( chapter xxxix. JOYOUS OCCASIONS )

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It was very clear from the beginning of summer that no Black or Greene was welcome in the wizarding world. Not after Maia killed Dumbledore, practically pushing him off the Astronomy tower with magic and destroying their greatest defense against the wicked Voldemort who the Ministry was just now beginning to believe was alive again.

          They were pariahs with their own people, which was quite new for Nadia even though she had been dating Sirius when he was thrown into Azkaban for the murders of the Potters. People gossiped when they read the papers – I always knew those Blacks were a wicked family and they're murderers, all of them – and whispered in the streets of any of them dared to show their faces.

          No one wanted them around, no one could trust them after what Maia had done, killing Albus Dumbledore. Even Calypso, who had never liked or trusted the old man, knew that he didn't deserve the fate that her cousin gave him. No, Maia wasn't her cousin anymore. She was never her cousin at all. Maia didn't deserve the right to be her family after she murdered a man.

          Calypso could never see herself committing murder. She could never see herself taking a life from someone else, especially someone innocent – or innocent enough, in the case of Dumbledore. But war was coming, it was approaching, already here, and everyone could taste it in the wind. She knew one day that those morals would have to leave and she would become a murderer, but for good. Not for Death Eaters.

          Because no matter what the rest of the wizarding world believed, Calypso Hope Black was not a murderer. She was used to the assumptions about her family. She was used to being the pariah in the streets due to the actions of her relatives, but this enraged her in a different way than it did before.

          Because this time she knew that Maia wasn't innocent. Maia was the guilty party, the murderer hiding in the protection of Death Eaters, doing their biding and liking it. It disgusted her. Just as Walburga Black burned the faces of her uncle and mother from the family tree, she burned Maia out of hers.

          Maia was no longer family. She would never view the girl as such again.

          And because the wizarding world had no interest in Calypso, she moved to taking a job at a local bakery with Lee. Lee had been working there since he finished school, not knowing what career he wanted and wanting something that would at least help him pay the bills. Plus, his aunt used to date the owner and he still had a soft spot for Lee even after the break-up.

          She had plans of starting in muggle university once the war was over and she (hopefully, at least) survived. Right now, it was too dangerous to really start a life in the current state of the world. At any moment she needed to be able to fight and creating something permanent only to have it destroyed would make her crumble. But once there was peace, she was definitely enrolling. Maybe she could be a lawyer just like her mother...

          Birdie worked at her family's bookstore, as she always knew she would, and complained about it every time they met up. It didn't annoy Calypso, she craved the normalcy and the ability that – at least at the current moment – they could joke and complain about this.

          She and Lee were stronger than they were last year when they had to be long distance. The relationship flourished and Calypso truly was happy for them. Sloane and Fred were still together but Sloane looked more unhappy that happy most times they saw her so she could only theorize that they would break up in a couple of months.

          It was probably better that way; they had too many problems and if they weren't happy, why should they stay together? But Sloane wanted to make it work after everything Fred and his family had done for her so Calypso would respect the relationship. At least, at the current moment she would.

          "Wanna hang out once we get done cleaning?" Lee asked her when their shifts were about over. All they had to do was finishing cleaning up the kitchen and then turn off all the lights and they would be done.

          Calypso shook her head. "Not today," she told him, "Maybe tomorrow, though. I just wanna sleep for hours."

          "I get that," Lee agreed, "But I can't tomorrow. I'm off so I'm gonna go help the twins at the shop. Now that it's summer business so booming."

          "Even with the increased Death Eaters sights?" Calypso asked with a frown. She would think that people would be taking cover and not just going out like that, but what did she really know?

          "Yep," Lee nodded, "Little kids don't understand the danger and during the day there's nothing stopping them from popping over with a couple coins. Fred and George do nothing to discourage them."

          "Huh," Calypso let out, "I would've never guessed."

          Lee just hummed and continued to wash the dishes as Calypso cleaned off the counter. "You been by the bookstore lately?" Calypso asked him, "To save Birdie?"

