Look at us! Another chapter for you guys!

As usual, I don't own anything, J.K. Rowling does.

Written together with the amazing Madamkitten!

We are nearing the end now, enjoy!


Chapter 7

Regulus was back at Grimmauld Place. He went around the old dark house, but couldn't find anyone here. How was this possible? He couldn't really be the only one in the house, could he? He had never gone anywhere without someone nearby one of the Horcruxes. He wished he could talk to Kreacher, he missed his old friend. He was dying to ask him about the Horcrux. He just knew that his elf would know where it was and help him destroy it. He almost gave up looking for who had triggered his arrival, when a sound from his mother's bedroom caught his attention. He had not been there for many many years, even after his mother's death. He had sealed the room off, not letting anyone inside. He wasn't sure if Sirius had opened the room up for guests; that time they had all stayed at Grimmauld Place. Regulus went to the room and looked inside. Mundungus Fletcher. What was that horrible excuse for a wizard doing digging around in his mother's stuff? He saw the wizard fill a bag, before it occurred to him that he was stealing. That son of a bitch!

Before Regulus could do anything, like going through Mundungus, Kreacher arrived.

"NO! Bad wizard, bad wizard, stealing from my dear mistress, Kreacher will get to you!" the little elf cried as he started to use his magic. Mundungus drew his wand, pointing it at Kreacher.

"I'll use this against you, just stay away you miserable elf!" Mundungus said. As the horrible excuse for a wizard turned back to his mothers jewelry box, Regulus noticed the locket in Mundungus' hands.

"NO! Not Master Regulus locket!" Kreacher cried as Mundungus apparated away.

Damn! This is not good!

As soon as Mundungus disappeared, so did Regulus. He ended up in a dark and filthy alley, Regulus wasn't entirely sure he was though. He was also a rat. The shifting from ghoul to rat wasn't so bad, he thought it might be because of the ghoul already being dead.

What was it with him and rats! He was positively sure that if he ended up as an animagus, it would be a damn rat. I wonder if the Dark Lord has a thing for rats?

He tried to follow Mundungus, without getting stepped on of course, which was harder than he first thought. The alley that they had arrived at wasn't exactly empty. Not only were there people, trash and random objects scattered about, Regulus also suspected that there were other rats nearby. He could hear them.

Mundungus hadn't gone too far from where he had arrived, in fact he seemed to be looking for someone. As Regulus hid under a dumpster, he saw a hideous woman approach Mundungus. The woman had a scrunched up face that resembled a toad and was dressed in a sickly pink color from head to toe. It made him gag. Apparently this was the person Mundungus was looking for since she came right up to him with the most horrific smile, she even made a high pitched sound to get his attention. Regulus watched as Mundungus gave the locket to the woman who in return gave Mundungus a small pouch which Regulus assumed was filled with galleons, but he couldn't be sure. It looked as though Mundungus was selling the locket to that horrid woman! Once Mundungus had the small pouch safely tucked into his pocket he quickly scurred away and disappeared around the corner, leaving the pink monstrosity and Regulus alone in the alley. With no other choice in the matter, Regulus followed the repulsive woman as she stomped her way through the streets and into the Ministry of Magic.

Oh this is not good. Not good at all!

Despite trying his hardest to stay close to the woman, he was soon lost in the crowds. He decided to climb a lamp, to get a better view and see if he could spot a big pink blob in the crowd so he would know where to go. As he got up, he looked around. Everything in the ministry had changed, this definitely was not how things looked the last time he had been to the ministry. The guards that were scattered around looked like Death Eaters, and they were dragging people after them. There were wanted posters all around with the Potter boys head on them and…

Hermione. Oh no.

He saw his witches head on one of the posters, he knew that the trio would be doomed. Everyone in the entire wizarding world knew who they were now. They would not be safe anywhere. Regulus knew he couldn't do anything to help hermione now, so he started to search the crowd again, he had to find the pink lady. He quickly saw her standing near the offices, clearly laughing at a poor lady who cried her eyes out. Quickly he climbed down from the lamp and ran towards the lady, jumping into the pink folds of the dress. He just hoped that the lady wouldn't notice him.

He couldn't pay much attention to what she talked about, his eyes had found the big statue in the middle. Regulus could hardly believe what he was seeing. They had created a massive water fountain with a huge statue of what had to be Muggles being crushed by a witch and wizard, who were sitting on a throne. The letters Magic is Might, were carved in the stone at the base of the statue.

