Y/n's POV

Monday 26th July, 1977

It had been nearly a month after the incident, and things were certainly different. Walburga and Orion Black were both arrested for child abuse, thanks to some of Monty's friends in high places. They were most likely going to worm their way out of a sentencing to Azkaban because of their own connections, but Effie and Monty were given legal custody of Regulus, so there was that at least. Investigations were also taking place in the rest of the Black family, and I hoped that meant more people would be able to escape the clutches of the Blacks.

Regulus and I had both also started seeing Mind Healers, both for different reasons. Regulus, because he had just escaped an abusive household and been forced to live there for years, and me because Walburga had used the Cruciatis curse on me. I couldn't actually remember a lot about that night, but I do remember the pain. I remember feeling like fire was coursing through my veins, like my skin was being ripped off of my body and feeling as though there was a beast inside me clawing through me. I don't think I'll ever forget that feeling, and it only made me more sympathetic towards Regulus and Sirius who had to feel what I felt a million times over.

Regulus had taken some time to adjust to his new surroundings at the Potter Manor. For the first few days, he wouldn't leave his room and would only allow Sirius and I to see him separately, because us together was too overwhelming for him. Eventually I'd been able to convince him to come out for dinner, and so everyday after that he'd come out for meals, sitting stiffly in his seat and being overly polite. About a week and a bit since he'd arrived, we'd just finished dinner and Regulus had been about to go back to his room when Monty had offered to show him the new potion he was working on.

Regulus had looked like a deer in headlights, but as Sirius and I encouraged him to go he hesitantly followed Monty into his office and promptly fell in love with him. He became similar to a puppy after that, trailing Monty around the house and looking very pleased whenever he acknowledged him. He hung out of his room more often and even took the time to get to know Effie more as well.

He still spent a lot of time away from us, but had relocated to the library, his favourite place in the house. I would often find him curled up on a sofa with a book and occasionally joined him, resting my head on him as I read over his shoulder. He liked that, physical touch. He'd become more clingy, needing to feel me and touch me as if to make sure I was real. I didn't mind though, and let him do whatever he needed to feel more comfortable here.

About two weeks after he'd moved in, we were sitting on the couch in the living room together, James and Sirius playing a game of Wizarding Chess on the floor beside us, when Monty had entered the room.

"Has anyone seen my copy of A journey Through Potions and Herbology?"

I felt Regulus stiffen beside me, his fingers going white as he gripped his book tightly. Slowly, he stood up and walked towards Fleamont reluctantly, holding out the book he was reading.

"I'm really sorry Sir, I was reading it," Regulus said, head bowed. "I didn't know you were reading it, otherwise I would have never taken it. I'm so sorry."

Monty looked at Regulus in surprise before fondly ruffling his hair. Regulus flinched, but then looked up startled when no punishment followed it.

"How did you like it?" Fleamont asked.

Regulus looked up confused. "How did I like it..?"

"The book," Monty clarified. "Come, follow me. Have you read section five yet? Because I found it fascinating when they labelled the Devil's Snare as..."

The rest of Fleamont's ramble was lost as he and Regulus travelled to his study. I grinned, looking at James and Sirius who were also very pleased by what just happened. Regulus had seemed so surprised when Fleamont hadn't yelled or hurt him, and had looked delighted when Fleamont started talking to him about the contents of the book.

After that Regulus became much more relaxed around the house and even asked Effie for something once or twice. It was tremendous progress, and I was ecstatic that he was finally feeling safe enough to speak up about things.

The next year of school was starting in a few days, and Effie was throwing a big party, something she did every year before James and I left for Hogwarts. She'd been hesitant to do it this year because of Regulus, but the younger Black had insisted she continue the tradition and not let him get in the way of it.

All of our friends from school were invited, as were many of Effie and Monty's own friends as well. Remus and Peter arrived early to help decorate and get everything ready, and all of us had a blast throwing streamers around and blowing up balloons. Remus and Regulus seemed to get along especially well, and I could see them becoming best friends in a few years.

