"CLANDESTINE"

CLANDESTINE: secret; Lorelei Black wasn't going to lie, with everything going on at Hogwarts she'd sort of forgotten about her estranged uncle's journals that she'd brought with her to Hogwarts to read in free time, yeah, the thing is — she didn't get much of that, she had been busy with her N.E.W.Ts and when she wasn't busy studying, she was either brewing potions or getting her hand carved, so, you can see how it didn't dawn on her to start figuring stuff out, but something happened that changed it all.

And no, she's not being her usual dramatic self, something did happen.

Lorelei found herself walking inside a cave, she looked around but then she saw someone right next to her — it was a girl, she had long wavy light brown hair and she looked very nervous, Lorelei was confused, but as usual she couldn't speak in her dreams. The girl took a hold of her hand, Lorelei was confused, but for some reason she felt comfort even though she'd never known the girl, "You ok, Reggie?" the girl had asked.

Lorelei wanted to tell her she wasn't Reggie when a voice spoke up, it was a male voice and it sounded just as nervous as the girl beside her, "As much as I could be" Lorelei looked down at their intertwined hands. The girl gave her hand a tight squeeze, "You ok, Emery?"

"As much as I could be" Emery added with a tight lipped smile, the two of them walked up to his weird structure that had water in it, and inside that water was a locket, a very chunky and ugly locket, Lorelei thinks, "Let's go"

Lorelei looked at Emery, the girl looked sickly pale and nervous, she had sweat dripping off her forehead and she looked extremely sad too, Emery looked at Regulus and then sighed, "You know what I have to do, Reggie"

"No, no, no, darling, listen to me—" The male voice had said, but his voice was shaky and Lorelei could feel herself drifting off and getting weaker, she looked at Emery who had a cloth in her hand that she had covered Lorelei's nose with, Lorelei tried to fight it, but she couldn't, "Em..."

Emery put Lorelei down carefully on the ground, leaning her against one of the stones, "I'm so sorry, Reggie" she ran her fingers through Lorelei's hair, "I love you so much, so I have to do this, I can't let you do it..." Emery let out a teary chuckle, "I can't let you take the fall for it, whatever happens do not let me stop drinking — you have to convince me, ok? Just speak up — I could never say no to you even in a crazy headspace"

The male voice croaked out a,"No" she tried to reach her hand out, but she couldn't — the Emery girl got up and she started drinking out of that bowl thing, and soon she started to back away, "Hey, hey, Em, come on — look at me, you have to do this, ok? You can't let all your efforts go in vain, come on, you can do this"

Emery sobbed, "No, please don't make me" she said, and she kept crying, wailing, it was heart wrenching to watch.

"Please, darling" Lorelei tried to reach out her hand to comfort her, but she couldn't — she couldn't move at all, "I can't lose you for nothing"

"No, Reggie, I don't want to" Emery sobbed, and Lorelei could feel a weight on her chest, it was like someone was squeezing her heart out — the same feeling she got when she saw George get hurt during the most recent Quidditch practice for some reason.

After some convincing Emery decided to finish the whole drink, and she fetched out the locket, and handed it to Regulus, "Kreacher" she called out, and with a snap Lorelei watched the same house elf that spent every waking minute of his life insulting the people in the house of his masters appear and bow down to Emery, the girl had a fiery look in her eyes as she looked around, "Take Reggie and go, do not apparate him back to the house — take him to some muggle place, do not by any chance take him to a wizard place, you hear me? Take him and go, I'll hold them off"

Just as soon as she said that some bony skeleton looking things came into view, and Emery took off the ring from her hand, holding them out and she quite literally burst into flames, but they didn't seem to hurt her body at all they seemed to dance around her, not on her. She burned some of those skeleton looking things, but she couldn't get them all and right when Lorelei was about to get disapparated away from the cave by Kreacher, she heard Emery whisper something.

"Goodbye, Regulus"

Lorelei woke up with a gasp.

