The Archer

holding on

The days seemed to have been slipping by Regulus's fingers. He wanted to freeze time so he could stay at Hogwarts longer.

Stay with Emory longer.

He knew once they graduated he would have very little time left. He knew by the end of the year he would be dead. He also knew in just a couple months he would have to get married.

He thought a lot about the locket. He thought about how once he destroyed it he would be mortal once more. Someone would kill him, someone heroic like James Potter perhaps. That Potter boy would probably be the one to kill the dark lord.

Emory was outside and he joined her. It was warm.

"Look what I've got" he handed her a letter.

She sat up and read it "so this is who you're marrying?"

He nodded and took a seat.

"Isn't it weird to get an invitation to your own wedding"

He stared at her "I don't know who she is, I think she's Russian or German, one of those, maybe both. I just know she's a pureblood and that our marriage is some sort of alliance"

She read over the formal invitation. "Married mid July, that's soon"

He shrugged "will you come?"

"To your wedding?"

He nodded.

She sat looking away from him for awhile, Regulus thought she would never answer.

"Do you want me there?"

"Ideally you would be the one standing across from me at the end of that isle"

She laughed "maybe we could both die heroically and then as a reward we could be together in our next life?"

Now he laughed "I'm not heroic, that's Sirius's role"

"But yes, I'll be there, it's your wedding, of course I'll be there"

He kissed her bare shoulder "I'm going to miss you when you're off seeing the world"

She looked down "those plans have halted I don't want to see the world during dark times"

"So you rather not see it at all?" He asked.

"I've seen enough destruction"

She held his hand. She was warm that day.

"Maybe once the war is over you can travel the world" he suggested.

"I've made amends with death, I think I'm prepared"

He hated how they were alike in that way. He wanted her to want to live. Who cared about being a hero anyways.

"Just wait until the new year comes, finish this year, maybe someone will stop him in time" he pleaded. He was going to stop him before she could even try to attempt whatever plan she had.

"Maybe, it seems selfish to wait, the longer I wait the more people die"

He scoffed "promise to be at my wedding"

She nodded "my sister is giving birth in December I want to meet her baby before"

"Another boy?"

She laughed "of course it's another boy"

They sat there together for the rest of the day until the sunset.

He thought a lot about Emory growing old. He wanted that for her. He wanted her to see the world like she had always dreamed. He imagined one day she would get married, maybe with a Muggle, a kind man, a man who she could have fun with.

Emory also thought about dying a lot. She knew she was making the right choice. She was going to write to the order about what she had hidden. Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem and Helga Hufflepuff's cup. She knew she would die the second she sent that letter.

She knew it would be worth it. She thought about how Regulus could live a normal life, she imagined he would get close again with his brother and meet his brothers boyfriend one day.

She imagined Regulus getting married one day to a nice women who understood him, understood his silence and she would be his best friend. She wanted that for him.

Death was nothing compared to the good that would come out of Voldemort's death.

She sat down next to Regulus at graduation. They were both top of their house. They werent awarded what they should've because of the death eater rumors. She didn't care.

As she finished packing she stared at the portrait of her and Regulus in the common room, they would always be together there, both top of their house, both still alive and beautiful.

She sat and cried in the middle of her dorm room it felt wrong that coming September someone would move into her room. Someone would be in the same walls where her life was defined and ruined over and over again.

She gave her room one last look, beds started appearing, she hoped the girls to come would stay friends and wouldn't let boys tear them apart.

She admired the dark cold common room. She remembered all the times laughing with her once friends. She also remembered all the parties and how messy and full of drama they were.

It was funny how looking back all the moments she thought would be full of pain forever we're not just memories. Some she could even laugh about.

She sat on the train for one last time. She sat with Regulus. She remembered going back to Hogwarts after getting her mark and how she thought she wouldn't get to see her graduation.

She remembered thinking she would always feel alone. But she was wrong. She looked at Regulus sleeping across from her and knew without him she wouldn't be there.

She wished more than anything they could've found some way to make things work but the small moments they got together were beautiful to her.

She stared as he slept. He was beautiful, she knew looking back at her years at Hogwarts she would always remember how beautiful he was. She knew when, at the end of the year, it was time to send that letter she would be thinking about how beautiful he was.

Regulus Black in her eyes would stay frozen in time at that moment where it seemed at as if they were driving to their deaths, beautiful.