Tomorrow Never Came
Chapter 11

"Hi Mum!" Ren called out as she stepped through the front door, her voice echoing through the foyer of her parent's town house. She wiped her heeled ankle boots on the welcome mat before turning, juggling the shopping bag in her arms, in order to close the door behind her. "Mum?" Ren shouted again when she received no reply.

"Hiya love!" A muffled voice sounded from up the stairs on Ren's right. "I'll be down in a minute!"

"Okay," Ren called back before making her way through the hallway into the welcoming kitchen.

Emmett and Violet Gallagher had retired from running the Dozing Dragon four years ago, leaving Ren's brother Ollie and his wife Elle to look after the pub. Since then the couple had moved into a quiet town house in Oxford and were enjoying their well-earned retirement.

It was the following Thursday after Ren had spent Sunday dinner at the Burrow, and she thought she had better stop by and have a catch up with her parents. Merlin knew Violet would be on her case if she didn't.

Upon entering the kitchen Ren dumped the shopping bag full of groceries on the counter, relieved to be free of the weight. When visiting her parents, she preferred not turn up empty handed, just to save them the trouble of having to go to the shops. After filling the kettle and setting it to boil, Ren began to unload the groceries, and as she did so her mother waltzed into the room with an empty laundry basket under her arm.

Even though her dark curls had by now began to fade to silver, Violet Gallagher was still a striking woman. Maybe Ren was biased but she thought her mother was still simply stunning. The woman in question smiled warmly at her daughter.

"Hiya petal," She said, reaching up and planting a kiss on Ren's cheek as she passed her.

"You alright?" The younger woman asked as she moved to place a bottle of milk in the fridge.

"Oh yes, your father's been out with Ollie and Annie all morning so I've been very productive. Been able to tidy up without him following me around and making a mess." Violet answered, unable to hide the smile of fondness that graced her lips at the mention of Emmett. Ren chuckled.

"Ahh, so he's been busy being the Worlds' Best Grandad. Even so I'm surprised that he's neglected his duties of winding you up, he usually takes them very seriously."

Annie was Ollie and Elle's four-year-old daughter, and she was a Gallagher through and through with her dark eyes and winning smile. She was adored by her grandparents, as were ten-year-old Lydia and seven-year-old Lucy, the daughters of Ren's sister, Vanessa. Emmett and Violet were everything that could be asked for in grandparents, and Ren could tell it was the best job either of them had ever had.

A part of Ren would always wonder if they were disappointed that she had never ended up having children. Ren still remembered, all those years ago, when she and Sirius had told her parents that she was pregnant. The sheer elation and pure happiness they had radiated had been undeniable. However, Ren also remembered the soul-destroying moment of having to tell them that she'd miscarried after being pushed down the stairs. Well, she remembered Sirius telling them. Ren had simply laid in the hospital bed, a shell of herself.

Though they'd never have said anything, Ren knew that Violet and Emmett, as well as being heartbroken at having to see their daughter go through something so horrific, were disappointed that they'd have to wait a bit longer until they became grandparents. But then after the deaths of James and Lily, and Sirius' imprisonment, the question of Ren having children was never brought up again.

When Nessa and her husband, Ryan, had had their first daughter and her parents finally had a grandchild, it almost felt as if a pressure had been lifted from Ren's shoulders. However, she still always wondered what Violet and Emmett truly thought of her not having children. Practically everyone in the Gallagher family thought it was important to settle down to have babies, after all. But they never dared to ask her about it. In fact, Ren had a feeling there were a lot of questions her parents didn't have the nerve to ask her.

Considering that Ren had ran away to Sweden soon after James and Lily were killed, she was aware that it had been hard for her parents to know their daughter properly as she got older. At the time Ren had truly felt that in order to move on she needed to be alone. Whenever she felt guilty about leaving her family behind Ren tried to remind herself that she was there now, and that was all that mattered.

