The Twins Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban

by BeastlyRose023

Summary:

“He was sure the summer would be dreadful and boring but as long as neither of them blew anyone up they would go back to Hogwarts with no troubles.”

Regulus faintly remembered thinking that at the beginning of Summer, right now it was very unhelpful as he stared at their aunt Marge screaming as she quite literally floated away like a balloon, Harry was already moving, getting them the fuck out of there even as he was expelled from Hogwarts and really now, this was a tad bit ridiculous, 

Chapter 1

“ He was sure the summer would be dreadful and boring but as long as neither of them blew anyone up they would go back to Hogwarts with no troubles.”

 

Regulus faintly remembered thinking that at the beginning of Summer, right now it was very unhelpful as he stared at their aunt Marge screaming as she quite literally floated away like a balloon, Harry was already moving, getting them the fuck out of there even as he was expelled from Hogwarts and really now, this was a tad bit ridiculous, 

“Wait for me Harry!” He called out, running after his twin and thanking everything that he had the forethought to buy a carry size trunk for his stuff rather than the assortment of trunks Harry dragged with him, which meant Harry was dragging his stuff too. Harry left him, he rounded a corner and by the time Regulus got around it, Harry was gone. 

“Oh no.” He  said softly, looking around and groaning in annoyance, “Honestly Harry! This has got to stop.” He whined, speaking to no one and just sulking on the curb, wondering if he too was expelled or if it was just Harry, he  snorted, Harry would get to Hogwarts somehow, someway. 

He startled, literally jumping up the nearest object when he felt a cold wet thing press against him and looking below him as he trembled he saw a large black dog that looked a lot like a grim. He blinked at it, it looked malnourished and near feral but it sat, yipped, and wagged its tail. He stared for a long time, long enough the poor thing started to whine. He slowly climbed down and tilted his head, he felt his wand fall out of his hair and caught it, shaking out his hair as he holstered the wand in his leg holster, 

“Don’t suppose you know where Harry disappeared to?” He asked the dog who just whined, Regulus nodded with a sad sigh, “Figures, this had better  not continue to be a thing every year before school.” He grumbled and ran a hand through his hair, pulling it up into one of Sirius’ favorite styles, a quick little messy bun and secured everything with a few hair pins he always kept in every one of his sleeves, yes they double as lock picks. 

“Woof!” He looked at the dog, 

“Wanna come with me? I kinda got kicked out.” He added ruefully and the dog barked again and ran around him, it seemed really tired, it slowed and stayed at his side and he looked around and wondered just how he was going to get anywhere. 

“If only  I could remember any magical transportation underage wizards could use.” He startled at the dog gently pulling his wand out and holding it up with a bit of canine maneuvering. He blinked as the night bus appeared, 

“Hello,” The driver said

“One second, I need to just process that you were called by a dog.” The man nodded twice, he eyed the dog but the driver was no snitch, “Can I have my wand back?” He asked faintly and the dog deposited it in his hand and he nodded, getting on the bus and the dog joined him, 

“Two sickles each.” The driver said and Regulus gave him the required funds and found a place to sit and breathed, preparing himself, 

“To the Leaky cauldron please.” 

“Right away!” And off they went, it was still so hard to get used to and he made sure to help keep the dog that probably wasn’t a dog from flying off or getting splinched. 

At the cauldron, the dog whimpered but he knelt down and assured him it would be okay

“They are used to me bringing random animals with me, come on you need some food.” He said softly and he coaxed the probably not an actual animal into the establishment. So of course he finds Harry, gets the rundown of what happened, gets told they are going to the Weasley’s, he asks if he can bring his new dog and Arthur Weasley looked apologetic while he denied that so Regulus nodded

“I’ll stay here then,”

“You can’t!” Arthur yelped and looked around, lowering his voice  he said, “
I’m not supposed to be telling you this but Sirus Black escaped Azkaban-” Ringing in his ears, that's all Regulus earned as he entered into a dissociative attack so severe it turned to panic, he was only drawn back by the dog, whining as it lay over his stomach. “I, do you…remember him?” Arthur asked Regulus hesitantly and Regulus nodded shortly

“He loved pa,” He said softly, “He’d never, there, they have to be wrong.” He took in short gasping breaths, “He can’t be-” He clutched his chest, a scream was building, he was being too hysterical, the dog was whining again, Arthur looked apologetic and like he didn’t know what to do, “They are wrong, they have to be, he was framed, that’s the only explanation.” 

