XIII —— the wheel of fortune

🦢

          FIANNA'S BEEN BUSY — blame it on the realisation that it's no longer start-of-term, and her Head Girl plans need to be in fruition... Not to mention, the countless times she's gone to the library as an excuse to avoid Prewett snogging Georgia, and the fact that Regulus is way more motivated than Prewett ever was.

She's spent October with her nose buried deep into her planning notebook; the Yule Ball has been arranged, the Duelling Club is set to start the first week of November, and she's managed to squeeze in Quidditch practices alongside revision. If it wasn't for the Polyjuice Potion brewing, she would've forgotten her and Regulus' plans for Halloween weekend. And speaking of—

"My parents will be leaving tomorrow morning, and returning Tuesday," Regulus tells Fianna as they're walking from their double Potions to Divination, the final Thursday morning of October. Georgia waved them off earlier a few minutes ago, making her way to Care of Magical Creatures instead. "If we leave with the Hogsmeade crowd on Saturday, get Georgia and Pandora to sneak out, then use the potion to come back to school as us... we should cover our tracks."

Fianna nods. The two agreed they could speak about this openly (albeit quiet enough that teachers don't overhear), as long as they made it seem as if they were only visiting Grimmauld Place to sleep together. That's what Georgia presumed, anyway, when Fianna first asked if she could help cover. But both Georgia and Pandora agreed to parade around for a little bit using the Polyjuice Potion on Saturday evening. Fianna and Regulus agreed they'll have enough time (and make the lie believable) if they stay the night, even if Fianna detestes the idea of sleeping in that house.

"I hope you don't get any fresh ideas, Black," says Fianna as they take their seats in the Divination classroom. Regulus gives her a dirty look, and she smirks, picking up the tarot deck from the middle of the table.

Trelawney's told them to pull a card at the start of every lesson for a 'warm up,' and she especially likes them to ask the cards a question they're mulling over in their private lives. Naturally, Fianna thinks, what's going to happen to this weekend? The wheel of fortune card comes out — a card that essentially means, anything can happen. Fianna grimaces, passing the cards to Regulus.

She supposes wheel of fortune is better than, like, the hermit, or another card that means stagnation. At least wheel of fortune means the weekend could end positively. Fianna hopes they won't need to sneak back into Grimmauld Place to pry the information from Kreacher's brain, but that's more because she's scared of Walburga Black than anything else. But Voldemort is such a powerful wizard, she doubts it'll be easy to reverse his memory-altering magic...

Saturday morning arrives, and Fianna's packing herself a small bag for Georgia to sneak out for her, which they plan to hand over as Georgia takes the Polyjuice Potion. Fianna throws in her pyjamas, a clean jumper to wear tomorrow (so if they're caught sneaking back in tomorrow morning, they can just pretend they went for an early-morning stroll), and of course, her makeup, toiletries, and underwear. Georgia gives Fianna a funny look as she picks up her underwear for tomorrow. Remembering their cover-story, Fianna trades the old Marks & Spencer pants (old reliables) for a lacy thong, as embarrassing as it feels.

She stomachs a bowl of porridge in the Great Hall with Georgia, who's apparently meeting Prewett later on. Georgia, thank God, has promised not to tell him anything, but instead to claim Fianna's got period cramps, so that their shared dorm room is out-of-bounds. They've already hidden Fianna's bag in the secret tunnel, so as Fianna meets Regulus and walks into Hogsmeade, it won't take too long before they see Georgia and Pandora again.

"I wonder what his house is like," says Georgia, pursing her lips together.

Fianna nods. "Yeah, from what Sirius has said before it sounds creepy..." she says, but then realises she needs to sound more enthusiastic. "I don't know. I guess I'm just a little nervous... I kind-of forget that the Blacks were raised so differently to us."

"Yeah," says Georgia. "And apparently their house-elf is really mean."

"Oh, really?" says Fianna, as she thinks, fuck.

