Chapter Twenty Four: Streaking

"They don't want us having any children…they don't want us leaving burdens behind for others in case we die." Regan watched Charlie slowly pace back and forth in their clearing, nervously biting his lower lip. "No affection means no children."

"I understand," she told him quietly. "I mean, it makes sense..." Charlie stopped pacing, his eyes resting on her.

"I'm going to assume that Ron told you about Angie and the baby." He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck as if he were in pain. Regan didn't answer, but the fact that she didn't question him gave Charlie his answer. He sighed before continuing. "We're the reason why the rule exists…they don't want any more pregnant women dying or children left without parents." Regan suddenly noticed how tired he appeared, his shoulders sagging under some unseen weight.

He looked guilty.

"It's a fair rule," Regan muttered. "It seems a bit extreme, but we live in a troubling time where sometimes extreme measures are needed." He sat down before her, running a hand over his face as if to wipe away the anxiety that he felt.

It didn't work.

Charlie sat beside her, a heavy frown on his face.

"She was beautiful," he murmured. "She had long black hair and this cute little nose...and she would always scrunch it up when she didn't like something, but didn't want you to know it." He scoffed, shaking his head. "Best part was that she didn't take any of my bull shit; she always called me out."

"Sounds like we would get along." Regan muttered.

"You would...you two are actually really similar." He said. He bit his lower lip, rubbing the back of his neck. "You know, she begged me to stay and not go to Romania. She didn't want me to go because she was so close to giving birth and it was dangerous, but...I had to go...didn't make much difference, they almost killed me on the first day. By the time that I made it back here...she was already gone...killed by some asshole who wanted to make a name for himself by killing a pregnant woman." He spit out, his eyes darkening as he gripped the edge of his seat.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, awkwardly squirming. Charlie shook his head.

"I should have never gone..." He whispered, guilt laced in his voice. "I should have stayed...for her..." Regan closed her eyes, pulling her knees to her chest.

"When I was hiding out with Oskar...I had never been so happy in my entire life." She admitted, and it was true. Being with him had afforded her a sense of freedom that she hadn't experienced since her pre-teen years. "I didn't get to see him die...he was just gone...and then Lucius-." Regan suddenly stopped, biting her lower lip. Charlie furrowed his brow, leaning closer to her.

"Then Lucius what?" He asked, but Regan shook her head. "Come on, you can tell me...it can't be that bad." Regan let out a shaky sigh, avoiding his curious gaze.

"He's sick, you know?" Her voice began to quiver despite her best efforts to control herself. "He taunted me...treated me like he had done nothing wrong...and then he wanted to check to make sure that I was a virgin." Charlie watched her closely, becoming concerned when he saw her hands begin to shake, and not from the cold. Tears were brimming in her eyes, quivering and threatening to fall.

"Lucius Malfoy is a monster..."

"I know," she muttered, sniffling. She so didn't want to cry in front of him, but God this was hard to keep in. "Just don't talk about him...don't ever talk about him." She said through a clenched jaw. "I don't want to talk about him or this stupid wedding or the fact that I have to sleep with him!" Hot tears streaked down her face, and Charlie instinctively wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Regan let out an angry sob, pushing against him, but he wouldn't let her up.

"I just want to help you." He said sadly.

"I don't see why." She muttered, her eyes burning from the tears. "All anybody wants to do is fuck me. I don't know why, but apparently that's all that I'm good for."

"I doubt that's what Oskar thought and that's not what I think…" Regan rolled her eyes, more tears falling.

"I don't understand why this keeps happening to me," she muttered as she slumped against the tree. "Why do people treat me like I'm so special?"

"Because somehow you've managed to survive without having your spirit broken." Charlie explained. "You have no idea how comforting and hopeful that is to see someone who just lives."

