The Art of Living - R. Black

thirteen

Song for the second part of the chapter: Matilda - Harry Styles

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May 21st, 1996

"What about Percy?" Regulus suggested.

I slouched back into my chair. "Not my favorite," I said.

"I'm running out of ideas here," Regulus sighed, holding my hand underneath the table.

"Okay, give me some ideas for a girl," I said.

Sirius, who was sitting on the other side of Regulus, leaned over. "You should name it Sirius," He suggested. "It would keep up the tradition, and it would honor your favorite person in the entire world."

"Merlin," Regulus muttered, dropping his head into his hand.

I'm about twelve weeks into my pregnancy. Next week marks the start of the second trimester. It's been a rough several weeks, with all of the emotions and the fact that we are in the middle of a war. Regulus has been extremely supportive, as well as the rest of our family and close friends.

"I need ideas for a girl, because I have none," I said.

"What about Maia?" Regulus said.

I shrugged, "That's an idea." I quickly scribbled the name down on the list in front of me. So far there were very few name suggestions that both of us liked enough to add to the list.

"Celestia," Sirius proposed.

"Jeez, that sounds so pretentious," Regulus replied.

Sirius laughed, "As pretentious as Regulus?"

An Order meeting is supposed to start in about twenty minutes, and the occasional person files in and takes a seat at the long table in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place.

Emmeline is sitting to my left, silent as she reads the baby names on our list.

"Keeping up with the tradition then?" She asked, looking at all of the constellation and star inspired names.

"Yes," I answered, "Unless we can't come up with any names."

"What about Nova?" She said.

Regulus shrugged, "It has potential."

I added it to the list and leaned back in my chair. I'm so exhausted that I don't want to be here right now, but I already missed the last Order meeting because of morning sickness. Thankfully, most of my nausea has stopped since I'm in the last week of my first trimester.

The kitchen door opened and Jack walked in. "Hey," He greeted everyone with a small smile.

"Hi, Jack," I said, setting my quill down.

"How are you?" He asked.

I shrugged, "Good, tired though."

"How's the baby?"

"The size of a lime," I answered.

Jack smiled and took a seat beside Emmeline.

"We're talking about baby names," Emmeline explained after greeting him.

"Got any suggestions?" Regulus asked.

Jack thought for a second then shook his head. "I've got nothing," He said.

I folded up the list and handed it to Regulus, who put it in his pocket. "Good thing we've got 28 weeks to think of a name then," I said, going to get up out of my chair.

"What do you need? I can grab it," Regulus said, practically jumping out of his chair.

"Bloody hell," I said, "I'm fine. I can grab a glass of water."