She isn't looking forward to it, that's for sure. There are countless ways she'd rather spend her weekend, as opposed to sitting in some grim old place, trying to draw a forgotten memory out of a house-elf. She hopes the house is near a muggle shop at some sort, so at least she can buy herself chocolate.

Fianna makes her way down to the courtyard, where Regulus is waiting for her. She smiles weakly at him, who looks just as nervous as she does.

"Ready?" she says.

"No," says Regulus, grumpily. "But we've got no choice."

"You know," says Fianna, after they've signed themselves out on the sheet, beginning the walk into Hogsmeade. "That doesn't exactly make it seem as if we're going to yours to sleep together."

"Oh, I do apologise," he says, rolling his eyes. "I can't wait, Fianna, to fuck you—"

Fianna gasps; her hands move to her chest, as if going to clutch imaginary pearls. Beside her, Regulus starts to laugh.

"You're such a dickhead," she mutters.

Eventually they reach Hogsmeade, the cobblestoned streets littered with brown leaves, Hogwarts students giddily racing from one shop to the next. She sees a couple of the kids in their year walk into the Three Broomsticks, just as a group of older wizards spill outside, cigar smoke trailing around them. Fianna notices, though, that the majority of the students are Slytherin; she wonders if the others are starting to avoid Hogsmeade, muggleborns and half-bloods fearing the possibility of a Death Eater attack.

They walk down the beaten track into The Hog's Head, which is its usual busy self like any other Saturday. Regulus opens the door, and as Fianna steps inside, she walks past a wizard standing next to the jukebox, wearing an eyepatch like a pirate. She told Georgia to meet them inside the secret entrance in the back; so Regulus and Fianna can Apparate there, whilst their Polyjuice Potion döpplegangers, Georgia and Fianna, can walk back out of the pub.

There's a portrait of a witch with long, dark hair curling around her face and down to her waist hiding the secret tunnel. No one knows who the woman is, but a devilish grin always appears across her face as the tunnel is opened, as if she's excited for them, whatever adventure they're going on. But as Fianna opens the tunnel, the grin looks more menacing than usual... Although, that may be Fianna's nervousness turning into paranoia.

"Hey," says Georgia, as the two step inside the tunnel. "Took you long enough."

Fianna rolls her eyes, as she's handed her bag. Pandora does the same for Regulus, as she wistfully goes, "I'm actually quite excited for this."

Georgia raises an eyebrow. "What, to turn into him?"

Regulus gives her a funny look, as if offended.

Pandora nods. "Yeah. I can't wait to walk around like a boy, and pretend to be grumpy like him. Besides, have you ever wondered what it's like to have a penis?"

Georgia shrugs. "Yeah, to be fair."

"I drank a litre of water half an hour ago," says Pandora. "I'm so excited to have a wee."

Fianna and Georgia start laughing as Regulus tries to protest.

"Too late, Black," says Georgia with a grin, taking a swig of her Polyjuice Potion.

Pandora does the same. Slowly, the skin on the two girls' faces starts to bubble, their faces contorting. Georgia makes a look of discomfort. Fianna wonders what it feels like, your entire body changing like that... She quickly reminds herself she can turn into a swan, so she literally knows how it feels. But being a swan is just an extension of herself, of her spirit. To become a whole different person, though...?

And like that, Fianna's gazing at another version of herself, standing next to another version of Regulus. Georgia and Pandora, already changed to match Fianna and Regulus' current outfits, look at each other.

"This is so bizarre," says Regulus, softly.

"Tell me about it," says Georgia, her voice coming out of Other Fianna's mouth. "How do you cope with this fringe? I feel like I can't see!"

"Beauty is pain," says Fianna.

"And blindness?" says Georgia.

Fianna nods. "Yes."

Regulus sighs, clearly impatient. "You know, they don't have that long until the Potion wears off, and they need the next part for later..."

"OK, OK," says Fianna, wishing she could put off going to Grimmauld Place longer. "Thank you again — both of you — for covering for us."

"Don't worry about it," says Pandora. It's weird to Fianna, hearing such a high-pitched voice coming from Regulus' mouth.