“Jaclyn…” 

“No, you Don’t Get It.” He spat out, “He looked at pa and mum like you and Molly look at each other! Like, like he scrambled for couples, he whined, “You don’t get it.” The tears were pouring out of his eyes and Arthur looked so sad 

“I’m sorry but-”

“Did he have a trial?” He asked and Arthur’s face went blank before realization dawned on his face, 

“No, but, it’s been twelve years.” Regulus’ face crumbled and the sobs tore their way out of his chest. 

“We can’t take the chance that you are wrong, you have to go to a safe place where he can’t get to you,” Arthur said gently, “Just in case, let Dumbledore handle this-” 

“HE WAS THE ONE WHO SET THE FIDELIUS CHARM!” Regulus exploded, “IF UNCLE PADFOOT WAS FRAMED THEN, then Dumbledore just let it happen.” He sobbed out and he couldn’t take it anymore, he left, he couldn’t take any of this, it made no sense, Sirius would never, he hated Regulus for being a death eater if he himself became one then, then Regulus really knew nothing and he had no one. 

He didn’t know where he ran, he just knew he only stopped, gasping for breath and trembling from the cold and the agony when he tripped. He heard someone shout ‘Potter!’ faintly but nothing much else as he slipped away, the world was too much to deal with right now.

He woke to soothing pets in his hair and warmth all around him. 

“Are you awake hatchling?” Malachite hissed and he forced his eyes open and took in Dore and Malachite and the dog who looked like he was washed and fed but he seemed miserable. 

“I see you adopted another dangerous creature.” Dore said idly as he read, Regulus blinked and let out a bark of a laugh

“You are the one who stole it?” He asked a smirk on his face and Dore looked over the book and glanced at the dog and back to him, 

“Yes. Harry was…adamant on how good of a writer you were, I was curious.” 

“You could have asked Dore, I would have gotten you a copy,” He smiled, feeling so much more calmer, 

“Is there a reason you were running hysterical while a killer who is probably after you and Harry is free?”

“Sirius Black would never!” Regulus growled, glaring Dore down and he softly closed the book and set it aside, 

“I see,” He murmured softly and held open his arms, “Then I will help you clear his name.” He said with a nod and Regulus threw himself into his friend's arms, sobbing again. 

“We are lucky my father isn’t home.” Dore said softly, “He went to sort out your magical caretaker stuff, did you know that despite Albus Dumbledore being Harry’s magical Guardian he isn’t yours, in fact you don’t have one.”

“I have a feeling I will have one by the end of today?” 

“Yes.” He said softly, “Father would not let this opportunity slide, it's just a matter of Who gets custody.”

“Ha, it’s going to be Crouch.” He said softly, 

“Why him?” 

“I don’t know, I think he makes a good argument about it, both of our family lines stem from Peverell after all.” He curled into Dore and just let himself relax, “Thank you for taking care of Malachite and Ebony.” He mumbled

“Ebony?” 

“The dog is the same color as Sirius’ wand.” He mumbled and curled up more, “Ebony 14 ½ inches phoenix tail feather core.” He recited and then frowned, “Filter come back.” he mumbled and Dore chuckled a bit and curled up too

“Filter away, I learn more interesting things this way.” He teased and Regulus rolled his eyes.