A few hours later the party was in full swing as everyone arrived. Mary, Marlene, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Evan, Barty, Pandora, Dorcas, Regulus and I all sat down in a semi secluded place in the corner of the room, creating a big circle on the floor. We were talking with one another when Avery arrived, looking especially excited.

"Hey guys," he greeted. "This is my boyfriend Frank."

I stared at him, astonished as a disbelieving laugh toppled out of my mouth. They were together already? Avery knew how to get what he wanted, that was for certain. The group started calling out congratulations before Peter interrupted.

"Wasn't he with Alice Fortescue though?" he asked.

Alice appeared out of the throng of people and grinned. "Nope. I'm with some else. Everyone, this is my girlfriend, Narcissa."

I let out a gasp as Narcissa Black stepped next to Alice, intwining their hands. I turned to Regulus and found his mouth agape, staring at Narcissa in disbelief. Sirius had a similar expression as he stared at his cousin.

"What are you doing here?" he spluttered.

Narcissa shrugged. "I was tired of being left behind. First Andy, then you, and now Regulus? When I found out they were investigating our family for child abuse, I took my chance and left to get the life I wanted."

She stared at Alice and they shared a look, one filled with love and newfound hope for the future that they hadn't hand before.

"Cissy?"

We all turned to look at Andromeda who had arrived at the party with her muggle husband Ted. The two sisters stared at each other for a split second before enveloping each other in a hug, creating a surprisingly emotional family reunion for the Blacks.

Once everyone had caught up, the new additions to the group sat down in the circle just as the door opened and another person entered the room. Alastor Moody was a family friend of ours, but he had a very serious, intimidating demeanour, one that my friends seemed obsessed with.

"Did you hear the way he spoke?" Barty cackled. "Effie, Monty, you have my greetings. You put up wards, yes? Because a party this size is bound to attract dark wizards."

Everyone burst out laughing at his acting, impressed at how good he was at imitating Moody. Alice and Frank were especially pleased, laughing so hard that tears streamed down their face.

"You're driving them crazy Barty," I said with a laugh.

Sirius and James got up to get the group some drinks, settling down with many stories to tell about the rest of the guests at the party.

"And Moody didn't even get a drink," James exclaimed. "He just drank from his own flask, like he was scared the drinks were spiked.

"We should spike his drink," Sirius joked. "Show him no drink is safe while we're here."

Some of us chuckled, but Remus stared at Sirius aghast. "Sirius, you could go for jail for that!"

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Me? Jail? Please, have you seen me? I'm too pretty to go to Azkaban."

We all laughed at that, until a game of Truth or Dare started, with Mary as the first victim of the night.

"Mary," James said. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," Mary answered instantly. She knew that dares with the marauders were dangerous, and had her priorities set straight.

James though for a second, tapping his chin, before turning to her excitedly. "What's your biggest fear?"

The others in the group "oooed" and "ahhed" at the question, all of us waiting to see what Mary answered. She took a while to come up with an answer, taking care to properly think about the question.

"I'd have to say being alone," Mary said. "There are a lot of scary things in this world, but the thing that scares me most is losing all of you and being alone."

Evan whistled. "That's deep man."

Mary raised an eyebrow, her attention on the Slytherin boy. "What about you then? Truth or Dare?

Evan snorted. "Dare, obviously."

Mary smirked, and I knew Evan had made a mistake. You did not want to taunt Mary about anything, because when she wanted she could be very scary. "I dare you to show Moody your worst dance moves."

Evan stared at Mary appalled, but when Mary didn't change her mind he reluctantly got up and shuffled towards where Moody was standing. As soon as he was close enough he started waving his arms around like a maniac and doing a weird step thing with his feet. I gasped when Evan's hand swiped precariously close to Moody's eye.

"You nearly poked Moody's eye out!" Barty cackled when Evan came back.

Evan glared at his boyfriend, shoving him lightly before looking around the group of people for a victim.

"Peter," he eventually said. "Truth or Dare?"

Peter chose truth, and when Evan asked if he or his friends ever pranked one of their fellow marauders, Peter stared guiltily at Sirius before explaining how Sirius had dyed James's hair neon green and they hadn't been able to change it for a week.