Regulus felt disgusted by it, he had never been fond of Muggles, not having actually met one before. But that was before Hermione had come into his life. She had opened his eyes about a great many things.

His witch, she had changed him, even though she didn't know. And probably never would. But she did. She was good, and he wanted to be good for her.


Regulus was tired. He had been forced to go everywhere the repulsive pink freak went, which he now knew was a witch called Dolores Umbridge. She had gone into several court hearings that day, they all ended the same. The poor witch or wizard in question would have their wands taken away from them, and would be sent to Azkaban. Even though Delores Umbridge seemed to get quite excited each time a new victim was brought into the courtroom, Regulus was soon getting bored and tired of watching the same thing happen over and over. He had tried to leave, but was always sucked right back. This wouldn't have been so bad, had it not been for the dementors. The whole ceiling of the room was crawling with dementors. Regulus' memories, his happy memories of Hermione mostly, were being sucked out of him every time he wandered too far away from the pink ladies chair. Being forced to remain underneath her chair was tortuous. She smelled awful for one thing, Regulus wasn't even sure where the smell was coming from, or what it was. All he knew for sure was that it was bad, which was saying something since in his rat form almost everything smelled good to him. She must truly smell awful if he was repulsed by her scent in his rat form. She also wore vibrant pink stockings with cats using a litter box on them. Why anyone would want that image on their stockings he had no idea. He tried just to stay put under the chair, but her smell was making him gag. And he was pretty sure that the chair would soon break and squish him flat as a pancake. Wouldn't that be a sight.

Time seemed to blend together for Regulus. At first it was easy to keep track of the days, the woman seemed to wear pink stockings with cats on them every day, so he would just keep track of the different stockings. Unfortunately she seemed to favor the litter box stockings and wore them nearly every day, things got confusing very quickly. He had forgotten how many court sessions he had been to. He had lost count of the days, when all of a sudden he smelled her.

Honey! That sweet scent, his witch, she was here. Somewhere in this room!

Regulus quickly got up and started to follow the honey scent, there were no doubts, it was her. He would recognize that scent anywhere. Hermione, she was in here. He soon stood behind a woman he recognized as Mafalda Hopkirk. Only something was off about her. Regulus could smell Hermione's scent on the woman, it was there. She smelled like his witch, but looked like Mafalda Hopkirk.

Polyjuice. She was a clever witch!

As he got to her leg he started climbing it, which only made her back stiffen even more.

She was nervous.

As Regulus landed in her lap, she looked down at him. When she recognized his eyes, he could feel her starting to calm down a bit. Unfortunately it didn't last long. As the pink lady started talking again, she was paralyzed in fear.

"Black, get in my pocket, quickly!" she whispered, so faint that he could barely hear it. But he did as she said, he went inside her pocket and stayed there. He would do anything his witch told him to do.

Polyjuice wouldn't last for long, only an hour at the most. And that was only if it was brewed correctly. How long had she been here?

He could feel her tense up and he slowly crept up from her pocket to see what would happen. There was a man crouched down in the center of the room with the poor lady who was being accused.

"You're lying Dolores. And one mustn't tell lies. Stupefy!"

As the pink lady fell down all hell broke loose. Hermione grabbed a hold of the locket from around Dolores' neck, and tugged it off the horrible woman. Immediately the barrier that held the dementors back vanished.

Merlins saggy ballsack, we are fucked now!

As they ran towards the elevators, Regulus looked back. The huge mass of Dementors were following them. They were screwed. They were so doomed, he did not wish to see the dementors sucking out his witch's soul.

But as they reached the elevators, the Potter boy sent a Patronus towards the dementors, keeping them at bay.

I may not like that boy, but that was impressive! Looked like a huge stag, impressive! Mine would most likely be a rat, if I ever will be able to cast one, which is not likely.

But they were not out of the woods yet, the Potter boys' polyjuice had stopped working, and Hermiones started to wear off as well.

They didn't have time for anything else but running. They didn't have far to go as they started to run towards the fireplaces. Regulus just hoped they all would survive. Sadly he saw that Yaxley, one of his fellow Death Eaters, would surely catch up to them. As they jumped inside the fireplace, he had a hold on Hermione's ankle.

Regulus knew he had to do something, so he jumped at Yaxley and bit him in his hand as hard as he could so he would let go of her. As soon as he did that, everything went black for Regulus.


