It was strange, Elsie thought, how much life had changed since they all left Hogwarts, and she wasn't quite sure how to feel about it. It was as if a group of kids suddenly were thrown into an adult world, a world of light and dark with absolutely no in-between. For Elsie it was simple; she was always bound to fight for the light seeing as it practically radiated through her veins. There was no other option for her, even if she did have a choice. But it wasn't until half way through the year of 1979 that Elsie realized the weight behind the notion of making a choice.
She was leaning against the kitchen island looking out at the rain falling from the grey clouds through the window. It was dark out, the clouds blocking any speckle of sunlight from shining through, and water droplets were heavily crashing down onto the ground. An eerie chill ran down her spine before the feeling was interrupted by two arms wrapping around her torso from behind.
"Who needs the sun when you're here, Mrs. Potter," James, who had just woken up and trailed down into the kitchen, rasped into his wife's ear as he softly bit down on the area where her neck met her shoulder.
"Ever the charmer, Mr. Potter," Elsie giggled while turning around and settling her tea on the countertop. She playfully rolled her eyes as her gaze fell down her husband's body, only a singular pair of boxers on his body.
"Where are the rest of your clothes, you git?" She questioned playfully as James ran his hands slowly up and down her arms and began leaving a trail of kisses up her neck.
In between kisses he whispered in her ear while raising a suggestive eyebrow, "Why should I put clothes on when you can take them off?"
Elsie rolled her eyes teasingly while she felt her body being lifted onto the countertop, a sense of warmth filling her aching need for the sun as James' lips pressed against her skin, "You do realize that we live with Sirius, Remus, and your parents still, correct? They could walk in at any moment."
"Moony and Padfoot are probably...busy...with each other," he pulled his lips away from her as he laughed at the words he just said before continuing, "And I checked on mum when I woke up. Both her and dad are...erm... feeling a bit off after their mission last night."
He reattached his lips onto the girl in front of him, this time onto her own soft lips, whispering into them sensually, "Meaning we have the morning all to ourselves."
Elsie kissed back firmly, feeling as if she could never get enough of the godly man that was her husband. Her hands found the back of his neck and she immediately ran her fingers through the bottom of his messy hair. His tongue slipped into her mouth longingly and his hands trailed down the soft skin on her back.
"Mrs. Potter," James groaned into her mouth as her arms fell down to his toned chest, "Have I ever told you how fucking delicious you are?"
A slight blush rose to her face and he couldn't help but place a small kiss on the apple of her right cheek, "I love you, Els."
She was about to respond to the boy in front of her when the sound of pecking interrupted the moment the two were having. James pouted as he pulled away from Elsie and grumbled something about a stupid bird under his breath as he opened the window for the prestigious looking bird that held a letter in its grip. The owl immediately flew over to Elsie and dropped the letter into her hands, James feeding the familiar bird a treat before letting it back into the stormy sky.
"A Black family owl?" James curiously stared over at Elsie as her expression mirrored his.
She slowly opened the envelope and began reading the words that were dated from two days ago, James watching as her entire mood completely shifted while doing so. Her face grew pale and her eyes were wide while her fingers gripped tightly onto the paper. He quickly rushed over to her side and rubbed her back, reading the words that caused his wife to shut down.
Elsie,
I have not much time, but you of all people deserve to hear the truth from me. By the time you read this, I will have embarked on a mission to change my fate. A mission that will most likely strip away everything I know, my life included. I was a Death Eater by force Elsie, you need to understand this. But you told me I could be good, and good is the side I want to fight for. I choose to be good.
There was no name signed onto the bottom of the letter, but Elsie didn't realize that. Her mind was completely in shambles as her eyes wildly stared down at the paper being held in her shaking grip. No...no...no...
"Els?" James softly questioned in concern at the state Elsie entered into. It was as if she couldn't think, her brain only grasping onto a few key words. A mission...Death Eater...good...
She pushed herself back onto her feet and began anxiously pacing the kitchen room, "Fuck, James. He wouldn't risk his life, right? Tell me he wouldn't put his life in danger?!"
"Els, love," James gently grabbed her shoulders as if he were trying to pull her back together, "Tell me what's going on?"
