✧LAND OF THE FREE, AND HOME OF THE BRAVE✧

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𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞
𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚜 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢
𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚏𝚎𝚠 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚑𝚜 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎
𝙳𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚛𝚞𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘

𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔

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☾𝚁𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝙷𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢//𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚎𝚢☾

***

Aurora had simply finished her tea in the silent company of her mother.

The fact that her mother still rested down at her feet was a bit daunting and defiantly morbid, but damn did she feel a hundred pounds lighter.

Now she truly had no one in this country. She scoffed at the idea, but ran a stressful hand through her roots as she would only need a few more hours.

"Master Regulus is..."
"Alive yes, he's in America Kreacher. I'm tasking you to hide the locket once more in the manor. Anything else of value, lock it away in father's vault, and any lose coins I would appreciate before my departure." The elf had been ecstatic in hearing that his favorite master was still alive.

Completely looking over his mistress' limp body at her feet, and while the elf continued to work with the order. Rory found herself walking up the stairs of the home, an eery feeling of playing hide and seek with her siblings in these narrow halls.

She recalled that her father would scoop her up from around the corner and hold her close, but there would be no more of that. Nor would she see Rabastan do that with the children anymore.

The first room she visited was her own, she hadn't realized her room smelled so heavily of lavender...But perhaps that was her adolescence scent, a slight smile began to creep up on her expression.
This was the room where she discovered that she would be going to Salem, right there in the corner window with her brothers.

A long inhale permitted her a strange bit of calmness, the bed had been made but never again used by herself.

Her hand trailed the bottom ends of the linen and reminiscing through her room and her brothers.

Not only was the Black line finished in Britain, but it was also unmistakably a tainted name alongside the Lestranges. There was no reviving it, instead she would need to pack her losses and join her brother.

"Mistress, Kreacher bring what ask...Mistress moving?"
"Yes Kreacher, I'm moving to America. The rights are different for elves there, but I wouldn't mind the extra help in settling." Kreacher was beyond ecstatic at the fact that he would be able to see his former master that he nodded eagerly.

He would be taking the largest trunks that couldn't be shrunken anymore. While Rory focused on teleporting with the children.

The rest of the elves had their orders, to send out the parcels as instructed, but after they have left in regards to not being stopped by anyone.

Otto had been the first, making sure that everything was finalized. He promised that both he and Rose would venture out to visit her, as he always wanted to visit America and visit the potion world across the pond.

"You owl with any issue."
"Okay."
"I mean it Aurora, even the slightest—" The young witch tackled the elder wizard with a hug, although a sob escaped from her lips there were no more tears left to give.

"I promise father." She whispered, and Otto had tightened his hold around his pupil.
His daughter.

When the two parted, he kneed down careful to meet the children all ready for traveling through a portkey. "You four listen to your mummy for Oh-oh?" The eldest took the words of their second grandfather, though they didn't understand that they wouldn't be returning for...They would never be returning home.

"Rommy, Halsey. I need you both to hold on tight to Roe and Cara. We're going to see some friends, but to get there we have to use a portkey." The explanation was more to share that they need to be prepared, and they took it as apprenting.

The kids looked as ready as ever, but Otto began to see the doubt beginning to form in her eyes. "This'll be the right choice, I'll send you any news on our end...The elves will be here taking care of it all." The woman began twirling around her engagement ring in fear.

"I'll never be welcomed back, will I?" Otto didn't know what to say to that, she held the respect of those she worked with but the work she put forward and the Order of Merlin she received had been used out.

"Kreacher, these four." The elf stepped closer and the two stacked boxes had been placed before him in waiting. Placing the small marble down to the ground had she held onto her eldest's hand before stepping on the small portkey.

Her eyes latched onto Otto as she whispered a final goodbye as it was hardly all that audible as she and her four children warped to the Freeland.

Aurora had fallen forward, aiding Halsey as she was holding onto Roe. Saving their fall meant she landed unharmoniously straight down onto her knee, this stumble caused a line of curses as she looked around.

It was indeed America.

"We're going to that house munchkins..." She whispered, trying to settle the short whimpers of Cara as she hadn't taken to the dark cloudy sky around them.

"Come, before it rains lovelies." Aurora tried to sound as strong as possible. But it was difficult, with the pain in her knee escalating with each step from the uneven ground, she couldn't imagine how it felt for the children.