Georgia and Pandora slip out of the secret tunnel and back into the pub, Pandora quickly taking hold of Georgia's hand as they do so. Regulus doesn't do that that often, does he? Fianna thinks, her brows furrowing. As if on cue, Regulus holds her hand, Apparating the two of them to Grimmauld Place.

Fianna struggles to take it all in at first, as her body's transported into the foyer of Grimmauld Place, the house of the Black family. Forest green wallpaper encases the room around her, with grand old portraits adorning the walls. She can see a dark walnut staircase, leading upstairs to the rest of the house. On this floor, there's a selection of doors, opening up into rooms that must be just as expensive as this one. A chandelier hangs just above Fianna's head, the candles glittering. Fianna has visions of the chandelier falling and killing her clean.

"... Wow," she says, quietly.

"It's a bit old-fashioned now, but Mother likes her antiquities," says Regulus. "Shall I, um, show you around? Kreacher should be in the kitchen downstairs, so we can go there last."

"Um, sure," says Fianna, suddenly feeling very shy, now she's standing in the shadow of such a grand house. She knew the Blacks had money, but she's never stepped foot into a house like this — not one that people actually lived in. She's seen National Trust places, and she supposes Salome's house counts too, but this one... It amazes her, for some reason or another, seeing the impressive place Regulus calls home.

He shows her the rooms on the ground — the dining room, a small library (apparently once a 'ladies drawing room,' whatever that means), and a smoking room, now a study for Orion Black. Regulus moves to show her upstairs, but Fianna's eyes fall on the house-elf heads mounted to the wall leading up the stairs. Her hand moves over her mouth, feeling sick.

"What the fuck," she says.

"Yeah, uh... it's a tradition of ours," says Regulus.

"Sirius never mentioned that," says Fianna.

Regulus looks uncomfortable. "I don't think either of us like to talk about it."

They walk up the stairs, as he shows her the drawing room (what rich people call a living room, apparently). Next door, there's his parents' bedroom, which for obvious reasons they skip, and a bathroom. They climb two more flights of stairs to the top floor, where Sirius and Regulus' bedrooms are. Sirius' room seems to be locked shut, and on Regulus' door, there's a sign that says, Do not enter without the express permission of Regulus Arcturus Black.

Fianna snorts, as she steps towards his bedroom door. "Am I allowed in, then?"

Regulus cringes at the sign. "I made that when I was younger, I don't—"

"What would you do, if I went in without permission? Tell me off?"

He doesn't say anything, and Fianna frowns. She's waiting for him to make one of his usual quips — and yet the second they stepped into this house, he's gone silent, as if his entire's body trained to be obedient, a well-mannered gentleman here. Suddenly, Fianna feels sad for Regulus, remembering the stories Sirius used to share about his parents, and the fact that in all of those, his little brother Regulus would've been enduring the same thing.

"Are you OK?" she asks, softly.

"I just have a different reaction to being home than you," he says. "That's all."

He opens his bedroom door, and Fianna follows him inside. It's not what she expected, but it reflects the rest of the house — olive-green striped wallpaper and a fireplace on the opposite wall to the bed, a grand wooden one with snakes and flowers carved into a pretty pattern. Above the bed, is his family's crest, and Slytherin memorabilia is stuck to the walls. On the top of the dresser, Fianna notices a pile of newspaper clippings; the first one reads, Who is Lord Voldemort? Nervously, she turns to Regulus.

"Oh, um, I used to have them on the wall," says Regulus. "I've been wanting to remove them for a while... but I snuck back last night to take them down." He fidgets, looking away from her. "I was worried they'd make you feel uncomfortable."

Fianna nods, surprised he'd sneak back just for that. "Yeah, they would... thank you. You didn't have to do that, though..."

"Don't want to be a bad host, you know," he says with an awkward shrug.