"Regulus," the name slipped out of her lips, as her eyes gazed up at James' full of worry and pain, "He can't be dead. He's fucking 18, he's not dead. Right, James?"
She ripped herself out of James' grip and glared at him when no answer came out of his mouth, her frustration and anger boiling over, "He's 18 years old. He's fucking 18, James. He's not dead! He can't be!"
"Why don't we go talk to Padfoot to see if he knows-,"
"NO," Elsie roared, her heart physically breaking as she thought of an 18 year-old Regulus Black feeling as if his only way of escaping the life he was forced to live was death, "There's no time. I need to go. I have to go."
"Elsie, we don't know where he is or what happened. It's too dangerous, we need to tell someone else," James tried reasoning with the shaking girl in front of him.
"Who's going to fucking listen, James?! Nobody would believe him. They'd think it's a trap, but I know him. I know it's not and I know he's out there. He can't be dead...he can't be," she angrily snapped, not intending to be mean towards James, but getting frustrated that he was wasting more of her time that could be spent looking for Regulus, "I'm going. Now."
"Elsie, please," James begged, grabbing her hands and desperately trying to reason with her, "You can't just leave it's not safe out there."
"We're supposed to be fighting for what's right, James. I need to find him. He could be alone or hurt or...," she trailed off, her eyes getting wide as she refused to finish her last sentence.
"Elsie, he may already be dead," he spoke directly to her, his eyes pleading for her to listen to him, "But you're still here. If you go out searching for a Death Eater, you might end up exactly like him. It's not safe!"
"He's not dead, James," Elsie glared at him, her fists tightening by her side, "Maybe he hasn't gone on his mission yet. Maybe I could stop him or go with-,"
"Go with him, yeah? Is that what you want?!" The spectacled boy stormed up to her as his hands angrily ripped through his messy hair, "And leave me here? Leave me and Sirius and Remus and Peter all alone? Something could fucking happen to you, Elsie."
"Something could have happened to him," she gritted through her teeth, stubbornly not letting up on her position, "How don't you understand that?!"
"But what about you?! Fuck!" He screamed as he began pacing around in the kitchen to try and let some steam off, stopping after a moment and staring directly at her, "I lied, okay? Mum and dad called me from St. Mungos just when I woke up. They think they got infected with Dragon Pox on their last mission, so now they have to stay there. And I'm fucking scared, Elsie. I can't lose them, but I can't fucking even fathom losing you too."
The air was still, silent as the two lovers' increasingly loud words echoed through the kitchen. Their eyes were locked onto each other's with looks that could kill, but had caring emotions flooding through them. Their words sounded angry, but that's the farthest from what they were. Their loud words were hidden declarations of love, begging the other to hear what they're trying to say.
He took a step towards her with a shaky breath and tear-filled eyes, shooting her a look so vulnerable that it broke her heart for what she knew she needed to do.
"Don't leave me, Elsie," James begged her, gripping tightly onto her hand, "It's not safe, please don't go."
A tear rolled down her cheek as she shot James an apologetic look and casted the Stickfast Hex, "Colloshoo."
"Elsie, don't do this. Don't you dare fucking do this," James pleadingly seethed as he tried moving his feet, but couldn't because they were firmly stuck to the ground, "Elsie if you do this-,"
A sob escaped her lips as she watched tears free fall down James' face, his body angrily writhing while trying to get out of the hex she casted. She didn't let him finish his sentence, knowing that if she heard his voice break her defenses would come crashing down. She knew James was hurting, but Regulus was at risk of dying. She had to chose between a love and a life. And even though her entire heart, mind, body, and soul were begging her to run into James' arms and tell him everything was okay, her own words that she told Reggie himself pulled her in the opposite direction because there was something bigger at stake here. Sometimes we have to make choices that go against everything we know...
"I'm sorry, James. I love you," she whispered to him as she apparated out from his sight, landing right on the doorstep of the Black manor.
She felt as if she pounded on the door for an eternity before it creaked open, a small house-elf with naturally furrowed eyebrows revealing himself.
"I'm Elsie Figg, I just needed to know-," her sentence was cut off when the door was slammed in her face.