"But I am broken!" She screamed, finally escaping from his grasp and collapsing to the ground. She allowed herself to cry, really cry, for the first time in a very long time. "I miss my mum and my dad…and all I want to do is hide away somewhere and wait for this whole thing to be over!" She let out another tragic sob, tears freely streaking down her face and snot bubbling at her nose. She was a mess, but Charlie just quietly sat beside her, slowly rubbing her back. He gently wiped away her tears with some bunched up tissues that he had dug out from his pockets and embarrassingly made her blow her nose, making the sensitive skin glow red.

"Feel better?" Charlie quietly asked. Regan nodded, her eyes stinging and her head throbbing from the swell of tears. "It's okay to let yourself show emotions, people seem to like you more when you do." Regan gently sniffled, making Charlie smirk at the sad look on her face.

"It's just easier to hold it in." She quietly admitted. Charlie scooted closer to her, putting an arm around her shoulder.

"I'll make you a deal. If you open yourself up and act like a real human being…" Regan glared up at him, but he didn't give her any time to object. "I'll give you anything you want."

"Anything?" Regan asked, actually surprised when Charlie nodded.

"Yup, anything." He said with a bright smile. Regan mulled the offer over before nodding in agreement. "Excellent, so what do you want?"

"I want Lucius Malfoy to be killed on July 10th." She said, her voice even and serious. Charlie furrowed his brow together.

"Why that day?" He asked. Regan forced the most genuine smile on her face that she could muster.

"Because…that's my birthday…and that would be the best present that anybody could give me."

It was then that their plan was set.

Regan would have four months to get close to Lucius and to distract him from business, hopefully slowing his progress. At the same time, the DA would search North and South America, Africa, and Asia for any supporters they could find who were willing to fight. Then, they would all meet once again at Regan's birthday party, where every important death eater would be. It would be a one time, all out slaughter where they would take out every leader and take back control of the Ministry. It was simple, but a perfect way in…their only way in.

When they ate dinner that night, everybody's spirits seemed lighter and there seemed to be more smiling and laughing. Charlie sat beside Regan, keeping close and talking almost throughout the entire meal. Fighting against her natural instincts, Regan forced herself to talk to him. She was used to just keeping quiet, but she had to hold up her end of the bargain. Plus, she really liked spending time with Charlie. He reminded her of her father, and she found great comfort in that. The Weasley siblings also seemed to warm up to Regan. Ginny spoke with her with a bright smile on her face and Ron was being extremely nice. It seemed that by Regan staying there for a few days had convinced them all that she was not a threat and therefore they could trust her.

The next day, Regan and Charlie trained with each other again, but they were too distracted with each other to really practice anything. They talked and he even managed to convince her to build a small snowman, something that he hoped would make her feel a little better. Charlie's mood had become light and he had warmed up to her considerably. Her initial reaction was to push him away and remain a loner because it was in her safety zone, but she forced herself to remain close to him. She had to get used to being around men since she would soon be married to Lucius.

"If it makes you feel any better, he probably won't be able to do much to you...you know, since he's old...?" Charlie suddenly commented one afternoon with a small smirk. Regan rolled her eyes, ignoring Charlie's boisterous laughter.

"I don't want to discuss this." She muttered, tucking her wand up her sleeve.

"He has to be compensating for something, you know?" Regan just shook her head.

"You really know how to attract the ladies, don't you?" Charlie laughed again.

"You guessed it, I'm a real ladies man."

"Then you should have no trouble finding a lady after I leave." She feigned mock hurt and moved to get up, but Charlie quickly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

"At the moment, I only want to be with one person…and I bet that you can't guess who that person is." Regan sighed, glancing back at Charlie's mischievous face.

"When did you become so playful?" She asked in a dull voice. Charlie chuckled.

"Since I figured out that it annoys you." Regan narrowed her eyes, but didn't say anything. Who was she to deny him something that would make him happy? "I'll be sad to see you go," he said after a while. "It's going to be strange not having you here."

"You'll get along just fine without me." She told him, her eyes tracing over the sinking sun in the distant horizon.

"You really don't have a very high opinion of yourself, do you?" He asked, watching her cheeks flush a bright red.

