A/N: This is a headcanon based on seirios aster's "Light of a Fading Star". Basically: if Regulus had lived, but stayed in the states throughout canon books 1-7.

Part 1: In which Terry mourns, and Kreacher is hugged.

It was Snape's portrait, who told Sinistra, who informed Artemesia, who called Vesta, who told Terry that his brother had died four years previously.

Terry was heartbroken. He had to see someone. He flooed to Narcissa's.

As it turns out, Narcissa had known for a while. However, she was overjoyed to discover that her baby cousin hadn't been killed. She let Regulus cry in her arms for a bit. When Draco came downstairs to see who his mother bad over, he was surprised to see her holding a weeping man who looked eerily similar to a boy in the photos she refused to speak of.

Narcissa sent Regulus to the cellar to open the sealed door, giving him an armful of Dorcas Meadowes. Dorcas didn't weep when she heard of Sirius's death, so much as just sigh in exasperation.

Narcissa sent them both to Andromeda's. Andy was overjoyed to discover that her favorite cousin was alive. She sobered up when she heard about why he was there. She held him too, and set Dorcas to the task of handling her grandson.

Andy eventually sent Regulus over to Grimmauld Place. She wanted some alone time with Dorcas to regale her of Nymphadora's and Remus's epic love story, and inform her of their tragic, albeit heroic deaths.

Regulus stumbled out of the fireplace in the basement of his childhood home, and subsequently landed flat on his face. He was immediately grateful for the hearthrug. He looked about the kitchen, attempting to familiarize himself to the place.

It was cheerier than he remembered. The table looked like it had received more use (they had almost always used the formal dining room in his youth), and the room had a lived in, homey feel. He absentmindedly wondered who could possibly be living there.

Then, of course, he spotted Kreacher.

"Kreacher!" Kreacher looked up, and gaped, speechless. Regulus ran over to him, tears once again in his eyes. "Kreacher! Oh, I missed you so much! I'm so sorry!" He enveloped the aging house elf in a warm hug. Kreacher froze for a moment before hesitantly hugging back.

"Master Regulus?"

Regulus pulled back, and nodded.

"Master Regulus! Kreacher is overjoyed to see that Master Regulus is alive!" Kreacher's face went solemn. "Kreacher apologises that he was unable to destroy the locket, but it was destroyed by Master Potter's friend, with help from friend Severus Snape!"

Regulus was a bit confused for a moment. What did his brother's friend's son have to do with any of this? He decided to drop it. "You have nothing to apologise for, Kreacher. All of the horcruxes were destroyed in the end, and the Dark Lord is no more. That's all that matters."

Kreacher smiled up at him. "Would Master Regulus like Kreacher to take Master Regulus up to Master Regulus's room?"

"Yes, I would appreciate that. Thank you, Kreacher." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Kreacher, is there a portrait of Mother here?"

"Yes, Master Regulus. Master Potter has attempted to get rid of Mistress's portrait many times, but Mistress's portrait is still here."

"I would like to speak with her. Could you show me where she is, Kreacher?"

"Of course, Master Regulus."

Kreacher led him up out of the kitchen to the end of the main hallway, where a large pair of curtains hung. Regulus yanked them open, and was met with a startlingly realistic visage of his mentally ill, now deceased, mother.

"Hello, Mother."

The portrait's eyes widened. She looked like she was wondering whether or not she was hallucinating, which was, of course, entirely possible, given her mental state in life. ". . . Regulus?"

"Yes, Mother."

". . . Your brother told us you were dead."

"I was. Now Sirius is, at the hands of Cousin Bella."

Mother didn't seem to know how to respond to that.

"Goodbye, Mother." He made to close the curtains, but seemed to remember something. "Oh, and just so you know, I married a half-blood. A White, if you must know. So in the future, I would appreciate if you refrained from imposing your own blood-supremacy doctrine on the rest of the house. Good day." Regulus pulled the curtains shut, leaving a shocked Walburga Black at a loss for words.

He turned to his ever-faithful (sometimes too much so) house elf. "Kreacher, could you please take me up to my room?"

Kreacher nodded, and, taking a hold of his master's hand, began to lead him up the stairs.