PROMISES

Anne thought that June 10th would bring better things once she ignored Marlene's cold eyes over her as she walked past her to go to the bathroom in the morning, Lily standing almost in between them as if they were going to jump each other at any moment, but breakfast made the end of her final year even worse. With Marlene sitting with Dorcas in the Hufflepuff table and Mary making her way to sit with them as well, Anne felt nervous that Marlene would end up spilling the secrets (the few she knew, at least) to the two.

The mail was brought the same time as always, but there was a letter to Anne.

"Mum wrote to you?" James asked over his eggs, raising his eyebrows. "She didn't write to me this week."

"You received her letter yesterday, you dramatic man," Lily groaned, rolling her eyes.

In silence, not recognizing the handwriting that addressed that heavy letter to her, she put the letter on the table, wand waving as she checked – no explosions, no poison in the ink, no poison on the paper. She opened it.

Dear Anne,

In this letter, my family and I officially congratulate you in your newest relationship with Severus Snape. May your relationship last and blossom into a long-lived marriage in the future after school that is to come. I, particularly, was happy to hear of your new arrangement, making you secure in a world so dangerous as the British Wizarding World. Your equalitarian match is an inspiration to us all.

It's good to see a half-blood not as ambitious as to be completely delusional about her own position in this world, a realist woman is what all women should be and I admire you for showing it off to the world to see. I'm sure Severus is very proud of you and I'm sure Regulus is proud of finally putting you two together, he has been trying to do so for a few months now behind the scenes (at least I asked him to be as discreet as possible).

My husband and I will throw a party for Regulus' graduation in the 18th. We were expecting you and your sweetheart to make an appearance, after all Regulus seem fond on you – quite lucky, you two are, aren't you? Your presence might mean the difference between a job and starving in the future and Severus' presence is absolutely mandatory (do talk to him for me, yes?)

I hope to see you once more.

Lady Walburga Black, the Mistress of the House of Black,

PS: Make sure to remember your place.

As if the 'PS' was necessary after she left that very sentence implied several times. Anne supposed, Walburga wasn't one for subtly now that her mental condition was slipping away so quickly. For that very same reason, it was surprising that she was inviting Anne at all or trying to be polite at all to her.

"Not Mia," she answered. "Walburga."

"What?!" Sirius said, leaning over the table to get a glimpse at the letter. "What does that bitch want?"

"To invite me to a party, with a very clear 'ps' to make me remember my place now that I belong to Severus, apparently," she said, holding back her annoyed laughter. "I suppose can't be all too surprised with her rudeness, but I am surprised she was even polite enough to not call me a slur by letter. I think I'm climbing up her ranking."

"Ranking?" James asked, taking the letter from her and reading it. "What kind of ranking?"

"Of her esteem, of course," Anne answered.

"I don't think she has esteem for herself, Anne, sweetheart," Lily said, shifting uncomfortably as she read the letter as well.

Anne shrugged.

"In her mind, I'm with Severus and, therefore, I'm not in the slight possibility of me going to Regulus' bed, which the boys can attest was Orion's biggest worry after the dinner I had with them," she explained in a low voice to not let anyone that wasn't meant to hear. "They are terrified Regulus is going to get stuck with me because of a child or something. Since the moment they met me, they made sure I knew that I would never be part of the family. I'd always be Regulus' side girl, the other woman, if you wish."

"They are absolute bonkers, Anne," Remus dismissed. "The boy is whipped. He's in absolute love for you and you'll never his second option."

But as Peter finally came to sit down with them, talking quickly about some gossip he had heard from the Ravenclaw first year son of a famous muggle singer, Anne pulled away.

It wasn't completely true. If there was something she feared because of how terrifyingly real it was, it was the probability that one day Regulus would choose his family over her, no matter how much they hurt him. They had their shackles way too tight around him and Anne thought it would hurt more to get them off then to leave them on – her hope was the fact that Orion Black was dying and, after that, Regulus would be Head of the House and would have the control and, maybe (if he was strong enough) he would take control from his mother, finally being the man that she had raised him to pretend to be, but be Him for real.

