From Eden - Regulus Black (Complete)

Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen -

ANNE'S BIGGEST FLAW IS MAKING A COMEBACK TO MAKE HER LIFE WORSE :)

DON'T HATE ANNE, YA'LL. SHE'S NOT PERFECT, BECAUSE SHE'S HUMAN, SHE HAS FLAWS AND NEEDS TO WORK THROUGH THEM.

DO PAY ATTENTION TO THE TRIGGER WARNINGS THOUGH.

HYPOCRISY

TW: ABORTION DISCUSSION AND SEXUAL ASSAULT DISCUSSION

There was some awkwardness when Severus first walked down the stairs to eat breakfast with everybody in the house, no longer wanting to confide himself in his room, waiting for visits from Anne, Regulus and Madame Pomfrey. He had walked down the stairs alone, much to Anne's worry, hand gripping the stairwell leading to the right side.

James tried his best to smile at him, after all the fact that Lily wasn't there made things a bit easier. Remus nodded in greeting, too busy chewing to say anything to him. Sirius looked at him, grumbled his usual humourless 'good morning' of someone that was still getting used to waking up early and shoved toast down his throat. Mia was quick to get him a plate, trying not to make a big deal of his appearance out of the bedroom they had given him and Monty looked over his newspapers, smiled, fixed his glasses and said a nice, pleasant 'good morning, son'.

Severus sat down quietly, ignoring the 'son' Monty had used on the sentence and completely unable to say anything other than a simple 'morning' of neutral tone and hoping silently that Anne would come down soon enough.

"Another attack," Monty said, still finishing the newspapers in his hands. "Barely ten days since they killed that Muggle child in London and they already attacked another, a muggle-born in Surrey, not far from here." Mia sighed. He folded the newspaper and put it over the table. "It might be a good idea to re-do the wards around the Manor and add some blood-wards to the Cottage."

"It might not be a good one, the blood-wards, I mean," James said, turning around. "At least, not until the wedding."

"We might need to hurry it up, then," Mia said, nodding in agreement with James. "The wards will recognize Lily's blood well enough to allow her parents and sister some freedom inside the house, though she might have to visit often to make sure they are still erect."

Severus watched the conversation, blinking before taking a deep breath.

"I have... notebooks, in my house," Severus managed to say. Everybody at the table turned to him. "I can't do the magic anymore, but there are... personal wards there. I created them myself. Lily has access to my house's wards, I made sure of it, in case I died, so Anne might have access as well. You are welcome to look through my creations. I never shared them with... them."

Them, Death Eaters, he meant, but his mouth couldn't make the correct sounds. He didn't need to, though, everybody at that table seemed to know what he wanted to say. He was surprised when Sirius Black didn't refuse his help right away.

"I could go with Anne," Sirius said. "Mount guard outside. Lily could come with us."

"I could go," James said.

"You can't, you'll need to go to the Potter Vaults with me," Monty said. "Pick out the wedding ring. Your mother is correct, we'll have to move the wedding."

"Lily should come with, then," James said. "It'll be on her finger, and we should check of the spells on the rings, what which means and all that. She's interested enough in that, besides Petunia was quite interested in seeing the inside of the bank; we should take her with us, as well."

Severus wanted to say that he would go with Sirius, make sure Anne would be safe, but what good would that do? He couldn't even protect himself, let alone someone else. He looked at his stump bitterly and bit the inside of his own cheek, trying to keep himself from saying something he would regret after.