Late June, 1979.
Pandora and Xenophilius have just started living together. He proposed just a day after their graduation, and she said yes, of course. The first person she told was Regulus; speaking over the phone about how excited she was for their new life. She hadn’t been paying attention to how little Regulus was speaking.
The apartment isn’t much. They can’t afford everything they want, but they have the necessities, and Pandora thinks it’s coming along nicely. She’s always liked the process of making something; seeing it start as something that others might give up on, and then it becoming something she loved.
She’s sitting at the dining room table, looking through glass jars filled with little things she had found in the building’s garden when the phone rings. The phone was in the kitchen, where the table was, so she gets up to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Pandora.” It’s her brother’s voice that speaks her name, but he doesn’t sound like himself. He almost sounds like he was crying, but Pandora can’t remember the last time he cried, so she brushes it off.
“Evan. Why’re you calling me? It’s pretty early. Also, have you spoken to Reggie lately? I tried to call him last night, but he wouldn’t pick up. I mean, I wouldn’t blame him if he was busy, but he usually answers or calls me back soon after to tell me he can’t talk and that he’s sorry. I need to try and discreetly get his opinions on decorations for his birthday party. He’s gonna be really surprised, since his birthday’s already passed and all.” Pandora rambles.
Evan doesn’t say anything, but she can hear his breath, it’s quickened slightly since she started talking.
Pandora gasps at the silence. “You didn’t tell him about the party, did you? You know I spent a lot of time on planning this, with all that’s been going on-“
He cuts her off. “No, I didn’t tell him.”
“Oh good, you had me worried there for a second.” There’s another moment of silence. “What’s got you so quiet, Ev?”
“I’m not sure if I should tell you over the phone.” He says.
She laughs. “Well you already called me, so you might as well tell me.”
He takes a deep breath. “I think something happened to Regulus.”
Pandora’s silence is deafening. She knows exactly what her brother means by something happening. Neither of them knows what to say. There is no way any of them could find comfort; not now, and maybe not ever. She simply asks “How?”
“He… Regulus never wanted to be a death eater. None of us ever wanted to be death eaters. But Reg, he was the one to actually try and… y’know, escape? He told me and Barty that he wanted to get out of all of this, but we all say that, we didn’t know he was that serious.” Evan tells her.
“So, you mean, you don’t know if he’s really… gone?” She knows the idea is stupid, that Voldemort would kill him the moment he found out about a betrayal, but she’s grasping onto any possibility that he best-friend is alive.
“You know as much as I do, Panda.” Pandora doesn’t know if the old nickname is supposed to offer some sort of comfort to her, or if it’s a reflex, but she does understand the other words he says.
Evan only knows as much as he’s told her, but she also knows as well as he does that it’s likely Regulus Black is dead.
“I’m going to hang up the phone now.” Pandora says, because that’s all she can say.
“Bye.” Evan says.
“Bye.” She means to say normally, but her voice cracks and she starts to sob right as she hangs up the phone.
She turns on the water in the kitchen sink to cover up her crying; she doesn’t know if she can handle talking to Xenophilius.
As soon as she gets a hold of herself, she looks away from the phone, but sees the gift she was going to give Regulus for his birthday, and starts to cry again.