Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.

A/N: Thanks to givetherabbitthefreakintrix and Rosiline for the reviews!

I've finally gotten to 20 chapters! Woohoo!

This is back in Nicole's POV.

Chapter 20

"This place looks disgusting, even from the outside."

"I told you nobody's been here since Mum died thirteen years ago," Regulus pointed out.

The two of us stood outside of Grimmauld Place that afternoon. Dumbledore had bailed on us, saying he had something school related to do that he had forgotten about (I didn't really believe him) but Regulus was going to administer the charm. I could see the sun setting in the east and the full moon starting to rise in the west. I couldn't help but think of the fact that Remus was just minutes from a very painful transformation.

Dust covered the windows and door, and even the black wall looked grosser. I couldn't disguise my disgust as Regulus walked right up the grimy stairs to the battered front door. He waved his wand – since there was no doorknob – and the door flew open.

I half expected Walburga Black's portrait to start screaming insults like she had back in my other life, but she didn't. She was silent. She was probably waiting to see who was trespassing in her house before she started screaming at us. Or maybe she was sleeping and wouldn't wake up the entire time we were there if we were quiet…but I didn't want to jinx it.

The door slammed shut by itself behind me, and the lights flickered on. I saw Walburga Black's sunken eyes on us all as she watched Regulus for a moment before she started her usual screaming. The rest of the portraits down the hall woke and began screaming as well.

"You!" she said quietly but dangerously when her eyes landed on Regulus. "You're supposed to be dead. You blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh! You were so much better than your brother, but –"

"Oh, shut up, you," Regulus said. He flicked his wand and silenced not only her, but the rest of the portraits as well. She continued to yell and scream from her frame, but it was in silence. "How did you ever keep her quiet?" he asked, turning to me.

"Somebody put curtains up around her frame," I answered. "But it didn't do much, because any time somebody rose their voice above a whisper in the hallway she woke up and started again."

"Can we just take her portrait down?"

"It's stuck on with a Permanent Sticking Charm," I said as we entered the house fully.

"This is even worse than the outside," Regulus muttered. "Do you suppose Kreacher's still here?"

"Probably," I replied. "Where else would he go? He was only loyal to you and your mother." I paused as we looked into the filthy dinning room. "Call him. Although if he is here, I don't understand why he would let this place get this filthy."

"Kreacher!" Regulus called. There was a pop! and Kreacher appeared before him, looking confused and shocked.

"Master Regulus?" he asked in a hoarse, deep voice. Even his voice, usually devoid of emotion, sounded shocked and…excited? "Master Regulus?" he repeated. Regulus nodded, and, after a few moments of staring at him, shocked, Kreacher bent down in a low bow.

"Mater Regulus," he said to the floor, admonished. "Kreacher is hearing rumors that Master Regulus is killed by Miss Bella years ago."

"Yeah, well, that's not true, Kreacher," Regulus replied. "Bellatrix didn't kill me. I just went forward in time." He paused, giving no other explanation. "Kreacher, has anybody been here since Mum died?"

"No, Kreacher has been alone these past thirteen years," Kreacher replied.

"Why did you let the place get so nasty, then?" I asked before I could stop myself. Kreacher stood back up and looked at me, trying to figure out who I was. Regulus grabbed my arm and pulled me forward lightly so that I was next to him, not behind him.

"Kreacher, I'd like you to meet Nicole Potter. Or, as you may know her, Nicole Sawyer," he said slowly. Kreacher's face suddenly filled with recognition.

"The blood traitor, half-blood who killed the Dark Lord?" he asked, his voice sounding slightly angry. Regulus glared at him.

"You will refrain from calling her a blood traitor, half-blood, or anything else insulting," he snarled. Kreacher frowned at his tone of voice.

"Is she the Mudblood and blood-traitors' daughter?"

"Don't insult her family either," Regulus said angrily.

"Why does Master Regulus care?" Regulus looked furious. He knelt down and grabbed Kreacher's outfit by the scruff of his neck, looking him right into his eyes.

"Because Nicole happens to be my fiancé." I had never seen a house-elf look so shocked before, even when Regulus had walked in after being "dead" for eighteen years. "And you will obey her like you obey me and treat her with just as much respect. She's going to be the Mistress of this house soon, and you'll treat her like it."

Even though I preferred to fight my own battles, I have to say it was nice to see somebody standing up for me for once. Usually, it was me standing up for my loved ones, not the other way around. I suppose that's probably because my loved ones don't spend as much time with people they hate that are likely to insult me, or, if they do, can't defend me or they'll blow their cover. To be honest, though, it felt nice for somebody to finally stand up for me.

"Yes, Master Regulus, of course," Kreacher said, bowing again.

"Okay, Kreacher, so we need to talk to you," Regulus continued. "You can stand up straight now; you don't have to bow all the time." Kreacher stood back up, shot me a short glare, and turned his attention to Regulus, his eyes full of admiration. "Kreacher, you know what the Order of the Phoenix is, right?"

"Kreacher has heard of them," he replied. "They're the blood traitors that fight against the Dark Lord and his followers."

