The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part One

The Key to the Black Family Vault

James, Lily, Marlene, Emmaline, Peter, and Regulus sat down 'round the table in the flat in East London, having set the table for their dinner. Steaming meat pies sat before them with rolls coated thickly with butter and great steins of butterbeer or cups of tea, depending on the drinker's preference.

Regulus found himself coming off quite shy as he watched the others talk excitedly, making jokes and smiling about at one another. He felt as though he'd fallen into an entirely different world. Such a contrast it was - this dinner table compared to the ones he'd shared at various Death Eaters houses, consorting with the followers of the Dark Lord! At those dinners, the conversations had been entirely political, with the Dark Lord leading in his drawling voice. They'd been tinged with a fear factor that left the entire room feeling volatile and dangerous. More than once, someone had been murdered at those dinners - either a Death Eater for failing to follow the Dark Lords orders precisely as they'd been told to do, or else a blood-traitor for some other offense that Regulus could never quite fathom. He'd eaten very little at those dinners.

Here, he felt his instinctual guard slowly dropping, his shoulders quietly releasing tension as he watched James Potter talking, gesturing with his fork and the way Lily's eyes crinkled when she laughed. He shared shaky smiles with Emmaline, who sat beside him and kept turning to check his foot wasn't hurting him, and he laughed along with the others when Marlene made a joke that was positively hilarious. Although Regulus couldn't remember the last time he'd had a true family dinner - it had been long, long ago since they'd all sat together with their guards down around one another in the Noble House of Black; probably before Sirius ever went to Hogwarts - but he recognized the atmosphere, and he realized how much he longed for it.

The only thing that could have made the night any better was if Sirius had stayed and been a part of it, Regulus thought.

"Save room for dessert," Lily cried as she got up, the meat pies near to gone, "I've gotten an ice cream cake from Fortescues!"

"Ah - did you see Jasper, then?" James asked, standing and picking up his plate, as well as Marlene's and Peter's.

"I did," Lily nodded, collecting Regulus's and Emmaline's plates. "We'll be right back with the dessert!" she promised, smiling 'round the table.

"How is the ol' bloke?" James asked, following Lily out to the kitchen with the plates.

Regulus didn't hear how Jasper was, though, for James and Lily had gone out of the room and Marlene launched into a debate with Emmaline about whether or not an ice cream cake could properly be called an ice cream cake, as it was not really a cake. ("It's in the shape of a cake," Emmaline said. "But it isn't made of cake!" Marlene retorted.)

Regulus turned to Peter. "How've you been this summer?"

"Me? Oh... oh, I've - I've been alright," Peter replied, though the truth of it didn't reach his eyes.

"Are you living here in the flat, too? I've not fully grasped who lives here and who's just visiting," Regulus admitted.

"It's really James's flat," Peter answered. "I suppose all of the rest of us are visitors, but Remus and Sirius have their own room. There's a guest room and the couch pulls out, though, so there's always an assortment of us here... I stay as much as I'm welcomed to."

"I should imagine you'd be always welcomed, since you're one of the Marauders," Regulus said.

A funny look came upon Peter's face then. "I s'pose so."

"Something the matter, Peter?" Regulus asked.

But Peter just shrugged and looked down, avoiding Regulus's eye contact.