AN: Enjoy. Love y'all ! I'm gonna miss u so much.
daylight – taylor swift
"threw out our cloaks and our daggers because it's morning now, it's brighter now."
Epilogue (or The Five Proposals)
October 20, 1980
Sofia and Regulus didn't see British soil again for over a year. They watched from afar as things deteriorated in their homeland but took some relief in the fact that they were trying to do their part by finding a way to destroy the locket.
The news that Regulus Black had defected from the Death Eaters and been killed in retaliation got spread around maybe a couple of months after they left England. Regulus was fine with people believing it.
The only person back in England he somewhat felt he owed any sort of explanation to was Eliana Travers. She had been completely in the dark about everything, she believed Regulus had ditched her the night before their wedding, and then she thought he'd died.
Regulus might not have particularly liked her but he wasn't completely heartless. Truthfully, he had barely spared her a thought when he'd made plans with Sofia after Travers had died. He thought about contacting her in some way to apologise but any form of contact would reveal he was very much alive. And he didn't exactly trust her to keep that information to herself.
He'd forgotten about her mostly, afterwards. It wasn't until he'd gotten this letter maybe a year ago that he'd thought of her again.
Reg,
My uncle came to visit today and he said it was true you'd been killed for attempting to desert the Death Eaters. I tried to tell him it wasn't true. That you'd never do that. But I've been thinking and maybe you would do it. I wish you would've told me. I would've gone with you. I've never really cared that much about the war, I just wanted to be with you. Maybe I should've made that clearer before.
I don't know if you heard, but my brother is dead. Losing you both at the same time was... I don't even know what to call it. It was hell. I think Mother already has another suitor lined up for me. But I know he won't be you.
Anyway, I don't even know why I'm writing this. I think there's still a small part of me that believes you can't be dead. I'm only sending it because I can't bear to look at this parchment anymore. If you are alive, I know you're probably with her, and I hope you're happy. Truly.
Love,
Eliana
It made Regulus's heart twist into knots. He might not have been in love with her, but she didn't deserve this. Especially since he had been the reason she had lost her brother.
He'd sat on the letter for a year. The visit to England was meant to be brief. After a lot of trial and error with the Horcrux, he and Sofia had decided to try to procure some Basilisk venom, which, needless to say, wasn't exactly easy to come by. They had tried so many things already, but none of them had worked.
Now they were in England because some potioneer had assured them he had a Basilisk fang, and would be willing to sell it for a small fortune. Regulus was highly skeptical of this, since Basilisks were extremely rare creatures and no one had even seen one in half a century. But Sofia seemed optimistic, and Regulus didn't want to take this away from her. She needed a win.
And even if the fang turned out to be a fake, Sofia had gotten to see Sirius again. That was worth it.
"I don't think you should try to contact her," Sofia said, jolting Regulus out of his thoughts.
They were sitting on a rickety old bench in a near-empty parking lot, waiting for the man with the Basilisk fang, like this was some backdoor drug deal.
Sofia was looking at the piece of parchment sticking out of Regulus's pocket. "But... I could try if you wanted."
He smiled softly. "No, it's better this way. For everyone's safety. Including hers. She'll be alright. She's stronger than she knows."
Sofia leaned against his shoulder. She was tired from the trip and slightly jet-lagged. "Yeah, you're right." She snorted. "I can't believe I feel bad for your fiancée."
"Ex-fiancée."
"I mean... you never actually broke up with her, you just disappeared on her so..."
Regulus made a pained noise at the back of his throat and Sofia could tell he was starting to feel guilty again. "Not that this is your fault! It's Travers's. You did what you could."
Regulus sighed. He wrapped an arm around Sofia's waist and pulled her closer. She nuzzled into his neck.
"It's hard to believe I was so close to marrying her," Regulus said, mostly just thinking out loud.
Sofia snorted. "Yeah, well I'm glad you didn't. It would've ruined the sanctity of marriage thoroughly from me."
Regulus considered her words in silence for a few seconds. "So... you do still believe in the sanctity of marriage?"
"Oh. Well... no, not really. I mean, I'm not opposed to it. But like, my parents... I don't think their marriage ever meant much to either of them, and then the whole thing with you and Eliana just sort of... left a bad taste in my mouth about marriage. But I guess that'll fade with time. Anyway... I guess when and if the time is right, it'd be cool to get married. Why? Are you proposing?"
Her tone was teasing but something inside Regulus shifted. They were nineteen, and although the war had made a lot of people rush to marry, he agreed with Sofia about the whole thing with Eliana leaving a bad taste in his mouth about marriage.
