiny velvet black box. Oh fuck – was that – ?

He quickly picked up the box, and as he watched my shocked face, he said, "Rainbow, please, I need you to turn around for a second."

I did as he said. Was this what I thought it was? I heard Regulus shuffle around a little bit before he told me to turn back around.

I stifled a gasp as I saw Regulus bent down on one knee, the tiny black box in his hand. He had a look on his face that made me weak in the knees.

"Rainbow Evans."

I could feel my eyes swell up with tears. Aw fuck, I was not going to make it through this.

"You are the love of my life. I've always known this, but the past few months have made me realise even more that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I've loved you from the moment that I saw you. You make me a better person, and I could never thank you enough for that. I need you to know that you're the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. If you weren't here, I've no idea what my life would be, and I don't want to find out. So, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

Regulus opened the box to reveal a beautiful ring. I could not control the tears that were rapidly falling down my face. I immediately nodded enthusiastically and threw myself into Reg's arms, causing us both to fall onto the ice.

"I love you so much." I said as I kissed all over Reg's face, leaving the grin on his lips for last.

I was going to be someone's wife. Can you believe?