The wind howled through the cracks in the abandoned manor and the rain beat against the windows. Candles trembled, casting shadows across the seven figures standing before you...

Mattheo. Tom. Draco. Blaise. Theodore. Lorenzo. Regulus.

Their eyes held fire, but not the kind you knew. Not the kind that had once burned for you. Tonight, it was colder. They were caught between loyalty to a future drenched in darkness and something that used to be love.

You took a step forward. “It’s me or V0Idemort,” you said. The name left your lips like a curse. “Do you hear me?”

They said nothing at first.

You swallowed hard and kept going. “Do you really want to be De4th Eaters?” you asked. “Do you want to chain yourselves to him? To that monster? Or do you want me?”

Still silence. Your chest heaved.

“Why…” you whispered, stepping closer. “Why can’t you just say me?”

Mattheo’s jaw clenched and he looked away.

Tom didn’t flinch. Of course he didn’t.

Draco parted his lips as if he wanted to speak, but Blaise cut in first, his tone low. “It’s not that simple.”

“Yes, it is!” you snapped. “It is that simple. Say my name. Choose me. Don’t pretend this is complicated when it isn’t.”

Regulus stepped forward then. His voice was softer than you remembered. “We want to choose you,” he said. “But we’ve already chosen him.”

Lorenzo scoffed. “You think love is enough to survive this war? You think it can save us? We’re not kids anymore.”

You turned to Draco. “Is that what you believe too?”

He looked at you and for a moment, you saw something flicker in his eyes. Regret. Maybe even love. But then he closed himself off again. “I don’t know what I believe anymore,” he said.

Theodore’s voice was colder. “You think you’re saving us, but it is not like that.”

“And what about me?” you demanded. “What about the part where I lose all of you to him? What about my choice?”

No one had an answer.

“I asked for one thing,” you said, barely above a whisper. “One word. One name. Mine. But none of you could say it.”

Tom’s voice broke the quiet. “We’ve already given our names to him.”