Truce

10

Jacob-

It had been more than two weeks since Jacob's last interaction with his brother and he had never felt more glum. He had no idea if the letter was actually sent. If it did send, then wouldn't that mean Regulus would be back with the crew? Back with him? At least Jacob still had Gene and Pandora but the two weren't the same. Nothing would be the same until Regulus returned from his hibernation. The room Jacob shared with Regulus was now littered with papers, all surrounding the rise of the Dark Lord. The pages were mainly of diary entries that the older students left hanging around about their initiation into the Death Eater forces. They were easy to steal, Jacob was practically invisible without Regulus by his side. The hardest aspect was forcing himself to read it. The pain that the other students went through seemed incomparable to anything Jacob could imagine. One student described how his arm burned as though lava was being poured directly onto his skin, but how he couldn't scream because his parents had muted him before the operation. Every diary entry inched Jacob towards a worsening state of paranoia. He couldn't show his friends the accounts because he knew they would have a worse reaction, but it also pained him to try and pick apart each entry. Every word had a secret behind it and Jacob needed to uncover them.

There was only one clean spot in the entire dorm and it was a small fraction of the wall that held a makeshift calendar. Jacob had decided to take some time out of his investigation and track how long Regulus had been gone. So far, it was nearing one month. The crew had agreed that if Regulus' disappearance spanned for two more weeks, then they would personally intervene, scrapping together any weapons they had and bombarding the Black estate in search of their friend. But they couldn't go yet. It was still too dangerous.

Jacob sat on his bed, unsure of what his mind was trying to accomplish. He had disassociated most of the day, his body feeling like a coffin while his mind reread the diary entries. There was on page which Jacob was now clutching that stood out to him.

The Dark Lord wanted to be immortal. He wanted to be God. Mum told me he wanted all that looked upon him to fear him and respect him. He wanted the world to crumble so he could rebuild it in a way he desired. There was something he was reading. A book. He read it at the last meeting. It was all he was doing. And his eyes lit up, his eyes never lit up unless he was talking about his domination.

A book? Jacob knew that Voldemort was smart and yet the idea of him reading something that made him overjoyed sent chills down Jacob's body. Regulus had hypothesized that Voldemort was smarter than Dumbledore and Jacob couldn't help but agree. Sighing, he let the paper float over his eyes. He was exhausted. Both physically and emotionally. He knew that his friends were too. Even Xenophilius was tired and he hadn't been doing much in the 'Find-Regulus' effort.

The dorm door was pushed open before Jacob could try and hide his collection. A Slytherin prefect glanced around the room before letting someone through. Jacob's vision, being blinded by the paper, only granted him vision of the prefect who had an annoyingly smug smirk gracing his face. Dumbledore wouldn't have given him a new roommate, right? Not unless Regulus died. The thought made Jacob's heart race.

"Clean this place up, I don't want Slughorn to wander in and see a pigsty." It took Jacob everything to not flip off the Prefect as he closed the door behind him. Jacob heard the thump of a suitcase being dropped on the floor and footsteps nearing Jacob's bed. There was the rustle of paper and Jacob assumed the figure had picked up his notes.

"Oy, don't touch those." There wasn't a response. Jacob, who was tired and rather upset and the new living accommodation, tore the paper he had previously been reading off of his face and forced himself up. "I said-," But his words were drowned out by the tall, greasy headed, long-haired figure that stood before him.

"Did you steal these?"

"No," Jacob said quietly, his heart thundering. He stood up quickly, carefully snatching away the diary entry that was in the figure's hand. The smell of sweat was so unnatural for Jacob that it made him cringe.

"So you've been writing diaries?"

"No," Jacob quickly began brushing the copious amounts of pages under his bed but he soon felt a hand on his arm.

"Jacob, stop for a moment."

"No-,"

"Stop." Regulus enveloped Jacob in a hug. Their bodies shivering with unsaid words and unexplainable emotions, but both knew that it was largely a hug of relief. "I missed you." Those words alone caused Jacob to crumple into Regulus' body. Regulus had missed Jacob. Jacob had missed Regulus. The two had missed each other. Relief washed over Jacob's body and before Regulus could say another word, the two had fallen onto Jacob's bed. The brothers were back in business.

"You fucking wanker. You were gone."

"I know,"

"With the fucking freak of a guy who wants to rule the world."

"I know,"

"Fuck you." The two lay in complete silence. Everything felt wrong and right at the same time. All the pieces were back together but the atmosphere still felt glum. Regulus breathed in the freedom he had longed for but knew it wasn't unconditional. He would be watched, monitored. He wouldn't know who was a spy and who wanted to help him. But what he did know was that he had a family, he had his crew. Which was why his heart was thundering. In his month getting accepted into the Death Eaters, he had learned horrible truths about the upcoming war. Truths that no one could prepare for.

"Jacob, I don't want to sound negative, but our problem is more than I could have ever imagined." Regulus closed his eyes, his left arm pulsing with occasional pain. "Everything is worse, far worse than I could have imagined. And I'm afraid that we might lose the war. What's worse, I don't think we can do anything about it." 

They couldn't do anything about it unless Regulus died, but that wasn't a truth Regulus need to share. Not yet.