"Right..." She trails off, looking around the rest of the room. There's a bookshelf with countless spellbooks, and fictional books by wizard authors. She's always thought a lot of them were rip-offs of muggle books, just like wizard music. She spots one called Rabota, which she recognises as the witchy version of Rebecca. Next to it, sits Romeo and Juliet. Surprised, she picks it up. "Shakespeare's a muggle?"

"Absolutely not," says Regulus.

"You can like muggle things, you know," says Fianna. "Although I thought you'd prefer Macbeth, or something freakier."

"I like the romance of that one," he says with a shrug.

Fianna raises an eyebrow. "They both die?"

"Yeah, together," he says, rolling his eyes. "I think it's romantic, loving someone so much you'd die for them."

Fianna scoffs, shaking her head. "I think that's foolish."

"Well, I think we live on two different sides of the wizarding world," says Regulus, softly.

"Forgive me for not liking the poeticness of that," says Fianna, "When there's a million other reasons I could get killed... I just think it's a privileged thing to say."

Regulus pauses, and goes, "Well... you've seen my house."

Fianna gives him a dirty look. "OK, rich boy, let me see your house-elf."

"I hope you're asking about Kreacher—"

"Regulus!" she hisses.

He starts to laugh, and he nods. "Come on, let's go."

They walk all the way downstairs and into the cellar, revealing an old-fashioned kitchen, tucked away from the luxuries of the rest of the house. A great big oven and stove sit opposite shelves upon shelves of Chinawear, with a long wooden table sandwiched into the middle of the room. Fianna looks back at Regulus and frowns. She doubts his family would sit down here.

"Oh, my grandparents had a butler and some other staff," says Regulus.

Fianna frowns. "How come you don't anymore?"

"Oh, um, there was a law passed forbidding wizards to use muggles as servants," says Regulus. "I think Imperius was used most of the time, and it became a bit too human-rights-breaching."

Fianna swallows, starting to feel sick again.

"Which I think is a good thing!" says Regulus, putting his hands up. "Bloody hell, I do have some morals."

Before Fianna can say anything else, there's a shuffling noise from the end of the kitchen. A purple curtain is drawn back, and a house-elf — Kreacher — crawls out of it. His entire facial structure is contorted into a menacing scowl, his brow bones almost diagonal. But, as he notices Regulus, his eyes light up.

"Master Regulus, you're back!" he says. "What does Kreacher owe the pleasure?"

"Kreacher, I order you not to tell anyone about us being here," says Regulus, as he crouches down to be level to the house-elf. Kreacher nods, and although Fianna's thankful Kreacher can't rat them out to Walburga and Orion, she feels uncomfortable, watching this creature being commanded to obey. "This is my friend Fianna, treat her the same as you treat me."

Kreacher's beady eyes look up at Fianna. Awkwardly, she kneels down beside Regulus, hoping this is the polite way of speaking to him. She reaches her hand out to shake Kreacher's.

"Nice to meet you," she says, softly.

His long, boney fingers wrap around her hand, shaking it reluctantly.

"How long will you be here?" says Kreacher, turning back to Regulus. "Would you like Kreacher to make you dinner? Kreacher tidied the spare rooms this morning, so your guest can stay in one of those."

The thought of staying in one of these rooms on her own makes Fianna shiver. But she tries to hide it, telling herself she's getting scared for no reason. This place isn't haunted, or anything, and Walburga isn't coming back until next week, she reminds herself, although it doesn't do much to calm her nerves.

"Yes, please," says Regulus. "Kreacher, Fianna and I wanted to talk to you about something. Would it be OK if you sit with us for a bit?"

Kreacher frowns. "Kreacher would be honoured, but Master Regulus — why?"

"Do you remember what happened in the summer, Kreacher? When the Dark Lord gave you that task?"

"Kreacher was forced to forget that," the house-elf says, shaking his head.

Regulus sits down on the floor. "Can you remember anything about where you went? Or about the object the Dark Lord had with him?"

Kreacher shakes his head again, his brows furrowing. He puts his hands on his head, as if in pain. "Kreacher cannot remember, Kreacher was made to forget... Kreacher was told by the man that if he told anyone, the man would kill Master Regulus."

