A New Ally

A few days after they received the news of Regulus' death, Susan and Mary received another letter from Head Black, this one informing them of the date of the funeral and requesting, borderlining demanding, a meeting between the three of them. Neither of them had no idea what Arcturus could possibly want to talk about, as far as they knew Regulus had only disclosed, to his grandfather, that they were the friends that he trusted the most.

"Maybe he thinks we know something about Regulus' death?" questioned Mary upon seeing the confused face of her friend after they read the letter.

"Yeah, but what do we do? I don't want him to see Rob, he resembles Regulus too much, he surely will notice the semblance." Susan said, with a worried face, after discarding the letter on the small rubbish can that they used to throw the parchments and papers that they didn't have a use for anymore.

Mary mirrored her friend's expression and said, "If we can talk with only him I think we won't have a problem, Regulus always said that his grandfather was his closest member in the family."

" I don't know Mary, it's my baby we are talking about. What if he disapproves of him and decides to make our lives harder? Or worse, what if he likes him and tries to take him away from me? The Blacks now only have Sirius as a possible Heir, and Regulus said that he was disowned, what if he wants a Heir he can mold since he was a baby?" Susan said with a tone of despair.

Mary knew her friend was really worried seeing as she went straight to the worst situation possible, something that she had never done before. Trying to calm her down a bit, she said, "Sue, calm down you're not acting like yourself, where is the optimistic girl that I met at the Express seven years ago? Listen, we know that Arcturus is not like that. I think he would put Sirius back in the family before he would even think of stealing a baby from his mother."

That did the trick, the worry visibly left Susan's face as she recalled the few interactions that she had with the Head of House Black during the countless balls and parties that her parents made her go.

'He never were like the others, sometimes he even helped me and Regulus slip away from the rest of the party. Perhaps he knew about us? Regulus never said anything about it.' she thought.

Suddenly, Mary noticed a change in Susan's expresion, as if she remembered something. "What's up?" she asked, starting to get a little concerned.

"The letter, I forgot the letter." she said rushing to her room not thinking about the possibility of waking up the sleeping baby.

Mary went after her, and as she reached her friend's door she saw her on her knees searching for something in the trunk that she had with her ever since she left Hogwarts. "What letter? And how would you find in that mess of a trunk of yours?" she questioned while trying to take a peek through the flying clothes and books that were rapidly piling up on the floor.

"Found it!" exclaimed Susan, only now noticing that her shout woke Robert.

Mary sighed and said while pointing at the crib, "Susan, this better be a hell of a letter because I don't know how I'll deal with you trying to make that baby go asleep for two more hours."

Puting the letter on the beg the woman picked up her son and tried to calm him down all the while whispering soft sorries in his ears. Pointing her head towards the letter she said, "Pick that up and let's go read it in the living room."

Mary was dumbfounded at her friend's antics, but took the letter and followed her to their living room. Upon getting there, she went straight to the table that had the recently used letter opener and an annoyed looking owl, waiting for some sort of treat for her delivery and for the madness that it had to witness from the humans.

Seeing as Susan completely ignored the owl, Mary went to one of their shelves in the kitchen and grabbed some owl treat that she had lying for who knows how long. The owl wasn't happy about the crappy meal but took off hoping to receive something when it got back in its own home.

With one problem out of the way, Mary only had to open and read this possibly miraculous letter. She noticed that it didn't have any names on the outside, so she didn't wait any longer and used the letter opener.

'Dear Sue,

If you're reading this without me then that means that I somehow failed in my plans to foil the Dark Lord's plans and it backfired, I'm sorry that I left you, I'm sorry that I couldn't be there for you and our baby, I'm sorry that I couldn't keep my promise and leave with you to somewhere safe. I don't know if you'll ever forgive me, I hope you do.

I wrote this letter to tell you all that I couldn't in case the worst happened, there are some good things and some bad things. Firstly, I told my grandfather that you were the one, and he agreed to make a formal marriage contract between the two of us, I planned telling you on New Years, or when our baby was born, whichever came first. Also he knows that you are pregnant, I couldn't hide it from him, he knew the day after that ball that we went when it happened, he said it was clear in my face that something really good had happened.

He promised me to help you if anything befallen me, so you could probably wait for his letter, if you already haven't gotten it. If he asks about how I met my demise, tell him to contact Kreacher, he'll go with me when I execute my plan. If he refuses to talk, show him this letter, I know that should be enough for him to trust you and grandfather.

I don't want to talk about what I found in case you're not the one reading this letter, just know that what Voldemort did shouldn't have been done by anyone, ever. And that was the last I could take.