Regulus was able to stay with the Nott family for the last week of summer and even got to shop with him but come summer he was to be taken by Crouch Sr. He vaguely wondered why Crouch Sr. was adamant that he didn’t return to the Dursleys but ultimately shrugged it off, he was worried that Harry would have to return and asked Crouch Sr. If Harry could come too but he was told Harry was to stay with the Weasleys on Dumbledore’s orders. Which was better than the Dursleys. 

Shopping with Dore was weirder and yet more calming than with Harry. Ebony was looking a lot better than before  but he still had a long way to go to being back to full health, 

“I can’t wait until we get to Hogwarts and I get to heal you.” He said as he pet Ebony, who nuzzled his hand. He was eyeing Malachite again and Regulus had to swallow his smirk at the weariness everyone who could see Malachite felt. 

They got to the train and split up, Dore taking Malachite because he wanted to be the Slytherin King and Malachite was very helpful and really who was Regulus to deny him that? Regulus took a moment, one single second to think on what he was about to do next and then he said ‘fuck it’ 

“Dore!” He turned and Regulus leant up on his tippy toes and kissed his cheek, “Thank you for everything.” He said softly and Dore stared at him before smiling and nodding, giving Regulus a kiss on his cheek too. Regulus giggled and went to find Harry, he felt floaty. 

He found them in a compartment with, he froze and without hesitation he dumped one of the twins jumpers on Ebony and transfigured his fur brown. All of this was silent as he stared at Remus Lupin and felt the urge to fucking run. 

“Is that a professor?” He asked forcing himself to act normal, to breathe

“Remus Lupin.” Hermione said  with a nod and he sat down, 

“This is Ebony, he found me when Harry ditched me,”

“I said I was sorry,” Harry grumbled, 

“Mmn, except you keep doing it.” He matched Harry’s tone and Harry threw his hands up in exasperation, 

“Anyways we were just talking about what Mr Weasley told me,”

“In front of a professor?” 

“He’s asleep.” 

“You overestimate a person's ability to stay asleep while children are talking about reckless things.” He said dryly and Ebony snorted. They eyed said teacher in suspicion while Regulus decided on how to tell Harry what happened, he decided to just tell him everything. When he finished talking Harry was frowning

“Why didn’t Dumbledore take custody of you?” 

“Near as we could figure out he probably didn’t think I’d live and after that I think he just assumed it was automatic?” He shrugged, “It doesn’t matter I’m going to be staying with Crouch Sr. over the summers, which I am not looking forward to so Uncle Padfoot had better hurry and get his name cleared.” 

“Wait what?” 

“He would NEVER betray pa and mum, especially not Pa.” He said, leaning his head back and just taking a few deep breaths. The train then stopped and Regulus had a very deep sudden knowing and shrunk Ebony without a thought, opened his trunk and hid him inside. His friends stared at him in shock and he just shrugged

“Something really not okay is about to happen, you should hide your pets too.” And then several things happened, the lights went out, Neville and Luna Lovegood appeared and then a dementor and fuck that was not a fun experience. 

When he woke up after reliving his death and James and Lily’s deaths he found Remus Lupin awake and offering Harry Chocolate, Regulus pulled Ebony out and unshrunk him and just flopped onto the floor and let himself drift again. 

“Jaclyn,” Remus spoke softly, but he was obviously worried, 

“He  won’t come back for a while.” Harry said, dismissively, used to Regulus doing this, 

“What?” Remus sounded upset

“He does that a lot, just disappears into his mind when emotions become too much for him.” Harry said and he felt Remus grip his jumper a bit tighter, nails pricking his skin, drawing small droplets of blood and then Remus’ hand was gone and he was across the compartment as if burned, 

“I’m back.” Regulus whispered, forcing his eyes open and noting that the comfort was Ebony curled up under his head. Remus looked out the compartment window, his hand was flexing. And Regulus remembered the philosopher's stone that he wore as an earring in his left ear. He just needed to convince Remus to stay around. 

