It was a somewhat awkward situation. Zia looked at Tom Riddle Sr, then over to Regulus Black, wondering how exactly this had happened. The three were seated uneasily around the elaborately carved dining room table in Regulus' house. After the disaster involving his parents, Tom Riddle had insisted that he did not want to go back to his own house that day, so Regulus offered for him to stay there. She was grateful to Regulus for understanding that she was not ready for little Tom to meet his father, and to Riddle Sr. for easily accepting Regulus' offer. So there they were.

"Alright. Since I'm completely clueless in most things having to do with magic, may I ask what exactly 'legilimancy' is?" Riddle asked tentatively. Regulus sighed.

"You know, this really is against our laws, telling a muggle all this stuff. But I guess since you were married to—" Regulus cut himself off at the look on Riddle's face, "I mean already knew about magic, it's not going to hurt anybody."

"The only person it would hurt would be me, wouldn't it?" Riddle muttered under his breath. Zia felt a little pang of guilt at this, and also a bit of pity. The man had not had a lot of good experiences with magic, surely it was natural for him to be revolted by it. Yet instead of trying to hurt them as he had the first time she had met him, he instead seemed curious. Cautious certainly, but curious. Was this some kind of trend that ran in families of rich people with class obsession? Maybe they were all secretly curious about the way the people they were supposed to dislike lived at some point in their lives, then had it squashed out of them as they aged. She wondered if it was anything like how lower-class workers wondered what rich people's lives were like.

"Well, I think the best way I can explain it is that it's the process of picking through someone's memories. It's not mind reading, which is hearing someone's thoughts in the present as they happen. Legilimancy involves going through layers of peoples' memories and often seeing flashes of them, little snatches of their past that may or may not be helpful to you. Really accomplished legilimens can tell when someone is lying to them, unless the person is trained to resist it. The full potential of it actually isn't known, because it's such a difficult skill. It's much more complicated, and is extremely high level and difficult magic. Which is why I'm impressed that she," Regulus nodded towards Zia "was doing it without even knowing."

"I think I understand what you're talking about. She does seem to be able to see right through almost anybody. I include myself in that, and obviously she got to my father as well. But if you say that really accomplished legilimens can do the things that come naturally to her, then what would happen if she was trained in it?" Riddle asked Regulus.

"I'm not sure. At the very least, she would be able to call up those abilities on command, and be able to do it more accurately and efficiently because she would know where her energies are meant to be directed. I can try to help train her, I've had some practice with it, but she's already above my level," Regulus explained. Zia sat calmly, observing the two men as they discussed her abilities. The tension that had been there when they first met had basically evaporated. They would certainly be an interesting pair of friends.

"If I make these look like clothes, but the materials are things that weren't made to be clothes…does it count as clothes or not?" Zia muttered to herself. She had been gifted with a small towel and a small window curtain by Regulus and was working to fashion a new outfit for Posey out of these materials. Riddle and Regulus both looked over at her, then Regulus began to chuckle heartily at the unusual timing of her remark. Tom Riddle joined him and Zia smiled. "Really you two, I think it is a perfectly valid question. I have to go pick up Tom and I told him I'd have something new for Pozey to wear when he came home."

"It might be good to make it not in the complete form of clothes, just to be safe," Regulus told her. She nodded and it was quickly finished up.

"I'm going to go now, but I'll be back after he's asleep," she said and left.

She gently placed Tom down on his bed. He'd picked an interesting room to be his. It reminded her of how the ceiling of the great hall at Hogwarts was enchanted to look like the sky outside, except the effect was placed on all the walls of the room as well as the ceiling and the inside of the door. Only the floor was exempt, giving the room the feeling of being suspended in midair. At night, it was like standing in a cloud of stars. It was incredible. The furniture was very simple and basic, done in sturdy oak wood.

"I love you Tom," she whispered softly, then tucked the blankets over him and kissed his forehead. His face when she'd shown him the makeshift dress she'd created for Pozey had been priceless, but had been usurped by his declaration that he wanted to make something for Pozey to wear as well. So after they'd brainstormed out a list of materials he would like to use for his creation, she'd written his choices onto a list for them to either find around the house or get themselves. He was quite creative.

The list included materials such as sponges, a shower curtain, and even a tent. Zia wasn't sure what exactly his plans were for the materials yet, but she loved to encourage his creativity into positive channels. He'd started out so closed off from the rest of the world, it made her smile to see him so eager to do things for others. She turned to leave the room but felt a little hand tug on her pinky finger.

"I love you too Mama," Tom whispered, then he curled up. Shortly after, she heard his breathing fall into the smooth pattern of sleep. She smiled, simply stood there for a little while to gaze at the stars all around her, then located the door and left the room.

"I've heard that you're a reformed man, Tom Riddle Senior," Regulus Black said smoothly, studying the man sitting at an angle to him. Zia was still with little Tom, and Regulus couldn't hold it back any longer.

"It was a gradual change. Gradual, but powerful," Riddle replied calmly, fixing his own gaze shrewdly on Regulus' face. Regulus laughed quietly.

"People like us don't change that fast unless we have a very compelling reason to do so," he replied.

"Us?" Riddle asked him quietly.

"Yes. I too am a reformed man. I wonder whose change was more drastic. I won't tell you what kinds of pastimes I was raised on, or what kind of participatory role you might have played," Regulus told him. He kept the ice out of his voice. Riddle's eyebrows raised.

"Oh? Is this…perhaps…a veiled threat?"

"You know where I'm going with this. I've had a lot of things to think about, I've opened myself up to being around people I'd never considered people. And although it has been new and difficult, I feel better about myself because I've been strong enough to break out of the mold I was raised in. But I wouldn't have done it if not for her," Regulus told him.

"It is the same on my side," Tom replied. "And?"

"What made your reason so compelling?" Regulus sat back in his chair, studying Riddle, comparing him to himself. They were alike in so many ways, and yet so different.

"Zia."

"There it is," Regulus said simply. "I'm going to say this now, and I'm only going to say it once. Zia and her son are no fools, and the boy is as protective over her as she is over him. You and I both know they're not actually related, but they're a better family than mine is to me. Both of them decided to let me into their family, and I won't let anybody hurt my new family. In the wizarding world, there are families that follow the accepted practices of magic. There are also families that practice dark magic. Mine was one of the latter. I learned a lot from my old family, and I'll use it to protect my new one."

"I see. This is no veiled threat then, it's completely out in the open. Let me make myself clear to you now. I have no intention of harming any of you, and I think you and I both know that even if I did, the consequences for me would be much more severe than anything I could do to you. Zia is not someone that I would harm, and neither is my son." Regulus noted the emphasis that Riddle put on "my" son.

Before the conversation could progress, the sound of Zia's knock drew them both to their feet. As he opened the door to let her in, Regulus glanced over to watch the way Tom Riddle Sr. reacted to her reappearance. He would be friends with the man.

"Regulus…I was wondering," she began after they had all sat back down at the kitchen table. "You said you didn't know much about legilimancy, or what might happen if I were to learn it. Do you…well do you know someone who might know something more about this? I just don't want to accidentally harm someone if I try to learn it without knowing more information about why I might be strangely good at it." Regulus thought something like this might be coming, and so he'd already decided who would be the best person to talk to. The only problem was that he wasn't sure whether or not his old transfiguration teacher would want to help him. He hadn't been a very well-behaved student in Professor Dumbledore's class.