sanguine | r. black

Eighteen

Evangeline watched on in horror as Regulus sank like a stone.

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Her heart sank. Her robes caught on a stick lodged in the silt, causing a long tear as she sprang to her feet. She didn't hear the rip, it was drowned out by the staggering silence that settled over the castle grounds. She turned to look for someone—anyone—to help, but everyone had gone inside for the evening. When she looked back at the lake, she realized with a dawning horror that she couldn't identify the place where he'd sank down. There were no bubbles on the surface, no waves or splashing. She didn't know how deep the lake went. He could be at the bottom, struggling his way up, could have hit his head on something on the way down. There was no way to tell.

Evangeline staggered into the water. Her foot was sucked into the wet mud and she kicked her shoe off to free it. Her stockinged foot slipped on the loose silt and she crashed down into the water, catching herself with her elbows. A sharp pain tore up her arm and rang out through her shoulder. She rose, spluttering, and carried forward. Her robes were soaked through, dragging her down, so she wrestled her way out of them as she ran out to the place she'd last seen Regulus, leaving them floating on the surface of the water.

Her toe caught on a branch, causing her to crash into the water once more. This time, she didn't hit the ground. She opened her eyes, but it was so dark she couldn't see anything. Regulus. Where was Regulus? She needed to find him, but she couldn't see a damn thing. Looking up, the moon was a silvery streak warped by the surface of the water. At that moment, Evangeline knew one thing: there was a reason she wasn't a Gryffindor. Cowardice seeped into her bones, and she began scrambling for the surface. She'd look back on this moment and chastise herself. She didn't need to breathe. She knew that. She couldn't drown. Still, the feeling of water in her lungs triggered a primal panic within her. She needed to get to the surface, needed to cough it up. She couldn't drown, but she felt like she was.

Evangeline waved her arms frantically, but there was nothing to find purchase on. Fortunately, her uniform skirt allowed her legs enough room to kick freely as she used her arms to push the water beneath her. She broke through the surface of the lake and immediately began coughing violently. With the water in the lungs came the contents of her stomach. A cloud of red bloomed in the water, dispersing slowly. Her meal from the night before.

With horror, she remembered the reason she was in the bloody lake in the first place. Regulus. His body hadn't floated up, and she couldn't see anything beneath the waves. She sucked in a deep breath and dove beneath the water once more. Now that she was in control of the dive, she was able to regain the slightest bit of composure. As her eyes adjusted to the sting of the water, she began to pick out shapes and movement in the water around her. Mostly fish, no teenage boys. She spun frantically in the water, attempting to find any sign of life. He had to be here somewhere. People didn't just disappear.

Something grabbed her by the waist and began dragging her down. Evangeline started kicking and flailing until she realized she was being pulled upwards. She broke the surface of the water and gasped for air, instinct taking over. She began to kick, as if to swim, when her hit foot something hard. The ground. The shock of it sobered her quickly as she spun in the grip of whoever had seized her. Relief washed over her when she met those familiar grey eyes. It was Regulus, his black curls weighed down and plastered across his forehead with water. She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him tightly to her.

"Grazie a d-" Evangeline began, before she was caught in a coughing fit. Thank God, she had been trying to say. She knew better by now, but old habits die hard.

His arms were wrapped around his waist, and she could hear his heartbeat from where her head rested against his neck. Then she heard him laughing.

Evangeline shoved him away furiously, wrestling out of his grip. She looked down and realized shamefully that her pink bra was visible through her wet blouse. She began trudging towards the land, embarrassment prickling at the back of her neck, cursing loudly in Italian all the while.