Regulus and Valentina went back home at around 4 in the morning. He managed to get her out of her dress before falling asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow. It made him smile softly. She had had so much fun at this party, it had been years since she had fun like this. The boy didn't waste time going to bed either. This had been such a long night and he was simply exhausted.

When he woke up later in the morning, Valentina was still in a deep slumber. He stood up quietly, ate a quick breakfast before hopping in the shower. Once done, he dressed up and left quickly, checking on his girlfriend once again.

"Oh, Regulus? Happy new year!" Marina came up to him and offered him a quick hug.

"Happy new year," he replied back as he returned the embrace.

"Happy new year Regulus," said Teresa as she approached him, coming from the kitchen. She gave him a hug too. "You're staying for lunch right?"

"Okay, no problem."

"Valentina's not here?" wondered Marina next.

"Still asleep."

"Of course she'd be asleep. The party must have been exhausting. How was it?" asked Teresa.

"Which party?" asked Regulus as a reflex.

"Lily's party. I'm sorry did you have a schedule with the Order yesterday as well? I didn't know."

"It's fine. And Lily's party was great. She announced her pregnancy."

"No way! That's so cool! I can't wait for you and Valentina to have children!" exclaimed Marina joyfully.

Regulus felt himself blush at this. It didn't please him well. "Sorry to disappoint, but this won't be happening so soon..."

"Marina, Regulus' the same age as Hannah... Anyway, I should make a call to Lily to congratulate her..."

"You should what?" said Regulus, dumbfound.

"Call her. With a telephone," only said the woman, confused by his reaction.

"Mum, Regulus doesn't know what's a telephone!" chuckled the girl.

"Really? This is a telephone," she answered, as she pointed to the telephone on the wall. "Valentina owns one too."

"Oh, I thought that was some weird Muggle decoration."

Marina burst out laughing at this statement and Regulus glared at the girl.

"Anyway, we're about to eat. Can you get Jo?"

The boy did as asked and walked up the stairs to reach his room. He knocked before opening the door.

"Hi Jo. How are you?"

"Hmmm I'm fine."

He was currently playing with dolls that must have been as old as Valentina. Regulus sat cross-legged in front of him and took one of the dolls as well. He couldn't help thinking about what Marina had said. He was definitely not ready to have children and their relationship was probably a little young for that but he was sure Valentina wanted children.

"You know, I'm actually very thankful you trusted me enough to share your secret with me."

Jo looked up, a little intrigued. "I trust you."

"I trust you too. So can I also share a secret with you?"

"Yes, okay."

"Valentina and I are going to marry."

Jo's eyes widened at the words and his lips turned into a wide smile.

"What? Really? It's true?"

"Yes it is! But don't tell anyone!"

"I won't!" he said jumping up excitedly.

Regulus stood up next and held out his hand. "Let's eat."

They walked downstairs together, with Jo bouncing in joy.

"Jo, the lights again..." sighed their mother but still smiled because she knew it was a sign of her child's happiness.

Regulus came back home at the beginning of the afternoon holding in his hands what was left of their meal. He didn't know whether Valentina was up yet so he checked in the bedroom.

"Hey, you're awake..." he murmured as he came to sit by her side.

The girl nodded before croaking, "What time is it?" She cleared her throat afterward.

"It's 2. I just came home."

"From where?" she wondered as she laid her head on his lap, closing her eyes once again as he started massaging her scalp.

"Your mother's. She invited me for lunch and I brought back some."

"That's nice, I'll go eat then..."

"You can sleep some more if you want to..." Despite hearing him she said nothing and so he decided to talk again. "I told Jo we were going to marry."

"Oh, you told him? Was he happy?" she asked, opening her eyes once again.

"Yes he was!"

They didn't wait more time before announcing it to her family. Marina was overjoyed as well. Hannah and her mother remained calm but still looked happy. The next thing was to announce it to her friends. There was no problem telling Daisy, Lily and Marlene, the main issue was telling Sirius. Regulus decided to take Sirius aside as to have that conversation with him. It lasted some long minutes. The girls were seating around their cups of coffees in the meeting room, waiting for them and more members to come, trying themselves to make conversation but Valentina couldn't help feeling nervous. And once they were done, they finally came out of the room. Their eyes were red but their smiles large. Valentina felt so much relief. Regulus came to sit by her side.

"How did it go?" she murmured.

"Fine. Great, everything's okay."

She noticed Sirius coming to her side as well. He leaned down as to embrace her. The girl embraced her friend in return.

"Thank you," she told him.

"No, thank you," he replied.

Sometimes her own life looked so idyllic that she would almost forget it was pure chaos outside. She got reminded of it when Dumbledore announced there was once again a mass murder early this afternoon, something they didn't know about. Apparently two Death Eaters started torturing Muggles before killing them as soon as the Aurors arrived. It was unplanned, even Regulus was surprised.

