in the cards | marlene mckinnon

05. friday

Pandora and Regulus sat in the room of requirement alone, with music playing in the background. Regulus sat sideways on the couch, back against the armrest as he carefully flipped the pages. The blonde sat on the rug, leaning on the couch while she sketched.

They worked independently, enjoying the simple comfort of each other's closeness. They were both very introverted people, so for them this was the epitome of a good night. 

Pandora had been Regulus' first friend in Hogwarts. And if you didn't count Sirius when they were kids, Pandora was Regulus' first friend ever. If you asked the blonde what the pair were, she would answer soulmates. Because that's what they were, platonic or not. 

They had a connection that not even Rowan or Nora could hope to match with any of them, they just understood each other. 

"What happens if I get dragged into the war?" Regulus softly queried, barely audible. 

"Then I'll be by your side for all of it. Rowan and Nora too."

"And if I become..." 

The boy didn't dare finish the sentence, knowing that uttering that word out loud made everything all the more real. He wanted to live the ordinary and self-induced imagination as long as he possibly could. 

"You won't. You'll get out before then," she replied confidently, not even glancing from her ink stained page. Upon hearing the heavy silence weighing after them, she continued. "And if you do... we will all still be by your side. We know you, and I trust you. I know you don't want to and that's all I need."

His mind didn't seem to be put much at ease, but it was definitely an improvement. He was convinced that they would all stop loving him if he...

"Do you know who you're marrying yet?" Regulus asked, knowing what her future likely held.

"No, but I do know that I will be the one to choose who it is. Not my father or my brothers," she spoke with such conviction, even if her voice was as silky smooth as it always was.

"How can you be sure?" At this point, the brunette had completely abandoned his book, his curiosity needing to be satiated to continue. 

"If I have to, I will leave. My life is my own."

The words stung a bit for Regulus, knowing that he had heard them once before. But history is always doomed to repeat itself, isn't it?

"And what of me?"

Out of all the questions Regulus had asked, that was the only one that caught her off guard.

"What of you?"

"If you leave... what happens to us?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing, we'll stay the same. Like we always have been. If you die, I die."

"You know I would hate it if you died just because I died," Regulus sighed, his self loathing taking control of his tainted mind once more.

"Well, you better not die then. I'm not living on this dreadful planet without you," she smiled as she said it, finally looking up at her best friend. "With or without you, you're my person, Reggie."

"You're my person too."

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The next day, Nora woke up in the wrong bed. Actually, she was in the entirely wrong part of the castle as well, so the bed part wasn't exactly the most pressing concern.