Chéri || Fred Weasley

xxxiii

Triggering content, viewer discretion advised.

July slipped away as quickly as it came for Madeleine. On Harry's birthday, she surprised him with presents and cake but she saw that he had become more irritable than the week before she had visited him. It was the fifth of August, the heat became unbereable in London but she couldn't be more thankful for the cooling charms Molly casted around the house. For no apparent reason, that night Maddie couldn't bring herself to fall asleep. She had tried meditation, breathing exercises and reading but nothing seemed to have worked. So she decided to have a stroll around the house to see if that could knock some sleep into her system.

She went downstairs and walked around a bit, inspecting the odd dark objects that belonged to her distant family. She stepped into the drawing room and traced the Black Family Tree tapestry with her fingers but when she reached a certain someone, her curiosity peaked. She walked back upstairs quietly and stood in front of the door that was next to her room. Madeleine opened the door and with the tip of her wand illuminated the room.

The bed was unmade, the smell was as moldy like the rest of the house but what caught her attention was the bluish figure sitting on the window bench, admiring the night sky and city lights. He turned around and smiled when he saw her, but quickly turned away. Shivers ran down her spine as she got closer to the figure, trying to get a better look and to make sure that her eyes were working correctly and as usual she was right.

"Hi" she whispered and smiled softly.

"You can see me?" the figure uttered, brows knitted in confusion.

"Of course I can, I wouldn't have said 'hi' if I couldn't see you, Regulus" she said taking a sit next to him.

"So you're the famous Madeleine" he chuckled.

"That would be me, and you're the one and only Regulus Black"

"I guess I am, what are you doing here? Was the sign not convincing enough? Curiosity killed the cat you know"

"Lovely room you have here, a little too green for my taste" she joked making him laugh for the first time in decades. "I was just down the drawing room and realized that yours is the only room that I hadn't seen, of course I didn't imagine I would see my cousin's spirit here though".

"Well it is my room after all, where else would my spirit be" Regulus shrugged. "Are you not scared of me?" he whispered.

"Why would I be scared of you?" she huffed.

"Hasn't your mum or Andromeda or my brother told you my story?"

"Oh they have, you became a Death Eater at 16, Slytherin of course, seeker in the quidditch team and died at 18. That's probably the most I've gotten out of them about you"

"But I was one, aren't you scared of that?" he said sadly pointing at the posters on his bedroom walls.

"I'm really not, the worst you could do to me in this state is haunt me for the rest of eternity" she joked again making him smile slightly. "What's up with all of the Dark Lord's posters Reg? Where you a fan girl?".

"I was, before I realized that all of it was wrong" he sighed.

"You don't have to tell me tonight, but I would really like to get to know you. I guess that not all of us could talk to spirits and it looks like you haven't talked to anyone in years"

"Decades more like it, are you sure you're Cress' daughter? You're different from her" he grinned.

"Positive, why?"