Tuesday 20th April, 1977

I started spending time at the café I thought I spotted Regulus in. It was stupid. I obviously hadn't seen Regulus there, yet I was still drawn to the place, and I found I quite liked it.

It was slightly small, but in a cosy way. Green wallpaper lined the walls, a forest painted on them, as well as lines of fairy lights hung throughout it making it seem like there were fireflies in the forest. It was something I thought Regulus would be interested in.

They also served the best coffee ever. I wasn't even joking; the coffee was better than Hogwarts coffee and my fathers combined. It was one of the best things I'd ever tasted, and sometimes I told myself that's why I kept going back, not because of someone I'd imagined seeing there. Regulus loved coffee though, so I wouldn't have been surprised if he continued to go to the Muggle café to have some of their heavenly caffeine.

Yesterday I had gone to the café alone, spending my time ordering coffee and reading books. Today though, the marauders accompanied on my journey to the café, causing chaos and strife as they went.

When we arrived I managed to convince James and Remus to have some of my coffee, but Peter and Sirius were all against the drink, claiming coffee tasted like dirt and was just a path towards other addictions. (In reality they were both just still children and hadn't acquired the adult taste of loving coffee, but I let them believe their lies).

We all stayed there for a while, a comfortable air between us as we joked and teased one another. James and Sirius eventually got bored though and managed to convince me to accompany the four boys to Diagonally. I wasn't sure I was going to agree, a part of me wanting to stay at the café just in case Regulus arrived, but as soon as I had the thought I knew I had to leave. Clinging onto the hope I'd see Regulus would do me no good when I was trying to move on from him.

When we got to Diagonally, I followed the boys to Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour, the best place to get a frozen treat, and we all went to order our food. The line was long, though, and I found myself getting bored as I waited in queue.

"Hey, order my ice cream for me, will you?" I asked James.

Before he could protest, I ruffled his hair and was gone, touring the streets of Diagonally to pass the time. I walked along the cobbled streets, staring at my shoes as I went. My mind kept straying to the café, a stupid part of me wondering whether Regulus was there right now. He wasn't. I knew he wouldn't be, yet I couldn't stop myself from wondering. Hoping.

I looked up from my shoes when I bumped into someone, mumbling a harried apology. Instead of moving on the person grabbed my wrist and I let out a startled gasp. I stared up at the person, a woman in her late fifties with greying hair and rotten teeth. She was wearing tattered clothing, and the hand gripping my wrist was covered in black smudge. I wasn't sure what it was, and I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

"Look where you're walking deary," the woman warned, baring her teeth at me. "There are some bad sorts in these parts."

With that she cackled and let go of my wrist, continuing her walk down the street. I clutched my wrist, rubbing it gently as I looked around at the suddenly unfamiliar shops. There were stores selling poisonous candles, shrunken heads, giant spiders, human-looking fingernails, and other creepy things.

I was in Knockturn Alley.

I looked around, wondering how I could get back to my friends. Had I just walked straight the whole time, or had I made a turn or two? I wasn't sure, and I was hesitant to make a decision on where to go and possibly get even more lost.

Could I ask someone for help? Looking around and the people who spotted the streets, I wasn't so sure. None of them seemed friendly, and quite a few were leering at me. I didn't want to go over to them, which meant I was in this alone.

I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm the rising panic inside me. I was fine. I had my wand, so if things got bad I'd at least have something to defend myself with. If I was gone long enough my friends would come looking for me.

I just had to find my way out of here and I'd be fine. Nodding my head at my plan, I started forward in the direction I'd come, hoping that I'd just walked in a straight line. As I walked though, I started doubting my plan as none of the surroundings got familiar. They were all the same dark looking stores, selling some sort of dark artifact.

Where was I? Where were my friends? Where was I supposed to go? The panic came back in full force as I stared at Knockturn Alley, feeling scared, lost, and small. I needed my friends. I needed to get home. I needed to get out of here, but I didn't know how. I didn't know where to go, who I could talk to, what I was supposed to do.

I didn't know anything.

"Y/n?"

I swivelled around so fast I nearly broke my neck, feeling like I could melt into a puddle of relief when I saw Sirius Black standing in front of me. I surged forward, wrapping him into a hug as I felt the comfort of him. I was safe. Sirius was here. Everything was alright.

"I'm so glad you're here," I mumbled into his chest.

Sirius let out a low chuckle, stroking my hair softly. "Why are you here, of all places?"

"I got lost."

"Of course you did."

"Hey!"

Sirius let out another chuckle and slung his arm over my shoulder. "Come on, let's meet back up with the others. We were all looking for you when you didn't come back."

I nodded, feeling sheepish, and let him lead me down the streets of Knockturn Alley. He seemed at ease here, not necessarily relaxed but not on edge either. Like he'd been here before.

