Hello my dears!

I have school starting back, and I've kind of decided to go on a writing hiatus for a little bit. I've been writing so much lately it's insane. Plus I am really behind on my reading. There's so much reading. So much.

I hope you've all been well, and that you enjoy this chapter, there's been another major time skip, and I have been going back and forth about how the first few years of Part II are going to be written. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Thank you all for your lovely reviews and just omg. Over 100 reviews. Just omg. You're all so lovely and amazing.

Please leave a review and let me know what you think ;)

My tumblr: indiebluecrown. tumblr. com

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, and only the story line and any OC's belong to me.

For Sable xxx my lovely, lovely friend.

Part Two (II)

It was a bright morning, a morning full of promise and new beginnings. Outside the seasons were turning and the vibrant red, yellow and orange leaves were fluttering in the gentle breeze.

Inside the small cottage, most of its occupants were asleep aside from one, a man with cropped short raven hair, and a thoughtful expression on his face as he stared out of the window in the living room. Bearing witness to the early morning, and thinking how today, everything was going to change.

In the distance he heard soft noises from behind him and knew from experience that Kreacher was readying the house and would soon go to wake the boys.

If Kreacher had seen him then he would have paused to greet him, but Regulus was hidden in the shadows of the dim morning.

He turned back towards the window and breathed in deeply. Yes, he could feel it moving through the air; change.

Kreacher waved his hand and the boy's bedroom clicked open, he slowly pushed open the door, the hinge creaking.

It was a cosy room, which would have been unkempt had Kreacher not put everything in its place every night. Two single beds on either side of the room. Two desks on either side as well. One covered in Quidditch magazines, books on all different kinds of magical plants and fauna, and a pile of Quidditch gear was lying beside it. A broom was propped up against the wall.

The other desk was neatly arranged with maps of stars and Potions tomes, and there was a heap of Quidditch gear beside their desk as well.

A small navy blue circular rug was set in the middle of the two beds.

One of the boys was sleeping on his back, arms resting on top of his covers, soft snores whistling from his nostrils.

The other boy was sprawled on his front, arms over his head, the blankets tied around his limbs, his messy hair in his eyes.

Kreacher walked over to the latter boy and said loudly and excitedly, "wake up Master Potter! It's your first day at Hogwarts today!"

The boy merely groaned loudly and waved one of his hands at Kreacher. "Uhhhh."

Kreacher crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head, the slighty saggy skin under his chin shook with it, he was getting along in years, which saddened Regulus deeply. Kreacher snapped his fingers, and watched with smug satisfaction as Harry's sheets flew off of him, and folded neatly on the bottom of his bed; in the process, Harry had to be untangled, so he had been flopped onto his back.

"Kreacher!" Harry moaned, rubbing at his eyes.

"Musn't be late now, Master Harry. You need to check that you have everything packed, I don't trust that Master Sirius went through and properly checked your trunk with you last night," Kreacher nodded curtly, waving his hand, and Harry's trunk top popped up, falling back partially on his bed.

Harry groaned once again as Kreacher snapped his fingers and removed Harry's sheets entirely.

"Fine," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up, and don't worry, I packed everything yesterday. Plus Cae and I checked again last night before we went to bed," Harry said as he sat up, back curved with the weight of sleep and gravity.

"Very well, Master Potter," Kreacher said, peering into the trunk nonetheless and making a mental checklist.

It didn't take long after that, it was a blur of motion and movement. Excitement was radiating throughout the house, crackling and sizzling in the air. The crunch of blueberry jam covered toast being bitten into, apple juice being shared around, scrambled eggs, and bacon. Breakfast was an elaborate affair.

Before they knew it, they were all hurrying out of the house, Kreacher standing on the armchair's arm by the window and tearfully waving goodbye as they all apparated away. The crack that always came with apparition was terribly violent this time, snapping and slicing through the air. They disappeared in a whirlwind of fallen orange, red and yellow leaves. Harry Potter was off to Hogwarts.