"Well, yeah, but don't call them blood traitors or mudbloods, half breeds or…or werewolves or anything like that, alright?" he said in a patronizing tone. "Well we are going to be using this place as their headquarters for the next…well, for a while." Obviously Regulus, like myself, had no idea how long this war would last. I know he hoped it would be fast (of course he did, who wouldn't?), but we both knew that it was highly unlikely.

"If you could…clean it up a bit, we won't be here for the next few days –"

"Actually, Dumbledore wanted to move everybody here tomorrow," I interrupted. Regulus turned to me, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked. "How does he expect us to get this place cleaned up that fast?"

"Well, in the other time, everybody helped. The kids and all."

"A lot of the kids are in school right now," Regulus pointed out. "They won't be here to help. Although I suppose a lot of people will. I forgot to ask; how many people will there be? We have ten bedrooms; I'm guessing we could put two in each room."

"Us, clearly, Sirius and Scarlet, James and Lily, Frank and Alice, Gideon and Fabian, Molly and Weasley, Remus and Tonks – or just Tonks, since Remus stays at Hogwarts – Kingsley and Mary, and then the children, obviously. Parker and Leah and Amanda and Teddy, when he comes."

"Shit," Regulus muttered. "That's a lot of people. But it'll work."

"And Fred and George and Mad-Eye," I added quickly. "By the way, why the hell does this house have so many bedrooms?" Regulus shook his head slowly.

"I have no idea. The fourth floor has four bedrooms stuffed into it," he replied. "So that should be enough rooms, even when the school year's over and we have students that have to stay here too."

"Oh my God, it's going to be so crowded," I muttered as we entered the house fully to examine it. "We should at least get rid of the dust." We both drew our wands, waved them once, and most of the dust siphoned itself away. "Well, at least it looks a little better," I grimaced.

"Kreacher, we need you to help us get this place as clean as possible before tomorrow," Regulus said. "You can do that, can't you?"

"Of course, Master Regulus," Kreacher said, bowing again. "Kreacher will start with the basement."

"Alright, enough bowing," Regulus said again. "And yes, please go do that. Nicole and I are going to go look around, make sure nothings too horrible, and decide where everybody's going to stay, alright?" Kreacher nodded before sauntering off down the hallway to the stairs.

"Lemme tell you something, if it's not stuck on with a Permanent Sticking Charm, we have got to get rid of those elf heads," I muttered as we started up the stairs. Regulus shook his head slowly.

"Everything Mum put up, she used a Permanent Sticking Charm on," he said. "But, believe me; I'm going to find a way to get rid of most of it. If not all of it, even the furniture, so we can just start the entire house over."

"Why do you care so much about erasing everything from it? After the war is over, nobody's going to ever come here again," I pointed out. Regulus shrugged, poking his head into the upstairs drawing room.

"This is disgusting," he muttered. "What has Kreacher been doing this entire time?" He paused and pulled the door to the room shut behind him. "Who knows how long this war is going to last," he said, finally answering my question. "We may have the entire Order living here at some point. Can you imagine how many people that would be? It'd be impossible to keep Mum quiet. And…well, I had always imagined moving back here after I got married." I found myself staring at him in disbelief. I laughed slightly.

"You're kidding, right?" I asked. "Please tell me you're kidding," I said, almost begging.

"Why is that such a horrible thing?" he asked. "It's my childhood home, it's really magnificent…you know, when it's clean, and filled with life, not death."

"Well then what about the outside? It's a sinister neighborhood and, obviously, we aren't…well, sinister."

"Yeah, I know, but just a couple city blocks over they have a nice Muggle school, which doesn't really matter but still, and a nice park, and an ice cream parlor, a Muggle supermarket…you get the idea."

"Fine, but what are we ever going to do with all those extra bedrooms?" I asked. Looking back now…why was I ever so stupid? It's obvious what he was implying.

"Well, we could leave a few – or several – for when we have guests visit," he said slowly. "Since we're both so popular," he added jokingly. I laughed and rolled my eyes. "I was thinking, for the rest, we could, y'know, fill them."

"With what?" I asked. Regulus sighed, looking irritated. I was still utterly baffled.

"With children," he said finally. "I was hoping to, y'know, raise a family here." I felt my self immediately frown. I hadn't ever really wanted kids. I didn't want to bring one into his horrible world when they would likely just despise me for doing so. Not to mention, I would be a horrible mother. I could just see myself thinking that leaving a one year old alone for hours is alright.

"Kids?" I found myself whispering. "Do you think about that stuff a lot?"

"Well yeah," he replied, smiling. I guess he took my expression to mean, Yeah, okay, I see. Maybe this house isn't so bad after all. "I realize you're still sixteen, and I'm only nineteen, we still have a while before we really need to think about that, but I see Sirius and Scarlet with Leah and Parker, and Tonks and Remus with Teddy on the way and…I want that." He set his hand on my cheek and set his forehead against mine. "With you."

It was then that Regulus realized that the look on my face wasn't joy, but horror.

