Surprise! BLACK FAMILY CHAPTER (or at least part of the family, which is a start to set the tone to where I'm going with them).

I know, not the Christmas chapter I promised, but I swear that it's coming, but I couldn't help myself. I wanted to write this and give a little warning before you read this chapter: I know that this isn't healthy and the fact that Regulus still loves his parents doesn't make it alright, and the fact that they love Regulus doesn't make it alright either. Please, understand that this characters are complex and not good or bad, i wanted to make them as human as possible, but I might have used far too much humanity in them lol

In general, TW: implied abuse and implied underage sex.

LEAVE COMMENTS IN THIS ONE BECAUSE I WORKED REALLY HARD IN THIS. ONE OF MY FAVOURITE CHAPTERS UP UNTIL NOW BECAUSE A LOT IS EXPLAINED.

Regulus wasn't known for being sensitive or overly emotional. Most of the time, he was so focused in his duties (as a second son at first, and as the Heir once he was fourteen and thrown out at the spotlight without any preparation) that he didn't have enough time to find emotions to feel besides what he needed to feel, such as an immediate anger at being disrespected, fear at being the Head of the House just as suddenly as he had been Heir whenever his father was sick or disgust if a young lady's mother tried her very best to sell her daughter off as a wife to him before either of them finished school.

But now, he was nervous.

He felt this anxiety growing within his chest. He felt nervous about meeting with Luna's parents once more.

It was odd.

When they met at a restaurant, he had been anxious (and somewhat fearful) of his own parent's behaviour and reactions to, especially in public. He had been so focused in acting and protecting their ruse that it didn't completely register to him that it mattered if Hope Jensen and Lyall Lupin would like or hate him, after all the courtship would end and he'd be left alone, married off to some rich and pure young lady his mother would find once he was done with school. Now, however, the courtship was real.

Well, it was real to him.

He wasn't sure of the situation they were in at the moment; they had agreed to not break it off when the ruse's main reason for existing had finally been achieved and they had admitted interest on one another, but interest wasn't enough to keep a courtship alive, especially if his mother wanted it to die as soon as possible to protect his reputation before it died. Luna needed to like him as much as he felt like he could like her.

And for it to work, he needed to woo her. To woo someone like Luna, he needed to understand what was most important to her: friends and family.

Much to his luck, her very only true bosom friend was the girl he grew up with, Pandora Rosier. Cousin of his cousins and the twin sister of one of his bed friends, she was someone he cared for like a sister, perhaps more than he cared for his own cousins (or his long-forsaken brother; at least one year felt long enough). It left one thing to learn about: family. But he knew very little of her family.

She had a muggle mother under the name of Hope Jensen, a divorced woman that had siblings, but he didn't know exactly how many.

Her father was well-known enough to compensate it, it was Lyall Lupin, only son and now a quiet solicitor; he had worked alongside Orion and had agreed with him in only one thing during all the years that they worked together: the hatred for werewolves.

And then there was Remus Lupin, a werewolf and the one boy that Sirius had fallen in love with, perfect little Prefect, good student, and kind enough to not dirty his hands in silly prank, but cruel enough to create them... And the reason that Sirius had ran away from home.

And then there was Luna. Beautiful, blonde, strong, smart... and constantly sick, Luna. That was all that he knew her for before talking to her, befriending her, and liking her as much as he did. Now she was so much more, and he was yet to find good enough words to describe her at all.

And his mother seemed to be finding the words to describe what he wore.

"It's certainly... muggle," Walburga finally managed to say.

He looked down. It was muggle, much to his dismay.

He had gone into Sirius' room for the first time in more than a year to steal some of the clothes that he had left behind. What he found that looked remotely around his size were a couple of jumpers (a white one and a black one, the black one clearly having been made by hand) and denim trousers.

"It should be. It's a muggle village," he said to her.

Walburga fixed her long, blue dress as she lounged on the chair near the fireplace, warming up with a frown in her face.