Frustrated, she kept knocking on the door until it opened once again, "Go away. Master refuses any visitors at this time."
The door began to shut once again, but Elsie rammed her foot into the doorway to stop it. She ran a hand through her messy hair as she tried to muster up the right words to say.
"I know I'm not welcome here and I know those two prats would consider me closer to garbage than a visitor. And honestly, I wouldn't exactly want to speak to them either, especially after what they did to Sirius," she rambled on until she remembered what she initially came for, "I'm just worried because Regulus-,"
"Master Regulus Black?" The house-elf's ears perked up at the sound of Regulus' name, and he shuffled around before holding out another letter for the girl, "Master left this for Elsie Figg."
Elsie quickly grabbed the letter as the door, for the third time, shut in her face. She knew it wasn't safe to be loitering around the Black manor so she quickly flooed to the place where she knew she needed to be next. She apparated into a nearby pub that she knew was connected to the floo network and flooed straight into Dumbledore's office, a wand being held up immediately to her throat as she appeared.
"Alastor, wand down if you may," Dumbledore wistfully spoke as he walked back and forth around his office casually, "Ms. Figg, or should I say Mrs. Potter now, is no threat to me."
Moody nodded at Elsie and removed his wand before she quickly began speaking, "It's Regulus Black, sir. I believe him to be in danger."
"Yes, I was just made aware of the accusation that Mr. Regulus Black has been missing for the past two days," Dumbledore noted with a small, apologetic look, "Why don't you take a seat? I have aurors tracking him down as we speak."
Elsie nodded hesitantly and sat down in a chair off to the side of the room, pulling her legs up to her chest as her arms pulled her shins in closer. The letter was tucked into the waistband of her pants unread and forgotten about until 3 hours later when the 5 words just told to her unlocked a tsunami of emotions brewing inside of her.
Regulus Black was found dead.
There were details about what happened and where he was, but Elsie didn't hear anything beyond those 5 words. She hadn't moved from her position, her body freezing from shock and pain. An 18 year-old boy was dead. A child died while trying to escape an adult's war. She numbly gazed away from everyone in the room and kept her fury and anger to herself. Regulus was dead and yet all she could do was stare out the window, watching the rain droplets trickle down from view. And that's why she was mad. Because she was right all along. Elsie would always know where to find Regulus as long as it was raining. Regulus Black was dead.
She didn't know how long she stayed in the same position until her hip grew sore and she slightly moved, the letter tucked into her pants crinkling while doing so. She slowly pulled it out and forced herself to read the last words he ever wrote to her. The last words of an angel that thrashed down the devil himself.
Elsie,
I wanted to say thank you for showing me that I didn't have to be the bad guy. You, Elsie Figg, saved my life in a way no one ever has.
You made me become a hero in a story I was destined to be a villain in. And not many people I know could be so stubborn, so persuasive that they have destiny willingly mold for them. Maybe I'm not the one who's most like Sirius, maybe that's you.
Elsie, you once told me that we always have a choice, that we can either be good...or not good. And here I am, proving to you that you're right. I choose good.
The Slytherin boy with a colorful bracelet,
R.A.B.
The string bracelet she knew he wore on his wrist fell out of the paper and into her hands. And that's when she lost all control. Elsie broke down right then and there, her tears flooding the world around her. Her body shook uncontrollably, only breaking when another shaking hand fell onto her shoulder. She looked up and locked eyes with the pained boy in front of her, both of them reaching for each other at the same time.
Sirius Black and Elsie held each other for the remainder of the day, not daring to let go of the only thing keeping them from falling apart. A few people flooed into the office to check up on them once in a while, but this only broke Elsie even more.
Because none of those people were James.
——————————————————————————
AUTHORS NOTE:
I didn't think it was humanely possible to cry this much until I finished this chapter BDJEMDOEMDOSMD
What do we think is going to happen next? James and Elsie aren't talking, The Potters are sick...all I have to say is buckle up because things are about to get even wilder
Hey guys quick appreciation note, I just wanted to thank everyone for sticking with me and patiently waiting for chapters even tho I know my schedule is fucked up. I love you guys ur literally the bestest<3