"What's wrong?" he asked, leaning back a bit and dropping his hand.

"It's nothing," I said quickly, shaking my head and looking down.

"Obviously it's something." I sighed.

"It's just…I've never really wanted kids," I said quietly. I knew it would cost him to hear it. Now that he said it, I could see him as always having wanted kids, even when he was younger. He was probably one of those kids who always dreamt of falling in love and having a huge family.

Regulus took a step back, looking shocked.

"You…you don't?" he asked hoarsely. I shook my head slowly.

"I-I'm sorry," I added quickly after he turned around, looking stressed, and ran his fingers through his hair. "It's just…with everything that I've lived through, I don't…I've never wanted to bring somebody in this world only for them to have to live through that." Regulus turned back to me, his face softened a bit. He grabbed my elbows.

"Nicki, once this is over, it's over," he said forcefully. "Extra precautions are going to be taken to be sure that this doesn't happen again. No dark wizard will ever be able to get as powerful as Voldemort. It's not like they'll even bother trying, with you around," he added jokingly. The corners of my lips twitched up slightly, but only for a moment.

"I just…I don't know," I said quietly, shaking my head. "It's just…I still don't really want kids." Regulus sighed, looking a little hurt.

"I'm not saying I want them now," he said. "Just…eventually. You don't want kids ever?" I shook my head slowly. He sighed again. "Well, I can't force you. It'll be your body it's changing; you're the one who has to give birth. It's just…think about, alright?"

"Alright," I said quietly. "But I doubt whether I'll change my mind." Regulus turned around and headed for the bedroom, shaking his head.

"It's a shame," I heard him mutter. "You're great with kids, and would be an amazing mother." I stopped in my tracks and turned slowly to face him.

"What?" I asked quietly, shocked. Regulus turned back around, looking confused. "You actually think I'd make a good mom?"

"Well, you might be a little overprotective, since that's how you are with everybody you love, but Parker and Leah adore you," he said. "Amanda Shacklebolt, too. And every kid I know who's younger than you, even just a year or two, like Miles and Daniela."

"Really?" I asked quietly. He nodded slowly before forcing the door to the bedroom, which was jammed, open. A huge pile of dust flew out at him. I couldn't help but laugh as he brushed it away and sneezed twice. "Bless you," I muttered as I followed him to the room.

I think, so far, this was the worst room. I couldn't even see the colors of the walls, they were so covered in dust. Dirt and grime billowed up around us as we walked through, and I found myself slowly becoming queasy.

"You okay?" Regulus asked, noticing the grimace on my face. I nodded slowly.

"Yeah, it's just…I feel suddenly nauseous," I answered.

"Maybe you're getting sick," Regulus said, setting the back of his hand on my forehead to check my temperature. "You don't feel warm."

"No, I…I can't be getting sick," I said, shaking my head. But it just made me feel worse, so I stopped. "I never get sick."

"Everybody gets sick every now and then," Regulus said. "Why don't you go back to the castle and see if Madam Pomfrey can give you something?" I shook my head slowly.

"No…I'll be fine," I said. "Besides, we need to do the Charm." But my head was spinning, and I had to lean onto the nearby wall to stay upright. I saw Regulus' eyes widen in surprise and he said.

"Yeah, I'm taking you back, you look really pale," he said, letting me lean onto him instead of the wall and leading me out to the hallway. "We can do the Charm real quick, but that's it."

"Can you and Kreacher get the whole place clean alone?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure we can," Regulus replied. "Or I can see if Mary and Lily will come help."

He quickly performed the spell, which was actually easier than I thought – he said the words, his wand pointed at me, and, after these weird golden bonds had wrapped around me, there was a flash of golden light and the bonds were gone.

"That's it?" I asked, confused.

"Sure is," Regulus replied. "Now come on."

"Wait!" I said suddenly. "Can I see your room before we leave?"

"Um, no," Regulus said slowly. I'm sure I looked affronted. "I'm sorry," he added quickly, "it's just, the last time I was here was when I was into Slytherin Voldemort and that 'pureblood supremacy' shit, and it's still all up in my room. It's kind of embarrassing."

"Come on," I pleaded, but he shook his head.

"Please, don't make me." I sighed, but agreed and grabbed his arm so that he could Side-Along me to Hogsmeade. We sent a Patronus up to Severus, but it was Draco who came down and let us in.

"Hey," he said. "Where have you two been?"

"Cleaning up Grimmauld Place," Regulus replied. The gates locked themselves shut behind us. "It's disgusting. That's why we're covered in dirt." Draco nodded. I stumbled sideways into Regulus, who grabbed me.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked, shocked. I nodded, but Regulus obviously didn't believe me.

"Are you sure you can walk?" he asked, his voice sounding worried. I nodded, but stumbled again. The world was spinning around me What's going on? I thought. It had all come so suddenly. I hardly noticed when Regulus scooped me up into his arms and rushed to the Hospital Wing.

I don't remember arriving there.

A/N: We get to see more of Riddle next chapter. ^_^ Have you missed him?

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