"I don't understand why you need to go there, and she can't come here," Walburga complained.

"It was deal I made with her parents. It was fair, Mother. Father agreed with me," he said, sitting down on the chair opposite to hers as he waited.

"Fair," she repeated before scoffing. "Stupid concept. The world isn't fair, neither should you be."

He wasn't in the mood for a long, philosophical conversation and discussion of how the world wasn't fair because people weren't fair and not the other way around. In another moment, he probably would, after all his mother liked talking about long concepts and he had learned such introspection from her, unfortunately she had much more practice than him and she could go on longer than him. He usually lost, after all he usually gave up.

The fire turned green. Uncle Alphard appeared at the fireplace, lowering his head to fit in completely on the place. He was wearing a white buttoned up shirt up to his neck, elaborate light-pink cravat tied up and a dark violet waistcoat under his unbuttoned black tailcoat. Regulus was impressed that he managed to look so good in such interesting choice of colours.

"Hello, sister," he greeted gently. "Regulus, hello."

"Hello, uncle," he greeted back.

"You're still here. I thought you'd be long gone to Wales at this point," he said.

"I'm waiting for my father. He's just finishing some work in his study and he'll Apparate me," he explained.

Walburga sighed, but didn't say anything, just looked the other way, leaning against the lounge-chair and putting her elbow over the back rest as she used the other arm to fix her pulled hair style, a simple, tight bun that reminded Regulus of McGonagall's hair style.

Alphard ignored his sister's distasteful behaviour and walked to his nephew, fixing his jumped around his shoulders.

"Are you excited?" he asked. "You're going to the girl's house for the first time."

"Her parents will be there," Regulus quickly reminded him.

His mother turned to glare at him. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be going there, Regulus," she said.

"I'm going there to meet her family officially, Mother," Regulus told her. "Her family's very important to her."

Walburga made a little noncommittal noise.

"I suppose I can commend her for that. Family's important," Walburga said.

That surprised Regulus. His mother hated the idea of his relationship with Luna being taken seriously, moreover she hated Luna's blood-status and family – especially Hope, and surprisingly not because of her 'muggleness', but because of her 'pompousness' and 'haughtiness', whatever it was that she meant with that; he knew that the fact that she was a divorced woman made Walburga uncomfortable, and the fact that she worked (and was good at her job) certainly made her angry for some reason. The fact that Walburga was being even slightly accepting of a single part of Luna was enough to make him hold back a smile.

"I'm meeting her grandmother today; I'm going to her house. It's a small village in Wales, a muggle one," Regulus told Alphard.

"Her mother's mother?" Alphard asked.

"No, her maternal side of the family," Regulus answered.

Alphard frowned confused.

"The Lupins are from Cardiff. They have a wonderful townhouse there... or at least they had in my youth. I visited Mister Lyall Lupin over there before," Alphard said.

Walburga raised her eyebrows.

"Whatever for, brother?" she asked.

"I had been requested to help in some extensive research for dryads," he explained. "It was before I left magizoology, though they did allow me to send over some of my drawings for the book that Lupin's partner in research did. Mister Lupin had a whole presentation about the dryads right to St. Mungus' care; drove your father completely mad," he added when he saw some confusion in Regulus' eyes.

"Yes, Mister Lupin and Father don't seem to get along well," Regulus said.

"Understatement! I have, more than once dragged your father away from getting into a fight with him at his first year at the job," Alphard said with a little laugh. "I had to remind him that he had a wife at home that would certainly be scared if he came back home with a black eye."

"Father wouldn't lose a fight," Regulus dismissed.

Alphard tried not to laugh, but did let go of a lot of air through his nose. Walburga was a more discreet, glaring at her brother as she turned to her son once more.

"Your father isn't indestructible, Regulus," she said.

But she didn't need to say that; he knew. He remembered very well the feeling of dread and fear he had felt exactly the year before, when Sirius had disappeared from the house and his father had not eaten or slept for the first two days, looking for him in quiet despair while Walburga loudly wailed and wept until she had no more tears.

