𝗜𝗩𝗬

𝘞𝘙𝘌𝘛𝘊𝘏𝘌𝘋 𝘏𝘌𝘈𝘋𝘓𝘐𝘕𝘌𝘚

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

( trigger warnings: mentions of drugs )

It's been a few days since Mrs. Lacework died and Regulus still hadn't heard anything from Detective Swift. He thought she was going to contact him as soon as she learned the results of the forensic exam, or perhaps Officer Burton managed to find something about the people they were looking for and he'd be summoned at the office, but none of that happened.

He couldn't really complain about it. He didn't like to admit this, but it was good not to see Winter for a couple days; it gave him space to think.

It was tough to focus on other things, his mind kept wandering back to her. It's been raining continuously since the last time he saw her and even if he wasn't supposed to, Regulus was concerned about her.

As much as he tried not to think about this too much, his mind wandered back to her every now and then. It was perhaps a matter of habit. A bad habit nonetheless.

Wandering around that dreary weather wasn't doing anything good to him either, so his footsteps led him to a familiar building. Winter might have not called for him, but Regulus thought paying a visit to the office wouldn't do any harm. If anything, he could at least check the pulse of the case.

But as he walked in, he found himself in the middle of a commotion. For some reason he was yet to discover, the employees were agitated and gossiping everywhere.

"Have you heard the news? It's so unexpected!" a female employee said to another.

"I know, right? I almost didn't believe it when I read the newspaper."

"But it makes sense! Otherwise how could she get away with breaking every single rule of the Ministry?"

"What a gold digger! I should have seen it coming. And to think she acts so entitled, it's disgusting."

"Shh, careful what you say! If she finds out you said that about her, who knows what's going to happen to you?"

"Merlin, I hate it when people like her get to climb the ladder like that while you and I are working hard every day and yet we stand no chance against her."

"What are you two talking about?" another employee asked curiously.

"Haven't you heard? Winter Swift is engaged to the richest foreigner in London, Kirill Navalnîi!"

"It's on the front page of every newspaper, how did you miss it?"

Regulus stopped dead in his tracks.

No, this couldn't be true. It wasn't even the potential jealousy in him that was speaking; it was impossible for this to be actually happening.

Kirill Navalnîi.

Upon hearing his name, Regulus' forehead creased into a deep frown. He knew that name very well and that was exactly why he didn't believe what these women said was true.

Sure, he didn't know Winter like he used to back when they were still at Hogwarts, but he was sure as hell she would rather die than ever speak again to that man, let alone agree to be his fiancée.

Kirill Navalnîi was not only the first boy who broke Winter's heart by dating her only because their families set them up and making her fall in love with him only to cheat on her and laugh about it in her face, but he was also a Death Eater. One of the worse there were.

Winter hated him, Regulus was sure of that. The only thing she felt about him after she found out Kirill used her as a plaything was disgust, and that couldn't have possibly changed over the course of years.

Had it been anyone else but him, Regulus would have believed it, but there was no universe in which the Winter Swift he knew would ever forgive Kirill Navalnîi for the way he humiliated her when she was in her fifth year at Hogwarts. Just as there was no universe in which Regulus Black would ever forgive this man he didn't even know for hurting her.

And Regulus was not the type to hold grudges often.

He was pulled out of his own thoughts by the sound of Winter's voice. He wasn't sure what he expected to see or hear, but it surely wasn't this.

Winter was dressed in black from head to toe and while this wasn't the first time she chose to wear this dark color, it reminded him of the type of clothing widows wear to the funeral of their late husbands whom they personally killed. The gloomy attitude was there, all she was missing was a black headpiece and the outfit would've been complete.

This wasn't the way a person whose job was to sleuth all day usually dressed like, it wasn't practical. It was some sort of statement he couldn't quite understand. And well, he couldn't spend too much time trying to because it felt improper to look closely to her revealing dress. It was a mixture of a diamond shaped cleavage with lace and to him, it almost screamed revenge.

He was about to walk up to her and greet her, then ask about new details on the case, but another employee crossed paths with her first. She was carrying a bunch of papers and tried to explain that Winter should go over them, approve them if she considered fit and sign them, but as she spoke, a newspaper fell out of the pile.

The detective looked down at it and frowned. On the front page, a picture of Winter and her alleged fiancé was displayed. Before the woman could apologize, Winter stepped on the newspaper and threw the paper pile in the air. She was quick to draw her wand and point it at the side of the employee's neck.

"Is this your pathetic attempt to make me do your fucking job instead of taking care of it yourself?" the detective hissed, her words as threatening as her stance. "It seems to me that you have too much free time on your hands and instead of using it to do your job properly, you spend it reading the latest gossip. You're fired. Pack your fucking shit and go back to wherever the fuck you came from."

Without allowing the employee to explain herself, Winter walked past her and stormed right into her office, slamming the door shut behind her. For a while, the entire office was silent. People didn't even dare to look in the direction of the Inspector Detective's office, they all resumed their work as if they feared they could be next if they weren't careful. Winter's latest victim kneeled to the ground and started picking up the papers, tears silently rolling down her face.

Nobody was insane enough to knock on Winter's office door. Nobody but Regulus. He was quite convinced she had to have some new information about the case and it was of utmost importance for him to know. With every day that passed, leads and evidence could disappear.

As his knuckles made contact with the door, he politely ignored the way the detective forbid him to enter and opened the door, walking in. He leaned against the doorframe, hands shoved in the pockets of his pants as he attempted to crack up a joke and perhaps lighten up the mood.

