Nyctophobia - Sirius Black

Epilogue

"Do you think we'll ever move out of this house?" The twins were laying on the cold wood floor in front a fire kept lit only by magic. The wood was wet and chilled.

"Do you want to?"

"I don't know." Sev shrugged, and Ruby nodded. "Where would we even go?"

"I don't know. I can't see us living anywhere else. We could always fix up the house a bit if we want to. The roof is weak, and the plumbing in the bathroom is leaking."

"Is Sirius still in his parents' will? He'd probably get the house, and the two of you could live there."

"No, or at least I don't think so. I don't think he'd ever want to live there anyway, but I'm pretty sure Regulus will get the house."

"Would you ever want to move out?" He asked, and Ruby thought for a moment before answering.

"I don't think so. This house is home, you know? Even with everything that's happened here. I couldn't imagine not having it."

"It is falling apart though."

"We have magic. It shouldn't be too hard to fix, I don't think."

"What if Sirius wants to move? I can't imagine that he'd want to live here for too long. It's a bit too far away from the Wizarding World."

"We'll talk about it when it comes to that." Ruby shrugged. Theus was at Potter's house for the day, and the twins were left alone on that summer day, but with little else to talk about, they eventually turned to old memories.

"I can still see him sometimes, you know? The house creaks wrong, or the door opens too hard, and it's like he's standing there all over again. We're not haunted. I've checked."

"I know." She answered, because she didn't need to understand to know, though she did understand. Sometimes she still found herself staring searchingly at the dumpster behind the grocery store, or the purses of richer women walking on the cracked sidewalk. Sometimes she still caught herself putting too little food on one plate. "It'll go away eventually, I think. If it doesn't, well, we have enough money to move if we need to."

Regulus's death was sudden and unexpected. One day, it was a letter penned by Amaris, with a small post script saying that Regulus wanted to know how Sirius was doing, and Ruby would discreetly mention him a few times in her reply, just enough so anyone reading wouldn't know she'd been asked, because Regulus was still living with his parents when he wasn't with Amaris, and was still terrified that someone would read his mail. Ruby had helped where she could.

He died honorably for the Dark Lord, they said, and Ruby pretended that didn't mean he'd been ambushed or had disappeared. There was no body, and Amaris said she didn't know where he'd gone when asked. It was unsettling, mostly because no one knew what had happened, but after a few days, his parents stopped searching, declared him dead and that was the end of it.

The funeral took place in the middle of the woods, with only a few friends. Amaris was distraught, of course, and though Narcissa was there, everyone was privately glad that Lucius hadn't been informed. He was different now, a few years of real world experience under his belt along with all the expectations of his family name and a few too many of the 'right sort' of friends. Narcissa said that even behind closed doors, he rarely allowed himself any freedom to relax.

Jana was also absent, though because no one informed her or because she didn't have time, no one knew, and no one asked. It was likely both.

A couple of Regulus's close friends, that only Amaris had really known to invite were there. Despite everyone acknowledging Sirius's presence, they all agreed that he wasn't there. Even having the funeral, which his parents had insisted wasn't necessary, was ill-advised, and having his bloodtraitor brother there would have been even worse should anyone ever find out.