However, one small information made his mind halt.

"Was my father already married when he started working? Doesn't the Law Academy last two years?" he asked.

Alphard hesitated. "Yes, he was. Your father was married the year he finished his schooling. He was nineteen," he answered.

Regulus' eyes went to his mother.

"How old were you? You hadn't finished Hogwarts yet, that I know," he said.

Alphard tensed up and Walburga looked away.

She got up from the lounging chair.

"Thirteen," she said. "I was thirteen years old."

And she left the parlour to call for her husband to hurry up for the third time that night.

Regulus felt his stomach churn as he turned to his uncle while the doors closed in the parlour entrance. He felt some anger boiling within his chest.

Thirteen was a child. Thirteen was the second or third year of Hogwarts. Thirteen was the age that Barty had cried so much that he threw up because boys were prettier than girls. Thirteen was the age that Pandora had climbed into Evan's bed while Regulus slept in the bed beside them during a summer because there was blood everywhere and she had no idea what that meant (neither did Regulus nor Evan, and they all panicked).

At fifteen, he wouldn't dare look at a thirteen-year-old girl with any marriage intention, even if his parents requested that out of him.

Alphard had the grace to be embarrassed, looking down at his feet.

"Politics is never pretty, Regulus," he managed to say.

"Thirteen?" he repeated.

"Your grandfather –"

The doors to the parlour opened and his father stood there, putting on his coat and not looking at Alphard.

"Regulus, put on a warmer coat on. It's snowing," was all that Orion said before walking towards the front door.

It was indeed snowing, Regulus found out as he locked his jaw in place as he let go of his father's arm with a bit more violence than necessary and paid attention to his surroundings, learning quickly that they were in some alley of the village that Luna's grandmother lived in. Regulus' dress shoes crushed the snow under his foot with a little noise.

"Your mother mentioned you might be upset," Orion said, looking at his son through the corner of his eyes.

"Well, do forgive me if find out that my mother was a child bride makes me angry," he said through his teeth.

Orion grabbed his arm, turning him around to face him with a lot more strength than necessary and frowned as he raised his hand. But the slap didn't come. Not after Regulus raised his chin and stared at his father. His father was still sober. He wasn't 'brave' enough to hit his Heir while still sober.

Slowly, Orion dropped his hand and took a deep breath, hands in tight fists.

"You think me a villain?" he asked.

"I think you married a child," he answered.

Orion nodded slowly.

"I did. But do you think I liked it?" he asked.

Regulus looked down at his feet.

"I hope not," he whispered.

"When they told me I was to be married, I had three days to prepare and most of the time was spent seething, screaming at my parents, and recovering from the beating it gained me. It changed nothing. My father was the Head of the House and I his only son, I did what he told me to," he spat through his teeth to his son. "Times weren't like they were today, Regulus. My parents wouldn't hear me if I said 'no', they wouldn't respect my decision – let alone your mother's."

Regulus swallowed.

"The wedding was my fault, and there's not a day that I don't think about it," his father added.

"What do you mean?" Regulus asked.

Orion pressed his lips together and looked the other way, face so pale that he looked almost as white as the snow under their feet – his dark hair the concrete beneath the coat of white, darkness under purity that once might have existed in him.

He opened his mouth, but no sound came at first.

It took him almost half a minute to speak again.

"I'm a lenient man, son. My father wasn't. Half of the things that your brother did could warrant the same decision coming from me and your mother, but I didn't correct him, I allowed him his freedom and his privacy until it led to the point that we find ourselves in. I wasn't too different from your brother, I was reckless and careless with... my honour," Orion said. "And there was a young lady that I was courting in secret from my parents, whom I liked beyond any description I could find, but she was poor, untitled and without a proper blood-status, and I was careless with... contraception, and she fell pregnant."

"Another woman?" Regulus asked. "Another woman other than Mother? You have another child?"

Once more it took a few seconds for Orion to gather his words.

