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Chapter Forty: Cursebreaker
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S E P T E M B E R 1979
"Do you think you want a big wedding?" Romina glanced up from the most current copy of Witch Weekly to look at her friend who sat opposite her on Sirius' couch. The boys were behind them in the kitchen, cooking no less, which gave the two time to gossip.
"When I was a little girl, I think so. But now, with the war and all," Lily frowned for a moment before peaking back up with a smile, "Now I just want to marry James. I don't think we're going to do something too big. If we did, it would need too many protection spells in place. I don't want to put anyone through that just to have a few butterbeers and watch me cry like a baby infront of everyone with James."
Romina chuckled softly at her friend. Her hand moved to pat Lily's knee in three soft taps, "You would not be the only one crying, I can assure you." The girls broke out into smiles and laughter before they were interrupted by James and Sirius calling them for dinner.
"I can't believe you've cooked this. No magic?" Romina raised a brow as she looked over at Sirius. He was in the process of stuffing his face with a fork full of meat and potatoes, though paused to give her his usual devilish smirk before continuing to eat.
"Mum taught me, you know." James began, clearing his throat after the food he had just chewed and swallowed. "And I'm very good at supervising and teaching, so this would not have been possible without my help."
That had earned him a slap against the chest by Lily, though the two did begin to laugh. Sirius shrugged, unfazed by what James' had said. "It's true." He agreed, laughing along with them.
"Well, it doesn't matter to me. It's the thought that counts. It was very sweet of both of you to do this for us." Romina leaned over to gently press her lips against her boyfriends cheek before continuing to dig into dinner.
The last month and a half had come and gone faster than Romina was hoping. The wounds of Regulus' death were still quite fresh, but with each passing day she became stronger and more focused on her work and the war, while Sirius did the same.
Outside of the order meetings, Romina barely had time to see any of her friends. She had officially moved in with Sirius so she had not even seen Euphemia or Fleamont, whom she missed terribly.
James and Lily left soon after dinner. Romina had told them not to worry about the clean up, as she had it handled. After locking the door and turning with a heavy sigh, Sirius watched Romina glide through the kitchen with a towel resting over her shoulder and a stack of dirty dishes in her hands.
"Can you put on some music?" Romina called to her boyfriend, smiling when she quickly heard the beginning melody of one of her favorite albums, Bat Out Of Hell by Meatloaf. The duo bounced around the kitchen, cleaning up after their dinner party, singing and forgetting the world and the worries it brought them.
As Romina finished drying off the last dish, leaning up on the tips of her toes to place it back into the cupboard, she turned to find Sirius standing behind her with a mischievous grin. "What are you doing?" She asked him, a laugh escaping her lips as he ran his fingers through his hair, wiggling each eyebrow up and down as he inches closer to her. He had closed her off from escaping him, his hands resting on the countertop on either side of her.
Romina continued to laugh, watching him and stepping back until her back pressed into the counter. "Are you...are you trying to seduce me?" She whispered, her eyes wide as she watched him continue to lean down until their lips were just a mere centimeters apart.
Sirius laughed, his breath ghosting over her face as he nodded. "Is it working?"
"Well, I mean," she snorted a bit as he continued to wiggle his eyebrows, "it would be working if you stopped doing that thing with your eyebrows." Her hands reached up to cup either side of his face before she pulled him down and pressed her lips against his.
The kiss was short and sweet. Romina pulled back and playfully nudged him away. He wouldn't budge, holding firmly on the countertop to keep her between his arms. "What if I stop doing the eyebrow thing? Do I get a chance?" Sirius grinned.
Romina let out a laugh, her arms wrapping around his neck as she allowed him to pin her between his body and the counter. "You can't always get what you want." She scolded him playfully.
"But if I try real hard..." he began, still grinning down at her before their lips met once more.
With Sirius, it was easy to ignore the outside world. It was easy to forget that just outside that door - death awaited them. Death might not take them just yet, but Death was still there.
Death would always be there.