"I suppose that when all you've heard for the past ten years is that your life means nothing, it sort of starts to just sink in." She muttered, her mind flashing back to her time spent at the Ministry. She shuddered slightly, pushing away the memories and looking back to Charlie. "Sometimes, while my mind wanders, I think about how my life would have been different if Harry Potter had survived."

"We all do," Charlie admitted. "I would be married with a kid, maybe two." He said, his mind drifting to what could have been. "Did you ever have dreams?" He asked, leaning against her. Regan shrugged her shoulders.

"I was only fifteen when the war ended, I had no idea what I was good at or what I should do…I've been by myself since then, the only goal that I had was to just stay alive and not disappear." Charlie gently grasped her chin, pulling her face down and firmly kissing her. She sighed, quietly thankful when he pulled away and made the kiss brief.

"You should pick something that you want to do." Charlie encouraged. "I'm planning on continuing my work with dragons; there's got to be something that you want to do." Regan rolled her eyes, but couldn't deny that this wasn't such a bad idea. She had to do something if Lucius was killed and she would be damned if she spent the rest of her life as somebody's secretary. The thought made her physically sick, but what else was she supposed to do with her life?

"I was always really good at charms…and I guess I sometimes thought about becoming a teacher, but I really just want to find my parents…and I guess I would get married and have kids eventually, just to make them happy." Charlie smiled.

"I feel sorry for the bloke that's going to marry you." He muttered. Regan scoffed, an uncharacteristically cruel smile on her face.

"I feel sorry for Lucius too." Charlie laughed loudly, his cheeks flushing bright red.

"Milk him for all he's worth." Regan quirked an eyebrow.

"Do you think I could?" Charlie quickly nodded.

"Yeah, be sure to get everything that you want…and then we'll kill him." Charlie shrugged casually as Regan stood up and brushed the snow from her pants.

"That's a bit devious of you, don't you think?" She asked as Charlie followed after her and they went back to their snowy compound.

"No less devious than what Lucius has done to you and to thousands of others." He argued, quietly taking her hand as they walked inside. Regan didn't pull away, but she couldn't hide her embarrassment when people began to stare. There was no hiding Charlie's affections for Regan and they were clearly in violation of the rules that everyone had been forced to follow.

"Charlie." They both looked up to see Ron standing in a doorway looking extremely stern and upset. Without another word, he motioned for Charlie to come and talk to him. Charlie narrowed his eyes, letting go of Regan and stalking off. Regan watched as the brothers disappeared into the room and she could only imagine the argument that would soon follow. She felt guilty because she really, truly felt that this was all her fault. There were so many times when she knew that she should have said 'no'. If she had just said 'no', she wouldn't be in this situation.

"Don't worry, they're always fighting with each other." Regan turned to see Ginny standing there, offering her a small smile.

"It's because they're so much alike…and because Charlie doesn't really care for all of the rules."

"But he'll blame me all the same," Regan grumbled. Ginny giggled, a surprisingly pleasing sound for Regan.

"Charlie's always liked to tease…sometimes I think he only does it though to try and forget about Angie and the baby…hell, we all keep smiling just so that we can try and forget the pain."

There was a distant glimmer of regret and agony in her eyes and Regan didn't dare to push the issue. If anybody needed to start picking up the pieces of their life and start to move on, it was Ginny. Any mention of Harry would just send her in a tailspin and Regan was betting that she wouldn't eat for a week.

"You're really good for Charlie, though." Ginny finally commented. "We can all see that he's already starting to fall for you." Regan bit the insides of her cheeks, willing away the sudden joy that she felt.

"That's not good." She said, running a hand through her hair. Ginny quirked an eyebrow, genuinely confused by her answer.

"Why?"

"People that care about me usually end up dead…I can't have another person dead because of me."

...

A/N: Someone has a birthday next week...wonder who that could be...but I do know that they would like lots of reviews as a lovely gift...not that I'm hinting or anything...

Dragoon Dave: Summer can suck my you know whats...