Regulus goes quiet for a moment, and Fianna realises he didn't know this. She puts her hand on top of his, trying to comfort him, as she focuses on Kreacher.

"How would the man find out?" says Fianna.

"Kreacher cannot risk it, Kreacher does not want Master Regulus to die..."

"If you don't help us, Kreacher, even more people will die," says Regulus, weakly.

"Kreacher does not care about them," the house-elf says. "Kreacher was born to serve the ancient and most noble house of Black, not wizardkind."

Regulus sighs, already getting frustrated. Fianna sits cross-legged down on the kitchen floor, the stone flooring cold on her legs.

"Please, Kreacher," says Regulus. "I command you to tell me where you went."

"Kreacher does not remember," says the house-elf. He puts his fingers to his temples again, his eyes screwed shut. "Kreacher's head hurts... The man put a memory spell on Kreacher, so Kreacher cannot tell you. Kreacher is sorry, Master Regulus, Kreacher does not want to disobey — Kreacher has been bad, so bad—"

"Please, Kreacher—"

"BAD BAD BAD!" Kreacher slams his forehead onto the front of the oven, the sound echoing throughout the cellar. Fianna winces, and Regulus grabs a hold of the house-elf, pulling him away.

"Stop hurting yourself!" says Regulus.

"But Kreacher has disobeyed—"

"It's not your fault if you don't remember," says Regulus. "It's mine for letting him take you."

Fianna looks across at Regulus, guilt washed over his face as he stares at Kreacher. She feels weird being here — like she shouldn't be a part of this, and yet she's somehow involved. She wants to help, but she doesn't know how. How can she help, when these two have a bond spanning years, and she's only really known Regulus for a couple of months?

"I am sorry he took you," says Regulus. "And I want to make it better... But to do that, you need to help us."

"If Voldemort used Obliviate, Kreacher won't just be able to remember," says Fianna, softly. "I don't even think there's a way to reverse a memory loss charm, apart from torture..."

"We can't do that," says Regulus.

Fianna frowns. "I wasn't suggesting we—?"

"I know, I know," he says. "I just mean... We can't stoop to his level. I can't hurt Kreacher. I'm sorry, Fee, there must be another way..."

Fianna looks across at Regulus, looking upset and defeated, and Kreacher, also upset and defeated. She stands up, and reaches her hand out for Regulus.

"Let's go upstairs and reconvene," says Fianna. "Kreacher, could you make us a cup of tea each, please? And, do you have any food for lunch?"

Kreacher nods. "Yes, Miss Fianna... Kreacher can do that."

"Thank you," says Fianna. "Reggie, let's go upstairs."

He looks up at her, still clearly upset, but slowly gets to his feet.

They walk upstairs, and end up in the drawing room. Regulus sits down and covers his face with his hands, defeated.

"I don't know what to do, Fee," he says.

Fianna kneels down in front of him, putting her hands around his wrists, making him look at her. "We'll figure it out, OK?" she says. "We've got time. We've still got all of today... There must be a way to break a memory spell that we don't know. I highly doubt there's no way to reverse a spell like that..."

"OK," says Regulus, nodding weakly.

🦢

THEY TRIED ALL AFTERNOON and evening, and in spite of their best efforts, they were still stumped. Fianna poured over the books in the library, trying to see if there was anything on reversing memory charms — nothing. Regulus tried to trace Kreacher's steps with him, tried to slowly guide the house-elf back towards his lost memories — nothing. Even Fianna tried to speak with Kreacher. But every effort was squashed, making Fianna wonder if they were being arrogant, thinking they could figure this out easily. Of course Voldemort would make this difficult, she thinks, he doesn't want anyone to figure it out!

By the evening, they had decided it may be best to give this a rest, and try again soon. They had an awkward dinner in the drawing room — not the dining room, because Fianna felt uncomfortable, sitting in such a massive room, especially when she wasn't supposed to be there. By eleven o'clock, Fianna had changed into her pyjamas, and was lying down in the spare room, staring up at the ceiling.

