A week had passed since the Death Eater's attack on what was formally the Order's headquarters. Although the sun shone brightly near the beach house, Esmeralda's days were grey. She had not left one of the chairs overlooking the ocean ever since Sirius and her had gone back to their house. She felt empty without her aunt. Perla had been more than an aunt to her, she was her only friend and confidante for a long time. She had been there for all of her firsts; her first steps, her first words, her first day at Hogwarts... It all felt so pointless now. Esmeralda had no idea how to live in a world without Perla Dragonstone in it.
She had hated herself for the first few days. How come her abilities only worked when they wanted and not when she wanted ? If they had worked that morning, then the Order would've been prepared for the attack and Perla, Clara, and other members of the Order wouldn't had died. But she knew nothing could bring back her aunt.
Obsidiana flew towards Esmeralda and landed on her lap. The witch lightly stroked the tiny black owl as she continued to watch the waves go back into the ocean, oblivious to the letter the owl had dropped on her.
Sirius looked at her from inside of the house. His heart ached in his chest watching the person he loved the most broken and scared. He feared Esmeralda would not be the same after losing someone so important to her. Lily had sent him an owl explaining what the muggles call "the five stages of grief", Esmeralda seemed to be in the depression stage. The red-haired witch assured him that she would eventually go back to her old self. Sirius wasn't so sure about that.
There had not been any news from the Order. It seemed like everyone was grieving the losses of the members that had fallen the week prior. Sirius had gotten back letters from everyone, except Remus. His attempts to contact him had grown scarce as the days passed. He knew that Clara's death affected him the most, but it did seem weird that he had not written back to him. From what James and Peter wrote to Sirius, their werewolf friend had not sent a letter to them, but a note saying he was fine. Nothing more.
Esmeralda sighed and, for the first time in days, looked away from the ocean. Obsidiana looked up and cooed happily at her. The young witch laughed which caused Sirius to bolt out the door. They locked eyes and started to tear up. Slowly, Sirius walked towards Esmeralda and kneeled next to her, embracing her in a tight hug. The two of them sobbed into each other's shoulders silently.
"We'll get through this," Sirius whispered, "Together."
"I know," Esmeralda whispered back.
By now, Obsidiana had flown off Esmeralda's lap. Sirius helped Esmeralda stand up to go inside and noticed the letter falling off his fiancée. Not letting go of her hand, Sirius bent down and picked the mysterious letter from the floor.
"What is this ?" he asked softly.
"I have no idea," she replied.
The envelope had Esmeralda's name on it written loosely and quickly, it was almost impossible to read. The couple went inside their house and into the kitchen, where Sirius had been cooking one of Esmeralda's favourite meals hoping she would leave the porch and go inside. They sat down next to each other and looked at the letter again.
"Do you recognise the handwriting ?" Sirius asked.
"Not quite," Esmeralda replied, "I know it's not from Lily or Remus since they have such neat handwriting, but it's not from James or Peter either."
Sirius handed her the envelope.
"It's addressed to you," he said, "You should open it."
Esmeralda ripped the messy wax seal that was on the envelope and took the parchment out. She cleared her throat and started to read it out loud.
Esmeralda,
Know that I am writing this letter as quickly as possible. I urge you to burn it after you've read it.
I want to apologise about your aunt, I had no involvement in the attack or the planning. I was not told what the mission was or even assigned to it. The Dark Lord did not want me to be involved in anything.
I've secured a safe fireplace for me to talk to you, since letters tend to be intercepted. I was only able to send you this because, somehow, Obsidiana landed on my window at Grimmauld Place.
Please open your Floo network tonight at 8pm. I swear this is not a trick. I need to talk to you and my brother.
R.A.B
The couple was speechless for a minute, looking back from the letter to each other.
"Regulus ?" Esmeralda asked, still not believing that he had written a letter.
"This has got to be a trick," Sirius said, standing up and pacing through the kitchen, "They attacked a week ago and from the times we've faced them... they didn't get you."
"But Si-"
"No, Mer. I will not lose you," Sirius said, "We are not opening up our Floo network for him."
"He is your brother and my friend," she said, "We cannot ju-"
"He is a Death Eater," he interrupted.
Esmeralda looked at the letter between her hands. She had not received a letter from Regulus in a long time. Her thoughts went to the last real conversation she had with him.
"Sirius, do you remember the last time I spoke to Regulus ?" she asked.
He nodded.