There was another meeting at the end of February and Regulus was the one to request it. He had been so distanced from the Order's activities that it was very unusual.

"Good morning everyone, it's nice to see everyone doing well," said Dumbledore as he joined the little group sitting around the large table and conversations died down. "Regulus informed me of great news recently and this is the reason for today's meeting. As you all know we only have few of our fellows working in the Ministry, and they are mainly in the Auror Office."

He took a look at the Longbottoms as he spoke before continuing.

"This is important obviously but unfortunately, this is not where we can have eyes on Death Eaters in the Ministry, and Merlin knows how many of them have already infiltrated the Ministry. That's why Regulus' presence is essential right now. He has found himself and Miss Parkinson a job at the Ministry."

These words made him earned a few reactions and he invited Regulus to speak then.

"Well, as you may or may not know my cousin is married to Lucius Malfoy, a member of You-Know-Who's army... but I think you already know about that... thanks to him, I've been hired in the Department of Mysteries and I'll be working alongside him. This is a great opportunity and I'll do my best. Moving on to Corban Yaxley, also a Death Eater and working in the Department of Law Management, he was looking for an assistant. I said Daisy would be suited for this job."

"You what? You got me an assistant job and under the supervision of Yaxley, among everyone?" she exclaimed, looking extremely annoyed by that.

"Well done Regulus. As I said, this is indeed a great opportunity for both of you. And yes you too Daisy," replied Dumbledore, with a satisfied smile. "Does this seem alright for everyone else?"

Nobody seemed to express agreement but they didn't seem to disagree either. It was still hard to admit for them that Regulus Black was working for them, working with them, and making things go forwards. They could hardly recognize his importance here but Dumbledore seemed to do so and that mattered a lot to Regulus.

"Now, I think Dumbledore sees me as a real member of the Order. He looked so... so satisfied," let out Regulus as soon him and Valentina were back home.

"I'm sure he does. And did you see Sirius?" said the girl in return, her smile not wavering off.

"No, why?"

"He looked proud."

"Proud?" wondered the boy, not hiding his surprise. "Why... I haven't done anything..."

"You've done so much, do you realize that? We're actually getting in contact with not one but two Death Eaters! That's a lot!"

"And that's why Sirius looked proud then?" he wondered again, still his surprise but by her enthusiastic reaction now.

"Of course. He has all the rights to be proud. I'm very proud of you too," told him Valentina, with such a fond smile on her lips he felt his heartbeat accelerate at the sight.

"You don't know how much it means to me..." he murmured, looking away but she still could see how his eyes were still sparkling because of the praise.

She didn't waste time bringing him into her warm embrace and he laid his head on his shoulder, smiling in contentment.

"I'm glad you've found your place there. Honestly I was scared for you, scared you wouldn't able to fit in, scared the others wouldn't accept you, this is going in the right direction and I'm so proud of what you've become..." she whispered to him as her hands gave his back affectionate caresses.

"You know, no one has ever said these words to me before... so it makes me very happy."

"I'll be there to remind them to you, for as long as you need it I'll keep repeating how proud of you I am and how much I love you."

He tightened his hold on her and she offered him gentle kisses on his face in return. She did love him very much and though it felt nice to hear, he didn't need those words to feel loved, her actions said more than enough.

Valentina and Regulus went on with a strange routine when March started. They would wake up early in the morning and departed for work. Valentina had turned 20 at the end of January, and had been a Trainee Healer for about two years. She had spent lots of times studying theory and now she was spending most of her time at St Mungo's Hospital, practicing and applying what she had learned. As for Regulus, he had recently started working officially at the Ministry of Magic. And for them this routine was strange though it was the most normal thing for everyone. They just weren't used to normal things, to this normal, typical couple life. And they were even engaged. Once again Valentina allowed herself to forget everything for a while, to forget the exterior world was pure chaos.

"Merlin, it feels so nice to finish early for once," said Regulus as he slumped down tiredly on the couch.

"It does! But only to go to the headquarters and spend hours working on our new missions, so I don't think it is that nice," replied the girl as she discarded her Healer clothes.

"I already feel exhausted. Let me just enjoy this moment of calm before going."

He closed his eyes for a few seconds and it was silent. She turned around and noticed a more relaxed expression on his face. It made her smile. She approached from behind the couch and leaned her face towards his, capturing his lips in hers.

"Don't fall asleep," she murmured gently, still smiling.

"Not when your lips make me wide awake. Have you changed of lip balm?"

"Yes, actually. It's peach flavoured. But I've had it for about two weeks you know."

"I guess I don't kiss you enough," he said with a smile as he opened his eyes to look up at her.

"I kinda think so too. I mean we don't have much time for us because we're both so busy..." she told him, a disappointed smile forming on her lips.

