starlight | forever young

Pour toujours

Regulus didn't want it to end.

He didn't want the night to turn to day, but it had, and with it came the responsibility to return to the real world, to their real lives.

Kreacher came for them shortly after the sun had finished it's climb, when the sky was blue and the warmth had left the blankets. They'd been wrapped up in each other still when the elf came, and Regulus had thought of sending Kreacher away but there wasn't time to do it. They were expected.

Kreacher brought them to King's Cross, right to the Platform 9 3/4s, unnoticed among the excitement and the noise of the arrival of the scarlet steam engine. The Hogwarts Express sighed and smoked on the rails and students, merry for holiday, were scrambling every which way, collecting their things and reuniting with their families. It smelled of coal burning, warm and familiar and dirty and good all at once like most train stations do.

They were standing, facing one another, the thrum of voices all around them going on and on about some sort of excitement from the night before. The Yule Ball had been interrupted by some sort of explosion, by the sounds, and there was a lot of talk of James Potter echoing through the whispers.

"I wonder what the Marauders have done now," Maryrose muttered, shaking her head.

"If there was an explosion, I'm betting they set off fireworks," Regulus laughed.

"That sounds like them," Maryrose answered. She paused, a palm on Regulus's chest, and sighed, "My parents are here."

Regulus murmured, "Kreacher's waiting to take me home as well."

"I wish this night had never ended," Maryrose said quietly. She stared up into his eyes. "I'll make my patronus from this memory for the rest of my life, I'll bet."

Regulus smiled, "Me, too," he whispered, thinking of her eyes when they'd been skating in Hyde Park and her laugh when they'd danced.

"Do you want to meet up in Diagon Alley in a few days?" Maryrose suggested. "I don't think I could bare not seeing you again 'til we're back at Hogwarts. That seems like forever away."

"Yes, I should like very much to meet you up in Diagon Alley."

"I'll send you an owl."

"Excellent."

She brought her palm up to his face and stared into his eyes. "I love you so much, Regulus, it hurts my heart how much I love you. I 

He kissed her, hugged her close, then released her, holding her out at arm's length.

"I miss you," she said sadly, looking at the space between their chests, the emptiness that parted them.

"I haven't even left yet," Regulus laughed.

"And yet I miss you already just the same," Maryrose said.

"I know what you mean," he agreed. Then, pressing a palm to her heart, "I will never really leave you... you can always find me in your heart." 

She lay her hand over his and stared up at him... Maryrose's face was glowing - she was brighter than any sun - rising or setting - and Regulus couldn't take his eyes off of her. He doubted whether anything that she showed him could ever be as beautiful as her face.

"Tu es mon coeur," she whispered.

"Pour toujours," Regulus answered... which honestly, Regulus thought, was a far better motto.