5 YEARS LATER

It was the first time since Voldemort had disappeared off the face of the earth, that the six former dormmates reunited all at once. The first time since they had all left Hogwarts. They had since all gone on to do different things, some of them worked, most of them didn't, some of them had gotten married, some of them hadn't. And one of them had gone on to become the lady of the Black household, switching one aristocratic surname out for another.

All six now sat together in the drawing-room, catching up on all they had missed in the last few years. Frida – now bearing the surname Evans, had even brought her newborn son along with her. The young wizard remained sleeping snugly in the arms of one of his godmothers as his mother breathed freely, having finally left her home since his birth.

"Kreacher," Black finally called out when they reached a natural pause in the conversation. She glanced for a moment over her shoulder and the five other women waited, not knowing for what. Not that they needed to wait long. There was a small snapping sound as a house-elf appeared in the space where Black had been looking. He turned eagerly towards his mistress, waiting for some instruction. "Can we have some tea, please?"

The house-elf, eager to please, disappeared just as quickly as it arrived and once again the conversation picked up. The mistress of the house was yet to join the conversation, instead, she was enamoured with the slight bundle held gently in her arms. She peered down at her godson with a fond smile, brushing a gentle fingertip over the slope of his nose.

Makena, the first to notice her silence, asked, "When are you and Regulus planning on having one?"

The focus of the question removed her finger instantly as if caught guiltily and shook her head. "Not for a while yet – regardless of what Regulus might believe."

"I would put it off if I were you," Frida encouraged as Kreacher finally returned. The tea was placed on the coffee table before the house-elf disappeared once again. As Frida helped herself to some tea, her friends couldn't help but share a knowing glance over her head; Evans despite his repeatedly proposing, only managed to get a yes from their friend when he had managed to put a babe within her. By the time Frida straightened up again, they wiped their features clean and nodded sagely as she continued, "Even with a nanny elf on hand to help, my nights are ruined."

"Maybe that will be enough to put Regulus off for a while," she murmured, turning her eyes back to her godson.

"Speaking of Regulus," Aniya began slowly as if she had been waiting for the opportunity. No doubt, she had been lying in wait and biding her time until she could finally find out the answer to her curiosity, "Just when did the pair of start to date?"

"Us?" Black considered for a moment as if struggling to recall the real date. "Sometime towards the end of our fifth year."

"Fifth year?" Yuliana insisted incredulously, "But wasn't he dating that Ravenclaw chit? The one that's taken a string of women lovers since?"

"I never dated her," Regulus insisted, having returned from whatever plans he'd had for the day. He shrugged out of the outer layer of his robes, pushing his sleeves up slightly a heading straight for his wife. Perching on the arm of her chair, he dropped a kiss to her forehead before readily accepting his godson. He pressed a familiar kiss to the sleeping child's hair before addressing the women in the room, "We simply pretended. By claiming to date, me, she could conceal where her real interests lay until she was comfortable enough to proclaim it to the world."

"And – and you consented to this insanity?" Jazlyn said, clearly struggling to understand. Her eyes pinned her old friend to the spot and the now Mrs Black gave a slight smile and nodded.

"Yes, I did." The incredulity on her friend's faces prompted a laugh from the witch. "Really, I had no problem with it. The longer everyone spent thinking that he and that Ravenclaw were dating, the less scrutiny there was on our relationship. And well, if I ended breaking up with him, then I wouldn't have to put up with nosey people trying to force their way into my business."

She gave her friends a pointed look when they shuffled guiltily in their seats. Had they really expected her not to know about their naturally inquisitive nature and the way it had the most horrendous habit of focusing on her? It only needed to happen twice before she realised that they changed conversations when they saw her walking towards them. Really, it didn't take a genius to figure out that they were talking about her .

From his perch, Regulus nudged her as he teased, "I knew there was a reason you agreed to it."

"Of course, there was a reason," she rolled her eyes, draping an arm over her husband's thigh. "I outright stated my reasoning to you and it's hardly my fault if you don't pay attention, Regulus."

"I pay attention to everything you say," Regulus insisted, brushing his thumb soothingly over the swell of his wife's cheek.

"Liar," she threw back with a teasing smile.

Regulus's own smile softened in response. "Never."

The coupled continued with their toing and froing, not noticing the way the other five women in the room were glancing between the pair of them as if they had both grown another eye. Certainly, they had witnessed couples doing much worse, much more intimate things and those couples hadn't been bound by marriage. But still, somehow watching as this usually reclusive couple squabbled playfully with one another and occasionally reached out towards the other, felt much more intimate than any acts of affection they'd witnessed from other couples. It felt so very wrong to remain sitting across from them as they'd intruded in their bedroom or something. Salazar, it was strange.