"I mean, we have time right now..." murmured the boy, as he turned around, still sitting on the couch. He grabbed her hand and brought it closer so he could kiss her palm gently, his grey eyes boring into hers.

"As much as I would love to, no we don't have time," replied Valentina with a sigh. She returned his loving gaze, a fond smile on her lips while her hand started caressing his cheek.

"Just so you know, I miss you."

"Miss you too..."

Five minutes later, they were already sitting around their cup of steaming coffee in the headquarters' kitchen, with Daisy, Gideon, Hannah and Lily. Valentina was catching up on their life, the pregnancy and more. She was already five months pregnant and was glowing. It helped that she had been put off the battlefield a while ago, it was less stress for her. Everyone was fixing her, listening to all different kind of anecdotes regarding her pregnancy, everyone but Regulus. He kept his eyes on Valentina the whole time, who seemed so focused on Lily.

"Do you think about it sometimes?" said Daisy.

They were the last ones left, finishing their coffees and it had been silent for a while.

"I do," sighed her friend.

"Have you two talked about it?"

"Not really, simply mentioned it, briefly... what about you?"

"We've considered it actually."

"Really? That's great!" replied the girl, and Daisy couldn't help but smile at this.

"But it's complicated. We're not even married yet. We won't try until we get more stability, that's what we said."

"So, no marriage planned either..?" wondered the girl curiously, not being able to hide her smile.

"Nothing planned... yet. You guys are inspiring us though, but Regulus' situation is a bit different I would say. He was always more independent than me, so it's not an easy thing to do. But we'll do it."

"I know you will." She took her hand across the table, sending her her most genuine smile as to ease the feeling of sadness creeping up inside her. She really hoped Daisy would manage to build up this dream life and be happy, she deserved it.

Today's topic was the menace Mulciber and the danger it put Regulus, Valentina and her family in. Some groans could be heard, about the same people as always complaining about how Regulus was again a source of problem. They both ignored them and Valentina simply squeezed her boyfriend's hand under the table.

"We'll have to fight again," said Dumbledore. "This becomes a side mission from now on. As for the others, you'll be focusing on the main mission. We've got rumours that Voldemort's army seems to be planning another attack. And Regulus has confirmed them to me. We've got the date, the time and the place. But first, let's see who wants to be part of the elimination of the Death Eater Mulciber. Taking into account that Regulus, Valentina and Hannah would be out of the battlefield for this mission for obvious reasons. Now raise your hand."

Both Hannah and Valentina did. It was a very strategic mission so Hannah would work on it, but she also wanted to protect her family. Lily and Daisy raised their hands too, though Daisy wasn't allowed on the battlefield either yet. A few more hands were raised. Regulus would be working on the main mission as he could have more contribution. And the meeting ended with this and the real planning would be for next week.

"We didn't do much but we're still coming home at 9..." sighed Regulus as he stepped foot in the living-room.

"It's a lot earlier than last time though."

It was true their last meeting had lasted until midnight because they had so many things to talk about and the more they had to talk, the more they needed breaks and it was always slowing things down.

They displayed their left over food on the coffee table and ate in silence because they were actually starving.

"I'm going to shower," she told him when she was finished.

"Can I join you?" he asked, looking up at her, his big grey eyes throwing her an interrogative glance. His mouth was still full and she just thought he looked really cute.

"Okay, sure."

She didn't know for how long she was standing under the hot water when she felt him slip inside the cubicle. His arms slide around her shoulders and he hugged her close to his chest while his chin rested on top of her head. A thousand year could pass by and they would still be standing there, nothing was happening yet it felt like so much. They simply appreciated each other's presence in this rare moment of intimacy. At some point, his fingers found themselves tangled in her long ginger hair that he started massaging with shampoo and she hummed in contentment.

"You know that your fingers do magic," murmured the girl. Her eyes were close as she was relaxing to his touch.

"Actually I do, you've told me that already," he told her with a chuckle. She laughed too but didn't say anything more.

They left after fifteen good minutes, once they were both washed up and their fingertips had got all wrinkled. They thought there was no need to wear pajamas as they had dried up while sharing a languorous kiss. She thought she would never get enough of feelings his hands on her body. It was crazy all the sensations he made her feel after all this time, after having shared so much. She loved feeling his starving lips burning the skin of her neck, and his hands which felt like they were everywhere all at once. No part of her was left untouched. He filled every desire in her. It was both so tender and sensual at the same time, so gentle yet so lustful. And she loved straddling his hips, and hugging him close to her, their bodies mold into one, as her lips swallowed his sounds of pleasure and it felt so beautiful to her ears. He was so beautiful.

"You're so beautiful..." he breathed out just as she was thinking the same thing about him.

"I love you," said Valentina, the kindest smile on her lips as she held his face in her hands, delicately, with affection and when she looked into his eyes, she felt loved too.