As he slowly woke, Regulus looked around him. He was lying on the ground in a forest. He could hear faint conversation near him and started to get up to go investigate. As he got up, he noticed he was once again back in the shape of the ghoul. Strange.

Well, at least I am not a rat anymore

"Just stop it okay, I told you I am sorry, what more do you want? We got the locket, but I couldn't go to Grimmauld place, not while Yaxley had a hold on my ankle! "It wasn't safe!" Hermione yelled. Regulus saw her exit a tent and stomped away.

Those stupid boys, how could they not understand her reasons.

As Regulus went near her, he could hear her crying. He hated that sound. As he got to her side, he let his fingers glide through her hair. She looked up alarmed, but as she saw him, she smiled.

"It's you, you're the reason we got here. I saw you bite Yaxley, only, you were a rat. Now your a ghoul, how is that possible? How have you been able to get to where we are? Are you linked to us somehow?" Hermione sniffed.

"Yes, I did bite him. I had to bite him, otherwise you wouldn't have escaped. And yes, it's the Horcruxes, my sweet witch. They bring me to where they are, which seems to always be near you." Regulus answered, even though he knew she wouldn't understand him.

"This is maddening, I don't want to do this anymore. I don't think I can take it much longer. They are so angry, all the time. Why do I even bother? Nothing I do makes a difference anyhow." Hermione sniffed as she hugged her knees tightly.

Regulus sat down beside her, just being near her was a huge relief for him.

"They don't deserve you. No one does, not even me. You are kind hearted, passionate, beautiful and a damn strong witch, I would never dream of being at the wrong end of your wand. Those who can't see just how beautiful you are, don't deserve you. You are perfect Hermione. Absolutely perfect." Regulus said as his hand came to rest on hers. He held it on top of hers, not letting it fall through her. He wished he could comfort her, hold her hand, let her cry on his shoulder. He would do anything to help her to feel better. He just hated seeing her so miserable.

"Ron is the worst, he complains all the time. About everything. I never knew someone could complain so much. And he always sides with Harry, even though they both are wrong and they know it. They call me a Know-it-all, all the time. I thought they were my friends, but I sincerely doubt it now. Ron has been so nasty towards me the last couple of months. I just don't understand why." Hermione sighed as she looked at him.

"I'll curse him into oblivion if he ever lays a hand on you! And even if he doesn't, I will still curse him!" Regulus said as he looked her in her eyes.

"You have such beautiful eyes, you know. They give you away every time, no matter what form you take. I promise, I will lift the curse from you." Hermione said as her hand slowly raised and went to his cheek.

Regulus sighed and closed his eyes. It almost felt like he could feel the warmth from her hand on his cheek, even though he knew he couldn't.


In the weeks that followed, the Weasley boy tormented Hermione every chance he got. It seemed as though he found joy in making her as miserable as he could. She cried more and more, and Regulus was livid. He started to chase the gingerbrat around. Would always go through him and be everywhere that he was. He soon found that the more he pestered the idiot weasel the more he left his witch alone, and eventually Ronald found himself with a ghoul practically glued to his hip.

"Argh, that's it! I am out of here! I am done playing around with that stupid ghoul! The damn thing always follows me!" the gingerbrat yelled as he stomped off towards the protection barrier.

"Ron stop it, just stay. We'll find a way to get rid of the ghoul, don't leave me here alone!" Potter pleaded with him.

You stupid boy, you are not alone, you have Hermione here! And she is worth far more than that idiot!

"I am done Harry, that bitch won't even get rid of the ghoul!" gingerbrat yelled.

Oh I'll get you for that, your brat! How dare you!

Regulus was beyond upset, but no matter how the Potter boy pleaded, Weasley still went past the wards and disappeared. He felt bad for Hermione, because Potter now accused her of doing this. All because she wouldn't get rid of the ghoul.

She was alone. Sad and alone, and Regulus hated it. He followed Hermione everywhere. He wouldn't let her out of his sight, not for long. He didn't care what Potter did, as long as it was a good distance away from Hermione.

He was sitting near her, reading over her shoulder, when he felt something that he had only felt once before. He screamed, as he felt a part of himself being ripped apart. The dark magic in him was leaving his body, but all he felt was searing pain. Hermione looked at him in shock.

"Black, what is happening?" she cried, as Regulus felt the world disappear around him. He almost felt like a part of his soul was ripped from him. The last thing he saw was the tears in Hermione's eyes and Potter holding a broken locket.

Then he was gone.