She glanced at the Slytherin table. Regulus was bored, listening to Elizabeth ranting and clearly scolding him. If she was able to hear, she would know she was asking why Severus hadn't told anyone about his relationship and scolding Regulus for not telling her. If Anne was a better person, she would like Elizabeth, but she was starting to lose her patience with the way she was always hanging around Regulus – it wasn't jealousy, but she didn't know the girl enough to have an opinion about her to the point of feeling Regulus was safe beside her. She didn't know anything about the girl, not from the 70s and not from her time.

"What do you all know about Elizabeth Fawley?" she asked, suddenly.

James looked at her before glancing at the Slytherin table, lips trembling as he held back a smirk.

"Why do ask?" he still implied.

"I'm not jealous," she said quickly.

"And that answer doesn't help you there, darling," Sirius said, sipping his tea and leaning against Remus.

"She's proper nice," Peter said. "She helped me in Potions a couple of years ago before Slughorn went around the room grading the potions. I would have gotten a 'T' without her, but she got me a 'P'. She's very rich as well."

"Well, you're better in Potions and you're prettier," Lily said, blushing a bit. "If I do dare to say so myself."

They were too alike for any compliment she gave her to not be taken by herself. James laughed at it.

"That's not it, I just want to know more about her... About her family," she insisted.

"Fawleys are pureblood, not much more than that," Sirius said. "They are comfortable, but not all that wealthy, so they hang around other pureblood families to stay afloat. They are what my Dear Mother liked to call a 'wall balance weight'," Remus turned to look at him, raising his eyebrows and laughing a bit. "It rather makes sense. They are in both sides of the wall and in neither at the same time, sometimes on top, still trying to decide which side to support. They support the winners; no more, no less," he took a deep breath. "Still, we learned we cannot judge people by their family's dynamic, right?"

She barely looked at Sirius.

"Right," she dismissed. "But she's still with them and writes home all the time. She likes them. She supports them. I need to keep an eye on her, if I can."

"Anne, she's not a fighter," Lily said, shaking her head. "She got an 'P' on DADA."

Anne couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed.

"You need to stop looking around for people to join your little army, you're starting to sound just like Dumbledore," James complained. "She's a person as well. Manipulating her into joining something that might kill her might not be the smartest of your choices."

"I don't manipulate people into joining," she dismissed.

"Yes, you do. And that's not all entirely that bad, but you do," Lily said.

Anne supposed that, if she didn't know that was sort of true, she would've been hurt, but she admitted she did embellish the life in the Order if that meant another wand on their side, even if she wasn't completely loyal to the Order herself. However, more than joining the Order, she convinced people to join her. It had worked with Narcisa, with Regulus and Severus, maybe even Barty in a year or so; all by offering something that Dumbledore offered, but with the full intention of fulfilling that promise: protection.

She shook her head lightly, dismissing her thoughts.

"Anyways, Peter, how are you feeling?" she asked, turning to the chubby boy, who, confused, looked around. "You said you saw something bad in the crystal ball last night, James told me."

"Oh, it was nothing," he dismissed, blushing straight away. "Divination is not always right, you know?"

"It can be," she said. "Sometimes a true Seer can see things before a single hint is given. Those with the Sight, with the talent that it takes to deal with the things I see you doing for fun, can be very successful."

A hint. A reminder that she remembered the last private conversation they had. Something hanging over his head; not above a threat, but not one that needed to be implied by anything other than her face completely focused on him when they both knew she cared very little for Divination.

"I saw you," he admitted. "I saw you running through a forest, there were people running with you. You were being chased. I don't understand, because I was trying a new type of magic: I was trying the Past."

"A word of advice, Peter, if you ever use that magic again, never focus on me," she said. And that was a threat, a lot clearer than the last one.

"Yes, of course," he said, looking down.

Still, those words were not enough to calm down her racing heart. It was like she had just ran a whole kilometre being chased by the Snatchers for the Death Eaters all over again; Hermione just a few steps in front of her, Harry a few steps behind, Ron still stumbling since the last tripping he had done. And as she got up from the table and walked away from the Great Hall, she tried to not let her memories go to the dungeons of the Malfoy Manor or to the Drawing Room as she screamed and screamed, and nobody stopped Bellatrix.

