Fire and the Flood - Charlie Weasley

Chapter 4

⭑ ⭒ ⭑ ⭒ Old Friend ⭑ ⭒ ⭑ ⭒

Newt stares at the man, her brows knitting together as Charlie steps slightly in front of her, "Who are you?" He repeats sternly.

"I don't suppose you remember me, it has been what? Eighteen years? You look like your grandfather, used to be the spitting image of your mother, I see time has changed you, but there's one thing you can't deny, you have your mother's eyes."

Newt lowers her wand and her mouth parts in amazement, "Uncle Reggie?"

The man smiles and nods his head, "You've grown so much."

"I-Is it really you?" She asks cautiously.

He nods and she places a hand on Charlie's arm telling him it's okay to lower his wand, "What-? No, you were dead?"

"No, I'm very much alive," He says, "Tea?"

The couple share a sceptical look as he begins to boil the kettle and place cups down for them, "I've been expecting you both, I didn't realise it was you, I was told I'd have some visitors."

"Told by who?"

"Remus."

"You still talk to him?"

"He and Sirius were the only ones I was allowed contact with, eighteen years I've stayed here, with no one but myself, it would surely drive the normal person insane, but growing up in a family like ours... well, they're all insane, there's not much to be said there."

He hands them a cup of tea each and sits at the dining table offering them a seat each, they both slowly sit down as he quietly sips on his team, "I'm thinking you want an explanation?"

She nods her head quickly and he sighs placing his cup onto the table in front of him, "Well, it started when I got the Dark Mark,

"I felt so much guilt after your mother died, I knew I had to do something, so I contacted Dumbledore, became a spy, I took one of his Horcruxes, the locket. I tried to destroy it, it almost killed me just to get it, I was weak, so I came to the one place I knew that nobody knew about besides Sirius and I, and of course, you.

"I was announced dead by Dumbledore, Voldemort thought he had killed me, he likely celebrated on my grave, but I didn't care. I brought the locket out here, tried to destroy it, but I couldn't, so I gave it to Kreacher, the house elf, he hid it for me."

"Dumbledore and Harry, they got it last year."

"They did?" She nods and he hums in thought, "Surprised, I didn't tell him where I had hidden it."

Charlie looks over at him and leans against the table, "But that doesn't explain why you have been out here all this time."

"I knew it was only time before the Dark Lord raised again, if I stayed here I'd be safe, I'd keep you safe, Newton, I couldn't risk you getting hurt, so I stayed hidden away, only having contact with Dumbledore himself, Remus and occasionally my brother, the others thought I was dead. I'm basically a ghost."

"But you're here, right?" Newt asks slowly.

Regulus looks up, smiling at his niece as he does, "I'm here, Newton, right here."