The morning of the first quidditch match of the season, Slytherin vs Ravenclaw, Regulus found himself awake, long before anyone else. In such a short time, he had managed to pull together a team, mostly due to Éponine's help as she kept the try-outs orderly. However, he wouldn't say it was the dream team he had expected to play with during his seventh year. Gian was a fine Chaser, but the rest of the team was definitely considered rough around the edges. His Beaters were weak in the wrist, his other two Chasers fumbled the quaffle very often and his Keeper had an issue with remaining focus. All in all, it would be a miracle if they ended up scoring against Ravenclaw, let alone win.

Rather than getting out of bed first thing, Regulus remained in his bed until he heard movement around the dorm, only to see Avery awake and Mulciber was stirring from his slumber as well. No matter how much they attempted to ignore each other and pretend like the other didn't exist, it appeared as though they were still in sync with one another. Regulus sat up before Avery could leave the room.

"You know, you two were some of the finest Beaters that the Slytherin team had, it's a shame you won't be playing today."

He wasn't sure how else to go about it, Merlin, he just missed talking to his best friends. He loved Éponin, he was sure of it, but Avery and Mulciber had been his friends for as long as he could remember. They shared so many memories together, maybe ones that he wasn't so proud of as he grew older and wiser, but still, they had grown together. And to suddenly go where they weren't talking without any closure seemed more than painful.

"I could always make the two new players reserves if you two wanted to play?"

"What?" Avery scoffed. "And play on the same team as a blood-traitor. What are you on, Black?"

"Avery, for fuck's sake, we have been best friends since we were little, all of us. I've always been there for you, just as you've always been there for me-"

Avery turned around, shaking his head in anger. "Oh, have you? You were there for me this summer, were you? Where, Regulus? Where the hell were you when my father thought it would be a learning lesson to bring me close to death? Hmmm?"

"What are you talking about?" Regulus asked. "I've been trying to get you two to talk to me all summer and since the start of term. What happened? You two were fine when we left Hogwarts and then...why would your father..."

Regulus paused for a moment and looked over in the direction of Mulciber, who had yet to say anything. He only stared down at his hands, a frown prominent on his face.

"It doesn't matter what happened over the summer, Regulus," Avery continued, "because it can't happen. We can't all be you, can we? Live our lives as blood-traitors, like you and Éponine. Must be nice. You get a couple of howlers and then everything is fine for you, isn't it?"

"Avery. Mulciber. Listen to me," Regulus said, "I-"

"No!" Mulciber suddenly stood up from his bed. "We're done listening to you, Regulus! Look where that's gotten us! Look at our fucking arms! We followed you, but you weren't thinking about us when you made that decision, you were thinking of her. We followed your lead because you said things were going to get better and they've only gotten worse. My father won't look at me because he's disgusted and my mother is afraid to look at me. You said things would get better."

"I said we were going to make things better," Regulus sighed, " but I was wrong in a lot of ways. I didn't know what I was talking about. I made a mistake, we all did-"

Avery let out a harsh laugh. "Well, that's just great, isn't it? You make a mistake and you get to go running to your girlfriend and your brother. The rest of us don't fucking matter, do we? Who do we run off to?"

Standing up from his bed, Regulus went to stand in the middle of the room, looking back and forth between the two.

"I know everything is up in the air now, but I am more than willing to help you two out. We can be there for each other. I need to figure things out but-"

"You don't get it, do you?" Avery's voice softened. "It's too late, Regulus. It's too late for all of us, you included. We sold our souls to the literal devil and we have the branding to prove it. You think you're safe, but you're not. Chasing after Éponine, do you think she's going to keep you safe? She can't keep you safe and you can't keep her safe. Maybe, just maybe you'll be spared, punished, but spared because of your family name. But I'm not willing to risk my own life, only to go out to a world that still won't accept me."

"So you rather use your life supporting a cause that actively discriminates and persecutes against people that have no control over what they are?"

"You sound so judgemental, but you forget you have the mark on your arm too. You believed in all of this as well. Then your girlfriend leaves and you run after her-"

"I didn't change my mind because of Éponine! I changed my mind because I realised I was wrong and it sounds like you two understand that it's wrong too. You're just afraid to take an active stand against it-"

"Go ahead, sound all high and mighty now," Avery told him, "but I guess we'll see how active you'll when your mark is activated and they dangle a life in front of you. Because if you don't value yours, Regulus, they're going to after the ones that you do value."