          The Jordan boy laughed at that. "Not since last week. Her mum keeps giving me weird looks, like get out sorta ones. Creeps me out."

          Calypso scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Birdie's mum is not scary, you're just a wimp. Just ignore her and free Birdie for an hour. That's what I always do when my shift comes with a lunch break."

          Lee shrugged. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't."

          "I'll tell Birdie that you don't wanna see her if you don't do it sometime this week," Calypso threatened.

          This caused Lee to stop his movements and give her an icy glare, "You wouldn't dare."

          "Try me," she shot back, "It's the least you could do. You know, if you wanna be a good boyfriend and all."

          "I am a good boyfriend, thank you very much," Lee told her but Calypso just shrugged at that, knowing that it would rile him up and get him to listen to and do as she told him. "Oh, don't do that to me! I'm the best fucking boyfriend anyone could ask for!"

          "Sure, sure," Calypso said with a leading tone that told him that she didn't believe a word he was saying, though she was grinning on the inside.

          "No, don't fucking do that! I'm amazing, just ask her!" Lee exclaimed, defending himself and his deeds as a boyfriend.

          "She'll probably just lie to me," Calypso shrugged, "Or get suspicious and start overthinking everything and realize that you're not a very good boyfriend at all."

          Lee practically growled at her, "Fuck you, Black! I'm amazing and you know what, I will take her out to lunch – tomorrow, in fact."

          Calypso only hummed as a reaction to this even though she was trying to keep a giggle from escaping. It was too easy to manipulate Lee into doing something nice for Birdie, but at least it was fun for her. "I'll believe it when Birdie tells him about the date," she told him.

          His eyes slit as he continued to glare at her. Grumbling to himself, he got back to work and ignored her, only making the whole thing more laughable to her. She grinned to herself as she finished off the counters, done with all her cleaning for the night.

          She went to the back room to get her coat since it was a little chilly outside. It wasn't like she would be spending a lot of time outside – she Apparated to and from work every day – but even in the little time she spent she didn't want any chill bumps to appear.

          Going back to the kitchen she found that Lee had finished and was waiting for her. "You didn't bring a jacket with you?" she asked him as they moved to the front to lock the door.

          Lee shook his head, "Nah, don't really need it."

          She nodded at his answer and they went through the front door, Lee locking it with the pair of keys that he then hid for the person opening up tomorrow.

          "Have a good night, Lee, and a good day tomorrow," she told him as they were about to head off.

          "You too," he returned. Then, in a blink, he was gone. She didn't waste another moment before doing the same, finding herself not in the streets of London but at her front door.

          Taking out her keys, she unlocked the door. Going inside, the closed it behind her and yelled out, "I'm home!" for her dad to hear. Even though she had more than enough money left in her inheritance to move out, she hadn't quite gotten around to it.

          She liked living with her dad. Liked knowing that someone else was there and it wasn't just her. The thought of living alone scared her more than anything else. Yes, it was quite silly to think about after everything she had been through, but she had never lived alone and if someone went to kill her no one would know for days. At least if she lived with someone else they could come home that night and find her body.

          It was more comforting to think about that, even if she hated the thought of someone she loved finding her dead body.

          "In the living room!" her dad called back. Taking off her coat, she went to go find him, seeing him sitting alone with the TV playing the background. He smiled when he saw her, asking, "How was work?"

          She shrugged at the question, sitting down on the other couch that Nala was on. "It was fine," she told him, "The same old, really. Lee's off tomorrow but I still have work so it'll be more boring than normal."

          Remus nodded as she continued to pet her cat, smiling fondly at the picture before him. "Any plans to start working somewhere else?"

          Calypso shook her head, "Not really. I mean, it's a little boring at the bakery but I still like it. Better than anyone else, I guess. I don't wanna abandon Lee or anything."

          Remus snorted. "Of course not," he agreed.

          She grinned up at him. "So how was your day?" she asked him in return.

          "Like yours, the usual," Remus told her, "Tonks and I had lunch today but that's about it."

          She smirked at that, "Oh?"

          He looked at her and rolled his eyes. "Stop looking at me like that. So what if we had lunch together, we're dating, it's not a big deal anymore."

