ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴏᴜʀᴛʜ ᴡᴀʟʟ | ᴍᴀʀᴀᴜᴅᴇʀꜱ ᴇʀᴀ

xxix. patronus

Regulus grunted, sitting down in front of the fire and completing a circle with the Marauders.

"How is she?" Remus asked.

On their way to James and Peter, Callie lost grasp of her consciousness. Her limbs fell limping. It was a good call to have two people carry her.

They also thought it was good she passed out. Tiredness had consumed her, she wouldn't have to fight to keep her eyes open. Regulus thought that was what she had been doing. That was why even though the dementor seemed to have taken more than half of her soul, she still fought back and kept herself as conscious as she possibly could. Unfortunately, her human, muggle body could not handle anything anymore and it gave up.

Once the tent was built, Regulus carried her to her bed. She lay asleep; not even the biggest movement could wake her up.

"She's gone warmer now. Still cold, but warmer," Regulus answered.

Her skin's temperature took their attention when Sirius and Regulus carried her. She was ice-cold. They thought it was a result of the dementor's kiss. Sucking the soul out meant sucking the life out.

A collective sigh interrupted the silence after. Of all the people who could suffer the most in the dementor's hand, why had it to be Callie? Any of them would trade places with her. Peter had doubts about that but he didn't want her to be in that kind of danger again.

Callie had been kind to him ever since. She never made him feel alien, never made fun of him. She never even disgusted him when they all learned what he would do in the future. She believed in him.

That was probably one of the reasons they grew to adore Callie. She believed in every single one of them. James did need not a lot of people to believe him, but he needed someone to believe his friends like him. Remus had friends who believed he wasn't a monster and Callie was the same. Sirius didn't even know he needed someone to believe he and his brother could still be with each other after all those years. And Regulus. Oh, Regulus. He never knew he'd need someone to believe in him. Not until Callie came.

They couldn't afford to lose her. Maybe not until this was all over.

She made it clear to Regulus that she had to go back to her world after their mission succeeded. And they might never see each other again if they didn't find a way to do so. He was scared of that. Not that he'd admit with his voice. But he sure was scared to be left alone again. He'd have no one but Kreacher and possibly Sirius. Hopefully Sirius.

He sighed, looking away from the Marauders.

"We shouldn't have parted ways," Sirius said, shaking his head. Leaving each other unattended always left a bad taste in his mouth. Because when they were young, he never left his brother's side just to make sure nothing bad would happen to each of them.

He did leave still. And look what that cost, the Dark Mark on his brother's forearm.

"It was Callie's idea. Besides, she had warned us about protective enchantments," Remus retaliated. It wasn't that he was blaming her. But Remus knew Sirius would blame himself for not stopping the decision to be made.

"Does that mean the dementors are one of his defences against the likes of us?" Peter asked, growing anxious.

"Seems like it," James shrugged. "Nowhere else we found dementors but just around a certain place. He could've used them. But how?"

"The Dark Lord has his ways with everything. He must have made an agreement with those creatures in exchange for protecting his Horcrux," the former Death Eater answered.

Sirius did not like how knowledgeable his brother is about the topic. But the deeper he thought about it, they wouldn't be able to stop Voldemort if Regulus never became a Death Eater. Sure, Callie had extensive knowledge of their world but no one would be able to get the diary or Bellatrix's hair strand except Regulus.