"Good morning, Detective," Regulus said. "I guess congratulations are in order today?"

"Get out," Winter groaned.

Now that he got a look up close, Regulus noticed one more peculiar thing. She was aggressively rubbing her temples with her eyes closed and her left hand was covered with a black glove, on top of which lied a silver ring. Her engagement ring most likely.

He cleared his throat and his gaze shifted to her closed eyes instead. Now, it was his time to frown. This wasn't a sight he was ever happy to see, yet he knew it very well; she cried. Judging by the red traces around her undereye area, Winter looked like she cried herself to sleep for some reason. Could it have been the rain that's been flooding London in the past couple of days? Could it be something else?

Whatever it was, it wasn't his business to pry into it. Not anymore at least.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," he started, not daring to walk closer to her. "I haven't heard from you in a couple of days, I was starting to think you perhaps forgot about calling me in to work."

"I'm not upset and I don't have anything for you."

Well, she surely sounded upset.

"Do we still not have any information about the names Mrs. Lacework gave us before she died?" he asked, thinking it was odd for them to get stuck so soon. They didn't even get the chance to check their leads.

"I've been bothering Ross about it every day, but he said he needs more time. There's a mess at the Ministry because their witness died right under their eyes and they still haven't figured out how that happened," she explained, finally opening her eyes. Winter looked out the window and sighed at the sight of rain. "Fucking cursed weather," she muttered under her breath.

"That's unfortunate, but we can't really sit by and wait, can we?" Regulus said, finally allowing himself to walk up to the armchair he usually sat in. "You said something about some other drug cartels you were tailing, we should look into them. Maybe they're somehow related to the Death Eaters or the Krovozhadnost. Or, if we're lucky enough, it could be both."

"I'm already onto that. I would've paid them a visit earlier, but this bloody weather is keeping me trapped inside."

Years have passed and she was not the girl he used to know, but perhaps not that much changed over the years. Rain still bothered her and if he were to guess, he assumed it only got worse. He remembered how he used to stay up all night with her when they were at Hogwarts and hold her tightly in his arms until she fell asleep, whispering gentle words in her ear until she no longer focused on the raging storm outside, but him and the cat that never left her side, Salem.

But that was long ago and he knew better than to assume that'd still work. Besides, it would have been highly inappropriate to do that to his coworker. At the end of the day, that's what Regulus and Winter were. On top of that, news of her engagement broke in today, adding one more thing to the list of reasons why they should stay away from each other.

"We could always Apparate there. Or we could use umbrellas like Muggles do," he suggested. "You don't intend to stay hidden in this little office of yours until the rain stops, do you?"

His words earned him a glare from the Detective. She couldn't deny he was right, but that didn't mean she was going to admit it either. Winter clicked her tongue in annoyance and placed her hands on both sides of her chair, pushing herself up.

For someone that hated the rain, it was a miracle she was still living in London.

"Are you coming or not?" Winter called out to him as she walked to the door, her gloved hand pushing it open. She didn't stop and wait to see if he followed her, neither did she turn around to look at him, but she could feel the ghost of a smirk hovering over Regulus' lips.

If getting her out of the office was what he was after, he succeeded. The entire team was glad to see Winter leaving for the day and Regulus couldn't blame them; she was difficult to deal with, that much he already knew. He didn't think she would be this aggressive, not at work at least, but he had the chance to witness it himself.

He wasn't sure how he felt about this, but there was something he was certain of. It's been twelve years since they parted ways, but he always hoped she'd find happiness, even if that meant finding it in somebody else's arms. As long as she was happy and smiling, it should've been enough for him. Except she wasn't. Or maybe she was, but she didn't want people to see it. Maybe she smiled at home, to her fiancé and her friends, whoever those might be. It was tough to find the strength to smile when working in this field, horrible murders were never a sight for sore eyes.

Regulus shook off whatever thoughts were going through his head and made a mental note to stay focused on the work he had to do instead of allowing his mind to wander back to times when life felt a bit easier. People's lives depended on them, he couldn't be this selfish. He followed Winter out of her office, quickly catching up to her. As soon as they were out of the building, he opened up the umbrella he was carrying and walked a bit closer to her, shielding them both from the rain.

Not feeling any droplets, Winter looked up. She noticed the umbrella over her head then shifted her gaze towards Regulus. "It's not far from here, you know."

"I didn't know, but it doesn't matter much," he said. "I doubt any of us wants to get wet, even if only for a short amount of time."

"Have you already forgot the drying spells we've been taught in school?" Winter asked, her voice lacking any sign of rudeness. If anything, it sounded like she was joking, or more like teasing him.

Regulus couldn't help but smile, slight amusement in his tone. "Why bother to fix it when you can prevent it, Detective?"

Rolling her eyes, Winter bit back the witty comment that almost slipped past her lips.

"You still hadn't told me where we're going," Regulus added on a lighthearted note after a moment of silence.

Winter's steps come to a halt as they reached Charing Cross Road. She crossed her arms against her chests and looked up at the building in front of them, as if she was considering what to do next.

"Right here," said Winter, then resumed her walk towards the inn.

"The Leaky Cauldron?" Regulus asked skeptically. "I didn't know we were doing drug busts in pubs now."

Winter scoffed. "We're not, we're here to have some nice chats with some friends of mine."

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

hey guys, it's me again!

i know i disappeared from wattpad for so long but i really missed writing, so here i am

and just a heads up — i might not update my books regularly. at this point, i'm just publishing whatever i write, whenever i write it, so thank you for sticking around

i hope you're all safe and loved

yours truly,
vega