Reaching down to pick up Cara from Halsey's grasp aided them a bit, only the stairs had been difficult. Hobbling upwards did she sigh in relief to see that there was a couch at the ready, as well as Kreacher already waiting beside the luggage.

"Kreacher, set the children to bed...Find Regulus—Take Romulus with you and--Hm..." The turmoils of the past two days had finally caught up with the young witch as she fell asleep mere second after laying down onto the couch.

Romulus came over, all while looking to the compact space of Regulus' apartment. "Mummy?" He questioned, and his inner fears returned to the last time she was asleep and hadn't answered him.

"Mistress asleep Master Romulus. Mistress say to find good Master Regulus." The name wanted to spark familiarity, but the eldest son looked to him in confusion.

Who is Regulus?

Kreacher had aided the three other children into the free bedroom and enchanted the sides for them to not fall off. The elf soon looked off towards Romulus and offered his gentle hand.

"Master Romulus take hand, Kreacher find good Master Regulus. He help Mother Mistress." The two were at eye level, and while the boy looked off to his mummy he ran over to fix the spare blanket over her form. Causing the Elf to aid him, as it was his life long duty to serve the Blackline.

No matter where and how.

Rommy had held on tightly to his grandparent's house-elf and taken the swift apperation before being transported into the main manor off in the other direction, where all the house's residents were enjoying lunch.

Their entrance had gained the attention, causing a bit of a worriment until Elizabeth laid eyes on the child.

"I'm looking for Reg-Regulus." The young lad spoke, and Regulus couldn't move to his feet fast enough as he fell down before the boy and elf. But Romulus couldn't take it anymore, after not having seen his father in weeks to his mother's frantic and scatterbrain mood, the boy had finally cracked.

"Mummy won't wake up! MummysaywecomehereandfindRegulus. I want papa!" The boy continued to cry no matter who consulted him, but as he started to look at the man before him a bit more...The familiarity came to.

"Rommy it's me...It's Uncle Reggie. Come on son it's alright, we're going back to mummy right now." Regulus looked around the room in a bit of a panic, whatever happened...Happened without warning.

Happened without a warning in the book.

"Good Master Kreacher, Kreacher delight to see Master alive." Regulus rose up with his nephew in his arms.
"Kreacher it's a blessing to see you, is Rory upstairs?" The toddler hid away in his Uncle's hold as there were too many onlookers that stared at him.

Children included.

"Daddy who's—"
"Anton, not now. Both you and Alex stay in the house with Grams." The four sets of adults made their way upstairs to the apartment in a hurry, only for Regulus to find Aurora sprawled out under the couch beneath a blanket.

"Good goddess, what could've happened?" Regulus bit the inside of his cheek as he stayed silent even after John's question. But then looked to the pile of Daily Prophets by the window.

Phoebe had taken Romulus within the moment as Regulus scanned the newspaper in a haste.

"Sentenced for life..." Reg whispered, causing Elizabeth to shake her head and sit beside her friend. "We need to move her to a bed, John could you—" The husband was already on it, but the second his mother began to levitate off and away, Romulus started to panic in Phoebe hold.

"Rommy it's alright, shh shhh. You can join her in a moment. We're going to get you dressed in some pajamas. Are you hungry?" Phoebe had eyed the others in the room and walked off to the trunks and asked the elf present to aid her.

But Kreacher was far too excited to see his master.

"Mistress Phoebe is very pretty Master Regulus..." The elf whispered, and all he could do was turn off in a different direction to hide his blush from his girlfriend. The last thing he wanted to hear was his mother's words spewing from his favorite elf. Especially was he was battling himself on a question to further their relationship.

"Where was he imprisoned, what exactly did Lestrange do?" Elizabeth questioned, but Regulus couldn't say it out loud. John dragged his hands down his face as he couldn't believe how dark their actions had turned.

But then Liz had flipped to the page in question and looked up to Regulus. "She was arrested...Regulus she was almost thrown into Azkaban." Regulus read over her shoulder gritting his teeth.

Aurora was saved by an inch of her life, they had been too settled in imprisoning everyone in the inner circle. Completely ignoring the fact that she hadn't risen her wand to anyone.

"Reg they're here now...You don't need to return to—"
"I should've!" The man had kicked the open trunk with brute force, only to respond with a yell.