          "But it is," she insisted, "You got a new girlfriend and you're having dates with her. Of course I have to tease you, I'd be failing at my duty as your daughter if I didn't."

          "No, you wouldn't," he said to her instead, "You'd actually be saving me some embarrassment."

          Calypso howled in laughter, "That's the point! You're only validating my work when you tell me these things."

          "Oh dear Lord," Remus muttered but a smile still remained on his lips so Calypso knew that he wasn't really upset with all her teasing. "I invited her to dinner on Sunday, so please don't say anything, alright? You can tease me all about it before and after, but not while she's here, okay?"

          "She'll just have to get used to it someday when she moves in, dad, so why not start now?" Calypso questioned and his eyes widened.

          "No, we are not thinking about that! We're going slow, alright? This is new and I don't wanna rush into anything," Remus explained to her.

          Calypso only rolled her eyes at him, "You've been pining over each other for years now, I think it's safe to say that you two can move faster than the normal couple."

          Remus sighed then. "I just, Remelda and I rushed into our relationship and look what happened. I don't want that to happen again with Tonks," he admitted to her.

          She grew quiet for a moment at the mention of her mother. Even though her death occurred over a year ago, it was still a fresh wound for her and hearing this...hearing her dad who rarely talked about Remelda admit that they had made mistakes, admitting that he was truly serious about Tonks, it struck her in her heart.

          She had known for years and understood for years that her parents just weren't meant to be together. They weren't right; they were just young and Remelda had gotten pregnant with her so they got married. They thought it was a good idea because they were young and in love and thought the feeling would last forever, but it didn't.

          They were just young and dumb and not so in love as they thought they were. But now Remus was older and more matured, he knew his feelings better and he had learned from the mistakes that he and Remelda made. He didn't want to relive the past because it had ended horribly the first time. A loveless marriage that went into divorce where he lost contact with Calypso for a long time as he sought to better himself.

          And now he was in love again. He was in love with Tonks and he wanted to make sure everything went right this time. But it was much harder than before, especially now that his ex-wife was dead and his daughter was living with him. Not to mention that his new girlfriend was related to his dead ex-wife.

          So it was complicated and Calypso understood that, but before any complications she just wanted her dad to be happy. He deserved it after all the self-hatred he casted upon himself.

          "You and Tonks aren't like that," Calypso assured her dad, "Plus, mum always wanted you to be happy. She would want you to try with Tonks."

          Remus sighed, "I know, I know. She always used to tell me that before we got divorced. I never really believed her then and I don't know if I believe in that now. Not after everything I did to her."

          "But she did," Calypso insisted, "She loved you, dad, through everything, and she just wanted you to be happy and to allow yourself to be happy. With whoever it is."

          He took a pause to think over her words. "I guess," he started, "I guess Tonks and I can move faster than the average couple. If that's alright with you."

          He looked sheepishly up to her, eyes almost begging for approval if he wasn't so good at masking his emotions. She just smiled at him. "Of course it is. I love Tonks, you know that."

          "I just wanna make sure," he defended himself, "I haven't really ever dated anyone else and you've never had to experience this."

          Calypso rolled her eyes at how considerate her dad was being. "But I know Tonks and I love her. I've always told you to just throw caution into the wind and get with her. You've always had my approval."

          "Good," he smiled, relief flooding into his eyes, "Good."

          "Great," she said back to him.

          She lied down on the couch and started to watch the TV as Nala made herself comfortable in her lap. Remus did the same and there was a nice silence between them. It was nice to just relax with him after the day she had.

          "I feel bad that I'm getting a happy ending when Remelda never did find someone else," Remus spoke up suddenly, "I'm getting Tonks but...well, she never found someone else."

          "That doesn't mean she wasn't happy," Calypso said back, "I like to think that she was. She liked her life. She had me and she had her job. She had Uncle Reg whenever he came into town. I like to think that was enough for her."

          "It probably was," Remus comforted her, "Remelda always wanted a simple suburban life after everything."

