A thousand moments that I had just taken for granted - mostly because I had assumed there would be a thousand more -- Fall 1979

It was merely months after we had lost Regulus.  I did not want to believe the rumors of what had happened to him.  I needed to know the truth.  I was at my youngest son's grave and felt such grief... I had never known that I could feel such a way before now.  When Sirius left, I merely felt as though I failed as a parent.  And really, I was not the one who failed, it was he.  But Regulus's death?  He was so young!  So exuberant and so full of ambition that his father and I were so proud of.  

I looked at his magnificent tombstone and wiped away tears from my eyes.  During his funeral, I still had to uphold an image.  By myself, I could actually grieve.  And I wanted to grieve.  I started to speak to the son who was not even buried beneath the ground on which I stood.  "Regulus... what did you do?  What happened to you?  You know I will not rest until I figure this out," I said, my voice breaking.  Who was it that Bellatrix told me paid close attention to my son within the Death Eaters?  Darwin?  I knew that I did not want to bring attention to me or my family as we did empathize with the Dark Lord wanting to purify the Wizarding race.  My son, however, was truly important to me.

I took a shaky breath and turned around, meaning to walk away and to hunt Darwin down when I saw my niece striding towards me.  I quickly composed myself and met up with her.  "Bella, what on earth are you doing here?" I questioned.

I had stayed back while I saw Aunt Walburga standing by REgulus' grave; I could tell that she was crying and had wanted to give her a bit of peace.  I could not, however, just leave her there in her pain.  I started to walk towards her and she met me halfway.  "I wanted to grieve," I admitted.  I was sure she understood why I needed to com eon a different day to do so.

I nodded and put a hand on her shoulder. We were never a touchy-feely family. "I understand," I said to her quietly. "Have you heard anything else about what had happened?" I knew that if there were any stories that would be true amongst the Death Eaters, Bellatrix would know.