Chapter Text
Regulus didn’t run into any of the Gryffindors when transporting Wormtail to the cellar, which he was thankful for. Rather than immediately changing the rat back, Regulus set the cage on the ground, and then went in search of Lily, making a pitstop in his bedroom for a quill and a roll of parchment. She was still in the kitchen with Potter. Regulus smiled tightly at the sight of them.
“Hello,” he said. Sirius and Lupin were gone, but that was alright, he only needed Lily. “I was wondering if you could teach me that spell.”
“Right, yes,” Lily withdrew her wand from her bun. Sirius often wore his the same, and Regulus himself had picked up the habit whenever he took too long between haircuts. He wondered if Sirius had picked it up from Lily, or perhaps one of the other Gryffindor girls. “Have you brought a quill?” Regulus handed over the one he’d brought. She performed a quick incantation and then tapped the quill twice. “The spell takes effect when you say ‘Follow Me.’” Immediately, the quill stood at attention. “Now, whatever you say, the quill will transcribe. Up until you say, ‘End Recording.’”
Regulus watched with fascination as the quill dutifully recorded each word spoken, including ‘End Recording’ until it dropped back onto the table, no longer animated.
“Brilliant,” he murmured. Potter, leaning back in his chair, grinned.
“Isn’t it?”
Regulus’ eyes flashed to him.
“Who came up with it?” he asked. Potter snorted.
“Who do you think?”
“You?”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Potter drawled. “And, technically, it was a group effort. Us lads already had a lot of experience in combining spells and binding magic, so it wasn’t hard.” Regulus frowned a little, eyes full of curiosity.
“Binding magic?” he echoed. “What sort of binding magic?”
“You know, the Map,” Potter said. Regulus frowned harder.
“What Map?”
Both Lily and Potter's eyes widened at the same time, and they exchanged a secret look. Regulus stiffened, instinctively defensive and hating it.
“Sirius never told you?” Potter asked. “We made a magical map of Hogwarts. Used the homunculus to track everyone in the castle, too. Including the ghosts.” Regulus’ gaped.
“What?”
“They showed me in seventh year,” Lily cut in, shaking her head slightly. “Honestly, Regulus, I’d never seen anything like it. It was brilliant.”
“Do you still have it?” Regulus asked. Potter shook his head mournfully.
“Mishap before graduation, got it nicked by Filch,” he said, though his eyes still twinkled. “I can’t wait to tell Harry about it. Have him steal it back for his own mischief-making.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Lily slapped his arm playfully, though her eyes held a certain glint as well.
“Salazar,” Regulus said, shaking his head a little. “I can’t believe how much you lot got up to. How did you manage that, becoming secret animagi, and still get top marks on your O.W.L.s?” Potter shrugged.
“Probably the same way you managed discovering Voldemort’s secret, translating an ancient, evil how-to manual, secretly defecting, and single-handedly winning the Quidditch cup.”
Against his better judgement, Regulus’ cheeks pinkened.
“It wasn’t single-handed,” he said. Potter snorted.
“Please, you were the best seeker Slytherin ever had, and that’s an objective fact. You almost always caught the snitch when we played against you. There’s only two reasons Slytherin won the cup in 79; I graduated the year prior, and you were seeker.”
“That’s very kind of you to say,” Regulus said, now feeling distinctly warm in his face and distinctly uncomfortable at the level of attention James Potter seemed to pay him. “I do have to get to it, but thank you for the spell, Lily. I’ll see you both tomorrow.” He didn’t wait for a response, simply turned on his heel, quill and parchment in hand.
Back down in the cellar, Regulus pointed his wand at the rat.
“Imperio,” he said. Pettigrew’s mind was laughably weak, and Regulus found no resistance as the spell took effect. He unlocked the rat cage manually, and urged Wormtail onto the floor. “Change back.” A second later, Peter Pettigrew took the place where the rat had been, pathetic and glassy-eyed. Before anything else, Regulus leant closer, and ripped a number of hairs from Pettigrew's head, dropping them into an ingredients bottle. “Get in the cell.” Pettigrew did so. Regulus reached into the pocket of his robes, withdrawing his vial of Veritaserum. He handed it through the bars. “Drink.” He waited until Pettigrew dropped the empty vial to drop his spell.
The change was immediate. Pettigrew lurched as far from the bars as he could manage, pressing himself to the dank wall of the cellar. Regulus stared, unimpressed.
