till death do us part -regulus black (the blacks, vol. 1)

chapter 6

A few days later, Evangeline Black was still in London. She called in at work and told them that she had lost a relative extremely close to her. She had to admit, after living with the Blacks, she mastered the technique of lying.

Today was the day the Order was going to bring in Harry Potter. She had heard about him either from the wizards' newspaper or from his friends or his godfather.

'Good morning, everyone,' Eva greeted as she walked into the kitchen and found everyone sitting at the table. She looked at the unfamiliarly familiar boy who sat on Sirius's left, opposite to her. 'Hi, I don't believe they've told me about me, but I'm Evangeline Black. You can call me Eva,' she introduced herself politely.

'Harry Potter,' the boy said. 'Are you Sirius's sister?' he asked.

'Sister-in-law,' Eva answered. 'I was married to his brother,' she added, a sad smile forming on her face.

'Was?' Harry asked.

'Yes,' she sadly affirmed. 'My husband died almost sixteen years ago,' Eva added.

'Oh, I'm sorry,' Harry excused himself. 'I shouldn't have asked.'

'No, it's all right,' Eva assured the boy. 'We all die one moment or another. It depends on fate if the moment comes eventually.'

Molly Weasley walked up to the blonde woman. 'Do you want a spot of breakfast?' the older woman asked.

'Oh, Molly, you shouldn't be cooking. This is my house allegedly and you are supposed to be my guests. I should be the one cooking,' Eva told Mrs. Weasley.

'Don't worry, darling. It's all right,' Mrs Weasley assured her. 'Plus, you must be exhausted. These past few days were pretty emotional for you.'

'Thanks, Molly, I appreciated it,' Eva said with a smile. 'And, while I am here if you ever need help, don't be afraid to ask. I might not be magically inclined like you, but I know my way around a house and a kitchen.'

'I'll keep that in mind! Now, let me go get you a plate and some breakfast on it, all right?' and Eva nodded, Mrs Weasley leaving.

'What did you mean by not being magically inclined?' Harry asked.

'Oh, I'm a Muggle,' Eva replied, her words shocking Harry whose jaw had dropped.

'Had the same reaction, mate,' Ron told his best friend.

'B-but I thought t-that the Blacks were very keen on the blood purity,' Harry recalled.

'And to them, I was an American pure-blooded Squib who believed in blood purity and would have loved to see a Wizarding World where the pure-bloods had the upper hand,' Evangeline explained to Harry.

'And, get this, she's Malfoy's biological mother,' Ron told Harry.

'Wait, what?!' Harry asked, shocked. 'You're ferret-boy's mother?!'

'Ferret-boy?' Eva asked.

'Yes,' Hermione answered. 'You see, last year, Moody turned Malfoy into a ferret because he and Harry were fighting,' the muggle-born witch explained.

'Wait until I get my hands on Moody,' Eva muttered.

'Hey! Calm down, Mumma bear!' Sirius said. 'There's no need to go to prison for committing murder,' he added. 'Trust me, and I was sent on allegations that were not true.'

'Sorry, I tend to get overprotective,' she excused herself. 'You have no idea how many times I threatened Lucius Malfoy that I'd whip his ass if he bullied my son even once more.'

'Wow,' Fred said.

'That's badass,' the Weasley twins said at the same time.

'Yeah, well, I might be a Muggle but I do know how to defend myself.'

Molly came back with a plate with breakfast on it and a mug with some coffee.

'I didn't know whether you wanted tea or coffee so I asked Kreacher who started being very helpful when I said that it was for you,' Mrs Weasley said, setting the plate in front of Evangeline.

'Thank you, Molly,' she said and started eating her breakfast with the others.

'How long are you going to be here for?' Harry asked.

'I don't know,' Eva admitted. 'I called in at the precinct and my mom offered to take over while I'm gone, but I'm not sure for how long she is willing to give up her retirement.'

'Precinct?' Harry asked. 'You're a cop?'

'Kind of,' Eva simply answered. 'I'm a CSI, but the better term is forensic chemist since I graduated college with a degree in Science and a minor in Criminalistics,' she added.

'That's so cool!' Hermione exclaimed.

'Thanks!' Eva told the girl with a smile. 'Even though it's not what I always wanted to do with my life.

'Then what did you want to do with your life before?' Hermione asked.

'I wanted to be a cop. The whole idea of catching bad guys seemed fun and all,' Eva answered. 'And that idea became, even more, fonder to me when I found out that if circumstances were different, Regulus would have become an Auror,' she added. 'At first, when I moved back to New York, I was thinking of applying to the Academy, but around that time, my mother was named head of the CSI department and they needed someone new and offered me a job. So, I applied to Cornell University.'

'So, what does a CSI do?' Ron asked.

'Well, a CSI is a person who analyses evidence from a crime scene. I go on the field once a crime is reported and collect evidence and then I analyse the evidence and give a report to the detective who is working the case,' Evangeline explained.

'That's awesome,' Harry said.

'Well, it tends to get less awesome when all you see daily are corpses. But I love what I do, so, I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.'