Now this is something that I don't know how to tell you, or how you'll take, but… The reason that your father reacted that way towards your mother's death was because he was imperiused by one of the Death Eaters, I don't know how long it'll continue, but I think you should be with him when the imperius falls. I remember all the glares he gave my way whenever we thought we were alone together, I think he knew about us as well.

I know you are a smart girl so I'll just agree to it here, I Regulus Arcturus Black, heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, agree to my offspring with Susan Leona Rosier, heiress of the Noble and Ancient House of Rosier, receiving her family name, I also use this letter to declare that I agree to the paternity of him.

Please talk to my grandfather, if I'm not there I know that he'll be able to help and protect you both.

With love,

R.A.B.'

The soft sound of Rob being breastfed was all that could be heard after Mary finished reading the letter, neither knew how to react to it, Susan was trembling, holding her son as close as she could to her, afraid that he might fall from her arms due to the shock.

Her father, the man who albeit, cold and overbearing, did show that he loved his wife dearly was being mind controlled to destroy his family, 'Could this be some sort of a plan from Voldemort? Or is it one of the Death Eaters trying to take my family's money?' Susan though, 'Regardless, I can't do anything alone, I'll really need some help' she concluded.

With tears starting to fall from her eyes she muttered, "Even dead you take care of me Regulus, I'll really miss you. And I forgive you for everything, even though you didn't tell me about your grandfather."

Her muttering wasn't soft enough for Mary, as proven by her question, "So you are going to send him a reply and meet with him?"

To which Susan replied with a simple "Yes", and went to grab some parchment and a quill and ink to write her reply.

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It was two days later when she received the confirmation of her invite, with one Arcturus Black III, Head of House Black, showing up at their flat's door.

"Hello Lord Black, welcome to our home." said Mary as she opened the door for him.

He took his hat off and entered the apartment while saying, "Thank you, and don't bother with this Lord title, haven't used it in a long time. And I'm sorry I didn't inform you of when I would come, I understand that the conversation that we'll have must be for our ears only, we can't take the risk of others finding out about this encounter." the latter part he said looking at Susan.

She nodded and took a seat directly in front of him, with Mary sitting at her right in the head of the house seat.

"So that's my great-grandson. He does resemble Regulus quite a lot, although he has your eyes, and I can clearly see both your mouth and nose on him." Arcturus said while looking at the baby that was curiously staring at him from the other side of the table.

Susan smiled and looked at her son while saying, "Yes, he is as handsome as his father, but I don't know from whom he inherited his appetite, I fear that he might want to drink more milk than I can produce."

Arcturus couldn't hold the bark of a laugh after hearing that, he continued saying, "There it goes, one more proof that he is Regulus' son, his mother came to my wife Melania with the same concerns, specially because Sirius wasn't that big of a drinker in his earlier days."

That put a smile on both of the women's faces, but it shortly disappeared when the head of the house Black said in a serious tone, "So, I believe that you have a letter from my grandson that might explain what happened to him?"

The answer was Mary sliding the letter that was in front of her towards his direction. Arcturus took the letter and read it, his expression faltered a bit towards the end of it, and when he finished he had a frown adorning his face.

"I never liked the idea of following that man, had Walburga not filled Regulus' head with her supremacists ideas he might have not admired the madman and followed him around like a lost puppy looking for someone to notice him." he said, clearly showing his anger at the happenings of his family.

After saying his piece, he took out his wand and touched the letter and chanted 'Geminio', after which a perfect copy appeared besides the original. Grabbing the copy he turned to the two others in the room and said, "I'll take this to Kreacher and see what I can find, I'll also talk with Evan and try to keep him away from those Death Eaters, I'll owl you when he regains his mind."

All Susan could do was thank the man and wait for the letter for when her father finally regains his mind.

As Arcturus got up he took a parchment from within his robes and said while giving it to Susan, "And before I forget, take this, all you need to do is take them to the Ministry, everything is already signed. I believe your friend over there can do that for you, now that you are taking care of a baby." the last part being said with him pointing his nose towards Mary.

Susan took a quick peek at the parchment and almost let it drop. It was a marriage contract between her and Regulus, dated at the first of december of the previous year, already signed by Arcturus Black and Evan Rosier, both Head of the Houses involved.

Arcturus didn't wait for her and walked towards the exit of the flat, being quickly followed by Mary in order to open the door for the man. As he was leaving, he stopped and turned towards the still frozen Susan and said, "I also talked with my niece Dorea, and she agreed to take a look at your prospect as a healer, she should send you a letter after the funeral. It's best for you to not attend, I understand the complexity of the situation, and I believe many Death Eaters will be there."

With that being said he turned around and appareted away.