“I apologize,” Remus said to him as they got off the train,

“I’m fine,” He said, and glanced at the man, “I never actually got to meet you, but pa described you very well,” Remus looked grief ridden and Regulus hugged him, “I’d like to talk about them,” he said softly, “Whenever you are ready.” And then he went to follow the others, and pet the thestrals of his. He was looking forward to the school year, but not so much of Snape's bratty attitude whenever it comes to Remus Lupin. 

Chapter 2: Divination, Magical Creatures, and Boggarts

Summary:

“What are the odds,” He said softly as he looked at his cup, it was the same image, “Harry,” He called, “Carefully bring me your cup.” Harry listened and he placed all three next to each other, the same thing, over and over again.

“Is it too much to ask,” He said softly, “That we have one peaceful year?”

“You can’t be serious?!” Hermione asked and really he really shouldn’t but it kind of just slipped out

“No, I’m Jaclyn,” She stared blankly and yet Ebony whined, trying to not do the dog equivalent of laugh, “Anyways, what are the odds that all three cups are the same?” He asked idly and Professor Trelawney made a pained sound but he wasn’t really paying attention to her anymore, he was looking at Ebony and pieces were falling into place

Luna had left soon after they got to Hogwarts, Neville stuck to Regulus’ side, almost never parting and only because of classes or bathroom or changing and whatnot. He spent his time making sure that Regulus felt happy, 

“Neville, I’m fine,” He said gently, grinning at his friend who just grinned back, “Besides I had Ebony with me afterwards,” He motioned to said dog who also didn’t leave his side, always there, always protective of him. 

“I know, I just, the way you reacted, how long you were affected, it was terrifying.”

“Harry was affected too,” 

“And Harry has his friends, and you have yours.” 

“I-” He was cut off by Dore, who immediately pulled him into a deep hug and he hugged back, 

“Malfoy is going to try and scare you and Harry by dressing as a Dementor.” Reglyn snorted, 

“He can try.” Reglyn murmured softly and just delighted in the safety of his friend's scent.

“Mm,” Dore murmured and they kind of just lost time as Neville engaged in conversation with the person who came with Dore.” 

“Alright, we have to get to Divination.” Neville said with a laugh and Dore grumbled but let Reglyn go, they paused, stared at each other for a long moment before quickly exchanging outer robes. Reglyn left smelling like Dore and Dore left smelling like Reglyn. He felt Ebony’s confused stare

“Oh, right, Ebony wasn’t there for any of our discoveries of how scents affect me and Dore.” He said 

“True, are you going to explain to him?” Reglyn laughed and did just that

“I’m not sure what causes it, or why, but currently right now every time I smell something that smells nice, smells of warmth, love, friendship it makes me all warm and fuzzy and I get lost in a good way in my head for a bit.” He explained as they made their way to the astronomy tower, 

“Welcome my children,” Trelawney said once they were all seated. He pet Ebony casually as he sipped the tea and waited “In this room, you shall explore the noble art of Divination.” He glanced down, noting that Ebony was drinking the tea too. “ In this room you shall discover if you possess the sight. Hello, I am Professor Trelawney. Together we shall cast ourselves into the future. This term we shall focus on tasseomancy, the art of reading tea leaves. So please, take the cup from the person sitting opposite of you.” He exchanged his cup with Ebony who tilted his head, Neville tried to muffle his snort but failed and Reglyn shrugged, 

“I will not explain.” 

“That’s fair, I don’t think my heart would survive your explanation.” Neville said

“The truth lies buried like a sentence, deep within a book, waiting to be read. But first you must broaden your minds.”  Reglyn pointedly ignored Hermione suddenly being there, “First you must look beyond,” 

“What a load of rubbish,” Hermione spoke and Reglyn almost rolled his eyes, it wasn’t an exact science that was true but Divination was also not fake. It takes a long time, a lot of effort, dedication and a whole bunch of other things to correctly read the future for an assortment of people and not every reading will be completely accurate because a reading itself might change the future. 

