Duelling Club - Willow Wand: (item) blanket, (dialogue) "I won't leave you.", (quote) "There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights."

Hogwarts, Assignment #5 - Herbology: write about a canon Death Eater making a love confession.

'Regulus!'

'Huh?' Regulus asked distractedly, his gaze meeting his cousin's for a quarter of a second before flickering back to the object of its attention.

'Just tell her already,' Narcissa said knowledgeably. Regulus's eyes snapped back to her with a steel-grey gaze, but to his disgust she only laughed as she gently pushed him out of her way. 'Or don't bother coming in tomorrow. You're creating more work for me, not making things better.'

'Cissy!' Regulus exclaimed, genuinely hurt. 'You know I take this job seriously. You might be my cousin, but that doesn't mean I'm going to slack off.'

'And I'm not going to pretend that your life's ambition is handing out tea and biscuits,' Narcissa replied, dimming her laughter to a simple smile. 'I told you to ask Hermione out. I told you to ask her to be your girlfriend. Now, trust me when I say that you should tell her you love her.'

They paused as a customer came to the till, resuming their conversation only when he had left, cookie and napkin in hand. It had been a slow day and Narcissa had been taking full advantage of the opportunity to grill her cousin, much to Regulus' chagrin.

'I don't know, Cissy,' Regulus said quietly, almost to himself. 'I… I'm not sure I could.'

'Regulus.' Narcissa squeezed her cousin's shoulder. 'Look at me. You're scared, but I know that you can do it. The worst that can happen is that she'll not say it back, and I'll have your favourite cookie waiting for you when you come running to my place to cry about it.'

'Pssh.' Regulus rolled his eyes and raised an eyebrow. 'As if.'

'Ask her,' Narcissa repeated, giving him one last level look as she walked back into the kitchen.

'Where are we going?' Hermione asked curiously, as Regulus led her through the streets of London, twilight softening the sharp edges of the skyscrapers.

'Well, you told me once that you had never really visited London, since your parents liked going to France on holiday,' he replied with a grin, as they came to a standstill in front of a small red canal boat. 'So I thought I'd give you the full tour.'

Hermione looked to Regulus, then looked at the boat, a smile spreading across her face. He was constantly surprising her with things that she wouldn't have even thought of. Harry had made a game of it, asking her what she thought Regulus was least likely to do. She never came close with her guesses.

This was one of those times. She had never even thought about there being a canal cruise in London, though logically she must have known about it. As Regulus ushered her through the little gate, excitement coursed through her veins. She had always loved seeing the city at night.

'There are blankets for if we get cold,' Regulus explained, motioning towards one side of the boat, 'and Mr Kreacher has been tasked with serving us for the night, as well as guiding us through the waters.'

As if on cue, a surprisingly sprightly old man appeared from the small cabin. He had a bulbous nose and there was more hair growing out of his ears than on top of his head, but he looked so polite and friendly as he dropped into a deep bow that Hermione couldn't care less about his physical appearance.

'My lady,' he said in a deep voice, bowing again as he approached the couple. 'I am at your service. I will do my utmost to make this night enjoyable for you.'

'Well,' Hermione stammered, unsure as to how to react. She didn't like the idea of being waited on, but she didn't want to offend either Regulus or Mr Kreacher. 'Thank you,' she finished, opting for the safe option.

'Hey,' she said, when they were settled down with a bottle of wine, safely snuggled up to each other against the cold. 'This is lovely, but you didn't need to spend all your savings on stuff like this if you wanted to prove something to me. I like you the way you are.'

Regulus's face fell for a fraction of a second, but before Hermione could ask him about it, Mr Kreacher came back out of the cabin with cheese soufflés - Hermione's favourite.

'This is for you, Miss Hermione,' he said, putting her plate down with a flourish. He nodded to Regulus with an expression Hermione couldn't quite place. 'Sir Regulus.'

Regulus's face turned a brilliant shade of pink that Hermione had never seen before. She would have laughed, if she hadn't been so shocked.

'Sir Regulus?' she asked curiously.

'You didn't think I just worked in the cookie shop, did you?' he asked, attempting at humour, but instead his words faded into the night.

Mr Kreacher wisely locked himself back in his cabin.

Hermione wanted to say something, but once again he had gone so far beyond the borders of her expectations that she was left speechless. In the end, the two of them simply sat there for a few minutes, as Hermione tried to equate Sir Regulus with the boy in the cookie shop that she had met only a few months beforehand. In the end, Regulus's probing eyes had her speaking first.

'I don't really know what I'm supposed to say,' she admitted. 'It was certainly not what I was expecting.'

