From The Black

Chapter 22; Regulus

Moony and I sit in absolute silence, not wanting to miss anything. Uncle George glances at us as a few moments of silence goes by and mom blows on her tea.

"I think we should have the girls call their parents." Harry says.

"Oh, God. The kids. I forget you guys were even here, I'm so sorry you had to listen to that." Mom says, turning to face us.

My body is rigid, listening to her talk about the Second Wizarding War. She's never talked like that before. I'm horrified thinking about it. Ive always been the weaker one, between Moony and I, let's face it. But hearing this makes me sick. The terror that comes to mind when I think of all those hundreds of people who thought they would be safe in Hogwarts. Thinking of mom covered in black, the smoke rolling through the halls of the castle, the sight of all her classmates dead.

"I ... umm ... I think I'll go call my dad ..." Sybil says, standing from the kitchen table and grabbing her things, making sure to take what she can of the Rookwood file.

"I'll come with you." Eloise says, grabbing her bag and shoving everything inside of it quickly.

Besides the rustling of papers, it's eerily silent in the kitchen. Nobody says anything as the girls walk up the stairs in silence. Mom sighs and comes to sit down across from me and Moony, my uncles coming to sit on each side of her.

"Boys," Harry starts. "It's been a few weeks since Hogwarts closed down. But after the Ministry has worked with Headmistress McGonagall and the other Aurors have patrolled the grounds, they've deemed it safe for you to go back."

"The only catch being that nobody gets to go in or out. No Thanksgiving, no Christmas, no spring break. Once you go back you won't be able to come home until the summer, unless we remove the threat of the escaped Death Eaters sooner rather than later." Mom chimes in.

"Which, we are hoping to do. You know Albus' friend Scorpios Malfoy, right?" Harry asks.

Moony and I nod in silence, not wanting to ask any questions yet, afraid they they'll stop talking to us like we're grown adults. I still can't shake the image of mom from my head — young, fierce, blood on her face, fighting for her life, for Harry's life.

For our lives.

She's always been strong to me, but as she sits before me, dark circles under her eyes, her bun on the top of her head messy and falling apart, I can see how exhausted she is. Exhausted from fighting her whole life, from having to scrap by tooth and nail to try and get to where she is now.

"His father Draco Malfoy went to school with the three of us. Once he got older ... he had a change of heart. He's going to help us, cooperate with us, so you will be safe. I promise that we wouldn't send you back if we didn't think it was the best choice for you." Harry continues.

"No, what the Ministry thinks is best for you." Mom chimes in.

"Lyra," George says, placing his hand on hers. "Just let him explain."

"I'm their mother and you think that the government knows what's best for them?" she scuffs.

"Not everyone has a place like this, Lyra." Harry says sternly. "Not everyone has a Grimmauld Place that just appears to the right people. There are children out there, even in the country side, in more danger than your boys. I have my three children, Hermione and Ron have theirs, there's Teddy too. Andromeda is getting older, and far too many times he's landed on one of our door steps because of it."

"The I'll take them all in!" Mom says exasperated. "We all used to stay here to be safe! You know we could! How many rooms does this house have? Remember how many people we used to fit here?" she starts counting on her fingers, listing off everyone that Ive known, dead or alive. "Sirius, Tonks, Lupin, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, you, me ..."

"We can't just keep them out of school! There are important things to be learned!" Harry retorts.

"Then I'll fucking teach them myself!"

Mom pushes herself up from the table, her chair falling to the floor. It's rare to hear her swear, Ive never seen her have a melt down like this. She kicks the chair and grabs her half drank tea mug and smashes it down the hall, the ceramic breaking against the hardwood floors.

"Lyra, calm down." George says.

"Calm down? Calm down! Ever since the Azkaban break I have been relieving those days in hiding, those days when I had to be a Death Eater, those two days that we fought at the Battle of Hogwarts! I see Sirius' face everyday, the way he turned to look at me before he fell through the curtain at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. I think about the fucking prophecy that we got roped into. I think about Lavender Brown, the most innocent person in all of this, and how Greyback looks hunched over her, his mouth ripping into her neck."

I almost puke at the thought of it, terrifying images crossing my mind. Moony squeezes my hand, his skin paler than usual.

Mom continues. "The sight of Fred walking towards me, Percy telling him a joke, getting distracted. The way his body looked when he flew through the air, the stairs crumbling around him. How his body was bent at sickening angles—"

"Lyra, the boys —" George says motioning to us.

"I don't give a fuck what they hear! They have to! I cant stop thinking about. Everytime I look at Regulus I see Fred's red hair, I see his soft eyes. I cant sleep because instead of seeing Fred blown away, I see my baby! I see Reg! Harry, you were there, you saw Sirius. Take a good look at my baby boy, look at Moony! Look at him! And tell me that you don't see Sirius. His eyes, his hair, his smart ass attitude. And when you wake up screaming, because you watch Bellatrix Lestrange hit my son, Fred's son, with the killing curse, you can tell me that I'm over reacting. When you see Moony fall through that curtain, his soul gone forever, you can tell me how to feel."

I'm at a loss for words. I didn't know she had dreams like this. Sybil told me she thought she heard a scream while we were sleeping, a few nights actually, but I never heard it myself.