🫐

"ARE YOU SURE YOU HEARD IT RIGHT?" Regan asked her cousin, and the two sat down on the kitchen floor, they had cups of hot chocolates in their hands and one of Regulus's journal, Lorelei had told the younger girl about her dream and how real it felt, it was almost like it was a memory, and Lorelei was living it instead of Regulus, she had his body, she had his voice — she even had his emotions, but she wasn't him. Lorelei had never had a dream like that ever, sure her dreams were vivid, but never like that never something that felt like a memory, when she woke up it felt hazy but not with this, she remembers every single detail, every emotion, and everything both of them had said, "Even if you did, Lore, what's the chance that it wasn't just some dream? You've always had extremely detailed and realistic looking dreams, haven't you?"

"No, Regan, you don't get it" Lorelei said and she stammered — she had no idea why Regan wasn't believing her, "It was a memory, it was like I was living in it — I felt everything, Reggie"

"Even if you did, what's to say it isn't because of your sleeping draught addiction you've got?" Lorelei rolled her eyes at Regan's constant nagging about her sleeping potions, "What? It's the truth, you said you'd stop, Lorelei"

"I'm going to stop, Merlin" Lorelei said exasperated, "I don't know why I bother with you when you're never going to trust me, and you're supposed to"

"Trust you?" Regan scoffed, "I can't believe you're saying that when I've been covering for you for months, I haven't told anyone about it and I'm trusting you, Lore, but you're not fixing it at all"

"I'll fix it when I want to" Lorelei said harshly, "If you wanted to meet up just because you wanted to remind me of it constantly?"

"Oh, come off it" Regan said, she got up immediately, "We're planning to do something about Umbridge's horrible teaching, and if you're not too busy snorting sleeping draught up in your dorm, come join us" Regan said harshly.

"What is wrong with you?" asked Lorelei with her brows furrowed, "Why have you got such a stick up your ass?"

Regan turned around, "It's because everything's getting harder, El, and I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm stuck somewhere I'm not welcome, I get pranked everyday, I have to spend three hours in the shower to get rid of the bad smell, I have to spend hours rubbing my
skin to get rid of the bloody paint until my skin's all red, and you're trying to tell me that you're living our dead uncle's memories and it's all bullshit, so I'm asking you just let life be normal for once in our fucking lifetime!" Regan started to walk away when Lorelei called out.

"What time do I have to be there?"

"Now!"

Lorelei rolled her eyes, she hadn't even got a jacket on, but it wasn't going to be that cold out there, was it? She decided to go against common sense and just walk up to the pub, and she'd immediately regretted that when the wind blew and a shiver went down her spine, she shook her head and made her way up to the battered and exhausted looking board, she stared at it for a few seconds and looked around to see George, Fred and Lee standing by Zonko's, not surprised.

She opened the door and walked inside the depressing looking bar, immediately heading to the counter and passing the familiar looking old man a disgusted look, "You know this place could really use some renovation"

"What do you want?" the grumpy man asked.

"Alright, alright, no need to be so rude" Lorelei said rolling her eyes, "Two firewhiskeys, please"

The man narrowed his eyes, "You don't look of age"

"I am," Lorelei furrowed her eyebrows "and this is hog's head — do you really care?"

The man pulled out two bottles and slammed them on the counter, "that'll be twelve sickles" Lorelei reached her hands inside her pocket and pulled out a galleon she put it on the table and told the man, "At least paint the pub, add some kind of oomph to it—"

"El" Hope called out, and Lorelei had noticed the pub was now almost full, she motioned Lorelei to join her side and Lorelei turned around to face the barman one more time.

"Think about it, a little blue could really brighten this place up" she'd said before she ran off to her friend with two bottles of firewhiskey, "Hey, Lupin"

"What were you doing talking to the sketchy man up there?" Hope questioned as Lorelei handed her a bottle, "It's a Tuesday, El, why are you drinking?"

"Why not?" Lorelei took a huge swig of it, she already knew she was going to need it with all the question surrounding Cedric and the tournament and that noseless monster Voldemort.

Merlin help her.