"Oh, by the way," Violet was saying when Ren eventually resurfaced from her thoughts. "For your birthday-" Merlin give her strength. Ren hadn't been kidding at the Burrow when she'd said that Violet was making up for lost time. "-I think we're going to have a buffet. I mean with the amount of people going-" Oh shit, she still hadn't told her mum about Harry. Or Sirius. Or the extended Weasley clan that she'd invited to the party.

"-Oh Mum, I forgot to tell you." Ren interrupted, deciding to simply get it over and one with. If there was one thing Ren had learnt as she'd got older it was that there was no point in beating around the bush. She swallowed nervously. Violet quirked an eyebrow, interested. "-I've invited-" However the fireplace at the other end of the kitchen bursting into green flames succeeded in cutting her off. 'Wonderful' Ren thought, and at that moment her sister, Vanessa, stepped out of the fireplace.

"Ness! I forgot you were stopping by." Violet gushed as she rushed over to the blonde witch. Wearing a fitted purple dress and heeled sandals, Vanessa embraced her mother with a smile.

Despite retaining her rather calculating manner from her teen years, Vanessa had grown into a charming woman who was particularly dedicated to her family. She had married Ryan Hardy, a wizard who worked in the Ministry's Department of International Magical Cooperation, and they now had their two beautiful daughters. She also owned 'Beyond the Ally', a trendy little boutique in Diagon Ally, seemingly proving that a witch could indeed have it all.

"Hi Mum," Vanessa greeted as she hugged Violet, spotting Ren as she did so. "Oh, hey there to Muggle Melody's hottest new DJ," She grinned, and Ren rolled her eyes as she moved to hug the blonde herself.

"Leave it out, Ness." She joked as the sisters embraced.

"How are you?" Vanessa asked.

"Not bad, just thought I'd stop by and see how they're getting on." Ren answered just as two loud cracks, one immediately after the other, sounded from the front room.

"Only us!" Ren recognised her Dad's voice shout.

"In the kitchen love!" Violet hollered back, and moments later in walked Emmett Gallagher. His dark eyes, identical to Ren's, crinkled as he smiled upon seeing his daughters stood with their mother. Despite the initial irritation of the interruption, Ren felt herself relaxing with her father's presence. The tall, sandy haired Gallagher patriarch was likely to help diffuse any tension that may come from the bombshell Ren was about to drop.

Behind Emmett was Ollie Gallagher. The thirty-four was the youngest of the Gallagher siblings, and like his father he was tall with dark eyes, but his hair was chocolate brown with an unusual auburn tint to it. With his chiselled features, Ollie was very striking to look at, and he had been rather popular with the ladies before he had settled down with Elle.

"Hi Darling," Violet greeted her son, bypassing her husband in order to wrap her arms around Ollie. Emmett grinned as he moved over to his girls, first embracing Ness before moving on to Ren. She found herself clinging to her father for longer than may have been necessary, Ollie explaining to Violet that they had dropped Annie back off at home before arriving was just white noise in the background.

"You alright, love?" Emmett asked Ren softly, always able to tell when something was wrong.

"Mm-hm," She murmured in response. Taking a deep breath as she released her father, ignoring the chatter between her mother and siblings, and opened her mouth. "Harry found me a few weeks ago." She blurted out. At her words the room fell silent and all eyes were now on Ren as she cleared her throat. There was no need to for them to ask 'Harry who?'. They all immediately knew who she meant.

"He found me, and he wants me to be in his life, so we've been meeting up and I've invited him to my birthday." To say Ren felt awkward was an understatement. Four pairs of eyes were gaping at her with various degrees of shock, and Ren could understand why. She never spoke about her 'old life'. Ollie was the first to break the silence.

"But that's great, Ren!" He grinned at her. "You loved that kid like he was your own." Ren tried to smile but it felt more like a grimace, what with children of her own were a touchy subject.

"I agree!" Vanessa chimed. "To be honest I'm surprised it's taken this long. I know Dumbledore thought Harry shouldn't be raised in the Wizarding World, but I never understood why you didn't find him yourself after he started Hogwarts."

