Noon.
Sunlight at its peak.
The wedding preparations were finished.
A handful of Muggles made final adjustments, straightening chairs, nudging bouquets into better positions.
Regulus stood beneath a nearby olive tree and cast a charm on himself.
The effect was simple. Everyone except Andromeda and Ted would register his presence without processing it. They'd see someone standing there but wouldn't retain his face, wouldn't wonder who he was, wouldn't find anything noteworthy about a stranger at a private wedding.
He took two more steps, and his robes rippled like water, darkening, reshaping, settling into a well-tailored charcoal suit.
At twelve, Regulus already stood half a head above his peers. Months of magical conditioning had given him a frame that was straight and lean, and the suit sharpened every line across his shoulders and back.
White shirt. Dark tie. Polished shoes. He looked like someone who belonged wherever he chose to stand.
He looked toward the wedding preparations, something warm in his gaze.
Dumbledore hadn't left yet. Regulus turned his head. "Professor, coming?"
Dumbledore smiled and shook his head. "I think not. At an occasion like this, my unannounced presence would only invite speculation."
He looked at Regulus. "Pass along my congratulations to the couple. Tell them an old friend wishes them a lifetime together."
Regulus nodded. "Done."
Dumbledore's eyes crinkled. "You look good today. Like this."
Regulus dipped his chin. He looked good every day.
"Well then, I'm off. Goodbye, Regulus."
And he vanished.
Regulus had been waiting for that moment. His spatial perception had been active the entire time, and it caught nothing. Not a ripple.
He shrugged, unsurprised. Same as outside the Shrieking Shack, when he'd failed to detect Dumbledore's arrival.
But a thought surfaced. Sooner or later, I'll catch you.
He turned and walked toward the house. People moved through the courtyard in every direction. None of them noticed him.
Regulus threaded through the crowd, taking in the arrangements.
A small wedding. Thirty or forty guests. Chairs lined neatly across the courtyard, a white-draped aisle running down the center.
At the far end stood a simple arch, dressed in white flowers and green leaves, clean and bright in the sunlight.
Muggle style.
Ted Tonks's parents were both there. An older Muggle couple in rented formalwear. The mother kept smoothing her skirt. The father stood beside her, making stiff conversation.
A cluster of Ted's Muggle friends had gathered together. Young, loud, laughing freely.
A few young witches and wizards, too.
Regulus could see the magical fluctuations on them. Faint, but unmistakably there.
They blended with the crowd, trying to pass for ordinary, but the habit of reaching for a wand that wasn't supposed to be there gave them away.
He also spotted several young women near the side of the house, laughing and fussing over flowers and gauze. Friends Andromeda had made in France, most likely.
A Pure-blood defector marrying a Muggle-born. The union would never be accepted by mainstream society, so they'd chosen a foreign country and invited only the people they trusted most.
Regulus turned these thoughts over as he crossed the courtyard and found the staircase along the side of the house.
Second floor. A room repurposed as the bridal suite. The door sat slightly ajar.
He stopped at the threshold and peered through the gap.
Andromeda stood with her back to him, adjusting her veil in the mirror.
She wore a white gown, its train spread across the floor. Her hair was swept up, baring the smooth line of her neck.
Happiness radiated from her face. She couldn't have hidden it if she'd tried.
Two girls flanked her, smoothing the fabric of her skirt, chatting about something. Andromeda listened, nodding now and then, her smile widening.
Regulus didn't go in. He leaned against the corridor wall and waited.
After a while, the door opened. The two girls emerged first, still laughing, and headed downstairs.
Andromeda followed. She reached the doorway, about to step through, and stopped.
She'd seen him.
For a heartbeat, she went completely still.
Confusion crossed her face, shifted to disbelief, then dissolved into something else entirely.
Joy.
Something deeper.
Something too tangled to name.
Her voice wavered. "Regulus?"
He looked at her, the corner of his mouth lifting.
Andromeda closed the distance in quick strides, stopped before him, and looked him up and down. Her eyes glistened.
She sniffed. "You've grown."
One hand rose to measure the difference. "Last time I saw you, you barely reached my shoulder. Now you're almost taller than me."
Regulus said nothing. He watched her quietly, expression soft.
Two years apart, and she'd changed a little.
She had the classic Black beauty.
Her eyes reddened. "You came," she said softly.
Regulus looked at her and smiled. "You told me once that if I ever needed help, I could come to you."
A beat. "I'm here to see if there's anything you need help with."
Andromeda blinked, then laughed. "You haven't changed at all."
She reached out, as if to ruffle his hair, then caught herself, worried she'd mess it up.
"I thought..."
She trailed off, but Regulus knew the rest.