“What did you give me?” Pettigrew demanded shakily. “What was in that vial?”
“Veritaserum.”
“That’s illegal.”
“So is being a Death Eater, something I’m sure you know nothing about.”
Predictably, Pettigrew paled, entire body trembling.
“The Order will come for me. James-”
“James Potter is upstairs in my kitchen right now,” Regulus cut in coldly, eyes glinting like steel. Pettigrew seemed to shrink before his very eyes. “Drinking tea with his wife.”
“No, you’re lying. You’re dead.”
“I obviously faked my death, you blubbering simpleton. Now. Are you a Death Eater?”
“Yes,” Pettigrew said, unable to make any attempts to resist the potions effects. He paled impossibly whiter, and clamped a hand over his mouth. Regulus rolled his eyes.
“Don’t make me hurt you. Remove your hand before I remove it for you. Do you have the mark?”
Heeding Regulus’ threat, Pettigrew shakily removed his hand from his mouth.
“Yes,” he whispered. Regulus’ gaze hardened.
“Prove it. And don’t think I won’t make you.”
It was all so laughably easy. Regulus didn’t even need to point his wand before Pettigrew was wrenching up his left sleeve. Regulus scoffed derisively at it, making Pettigrew flush, giving him the look of a constipated tomato.
“How does Voldemort contact you? Surely not through the mark. He wouldn’t risk summoning you regularly.”
“By owl,” Pettigrew said. Regulus allowed a manic grin to stretch across his lips, imitating his brother’s wolfish gleam, and Pettigrew flinched.
“Is there an attack scheduled for July 19 at the McKinnons?” Regulus asked, voice cold and flinty.
“Yes,” Pettigrew blurted. “H-how-”
“Never mind how I know,” Regulus snapped, momentarily relishing in the way Pettigrew flinched so violently that he smacked his head on the cellar wall. He never enjoyed this part when he was a Death Eater, but now that the roles were reversed, now, when he knew how much torment that Pettigrew had caused (knew how badly he deserved this), he found himself to be basking in it. “Are you expected there?”
“Yes.”
“Who else is going?”
“Travers, Karkaroff, and Rosier.”
Regulus’ mask almost slipped. Almost. Evan’s laugh echoed in his head, a memory from second year, when one of the Giant Squid’s tentacles banged a little extra hard on the windows of their dormitory and Barty squeaked like a mouse. As it was, Regulus’ face did not change.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
For a moment, even though there was no way for Pettigrew to be lying, Regulus allowed himself to channel his father and that dominating, haughty stare of his. The one that said think twice. The one that darkened his irises so deeply that they blended into his pupils. Regulus had only ever known one wizard to not be swayed by it, and that was Albus Dumbledore. Pettigrew shrunk under Regulus’ gaze, and a damp patch spread down his legs. His Occlumency shields would have allowed him to keep up his stare, but instead decided to imitate his brother once more, just to remind Pettigrew exactly who he had betrayed. Regulus laughed cruelly, the sound echoing through the cellar. Pettigrew squeezed his eyes shut, and when his eyelids clamped down, tears of humiliation rolled down his cheeks in fat droplets.
“Kreacher will be attending to you once a day with meals,” Regulus said, after another hour of questioning; about the current Death Eater ranks, about who Tom’s most trusted were (Bellatrix, unsurprisingly), about whether Pettigrew had ever been to Lestrange or Malfoy manor. “And don’t even think about transforming. I know the bars look like you can squeeze through them, but they’re so heavily warded that you’d be lucky to make it out with your limbs still intact. End Recording.” Then with the bottle of Pettigrew's hairs in his pocket, and the quill and parchment in hand, he bowed mockingly, maintaining cold, indifferent eye contact, and swept out of the room.
To his surprise, Padfoot was sitting at the top of the stairs. When he spotted Regulus come out of the cellar, he changed back into Sirius, who pouted at him.
“You put up a silencing charm?” he asked.
“Didn’t want any of you listening in and trying to interfere,” Regulus responded easily. “Used that transcribing spell, though. I’ll make copies so you can all have one.”
“Thanks,” his brother nodded. “Can I ask a weird question?”
“Since when do you ask for permission?”
“Did he piss himself?” Sirius asked. Regulus nearly tripped, eyes widening. At his expression, Sirius chuckled darkly. “Fucking knew it.”
