Ravens and Asphodels | Harry Potter Marauders Era (Regulus Black x OFC)

Some Normalcy

2 January 1977

After returning to Hogwarts after the Christmas holiday, the months of January, February, and March at Hogwarts passed in a blur.

In January, after Diana got off the train and returned to the Slytherin dorms, she realized that she had just celebrated her first Christmas without her parents. She hadn't remembered that on Christmas, after all, that happened with Regulus and Sirius, but lying in her bed in the dorms after all of her roommates had long since fallen asleep, she remembered.

Diana was staring out of the window in her room, unable to stop thinking about her parents until she eventually gave up on even pretending to sleep and got out of bed. She put a robe and slippers on and walked out into the common room. She sat down on one of the couches facing the lake, eyes following the push and pulling of the tide against the window.

"Diana?" A voice called quietly after a long while breaking Diana from her trance. A pajama-clad Regulus padded over to where Diana was tucked into the couch. He reached out and brushed a tear from her cheek. She hadn't even realized she had been crying. Regulus just sat next to her, pulling her into his arm.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, slowly brushing his hand up and down her back.

"This was my first Christmas without my parents." She told him, several more tears falling down her cheek. "I remember last year my mom had just given me that leather jacket I wore at the Wizengamot, and I refused to take it off all Christmas Day. My dad was singing carols to my mom as he made coquito from a recipe he'd gotten from one of his co-workers. It was such a happy memory, but now it just hurts to think about just like every other happy memory I have of them."

Regulus sat with her for hours that night, rubbing her back and listening to her tell bittersweet stories about her parents. Halfway through the night, he had begun to share his own bittersweet stories of his parents. He felt guilty for having good memories of his mother, even if there weren't many, especially after what happened. They sat and reminisced until they saw the sun rising and heard the other students beginning to get out of bed to start the day.

After that night, Regulus and Diana sat a little closer to each other in class and during meals taking comfort in the additional presence and knowing that someone was there to talk to if they needed to speak.

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16 January 1977

Severus's 17th birthday passed on January 9th. Severus had received a watch from his mother to commemorate the event. The watch was a family heirloom watch from the Prince vaults that Eileen and Diana had picked out for Severus secretly over the Christmas holidays. Severus began to wear the watch proudly, showing off his Prince heritage regularly.

Before long, it was time for the second Hogsmead trip of the year. Barty had caught Diana as she walked to their Care of Magical Creatures class one day before the trip and once again asked her to Hogsmead, and this time she agreed.

So on the 16th, Amira snuck Lily, Pandora, and Barbara into the Slytherin girls dorm, and the three rummaged through Diana's luggage until they found an outfit they approved of.