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"Hank?" Romina stood in the doorway, her wand clutched tightly in her hand as she watched her boss check out the room for any hidden hazards with his wand. She waited for him to give her the go ahead before she stepped in and followed him to the opposite side of the room.
She could feel the dark magic radiating off the cabinet in the corner. It made her shudder, her nerves lit up as the hairs on the back of her neck and along her arms stood up.
"Be careful, Lestrange." Hank offered her his support, standing back to let her find the object that had been looking for. She had been at the top of the list of recruits, but still struggled with being accepted by her peers. Hank was a kind man, and he seemed completely unbiased on her blood status and family name - but some of the other newer cursebreakers did not feel the same.
And unfortunately for Romina, they weren't afraid of showing it.
Today, Romina was able to take her time, opening the cabinet and finding the cursed object deep within. It was a chalice, black metal and large red stones - most likely rubies - encrusted along the trim. "Is it normal to feel a burst of heat?" She called out to Hank from over her shoulder, immediately feeling sweat begin to bead up along her hairline.
The last thing she wanted to do was make the wrong move. She stayed still, ignoring the need to wipe at her forehead as she waited for Hank to respond. When he didn't respond, she sighed and began to crane her next to the right, noticing him frozen by the desk, hand wrapped around another chalice that was the mirror image of the one she had just found in the cabinet.
"Fuck." She groaned, realizing that he was completely frozen, eyes unblinking and the skin on his hand that was wrapped around the chalice beginning to blacken from the curse.
"It took me a long time to find these chalices."
Romina froze at the voice coming from behind her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as her brother, Rabastan, came into her field of vision. "Rab." She sobbed out his name, already pleading with wide eyes, full of tears, for her own life and that of her boss. "W-what are you doing?"
"I'm here to talk to my little sister." Rabastan explained, twirling his wand between the fingers of one hand while the other moved to close the cabinet door.
"Did you plant these chalices? I don't understand how you knew we'd be here." Romina gripped her wand tightly, slowly beginning to raise her hand before her brother seemingly caught onto her, shouting expelliarmus quicker than she could. Romina gasped as her wand went flying backwards, smacking against the nearest wall and clanking to the floor.
"I've already explained to you. I just wanted to talk." Rabastan frowned, walking to her and moving to gently press the palm of his free hand against her cheek. "I have questions for you."
"I don't want to talk to you." Romina spat, stepping back from him, wrenching herself away from his touch. While Rabastan was usually the gentle brother, her favorite of the two, she felt sick from his touch. Just the nearness of his body to hers made her stomach twist, the contents churning and making her feel nauseous. "I don't owe you a damn thing, Rabastan. We are not family."
Rabastan snorted, shaking his head. "My blood is your blood. You think that those gits you spend your time with are your family? That filthy blood traitor?"
"You don't get to talk about them like that. You're right but while we may not share blood, they care for and love me more than you and Rodolphus do." She spat again, stepping back a few more paces in hopes that she would be able to grab her wand.
"I have always loved you." Rabastan shouted wildly, his wand now pointing directly at her face. "I have always wanted the best for you. You were on the right side for so long, sister. You could have had a great life. Treated like a bloody fucking princess for the rest of your days."
"That's a lie and you know it, Rab. Avery is foul. He is no man. He could never give me what I truly needed, what I wanted. What I deserved!"
Rabastan ran his fingers through his hair, moving the greasy locks that were longer than usual out of his eyes. The look on his face was enough to terrify Romina for a very long time. He was looking more like Rodolphus with each passing second and it was tearing her heart into a million little pieces.
"And that blood traitor Sirius Black can give you that?"
"How do you know I'm with Sirius?"
Rabastan let out a laugh, his head thrown back with force before he looked back at his little sister. "Everyone knows."
"Have you been following me?" She questioned. She needed to know if they had to move - if they had to add more protection charms on the flat that they called home.
"Not me, no. But you are never truly alone, little sister." Rabastan told her with a smirk. "And I do still care for you, really I do. I have always loved you, I have always taken care of you." He stepped closer, stopping Romina in her tracks. Her hand stretched as far as it could, but she couldn't get the wand in her grip by using her wandless magic - that was something she had never shared with her family. She couldn't tip them off to the extent of her abilities. Not now. Not ever.
