𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐔𝐋 || 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐔𝐋𝐔𝐒 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊✔️

XXXXVII• Kayla

Remus Lupin was sat by the fire place in his humble abode. The little cottage was located next to a forest and far away from any other homes, the perfect place for a werewolf to reside. Although in this moment, you would've have expected the man to become a monster once a month, for he had a little baby held to his chest.

"Oh she's asleep now?" Sirius Black said as he appeared in the living room. He was shirtless and his hair was a mess, clearly having just woken up. Remus had allowed Sirius to live with him when they left Hogwarts. It was supposed to be temporary until Sirius found his own home, but almost a year later they were still housemates.

"That's what babies do, Sirius," Remus smiled, glancing up momentarily from the sleeping infant. "She's quite cute when she's sleeping."

"Her cuteness doesn't make her for her father's lack of good parenting," Sirius said, sitting down next to one of his best mates. "It's been a whole week."

"Your brother lost his wife Sirius," Remus reasoned.

"I didn't even know they were married! I didn't know Cecilia was pregnant!"

"He's grieving," Remus ignored Sirius' outburst. "Give him time. He probably is finding it hard to take care of himself, let alone another human being."

Sirius scoffed. "Yeah right. I bet you anything he's down in the Leaky Cauldron, or the Hog's Head. Getting drunk out of his mind every night while we're here taking care of his bloody child!"

Sirius' loud voice had woken Kayla, who began to cry softly. While Sirius cursed, Remus rocked the baby, whispering comforting words.

Once Kayla had settled, the two boys heard a tapping at the window. An old looking barn owl stared at them with huge eyes until Sirius opened the window. The owl dropped the letter at his feet before settling itself on the top of a cabinet.

Sirius tore opened the letter, which was addressed to him. Remus watched as his friend gripped onto the parchment as he read, before dropping it and leaving the room.

Remus felt an urge to pick up the letter that had caused Sirius' exited but decided against it, feeling he would be invading his privacy.

Remus left the living room and found Sirius at the kitchen table, an opened bottle of fire whiskey clutches between his fingers.

"Sirius it's not even 11 yet," Remus scolded, readjusting Kayla so that her head rested on his shoulder.

"It was from Andromeda, my cousin," Sirius said stiffly. "Regulus is dead."

Remus' mouth dropped open. "He is? How?"

Sirius took a large gulp of his drink before continuing. "He went missing a week ago, so they declared him dead yesterday and had a funeral. I wasn't invited to my brother's fucking funeral."

Remus suddenly became very aware of the baby in his arms. The now-orphan that had been left with them a week ago.

"Do you think we were the last people to see him?" Remus whispered and Sirius stared at him. Remus was almost certain Sirius was about to cry, until he chuckled darkly.

"I bet he got cold feet," Sirius scoffed. "He wanted out of being a death eater, so he dumped Kayla here and tried to run away. But nobody gets away from You-Know-Who. What a bloody coward."

"He's your brother Sirius. You shouldn't talk about him that way," Remus said. He didn't know if this was Sirius' way of coping with his brother's death, or if he just hated Regulus that much.

Sirius' eyes landed on Kayla, who was know wide awake and staring around the room in wonder. "What do we do with her?"

Remus shrugged. "Regulus left her here, so maybe she should stay."

"No. She should go to her godparents," Sirius grumbled. "He didn't tell me who her godfather is, but Narcissa's the godmother. I presume Regulus chose that idiot Malfoy to be godfather."

Sirius stood up and started to pull on his jacket. Remus tightened his grip on Kayla. "Sirius, maybe we should give this a bit more thought before we go dumping Kayla off at the Malfoy's."

"Well maybe Reg shouldn't thought about things a bit more dumping Kayla here and then getting himself killed!" Sirius burst out. He was closer to Remus now, and the latter could see water swimming in Sirius' eyes, but he blinked and the tears were gone.

"You know I'm right, Remus," Sirius spoke, softer this time. "I'm not her godfather, so Regulus wouldn't want her to live with me. He trusts Narcissa, a lot. They're like brother and sister."

Remus nodded slowly before letting Sirius take the infant for him. They got ready to depart without speaking a word.

They apperated to Malfoy Manor and we're greeted by a very surprised Narcissa. And then they left. They left Kayla.

At her new home. With her new family. And hopefully, with a much better life.

A/N
And that's the end! I feel like crying because I've been writing this story for SO long, which you can probably tell since the first few chapters are horrible.

I'm really sorry it wasn't a happy ending, but I had this planned since the beginning and I couldn't let myself stray from my plan. Regulus had to die, since him getting the locket is a big part of the HBP and I didn't want to change that.

I'm so incredibly thankful for all the support. It truly means the world to me and I would've given up long ago if it wasn't for all of you.