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THE NEXT MORNING, the pair stopped by the general store and bought up a variety of supplies, including food, water bottles (because magic could provide water), a map, and whatever else they thought might be useful for however long they were left to their own devices. Stella paid for it all using Regulus's money, as he still had yet to decipher "Muggle money", and then they were off again.
Not that she'd admit it to Regulus, but Stella was still trying to come to grips with the whole "magic" thing. One minute, she had lived in a normal world, where people were normal and did normal things, and the next, she was exposed to something she assumed to only exist in stories. Dark forces, and magic, and—god damn, she was on the run with a wizard! They were running from a bunch of Dark wizards whose main priority it was to capture them! And on top of everything else, Regulus himself was a (supposedly) reformed Dark wizard. The more she thought about it, the less likely it seemed that he was making it up, but she couldn't help but remain a bit suspicious. He was reluctant to help out the resistance efforts against that Voldemort guy, and while that could be attributed to him wanting to stay alive a little longer...what if he was having second thoughts? What if she was being conned?
Okay, so maybe she was being a bit dramatic, but with everything going on, she had every right to be, damn it. At that point, she wasn't sure what to believe.
"If you don't mind me asking," she began as they walked, this time across a large, empty field. They had left the village over an hour ago, and the sun was high in the sky, warming up the otherwise mild day.
"But what exactly is your plan? I mean, we need to keep away from those Death Eaters, I know that much, but didn't you say something about wanting to help bring Voldemort down?"
"Trust me, I'd love to, but it's a tad more complicated than that."
"Complicated how?" He glanced back at her for just a moment, then returned his gaze to the path ahead.
"My brother...he and his friends joined this organization called the Order of the Phoenix. It's a secret society, not that it's that secret, and they're the primary resistance in this war. I reckon they wouldn't be too happy to see me if I showed up."
"Except shouldn't they know you're on the run?"
"They'll think it's all a elaborate ruse, no doubt. Sirius and I never did see eye to eye as children, and last he knew, I was an aspiring Death Eater and our family's crown jewel." He said the last part bitterly, and Stella couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him.
"I-I'll figure something out eventually, but for now, we have to keep going." She knew when someone was trying to end the conversation, and that was clearly his own attempt; he didn't like to talk about his brother, that much was obvious. She had never had a brother herself, unless you counted Daniel, but—
"Shit," she murmured mostly to herself, though it must have been loud enough for him to hear, as he stopped in his tracks and turned to face her, nearly causing her to run into him.
"What? Are you all right?" he asked worriedly.
"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine, but Daniel! God, he's going to be so worried about me, I said I'd ring when I got to my hotel! With the chaos and everything though it completely slipped my mind and—"
"Wait, who's Daniel?"
"He's my best friend back in London, we're like siblings, we've known each other since we were little, and his family took me in when I was eleven."
"What...What about your parents?" His voice was hesitant, almost as if he was scared to ask the question in the first place, and it was soft, as if he really did care. Stella let out a breath and her gaze fell to the grass beneath her. Instinctively, her fingers began to fiddle with the hem of her shirt.
"I, er, I never knew my mum. She died shortly after I was born. Then my dad...he was killed when I was eleven, home invasion whilst I was at school. Daniel and I were best friends since we were five, so the Lancasters were more than willing to take me in." While she refused to look up at him, she could feel his sympathy burning a hole through her.
"Stella, I...I'm so sorry."
"It's all right...I-I'll have to ring him when I can." With that, she kept walking, and he followed in suit.
"Er...what exactly do you mean by 'ring' him?" he asked apprehensively, and Stella looked up at him with an immense amount of amusement.
"Ring, you know, use a telephone."
"A telephone? What in the name of Merlin is that?"
"So you've got magic wands, but you don't have telephones?" She couldn't help but laugh as his cheeks turned a light shade of pink.
"It's a device where you pick it up and dial a certain number, and then the person who has the line that number's assigned to gets the call, and you can talk to them even if you're not in the same building."
"Oh, so that's your form of communication."