'But it doesn't change anything, does it?' Regulus asked, and there was a hint of desperation to his voice that told Hermione that the revelation probably meant more to him than her. 'I know you're always talking about how much you hate the House of Lords, and all of the pompous aristocracy that siphon off the money the government should be spending on the poor, and now you probably just want to leave…'

Hermione had never heard Regulus say so much at once. He was usually so quiet, each word spoken thoughtfully, and the plethora of speech streaming out of his mouth was simultaneously adorable and hilarious.

'I won't leave you,' she said, cutting him off mid sentence. 'Not just for that. Besides, I understand that it's not something that you can just slip into casual conversation.'

And to prove her point, she leaned forwards, tangling her hands in his dark hair as she pulled him in for a long kiss. When they eventually broke apart, she rested her forehead against his own.

'You can tell me anything, you know,' she said. 'Don't be afraid to show me who you are, just because I show who I am. There's space enough for the two of us in this relationship.'

Regulus drank up the words like a bear to honey. The warm feeling that coursed through him and pulled his lips up into a smile was one that he had become more and more used to in their relationship.

He pulled back, allowing himself a searching look as he committed Hermione to memory in case things went badly. Her honey coloured mane of hair that she always had tied back in a ponytail or a plait. Her chocolate brown eyes, vivacious and constantly squinting out of curiosity or concentration, but more often than not out of laughter. Her slim hands that he had originally thought belonged to a pianist and were in fact the most expressive he had ever seen, forever illustrating a point in an argument or a dramatic moment in a story.

He took a breath, ready to change their relationship forever, for better or for worse.

'Hermione,' he started. She stilled immediately, sensing that he was getting ready to say something important.

Then his phone rang.

'Ignore it,' Hermione said softly, touching his arm.

'I can't,' Regulus replied, checking the caller ID. It was Narcissa. 'I'm sorry, I have to take this.'

'What could be so important at eight thirty on a Saturday night?' Hermione asked, her voice coloured with irritation.

He held up a hand as if to tell her to wait, knowing that she only took that tone when she was hurt or overly curious, and answered.

'Narcissa? Did something happen?'

'I'm at the hospital,' Narcissa said, her voice trembling with emotion. 'I… I'm sorry, Regulus, I know you're on a date, but I didn't know who to call.'

'Always call me,' Regulus replied immediately. 'Is it Draco?'

'He… I decided that I'd make seafood in celebration of his perfect scores on his school report, but then he just started making these awful choking noises and, and…'

'I'll be right there,' Regulus said, not even pausing to think as he hung up. Running towards the cabin, he yelled, 'Kreacher? Kreacher, we need to get to the hospital right now. The hospital we always go to, you know the one.'

He turned around, only to remember that he was still on a date.

'Hermione,' he said, surprised. 'Um…'

'It's fine,' she said quickly, brushing off his embarrassment. 'It sounded like an emergency. Who's Draco?'

'Draco is Narcissa's son,' Regulus replied, realising that he hadn't told her much… or anything, really, about his family. Perhaps, unconsciously, he had been hoping that he wouldn't have to. 'He's all she has, and I'm all they both have, pretty much, ever since Severus left to work abroad. Apart from my mother, I guess, who watches over him during work hours.'

'Is Severus her husband?' Hermione asked. Regulus could practically see the clogs whirring in her brain as she tried to piece the puzzle together.

'He's Draco's godfather,' he explained, tapping his foot on the floor as he waited for the boat to reach the crossing. He hesitated, then decided to tell her. Let her in, a Narcissa-like voice sounded in his head. But not too much, another, more serious voice replied. He couldn't tell her everything. Not if he wanted to keep her. 'Lucius, his father, isn't around anymore. He… He's actually in prison. That's why I've been helping Narcissa out with her shop. She won't accept any form of charity, so it's all I can do.'

'Regulus Black,' Hermione said, shaking her head as she closed the distance between them, so much that he felt as though he had been laid bare before her. She put her arms on his shoulders, loosely knotting her hands around his neck. 'I don't think you could get any more perfect. You surprise me at every turn, and in a good way. Is there anything else you have hidden up your sleeve?'

'I love you,' Regulus blurted out, feeling the words physically tumble from the tip of his tongue, but unable to catch them. 'I love everything about you.'

He wanted to say more, but held back, fearful of her response. This was not the night he had envisioned, and not the way he had envisioned saying those words. He should have gauged her reaction, waited until he was sure that she would reply favourably, waited until he was sure she couldn't hurt him…

But he couldn't help it.

After everything that had happened, after all of the failures, the mistakes, the heartbreak in his life, she was like the first ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds of a thunderstorm. Whatever she said next, he did not… could not… regret telling her how much she meant to him.

'I know this might be a little early,' Hermione breathed, her eyelashes fluttering up and down as she blinked nervously. 'But, what the hell. I love you too.' The boat bumped gently against the jetty as they arrived at their destination. 'Now, let's introduce me to that little cousin of yours.'