Chapter Text
The potion burned like liquid fire.
Regulus could feel it threading through his veins, thick and venomous, dragging memories up from places he had buried them. Every swallow scraped his throat raw, each one heavier than the last, until even breathing felt like drowning.
“Drink,” he whispered hoarsely to himself, though his hand trembled so badly the goblet rattled against his teeth. “Just… drink.”
Kreacher’s quiet sobs echoed against the stone, small and broken. Regulus forced himself not to look at him. If he did, he might stop—and stopping was not an option.
Not when this was the end he had chosen.
Not when James could never know.
That thought steadied him, even as the world blurred at the edges.
James, laughing in the sunlight. James, reckless and brilliant and unbearably warm. James, looking at him like he was something worth saving.
Regulus had taken that away.
The memory charm had been precise. Thorough. Cruel in its mercy.
He swallowed the last of the potion.
The cave fell silent.
For a moment, Regulus thought he might collapse right there on the stone—but the locket gleamed at the bottom of the basin, and that was enough. That was everything.
“Take it,” he rasped.
Kreacher obeyed instantly, scrambling forward to retrieve the Horcrux with shaking hands. Regulus watched him clutch it like something sacred, something terrible.
“Destroy it,” Regulus whispered. “You must… no matter what happens to me.”
Kreacher nodded, tears streaking down his wrinkled face. “Master Regulus must come too—”
“No.” Regulus tried to smile, but it wavered, fragile and fleeting. “No, Kreacher. You know I can’t.”
The thirst came then.
It was unbearable.
It clawed at his throat, his lungs, his very magic—demanding, consuming. Regulus staggered toward the water, ignoring Kreacher’s cries.
“Master Regulus, no—!”
But he was already kneeling at the edge, already reaching down—
The water exploded.
Cold hands—rotting, grasping—latched onto him, dragging him forward with impossible strength. Regulus barely had time to gasp before he was pulled under, the lake swallowing him whole.
This was it, then.
A strange calm settled over him as the darkness closed in.
He had done it.
James was safe.
—
Far away, something broke.
James gasped like he’d been struck, stumbling mid-step as the world tilted violently around him. His vision fractured—memories slamming into him all at once, sharp and blinding.
Regulus.
Regulus in the dim light, voice low and shaking.
“You can’t follow me. You have to forget me.”
The argument. The fear. The way Regulus had looked at him—like leaving him would hurt more than dying.
“Obliviate.”
“No—” James choked, gripping his head as everything came rushing back. Every touch, every word, every almost-confession he hadn’t understood before now burning through him.
Regulus hadn’t just left.
He had sacrificed everything.
For him.
“No,” James said again, fiercer now, already reaching for his wand. “You don’t get to decide that alone.”
He Disapparated with a crack that echoed like a heartbeat gone wrong.
—
The cave reeked of death.
James barely felt the cold as he ran inside, chest tight with something dangerously close to panic. His eyes locked onto the lake—and the small, desperate figure at its edge.
“Kreacher!”
The house-elf turned, face crumpled with terror. “Master James—Master Regulus—he is—”
James didn’t wait.
The water surged, pale hands breaking the surface as the Inferi rose—but James was faster.
“Incendio!”
Fire roared across the lake, bright and furious, forcing the creatures back with shrieks that echoed through the cavern. Steam hissed violently as flame met water, chaos erupting in light and shadow.
James didn’t hesitate.
He lunged forward, catching Regulus just as another hand tried to drag him under again. Regulus was limp in his arms, frighteningly still, his skin cold and far too pale.
“I’ve got you,” James breathed, voice breaking as he pulled him close. “I’ve got you—Reg, stay with me—”
No response.
Too still.
Too quiet.
Fear clawed up his throat, sharp and merciless.
“No,” James said, gripping him tighter, almost desperate now. “You don’t get to leave me. Not like this. Not without—”
Without what?
Without saying it.
Without knowing.
He didn’t finish the thought.
He just held on—and Disapparated.
—
Godric’s Hollow erupted into motion.
“Lily!” James shouted as he stumbled inside, soaked and shaking, clutching Regulus like something precious and breakable. “Lily, please—”
She was there instantly, eyes widening before snapping into focus. “Put him down—now. Sirius! Remus!”
Everything blurred after that.
Magic filled the room, urgent and relentless. Sirius hovered too close, pale and shaken in a way James had never seen before. Remus worked with quiet precision, steady even under pressure. And Lily—
Lily fought.
Against poison, against dark magic, against whatever was trying to drag Regulus away from them.
From him.
James stayed at his side through all of it.
He didn’t move.
He didn’t let go.
Regulus’s hand lay cold in his, but James held it like he could warm it back to life, like he could anchor him here through sheer will alone.
“You’re not allowed to go,” he whispered, voice rough, leaning closer. “Do you hear me? You don’t get to decide that for me.”
Hours passed.
Or maybe minutes.
Time didn’t feel real anymore.
Until—
A breath.
Faint.
Fragile.
But there.
Lily froze. “Wait—”
Regulus’s fingers twitched.
Sirius inhaled sharply. “Regulus?”
His eyelids fluttered, slow and unsteady, like waking was something he had to fight for.
Then—
“…James?”
It was barely a whisper.
But it was everything.
James let out a breath that sounded almost like a laugh, something breaking open in his chest. “Yeah,” he said softly, tightening his grip on his hand. “I’m here. I’ve got you.”
Regulus blinked up at him, dazed, like he couldn’t quite believe it. “I… thought I lost you.”
“You didn’t,” James said, leaning closer without thinking, his voice quieter now, more vulnerable than he ever let it be. “You never will. Not if I can help it.”
Something shifted in Regulus’s expression then—something soft, something aching.
“I tried to protect you,” he murmured.
“I know,” James said. “But you don’t have to do it alone.”
For a moment, they just looked at each other.
Everything unsaid hung heavy in the space between them—every almost, every what-if, every feeling they had both been too afraid to name.
James swallowed.
Then, before he could overthink it—before fear could stop him—he leaned in.
It wasn’t rushed.
It wasn’t perfect.
It was soft. Careful. Like he was afraid Regulus might disappear if he wasn’t gentle enough.
Their lips met, warm against the lingering cold.
Regulus stilled in surprise for half a second—
Then melted into it.
His fingers tightened weakly in James’s sleeve, like he was holding on, like he didn’t want to let go this time. The kiss deepened just slightly, quiet but certain, full of everything they hadn’t said.
Relief.
Fear.
Love.
When they finally pulled apart, their foreheads rested together, breaths mingling.
“You’re an idiot,” Regulus whispered, though there was no bite to it.
James huffed a soft laugh, eyes still closed. “Yeah,” he murmured. “But I’m your idiot.”
And this time—
Regulus didn’t argue.
He just stayed there, close and warm and alive, his hand still tangled in James’s.
And neither of them let go.