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

chapter 29

Evangeline was sitting in the drawing-room, looking through photo albums. She could recall very clearly the moment her husband proposed to her. She could still feel his presence near her.

Sirius walked in, seeing Evangeline crying while gazing at the Christmas Tree.

'What are you doing?' Sirius asked his sister-in-law.

'Just thinking,' Evangeline simply answered.

'About Reg?' Sirius asked, and Eva nodded.

Evangeline wiped a tear from her cheek. 'Just... it's strange. All these years, it felt so wrong to enjoy Christmas without him.'

Sirius walked and sat down next to her.

'He proposed to me on this very day eighteen years ago in this very room, in this very house. It was the first Christmas that felt truly magical,' Evangeline recalled. 'We were all gathered around the tree in this room. Narcissa gifted me a white dress, a wedding dress. Then your brother got on one knee and popped the question. It was all sudden but also magical and felt truly right.'

'I did not take Regulus for the romantic type,' Sirius chuckled.

'He was not, but he tried. And the simple fact that he tried made me fall in love with him increasingly every day,' Evangeline told Sirius.

'I know what you mean,' Sirius sighed. 'Back at Hogwarts, Remus and I tried something out. It was short-lived but the single fact that we tried, he tried, made everything better.'

'Wait, wait, wait,' Evangeline stopped Sirius. 'You and Remus?!' she yelled.

'Yes...' Sirius replied nervously.

'That explains the sexual tension,' Evangeline laughed.

'What sexual tension?' Sirius asked.

'Oh, come on! The tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife,' Eva joked. 'There was no simple and logical way that the two of you were just best friends,' she added. 'Why are you not doing something about it? I mean, there is still a spark between you two fools.'

'It has been entirely too long,' Sirius reasoned.

'No, it has not. Don't you think that if someone gave me the chance to be with Regulus again, I would take it?' said Evangeline.

'What if there were?' Sirius asked, his question catching Eva's attention.

'What?' Eva asked. 'Sirius, do not joke with me on this topic.'

'I am serious, Eva. What if there were some way to bring Regulus back from the dead?'

'How would that be possible?' Evangeline asked.

'Just how Wormtail resurrected Voldemort,' Sirius said. 'It is in fact risky but it could work.'

'Sirius, this is a bloody madness!' Evangeline exclaimed.

'A madness indeed, but think about it. Draco gets his father back; you get your husband back; I get my brother back. And the Order gets a new ally, an ally who knows what we are up against,' Sirius reasoned.

Evangeline was shocked by what her brother-in-law was suggesting. She missed Regulus indeed, but risking his life just because she was selfish was not what she wanted. 'Sirius, why would you propose something like that?' asked Eva.

'You cannot tell me that you do not want this, Eva. I see it in your eyes. You would be the first to propose this but you did not verbalise it,' reasoned Sirius. 'This is your chance to be happy, to have the family back together. Just think about it.'

Sirius stood up and left the room, leaving Evangeline with her thoughts. What Sirius told her really made her think about the possibilities. She knew it was selfish, but she could not help but wonder what if it was how things were supposed to happen.

Later that night, Evangeline knocked on her son's door.

'Come in!' she heard Draco's voice from the other side of the door.

Evangeline walked into the bedroom and saw Draco sitting on the window seat with a book in hand. She could not help but see Regulus. Draco was a carbon copy of both his parents. She walked up to him and sat next to him.

'What are you reading?' Eva asked, her voice coming out more like a whisper.

She was dried by all the crying she did. She was weak, and she could feel her body slowly shut down from her toes to her head.

'Dune,' Draco answered. 'I am getting to the interesting part,' he added.

'Your father's favourite book,' the mother commented. 'He read it over a hundred times. I could never read it from cover to cover though. But whenever he spoke about it, he made every single detail sound so magical, as if he was there with the author when he wrote it.'

'It is his copy, actually,' Draco told his mother with a wide smile. 'I found it charmed as a Dark Arts book in the bookcase.'

'Sounds like your father,' Eva chuckled.

'And it is amazing. It even has some of his comments on the margins of the pages, how he felt while reading it, what it felt like when he found out about new plot twists.'

Evangeline admired her son, wondering what if her son could feel connected with his father from more than the pages of a book that they both once read.

'What if I told you there was a way to bring your father back?' Evangeline asked.

'What?!' Draco closed his book and looked at his mother shocked. 'Mum, how did you come up with this idea?' he asked.

'I did not come up with it, your uncle did. And it made me think about all the things that could have been so different if he were still here. How proud he would be of you. How you two would talk about Quidditch over dinner every single night and I would just sit there, admiring your passion for the sport. These suppositions are starting to slowly eat me from the inside and I cannot bear to see you grasp so hardly to a faint connection with your father. Draco, it is killing me, all of this, this house, all these memories, all this hopes and dreams I had for you, for our family,' Evangeline burst out into tears. She did not want to show her son that she was weak, no parent wanted their child to see that. She had to put up an act for him but she could not keep that act going anymore.

Draco hugged his mum, understanding what she was going through. He wanted to meet his father but he could not help but think about the risks and consequences.

'I cannot do this anymore, Draco,' Eva whispered.

'I know, mum, I know,' Draco assured his mum. 'But you are not doing this alone. I am here, and I always will, every step of the way.'