"REGULUS ARCTURUS BLACK!" Phoebe had returned at the wrong time as she watched Reg's shoulders hitch up like a child.

But Romulus took the voice to heart.

"Opa! Opa! Opa!"
[Grandpa! Grandpa! Grandpa!]
He cheered, and Liz bent down to dig through the trunk before Kreacher offered in aid to find the portrait of Orion Black.

"Sweet Salzar...Well, this is odd. Kreacher put me right side up will you!" The elf rushed out an apology before hanging his former master up to the wall.

"That's much better. Now, where's Cassiopeia?" Regulus gawked at his father in a mist of panic as he shook his head.

"Son it's alright, Cassi told me all that you and Sirius managed. Elizabeth...You've grown into a beautiful young witch." Orion had passed his greetings to who he knew, but it was when Phoebe came forward beside Regulus that Orion had finally taken note of her.

And Orion smirked.

Damn Rory, of course she had to tell father!

"Father, what happened?"
"Cassi told me nothing more than they capture the Lestrange's and sentenced them. He's been absent for the past few months hunting the Longbottoms, I am assuming they succeeded?" John gawked at the painting and scoffed.

"Succeeded? I wouldn't be surprised if they know their first name!" He shouted, but he had no right to be angry. So the elder wizard simply straightened his back and shook his head.

"Pardon my ignorance but I am nothing more than a painting. My daughter hadn't supplied me with the details as she pulled off her escape plan. The Lestrange manors have been passed to the bank. They are no longer accessible." Rory truly didn't have anywhere else to go, and so Liz smiled.

"We'll convert the downstairs as we planned, it'll give you two privacy from her and the children." Regulus nodded, but his face was still hypnotized by the picture of his family all chained beside one another.

"I best submit her forms before she's deported back, don't suppose you know which has the papers for—"
"They're in a folder somewhere alongside me. Is she resting? She hadn't slept since the night before the trial." Regulus gulped, his sister hadn't gotten any sleep for more than a full day.

He couldn't imagine the stress running through her veins. Especially her worriedness about Rabastan.

"Suppose Sirius will give the bastard a good reckoning..." Regulus whispered, more to himself than anyone else in the room, but his father caught him.

"I am proud of you son, I wish I could've been the escape outlet that you saw in your sister...You've managed by yourself beautifully." After looking for so much approval elsewhere, from his siblings to professors, it was nice to know that his father truly believed in him.

"Rory tell you I'm studying for my degree?" The two found themselves talking alone now as Phoebe urged her siblings to give them privacy. And while she was settling Romulus in the kitchen with a bit of warm milk to soothe his worries, both Liz and her husband ran a diagnostic over the new witch.

"I'm surprised she didn't hurt herself over the portkey, it was—"
"She didn't have much of a choice, it looks like she fell. Phoebe!" Calling in the healer was the best strategy, but the look of fear caught John's eye instantly.

"What is it?"
"She took something...Reg could you come here?" With Regulus now too close to Rory, it was John who was distracting the Lestrange son with the help of Opa.

Who was definitely not the same man he was described to be.

"It's an antidote...Why would she have taken an antidote?" Regulus' question caused Phoebe to frown, but the suspicion of what Rory was up to in her final moments in Britain explained to anything.

"Could...Could we give her something to sleep? I can't imagine what she's—" Phoebe watched Regulus sink down at the edge of the bed, his hand itching to be able to hold his sister.

To be able to talk to her.

"I'll go fix something up, we'll take the other bedroom. The children shouldn't be alone." Regulus was grateful for Phoebe, gods was she everything he wanted in a gal.

Pulling her close for a moment did he settle a kiss to her lips. "Her knee is healing, she shouldn't wake up but if she does let her go back to sleep Reg. I know you want to talk to her, but she needs to heal before—"
"Okay...Merlin woman I promise." She smiled once again, his curly hair making it difficult to plant a kiss to his forehead, but she managed well enough.

"I'll be right back." The woman hurried along to apparent to the main manor, allowing Regulus to kneel down beside his sister...Something he had wanted to do for a year.

He blessed his sister and thanked her for all she had done, but he did it in the sense of her religious background.

And it earned him a slight grin before her body forced her to return to sleep.

Little did Regulus know that would be the only smile he would receive for the coming weeks.

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Date Posted: 12-11-19

Time: 12:00

Words: 2728

Stay tuned for the Author's Note!!!