“You boy, is your grandmother quite well?” She pointed at Neville, 

“I think so,”

“Let me see,” She took his tea cup and looked at it. She seemed disappointed as she said, “Hmm, pity.” And walked away, Neville looked at it in terror and Reglyn glanced over it

“Calm she’ll be fine, just a small cold or something, maybe a fall.” he told Neville softly, and he relaxed a bit, 

“Oh! Your aura is pulsing dear boy, are you in the beyond?” She asked Ron and Reglyn looked over in interest 

“Sure,” He agreed nervously, 

  “Look at the cup, tell me what you see,” 

“Harry’s got a sort of wonky cross, that's trials and suffering, that there could be the sun and that’s happiness, so your going to suffer but you’re going to be happy about it?” He asked awkwardly and Reglyn hummed a bit

“More like despite the suffering he’ll be happy or in the suffering he will find a reason to be happy.” Reglyn said softly, and tensed when the professor freaked out and yelled that Harry had the grim, that he had an omen of death. He glanced over at his cup and relaxed a tad bit

“Not a Grim unless we both die this year.” He joked a tad bit. Glancing at Ebony’s cup he froze and tensed, there in his cup was the grim too. He stared at it and looked for anything else that could help him, he saw the moon, hidden things and a snake on the side of the cup, circling this. 

“What are the odds,” He said softly as he looked at his cup, it was the same image, “Harry,” He called, “Carefully bring me your cup.” Harry listened and he placed all three next to each other, the same thing, over and over again. 

“Is it too much to ask,” He said softly, “That we have one peaceful year?” 

“You can’t be serious?!” Hermione asked and really he really shouldn’t but it kind of just slipped out

“No, I’m Jaclyn,” She stared blankly and yet Ebony whined, trying to not do the dog equivalent of laugh, “Anyways, what are the odds that all three cups are the same?” He asked idly and Professor Trelawney made a pained sound but he wasn’t really paying attention to her anymore, he was looking at Ebony and pieces were falling into place

“It’s alright professor, we just have to avoid the Dementors.” He said as he stood up and stretched, and now I think class is over, have a good rest of the day.” He packed up and left

He vaguely heard Hermione and Ron behind him, talking, well more like making fun of divination and he held back a sigh of annoyance. He rubbed the spine of the monster book to calm it as he reached Hagrid's hut.

Hagrid led them into the forest, to a clearing, as they went to open their books Reglyn immediately helped Neville with his book, and then he opened his book and stared for a long moment, Hippogriffs, with Draco Malfoy in the class? Oh this wasn’t going to end well. 

“Excited?” Dore asked, grinning at him and Reglyn couldn’t help the grin that exploded over his face when he heard his voice

“Almost, I’m a little worried about,” He cut off as Malfoy lifted his hood and went

“Oooh~” towards Harry as if he was trying to be a dementor, 

“Him.” Dore burst into startled laughter at his tone of voice, 

“Don’t worry, we can work together to counter whatever he pulls, don’t forget that Crouch Sr. is your magical guardian now.” He teased,

“Oh…right.” He grimaced 

Buckbeak is a very beautiful creature, and Dore took one look at him, snorted and said 

“You are about to get another dangerous creature sibling, Ebony.” and when Hagrid asked who wanted to greet him Reglyn didn’t even have to think he stepped forward

“Me!” He grinned and Ebony whined, 

“I warned you~” 

“Jaclyn?” Neville asked, 

“It’s a hippogriff!” Which should have explained everything. 

“You have to let him make the first move, it’s only polite, so step up, give him a nice bow, and if he likes you he’ll bow back.” Regulus followed each rule perfectly, his bow was perfect, low and regal. Buckbeak almost immediately bowed back

“Well done Jaclyn, well done, here you are great brute.” He threw Buckbeak a dead weasel. “Right, you can go and pat him now.” Regulus made a low noise of excitement as he carefully approached Buckbeak and reached out his hand. Buckbeak leaned into his hand and he pet his feathers carefully and grinned. The smell of fresh air, dark forests and wet moss filled his nose as Buckbeak trilled happily at being pet, that was the only reason Hagrid was able to lift him up and place him on Buckbeak's back without him noticing. 