"It was a young lady of ill-repute, some might say, and one that my parents didn't accept even when I begged to marry her. I tried eloping, but we were caught," he said. "During our attempt, his father found out of her situation. He forced her to get rid of the child and took her away from me. She moved countries in the very day I was married to your mother. And believe me, your mother didn't want to be married either and she made it very clear through all the steps of the wedding."

Regulus frowned.

"But she was so young, and nobody knew of anything. Why would they marry you to her?" Regulus asked.

"Pollux, your maternal grandfather, was unsatisfied as the secondary branch of the family and discussed a way to make sure my transgressions wouldn't be shared with the world," Orion said.

"He blackmailed Grandfather Arcturus?" Regulus asked, surprised, taking a step back.

"Yes, so your mother was married to me and her sons would be the next in line for the title," he explained.

"My mother was a child," he whispered, more to himself than to his father.

"And there was not a single day that I wasn't painfully aware of such fact, which is why our marriage was almost dissolved after some time," Orion said. "I didn't touch her for years. The family was getting impatient, and they threatened us to either find a way to get children or they'd break us apart and find us new people to marry. Your mother and I had grown close through our time together as a married couple, we became good friends in our ruse. We decided, then, together that it was either the two of us together or nobody at all, so we had Sirius."

"Mother was..."

"Sixteen," he answered. "He was born premature, underweight and we thought he wouldn't make through the night. But he did. But our next one didn't..."

"Next one?!"

"Nova," Orion answered. "Your mother never talked about it again. In the next year, she got pregnant again with a girl, but she was stillborn. We already knew she was dead by the time your mother went into labour," he looked away, eyes distant. "She never wanted to hold her," he added.

Orion looked at Regulus' wide eyes again, seemingly as surprised as his son that he had said the last sentence.

"And then there was you," he said. "You were born completely healthy."

Because he had been born out of the body of an adult, Regulus' mind dared to whisper. His mother had been eighteen when he was born; it was her third child.

Orion started walking, not even looking behind him to see if Regulus was following, but his son did follow in silence no more than two steps behind him, seemingly a shadow of the man that he felt such conflicting emotions to.

"The girl that you were courting, where is she now?" Regulus asked.

Orion didn't look at him to answer.

"I don't know. I never investigated her after I married Sirius was born," he admitted. "I had a family to look after. I'm certain she did the same and moved on from whatever youthful indiscretions we were involved in."

Another few moments of silence as they walked.

"Father?"

"Hm?"

"She was a half-blood?"

"No."

Regulus had to swallow down the bile that he felt coming up. He now understood his mother's loud annoyance with muggles and muggleborns and his father' silent resignation of the subject.

"Regulus?"

"Yes, Father?"

"Do be careful with Miss Lupin. There's only so much that I can protect you two from, even from yourselves," Orion said, not looking over his shoulder still.

They turned the corner.

The biggest house of the village was the Lupin's new house and, upstairs, only one light was on. In the window with open curtains, Luna stood nearby – he could see her. She looked towards him, and he had to force himself not to look away like he usually did whenever she caught him looking at her. He walked faster to be beside his father. She smiled down at him.

"Father?" Regulus said, voice wavering. Orion looked at him. "Please, don't drink tonight."

Orion had to swallow down his disgust for himself.

"I'll try," and it was the closest thing to a promise that he had done about it in years. "If Cygnus doesn't bring his elvish wine, at least. We both know your mother likes it and she refuses to drink by herself."

Regulus gave him a sad smile.

The promise was broken before it even began.

"Yes, of course, Father," he said.

Orion leaned forward and knocked at the door.

So... I know, this is a heavy chapter, with heavy subjects, but we'll have a fluffy chapter coming soon enough.

I'll really ask for feedback in this chapter to know how I'm doing these chapters, though. It's the first time I'm trying to get further and deeper into the relationship between parent/child inside the Black family and it's harder than I imagined.

What are you thinking about the story? What about the character? Where can I get better?