“Don’t tell me you made a bet?”
“No, it’s still too sensitive a topic for the others for me to joke around, but I did call it.”
“Shame, you could’ve made a fortune.”
“Next time I’ll prioritize financial gain over the wellbeing of my friends.”
“Good. Maybe you’ll finally make the family proud.”
Sirius laughed freely, following Regulus through Houghton Hall and into the library. He plopped into his usual armchair and made grabby hands.
“Have you and Harry swapped ages?”
“Piss off and hand it over already.”
Rolling his eyes, Regulus held out the transcript, which Sirius took with a nod. He then moved over to the gramophone, preemptively setting up a Queen record. Sirius’ knuckles turned white every so often, clutching at the parchment harder at some sections, eyes turning progressively darker. When he reached the end, he set the transcript down, hands shaking slightly.
“Fuck,” he said. “Good thing you didn’t let us down with you, Reg. I have half a mind to kill the bastard right now.”
“Good luck getting through all the wards I’ve set up.”
Sirius let out a harsh, almost cruel bark of laughter.
“Yeah, you would’ve planned for that, paranoid nutter,” he muttered. Ignoring this, Regulus took the seat across from Sirius and reached out with his wand, casting genimio and making copies of the transcript. With seemingly nowhere for his anger to go, Sirius settled for stewing in it. “How was it?” Regulus blinked.
“You just read it.”
“Only the words. Nothing about the tone or how you acted. C’mon, Reggie, let me live vicariously through you.”
“People usually have other things in mind when they use that phrase.”
“Reg.”
Regulus, surprising himself, flushed a little.
“I acted like Father,” he admitted. Sirius nodded, a small bit of triumph shining in his eyes.
“Called that, too,” he murmured. “What else?”
“Hm?”
“Reg, you’re avoiding eye contact. What else did you do?” Sirius asked, curiosity replacing some of his anger, now. Regulus cleared his throat.
“Well, I may have imitated you at certain points.”
Sirius blinked at him. Regulus resisted the urge to shift in his seat. Then, Sirius started laughing.
“Did you really?” he asked, now gleeful. His joy was almost contagious, and Regulus felt himself grinning along, something like pride blooming in his chest.
“Yeah,” he said. Sirius positively cackled.
“Merlin, Pete must have been dying inside.”
“That was the intention.”
“Good. Godric knows that bastard deserves worse, but I’ll settle for you psychologically tormenting him for now,” sobering slightly, Sirius relaxed into his armchair. Then, tilting his head a tad, like a dog whose ears had pricked up, he raised a brow at Regulus. “You put on Queen because you knew reading that was going to get me worked up, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Manipulative imp.”
“Changeling.”
“That’s a compliment, actually,” Sirius said. Years ago, Regulus would’ve puffed up, righteous and indignant and defensive of their family name. Now, he just laughed. After he’d quietened, Sirius gave him a soft look.
“Are we gonna talk about it?”
“Talk about what?”
“Evan,” Sirius said. Regulus’ heart stuttered in his chest.
“What’s there to talk about?”
“Don’t play dumb, it doesn’t suit you.”
“That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Regulus,” Sirius’ voice was uncharacteristically stern, and perhaps that’s what caused Regulus to still. He opened his mouth, but in a rare turn of events, found himself struggling to come up with a witty retort. He closed his mouth. Sirius nodded knowingly.
“We both know that eventually, you’ll run into him and Barty.”
“We don’t know that, actually. We’re hypothesizing.”
“Making an informed guess.”
“Spit-balling.”
“Eventually, you’re probably going to run into Evan and Barty while impersonating Peter,” Sirius barrelled on. “And that’s gonna suck.”
“How eloquent.”
“Can you look me in the eye and tell me it won’t?” Sirius challenged. Regulus glared. “Exactly. Better to get all your feelings out about it now.”
“There are no feelings to be had on the matter,” Regulus said primly. Sirius rolled his eyes, annoyance peeking through.
“Bullshit,” he nearly snapped. “And don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. You’re trying to goad me into a fight so that I’ll drop the subject, but I’m not going to, and if I have to goad you into a fight to get you to lower your defensives enough that you’ll be honest, then know that I’ve got all night. I’m more stubborn than you.”
