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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"The Dark Lord... he isn't like other wizards. I think he's... found a way to cheat death. To make himself almost immortal. A piece of his soul, split from his body and placed into an object."
Leonora's stomach dropped. How was that possible? In all of her research with Barty for more on the Dark Arts, she couldn't recall ever passing by something like that. "That's... that's impossible."
"I thought so too, at first," Regulus admitted, his eyes scanning each shadow around them. "But it's true. I've been trying to understand how it works and what can be done to stop it."
"And?" Her throat was bone dry, making it difficult to talk.
For a moment, Regulus didn't answer. He took a slow, tense breath as he stared at the stone beneath them. His hands tightened at his sides like even speaking the words would bind him tighter to the Dark Lord's secrets. "I don't know yet." His voice was heavy. "Destroying something like this isn't simple. I don't know if it's even supposed to be possible."
Her brows furrowed. "Then we must tell someone. Dumbledore—"
Regulus's reply was sharp, cutting the air between them. "No. If he suspects that anyone knows, even for a moment, we're dead. Worse than dead." He paused as he met her gaze, eyes dark. "Dumbledore can't protect everyone. He can't protect you."
Leonora scoffed, her pulse quickening. "I'm well aware, Regulus, but what do you expect us to do? Sit here knowing he's found a way to make himself untouchable? If it is true, if this is real, then someone has to try."
"And what would you do?" he asked bitterly. "March into his path pretending that hope is going to stop him?"
She swallowed hard, but kept her eyes trained on the boy. "I think that someone has to believe it's possible. Or else he's already won."
Regulus's jaw tightened. There was a glint of fear in his eyes that he quickly buried. Leonora could see the conflict in him: the boy torn between the world he'd been forced into and the part of himself that still wanted to resist it.
"Believing doesn't make it safer," he spoke lowly. "It only makes it harder when you lose."
Leonora shook her head in disbelief. "Then why tell me at all, if you don't believe anything can be done?"
Regulus pressed his lips into a thin line. "I've told you, I'm still looking into it. I don't know if nothing can be done."
"Then let me help," she pleaded, almost too quickly.
"No." His reply was firm.
Her words caught on her tongue. She blinked at the boy, thrown by the sudden wall he'd put up between them. "...No?"
