𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞 - 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

58 - 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 - 𝙨𝙘𝙪𝙗𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙄𝙣𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙞

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A sickly hand grabbed Aquila's wrist, making her shriek and fall backwards. Stupid, stupid, stupid Aquila, she cursed herself in her head. Of course, she knew the lake had some dangers, but what dangers she hadn't exactly paused to contemplate.

Her wrist had red lines to mark where the fingers of the Inferi had wound around it, and it burned like acid.

Regulus was still groaning in pain behind her, calling out her name, then Adrian's, then Rowan's, then some unknown gibberish. Suddenly, it turned to loud gasps. "Please, no, no, don't do this, no, you can take anything, don't hurt-" he gasped, then lurched towards Aquila, who was still by the shore.

Aquila let out a scream as another gnarled hand shot out towards her, no, behind her, where Regulus was tumbling for her.

"Reg, stay there!" she said in her best Walburga voice, making Regulus stutter in his steps.

Regulus looked at her with wide eyes, for all the world looking like an eleven-year-old. "Aqi, water," he said, his lips pouted and eyes fighting back tears.

Aquila's lower lip wobbled. How could she go against her brother, the one who would give up his life for her? The one she would give up her life for? And she was scared, yes, that if she didn't give him the water then there was a huge chance he would try to take it himself, most likely falling in the lake and then falling to the hands of the Inferi.

Oh, Merlin, please let us both out of this. If not unscathed, but at least not dead, she prayed. Then she looked back at her brother and bit her lip. And if not both of us, then at least him.

Once again, she bent down to the lake, this time mindful of the bodies in it.

But one can never be too careful with the Inferi.

A whole torso of a long-dead person shot out of the water with its half-rotten teeth bared. Aquila felt horror creep up her spine as the nearly rotted corpse snapped its unhinged jaw at her. Shooting balls of fire from her hands, she quickly dipped the cup in the water and passed it to Regulus, hoping he wouldn't ask for more.

"More," he croaked out, and Aquila's heart dropped. Fuck you, she said in her mind, because why not.

Bending down once again, the cup in one hand and a simmering ball of fire in the other, she got some water in the cup and threw the fire on the surface of the water. Just to be sure.

And well, sure she was. A group of screaming Inferi came above the surface and snapped their jaws at her, their gnarled and bony hands reaching out to her. She barely dodged one of them, and quickly darted up to where Regulus was sitting, and gave him the water, silently shooting out a prayer for him to recover quickly.

Regulus slowly got up, blinking his eyes as if waking up after a nap. His face still looked clouded with the despair the potion had brought. His side of the bridge in her mind looked like a black cloud, and only if she focused too much could Aquila see his real mind through the cloud.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowed. He nodded his head dazedly at her, and Aquila pursed her lips.

Quickly bending down, she secured the case with the real locket in it on Regulus, tightly sticking it to his body. It was going to be a bitch to take out later, but at least it won't get lost.

Hesitantly, she approached where they had tied the boat, and helped Regulus onto it. The boat swayed under his weight, and there were scratching noises from where the Inferi were clawing at the base of the boat. Aquila tried putting a shield around it, but of course, the clever Tom Riddle had spelt the cave against this, too.

Regulus grabbed her arm and pulled her into the boat. "I'm not dead enough yet that I'd let you stay on this island by yourself," he mumbled.

Aquila bit her lip, feeling gratitude flow through her. She probably would have left herself on the island if it meant a safe passage for Regulus.

"I know what you're thinking, and it's a terrible idea," Regulus said, looking at her with bleary eyes.

With wobbly feet, Aquila grabbed the oar. "Uh, how does this work?" she murmured under her breath.

What? She never had the opportunity to row a boat in her extremely privileged life.

Aquila huffed and grabbed Regulus' hand, working towards merging their magic together. It was admittedly difficult without the open blood connection, but Aquila couldn't afford either overloading on magic or Regulus losing blood.

Mustering up the combined magic now, Aquila worked her way through a loophole in the anti-magic shields around a few items. Now the boat rowed itself across the murky waters.

But of course, neither of them were that lucky.

The boat rocked dangerously as the Inferi scratched and clawed at the sides, making the two of them wobble. Regulus snapped his fingers, generating a spark between them, but failing to muster a full fire. Aquila flexed her fingers, the fire roaring in her hand. She threw the fire onto the Inferi, swerving this way and that to avoid lighting the boat on fire and only hitting the Inferi.

Now, it was true that Inferi could only be defeated with Fiend Fyre, but unfortunately, Aquila did not trust her half-panicked state to master the unpredictable and highly dangerous inferno.

"Sala-" Regulus cried, the boat rocking with his weight being imbalanced.

Aquila turned around in horror, only to find the Inferi pulling her brother under the water.

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tell me what a bitch i am by not telling who dies when

anyway, late update, again, sorry

thanks to farplaces for helping me with nearly everything, and not calling interpol on me.

love yous byebye!