How long is this going to take? If they don't figure this out today or tomorrow morning, they'll have to try again. And either Regulus will have to attempt it on his own during the holidays, or they'll have to figure out another time when they can sneak back into Grimmauld Place, without Walburga and Orion being around. Fianna doesn't know what to do, because the thought of this whole ruse continuing for more than it needs to makes her uncomfortable. What if this takes months, years, decades? What if they never manage to find this Horcrux? What if she's killed for being a half-blood before that? Or Regulus gets discovered as a deflected Death Eater, and killed for that?

There's a noise from the hallway; she knows it's just the creaks and groans of an old house, but in an unwelcoming old house in a big room on her own, it scares her. She doesn't think she's going to get any sleep here. She keeps on thinking about her dorm room, and her comfy mattress, and how safe she feels, falling asleep there...

She hears another noise. She knows it's just the pipes, but she sits up, picking up her wand from the bedside table. Quietly, she crosses the room to the bedroom door, and hurries herself up the stairs, towards Regulus' room.

Fianna lifts her hand to knock on the door, just as Regulus opens the door. They both stare at each other, surprised.

"Oh, hi," she says, quietly.

"I was going to see how you were," he says. "You've been on-edge since we got here."

Fianna nods, scratching her arm. "Yeah... I came up here because I was getting scared on my own."

"Well, come in, then," he says, stepping to the side, welcoming her in. "Quick — before the monsters catch you."

"Ha, ha," says Fianna, awkwardly sitting on the edge of his bed.

He sits down next to her. "I forget, how this house may make others feel."

"Did you just call me poor?" says Fianna.

"No, no—!"

Fianna smirks. "I'm joking," she says. "This house feels like a haunted house without the ghosts. I feel unwelcome, like there's going to be a Death Eater — or worse, your mother — standing around a corner, waiting to jump out at me... I know we're friends, and I know I've managed to avoid your Death Eater friends realising I'm half-blood, but a house like this reminds me of what I am. I can't believe pureblood families really live like this."

"To be fair, most are incestuous," says Regulus. "I know my ancestors used to do it. Sirius used to say that was why our grandfather had such a crooked nose."

Fianna smiles. "I can't imagine Sirius here."

"No, I can't, either," says Regulus.

"Do you miss him?" she says. "I'm sorry if that's stepping a line, I just—"

Slowly, Regulus says, "Recently, yes... But I can't speak to him just yet. It's too risky. If one of the Death Eaters find out, or if he tells someone..."

"I know," she says, putting her hand on top of his. "I wasn't saying that."

She ends up lying down on his bed. Tentatively, he follows suit, resting his head on the pillow next to hers. His bed smells of him, which is something that, oddly, feels comforting to her.

"Why did you warn me about the Aurors on the train?" says Regulus. "I'm exactly what you should hate."

"I felt sorry for you," says Fianna. "It's not your fault your parents are what they are, and with everything Sirius has told Remus and I over the years... I guess I always hoped you were just a product of a bad environment."

"So you found me on the train, offered to help me get out of them questioning me, because you felt bad for me?" says Regulus, turning to face her.

Fianna yawns, her head resting against his arm. She feels his body tense up for a moment, before slowly relaxing.

"I don't know, I guess I just felt drawn to helping you," she says.

Regulus begins, "I suppose I felt the same during the su..."

But before he can finish the sentence, Fianna drifts off, finally feeling safe enough to sleep.

🦢

FIANNA WAKES UP, FORGETTING where she is, what she was doing the day before. She quickly remembers the failures of the night before, however, and she sighs. There's no way this could get any worse, she thinks.

And then it does.

Fianna glances down to realise an arm is resting over her side, keeping her close. Is she... spooning with Regulus? She knows she needs to move out of this before he wakes up and she has to deal with the awkwardness of that. But, admittedly, it feels nice, him holding her like this. Fianna doesn't want to think too much into that, as she closes her eyes again, but to be this close, to feel his breath on the back of her neck...