She screamed in her own head, silently.

But this time, somebody came.

Three minutes wandering around the corridors was enough to make Regulus meet her and he stared at her.

"I saw you walking away, you looked upset," he explained as she raised her eyebrows at him, clearly wondering why he was following her. "I waited for you to come my way; I didn't want to startle you by coming from behind."

She hated how right he was to do that, but watched him leaning against the wall, going to lean against the wall in front of him, a whole three fee of distance between them as they talked. Regulus didn't look hurt or complain about the lack of proximity, even after so long being nothing but the wholesome type of couple in front of Severus and her friends and family.

"Peter brushed on Past Magic," she explained.

"That's rare," he said, quite impressed.

"It would be much more impressive if he hadn't tried seeing my past," she said. "He's curious. He's always been a curious boy and he has to know that the others know more about me than he does. He has to know I don't like him that much."

"I think the whole world knows you're nothing but civil to him, Princess," he said. "Still, he had no right to go digging like that."

She smiled a bit to him.

"Not everyone is as understanding as you about my wish to keep things and memories away from myself," she said. "Some think I have some type of responsibility... of necessity of talking about everything if I'm asked about it."

"I don't ask question that I know you don't want to answer. It's not that hard," he said.

She pulled her hair back and quickly tied I up as she sat against the windowsill behind her. He seemed a bit worried over the fact the window was big enough for her to go through and that it was open.

"I wish everybody could do that," she said.

"I wish everybody could do that for me as well," he said. He took a deep breath. "If I tell you something, will you be angry at me."

"I doubt it. I'm hardly ever annoyed at you," she admitted.

"Elizabeth saw my scar yesterday and was quite upset when I didn't answer her questions. I snapped at her and she's angry at me and has been scolding me about everything everybody does, even when I have nothing to do with it. It's starting to annoy me," he said.

"Which one?" she asked. He looked at her. "Which scar?"

He was surprised that she had noticed any scars on him at all. She never had asked or commented anything about them, but it was hard for her not to – she was the one lying naked beside his naked form. She had access to his whole whenever she wanted; body and soul.

"The one on my lower back. My shirt rode up when I reached for a book on the top shelf for her," he answered. She pursed her lips, clearly remembering which one. It was one of the deepest ones that he had; it had created a hypertrophic scar tissue. It was red. It was ugly. And yet, Anne had never looked at twice. "I was attacked by my mother when I was fifteen, a bit before you came, and I ended up falling down the stairs and cut myself on the wood – Kreacher did what he could against my mother's wishes to take care of that for me, but there's a scar."

"Did you tell her that?"

"No!" he said. "You're the only one that know. I think you have the right to know," he joked.

Anne didn't seem to like the joke.

"I don't. I don't have the right of anything, Little Prince," she said.

"My body is yours," he explained. "You do. I want you to have it, if you'd take me."

There was something behind his sentence, a weight that Anne couldn't understand completely, so she just stared at him for a moment, trying to gather the information she had on him and his odd sentences, even going as far as trying to remember her few 'pureblood' classes with Mia and Sirius before she went to his house for the first time.

"I think I missed a meaning here," she admitted after almost a whole minute in silence.

His smirk revealed that she had, indeed, missed something.

"Let's go to the Room?" he said.

She followed him without questions, traveling the corridors in silence.

There was a difference in his posture. He was walking slightly out of pace from what he usually did, he had his hands behind his back as if he was strolling through the garden in peace and with company. He was... overly comfortable.

Regulus was holding something back from her. He was hiding something.

"We have classes, so we might need to be fast," she said.

"I asked Severus to talk to your dad, make an excuse for you," he said. "Maybe your 'angry-walk-away' might add to his story, so I wouldn't worry about it."

She raised her eyebrows.

"You asked Severus to talk to my dad without a gun against his – forget it, you don't know what a gun is... without a knife on his throat and he accepted? What's going on?" she asked.