"How do you know where we're going?" I asked.

Sirius glanced at me. "Used to come here with my family on shopping trips. Our version of family bonding."

I shuddered, not wanting to think about how awful it would have been to be here as a child. I was terrified at my age, so I couldn't start to imagine what it would have been like to be here as a young kid, much less with the Black family as company.

"I'm sorry you had such a shit family," I said.

Sirius blinked, obviously surprised, before he shrugged. "It happens."

"You have us now, though," I continued. "James and I. As well as Mum and Dad of course."

Sirius looked down at me, a smile curving on his face. He squeezed my shoulders and planted a quick kiss to the top of my head. "Yeah, I do."

I smiled at him and we continued walking. Suddenly everything seemed less scary and threatening. Sirius was with me, and I was safe. We'd be able to defend ourselves if it came to it, and Sirius knew where we were going so I felt safe. Happy.

Everything good has to come to an end, though.

The moment Sirius and I had just had was ruined when a woman stepped out of a store. She had long, platinum blonde locks and beautiful pale skin, the same colour as both Regulus and Sirius's. I realised too late who she was and glanced at Sirius, hoping to direct him away from her, but his eyes were already fixed upon his cousin.

Narcissa Black.

"Narcissa," Sirius said shortly when the woman finally noticed us.

Surprise washed her features before being replaced by a cool indifference. Hiding your emotions well was obviously a family trait. I felt uncomfortable as I stood there, an awkward stiff air between us. That only increased when her companion stepped out of the shop behind her, unaware of us.

Regulus looked beautiful, as he always did. There were still bags under his eyes, and he did seem paler than usual, but he was still undeniable gorgeous. His hair was impeccably neat, even more so then how he usually had it at Hogwarts, and he was wearing very expensive clothes that had the Black family crest displayed on the front.

As soon as Regulus noticed me he nearly dropped the shopping bag he was holding. His eyes scanned every part of me, soaking up and memorising everything he could. When our eyes met it felt like the whole world stopped.

It was just me and him, staring at each other, so close yet so far. It was him, with his fancy clothes and shocked expression and me, in my casual clothes with a look of want on my face so strong I wasn't able to disguise it all.

So strong that Narcissa saw.

She raised an eyebrow, glancing from me to Regulus, and upon seeing his shocked expression let out a quite "ah" and turned to look at me more closely. I felt like I was being dissected by her eyes as she observed me and felt panicked once more.

"So you're the girl Regulus has been moping about," she mused.

Fuck.

Sirius sent me a confused look and I felt like someone was squeezing my heart. I shared a quick look with Regulus, finding that he also had the same look of panic on his face that I no doubt had on mine, and sent him a pleading look.

"Come on Cissy, let's go," Regulus said, beckoning Narcissa away at the same time as I grabbed Sirius's arm and started dragging him in the opposite direction.

Sirius gave me a strange look. "What was that about?"

I shrugged my shoulders, feigning confusion. "No idea."

Sirius stared at me for a bit longer but eventually dropping the subject, focusing on getting us out of Knockturn Alley. I let out a quiet sigh of relief, and only then allowed myself to breathe deeply once more.

"Y/n!"

I looked up and found James running towards me. I glanced around my surroundings and realised we'd entered Diagonally once more. When had that happened? Before I could think about anything else James wrapped his arms around me in a hug and I hugged him back, still feeling my heart hammering from the bump in with Regulus.

"We were worried about you," Remus said when I'd extracted myself from James.

I smiled sheepishly at him, rubbing the back of my neck. "Yeah, I might have gotton lost in Knockturn Alley."

James spluttered. "Knockturn Alley?"

I nodded. "But I'm fine now so there's no problem."

James shook his head, muttering under his breath but he didn't outright scold me. Thank Merlin for that, because I was not in the mood to endure another one of his stupid lectures. As if he hadn't gotton lost in Knockturn Alley at least once.

After a while the marauders and I left Diagonally, deciding to spend the rest of the day at home. When we entered the house, I made sure none of the boys told my parents about my little... adventure. In return, because of course I had to do something in return for James saving my skin, I was forced to participate in his quidditch game. It was quite unfair, because James and Sirius were on a team, both of them good at quidditch, while Peter and I were put on a team together, both of us... less good.

I complied with their wants though, and by the end of the day I was sweaty, muddy, and very tired. I had a shower and got ready for bed, crawling under my bed covers with a sigh of relief. No more quidditch for today.

I fell asleep with my mind on Regulus Black, like it always was.

A/N:

a sighting of regulus!! how rare

i honestly love narcissa so much, mainly bc she and alice fortescue (alicissa) is one of my fav ships, so i've read a lot about her.

that scene with sirius and y/n melted my heart