They had plenty of time. But right then, Regulus knew he'd marry Sofia Bessonova one day.
November 1, 1981
"Are you okay?" Sofia was looking at him with a frown on her face.
Regulus took a deep breath. Did he really look that nervous? He ran a hand through his hair. Sofia's mother had given him the ring four months ago when they had visited over the summer. It had only been the second time Regulus had met the woman, so he had been rightly surprised when she'd shoved the simple gold band with a tasteful diamond on the front at him and told him it was about time he proposed.
It's not like they had never talked about marriage before. He and Sofia had lived together for over two years (or as Sofia's Cuban grandma liked to say, living in sin). They were practically a married couple. But marriage was still a touchy subject. Even if he had never actually gotten married to Eliana.
Whenever he brought it up, Sofia had taken it as a joke. He was slightly scared she'd take it as such now.
He cleared his throat. "I'm fine. There was just... something I wanted to tell you."
Sofia sat up, putting her book down and removing her feet from his lap. He looked around at their tiny house. He had never lived in a place that felt so... homey. He'd take this house in the middle of Siberia over Grimmauld Place any day. He hoped to god he wasn't ruining all this with a ring.
He looked at Sofia and felt a wave of just... pure love hit him. It was hard to believe she was still there. When he had fallen in love with her at sixteen, he'd never in his wildest dreams thought she'd still be with him at twenty.
Sofia looked at him expectantly.
He stood up. Took her by the hand and pulled her up so she stood in front of him. "I... you know I'm not great with words but I... I need you to know just how grateful I am to have you in my life every day. Sometimes I look at you and I can't believe you're here and you're real, and you want to be with me. You're all I ever wanted, Sofia. You're all I will ever want. And I will consider myself the luckiest man if I get to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you so goddamned much... and—"
He'd just been reaching for the ring when he got cut off by their owl flying through the window. He would've ignored it, but Sofia had gone directly to it. Regulus couldn't help but wonder if she'd gone to get the owl just so he wouldn't finish his sentence.
Sofia gasped as she read the letter. She looked up at Regulus, a distressed look on her face. "It's... it's Sirius," she choked out. "We have to go."
December 25, 1982
He waited over a year to ask again. A lot of things had happened during that time. Since Voldemort was gone, and the Death Eaters had disbanded, Sofia and Regulus were free to do pretty much whatever. Go wherever. They went back to England for a while. Sofia had wanted to find out what exactly had happened with Sirius. She had been in denial about his double-crossing for a long time... Regulus wasn't sure what to think. She tried hard to go see him in Azkaban, but they wouldn't let her.
All in all, it had been an emotionally trying year for Sofia. She had lost her best friend of eight years.
They had ended up moving to Moscow. Sofia had wanted to go to America, where her family had moved after her mum got a job offer at a small ballet company in Los Angeles. But at sixteen, Sofia's sister had decided that she wanted to go to Russia to study ballet as her mother had years ago. Ms Montaño hadn't wanted to let Natasha go because they had no family in Moscow, and she thought Natasha was too young to go by herself. There had been a lot of fighting but ultimately, Sofia had volunteered to go to Moscow with Natasha. Of course, she had asked Regulus if he'd be willing to go too but he had said he'd go where she went.
So, they got a nice little place in Moscow where they stayed with Natasha.
Regulus felt like a year was enough time for things to get settled. So, he fidgeted with the ring in his pocket as he watched Sofia making Ivan's new model rocket fly around the room. Ivan was a little too old now at eleven to be as easily amused by his sister's magic but he still looked at the rocket with a smile on his face.
Sofia noticed Regulus standing out on the terrace and went over to him. "Whatcha doing?"
Regulus smiled. "Just enjoying the view." He nodded towards the ocean stretching out in front of them. They only went to Cuba on Christmas, but Regulus liked it. It was the perfect place to propose. With Sofia's family there.
He faced Sofia. "There's something that I wanted to—"
"We can't get married!" Sofia blurted out.
Regulus frowned. "What?"
Sofia grimaced. "I'm sorry! Natasha told me she saw the ring in your suitcase. It's not that I don't want to marry you per se..."
Regulus didn't know what to say. "Right..."
Sofia looked conflicted. "I mean, yeah, in theory, I would love to marry you. You know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you and that I am fully committed to this relationship. You know that full well. I just... you know marriage is a bit of a sore spot for me. You literally broke up with me to marry some other girl."