Silence engulfed the room once again, only this time it truly was suffocating and all eyes were now on Vanessa. Ren attempted to swallow her rage. It wasn't Vanessa's fault. Ren had never told her family the whole story…

"I didn't go to Harry-" Ren began, trying to remain calm but failing miserably. The shaking of her voice was evident. "-because Dumbledore made me take an Unbreakable Vow."

"He did what?" Emmett asked after a beat, sounding completely aghast. The looks on her families faces made Ren's gaze plummet to the ground. Vanessa looked mortified. Ollie looked disturbed. Emmett looked angry. But Violet was the worst. Her mother looked heartbroken.

"Dumbledore didn't think me being in Harry's life would be good for him," Ren said before swallowing deeply. "He thought being associated with someone…" She trailed off. "-Someone with a history like mine-" She eventually settled on. "-Would be too difficult. But I guess he didn't trust that I'd listen to him so he made me take an Unbreakable Vow to stay away from Harry either until he came of age or he found me by himself."

Her explanation was met with yet more silence. Ren hadn't realised that she had backed as far away from her family as possible and was now positioned by the kitchen door, subconsciously ready to bolt out of the room at any given moment. She couldn't believe she was finally explaining this to her family, eighteen years later. Ren felt conflicted. While she had wanted to tell her family that Harry was back in her life, she was angry that a part of that involved digging up the painful past.

There was a reason Ren had kept it from them. She knew it would upset them. "That's why I stayed away from him." She spat suddenly, her anger prickling. "I didn't just abandon Harry to those his awful relatives and move on, as you seem to think. I had no choice. I know I wasn't open with you all about this but Jesus Christ, if that's what you think of me-"

"-Ren it's not! I didn't mean it like that!" Vanessa pleaded but Ren ignored her.

"I know none of you really understood why I disappeared off to Sweden but it's because of this! I bet you all thought that together you could get me through what happened, but it was so much more than that! How could I stay here when I had given up and let Harry be taken from me? People thought I had something to do with James and Lily's deaths, that I was in on it, but that didn't hurt as much as when I looked in the mirror and saw someone who let that baby get taken away."

"You did fight Ren! I know I was just a kid but I remember you fighting tooth and nail to get Harry!" Ollie pleaded with her.

"You took Veritaserum." Emmett stated stoically.

"And it wasn't enough," Ren shrugged, trying to sound casual despite the angst she felt at the thought. "Being here was always a reminder of that. I couldn't just go back to my life, I needed to start over. That's why I left."

The silence that followed was palpable. This was not how she had envisioned this trip to her parents going.

Ren found it impossible to meet anyone's gaze, not only because her family looked distraught, but also because an immense feeling of guilt was starting to creep over her. She should have shared this with them long ago, that way there may not have been an undertone of resentment lacing her words. Resentment for whom, however, Ren wasn't sure. "Guys I'm sorry," She said after a deep sigh. "Truth be told this whole situation is a mess and I've got no idea how to deal with it." Ren tentatively looked at her mother, and Violet was smiling sympathetically.

"Why does it have to be a mess though, darling?" The woman asked, moving over to Ren and wrapping her arms around her daughter. Ren felt an ounce of tension leaving her body. "I know this must be an… unusual situation to find yourself in-" 'Understatement of the century,' Ren thought to herself at her mother's words. "-because it's definitely not what any of us envisioned for Harry and yourself, but the fact of the matter is that you've found each other again, after everything both of you have been through, and you're starting your relationship properly from here. Why does that have to be difficult? He'll come to the party and you'll have a great time together." Violet drew back and looked up at her daughter, cupping her face in her hands.

"Because it's not just Harry I've invited." Ren said through gritted teeth as she pulled away from Violet. By now Emmett, Vanessa and Ollie had encircled the two women. "Part of being in Harry's life means his friends and family are also in mine," Ren began. "Obviously you guys will have heard about Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, they helped Harry win the war after all." Everyone nodded. "Well, I met them and Ron's family and I've invited them too."

"Well that'll be lovely having them too." Violet soothed. Ren resisted letting out a frustrated sigh. Did she really think that was why Ren was getting so worked up?!

"For the love of God," She muttered to herself before blurting out; "Sirius is coming too!"