... She realises she fell asleep when she hears the bedroom door close, startling her awake. She lifts her head to see Regulus walking in with two cups of tea. Her heart melts.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," he says, placing the two cups on the bedside table.

Fianna sits up, as Regulus perches beside her on the bed. She feels a little out-of-sorts. He must've woken up and realised he was spooning her. Did he like it? Or did he peel himself away in horror, embarrassed that even happened?

"What time is it?" she asks.

"Oh, only nine," says Regulus. "I think we need to be gone by eleven, though, in case anyone at school starts to notice."

"Uh, yeah, I agree," she says. She glances down at the cups of tea, steam twirling out of the porcelain tea cups. Even their tea cups are expensive, she realises, thinking about the random collection of mugs her family has. Her favourite one from home has two chips along the top, with a teddy-bear next to the Eiffel Tower. "Uh, did you put sugar in it?"

"Oh, sorry — I can go down and—"

"It's fine," says Fianna. "I need to brush my teeth anyway, I'll go."

Regulus nods, looking awkward. She decides he feels uncomfortable about waking up spooning her, because he didn't want to. Her stomach sinks as she gets to her feet. Maybe she liked it, maybe she liked that level of closeness... but there's no point of enjoying it, is there? He clearly didn't like it, because he wouldn't be acting this weird if he did—

"Wait, Fee," he says.

Fianna turns around, her hand on the door handle.

"The floor in the kitchen is freezing — my socks are in that top drawer, put some on before you go down," he tells her.

She does so, awkwardly hopping into the only pair that weren't green or black (how on-brand) before walking down the stairs. See, I can't even talk to Georgia about this because she thinks I'm actually dating him, Fianna thinks miserably, replaying the memory in her head. She thinks about Regulus holding onto her like that, and she sighs, knowing it won't happen again.

Fianna reaches the kitchen, realising she never asked where the sugar was. She sets her cup of tea down on the table, and opens a couple of the cupboards, hoping she'll find it in there. Her gaze moves over to Kreacher's den, and she figures he'll be able to help.

"Uh, Kreacher?"

There's no response. Fianna frowns. She walks towards the curtain, hiding his little den, thinking there's no harm in checking. Fianna crouches down, and pulls the curtain back; the house-elf is nowhere to be found, but the den's decorations make her freeze.

Alongside the handful of photos of the Black family (all with Sirius noticeable cut out), the walls plastered with photos of caves. There's underwater ones, and ones with a lake spilling into the cave, with a small island in the middle — no matter the differences, all of them have bodies of water inside a cave. Surely a house-elf doesn't have some strange affinity for watery caves... What if this is his subconscious, remembering where Voldemort took him?

Fianna's about to drop the curtain to show Regulus, when she sees a piece of paper lying on the floor, with something drawn on it. Hesitantly, she picks it up.

There's a messy drawing of another cave. In the centre, a small island with a drinking fountain sits. Kreacher drew stick hands coming out from the water surrounding the island, and Fianna frowns, wondering what that means. But, she picks up the drawing, deciding to show it to Regulus. Maybe this is where the Horcrux is? Maybe if they figure out where this cave is, they can get the Horcrux and then destroy it?

Fianna manages to find the sugar after a couple of minutes, and hurriedly walks back upstairs, excited to show Regulus the drawing. She makes a pit-stop to brush her teeth, and nips back into the spare room to quickly get dressed. Her overnight bag slung over her shoulder, she makes the final ascent up to Regulus' room.

"I've got good news," says Fianna, as she opens the door.

"What?" says Regulus.

Fianna hands him Kreacher's drawing, and tells him about the pictures in Kreacher's den.

"I think Kreacher remembers, deep-down," says Fianna. "And yeah, this isn't much... but it's better than nothing. If he remembers enough to draw this — and to have all of those photos — I think we can get him to remember where this is. Or, better yet, we can see if we can find this cave. Surely a cave like this is recognisable enough—?"