Shit. Shit. He'd thought maybe after over three years, it'd be fine, but he'd clearly miscalculated. "You know that wasn't—"
Sofia waved him off. "I know! I know. It's not your fault, but it still happened!" She looked at her hands. "And... okay, there's another reason too."
Regulus frowned. Jesus, now it'd be impossible to get married if there was yet another reason that he didn't even know about.
Sofia looked up at him. "I... I'm pregnant."
Regulus felt like he'd just had the wind knocked out of him. "What?"
"I am three months pregnant."
He couldn't help glancing down at her stomach, which looked normal as ever. "Three months?"
"Yeah, well... you know my periods have always been irregular so at first I didn't think—"
He cut her off with a kiss. "I never... I never thought I'd have kids."
Sofia frowned. "Weren't you the one supposed to carry on the Black bloodline or something? Or am I mistaking you for someone else?"
He chuckled. "What I mean is... I never thought I'd be excited to have kids. I'm... I'm so fucked up, I've never thought I'd make a good parent."
"Well... you're gonna be a fucking amazing dad. I know it."
He smiled at her. "Even if I'm not... I know you'll be a good enough mother for both of us. What I don't get though, is why this means we can't get married."
Sofia bit her lip. "Well... we only have six months to prepare... there won't be enough time to plan an entire wedding. Not to mention I don't want to get married once I start... showing. Better after the kid is born."
"You do realise we can get engaged and then marry at any point in the future, right?"
Sofia wrinkled her nose. "I don't really want a long engagement. It would stress me out. I'd start getting worried you're planning on running off with another broad or something," she smiled. "Let's just wait a while, okay? It's not like we aren't practically married already."
Regulus pulled her into him and kissed the top of her head. He exhaled. "Whatever you want, love."
June 9, 1987
Sofia had been right. Six months had barely been enough time to prepare for the arrival of the human child they had created.
They ended up moving to Los Angeles, to be close to Sofia's family. Their house was in a nice Muggle neighbourhood. After Voldemort had been defeated, they still had tried to destroy the Horcrux, but after they found out about the pregnancy, they had mutually decided it was best to leave that business aside for the time-being. Their tries at destroying the Horcrux hadn't been exactly safe, and they had both ended up hurt more than once. And with a baby in the picture, there was no way they could still do all that. So, Regulus hid the Horcrux in the now abandoned Grimmauld Place, in a safe his father had charmed and was pretty impenetrable.
"Jesus Christ, children are disgusting," Sofia said as she shoved something Regulus couldn't quite see into a trash bag.
It had been Aliona's fourth birthday today. She was going through a phase where she wanted glitter on anything and everything. So, the cleanup effort was painstaking. Their house would probably be covered in glitter for the next fifty years.
"Let's take a break," Regulus said.
He took Sofia by the hand and led her to the sofa. She snuggled into his side with a deep sigh. "Will you marry me?" Regulus asked, almost without thinking.
Sofia took a pause and turned to search his face. "What, no lead-up this time? That's probably a good idea actually, you sneaky fucker."
Regulus laughed softly. "Well, this is the first time you actually let me get the words out, so I'm already counting it as a success."
Sofia smiled. She sighed.
A door clicked open from somewhere behind them.
"What are you doing up, munchkin?" Sofia asked upon seeing Aliona's small figure.
Aliona rubbed her eyes. "I can't sleep. I'm still too excited."
She walked up to them and Sofia moved so that her daughter could climb up to Regulus's lap and lay herself on his chest. He ran a hand through his kid's long dark hair.
"Daddy's girl," Sofia whispered with a smile. "What do you think, Alionochka? Should I marry daddy?"
Regulus smiled. That was Sofia's way of saying yes. She wouldn't have asked Aliona if she weren't going to say yes.
Aliona perked up. "Yes! It's still my birthday, mommy, you have to say yes! Or daddy will cry."
Sofia laughed. "Oh, we wouldn't want that, would we?" She turned to Regulus. "If the kid wills it... then, yes, kotik, I will marry you."
August 16, 1993
Sofia had once told Regulus that she didn't want a long engagement. But that was just what she ended up getting.
After Regulus had finally successfully gotten her to say yes, Sofia had declared that she wanted to get married in England. Because that was where they were from and where their relationship had started. Regulus would've married her wherever.
Unfortunately, going back to England was not all that easy. After celebrating their engagement a little too hard, Sofia had ended up getting pregnant again. Which delayed their marriage indefinitely.
Regulus never thought this would be the way they'd finally return to England though. In fact, he wasn't all that sure what was Sofia's endgame here. She had insisted on coming after getting the news about Sirius escaping Azkaban.