I thought no one would come. I thought no one from the Blacks would come.
Her expression as she said it was calm.
No bitterness. No resentment. As if she'd stopped expecting anything from that family long ago, and their absence was, if anything, a relief.
The look passed in a flash.
She smiled at him, bright and open. "How did you get here? Apparition?"
Regulus nodded. "More or less."
"Did you get leave?"
"Approved."
"The school knows you're in France?"
"They know."
They stood together in the corridor, sunlight slanting through the window, falling warm across them both.
Regulus offered his arm. "Let me walk you out."
Andromeda looked down at his extended arm and went still for a moment. Then she laughed, radiant beyond words.
She took it. "Alright."
They descended the stairs together. The guests in the courtyard glanced their way and looked past them without interest.
The charm held. No one registered the boy who'd appeared from nowhere.
Andromeda walked slowly on his arm, sunlight pooling on them both, warm and lazy.
Neither spoke. They crossed the courtyard, skirted the crowd, and Andromeda steered them toward the far side.
Ted Tonks stood in the garden, fiddling with a speaker system alongside a few friends.
He wore a suit with a bow tie, his light brown hair combed neatly into place. Tall and solid, he had a presence about him.
When he saw Andromeda approaching on someone's arm, he paused.
Andromeda stopped before him, smiling. "Ted, this is my cousin. Regulus Black."
Something complicated flickered across Ted's face.
He knew the situation between Andromeda and the Blacks. Knew about those Pure-blood fanatics, their obsession with tradition, their contempt for Muggle-borns.
A cousin materializing out of thin air triggered wariness first.
But then he saw the way Andromeda held Regulus's arm, how freely she smiled, how natural and unguarded she looked. That was the expression she wore around people she truly considered family.
Ted's expression shifted. He extended his hand, his smile genuine. "Welcome, Mr. Black. Thank you for coming."
The earlier wariness had vanished as quickly as it appeared. Regulus had seen it, understood it, and didn't care.
He shook the offered hand. "Regulus is fine."
Ted nodded. "Regulus."
His eyes moved to Andromeda, then back. He opened his mouth, hesitated.
Regulus could feel what he wanted to say.
He wanted to thank Andromeda for everything she'd given up. Family, name and her entire past.
He wanted to say he understood the weight of her sacrifice, and that he was grateful, and that he'd take care of her.
But those words were too early. Not here, not yet.
Regulus didn't push it. He released Andromeda's arm and let her take her place beside Ted.
He looked at the two of them standing together.
Andromeda's magic was steady and temperate. Not formidable, but she carried Black blood, and that alone made her far stronger than Ted.
Ted had magic too, naturally, but compared to the other wizards in the crowd, he was unremarkable. An average adult wizard, nothing more.
Regulus's thoughts drifted to what the original future held.
Andromeda would be happy. Happy until the day Ted died.
Then her daughter would marry a Werewolf, and the two of them would go off and die together, leaving behind a child.
That won't happen, Regulus thought. Not while I'm here.
As for that Werewolf son-in-law...
A thought surfaced.
Lupin and Sirius were friends. Brothers, even. That was fine, however they wanted to define it. But marrying Andromeda's daughter?
Regulus shelved the thought and looked at Ted. Ted was already watching him.
Their eyes held for a moment. "Mr. Tonks," Regulus said.
Ted straightened instinctively. "Ted is fine."
Regulus nodded. "Ted."
He continued, "Andromeda and I haven't seen each other in two years. I came to see how she's doing."
Ted lowered his head slightly, listening.
"She chose you. That's her business. I'm here to see her off." Regulus met his eyes. "The life you build together is yours. But one thing."
Ted looked up, and to his credit, his expression was steady.
Regulus's voice stayed level. "If anything happens. Anything that makes her unhappy. No matter where you are, no matter how long it's been, I'll know."
Before Ted could respond, Andromeda burst out laughing. "Regulus, are you threatening him?"
Regulus glanced at her, a trace of helplessness crossing his face.
Well, that killed the moment. How am I supposed to follow that up?
Andromeda only laughed harder.
She hooked her arm through Ted's, looking at Regulus. "Don't worry. He wouldn't dare."
Ted gave a rueful smile. "She's right. I wouldn't."
He looked at Regulus, and his expression turned serious. "Regulus, I know what she gave up for me. I'll probably spend my whole life unable to repay that. But I can promise..."
His gaze shifted to Andromeda. "I'll be good to her. Always."
Regulus watched him, silent.
A long moment passed before he gave a single nod.
Ted visibly relaxed.
Andromeda stood between them, smiling, watching the exchange play out.
And it struck her, all at once, that today was a good day.