VENOM

Zero. Memento Mori

Remember that you will die.

𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟑. I was 31 that year, working as a Muggle journalist in London. By then, I had three published novels and a number of front-page articles under my belt, but the effects of my childhood still had a hold on me. Regulus had been dead for years, but I still found myself searching for his hand in the middle of the night. Almost everyone I had ever loved and cared about was dead, but I was no longer surprised by that fact. We had lived through a war, after all.

I had done my best to improve some aspects of my life. My Dark Mark, which had haunted me for years, had been turned into a tattoo of a cattleya orchid - Reggie's favorite flower - and I had therefore stopped wearing long sleeves in the heat. I dyed my hair back to its natural brown and stopped blaming myself for everything that had happened. I never did marry again after Regulus, but I was content. I was happy.

I was walking down Diagon Alley on that fateful day, utterly oblivious to the whispers of 'Sirius Black' and the occasional stare from the people who recognized me from the several articles written about me in my youth. It wasn't until I reached Scribbulus Writing Instruments to pick up my order of ink and quills that I finally learned what everyone around me was murmuring about.

"Good day, Mrs. Black," said the shopkeeper as I walked in. I gave him a kind smile, like I always did, and approached the counter. "Heard the news already, I reckon?"

"What news?" I had asked absentmindedly, checking to see that everything I needed was there.

"About Sirius Black," the shopkeeper whispered. "Word on the street is that he's escaped Azkaban."

Looking back, I was surprised that my heart hadn't stopped right then and there. It had been almost 12 years since Sirius had been sent to Azkaban and nearly 12 years since I had thought about him. I'll never forgive myself for believing that he had been the one behind the murders of Lily and James Potter, but I had grown up alongside the most twisted and vile people one could ever meet, so perhaps I believed that Sirius - like the rest of his family, like his brother - had finally snapped.

After paying for my new quills and ink and pretending that the news of Sirius's escape was unimportant to me, I picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet, before Apparating straight home. And then, I rang the only person I knew would have a Muggle telephone - Remus Lupin.

Remus and I had been decent friends during Hogwarts. He was kind and levelheaded and married to one of my best friends. We had grown closer after the deaths of Lily, James, and Peter, but it had been several years since I had seen him in person.

He picked up on the third ring.

"Remus?" I said, my voice slightly shaky. The cord of the phone was wrapped so tightly around my hand that I was shocked it didn't cut off my circulation. "Did you. . . did you see it?"

"Yes," he said bluntly.

I let out a breath I was holding - I had been partly relieved, partly horrified. What would it be like to see Sirius after this many years? Would he blame me for Regulus's death? Would he hate me again for being a Death Eater?

"Did you just see it?" Remus asked.

I nodded and then remembered that he couldn't see me. "Yes," I replied.

Remus hummed affirmatively. "I saw it yesterday," he explained.

"What are we going to do?" I asked meekly. There was a pause.

"Where are you, Gen?"

"London."

"Do you think you could make it to Diagon Alley?"