The Chain|Regulus Black

The house elf

Their feet hit the ground.

"Run." Regulus' hand clasps onto hers and she's running, looking back they aren't being followed, it's just them, but there's still the burning sensation against her skin as if the locket is still there, a reminder she's not entirely alone.

It's easy for Regulus to close his eyes and imagine they're running through the grounds of Hogwarts. But they aren't, they're running for Delilah's life, his was ruined at the moment of his birth. But she, she still has time, time to wipe the ledger clean.

The problem is, that she doesn't want to wipe the ledger clean. Everything she did, every horrific act, every ounce of blood splattered across the pavement was for him. And no matter how terrible, she'd commit it all again.

Their legs ache almost as much as their hearts when they finally stop running.

"Are you okay?" Regulus whispers into the woods, but she replies by doubling over and vomiting over the ground until her throat is raw and there's nothing left to come up. With the images of their friend's bodies falling limp, and the quiet peace across their faces, they accepted their fate a long time ago. It only causes her to feel more violently sick, but it's not physical, it's within herself. Delilah's skin crawls as she remembers what it felt like to have him infiltrate her head.

Those curses rolling from the tip of her tongue.

"We're alone now." Regulus straightens her up and pulls her into his arms, and it still feels like the safest place in the world.

***

"What is this place?" Delilah scours the bookcase, somehow filled with their favourites, muggle and non-muggle alike. The scene offers her some peace, the beautiful words swirling together, resting together on the same case. Why couldn't the world be just as simple?

"It's mine." Regulus announces, pulling the covers off the sofas and tables. The groans of effort as he moves the piano into the centre of the room, making room to push aside the bookcase revealing a dark tunnel. "For emergencies."

"Couldn't we Apparate?" Regulus stiffens, his hand no longer firmly on his wand, but rubbing somewhat anxiously at his wrist. She takes his hand into hers.

He can't bring himself to use his wand. He couldn't stop his friend's deaths with magic, so why would he want to use it again? All it seemed to bring him was pain. And she sees this.

"No one can Apparate here. I thought it safer if we hear them coming on foot we have time to run." How long ago had he designed this hideaway? How long had his mind been on protecting her?

Wandering behind him, sliding her hands around his waist, resting her head against his back, she breathes with him, feeling his heart beating against her cheek. Feels something in him settle, his body doesn't seem to vibrate with the same anger anymore, the same hatred.

Instead, he feels at peace. Eyes shut to the world, hidden in this secluded corner.

"No one would find us here."

"I know." She knows what he's suggesting. Because she can feel herself falling into the same illusion that they could stay here, they could love and grow old until turning into dust settled in armchairs side by side. How it always should have been.

Merlin, there were so many things that should've been.

"We could live how we wanted. Could have the life you should've had, instead of following me into war."

"I have lived this life for you. I have spent years at war, I'm a veteran Regulus, if you think I'll stop fighting for you then you underestimate me. This war isn't just about them." Delilah slides under his arm to stand in front of him, their foreheads resting together. "It's about us. It's about growing up unafraid to hold a muggles hand." She intertwines their fingers. "It's about Harry-" her breath quickens, and she imagines what he looks like. Startling green eyes like her sister, and her fingers long to brush back that untameable hair. To cradle him, to care for him.