"Precisely. I'm scared to ask what you wizards use."
"It varies, really. People generally just Apparate to someone's residence to chat, but if there's always the Floo Network." The look she gave him alone was enough to make him elaborate.
"Most Wizarding fireplaces are connected to the Floo Network. You throw some Floo Powder in, and you can either completely transport yourself there, or you can stick your head in ans have a conversation with someone, which I take it is our equivalent of a...what was it, telly..."
"Telephone," Stella laughed despite herself.
"Magic's supposed to make things easier, isn't it? But some of it's just more complicated versions of what we do."
"Well Muggle technology doesn't work well with large amounts of magic around...like at Hogwarts, for example." Stella had been wondering about Hogwarts since he had mentioned it shortly after they first met. A while school just for wizards and witches to train and learn magic...it sounded spectacular.
"What was it like there? At Hogwarts."
"Hogwarts..." Regulus breathed out, the faintest of smiles making an appearance.
"It's lovely, everything you could dream of and more. The professors are all spectacular, the classes are so interesting and colorful, though I never was allowed to take Muggle Studies..."
"They have a class just for learning about Muggles?"
"Yeah, reckon that would've come in handy now, wouldn't it?"
"Well Hogwarts sounds amazing...at my school the coolest class I had was a theater class. What I would've given to learn magic."
"It's got a good side and a bad side just like anything else."
"Yeah no shit," mumbled Stella, and Regulus snorted.
"You know, I must say, you're handling all of this quite well." She shot him an amused glance.
"I called you a wanker yesterday, I wouldn't say I've handled it brilliantly."
"I don't mean completely," he chuckled.
"I mean...you're still not freaking out about it. If I was in your shoes, I reckon I'd still be in shock."
"Maybe it's the whole life-or-death thing that sped up the process," she joked, though her smile faded enough to cause concern.
"It's reasonable to be worried..."
"Oh, trust me, I know, and I am. Us against an army of Death Eaters..."
Nothing else was said for a while, and the two walked in silence through the countryside. First the long field, then into the beginnings of a forest...they walked and walked, stopping for breaks whenever they couldn't stand any longer without collapsing. Come lunch time, Regulus set up the enchantments in a thinly-wooded area whilst Stella pulled some food they had bought that morning from his magically-extended pouch.
"I'd still like to know how they found me," Regulus said only after he had finished his food, looking around into the nothingness that surrounded them.
"I didn't tell anyone where I was going, not even Kreacher, not that he'd say a word about it."
"They probably had people checking the trains," suggested Stella, brushing some crumbs off of her black trousers.
"They had to assume you were making a go for it."
"You're probably right, but that makes me wonder how they're planning to search now...they know I've got nowhere to go, they know you're a Muggle, so they know you can't Apparate us somewhere you know, so I fear they'll start checking the countryside."
"It's a good thing you know how to set up the enchantments then, right? They'll protect against wizards?"
"They should, yes. We just shouldn't rely on them for long. Speaking of, we should get moving again."
They continued to walk further and further, the woods seeming as if they would never end...that is, until they exited them into the back of a suburban park. It was nearly dinner time, the pair was exhausted and had worked up quite the appetite, and the thought of taking a break on a nice bench was all too tempting. There was, however, the issue of being seen that sitting unprotected would cause for them, so they continued on, staring longingly at each bench and table they passed.
The exit (or rather the entrance) was extravagant in the sense that it framed the park as the centerpiece of the town, and they stopped just outside, staring at their surroundings. There were buildings everywhere; down the road a ways seemed to be where all of the houses were, as up close there were a number of businesses, including a small hotel. Claiming they had missed the sign on their way in, the owner told them the name of the town as he showed them to their room, and Regulus found it instantly on his map.
"We're still far from London, which is a good thing, but not too far to be near any large city, which is also good," he reported as Stella pulled her bag from his yet again. She merely nodded, focused now on checking the room for a phone.
"Aha," she whispered, dashing to the little desk, where a landline sat in the corner.