"Why would he risk his life sending me this letter then ?" she asked, "If You-Know-Who was tracking his post back then, maybe he still does. Do you know how dangerous it was for him to send this ? Even if he used Obsidiana."
Sirius remained silent.
"If she went to him, then she must've known there was something he needed to tell us," Esmeralda continued, "Even if he didn't know it before."
Sirius sighed and sat down next to her. He held her hand and squeezed it.
"I just want you to be safe," he said quietly, "I want us to survive this war."
"That's also what I want," Esmeralda said.
She leaned in and pressed her forehead to his. He squeezed her hand again and pressed his lips to his. It had been a long time since their lips touched. He felt Esmeralda take his hand off his and move it to his face. As their lips started to move faster against each other's, Sirius' hands slithered around Esmeralda's waist. This caused the couple to stand up from their chairs and fully press their bodies against the other. Esmeralda let out a laugh in between kisses. Sirius threw his head back laughing.
"What ?" he said, smiling down at Esmeralda.
"I love you," she said.
"I love you,"
A few hours had passed since Sirius and Esmeralda received the letter from Regulus. They waited impatiently around their fireplace with their wands ready. Nothing or no one other than Regulus was getting past their fireplace without a fight. The clock struck 8 o'clock. Tension was felt as the couple got closer together ready for anything.
The orange flames that had been burning changed into a bright green colour. Suddenly, Regulus' face appeared in the flames.
"Sirius ! Mer !" he breathed out, "Lower your wands it's only me"
"How can we be sure ?" Sirius said, "It's only your head in there."
"I wrote earlier that I had secured a fireplace," the younger Black sibling said, "I did not say I had a lot of time. That's why only my head is in your living room, dickhead."
Esmeralda lowered her wand and gently pushed Sirius' hand down.
"Why did you have to be here and not just put it in the letter ?" Esmeralda said, kneeling to have a better look at Regulus.
Regulus sighed.
"I did not want to risk the information I have," he said.
"What are you now ? A double agent ?"
"Not quite, brother," he said, "Only one of the things I have to say to you involves the war."
The witch raised an eyebrow. She could not understand why a boy that once seemed invested in the Dark Lord's cause would suddenly give them information.
"What are you talking about, Reg ?" she asked.
Regulus turned to look at her for the first time. Tears filled his grey eyes. Esmeralda nodded at him, he did not need to give his condolences again for Perla. Somehow she knew that what he had written in his letter was true. Regulus had nothing to do with the attack.
The young wizard darted his eyes from her and back to her brother.
"I was drinking firewhiskey with Dolohov the other day, and he let something slip about the mission last week," he started, "Something that I did not believe to be true until the next day when he became nervous around me."
"What is it ?" Sirius asked.
"The Death Eaters are not the ones with a double agent," Regulus continued, "You are."
Nothing was heard for a few seconds except the fire and the distant sound of the waves on the beach.
"Do you know who ?" Esmeralda asked, finally breaking the silence.
"He does not know," Regulus answered, "He only told me that the entire thing was orchestrated for an attack on your Headquarters."
"Who would do something like that ?" she asked softly.
Sirius scoffed.
"I have an idea or two," he said.
Esmeralda looked at him with a raised brow. Just as she was about to question him on who he was thinking about, Sirius began to speak again.
"This is an internal discussion, Mer," he said, "Although he brought us the information, Regulus is still a Death Eater."
Regulus' expression fell.
"He's right," he agreed, "It's best that I don't hear anything about this. I'm not even supposed to know there's a double agent in your ranks."
Sirius looked back at his brother, holding Esmeralda's hand.
"And what was the other thing you wanted to tell us ?" he asked.
"There's no easy way to say this," Regulus started, "I don't even know if you would ca-"
"Reggie," his older brother interrupted, "What is it ?"
Regulus took a deep breath and sighed.
"Father is dead."
---
a/n
this chapter is WAY shorter than what i'm used to writing so i guess you could call it a filler. maybe not a filler, but still... a short chapter.
i'm finally back and have my story notebook with me. i'm going to be tweaking some things from my original plan because they make literally no sense. i spaced them out really weird and i don't like them anymore. i have like 13 chapters planned out but i think i might make it 10 to have 50 chapters in total plus an epilogue.
these last ten chapters will have time jumps (justified ofc) but we're getting close to the end anyway. Orion died in 1979 according to my research... so brace yourselves for what you know happens to the Marauders.
also, sorry for all the death that's happening. it's a war, what did you expect ?
expect more updates soon :)