He looked at her over his shoulder and smiled.

"I have something for you," was all his explanation of his future actions. "And, no, actually, I wrote a letter to James, Severus is just passing the message and saying a sentence I wrote down for him. Barty is talking to your mother, though."

Anne giggled to herself. That was an interaction she would've liked to see.

But she didn't have much time to think about it, because they were pacing side by side in front of the slowly appearing door and the walked in to the Black Household Music Room.

Everything after that moved fast.

Regulus put her sitting on the most comfortable chair right beside the piano and sat down in front of it, barely glancing at her as he put a very scribbled on sheet music that, clearly, had been composed by him. Anne could barely hold her excitement to the fact that Regulus was showing her another one of his pieces.

"You wrote it?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, already starting to blush a bit. "I wrote this in the day I understood that I had a crush on you. The day you and I, oh, and Severus, of course, went to the Library for a talk, you know? After that we went for some butterbeer."

"Of course I remember! That was when you noticed you liked me?"

"Yeah, so I got home and I wrote the lyrics. I finished the piano not too long ago," he admitted. "It might not be as good as you imagine it, so don't have high expectations."

"I'm sure whatever you wrote is amazing, Regulus," she dismissed his nervousness. "Play it for me, please."

And he did.

His finger moved slowly at first against the piano, playing a sweet melody with the companion melody under it. It was a melody Anne could see herself humming as she did anything, no matter how bad of a singer she was.

"I had a thought, dear, however scary about that night, the bug and the dirt. Why were you digging? What did you bury before those hands pulled me from the earth?" he stared singing.

Once more, she was taken aback by how good his singing voice was. She often would forget people really knew how to sing in real life when all she had around her was James screaming lyrics and Sirius being only salvageable by his piano playing. Remus wasn't one to sing and Lily certainly hummed a lot, but never really belted songs.

Regulus' mind wasn't on the room, though, she could see that. Regulus was focusing on the memory of her sitting beside him, explaining how terrible his life was going to be if he supported Voldemort and then Pandora's party. She had saved him that day, dragged him away from his darkness before he even knew what was happening; she dug him out of a grave he had dug himself.

"I will not ask you where you came from. I will not ask you, and neither should you. Honey, just put your sweet lips on my lips. We should just kiss like real people do," he sang. Privacy. Respect. Such big things since so early in the relationship. "I knew that look, dear, eyes always seeking, was there in someone that dug long ago, so I will not ask you why you were creeping, in some sad way, I already know. I will not ask you where you came from, I will not ask you and neither should you. Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips; we should just kiss like real people do."

He had seen the sights he had seen in the mirror and in his best friend. Anne, like him, had gone through a lot more than a normal person had. So he didn't ask until she was ready to tell him and, when she did, he waited and sat there, wanting to do nothing but hug her and comfort her.

After another interlude of the singing, just the piano notes echoing around the room, he gathered courage enough to look at Anne, admired with her beauty as she admired him in every way possible from where she was sitting. If she didn't respect his music so much, she would've been in his arms, and he knew.

So he smiled, voice going softer, almost breathy.

"I could not ask you where you came from, I could not ask you and neither could you. Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips, we could just kiss like real people do."

That was the end of the song, he pulled his hands away from the piano and Anne was straddling him in the very next second, lips touching his and kissing – the sweetest and most innocent, but intimate kiss they had ever shared before.

Through a gasping breath, he got up by holding Anne's bottom tightly to not let her fall and let her to the sofa a few steps behind the piano and lied her down, lying over her by holding the sofa's back rest to not squeeze or crush her. The kiss was slow and sensual, it was surprisingly sweet even through the desire that started to burn both of them.

"I'm sorry I took so long," she said.

He pulled back from the kiss, now kissing the skin right under her ear and slowly going to the neck.

"There's nothing to be sorry for," he quickly dismissed.

He didn't want her apologies; he didn't want to do anything but be with her and love her in every way that she would allow him.

"I have been neglecting you," she insisted.

He pulled back with a sigh.