"Pete' you traitor!" Sirius exclaimed.

Peter grinned sheepishly at Sirius before asking Lily Truth or Dare. When she chose truth, he asked her 'if she could sacrifice herself to save one person from the group, who would it be?' and Lily answered, "I'm not sacrificing myself for anyone. You guys can save yourselves."

Lily then turned to Marlene, who chose truth. "Who was your gay awakening."

Marlene, straight faced, looked right at Lily and answered, "you."

That caused quite a ruckus, and made many other people confess their gay awakening. I wasn't at all surprised when James, Barty, Evan, and Regulus said Remus made them realise they liked boys, because Remus was not only the Casanova of Gryffindor Tower, but also the Casanova of all of Hogwarts.

"Sirius, Truth or Dare?" Marlene asked when the game got back on track.

"Dare," Sirius answered instantly, not even giving it a second thought.

Marlene grinned. "I dare you to hug Narcissa."

Sirius stared at her, horrified, before muttering, "I'm gonna kill you and your whole family," angrily.

"If you do that, I will hunt you down and end you," Dorcas said with a smile, making me laugh quietly.

I watched eagerly as Sirius reluctantly moved towards Narcissa who seemed just as revolted by the dare and quickly wrapped his arms around her stiffly before retracting them just as fast as he scrambled back into his seat. Both Blacks looked very annoyed and I laughed at their antics.

Sirius asked Remus – unsurprisingly – and when Remus chose dare, Sirius dared him to slide down the stairs in a laundry basket.

"No," Remus said.

Sirius frowned. "What? Why?"

"Because it's a stupid idea."

I snorted. "This is why Remus is going to outlive you boys."

Sirius and James seemed outraged by this, claiming they would definitely outlive Remus, but Peter just nodded his head in acceptance. After that the game of Truth or Dare ended and idle chatter filled the room as we talked in small groups.

"Nice necklace, Regulus," Lily complimented, her eyes resting on the locket around Regulus's neck.

Regulus smiled. "Thanks."

"Does it open?" Frank inquired.

Regulus shook his head. "Nah. It's sealed shut."

Pandora gasped. "Oh, we should try an open it! I'm sure if we tried to combine some spells that would open it."

Evan sighed, shaking his head. "Experimenting with spells with be the death of you, Pandora."

Pandora shrugged. "Doesn't sound like the worst way to go."

The conversation continued until we overheard Moody talking to some people nearby, saying that Slytherin house produces to most dark wizards.

Barty cackled. "Yes, because our gay golden retriever friend Avery here is definitely a big bad dark wizard."

We all laughed, and the night continued on until eventually everyone left. When the party ended, James, Sirius, Regulus and I all made a pillow fort in our room, using magic to make it bigger in the inside than it actually was, since we were all planning to sleep in there. We'd all piled in and closed the flap, which was just a blanket, and were trapped in darkness. Sirius, Regulus, and I all got out our wands to see, and James cursed.

"I forgot my wand on the couch," he said. "I'll be right back."

Regulus, Sirius, and I got ready for bed and turned the light on our wands off just as James entered the fort again, all of us snuggled and warm in out sleeping bags. James yet out a yelp when he saw me, stumbling back a bit.

"Y/n, you look so weird in the dark," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks James."

"No, I'm serious," he insisted. "You look like an alien. Are you even from this universe, or are you a multi-dimensional traveller?"

I threw a pillow at James and he shut up. Regulus and I shared an overly large sleeping bag and I moved closer to him, placing my head on his chest. His arms wrapped around me and I smiled, feeling content.

I thought back to last year at Hogwarts, at the whole mess of an adventure I'd had with Regulus. I wouldn't change a thing, not even the bad things that had happened, because it's what led me here, with Regulus.

It's what made him mine.

A/N:

so emotional rn. we're at the end of the story. only have the epilogue to go.

did any of you spot the easter eggs in this chapter? (i'd be surprised if u didn't bc they were very obvious) if so, which ones, and how many did you get?

EDIT: for those who want to know, there are 13 easter eggs all in all