Harry had been in public many a time over the last few years, and even though people didn't approach him anymore to touch The Boy Who Lived-shake his hand, clap him on the shoulder, ruffle his hair-excited chatter still kicked up amongst the nosy busybodies that were on the platform that morning. Regulus had once turned a man into a toad for a few minutes when he kept harassing Harry, which had made Caelum and Harry laugh but also worry over the poor man. Giving into their pleading, Regulus had swiftly turned the man back-the plump little man had looked rather traumatised-Regulus was satisfied since the bloke had scuttled off, face a puce colour, clutching his cane and fixing his robes as he fled.

They weren't five feet from the entrance to the platform when Regulus spotted a group of bright ginger haired people not too far off; he knew that Remus and Sirius were friendly with the Weasleys, so he elbowed his brother, who currently had a protective hold on Harry's shoulder. The older Black furrowed his brow to see what Regulus wanted. Sirius followed Regulus's trail of sight and saw the Weasleys; Sirius reached out to touch the small of Remus's back. As soon as the werewolf saw the gingers his entire face lit up. Then Remus was leading the way, and he was the first to greet the Weasleys.

"Molly!" Remus exclaimed, smiling warmly.

"Remus! How are you my dear?" Molly asked, eyes widening and pulling the tall man into a hug before he could protest or say anything to the contrary.

"From what I hear, this is only part of your family isn't it, Molly?" Sirius asked as he stepped forward to greet the pleasant witch.

"Yes, the eldest that is still at Hogwarts, Percy, is on the train already-" Molly paused as she turned in Sirius's arms, before she spotted what she was searching for, and pointed to two tall boys that were hurrying off to the train, "-that would be my twins, Fred and George."

Harry had stepped forward and was smiling shyly at the ginger boy that looked his age, he looked friendly enough, and Harry liked to think he was good at making friends since he had played with so many of them in the Muggle park when Sirius and Remus took Caelum and himself out.

"Hi, I'm Harry, Harry Potter," Harry said, extending his hand.

The boy's eyes widened a fraction, but he grinned broadly and clasped Harry's hand firmly, shaking it in greeting, "Ron Weasley."

Regulus noticed that Molly had reacted in much the same way as Ron, and she was beaming at Harry. Molly moved to grab her youngest child's shoulders, planting a quick kiss on the crown of her head, "this is my youngest, and my only girl, Ginevra."

"It's Ginny, Mum!" Ginny complained petulantly, frowning deeply, puckering her small mouth, putting her hands on her hips defiantly.

Molly swiftly ignored Ginny's protests, and she spotted Caelum, partially hiding behind Regulus's robes and she smiled warmly at him, "this must be your son, Caelum."

"Yes, he'll be off to Hogwarts next year," Regulus smiled proudly, pulling Caelum into his side, Caelum fisted the back of his robes and held on tight.

"Ah, so will Ginny!" Molly exclaimed, and she was about to say something else when the train whistled, indicating that it would be leaving soon.

"You boys best go and get on the train," Sirius said to Harry and Ron, bending down next to Harry and whispering in his ear. Harry's eyes widened but he nodded firmly, quickly hugging Sirius and Remus, and then Regulus raised an eyebrow when he turned to him. Unprepared when Harry flung himself at Regulus and Caelum. Regulus couldn't help the short laugh that escaped his lips.

"Promise you'll write," Caelum asked Harry, and the older boy smirked.

"Course Cae, I'll write all the time, can't promise that they won't be rubbish, but I'll write all the same," Harry said, ruffling Caelum's hair before returning to his trolley.

Regulus watched as Harry and Ron pushed their trolleys towards the train, and as they disappeared inside, and all of the parents and loved ones watched as their children left. The train whistling and letting out puffs of white smoke.

Yes, Regulus told himself, things are definitely changing.

Molly had insisted they come back to the Burrow for a spot of tea. The house was quite empty with just her and Ginny-Arthur was busying at work, there was an old witch who lived in Surrey that had been trying to sell floating teacups to Muggles at a little stall in front of her house. She had managed to keep the flames inside the sitting room until Arthur and the other Ministry officials from the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, as well as an Oblivator, had arrived on the scene.

Ginny had grabbed Caelum's wrist as soon as they had gotten inside and had dragged him behind her up the slightly creaky stairs, announcing boldly that they were going to go play in her room.