"Anne, I'm not a child. I need you to care for me, but not take care of me. You can't be neglecting of someone or something that isn't your responsibility," he said. "Now, can I, please, go back to what we were doing?"

She ended up giggling as she nodded.

At that point, she made sure he was lying on the carpet of the room, leaving the sofa to the side as she straddled him. The appearance of the room added to the subconscious feeling of Regulus that he was making Anne belong – if they were allowed to do the things they were doing in the Black House, then he would've been the proudest man alive.

She kissed him with great care, not a single part of his mouth had not felt the softness of her lips. Not a single part of his face had not felt the warmth of her caressing hand on his cheeks, her fingers carefully slipping across his face as if she was trying to admire him in a new way, as if she was trying to memorize just how his skin felt. He smiled at her once she pulled back to just look at him for a second, smiling softly at him as she started to open her shirt.

He had his back against the sofa, resting against it in a very comfortable position, allowing Anne to open her shirt without trouble and helping her get rid of it and of her tie. He touched the lace of her bra – black lace had an effect of him, he thought before noticing that it wasn't the lace. Anne had an effect on him no matter what she wore, he understood as she held onto his shoulder, hips shifting to get her more comfortable on his lap.

As they started kissing once more, her fingers started unbuttoning his shirt and she got rid of I with his help without pulling away from him, however, she tugged and pulled at his tie and it didn't come of – groaning in frustration she pulled back.

"What type of knot is this? You fucking glued it!" she complained.

He laughed, easily untying the tie and throwing it to the side.

"It's an Eldredge," he laughed.

"Just tie a fucking half-windsor like a normal person," she said, glaring at him. "It's too hard to take off!"

"Oh, so you want me to be easy to undress," he teased.

She glared even more at him.

"Oh, then Elizabeth—" she stopped herself. She realised it at once. "Oh, God, I am jealous," she sighed. He didn't understand the second part, but it was easy to assume what she was feeling by the venom she threw as she said the girl's name.

He blinked in confusion.

"Elizabeth?" he asked. "Fawley? What about her?"

"It's nothing," she dismissed, trying to go back to kissing him, but he pulled away from her, leaning back to see her face. "It's silly. Forget about it."

"We need to talk about it," he insisted.

"Now?" she asked, looking around. "I want to do a lot of things right now, but talking isn't one of them."

"Now is as good time as any," he said. "But if you don't want to talk –"

"I don't."

"I can just say one thing that will make that pretty little head of yours stop worrying about me and Elizabeth," he said. Anne seemed slightly upset that he was insisting on not kissing her just yet. "Elizabeth got engaged to Rabastan Lestrange, and she's quite happy about it. He's older and already has a job, which means that being engaged to me isn't as great because I don't have my own money put aside. And..."

"And?" she urged him, crossing her arms, leaning back slightly towards his knees.

He smiled.

"And I want to marry you," he explained. The room fell silent in a single second as Anne tried her best not to think of how her stomach tugged and her heart rapidly made her dizzy in nervousness. She needed a way to say no without losing him to his embarrassed pride or hurt ego. "This isn't a proposal, Anne, don't worry too much. We're young. We have time."

But Anne was scared because they might not have time.

Purebloods knew a lot about time. Once they proposed, marriage was to happen as quickly as possible. They were only engaged while the preparations were made – weeks, maybe a month or so in especial families that wanted big and powerful weddings or in case one of the people involved was still in school.

"I know," she said, dismissing her own fears.

"This is a Promising," he explained. By the way she blinked, he knew she had no idea of what that was. "This is me saying that I have the intention of taking his further than courting or fun. This is a promise that, while you will have me, my intentions will not change and my faith in on you. A Promising usually comes a few years into the courting, but... I think all we've been through might as well count as more than a single year, correct?" she stared at him. "A Promising can be one-sided. You don't need to answer me or promise anything back to me."

"I want to," she said.

"What?" he said, surprised.

"I'll have you as long as you will have me and I want to marry you, too... but..." she took a deep breath. "Are you sure? The war will make things so much more complicated than before, Regulus. You might change your mind and not want me then, I'm rotten work."

