The Marauders: Year Seven Part Two

The Great Time We Had

An owl arrived to Hogwarts on the morning of New Years Eve, carrying two envelopes. The tawny feathered bird circled the ceiling of the Great Hall once, twice, descended on the Slytherin table, dropping the first of its cargo, then swept away across the Hall to drop its second over Gryffindor. 

Regulus Black stared at the envelope that had landed in his toast. His eyes were dark ringed, his face pale and blotchy about the cheeks, and his motions sluggish as he plucked the envelope up from his plate and shook the butter off it. He glanced left and right down the table to be sure the students at his sides were quite engaged in their conversations so that whatever he had in the envelope would remain private, and tore it open. Inside, a simple notecard had been set, reading:

Meet me at the clearing nearby to the Shrieking Shack at 10p tonight. JP.

Regulus stared at the hand writing for a long moment, dazedly, and slipped the card back into the envelope, hurrying to tuck it into his robes pocket. He looked about the table again, but nobody was paying him any attention at all, aside from the constant watchful stare of Severus Snape, whose eyes Regulus barely counted any longer for how long Severus had stared. Regulus grabbed two pieces of toast, shoving a third into his mouth, and got up, abandoning the job of eating breakfast in the Hall entirely.

As he departed, Regulus's eyes met Sirius's from across the room. Sirius was clutching an envelope and card quite identical to his own and watching Regulus with a curious expression on his face.

He'd known from the JP, of course, that it was James Potter that had sent it, but he couldn't think why Sirius would be staring at him like that for just the same.

Although Walburga had suggested that Regulus stay at Grimmauld Place until after New Year and the Hogwarts term was back underway, he'd insisted on going back to the school as quickly as possible. It was at the school that he was safest, he reckoned. It was only in the walls of Hogwarts that he felt completely out of reach of the Dark Lord, lest it was on his own terms. Being at Number 12, Voldemort could walk through the front door at any time at all, without warning, and demand an update on the status of the locket. Regulus needed some time to think about a way around giving the Dark Lord the locket that would keep him from being killed by Voldemort, but also from letting down his friends and breaking the nefarious contract that had consequences that only Remus Lupin and Emmaline Vance could tell...

He was on his way down the dungeon steps when a hand grabbed his shoulder and dragged him roughly down the opposite way from the Slytherin common room, pushed him into one of the cells, and against the wall. Regulus let out a grunt as his spine hit the rough hewn stone and stared in surprise at his brother.

It was the first time that Regulus noticed that Sirius was a good inch shorter than himself, even in his thick black boots. At some point during the time they'd spent at odds with one another, Regulus's height had caught up and surpassed his brother's so that he was now actually looking down at Sirius. The realization was rather jarring - Regulus wondered when it had happened, and a sadness flooded him for all the differences between himself and Sirius, for all the changes that had gone unseen by the other, all the life they'd missed - all the life they would miss unless something changed between them. And Regulus didn't exactly forsee there being any changes.

Especially not with the suspicious look on Sirius's face now.

Sirius waved his wand and the door on the cell locked.

"Alright, talk," Sirius said, holding up the card James had sent him and slapping it against Regulus's chest.

"I - What?" Regulus stammered, and he took the card as Sirius whirled about and started pacing around the little square of rough stone room, kicking a bit of straw on the ground as he moved. "What're you on about?"