"What?!" Violet, Emmett, Vanessa and Ollie all exclaimed in unison after a pregnant pause.

"Harry lives with him, so obviously I'd have to see him at some point. I mean let's face it, we all know what Sirius is up to nowadays. I could pick up that Daily Prophet-" Ren pointed to a newspaper lying on the kitchen table. "-and probably find an article about him in there somewhere. I know you'll all have your thoughts about him. Just because none of you have mentioned him too me in eighteen years, which I do appreciate by the way, doesn't mean you won't have opinions on him. But if I want to be in Harry's life then that involves Sirius." Ren explained.

"So… you just told Harry to bring him along? Do you really think he'll come?" Ollie asked doubtfully.

"No, I invited him myself."

"You've seen him?! When?" Vanessa questioned, her fair brows furrowing.

"A few times, actually." Ren shifted uncomfortably. "The first time was on the… eleventh." She said, trying to recall the timeline correctly. "Then we went out for a drink to… I don't know, discuss everything that had happened and acknowledge that we were both only there for Harry." Ren tactfully left out the bit about the sex. "And then I went over to the Weasleys family home on Sunday. He was there, and that was where I invited everyone. Remus was there too…"

At the mention of Remus, Ren saw the look in Violet's blue eyes soften. She obviously remembered how important that friendship had been to her daughter.

"Wait, the eleventh? I saw you right after that! Why didn't you tell me?" Vanessa demanded, to which Ren rolled her eyes.

"If I'm honest Ness, letting you know was probably the last thing on my mind. I was too busy trying not to have a breakdown over the fact that I'd seen my ex-boyfriend for the first time in eighteen years, after spending the entirety of that time hating him because I thought he had betrayed us and was responsible for the deaths of my two best mates, which lead to my life falling apart, only to discover in the end that he was completely innocent." She snapped, and there was another uncomfortable pause.

"Fair enough." Emmett eventually said.

"Right, I'm telling you all this because I really want to be more open with you guys then I have been in the past." Ren explained, "But also because I'm well aware that after everything I went through, his fault or not, you all probably hate Sirius."

"I mean yeah, but can you really blame us though, Ren?" Ollie asked, sheepishly.

"Not at all," Ren admitted. "But the fact of the matter is that you guys can't treat him like that when you see him. We've come to terms and accepted our past, and we've agreed to move forward. You've all got to do the same." Four pairs of eyes were staring at Ren. There were various looks of annoyance and guilt in them, but Violets were glistening with pride. She clasped her daughter's hands between her own and gave them a reassuring squeeze.

"You're right, love." She told her before engulfing Ren in a hug. "Of course, you're right. When did you get so bloody wise and mature? You're making me proud."

"It'll be a clean slate for all of us," Emmett agreed, squeezing Ren's shoulder affectionately. "Right guys?" He nudged Ollie and Nessa, who each agreed, albeit somewhat reluctantly on the blonde witch's part.

"Thank you, if only for Harrys sake it's really important to me." Ren smiled, a sense of relief overcoming her. "Oh, one more thing," She added quickly, "I'm going to need one of you to tell any other family members that are coming, especially Aunty Brenda." Ren resisted shuddering at the thought of her formidable aunts' wrath. "Telling you guys was hard enough but if I have to explain this to her, I'm pretty sure I won't even live to see my birthday."

-x-

The next day Ren had finished her radio set and was in the Muggle Melody break room, giving her coffee mug a quick rinse before she grabbed her stuff and headed home for the day. Despite the headache she had been carrying since she had woken up, work had gone well. After placing her mug on the draining board, Ren paused and took a moment to reflect on how lucky she was to have gotten this job. She truly loved coming to work, it made her happy. Along with her admission to her family about Harry and Sirius being back in her life, Ren felt more at ease then she had in a long time.

A muffled laugh to her left suddenly caught Ren's attention. The wall separating the break room from the corridor was very modern and made from glass, and it allowed Ren to see Daniel Dalton, the drivetime DJ, chatting away to the station's producer, Wilf. Whatever Daniel was saying must have been very entertaining, as Wilf was laughing loudly.