"No, you're not," he said, kissing her lips very gently. "You're no work at all. You're the reward."

Anne smiled proudly at he emerald hanging on between her collarbones, showing off her newest jewellery to Lily, who squealed. If looked from very closely, it was possible to see the Black House emblem inside the stone.

"That's so romantic!" Lily said.

"I know, right!" Anne squealed back. "And he was so sweet. He had a song and everything."

"Oh, and then what?" Lily asked, holding Anne's hand.

That was when Anne blushed and looked away.

"And then I don't talk about the 'then' with my mother," she explained quickly.

"Got the message," Lily laughed. She giggled as she watched Anne standing near the foot of her bed as if she was about to burst into song at any second or just dance around the room like a fool. She looked like a teenager in love. "Oh, sweetheart, you look so happy that it pains me to tell you that your NEWTs are with me."

"I don't care about the NEWTs," Anne said, looking once more at the stone. "I feel like I'm floating, Lils. Floating! I never felt so light in my life. He must have charmed this, because I have never been so calm without being under Imperius."

Ignoring that Anne said 'under Imperius' as if it was something common, Lily sighed and took the closed off letter, sealed with wax and shook it in front of her.

"Everybody got theirs."

"How many did you get?" Anne asked, slowly going to sit on her bed beside her mother and took the letter, but didn't open it at once.

"All passable grades in all eight subjects I had," Lily said, shrugging. "Six 'O's and two 'E's."

"Great job!" Anne said, fiddling with her letter.

"I messed up with some essays in Charms and I literally gave up on going to Divination by the end of the year," Lily admitted. "It's so silly. I went to keep Peter company, but it's just plain dumb at this point."

Anne laughed.

"You would've liked Hermione," she said.

"I'm sure I would. I would have liked to push the crystal ball out of the table as well," Lily said. "She knew what she was doing."

"She always did," Anne nodded.

"Alright, enough of that now. Open your letter, Anne, I want to see your grades as well," Lily said, trying to urge her.

Anne smiled at Lily as she ripped the seal and opened the letter, reading it quickly as her eyebrows raised in clear surprise. With everything happening around her, she didn't pay half-as-much attention as she would've liked her in grades, but the results staring back at her were surprising nonetheless and she went as far as wondering if Dumbledore had anything to do with her grading.

"SIX 'O'S!" Lily screamed. "OH MY GOD, ANNE! 9 NEWTS IN GENERAL! 9 PASSABLE GRADES! 9!"

Her mother was certainly a lot happier than she was, because she was just plain confused. She hadn't tried. How come she had gone so well in all the tests, some that she guessed anything at all? But most of all, how did she get an O in History of Magic?!

"Transfiguration, Potions, DADA, Ancient Runes and History of Magic!" Lily continued saying. "Do you know how hard it is to get an O in History of Magic?! This is amazing! Let's go show the boys."

Lily dragged her down the stairs, through confused first years in the Common Room and up the male stairs, opening the door at once and making poor Sirius jump from his bed and get his wand in surprise.

"Lily, what the fuck?!" Remus said.

"Language!" James screamed from the bathroom.

"What's up?" Sirius asked in his best American accent.

"Anne's grades! Anne's grades are what's up!" Lily announced. "Show them, sweetheart. Show them!"

Sirius took the letter from Anne's hand as the girl started to laugh a bit of how he jumped in Remus' arms to show the grades to him, Peter quickly making his way over to see them as well, all three of them quick to congratulate them in happiness.

The flush of a toilet made James' entrance perceptible as she ran while drying his hands over to his friends to see the grades.

"Oh!" Peter said first.

"Oh, Merlin, James!" Sirius said before gagging.

The smell came soon after.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Let me see this," he added taking the letter from Remus' hand as the werewolf covered his mouth and nose.

Lily took several steps back and Anne laughed loudly as her eyes began to water by the smell.

"Disgusting!" Lily screamed.

"I'm sorry!" James dismissed. He looke at Anne. "Great job, sweetheart!"

"Thanks," Anne continued laughing.