It was their last day there before returning to America that Regulus took his family to a nice little park he hadn't set foot on in over ten years. He watched as Aliona and Valentina played a few feet away from him and Sofia. He hoped it looked like he'd chosen the bench casually.
"You know, this is the spot where I first realised I loved you," he said.
Sofia turned to him with a surprised look on her face. "Why do you say things like that without warning? It makes me feel like a blushing sixteen-year-old schoolgirl again."
Regulus smiled. "Shit. I just realised I've loved you half my life."
"When was this realisation again? I don't remember," Sofia said with a frown.
"Easter, '78. You bought me strawberry ice cream and we played with those stray kittens right on this bench."
Sofia nodded with a smile, remembering. "And one of them scratched you. Yeah. Did you even get that rabies shot I told you to get? I just realised you never told me."
Regulus chuckled. "I think I took a potion."
"I feel like I would've remembered you telling me you loved me that day though."
"Well, of course I didn't tell you. I wasn't even sure you actually even liked me back then. But it's a funny coincidence though. Because this was the place where you first told me you loved me."
Sofia's brows went up. "Oh... yeah. That summer. Before..."
"Yeah... that's why I figured this would be a good place to ask..." he stood, taking a little black box out of his pocket. He got down on one knee in front of her. "Will you marry me?"
Sofia frowned. "Funny, I would've sworn we were engaged already."
"I thought six years owed a re-proposal."
"MOMMY, DADDY ARE YOU GETTING MARRIED?"
Their five-year-old shrieked as she ran towards them at top speed. She wrapped her tiny arms around Regulus's neck, who still knelt.
Sofia raised a knowing brow and exchanged a look with Regulus. She'd figured it out. Aliona constantly enjoyed annoying her sister with the story of how she'd been there when their parents got engaged, and Valentina didn't like to show it, but she was always a bit upset she hadn't been there.
Sofia smiled at her daughter. "Well, I haven't said yes, Valya. What do you think?"
Valentina started jumping up and down. "Yesyesyesyes!"
"Alright, it seems like both our kids want us to get married so I guess I will marry you, kotik."
Regulus grinned as he slipped the ring onto her finger.
"I'm not getting married unless I get asked four times like you, mommy," Valentina said.
Sofia laughed.
July 12, 1994
This time it was, let's wait until we find Sirius.
Sofia felt kind of bad. She had made Regulus wait almost thirteen years now. She wasn't even sure what was the reason anymore. Yes, it had taken her a long time to get over the whole he-ditched-me-to-marry-some-other-bitch thing, but time had healed those wounds long ago by now.
She had truly meant to actually follow through with the wedding the last time. She'd just been constantly worried about Sirius. She had never believed he'd done it. But there was nothing she could do. No one would listen to her. Especially not based on nothing but her gut feelings and the fact that she knew her friend, and he would've never betrayed his best friends, or killed innocent Muggles.
She had written to Sirius many times while he had been in prison. She had never gotten an answer. So she'd never even been sure he got her letters. She tried to write again after he escaped Azkaban. Even as unlikely as it seemed he would get those letters.
Then, she'd gotten one letter. It had been short. Need to leave the country, lay low for a while. It's okay if you can't help. Just thought I'd try. No names. Just those short sentences. Sofia had immediately offered her and Regulus's holiday home in the Bahamas, just a short boat ride away from the Cuban coast.
She hadn't gotten a reply back. But she had stared at the coast every day hoping to see him materialise out of nowhere.
She was sitting on a deck chair out on the beach when she spotted something odd in the sky. Too big to be a bird. A hippogriff. Her heart lept to her chest as she rose from her seat. She dropped her wand once she realised it was who she thought. Her eyes brimmed with tears.
The hippogriff landed softly on the sand. The man who climbed down from its back was someone completely different from who she knew once. He was only thirty-three but the lines on his face aged him. He was scarily thin, his hair long as ever but unkept. His roes ragged.
Sofia walked as fast as her shaking legs could carry her. She didn't speak as she reached him. They looked at each other for a long moment. It was clear neither could quite believe what they were seeing. Then Sofia smiled and she gingerly wrapped her arms around his neck. She could feel his bones jutting out beneath his clothes and Sofia wanted to sob, to wrap him up in a blanket and never let him go, to punch someone in the face.
He took a second, but Sirius eventually returned her hug. His breathing was ragged. "You-you know? You know I didn't—"
"Remus wrote to me," she said softly. "But I've always known. I didn't know if you'd... killed anyone but I knew there was no way you were working for Voldemort. I wrote to you, while you were in Azkaban."