"Fianna, you're a genius," says Regulus, grinning. His hands grip onto her arms, and she thinks he's about to hug her — but then he pauses, as if realising what he's about to do, and awkwardly lets go of her. Fianna tries to ignore it, but how weird is that? Was this morning that shameful for him? "You know, Crouch's dad loves caves, I wonder if I could ask him about it...?"

Fianna sits on the bed, drinking her tea. "What do you mean, he loves caves?"

"He didn't get on with hiking, but thought caves were interesting," says Regulus, shrugging.

"That's so weird—"

There's a noise downstairs. Fianna hears a woman's voice followed by a man's, and then Kreacher hurtling down the stairs, shouting, "Master and Mistress, you're back!"

"Oh, fuck," Regulus breathes out. "We need to go."

"I presumed," Fianna says, quietly in case his parents hear.

He grabs his and Fianna's cups of tea, hiding them underneath the bed, then rushes across the room to pick up his bag. Fianna already put her shoes on, thank God, so she stands up, just as Regulus returns to her side.

"You didn't leave anything downstairs, did you?" he says.

Fianna shakes her head. "No, did you?"

"My toothbrush, but they don't use that bathroom — they won't notice," he says, his voice shaking. Fianna frowns, startled by how frightened he looks. He grasps her hand, holding it tightly. "OK, OK, let's go—"

"I'll Apparate," says Fianna.

"What? I can—?"

Fianna shakes her head. "You're worrying, you might mess it up and get us Splinched."

Regulus lets go of her hand in defiance. "But you hate Apparating—!"

"Well, I'd also hate if you lost your leg! Hold my hand!"

He pauses for a second. Fianna hears footsteps coming up the stairs, quickly getting louder and louder, closer and closer. Regulus, panicking, holds tightly onto her hand, as she quickly visualises the secret tunnel leading into the Hog's Head. She closes her eyes, and is about to Apparate them both back, when she hears Walburga's voice.

"Has Regulus been here, Kreacher?"

The two freeze.

"No, Mistress, I—"

"Don't lie to me!" Walburga screeches. There's a bang, which Fianna thinks means that Walburga's hit Kreacher so hard, he slammed into the wall. "Is he still here?"

"Go," says Regulus, softly.

"What? No, we can both—!"

"She'll kill him, she already knows I'm here," says Regulus. "I'll make up something — but she'll kill you if she sees you. Please, Fianna."

Fianna looks up him, his eyes glassy. "Reg—"

He cups her face with his hands, kissing her forehead. "Please," he says. "I don't want her hurting you."

Fianna gives in after that. "Find me when you're back at school," she tells him.

"I will, I will," he says, impatiently.

She can hear Walburga's footsteps marching up the stairs to the floor they're on. Regulus darts for the door, just as Fianna Apparates back to school—

—But as she lands back in the secret tunnel, she feels something slice into her torso.

Fianna cries out in pain; she lifts up her jumper, to find an awful gash across her left ribs, her skin ripped open. She must've Splinched herself in the panic of leaving. Her head already feels woozy from the blood pooling out of her and she pulls her jumper back down, trying to apply pressure to the wound. If she can make her way back to her dorm room, she'll be able to get Georgia, and then Georgia can reverse this using magic. No one will find out — she won't get into trouble for sneaking out of school, because surely something like this will mean they tell her parents? And even saying that, if anyone wonders why her and Regulus were doing at his. Their excuse makes sense, but isn't it still suspicious? If they left in this much of a hurry, surely the risk isn't worth it? It only takes one person to think it's fishy... Fianna tries to hurry her pace to get to the end of the tunnel. Once she finds Georgia, she'll be fine...

But before she reaches the end of the tunnel, her head becoming dizzier by the second, the loss of blood too much. Fianna tries to steady herself against the wall, but slips. Before she can react, she hits the dirt floor of the secret tunnel, slamming into unconsciousness.

a forehead kiss is never innocent and without meaning i said what i said

buuuuuut i hope you enjoyed this super long chapter!!! let me know what you thought!! thank u for reading and for 20k (now 23k) reads!!<333333