"And I don't want to see you hurt, or worse, just because you wanted to experience life on your own. If you come back now, Rodolphus has agreed to forgive you," Romina's eyes widened as she scoffed, "no, it is true, sister, I swear to you. And Avery, he would still marry you. With that marriage, you would be protected."
"Protected? From what? From who? I would be in a loveless marriage. Most likely abused and used for the remainder of my life. I don't want that. I don't want him." Romina spat, glaring at her brother. It broke her heart that he was becoming more like Rodolphus. Rabastan used to be the kind one, the gentle one. But now, he looked even more deranged than Rodolphus and Bellatrix combined.
"I don't wish to kill you, Mina. I love you. You are my sister but you have chosen the wrong side." Rabastan told her. He frowned and turned his attention to the man who had stupidly picked up the second cursed chalice. He clasped his hands behind his back as he leaned forward, his voice barely above a whisper as he told her the counter curse to bring her boss back from the brink of death.
Within the blink of an eye Rabastan disapparated in a thick cloud of black smoke. Romina was still frozen, a single tear rolled down her cheek as she quickly turned to grab her wand and begin working with the counter curse to save Hank. As his skin began turning back to its normal color as he became animated again.
"Relax, Hank, it's okay. I've got you." She pleaded with him, casting the chalice off to the side as she wrapped an arm around him and disapparated them to St Mungos. She wasn't sure of the after effects of the curse and knew taking him to the hospital was the only thing she could do.
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"Mina!" Lily's voice echoed through the empty hallway as the redhead rushed to greet her friend.
Romina spun around with a sigh of relief. "I'm okay!" She told her, though did not fight the hug that Lily enveloped her in. "My boss, Hank, got cursed. I was able to break him out of it but brought him in to be safe." She decided to leave out the fact that it was her brother who was behind the cursed chalices, and that they had a stand off.
Although she had been terrified of Rabastan, she knew he would not have hurt her - atleast not right then and there. Lily grimaced as she pulled back, nervously biting down on her bottom lip as she looked at Romina.
"What? What's that face for?" Romina raised a brow.
"I sent a patronus to James. I-I'm sorry. I was scared that it was you who was hurt!" Lily tried to explain, already feeling guilty as she saw the look on Romina's face. The last thing they wanted to do was bring more attention to anyone in the order and she knew that James and Sirius would leave their post to come and make sure Romina was safe.
"Merlin! There they are!" James gasped, running around the corner as he came to a skidding stop just before running into the girls.
Sirius rushed around after him, his hand pressing against his chest as relief washed over him when Romina turned to face him. She smiled, "I'm okay." She told him, allowing him to bring her in against his chest in a bone-crushing hug. Her hands splayed out against his back as her face smushed into his chest. He began to rock side to side, a sob fighting to work its way out of him but the feeling of her lips brushed against his jawline brought him out of it. "I'm okay." She repeated to him, "I didn't get hurt. It wasn't me. I'm here."
They were so wrapped up in one another that neither of them noticed that Lily and James had left and now they were alone in the hallway. Sirius moved one hand to the side of Romina's face, the moment her cheek pushed into the palm of his hand the trembling ceased and he relaxed into her. His eyes were still glossy with fear and he quickly brought his lips down to hers before speaking, "I was so scared, Mina. I t-thought you got hurt. And I was," he paused and kissed her forehead before continuing, "I was terrified that you were taken from me."
Romina willed the tears away, though with every word he spoke it was becoming increasingly harder to not break down. She moved one hand between their bodies, pressing down against his chest, just above his heart. "I love you so much, Sirius." She told him in the softest voice she could manage. She leaned up and caught his lips in a searing hot kiss, her hand moving to cup the side of his face as she parted her lips to sneak her tongue out for a taste.
The emotion behind the kiss was intense and even though they were alone in the hallway, they quickly realized that they were in public and something needed to be done to feed the electricity between them.
"Take me home."