"Then what would you have me do?"

Mulciber made his way over as he planned on leaving the room, he looked at Avery for a brief second before looking at Regulus. He only gave him a light tap on the shoulder before leaving and Avery said nothing before he left as well.

They made it seem like there was no way out at all and Regulus would only be putting Éponine's life in danger, whether he was with her or against her. And as he stood abandoned in the dorm room, he tried to come up with a plan where they could just be happy.

"Run away with you?"

Éponine set her cup of tea down at the Slytherin table, careful to not burn herself as she started laughing. She had been enjoying her breakfast by herself with a book in her lap, when she had been approached by Regulus. She wasn't sure if she was going to share in the luxury of having breakfast with his company before the big match. If anything, she was sure that he would rally up his team, in hopes of having a small practice or something of the sort.

However, when Regulus entered the Great Hall, he appeared nervous, but that didn't alarm Éponine at all. She anticipated his nerves, especially with the team that he had been forced to put together at the last minute. But she tried to remain as encouraging and supportive as possible during such times.

So, when Regulus brought up the idea of running away all of a sudden, she couldn't help but laugh, thinking it was nothing more than a joke.

"Oh come on, Regulus," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him to sit down beside her. "Don't you think you're overreacting? I know you're nervous about today's match, but you know, you stand a better chance at winning than you think. If you just catch the snitch before Ravenclaw gets to scoring, you'll be fine. There's no need to run away-"

"No, this has nothing to do with the Quidditch match, Épi, " Regulus said, " I just...I just...I think it would be a good thing for us. I mean, look at the world around us now, there's so much going on. And it's all so centred around the same area. We could just go somewhere far away, you know? I don't care where, really, just not here at Hogwarts or even back home. We could...we could go to France!"

"Go to France?" Éponine repeated. "Regulus, you don't speak a lick of French."

"Well, I could certainly learn and where better to learn French than France."

"Are you feeling alright?"

She went to place the back of her hand to Regulus' forehead, only to have him quickly grab her by the wrist. He wasn't rough about it, but it still startled her with how manic he was acting. He held her hand in his lap, squeezing her fingers in his.

"I know this sounds sudden and maybe a bit much, but don't you remember all the things you told me? All the dreams you had. Do you really think we can do all of that around here? There's so much extra baggage. But if we go somewhere new, we can just start over. We could even live under new names."

Suddenly, Éponine didn't think he was joking around anymore and if he was, she didn't find it funny. Her brows furrowed in confusion, wondering why he sounded to be in such a rush. She feared the next thing he was going to tell her was that they should pack their bags that very night and leave.

"Regulus, what you're talking about sounds like a fantasy of sorts, but not very logical," she told him. I mean, I would love to go to France with you, maybe on a trip. I thought about it when I turn seventeen in January, I'll be able to apparate with you. But running away and starting a new life? With what money? I've been fortunate enough that I've had financial help from others but I don't have a penny to my own name and neither do you. We need to get jobs. You moving to France where you don't even know the language isn't going to help either."

She was able to pull her hand away from his and placed it under his chin to get him to look up.

"I think it's great that you want to support my dreams, but they've changed a lot since those days. Now that I have the freedom to actually do things and not worry what others will think, I have big plans for myself. I was thinking about going into Curse-Breaking or something along those lines, that way I can still travel but add some excitement to it. You can pursue your dreams of becoming a quidditch player."

"I don't think I want to do that anymore, Épi."

"Well, whatever you want to do is fine. I just...I don't want to up and leave one day or change my name. I have friends and family here. I know everything is a bit awkward now but it's going to eventually blow over and it'll be fine. I know you've been upset because Sirius never answered your letter but that's not the end of the world. I'll still be by your side to support you. You don't have to worry so much. Besides, you can try to run from your problems but you can't run forever."

As Éponine made him a cup of tea, just the way he liked it, Regulus swallowed the lump that developed in his throat as Éponine rejected his offer to run away with him. It seemed like the best solution, or maybe the safest for both of them. And it only stung further as Éponine told him about all of her new dreams to work as a Curse-Breaker.

No longer was an arranged marriage and overbearing parents keeping her from achieving her dreams, it was Regulus.

He was going to get her killed before she even had a chance to fully live her life.

A/N: Not a meme, but it still makes me laugh.