"What's—" began Regulus, though the moment he caught sight of her, he understood what she was so focused on.
"Ah, so that's a telephone, eh?"
"It is. I won't be long." Regulus watched as Stella's fingers danced across the buttons, dialing a series of numbers before she placed the handset to her head. Even from a slight distance, he was still able to hear everything.
"Hello?" a young man on the other end answered, much to Regulus's shock; he hadn't really been so set on the whole telephone thing actually working.
"Dan? It's Stella."
"Stella, what the hell? You said you'd call last night when you got to your hotel! Had me worried sick."
"Yeah, er, about that..." Regulus's eyes widened, and he couldn't help himself.
"You're just going to tell him?" he whispered, and she nodded, covering the bottom of the phone with her hand.
"We tell each other everything—don't worry, we can trust him."
"Stella?" the young man—Dan—said from the other line.
"Who's that you're talking to? What's going on?"
"Well, er, here's the thing..." She explained everything as best as she could, and when she finished, there was such a pause that Regulus was sure Dan wasn't there any longer.
"I leave you alone for a few days, and suddenly you're a fugitive?"
"Only from the bad guys!" she answered quickly.
"Dan, I know I should've called earlier, but—"
"You just told me magic exists, Stel, and that you're in severe danger, I understand why you didn't call. And this boy you're with, this Regulus or whatever the bloody hell his name is, how do you know you can trust him?"
"With him at least there's a chance of survival. No dice otherwise." Again, the other line remained silent...
"Can you put him on?"
"Daniel Joseph Lancaster, if you do what I think you're going to do—"
"Put him on Stel, please." Stella hesitated, then sighed and handed the phone to Regulus, who took it rather apprehensively.
"Hello?"
"Okay listen up, I may not know anything about magic or those Death guys or whatever the bloody hell you're playing at, but I know Stella. If you hurt her, or cause her any harm in any way, you won't have those bloody Dark wizards to worry about, got it?" Daniel's voice was dangerously low, and Regulus looked to Stella, who had a hand covering her face, which looked incredibly red.
"Understood. She's innocent, I don't wish her any harm."
"Good answer. Tell her to call me whenever she can, will you?" He then heard a little click, which he took to mean the end of the call. He handed the receiver back to Stella, who hung it up and flopped back on the bed, hands on her face.
"I'm so sorry about him."
"There's no reason to be," said Regulus quietly, sitting down on the edge of the second bed (because thankfully, this room had two small beds rather than one large one).
"He cares about you and wants to protect you. That's admirable. Reminds me of my brother and his friends, believe it or not." Suddenly, Stella removed her hands from her face and turned to look at him.
"Speaking of your brother, I think we should try to talk with him." Needless to say, that threw Regulus for a loop.
"I—pardon?"
"I think we should go see him. You said he's working for the good guys, right?" Regulus nodded slowly, and Stella sat up.
"You said you wanted to go against Voldemort, what better way than to talk with someone on the resistance?"
"I don't know, it could be risky, for us and him both."
"What's life without a little risk? Besides, he's risking his life by being in the Order or whatever it's called, and you're risking yours by doing this. If you want to risk your life for the cause, you may as well go big, right?"
"This isn't as simple as you seem to think—"
"Isn't it? He can help you fight back—"
"I really don't think it's a good idea—"
"If you want to fight, he can surely at least point us in the right direction—"
"Stella, please—"
"—or you could give him information, or—"
"Just drop it, all right?!" Regulus hadn't meant to raise his voice. He hadn't meant to shout at her, and he regretted it the moment the words came out of his mouth the way they did. He just couldn't stand hearing another word about his brother, or the cause...but now he couldn't stand the way she was looking at him, eyes wide, stunned.
"Stella, I—"
"I'm going to get changed, then we should sleep. More travelling tomorrow," she practically whispered, grabbing her pajamas from her bag and rushing into the bathroom. The door was closed before he could say another word.
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note:
I love reggie but he's still recovering and can be a bit much :( anyway lmao I hope you guys are still enjoying this !!!