The Ancient and Most Noble House Of:

" I felt it move!" Doe said happily, her hand was on Lily's stomach.

Lily smiled, " Isn't it weird? I'll never get used to it?"

They were curled up on Lily's couch, and she had just felt the baby move inside her stomach. It was pouring rain outside and Lily and Doe were spending the afternoon sitting in her house. It was the first weekend day in forever that Moody hadn't had her working. So Lily and Doe decided to spend the day together. She was now five months pregnant and her stomach had swelled. She was still in shock she was having a baby.

" Are you guys excited?" Doe asked Lily, covering her legs with the blanket that was thrown over the side of the couch.

Lily nodded happily, " Beyond excited, James is even more than me. He came home with the cutest little jumpers". Her eyes glistened with excitement while she talked about it.

" You two are going to be such good parents" Doe assured her.

" I hope so" Lily said stroking the side of her stomach, " maybe it'll teach James to grow up a little"

" Aw Lil, James is mature when he needs to be" Doe told her.

She smiled, " I know he is, but sometimes he can be a little ridiculous"

" Thats what you get when you marry a marauder" Doe told her.

She giggled, " This is true"

" Enough of the tales of a pregnant woman" Lily said scooting up, " tell me about your life"

" Lily you know everything about my life" she told her.

She grinned, " How are you and Remus?"

" We're perfect" she responded.

Lily smiled, " You have no idea how happy I am that you two are back together"

" I am too" she said bringing her arms around her knees.

" You two are soulmates, I knew you'd work it out in the end" Lily said.

Doe smiled at her words. Being with Remus was fantastic, and she felt right when he was in her life. The period of time without him felt strange and unfamiliar.

" We need more single girlfriends" Lily said, " we have become positively predictable"

" Lily, we're involved in a secret defense group in the middle of a war, we are anything but predictable" she reminded her.

She laughed, " I guess you're right"

" I always am, Lilykins" she told her with a wide smile.

The door opened and James came in. He was effortlessly dry despite the pouring rain outside. He must have cast a good water repelling charm.

In his hands he clasped the prophet and a box from Honeydukes.

" I brought those Cauldron Cakes you were craving, Lily. Hey Doe" James said slopping into the house and putting the box and prophet down on the coffee table. James leaned down and kissed Lily quickly.

" So what are you guys up too?" James said sitting down on the arm of the couch and hugging Lily.

" Just girl talk" Lily said smiling up at him.

Doe watched them smile at each other. Lily and James were made for each other.

" James, do you mind if I look at this?" Doe asked him, gesturing to the prophet.

James shook his head, " Go ahead"

Lily started telling James something about that she thought there might be a boggart in the upstairs closet.

Doe looked at the prophet. Some of it was pretty unreliable now, but they did manage to get the gist of everything that was going on.

The front page article was the news of an attempted break in at Gringotts. It was a group of young wizards who had foolishly tried to break into the high security vaults and were now being escorted to azkaban.

Doe flipped through the paper and stopped at an article a few pages in.

It's headline was small, but the words were enough to stop her in her tracks.

Youngest Son of the Black Family, Found Dead

Underneath it was a picture of Regulus. His face was stern and he looked so much like Sirius in the photo that it shocked her.

She scanned the article quickly. He had been found in a an abandoned house. The Dark Mark was hovering above it. He was killed by the killing curse, a funeral would be coming shortly. That was all it said. Something rippled inside Doe. Was it loss? She couldn't tell. Regulus and Doe had never been close. He had hated her her entire life. But he had approached her, and from what she could see he had wanted to change. She wondered if that was why he was killed.

She knew that if she was feeling this confused over the article, that there was someone who was even more confused by it.

" I have to go, I'll talk to you later okay?" Doe told Lily and James putting the Prophet article down on the table.

" Okay, " Lily said, " be careful"

Doe waved goodbye to both of them and left their house. She felt the rain drop against her in heavy droplets but she didn't cast the water repellent charm. She apparated quickly right outside of Sirius' door and knocked on it quickly.

There was silence. No one came to the door. She apparated to the muggle street and walked down in the pouring rain to the Lively Portkey.

The wizard at the door eyed her drenched appearance reproachfully but held the door open for her. She walked over to the bar where she saw Sirius' familiar shape. She sat down in the seat next to him.

Sirius had a drink in front of him, it was almost gone.

" Are you alright?" she asked him.

Sirius turned to her, " Why are you soaked?" he asked her.

She shook her head " Don't change the subject"

Sirius faced forward and didn't say anything.

" Are you okay?" she asked him.

Sirius chugged the rest of his drink, " He was a Death Eater, Doe. He didn't give a damn about me"

" Sirius, he was your brother" she told him, " You're allowed to be upset"

Sirius shook his head, " I'm not upset"

She raised her eyebrow. She knew Sirius well enough to know that he was upset by it.

Sirius shrugged of the jacket he was wearing and put it over her shoulders, " You're soaking wet, you're going to freeze"

She turned to face him, " I'm not the one I'm concerned about right now" she said.

Sirius shook his head, " You don't need to worry about me"

He turned to the bartender and asked for another firewhiskey.

" Sirius, no. Come on" she said grabbing his arm.

She looked him in the eye, " Come on".

He didn't fight her, he let her drag him out of the bar by the wrist.

She took his arm and apparated back to his apartment. He didn't talk while she opened the door and sat him down on the couch. She went into the kitchen and came back with a butterbeer. She handed it to him and sat down next to him on the couch. He was looking straight forward.

" I don't know why this is bothering me" Sirius said cracking his knuckles.

" He's your brother" she told him.

Sirius took a deep breath, " He was a git"

She took his hand, " Doesn't mean he didn't love you"

Sirius blinked quickly, " It's weird you know? Regulus and I grew up in the same house, and we turned out so different. We were never close, but now it's bothering me."

" No matter how rocky your relationship with your brother was, he still was family" She told him.

" Do you think he really changed?" Sirius demanded of her. His eyes were wide and he looked concerned.

She didn't know what to tell him. Regulus' allegiance was something that she thought about a lot.

Wand to her head, she would have said he was good. Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, there was something in his expression that made she think he had.

" I think that he was trying to be on our side" she told him.

Sirius sighed, " I don't know if that makes it better or worse"

Doe held his hand tighter, " Are you going to go to the funeral?"

Sirius shook his head firmly, " Life-changing decision or not, this is the only mourning he deserves"

Sirius chugged a sip of butterbeer and leaned back against the couch. She knew he was going to say anything else about it. But she sat there quietly and let him stew, knowing that at least he wasn't dealing with it alone.