"They never gave me anything. I'm sorry."
Sofia sniffled. "Why are you sorry? This wasn't your fault. I'm sorry. I should've done more to... to try and get you a fair trial."
He shook his head. "It's okay, Sonya." He went quiet. "I missed you. So much."
"Moooom, Valya's being annoying!"
Sofia pulled away from Sirius as her eleven-year-old ran up from behind her and wrapped her arms around Sofia's middle. Sofia chuckled. "Um... this is Aliona." She shifted so Sirius could look at her daughter. "Alionochka, this is your Uncle Sirius."
Sirius smiled. There was an underlying sadness in his eyes, but he seemed genuinely happy to see Aliona. "It's very nice to meet you, Aliona."
Aliona tried to hide behind her mum. "Hi."
"You look just like your father," Sirius said.
Aliona smiled. "Everyone says that."
"MOOOOOM," Valentina's voice came from a few metres away. "Don't listen to Alionka, I didn't do anything!"
Sirius chuckled. He turned to look in Valentina's direction. Regulus carried her while she clung to his neck like a monkey.
"She was determined to come tell you that," Regulus said as he approached them. He set his daughter down and turned to his brother. "Hello."
Sirius smiled. "It's good to see you, Reggie." He wrapped his brother into a hug.
"Come inside," Sofia said. "There's so much to talk about."
Sirius looked at the house and let out a low whistle. "This is your holiday house? I'm assuming that Black inheritance came through."
Sofia grinned. Just happy to have him back. "Actually, we left most of that money for you, since you couldn't work while in prison. This is all potioneer money, baby."
Sirius's brows raised in surprise. "I knew you'd never be able to leave your precious potions behind."
He was right. As much as Sofia had once insisted she'd leave the wizarding world behind, potions were the only thing she was really good at. And when she realised being that good at it paid so well... she couldn't have chosen anything else.
She bumped Sirius's shoulder. There was her best friend.
It was a couple of weeks later that Sofia brought Regulus out to the beach while the sun set. Sirius had been staying with them in the house during that time and Sofia felt happy. Fulfilled. He got along great with the girls and he looked a lot healthier. And Sofia was working on getting him a lawyer back in England.
"The girls seem to really like Sirius," Regulus said. He held Sofia's hand as they walked down the beach back to the house.
"Yeah... who would've thought we'd get a live-in babysitter out of this deal." Sofia came to a halt. She turned to Regulus. "Hey, there's something I wanted to tell you."
Regulus nodded for her to go ahead.
Sofia felt a rush of nerves in her stomach. She was being ridiculous. This was her partner of almost sixteen years. "You know I love you a lot, and I feel really bad about how... fussy I've been about getting married. And I've never wanted you to think that I don't want to marry you because I do. Like, I really, really do. And I'm definitely always joking when I say I'm scared you'll run off with another broad the moment we start planning our wedding...
"And there have been so many things that have gotten in the way, but I'm done waiting for the timing to be perfect, because with our track record, it's never going to be. So... I guess what I'm trying to say is that... I want to marry you, no matter who attends our wedding, no matter where it takes place."
Regulus looked at her tenderly and nodded. "Yes, whatever you want, love. I'd marry you anywhere. And hey, if you're still not sure about getting married... that's okay. We don't have to get married. Not ever, if that's what you want."
Sofia smiled. He was too good. "That's just the thing. I do want to marry you, and honestly, I'm tired of the event having such a chokehold on me. I'm beyond done. So... I wanted to ask you," she took his hand. "Will you marry me... right now?"
Regulus's eyes went wide. "What?"
Sofia pulled him the last few feet to their house and stopped at the entrance to their backyard. "Just answer the question. Would you marry me right now?"
He gaped at her. "Yes, Sofia, I would marry you right now."
She grinned. "Great! Otherwise, this would've been real awkward when we got home."
She opened the door to the backyard, where their family stood. Sofia's mum and her husband, Roman and his wife. Natasha, Vanya. Her Uncle Vova, Aunt Alisa, her cousins. Sirius, in his dog form, for safety, but there. And a couple of other friends they had made along the way.
Their kids rushed to them. Bouquets of flowers in their hands. Sofia and Regulus hugged them fiercely.
A priest from Sofia's family's church stood at the end of the yard.
Sofia took the bouquet from Valentina. She turned to Regulus. "You ready?"
He smiled. "I'm ready if you are."