“Hagrid!” He hissed in alarm, 

“You’ll do fine,” He gave Buckbeak a quick slap and the Hippogriff was off and Regulus lost his breath as he took in his surroundings, flying on Buckbeak was an amazing experience but he couldn’t help the panic that built up the closer they got to the water, the memory of undead hands pulling him under had him clinging to Buckbeak who cooed at him and took him away from the water and over the forest and he lost his breath truly as he took in a herd of unicorns grazing in the forest

“Oh,” He whispered as they looked up at him, “Oh,” He said again when he saw a pack of young people picking berries and the centaurs running through their paths. The spiders  were hidden within their nest, deer prance around, the entire forest was alive and the colors were delightful, to see it from this angle, “Thank you.” He called over the wind and Buckbeak returned to the class. He was helped off Buckbeak by Hagrid who then went to talk to Harry, 

“You are dangerous at all are you, you great ugly brute!” Malfoy strode towards Buckbeak and Regulus hissed

“Malfoy, no…” Hagrid was too far away as Buckbeak's feet came down but Regulus was there and he cast his silent protection charm over Draco even as he pushed him out of the way and took the hit for him with a sharp scream as his right shoulder cracked and his skin broke.

“JACLYN!” Several voices cried out, Ebony howled

“Calm down, it’s just a scratch, just a scratch,” 

“Hagrid! He has to be taken to the hospital!” Hermione cried out while Draco was yelling something about dangerous creatures, and what was the glowing thing around him and Regulus barely got enough of his mind out of the pain to call out Dore’s name, He was suddenly right there, 

“I’m here,” 

“It’s not Buckbeak's fault,” He whimpered and Dore had an unreadable expression on his face, 

“Don’t worry,” A kiss to his forehead, “Buckbeak will be just fine.” He promised, “Malfoy however,” And there was something chilling in his voice that reminded Regulus of Evan so much, Hagrid lifted him up and got him to the medical wing, he mumbled that it wasn’t Buckbeak’s fault as much as he could and was hushed by Dumbledore who promised him the hippogriff would not be blamed. 

Later that night at dinner after he recovered he sat with a bandage around his arm as Hermione told him that Crouch Sr. was furious, 

“Why? I’m fine.” He grumbled and Hermione gave him a pity filled look, 

“Potter! Remove whatever this is immediately!” Draco screeched

“It’s a protection charm used for particularly unruly children who insist on continuing to explore dangerous places.” He told Draco idly eating with his non-dominant hand, “And as you insist on pissing off magical creatures I think it's necessary.” 

“It’s making me sparkle!” He screeched

“That’s the added function of making said problem child easily found.” He shrugged his good arm, as the Gryffindor table burst into laughter. Dore glanced around Draco

“I want a protection charm,” He whined and Regulus looked at him and nodded, pulling his wand out as he waved it and focused. He sang a quick protection spell and when it settled Dore looked awed. 

“He’s not sparkling!” 

“He’s not a problem child.” Dore laughed, it sounded just like Evan and for some reason that thought had Regulus looking towards Remus who looked haunted but so soft. 

“My father will hear of this!” Draco yelled and practically bolted away.

Everything was interrupted when a letter from Crouch Sr. got there and he kind of just stared at it as he hesitantly opened it. The man rambled on about boring things for a long time before getting to the crux of the matter, that disciplinary action must be taken and he wrote back a scathing letter how it should be against the student who bloody knew better than to rudely approach a bloody hippogriff when the entire lesson was about the respect needed to interact safely with said hippogriff. Dore helped him write it, right there in the hall, making it appropriate in wording and all that and then he sent Crouch’s owl off with the elegant fuck off letter.

Regulus was not about to let Buckbeak die because Draco had no sense of respect.

