Regulus Black

Leaving the Ministry is a blur. I don't even know how I left the Death Chamber or how I ended up in the waiting room at St. Mungo's.

Meredith passed out, and I frantically got her here.

She was rushed off by Healers upon arrival, and I haven't seen her since, nor have I been updated by anybody. I don't know if it's been minutes, or if it's been hours.

I went to send Sirius a patronus, only to realize that it would never be received. So, I sent one to the first person I thought of.

My eyes are puffy, and I've only recently stopped crying. I think I'm in a state of shock. My brother is dead. I know he is. But it hasn't registered fully yet.

I'm pacing the length of the waiting room, fiddling with my wedding ring when he walks in.

Jack Trouche. Out of all of the people I know, this bastard was the first one I thought to send a patronus to.

He looks half asleep still, wearing pajama pants and a t-shirt.

"What the fuck happened?" He says, rushing towards me.

"There was a battle at the Ministry. Sirius was killed. Meredith insisted on going but then after she said something was wrong and started cramping, then she passed out-," My voice trails off.

Jack blinks at me, trying to process what I just told him.

"Sirius?"

"Voldemort sent Harry a false dream to lure him to the Ministry, Snape alerted some of us. My cousin, Bellatrix, killed my brother," I ramble.

"And Meredith?"

"I don't know, no one has updated me, and I haven't seen her since we got here."

Jack looks at me sympathetically. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not talking about my feelings with you, Trouche," I reply, sitting down in one of the uncomfortable chairs.

Jack sits down beside me and glances over at me.

"Fine, I'm not okay. I just need someone to come out here and fucking update me and tell me if my wife and baby are okay."

Jack nods, "They'll be okay. Meredith is the strongest person I know."

"She's a stronger person than me," I say.

"Well, obviously," He jokes.

I stare at the clock on the wall, focusing on the clock hands moving. I start to zone out, probably from exhaustion.

"Mister Black?"

I get up from my chair as soon as a Healer walks into the waiting room and calls my name. Jack stands up as well.

"Yes, right here," I say.

The Healer walks across the waiting room and offers us a polite smile.

"Is everything okay?" I ask.

"Meredith started to have labor-like contractions," She answers, an unreadable expression on her face.

I frown, "But she's only 16 weeks."

"She was experiencing a lot of stress, and her body didn't like that. So she started having contractions, she had a heart arrhythmia, and her blood pressure dropped very suddenly, which caused her to lose consciousness."

"Is she okay?" I ask. "I need to know if she's okay."

The Healer sighs. "She is stable right now, but she's still trying to come to. We gave her something to stop the contractions, and we're running tests on her heart to make sure that it's working properly."

Oh, thank Merlin.

"And the baby?"

"She was in a bit of distress because of Meredith, but she is stable as well."

I stop breathing momentarily.

"She?"

The Healer nods, "Both mum and baby girl are stable. You can go see them now if you'd like."

I glance back at Jack, and he smiles. "Go see your girls, Regulus. I can send some owls."

"Thank you," I say. "Can you let Remus and Emmeline know?"

He nods.

I follow the Healer down the fall and into one of the hospital rooms. Meredith is laying in the bed, her hair fanning around her. There are some machines around her bed, and the sound of her heartbeat is playing through one of the monitors. On one of the other monitors, I can hear the sound of our daughter's heartbeat.

Our daughter.

I sit down in the chair beside her bed, and grab her hand in mine. With my other hand, I brush her hair out of her face and run my fingers through her hair.

She stirs slightly.

"Meredith?" I say quietly.

She opens her eyes slightly, squinting at the bright light of the hospital room.

"Bloody hell, it's bright in here," She mutters.

I smile, blinking tears out of my eyes. I rest my hand on her cheek and she leans into my touch, her hand coming up to rest atop mine. "How are you?" I ask.

"I'm okay, I think," She says. Her hand goes down to her bump, and a brief wave of panic washes over her face.

"The baby is okay," I explain. "You both gave us quite the scare though."

"I'm sorry," She says. She isn't just sorry about this, she's sorry about everything. I can tell from the tone of her voice that she's talking about Sirius as well.

I rub my thumb against her cheek. "It's not your fault, angel," I reply.

She frowns and doesn't say anything. Meredith moves to rest her hands on her stomach. "I'm sorry if I stressed you out," She says, speaking to the baby.

"The Healer told me the gender."

Meredith looks up at me, a shocked look on her face.

"She was explaining what happened to you and she-"

"Is it a boy or girl?" Meredith interrupts, looking at me.

She looks so beautiful. I know that she's exhausted, but went through a medical scare and a fucking battle, but she looks beautiful. She always does.

"You want me to tell you?" I tease.

Meredith grabs my hand. "I would very much like you to tell me," She says.

"It's a girl."

Meredith smiles. A genuine smile. She smiles at me and I momentarily forget about the events of tonight. I feel like I can breathe a bit better as she smiles at me, her hand holding mine.

"We're going to have a daughter?" She asks.

I nod, "Yeah, a baby girl."

Meredith rests her hand on my cheek, wiping a tear off of my face. I didn't even know that I was crying.

"I told you we needed better girl names," She says.

I laugh and pull Meredith into a hug, being careful not to move her body too much since she's still in pain. She rests her chin on my shoulder and wraps her arms tightly around me.

"Is everyone else okay?" Meredith whispers.

"I'm not sure," I answer. "Jack's writing to them now. About you, and to make sure that everyone else made it out alive."

"Jack's here?"

I reply, "Yeah, he's the first person I thought to call."

Meredith laughs softly then goes quiet. I sense a shift in the tone of the conversation, and pull away just enough to look at my wife.

"Everything's going to be alright, yeah?" I ask, because I'm not really sure that I know the answer right now.

Meredith pulls away and kisses me.

"Yes, it will," She says. "It's going to hurt for a while. Some days will feel like you're drowning, but eventually you'll feel like you can breathe again without breaking down."

"I miss him already," I admit.

Meredith looks at me with a sympathetic look on her face but doesn't say anything.

"Although I guess that's what he would call the 'Sirius Black Effect'."

- - - - -

Author's Note: This is the end of "Part 1". I don't know when the next chapter will be up because I'm going to take some time to plan out the next part of this story. Also I've had little to no motivation to write in a couple weeks. However, the story will continue!