Ren took in the scene and found herself smiling fondly, as she usually did whenever she was in Wilf's presence. Everyone at Muggle Melody would go to hell and back for that man.

Her attention then shifted to Daniel. Without even realising it Ren admired how the man suavely pushed his brown hair out of his eyes, leaving it to fall back casually as he smiled at Wilf. He did have a nice smile, Ren would give him that.

Suddenly a thought crossed Ren's mind before she could stop it.

She and Sirius had agreed to move on and act as if that night hadn't happened. Sirius had that famous singer, Taylor Tindell, to occupy himself with, and Ren had said she would find someone else… should she give Daniel a try? He was obviously interested. Ren had previously always written the man off due to his reputation in the press, and had subconsciously compared him to Sirius, but… was that really fair?

Regardless of the tabloids, Daniel had always been perfectly friendly to her, and Ren had to admit that she didn't really know the man beyond the brief interactions at work (which usually consisted of Daniel inviting her out for a drink), and listening to his radio slot at home. The man was the epitome of charm, that much was obvious. It was easy for a person to assume they knew a radio host personally, as it was after all part of their jobs to come across as welcoming and friendly, but Ren knew first hand that this wasn't the case.

Was she being too harsh a judge of Daniel before actually getting to know him? Someone being popular with the ladies clearly hadn't stopped Ren in the past.

Before she could ponder the matter any further, the break room door opened and in strolled the man in question himself. Daniel was wearing a crisp, white shirt and fitted black trousers. He looked very elegant, and when he saw Ren, he flashed her his signature grin.

"Hello Ren, fancy seeing you here." Daniel greeted her as he helped himself to a biscuit from the communal biscuit jar. 'Fuck it,'

"Do you want to go for a coffee?" Ren suddenly blurted out. "With me." She felt the need to clarify. 'Smooth.'

At her question, Daniel seemed to be so shocked that slipped between his fingers and he had to fumble to catch it before it hit the ground, succeeding in showering himself with crumbs as he did so.

"Forgive me Ren," Daniel said after a moment as he brushed himself down. "But are you feeling alright?" His crisp, posh accent accentuated his concern. "Because considering that you have denied every request of mine to take you out for a drink, I can't help but query this sudden, shocking invitation." Having seemingly regained his composure, Daniel innocently took a bite from the biscuit, his blue eyes twinkling mischievously at her.

Ren felt herself rolling her own dark eyes in mirth.

"Ha, ha," She said. "I'm fine, thank you for your concern."

"You're welcome." Daniel nodded.

"I've just come to the conclusion that I may have been a bit quick to… deny your requests, when you're obviously very dedicated." Ren shrugged casually, and Daniel chuckled.

"Well I'm very pleased with your realisation, I must say." He said. "And yes, I would love to go for a coffee with you Ren, thank you for asking."

"You're welcome." Ren repeated with the same mock sincere nod that Daniel had given her previously.

"So, when are you thinking?" Daniel asked. "Tomorrow or-"

"Are you free now?" Ren interrupted.

"I am indeed. You're right, it's probably best not to allow you time to change your mind." Daniel joked with a wink.

Well hello there everyone, how the devil are we?

Sorry it's been such a long while since I've updated. On top of trying to finish my uni work, the world actually seems to be ending this year so I've been a bit preocupied, as I'm sure everyone else has too. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I do have another one in the works so hopefully I'll finish that one soon (given that I'm currently not working because of the global pandemic and I literally have nothing else to do all day I really don't have an excuse not to write).

If you enjoyed this chapter PLEASE LEAVE ME A REVIEW. It doesn't matter how long I go between posting I still am, and always will be, a review hungry bitch, so please feed me (unless you thought the chapter was rubbish, in which case don't bother letting me know, I'd rather starve).

In all seriousness though, I hope you and your families are staying safe during this absolutely bizarre time, and that this chapter was able to distract you from all the fear and hatred that we're living amoungst, even if it was just for a little while.

All my love
Eve x

P.S. Sorry if there are any spelling/grammar errors, and PLEASE REVIEW!