          The 'after everything' was known between them and they didn't name it. It was always too hard to name. "Makes sense," Calypso nodded, "That's the life we had. I liked it."

          "Hopefully, so did she," Remus said in return, ending the conversation.

          Calypso felt no need to add anything. Remus had gotten his assurance to allow himself to fully commit to Tonks with no lingering guilt towards Remelda and that was enough. They were happy; they were moving forward, just as she would have wanted them to.

✦

          CALYPSO FINISHED MAKING her bed at Regulus' home. Her room were nearly complete there, only a few more decorations needed to make it feel more like her space rather than a guest room that she was staying in when she came to visit.

          Her walls were a soft yellow, just as they had agreed upon. He had finished painting the walls for her by the time that school ended, allowing her to come back and decide on all the other decorating for the room. There was already a desk but it was a dark brown and she was going for light colors so they spray-painted it white along with her bed frame.

          Her comforter was a pastel floral that she loved more than anything and she had plenty of pillows, Regulus letting her splurge as he wanted it to be as welcoming as possible. She had a dresser since there was no actual closet but she only had a few clothes in there. If she spent more time over here she would flesh out the wardrobe a bit more but at the current moment all of her clothes stayed at home.

          "Everything coming along the way you want it to?" Regulus asked, standing the doorframe of the room.

          She looked back at him and nodded. "Yep," she nodded, "We need to get some currents soon and maybe a succulent or two or liven it up more."

          "Oh, that's a great idea. I actually got a few plants for downstairs a couple weeks ago. Nadia gave me the idea," Regulus told her with a bright smile on his face.

          Calypso chuckled at him, "I saw them when I came in. They look really nice."

          "Thank you," he took the compliment, "Do you want a bookcase or anything? I'm ordering a new one for the office since I burned the old one and practically all the books. I kept the ones I thought were important but the others just had to go, you know?"

          "I get it," she nodded in confirmation, "But do you even need an office?"

          Regulus shrugged, "Not really, I guess. But I don't know what else that old room can be besides that, so why not?"

          "It could be a game room," Calypso suggested, "We could get a couple board games and everything."

          "We could...but I'd rather play board games in the living room than anywhere else. I'd be a pain to move everyone upstairs if we're already in the living room."

          "You're right," Calypso conceded, "Well then I'm out of ideas. An office it is, I guess."

          He smiled at her. There was a pause for a moment before he said, "I've been meaning to ask you something."

          Calypso frowned immediately, taking it to be something bad. "What is it?" she asked him.

          "You can totally say no, I'd understand, but I was wondering if you'd like to move in," he said before quickly adding, "Like I said, you can say no. I mean, who'd want to live with their uncle and a once haunted house that your grandparents lived in?"

          Calypso was frozen in shock. Regulus wanted her to move in with him? He'd like her to be around that much? I mean, she was already staying with him once a week and loved it. She loved staying with her dad but she was eighteen and out of school – everyone else she knew already moved out of their parents' home.

          Birdie lived with Lee, obviously. They had been together for two years and it only felt right for them to move in together after that time, especially considering the current state of the wizarding world. Sloane hadn't lived with her parents since the summer before and Cho had a room at the Three Broomsticks where she worked.

          And technically moving in with her uncle would still be different from them. She wouldn't be living alone or with her boyfriend, she would be living with her uncle and that still looked dependent but it was different to her.

          And it warmed her heart to know that Regulus wanted her around all the time. That he painted her room for her, offered her a room in the first place that was just hers, and allowed her to decorate it any way she wanted, permanently giving her a place here. And now he wanted her to live here.

          It was...it was a no brainer that she would say yes. Remus would be upset or anything, it would be better because Tonks was coming over more and spending a few nights and it would be great for them if his daughter wasn't living there.

          It was a win-win. No one would be upset, everyone would be happy.

          "Of course," she smiled, and Regulus froze to look at her.

          "Yes? Really?" he asked her and she nodded wildly. He gave her a wide smile and hugged her tightly, causing her to laugh at him before returning the hug.

          He laughed with her, joy surrounding them. And in that moment, it seemed like no darkness could touch them.