“He’s been sighted!” One of the other Gryffindors shouted and placed the newspaper on the table, Ebony perked up

“Whose been sighted?” 

“Sirius Black,”

“Dufftown? That’s not far from here.” Regulus found himself side-eye-ing Ebony who tried to look innocent. He was absolutely sure that Ebony was Sirius, but if Sirius was sighted…did he sneak out when Regulus was in the medical wing. He idly scratched Ebony’s ear and took a sip of his water, 

“What do you think, boy? Think he’s going to come to Hogwarts?” Ebony was tense, “Everyone thinks he’s going to kill Harry and I,” Ebony made a distressed bark, “you won’t let him, will you?” He asked and Ebony barked in agreement. Regulus nodded and watched as Harry stared at the picture of Sirius. ”He really does look mad, doesn’t he?” He asked and Ebony made an offended huff. Regulus couldn’t help it, he laughed and pet Ebony’s head fondly, 

“Come on, I want to see if we can scope out what today’s DADA lessons are.” He slipped out of the hall, ignoring Remus’ eyes on him and Dore and Malachite joined them soon after. 

They poked around the DADA classroom until he opened a portable cupboard and was faced with Sirius Black who held his wand pointed at Regulus, the dark mark on his arm, he noped out of the cupboard rather quickly with a soft

“Oh Boggart.” He shivered, shaken by the mark on his brother’s arm and was startled by Remus who looked at him with worry and handed him some chocolate.

“Thank you,” He said softly and ate it, staring at the mirror, haunted by what he saw as Ebony leant against the back of his legs, he was still brown but he didn’t smell like Regulus anymore, he smelt like Sirius, if Remus paid attention he’d know immediately. 

Class started and Remus asked if anyone would like to venture a guess as to what was in the cupboard, 

“That’s a boggart”

“ Very good, Mr. Thomas. Now can anyone tell me what a Boggart looks like?” 

“No one knows,” Hermione said as Ron asked in shock when she got there, “boggarts are shape shifters. They take the shape of whatever a person fears the most. That’s what makes them so-”

“Terrifying, yes, yes, yes.” He glanced over at them, “Luckily a very simple charm exists to repel a Boggart. Let’s practice it now, without wands please. After me, Riddikulus.” They did so even as Malfoy said that the class was ridiculous. He said that what really finishes a boggart is laughter, they must force it into an amusing shape. He called Neville to the front and asked what frightens him the most. Neville thought on it

“I thought it was professor Snape.” He said and Remus asked

“Pardon,” 

“Professor Snape,” 

“And I believe you live with your grandmother,”

“Well I don’t want it to turn into her either,” Neville countered Remus smirked and explained he only wanted Neville to imagine her clothes, he whispered something in Neville’s ears and then he opened the cupboard and out came Professor Snape and Neville said 

“Riddikulus” and suddenly he was wearing Neville’s grandmother's clothes and the entire class burst into laughter.

Ron faced a spider and put it in skates, Parvati turned a snake into a terrifying clown toy box,  

Somehow, some way, Regulus was next and he wasn’t really wanting to see Sirius with the dark mark again, he tried to think of anything else but really there was nothing he feared more than Sirius being mad and on Voldemort's side. 

“Oh,” he mumbled as the sickening inferi infested lake came into being, the creatures dragged themselves from the depths of the lake and he just stumbled backwards, 

“Jaclyn!” He barely heard Dore’s voice as he stepped in front and the boggart changed to Voldemort, 

“Riddikulus” Regulus didn’t hesitate to make Voldemort a laughing stock, Dore shivered as the class couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the stag scaring the everything out of Voldemort meanwhile Dore landed heavily next to him, gasping in breaths as he held onto Regulus who was barely breathing himself. They startled, badly, when Remus touched them and he looked so sad

“Here, the chocolate will help.” They each took a piece and looked around, “You both were in no position to hear me end the class. I doubt the others noticed, many were too shaken at seeing he who must not be named.” He said gently, Ebony whined, licking at Regulus’ arm. 