"I am sorry about all that mess in Diagon Alley a few years ago...I acted rashly and you deserved an explanation-"

"Remus Lupin-" Molly pursed her lips as she moved back into the living room, carrying a wooden tray that had four empty teacups, a pumpkin coloured stout teapot and a small container of milk and a small bowl-that would fit in the palm of his hand-was filled to the brim with sugar cubes.

"Yes Molly?"

"You have nothing to apologise for...matter of fact I should be thanking you...it's a dreadful, dreadful and terrifying thought that-that man was in our house for so long," Molly shuddered as she carefully put the tray down on the coffee table in front of the couch. Across from the couch was her rocking chair and a pile of various coloured and sized yarn balls, and several different sized knitting needles. A wide wicker basket was beside the yarn, and an assortment of other things was inside-needles, thread, a crochet hook.

One cup of tea turned into two, two blended into three, three blurred into four, four ended with lunch, and before they knew it they had spent all day at the Burrow. So long in fact that Arthur had come home-exhausted, haggard, rubbing the stress from his temples and the fatigue from his eyes-and they had all sat down for dinner together. (When Molly had prepared the food he had no idea, especially since she had spent so much time entertaining them.)

Regulus had almost forgotten what it was like to have a meal with people that weren't the boys or Sirius and Remus. Of course they ate out sometimes-mainly in Muggle London to avoid being mobbed-but eating with Molly, Arthur and Ginny was vastly different. Arthur cut the meat and passed the plates down to Molly, who would ask each person what they did or didn't want and would pile the sides onto the plate. Then Regulus figured out half-way through the meal what it truly was that had been nagging him at the back of his mind-right as he watched Molly instinctually wipe some gravy off of the corner of Ginny's mouth despite her scowling afterwards-it was a woman's touch. A mother more specifically, but they had all been devoid of any sort of proper female interaction for years.

Regulus sucked a deep breath in through his nostrils as Arthur asked Caelum what house did he think Harry was going to be in. His mind however was barely registering the conversation surrounding him. He was far, far away. Lost in a memory of her. Salazar he missed her. She'd been there and then she hadn't, and the worst part is he hadn't even had a body to bury. She was the only person he had truly been able to speak to freely, about all the deepest, darkest corners and jagged edges of his soul.

Regulus tuned back in with a tight chest in time to hear, "no, no, you boys stay the night. We don't mind. Really we insist."

Regulus didn't know why, but before he could think about it too much he responded with, "thank you, we would really appreciate that Molly, Arthur."

Regulus chose to sleep on the couch as opposed to one of Molly's teenage boy's bedrooms. The Burrow had different noises than the cottage did. His window at home in his room creaked, the floorboards on the stairs landing groaned under any pressure here. There weren't as many trees, there was a massive pond out in the backyard, and rolling hills and pleasant meadows surrounding the Burrow. Nothing like the forest and the trees rustling in the night breeze that he was used to.

He dreamt of her. He always dreamt of her. Part of him still clung to the possibility that one day she would appear in front of him again, smiling-lips twisted to the side, eyes sparkling and frost blue hair framing her face like it had when they first met.

"WHAT?!" A violent outburst jolted Regulus out of his slumber, groggily he fumbled for his wand, and peered at everyone through slitted eyes-the warm quilt he had used last night tangled around his legs. Everyone was still in their sleepwear, and he relaxed when he didn't see any immediate threats. Arthur had an arm around Molly, thumb rubbing up and down on her upper arm, eyes scanning the piece of parchment held contemptuously in her hands. Sirius was lying on the ground in the middle of the living room, Ginny sitting sideways on top of his chest facing him as they conversed, and Regulus swore he heard, "Moony owes me a galleon, little Red."

The werewolf in question was leaning against the wall at the end of the couch, appearing to be staring pensively at Regulus, but he knew that Remus had drifted off into space, and that he was lost in his chaotic thoughts; he probably hadn't even registered that Regulus had moved.

A small body hurtled toward him, and Regulus couldn't do anything but catch his son as he flung himself into Regulus's chest.

"What happened?" Regulus mumbled out, rubbing a tired hand down his face, stopping to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

Caelum was the one who told him then, pulling back and grinning brightly at Regulus, "Harry, Ron and some girl called Hermoninny all got sorted into Slytherin!"