never until forever [s. black]

nineteen

katherine walks through the slytherin common rooms, in the direction of the boy dorms. she had just come back from her weekend with her father and brother, ready to break down. she had no one else to go to, but regulus. she knocks on his door and it doesn't take him long to open up. by the look on her face, he immediately knows what's wrong and wraps his arms around her as she breaks down in his arms.

"it's okay. it's okay." he hums, as he closes the door behind him so that his roommate doesn't see her so vulnerable. he holds her tightly, feeling heartbroken by his best friend being so sad.

"i can't. i can't do this anymore." katherine says between sobs, making him smile weakly and an idea comes to his mind. he knows she wasn't about to like the idea, but he had to risk it, because on the long term it'll help her.

"do you trust me?" he asks as he pulls away and she wipes her tears. katherine nods as she looks at him in confusion. he takes her hand and leads her out of the dorms, out of the common rooms and through the hogwarts hallways. she doesn't bother trying to question him as he leads her to an unknown place, knowing he probably wouldn't answer. although, it doesn't take her long to realise where they're going as they step into the gryffindor common rooms. her heart drops and before she can say anything, he drags her up the stairs to a door, before knocking. she looks up at regulus in panic as she hears laughter on the other side of the door.

"regulus-" before she can even say anything else, the door swings up and she looks up to see remus, who's smile drops. he notices the tear stains on katherine's cheeks and the worry in regulus' eyes.

"who's at the door, moony?" james calls out from inside, but remus ignores him as he starts to worry as well.

"is everything okay?" remus asks, making katherine nod and regulus shake his head. remus looks at them in slight confusion.

"is sirius here?" regulus asks and before remus can even answer, the older black appears from behind remus and he immediately starts worrying. "you need to help her."

"regulus, no." she protests and regulus shakes his head as he grabs the collar of her turtleneck and pulls it down slightly to reveal a red mark, slowly turning a shade of purple.

"i have my bets on her brother. he gets violent." regulus says and sirius clenches his jaw, as remus gapes at the girl, who looks ready to crumble into pieces.

"get in." sirius says as he walks back into the room, remus moving out of the way. regulus pulls her into the room, both james and peter look at them in confusion. sirius softly takes her hand in his and nods reassuringly at his brother, who lets go of her. sirius then leads her to his side of the room. "are you wearing anything under this?"

"yeah." she breaths out weakly and slowly removes the turtle neck to reveal a button up shirt. sirius looks at james.

"do you still have some of the stuff for bruising?" sirius asks james, who nods and quickly takes a flask out of a bag, handing it to sirius. james notices the bruise on her neck and his eyes widen.

"what happened?" james asks softly as sirius makes her sit down on his bed.

"she's going to hate me for saying this. but her brother has been extremely violent but he has never been with her. yet, the moment she came to me with that turtle neck, i knew. she doesn't usually wear those and she just comes back from there." regulus says and katherine looks down in shame, but sirius puts a hand under her chin and slowly raises her head. he smiles softly and applies some of the flask's content on her bruise, making her wince.

"i'm sorry, darling." he says softly and her heart skips a beat. he continues applying it all over the bruise, before backing away slightly. the bruise had completely disappeared, not a single trace left. "there you go. you look as good as you always do."

"thank you." she says weakly, making him smile reassuringly.

"you can't go back there, katherine. it's much too dangerous." remus says, still extremely worried as he, james, peter and regulus, gather around her and sirius, who is crouched in front of her.

"if i weren't a slytherin it'd be easier to do so. but everyone in our house knowns my father or brother. they'd use that to their advantage. they can't take refusal. my mother tried that. look where it landed her." katherine scoffs and sirius' eyes widen as realises.

"your mother died because she went against your father?" peter asks in shock and she looks down at sirius, feeling slight comfort as she looks into his eyes.

"she didn't want to be a death eater. and neither do i. but, my father forced her into it and she couldn't take it so..." she trails off sadly and tears burn her eyes. "he'll make me one. he won't have it any other way."

"you could drop out and disappear." james suggests, making her look up at him in disbelief.

"and go where? i have nothing outside of hogwarts. this is my safe place. but even that has become a risk." katherine says, making sirius stand up and she looks up at him. he offers his hand to her and she takes it, pulling her up on her feat. he wraps his arms around her and her whole body stiffens, as she hadn't expected that. it takes her moment, but eventually she relaxes and wraps her own arms around him. she holds on tightly to him, as he rests his chin on her head. sirius looks at james and silently they make an agreement, making james walk to his side of the room to write his parents a letter.

"princess, we're going to get you out of here. but i'm going to need you to trust us. i know-" she cuts him off as she looks up at him and he looks down at her.

"i trust you."