Leonora Potter knew from a young age that she was rather... different, from the rest of her family. The secret opinions she held regarding Muggles, her reserved nature in comparison to James. As she grew, her parents seemed to cast her aside, her br...
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January 17, 1979 - Wednesday
Two and a half weeks had passed since Leonora and Barty's kiss, but nothing had been made official. He hadn't asked her to be his girlfriend, and she hadn't pushed for any answers. Yet, it lingered in the small things. The brush of his hand when he reached for a book, the quick hitch of her breath when his eyes found hers across a room. The truth lived in the silence between them, unspoken but impossible to ignore.
She kept replaying that night in the alcove. The snow drifting silently outside, and the faint streaks of frost across the window. His hand had brushed her cheek so carefully, as if he wasn't sure she'd let him. It had been tentative and uncertain, carrying a weight neither of them could have imagined. And afterward, they had returned to the world as if nothing had changed, but Leonora had known immediately that everything had.
She sat in the Slytherin common room on one of the couches near the crackling fire that warmed her skin, elbows resting on her knees as her thoughts wandered far from the Charms homework in front of her.
Barty sat across from her, his Potions textbook open, though she could tell from the sudden twitch of his fingers and the way his eyes kept straying to her that he hadn't been reading. She let herself watch him quietly, tracing the angle of his jaw and the way his hair fell slightly across his forehead, savoring the little details she'd memorized without thinking.
"You're staring at me again," he said suddenly, voice tired, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
Leonora raised an eyebrow, pretending not to notice him. "I am not."
"Yes, you are. Admit it. I saw the exact second your thoughts wandered over here," he teased, leaning in closer.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, though her cheeks betrayed her, tinting pink.
He chuckled softly. "Of course you don't. Always playing innocent."
She shook her head, feeling the warmth blanket them. "You're infuriating Barty, you know that?"
"And you love it," he replied lightly, and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from smiling.
Leonora pressed her lips together, trying to hold back the grin that spread anyway. "Maybe," she admitted softly, chest warming as she watched the perfect curve of his smirk. "But only because you're the most aggravatingly charming person I know."
He let out a soft laugh. The light from the fire danced across his features, highlighting the tilt of his head and the shadow along his jaw, and she felt the pull she felt so often now, the one that made her fingers itch to brush against his hand.
"I should get ready for patrol," she said finally, forcing herself to move. She gathered her notes, placing them into her bag.
"Try not to make me miss you too much," he murmured with a smile, the teasing in his tone just subtle enough to make her grin.
Leonora rolled her eyes playfully as she stood, though a laugh slipped past her lips. "No promises."
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By the time Leonora reached the corridor near the Great Hall, Regulus was already waiting, casually leaning against the cold stone wall.
"About time," he joked as soon as he noticed her approaching. He pushed off the wall, slipping into step with her.
"I'm right on time," she replied, tapping her wrist as if pointing to an invisible watch.
"If you say so," he shrugged while gesturing down the hall, his lip curled into a small smirk. "Let's get a move on, then. Wouldn't want anyone to think we're slacking."
Leonora nodded as they started down the corridor, the faint scrape of their shoes echoing down the hall. They relied on the moonlight beaming in from the tall windows to light their way. The occasional shadow would pool around the corner, tricking their minds into thinking it was a wandering student.
Every so often, they paused to peer down a smaller hallway or through a door, though nothing was out of the ordinary. Nothing besides Regulus, that is.
He had been silent practically the entire patrol. His hands had remained in his pockets, but Leonora could see the tension in his shoulders and the tightness along his jaw. Something was bothering him.
"You know, you're awfully quiet tonight," she said softly when they neared the end of their shift, keeping her tone casual. "Is there something on your mind?"
He sighed, glancing at her briefly before turning away. "I'm just tired of pretending everything is normal," he admitted, almost in a whisper as he ran a hand through his hair, slowing his pace.
Leonora nodded, but didn't have a chance to respond before the boy began again.
"Sometimes I don't even recognize myself anymore." He shook his head, the movement heavy. "The things I've been forced to witness... the things I've been forced to do. And I can't just walk away from it."
Leonora kept pace beside him, her hands picking absently at the edge of her sleeve. "You're still you, Regulus," she reassured him. "I see it every time we talk. He can't take that from you."
They turned another corner, the echoes of their footsteps stretching down the empty corridor.
"The Dark Lord takes whatever he wants."
And to that, she gave the briefest nod. Maybe he wasn't wrong. The Dark Lord disassembled his followers piece by piece until nothing but cruelty remained. But that didn't mean she couldn't be hopeful.
"Do you remember," he began as they neared the staircase down to the dungeons, "the morning of your birthday? When I said I hadn't been sleeping and had a lot on my mind?"
Leonora remembered that morning clearly. She had gone up like she usually did on her birthday, to watch the darkness of the night give way to the morning. He had been up there thinking, though he wouldn't tell her about what exactly, only that it had to do with the Dark Lord.
"I remember," she said. "You were thinking about the Dark Lord, weren't you?"
He nodded before suddenly grabbing her wrist and tugging her behind a large pillar right at the top of the stairs. Leonora's eyes widened in shock, though the shadows hid her expression.
His grip wasn't harsh, but his urgency left no room for misunderstanding. He leaned closer, lowering his voice until it was nearly a whisper.
"I had realized something far too early that morning. I have Kreacher to thank for helping me finally figure it out. And now... I've been looking into things. Quietly."
Leonora's breath caught, her heart thudding as she recognized the tension in his voice. "Looking into what?"
Regulus's eyes scanned the halls around them, as if expecting someone to come around a corner. His voice lowered even further, filled with a mix of caution and intensity.
