RISE OF THE FALL | R.B.

LXIX.

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter World belongs to J.K. Rowling.

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CHAPTER LXIX.

Reia didn't register the words that Remus spoke; soft comforts, as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

As much as she appreciated his actions and words, she didn't hear them.

After reading the letter, she had felt overwhelming guilt and pain, knowing that her father was gone, believing that she hated him.

Even though he had been rather unfair towards her at times, often making it obvious that he despised Reia's House and as such often reprimanded her when she displayed House pride—something that Remus was able to show without any consequences.

But...

He was her father, and she had never truly hated him. Not really.

He wasn't unfair all of the time, and Reia definitely wasn't angry at him all of the time.

They had their nice moments, where they'd share good memories, and they'd bond and speak nothing of the Hogwarts Houses that often sparked arguments amongst their family.

The tears began to fall when the thought finally solidified in her mind that she would never be able to say goodbye to her father.

He had left a letter for her. He had written a goodbye for her.

She hadn't. She hadn't been able to be there for his final moments, to hold his hand and offer her support.

She hadn't been able to tell him that even though they had their arguments, that Reia still loved him.

Quickly folding the letter up to avoid it getting tearstained and the ink being smudged, she looked up at Remus and asked, her voice impossibly small and soft, "Can I keep it?"

"Of course you can," Remus said immediately, and Reia tucked the letter into her robe pocket.

"Thank you, for this," Reia told him, unsure of what else to say, "I...yeah, thanks."

Abruptly she got up and added, "I should join the others."

And then she strode out of the room, after casting a quick charm to get rid of any sign of her tears from moments before so that her children and Regulus would not worry.

***

The boys had their faces pressed to the window of Eeylop's Owl Emporium, and they were whispering to each other excitedly.

Reia and Regulus had brought the boys here to shop for the items they needed for their First Year of Hogwarts, while Caelum and Ariel had decided to go and visit the Weasley family at the Burrow.

They had already taken longer than they'd planned to because the boys had gotten so excited at the sight of all of the magical items in Diagon Alley and kept stopping at shop windows.

But neither Reia nor Regulus could bring themselves to tell the boys that they should get to buying the actual things they needed rather than admiring the items in the window displays of shops, because Reia felt like the boys had been deprived of magic for the whole of their lives and they deserved to marvel at it now, to make up for what they had missed.

More than that, Reia felt like the reason that the boys hadn't grown up in the Wizarding World because of her.

Maybe if she hadn't gone on that one mission then their lives would be completely different.