“No you aren’t,” Regulus deflected. “Aunt Lycoris tells me constantly I’m one of the most stubborn boys she’s ever met.” Sirius laughed, though it lacked much humor.
“And who do you think you got it from?” Sirius asked. “Heir and spare, little brother. I was the blueprint. However stubborn you are, I’m twice as.” Regulus scowled, crossing his arms.
“Wanker.”
“Now who’s eloquent?” Sirius’ face turned briefly smug. “C’mon, mon petit. Save us both the trouble.”
“There’s no trouble,” Regulus grit his teeth, knowing full well that Sirius was succeeding in ticking him off. “And there are no feelings.”
“Again: bullshit. You three were thick as thieves back in Hogwarts. You can’t just sit there and tell me that seeing them is going to be no big deal-”
“Of bloody course it’s going to be a big deal!” Regulus exploded without much choice in the matter. Half of his anger was directed at Sirius for being to goad him into shouting. “They think I’m dead!”
Sirius sat forward in his seat, eyes glinting. Regulus scowled hatefully at his brother, pushing up out of his armchair and beginning to stalk about the room.
“I have no interest in revisiting these feelings,” he seethed. “I’ve felt them. It’s been years-”
“But it’s not 1982 anymore,” Sirius cut in. Regulus turned a heated glare on him, but Sirius didn’t do so much as flinch.
“Obviously not, you blithering idiot-”
“What I mean,” Sirius interrupted again. “Is that Barty is not in Azkaban and Evan is not dead.” Regulus stopped so abruptly that the rug beneath his feet bunched up. His eyes stung suddenly, and he held up a warning finger.
“Shut up.”
Sirius stood from his chair as well, crossing the room until he stood only a few paces from Reg, eyes hard and challenging.
“They’re both alive,” he pressed. Regulus, heart pounding and eyes inexplicably burning, shook his head. He tried to take a step back and stumbled over the bunched up rug.
“I said shut up.”
“Do you know what’s fascinating,” Sirius continued, voice rising. “Is that when we first came up with this plan, you had no qualms about bringing my mates into the fray, but you never once considered telling Evan and Barty the truth.”
“Shut up!” Regulus shouted, accidentally letting loose a wave of magic that sent Sirius flying. His and his brother's eyes widened at the same time. Sirius hit the wall with a thud and an ‘oof.’ Regulus darted across the room, crouching to his brother with a shout of his name. Upstairs, he could hear footsteps rushing.
“Sirius?!” Potter called, footsteps nearing. Face burning, Regulus looked up as Potter came skidding into the room, Lupin and Lily behind him, all three with their wands raised. Sirius held up a hand, waving.
“It’s okay,” he said. “It was an accident, I’m alright.” Lupin looked him over, raising a brow.
“An accident?” he echoed, eyes darting between the two brothers.
“Yes,” Sirius was adamant.
“So we’re not under attack?” Lily checked. Regulus shook his head, face red and warm.
“No, nothing like that,” he said glumly, looking over Sirius apologetically. His brother waved him off.
“Just a friendly, brotherly discussion.”
Potter raised a disbelieving brow.
“Are you sure?”
Both embarrassed and defensive, Regulus felt his hackles raise.
“You’re an only child, what do you know?” he snapped. Potter recoiled slightly, eyes widening. Sirius placed a placating hand on Regulus’ arm, but he wrenched it out of his brother's grasp, standing abruptly and stalking out of the room. Voices called after him, some more alarmed than others, but Regulus ignored them all.
Truth be told, he wasn’t all that surprised when a knock came from the other side of the fireplace.
“Regulus?” It was Lily. Not who he expected, and perhaps it was the shock of it that had him sliding open the false panel of the fireplace and blinking up at her. She had Harry on one hip, pacifier in his mouth. The backdrop of the Marble Parlour made her hair stand out even more than usual. She smiled kindly at him. “Hi, can we come in?”
Sighing a little, Regulus opened the panel a little wider for her to climb in. She looked about the small corridor.
“This is cozy,” she said. She sat opposite him and held out Harry. He blinked at the baby, and then back at Lily.
“Why are you giving me your child?”
“Because you need a Harry Hug.”
He raised a single brow.
“A Harry Hug?” he echoed.
