The Art of Dying - R. Black

epilogue

Meredith Black

August 25th, 1989

I'll ever get tired of waking up next to him. We've been married for six years and I love waking up beside him every single day. The morning sun shines in through our bedroom window, a small breeze coming in through the window that had been left open last night since it was raining.

I don't think life can get much better than this.

Life was rough for a while. There were a few years during the war where it felt like grief was threatening to consume me. I still vividly remember the weeks following October 31st, 1981.

I received a letter from Jack. James and Lily had been killed, Sirius was the spy and had been taken to Azkaban. The news was shocking to both me, and Regulus, who had been reading the letter over my shoulder. It took me several months to come to terms with the fact that Sirius was probably the other Death Eater involved in the murder of my family. Harry was sent to live with Lily's sister. I tried to fight for him, considering that Marlene was his godmother, but I was considered "too unstable" to raise him at the time.

I wrote to Dumbledore, informing him that Regulus was alive. I was very adamant about him granting Regulus protection from the lingering Death Eaters.

One month later, I received a letter from Alastor Moody. He told me it was safe to come back. That it was time for Regulus to have his trial. Regulus's trial was quick compared to the other ones. He wasn't guilty for anything other than bearing the Mark. Regulus was given a truth serum and in detail explained his time as a Death Eater and his findings on Voldemort's Horcruxes, and even handed over the Horcrux that he had found.

Jack and I never rekindled things, but we remained friends. It was awkward at first, but over time our friendship started to repair itself.

Regulus and I started dating again, being official boyfriend and girlfriend for the first time, and we got engaged on New Year's of 1982. We eloped five months later in May.

"Morning, love," Regulus whispered groggily.

His voice snapped me out of my thoughts. His hand tightened around my waist, bringing my body closer to his.

I turned to face him, brushing his messied hair out of his face.

"Good morning," I whispered.

"What time is it?" Regulus asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

I sat up slightly, glancing at the clock on the dresser.

"Just after seven," I replied, resting my head on his chest.

Regulus groaned, "They should be here any minute then."

Just like clockwork, the sound of small hurried footsteps could be heard through the door. There was a pause in the footsteps, and the door knob started turning.

"Pretend to be asleep" Regulus muttered, kissing me on the forehead.

I stifled a laugh into his chest as our bedroom door was pushed open. There was the sound of two pairs of footsteps, and our bed dipped slightly as they climbed up.

"Mummy, daddy, are you awake?" Elio whispered, although he wasn't very good at whispering.

My lips curled into a small smile.

Atlas was sitting beside me, leaning in. "Are you still sleeping?" He whispered.

I reached out and grabbed Atlas just as Regulus reached for Elio.

The room erupted with giggles as I hugged Atlas close to me, ruffling his curly black hair. Regulus was tickling Elio, making both of them laugh.

"Hey-, you tricked us!" Atlas said, pointing his tiny finger in my face.