PRONGSLET AND THE RETURN OF THE MARAUDERS (ON HOLD)

Chapter Twenty-Two

[ Chapter Twenty-Two]

There were rare times that Cedric witnessed Milo lose his temper in such a way that it became frightening. He wasn't seeing the McGonagall face as many described it when he was angry or upset, this was pure Milo, and it normally involved anything to do with his brother. Cedric knew above all people in Milo's life that Harry was always going to be one of the most important. It didn't matter how much they went back and forth and it didn't matter how they fought or how separated they were in the beginning. When it came to Harry, Milo was always going to be the first person to fight in his little brother's corner.

But with Regulus confirming Milo's suspicions all along, Milo was left visibly shaking with anger as the three still remained in the cave. But Cedric was still processing everything and also wondering how everyone else was going to take the news. Unfortunately, while Milo's and Harry's relationship had suffered, they weren't the only ones that had met horrible fates. In fact, Cedric thought back to what Regulus had said when he called himself and Sirius pawns in Dumbledore's schemes.

At first, Cedric didn't want to believe that Dumbledore would just allow Sirius to go to Azkaban, simply because Sirius would only get in the way of his plans or was of no use to him anymore. But when Regulus began to cry, claiming that he had wanted to join the Order and was left unable to do so because of Dumbledore giving him another job, that's where Cedric felt terrible. Because not only did Dumbledore know of Regulus' sacrifice to the cause, he never told Sirius any of it.

Anyone could see over the course of the summer with Sirius back in the Grimmauld Place that Sirius still held such a grudge against his family that he hated being inside his childhood home. But there was also a pain to the man's features whenever he assumed he was alone. The way he stood around, looking into his little brother's room, Sirius could probably still remember a better time, but it was cast into the shadows of all the trouble he had experienced there.

His last memories of Regulus was of his brother being a loyal follower of Voldemort until Regulus became "scared" and veered off, only to be killed. But that wasn't the case at all, and to make matters worse, when Sirius was sent off to Azkaban as a murderer and traitor, it didn't just hurt Sirius.

Elspeth was left alone to grieve the loss of her friends, while also raising a child by herself. And yes, while there were many single mothers who raised their child or more on their own every day, they weren't raising the child of a supposed murderer who had killed innocent lives and betrayed the Order. Of course, that was all found out to not be true but that was twelve years later. That was over a decade of strain placed on Elspeth and her family, especially her relationship with Silas because she was a broken woman and she didn't have the heart to tell Silas why.

While Silas had learned and accepted what happened, it didn't give them back the time they had lost. Sirius was unable to watch his son grow up, while Elspeth had hardly any involvement and even though Silas loved both of them dearly and didn't hold it against them anymore, to Elspeth and Sirius, they had lost a great deal.