“Patent pending,” Lily said. “C’mon, Regulus, my arms are getting tired.” Slightly incredulously, but somehow knowing that Lily was the type of witch who would just drop Harry into his lap even if Regulus didn’t take him, Regulus took Harry from her arms. Immediately, the infant clung to him like a koala. “It’s close to his bedtime, so he might nod off.”
“Sirius sent you?” Regulus asked. Lily nodded.
“He mentioned you liked to hide in here when you were younger,” she said, looking around approvingly. “Like I said, cozy.”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “Why’d he send you?”
“I volunteered, actually.”
Regulus’ eyes narrowed. He looked her over, but she seemed genuine.
“Why?”
“So I could bring you Harry, for one, and two, I guessed that you’d have more reservations about hexing me than the boys.”
Regulus flushed, a little embarrassed about his apparent transparency.
“You guessed correctly,” he admitted. Lily grinned.
“I usually do.”
“Not always?”
“You flatter me,” Lily said. “Sirius said you two were rowing about your friends.”
“Hard to have friends when you’re dead,” Regulus responded. At one point, he had started gently swaying from side to side. One of Harry’s tiny fists was curled up over Regulus’ heart. His dark hair brushed the underside of Regulus’ chin, head curled into his chest.
“Why don’t you want to tell them you aren’t?” Lily asked. Unlike Sirius, she didn’t try to ease him into conversation. In an almost roundabout way, Regulus thought that her tendency to go straight for the jugular added to her compassion. There was a certain kindness in refusing to beat around the bush, and Lily was the type to hit the bush dead-on.
“I don’t know.”
“I think you do.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I’m starting to.”
Regulus scowled at her, but it was half-hearted at best, and Lily grinned. Harry cooed, and one of Regulus’ hands instinctively rose up to cup the back of his head. Harry instantly melted into Regulus’ touch and Regulus felt his defenses melt along with him.
“Your child is a master manipulator,” he said. Lily looked entirely too proud.
“Harry Hugs are magic,” she said. Regulus sighed, leaning back a little and resting his head against the wall.
“I suppose I’m scared of what they’ll think,” Regulus admitted. “I know, more than anyone, how dedicated to their beliefs they are.”
“Funny, they probably thought the same of you,” Lily said. “And if they react badly - if they’re as dedicated as you think they might be - then just obliviate them and send them on their merry way.”
Regulus gaped at her for a moment. Lily stared back, unbothered.
“Why are you even advocating for them?” he asked. “They’re Death Eaters. They’re blood purists.” Lily shrugged, almost infuriatingly calm.
“So were you, once upon a time,” she said, and grinned a little. “Plus, I know that there’s always more to the story. Or did you forget who my best friend was?” Regulus blinked.
“You miss him,” he realized.
“Of course I do,” Lily said. “I know that he didn’t respect my choices, my husband, or my child. But I also know that people can be capable of great change if given the opportunity, and perhaps, under a set of great circumstances. Severus turned spy for Dumbledore. Isn’t it possible that after two years of thinking you dead, Evan and Barty might be willing to hear you out?”
Regulus swallowed tightly, eyes fixed on her slippers. Harry had fallen asleep on his chest, breathing evenly.
“Maybe,” he whispered. “Maybe in the other timeline I could have told them, but it’s different now. Harry is here.”
“Believe me,” Lily said, somewhat sternly. “The last thing I plan to do is to put Harry in danger, which is why we would take precautions. And, like I said, keep that oblivio in your back pocket. There are dozens of things we can do to keep you, Harry, and all of us safe here.” At Regulus’ silence, she sighed knowingly. “We don’t mean to push the issue, but don’t immediately write it off as impossible.”
After emerging from the fireplace and carefully detaching Harry from his chest, Regulus went in search of his brother. He was still in the library, reclining on the sofa with his feet in Lupin’s lap, A Series of Unfortunate Events open in his hand. Sirius grinned at him when he lingered in the doorway.
“Hey, Reg. How’d your first Harry Hug go?”
“Magical,” he said dryly. “My life is forever changed.”
Lupin snorted.
“You laugh, but we all know it’s true,” Sirius said. “Feeling better, then?”
“Marginally,” Regulus admitted, sitting in his armchair. “And we’re tabling that conversation for the time being, alright?”
“Alright,” Sirius agreed easily. He picked up one of his feet to nudge Remus in the side. “Keep reading, Moony. Maybe we’ll put the baby to sleep.”
“Harry’s already sleeping,” Regulus said.
