Love, Life, And Lies- Regulus Black

.the finding.

.he's more myself than I am. whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.

Hermione Granger was on the top floor of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.

There was so much work to be done in the house to make it presentable again. Traces of Dark Magic could be found in every little nook and cranny, and in the dark corners of every room.

It was in one room that she made a rather intriguing find. The room was the same size as Regulus's and Sirius's which stood on either side of it. The furnishings in this room were different though. Unlike the loud house pride of the other two, this one's colors consisted of royal purple and gold. There wasn't much in the room at all that would point to who its owner had been. The walls were bare, small faded marks in the paint indicated spots where photographs had once been hung but had long since been removed. A large bookcase stood in the corner filled to bursting with books, a small dresser stood on the opposite wall, the only furnishings in the room aside from the large bed in the middle of the room. Upon inspection, Hermione found that the dresser drawers were filled with clothes to fit a small woman.The room appeared to have been untouched after all of these years.

There was a small desk facing the window. She opened the drawers, hoping desperately to have a break from the horrible creatures that had been found in the desk drawers of some of the other rooms. To her relief, all she found were scrap pieces of paper and old quills. However, there was something odd about the way the top drawer was built. The drawer appeared to be larger on the outside than it looked on the inside.

She trailed her fingers along the smooth wood paneling until she found a small notch in the wood. Upon further inspection, it looked like it was a small rose engraved into the wood in the very back of the drawer. She found it curious to find an engraving of such delicate workmanship in something so normal as a drawer.

Mind spinning with muggle tales of treasure hunts and drawers with false bottoms, she searched for something to open the drawer with. They had found many strange things in the process of restoring Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. The idea of a hidden treasure wasn't too hard to picture.

Hermione scoured the whole room in vain until her eyes landed on a wooden jewelry box on top of the ornately carved oak wood dresser. The box featured a beautifully carved rose atop the lid. Her hands shook with excitement as she carefully opened it, the hinges squeaking in protest.

There were many pieces of jewelry inside. All beautiful and unique. Most reminded her of the stars that lined the night sky. The initials C. V. B. were carved into the top of the box. A necklace inside was a familiar celestial body. The constellation, Cassiopeia.

After a few minutes of digging, she found a small chain that held on it something that looked rather like a key.

With a shout of excitement, Hermione saw that instead of a traditional key on the bottom, there was a small rose that perfectly matched the one on the drawer. There were words written on the side of it she discovered, realizing that the metal felt rougher on one side. Peering intently, she could make out the words in loopy cursive. I open only for the worthy. With much excitement, she inserted the small rose into the carving and turned it, hoping she was considered worthy.

A series of satisfying clicks were heard coming from the drawer. The bottom started to vanish, transfiguring into a white rose. It was beautiful magic, the kind used only by those with the purest hearts. The rose lay atop of what appeared to be a manuscript.

Normal people that had just gone through all of the trouble to find the key would be disappointed to find scraps of old parchment. But to Hermione, the treasure was in the knowledge that it could contain. Hands shaking with excitement, she carefully lifted out the loosely bound pages, and then the rose, gently placing them on the desk she sat down in the chair and opened the manuscript. Excitement coursing through her heart.

The text was titled:

"The Love, Life, and Lies of Cassiopeia Vulpecula Rosier Black."

Hermione's head shot up in surprise. Rosier-Black. The woman was a Black. She ran down the stairs to the drawing room where Harry was working on cleaning out the mess of objects in the drawers.

"Harry?" She asked, the manuscript held tightly in her hands. Harry glanced up at her. "Did Sirius have a Sister?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Not that I know of. When Sirius showed me the family tree the only children that were from his family were him and Regulus." He said, curious as to why she was asking. He eyed the pages that were in her hands. "What have you found?" He questioned.

Hermione ignored his question in order to ask one of her own. "And Sirius was never married?"

"Not that he ever told me. I'm not sure when he would have been. He was single when my parents were alive, and then went to Azkaban when they died."

Hermione looked puzzled for a moment but then gasped rather loudly. Running out of the room down the stairs and into the room that held the Black Family Tree.

Harry followed closely behind confusion written in his features. "Hermione? What is going on? What have you found?" He asked. He was glad that they had finally found a way to remove the horrible Walburga Black's portrait from the wall. The commotion they had just made would have surely sent her into a tirade.

"I knew it!" Hermione declared, just as Harry had entered the room. She turned to him in excitement and held out the manuscript for him to see.

"I'm rather confused, what did you know?" He questioned taking the pages into his own hands.

"The woman who wrote this manuscript. Her name was Cassiopeia Vulpecula Rosier Black." She stated as if that answer should have explained everything.

Harry stared at her, clearly not grasping the connection she was trying to make. "Isn't Rosier the last name of a Death Eater family?" He asked hoping he was on the right track.

"Yes. Yes. She answered quickly, but don't you see? Rosier was her maiden name. Black is her married name, and if she wasn't married to Sirius, she had to have been married to-."

"Regulus." Harry finished for her finally understanding the point she was making. "Regulus was married?"

"It says so right here," Hermione said pointing to a name on the Black Family Tree.

Sure enough, the tree read:

Cassiopeia V. Rosier to Regulus A. Black

Harry was surprised. He had never realized that Regulus had been married. He looked over at Hermione whose face was glowing with excitement. "Do you reckon we should read it then?" He asked her.

"Of course, we have to! It probably tells the story of why Regulus defied Voldemort. This right here is a piece of lost history!" She exclaimed.

They went and sat down on a couch in one of the rooms They had cleaned out earlier that week and Hermione began to read.