"I don't know what to do...and I don't think Evan does either."
Eloise pulled Nathan into a hug and let him cry on her shoulder,
"I don't know what to tell you, Nate. If you're willing to stay with Evan through this then do that but if you don't think you can handle what he may or may not be made to do..." she trailed off and began thinking about Regulus and how Sirius would react to his younger brother joining forces with the man that the Order of the Phoenix were fighting against.
"Nathan!" Evan was sprinting down the corridor. He caught sight of Eloise and Nathan on the window seat and sighed in relief, "Nathan, I need to talk to you...Elle do you think you could-"
"I'd prefer it if she stayed, Evan." Nathan spoke, lifting his head and avoiding Evan's eyes,
"Uhh- well...okay then." Evan nodded slightly, "Listen, I know you don't agree with me joining the Dark Lord but if there was a way out I would take it."
"There has to be a way out!"
"No there isn't, Nate. What do you expect me to do?"
"Here's a wild idea: don't join the murderous lunatic who will most likely kill me at any chance he got!" Nathan stood up and stood in front of Evan. Eloise shied into the corner of the seat although she was pretty sure that both Nathan and Evan had forgotten she was there.
"I can't, Nathan! My name's been put down since before I was born! I can't help who my family is!"
"Neither can Sirius but I don't see a fucking skull and snake on his forearm!" Nathan bellowed, gesturing wildly to Eloise's very awkward and shrunken figure in the corner,
"Nathan..." Evan's voice quietened down, "There's no getting out of this. I'm going to become a Death Eater-"
"Don't say it!" Nathan covered his ears but Evan removed his hands,
"And if you can't handle that-" Evan choked out, tears filling his eyes,
"No I can't fucking handle that, Evan! I don't particularly want my boyfriend to be a cold-hearted killer!"
"I don't want this , Nathan but maybe this is for the best...it'll keep you out of harm's way to not be affiliated with me-"
"Oh don't start with all of your righteous bullshit!" Nathan shook his head vigorously, tears spilling from his eyes, "Don't pretend you're doing this for me! You couldn't care less about how this affects me!"
"Nathan, that's not true and you know it! I love you, Nathan."
"Stop." Nathan whispered, running a hand through his hair,
"I love you-"
"I SAID STOP!" Nathan shouted and Evan let the tears fall from his sad, blue eyes, "Just go, Evan." he muttered,
"No! Nathan, please." he begged, his voice cracking,
"Go."
~~~
Eloise sat with Nathan in the Gryffindor Common Room, her arm around his shoulders and tears flowing down her own cheeks as Nathan cried into her shoulder.
"Hey, Elle- oh my Merlin! What happened?" Sirius rushed over and crouched down in front of the pair. Eloise, not quite knowing whether or not to tell Sirius because of Nathan and Evan's privacy and also Regulus' position, just shook her head slightly but Nathan told Sirius instead.
"Me and Evan broke up because him and your brother are becoming Death Eaters." he said simply and Sirius' eyes widened,
"What?!" he ran a hand through his hair, "Reg?" he whispered to Eloise and she nodded solemnly, biting her lip causing Sirius' face to turn into one of anger as he stood up and ran out of the room,
"Sirius, please don't!" she called after him but the portrait had already closed behind him. Fortunately, that was the point at which Lily and James walked into the Common Room,
"Good Godric! What's the matter?" James asked,
"I can't say right now, listen you two stay with Nate, I have to go and stop Sirius from murdering his brother." with that she kissed the top of Nathan's head and stood up, sprinting after Sirius.
Eloise heard Sirius and Regulus arguing as she climbed the multitude of stairs to where she had suspected they would find one another: atop of the Astronomy Tower.
"Are you mentally deficient?!" she heard Sirius bellow as she climbed the stairs and cursed under her breath at her boyfriend's temper,
"No! I'm just carrying out some bullshit 'legacy' that was supposed to be yours before you ran away, Sirius!" Regulus shouted back as Eloise neared the pair,
"Reg...please don't do this. You're not a killer."
"How would you know, Sirius?How would you know what I am? You left!" Regulus threw back at his brother, "You can't stop me. It's already been decided, by our parents and the Dark Lord-"
"The Dark Lord?" Sirius repeated incredulously, looking at his brother like he had just claimed to be a squid, "You already sound like one of his fucking minions." the older Black practically spat out the words, "And to fuck with our parents! Come with me! We can protect you!"
"Yeah that's what Eloise kept saying but how? You gonna feed me polyjuice potion for the rest of my life? You used to be a part of this family, Sirius and Eloise was once a Malfoy. Both of you grew up with this looming over your shoulders, you should understand!" it was at that moment that Regulus noticed Eloise standing by the door,
"Reg-" she began but he cut her off,
"How's Nathan?"
"They...they broke up." she dropped her head slightly but continued to walk towards him,
"So that's it? Let me guess, you plan on severing all ties with me too?" Regulus asked, crossing his arms and looking at both Eloise and Sirius,
"No, Reg! But we can't just let you go and join this madman!" Eloise protested,
"Let me? You hold no authority over me! I'm my own person!"
"Well you're obviously not if you're ditching your life, friends and family to join someone who gets off over killing muggles!" Sirius shouted at his brother and Regulus' expression changed from sad to furious,
"You don't get it, Sirius, you never will! You got out of the family as soon as it didn't go your way! And you..." he turned to Eloise whose eyes filled with tears and whose hand had risen to her mouth, "I thought you'd at least be there for me but you're just as bad as him. You two deserve each other! I was stupid to ever think that I could come to you for support." he spat before storming off, leaving Eloise and Sirius stood dumbstruck on the tower. Sirius soon snapped out of his trance, curling his hands into fists and aggressively punching the stone wall. Eloise's hand still covered her mouth and she let out a small sob. Sirius, hearing this, left the wall and enveloped her in a hug,
"We've lost him, Sirius." she whispered, "He's gone."