“I meant you.”
“I hate you.”
For all his blustering, Regulus did end up nodding off about two chapters later. When Sirius realized, he stood and unfolded the throw blanket over the back of the sofa. Remus paused his reading to watch Sirius drape it gently over Regulus’ sleeping form. With a satisfied nod, Sirius dropped back into his spot on the sofa, motioning for Remus to continue.
“Won’t Regulus wake up?” Remus asked. Sirius shook his head.
“It’ll be like Harry’s white noise machine,” he said.
“Am I that monotone?”
“No, you berk,” Sirius grinned. “I used to read him to sleep, when we were little. I’d sneak into his room and read to him. Used to wake up if I stopped reading, actually.” Remus lowered the book slightly.
“You never told me that,” he said. Sirius shrugged.
“There was a lot I didn’t tell you lot about him.”
“Like what?”
Something sparked in Sirius’ eye, and he looked over his shoulder before leaning in conspiratorally.
“I used to help him practice over summer.”
“Practice.”
“For Quidditch,” Sirius clarified. Remus’ eyes widened.
“Really?”
“Yep. We’d go into the backyard and I’d throw rocks as hard as I could, sometimes levitating them, and he would shoot off on his broom.”
“He didn’t have a practice snitch?” Remus asked. Sirius’ expression turned impossibly fond.
“He did,” he said. “But as long as I was there, he didn't need it.”
Upstairs, Lily hugged James’ arm tight around her middle.
“Alright?” his voice, sleepy and low, asked.
“Yeah,” she murmured. “Just thinking about Sev.” James did tense a little, but didn’t say anything untoward.
“Because of Crouch and Rosier?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you really think they could change? I mean, I know we said that Regulus did, but he was never very assertive in his beliefs, was he? Didn’t go around spouting slurs like some people we know.”
“You don’t think that learning their best friend is actually alive might make them amenable?” Lily asked. James made the grumbling noise that he did when he knew she had a point but didn’t want to concede.
“Harry-”
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Regulus; there is nothing in this world that I would do to endanger Harry. If Regulus ever decides that he wants to tell Crouch and Rosier, there are precautions we can take, and we can always oblivio them if it doesn’t go well.”
James was silent for a moment.
“I know you wouldn’t endanger Harry,” he said. “I think I’m just surprised that you’re suddenly a Death Eater apologist.”
“Don’t you dare go putting words in my mouth,” Lily said harshly. “I’m not an apologist, for Merlin’s sake. I’m just saying, Regulus defected. Severus turned spy. Peter is a Death Eater!” She hissed. James’ arm tightened of its own accord. “People are capable of change, that’s all I’m saying.”
Another beat of silence.
“I know that,” James mumbled. Lily turned, rolling over so they were face-to-face now. They wore matching pained expressions.
This was not the life they had envisioned.
“Regulus isn’t even open to discussing it,” she murmured. “He’s just as worried about Harry. He’s scared to trust them, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t.”
“You think he actually trusts them?” James asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I get it!” Lily snapped, albeit quietly, mindful of Harry, sleeping only a few feet away. “Because even before Severus turned spy, I still believed that if I ever faced him, he would spare me. And I hated knowing that. Knowing that I was always the exception, knowing that I’m the reason he turned. I hate the responsibility of that. Hate the fucking pedestal he puts me on, but I still trusted in that bond we had. Sirius had it with Regulus before he faked his death. And Regulus has it with Crouch and Rosier. He’s just scared.” James gaped at her.
“You never said-”
“How could I have?” Lily asked, a tinge desperate. Her eyes stung, and she took a bracing breath. “I’m not allowed to talk about him. Sirius was the only person who might’ve understood, but you all hated Severus, and I did too, but I also loved him, James. Not like I love you, but he was my family! Even knowing what he did, what he has done, there will always be a part of me that misses the boy he used to be. I can’t erase all that history.” James hand came up to cup her face, and Lily felt herself lean into it, a tear escaping.
“Lily, I had no idea,” he whispered. She sniffled. “I’m sorry.”
“You should be,” she said weakly, another tear slipping out from her lashes. James managed a small smile, absently wiping at the tear with his thumb. He leaned closer, pressing a firm kiss to her forehead. Lily let her eyes close, relishing in the comfort. When he pulled back, she opened them again.
“I’ll do better,” he promised. Lily smiled.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”