When the seventh year students returned to the Hogwarts castle, they headed to their rooms to pack the last of their things and head down to the Hogwarts Express for the last time. 

Ophelia had finished all of her packing before the graduating students left for Hogsmeade, but she had decided to return to the castle to revel in the nostalgia as well as to provide company to her friends while they finished packing. 

She had her trunk and bags sent to the train already, and was now knocking on the ajar door of the boys dormitory. Regulus was the only one in the room, but once he saw Ophelia standing outside, he promptly invited her in as well. 

"Last minute packing?" Ophelia asked with a smile as she leaned on the footboard post of Regulus' bed. 

"Of course." He replied, matching her smug, yet playful tone. "I know you've been done for days, so what are you doing back here?"

"Nostalgia. And I wanted to talk to you."

His smile faltered slightly, but his curiosity rose. "About what?" He asked in a boyish manner. 

"About how we're saying goodbye, of course." She told him, her grin still strung across her cheeks. "Everything is going to change. We won't see each other every day like we're used to, I won't be able to crawl into bed with you when I've had a rough night, it'll be harder to contact me when you and Barty inevitably get arrested together."

Ophelia chuckled at her own joke — or half-joke — as Regulus stared at her. 

"Things are going to change, and we haven't really talked about it yet." Ophelia said.

"Well, of course things are going to change, but they don't have to change much." Regulus responded, putting down his mostly-packed bag to give the girl his full attention. "We can send letters all the time, and we can both afford to buy enough Floo Powder so that we can visit each other any night, good or bad."

She smiled at her best friend, realising that he had thought this over too. 

He sat down on the edge of his bed as he continued speaking. "I cherish you far too much to let this graduation affect our friendship more than it needs to."

Ophelia looked down at the wood of the nearly bare bed she was leaning on. Her smile finally faltered, the same as the boy's did just moments before. 

"That's the other thing I wanted to talk about." She said shyly. "We cherish each other, we value each other, need each other, treasure each other, adore, admire. We're best friends, close as can be. It's all the same thing."

Regulus looked at Ophelia curiously again as she stood up from the bedpost and walked towards Regulus. 

She spoke softly, as one does with this sort of thing. But there was something special about Ophelia when she spoke. It brought comfort and peace to anyone who heard it, but especially Regulus. He leaned back, holding himself up with the palms of his hands so he wouldn't fall backwards at the serenity in Ophelia's accent. 

"You've been my best friend for seven years now, but I think it might be more." She continued. "Do you get what I'm trying to say?" She asked genuinely with a tilt of her head.

He nodded truthfully, and she moved forward once more to stand in front of him, their legs mere centimetres apart from each other. 

She kept saying what she had waited so long to say. "I don't want to pressure you, nor do I want you to pressure me, but there's that word. The one that neither of us will say. We're graduating, and it's scary. Everything is scary; graduation, all our feelings, that one word. But I want us to stay close. Close enough so that one day, maybe we will say it to one another. Is that something you want?" 

Regulus nodded, and Ophelia gently cupped his defined jaw and his soft cheek with her delicate hands. 

"It is." He told her. 

He slowly turned his head so that he could plant a kiss on the palm of her left hand. 

"And if you want me to say it, then I will." Regulus affirmed. "Ophelia Potter, I-"

"No," She took one step closer to the boy until their legs were intertwined and their torsos were almost touching. She leaned into Regulus, he buried his face in the valley of her chest, and Ophelia kissed his temple softly. "don't say it now. It's too late for that."

Ophelia pulled away from him, but Regulus continued staring at the girl with stars in his eyes. 

"And if it's too early too, then that's okay. I'll wait for you. You can tell me, or not tell me," she added with a small chuckle. "whenever you want."

"Lia, I promise I'll say it." 

"I know." She told him, moving her legs onto the bed so she could gently straddle his lap. "And I will too."

Regulus eyed Ophelia's lips a few quick times and whispered the words 'I need you' before leaning into the girl and kissing her. 

She didn't even need to think about what she was doing, she just closed her eyes and kissed him back. His tongue poised over her bottom lip, awaiting permission, and she let him in. They had kissed before, but never gone this far. 

It was exciting to Ophelia. Her excitement diminished for an instant when Regulus moved his lips away from hers, but it rose again when she realised that he was moving towards her neck. While he snogged the soft skin above her collarbone, Ophelia brought her hands to his back. She gripped the edges of his linen coat, and gently yet urgently took it off him. 

Regulus was so caught up in the heat of the moment, that he had forgotten the reason he would rather stay covered, and let Ophelia start to undress him. She noticed why though, as soon as she peeled the jacket past his arms. 

The dark mark. The stamp that said Regulus Black had joined the Death Eaters.

She saw the black skull and serpent stamped on his forearm. Her eyes widened and she let out a stunned gasp. She jumped off the boy so that she was standing back up, now two metres away from him. 

"Regulus, is that-" She said. She covered her slightly swollen lips with her hand and stared at him with terrified eyes. The girl was in such a wild state of shock that she couldn't even finish her sentences. "Reggie, please tell me-" 

He stood up slowly, not wanting to startle her even more than her current state and scare her off.

"Ophelia, please let me explain."

"How long have you had it?" She asked, lowering her hand from her face and starting to play with the ring that had stayed on her right hand for years. 

"That's not-"

"How long have you had it?" She repeated. Her tone was becoming aggressive.

He lowered his face in shame, his wavy locks covering his expression. "Winter break of year six." He informed her.

"That's a year and a half." Ophelia counted quickly. "So you mean to tell me that you've been lying to me for a year and a half? That you've been fighting on the other side of this war, that you've been one of them for a year and a half?"

"Please, Ophelia, let me explain." He pleaded. "I just need to explain."

"How could you possibly explain this?! No matter what you say, I don't think anything could help."

"You don't understand! I have no one, I have nothing!"

"You had me!" She shouted, honestly shocked that it came out of her mouth. 

Both of them were surprised at Ophelia's use of the past tense, but neither of them felt it was completely unjustified. Regulus could feel a surge of tears coming over him as well, and his eyes started to water.

"Had?" He mumbled.

"You lost me, Reggie." She told him, choked up and teary-eyed. "You're one of them. You lied, and you joined them."

"You don't understand-"

"Regulus, I think you're the one who isn't understanding. What you're telling me is just- I just can't believe this is real." 

She looked towards the door, as if contemplating a quick escape. Regulus saw where her eyes moved and reached for her wrist, but she swatted him away. 

"Reg, I am so sorry for this." She said, wiping away a cheek's worth of tears. "But I can't do this. Goodbye."

She set the emerald ring with which she had been fidgeting for the duration of their conversation on Regulus' pillow as she walked out of the room, escaping everything that just happened between the two of them. 

He wanted to run after her, but he knew it would be no use, and there would likely be other students in the hall. He wanted to stop her, he wanted it so badly, but he knew it wouldn't do anything to change Ophelia's mind. Regulus Black knew that no matter what he did, he couldn't stop anything that was destined to happen.