"Kreacher. I order you to switch out these lockets no matter what happens. You take the real locket home and destroy it if I can't make it out alive. Do not try to save me or anything of the sorts. That locket comes first. Do you understand me?" Kreacher nodded yes quickly, rubbing his hands together. "Would young master Regulus want me to lead him through the cave?"
"Yes Kreacher." The house elf nodded once again walking into the cave, with Regulus on his trail.
**
"It's just up ahead young master." The house elf pointed towards the honestly ugly locket if you asked Regulus, but then again he wasn't here to bully the Dark Lord. In front of the potion laid a vial of deep purple liquid.
"You have to drink the potion before you can get it young master. So let me-"
"No Kreacher. I will drink it alright." Kreacher rubbed his hands together nervously, not wanting Regulus to be the one to down the potion. But he isn't a twat. He knew that Regulus was a determined, stubborn arsehole who always gets what he wants.
So, he watched as Regulus reached down, grabbed the vial of purple liquid in his pale, slender, and, and swallowed the potion until it was gone.
"Young master?" Kreacher asked, wondering if Regulus was going to drop dead any second. Regulus looked at the grey house elf, his mouth becoming drier than a desert, his throat quickly followed. "Ye-ahem." Regulus cleared his throat, trying to clear the hoarseness of it. "Switch the lockets, I'm getting water."
The house elf quickly nodded and walked away swiftly.
When Regulus kneeled down by the water, three pairs of hands grabbed him, yanking him into the water.
He struggled, then struggled some more, but the only thing that seemed to be accomplishing was the more hands that found thier way on him. Grabbing him, pulling him under further and further without mercy.
He looked around in the dark, terror clawing at the back of his head. But he refused to give in to it, not yet, not now he still had a whole life to live. He was only 18, he can't die, not yet, and not like this. He didn't tell his brother he was sorry yet, He didn't want to die, not until he knows everyone he ever loved was safe.
Regulus tugged at his arms, still trying to pull away from the inferi, but there were too many. Twenty, maybe even thirty of them at this point, they blocked most of Regulus's sight.
He slowly gave up, knowing there was no way to get out of this. He didn't want to die, but honestly would it be that bad? He didn't have any friends, the Dark Lord would just torture him if he did manage to get out and back to the safety of land. Even if he apologized to his brother for the way he acted when they were children, that won't change anything. Thier bond is broken beyond repair. Keep the people he loves safe? Well in a way he is, he's saving them from himself. He's saving them from the monster he knows he is.
So he just let them continue to drag him further into the depths of darkness, a smile playing on his lips as a bright sunny smile filled his mind. He missed that smile, even if it wasn't aimed at him, instead a beautiful girl with long red hair and bright green eyes that is the second brightest thing he ever seen. Third, if he counts James' eyes when he saw Lily.
But as much as he ached everyday for just one of those smiles that were so bright you had to look away from to be aimed at him, he couldn't help but think the scowl that was, even though it hurt, was just as beautiful.
Memories played on in his head, distracting him from the burning pain in his lungs as they demanded for oxygen.
Regulus looked up from his potions essay, watching as James handed Lily of flowers. Lilies to be excat. Why can't James give him some flowers?
"You know what James. I'll give you a chance, just this once alright? Don't mess it up, you won't be getting another one."
Regulus couldn't help the stabbing pain that went through his chest upon hearing those words. He knew James wasn't his, and Lily would come to her senses and saw who James really was, but he still wishes that smile, the brighter and biggest he has ever seen James wore. Was at him, for him. Or the sparkle in his eyes at the mention of Lily, the happiness. He wants that. But not with just anyone. With Lily. Maybe if he was a girl, a really pretty one James would fall in love with him instead. Why couldn't he just be Lily? She has everything he wants. And more.
**
Regulus couldn't stop his eyes from wondering across the Great Hall, watching as Lily leaned over fixing James glasses. Topping it off with ruffling his hair. He sighed, his heart feeling like it's been ripped out once more. Everytime he seen the couple he couldn't help but feel that way. It's been a year since they got together and Regulus still feels the pain. It'll probably never go away, he'll probably be in love with James Potter forever, and he can't decide if he hates that fact, or himself for ever falling this hard.
He wonders, that if his sunshine could see him now, would he try giving Regulus a chance again? Like he did Regulus' first year at Hogwarts with Sirius? Would he be proud? Would he finially show Regulus that intoxicating smile, the sweet melody of his voice, the softness of his touch.
But even with the pain he's in now, the tightness of his lungs, the burning in his limbs, he still would choose to go through this, then live one more day being hated by James Potter. That pain, will never leave him, even pass death.
He gasp in a breath full of water, filling his lungs, before the darkness overtook his vision. Where he stayed the floor, pinned down as his body continued to force water into his lungs. Until finially, Regulus became nothing more than a memory, a memory people hated.