“I’m sorry,” 

“Never,” Remus said gently but sternly, “Apologize for your greatest fears.” 

“I should have been able to-” 

“Inferi are terrifying and near impossible to turn into something funny,” Dore said 

“It’s been years,” He ignored the look that Remus shot Ebony, who just whined more, 

“So? It’s been years since I faced-that…” He motioned to where the boggart Voldemort was and shivered, leaning into Regulus, “Everyone is going to ask how I knew what he looked like,”

“Pensieve memory, Evan Rosier kept a pensieve and as his heir you have access to it.” 

“THE PENSIEVE!” Dore pulled back in shock and stared with wide eyes, “The pensieve, “He said softer but no less awed, “I had forgotten,” And then he laughed and Regulus smiled. 

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” Remus said softly, “But, it seems that the both of you are part of a magic anomaly that does not happen often, that is of rebirth with memories.” They both flinched and looked at him, He knelt and soothed them, which wasn’t hard, they were his once and hopefully once more in the future which reminded him of the philosophers stone, 

“You are correct, over summer we really need to talk about something.” He mumbled as he sunk into Remus’ warmth and scent. He smelled of wolf, chocolate,  dark forest, wet moss, blood, and silver?

It took them a long time to fully recover and cuddles with Malachite and Ebony were very helpful. He barely even noted that Ebony was back to his original fur color which meant, he tensed and whirled to Remus who was eyeing Sirius and probably planning something, Regulus stepped in front of him, 

“He didn’t do it!” He said immediately, and Remus blinked and sighed, running a hand through his hair

“I know,” He said softly, eyes closed as if in pain, 

“And we can’t talk about this here, we can’t trust Anyone.” He urged and they stared at him, he couldn’t explain but they Could Not Trust Anyone but themselves. Remus watched him and then nodded, 

“Alright,” He understood, of course he did, he was sent to the packs, he would understand. As would Sirius who was left to rot in Azkaban. 

“Wait there is a spot that’s safe,” Dore said and motioned to Malachite and Regulus turned to Sirius and Remus, 

“They might not like that…” 

“Oh…right…” Dore mumbled 

“It’s alright, let’s talk there on Saturday.” Remus said and the two exchanged a look and then shrugged

“Myrtle’s bathroom after curfew then.” Regulus said before they left to head to their dorms as it was time for bed.

 

Chapter 3: And I Don't Know

Summary:

This is an interlude as I try and figure out what I'm going to do with Peter Pettigrew.

"They met at Myrtle’s bathroom, she had made herself scarce despite the fact that they left Malachite behind in the Slytherin Dorm room. Remus looked wary, Sirius was very comfortable in his dog form and both tensed up when Regulus hissed and ordered the chamber to open, "

Notes:

Regulus suffers from a lot of panic attacks, I tried not to make them too explicit, For the magical healing things I know nothing about the human body other than like vague knowledge that comes from being inside one so I kept those parts vague too

They met at Myrtle’s bathroom, she had made herself scarce despite the fact that they left Malachite behind in the Slytherin Dorm room. Remus looked wary, Sirius was very comfortable in his dog form and both tensed up when Regulus hissed and ordered the chamber to open, 

“Okay so I didn’t open this last year, that was Ginny when she was possessed by Voldemort himself and it's a long story,” He rushed to say before jumping into the opening much to the horror of Remus and Sirius who both made distressed noises. 

They followed with Dore who looked suitably impressed with his house founder's creation they continued on until they got to the secure part, the part where not even Dumbledore had ears in. Inside he set up protective wards and silencing spells and more with Dore’s help just in case and then he relaxed into the transfigured chair Dore created for him. He made one for each of them. And Sirius took human form and he looked so skinny, pale, and sickly that Regulus couldn’t help the sob that tore its way out of him as he gave into the urge to jump into his older brother's arms and just hold onto him and sob.  He knew it made no sense but, but, Sirius was always the lively one, he never looked how he felt and for him to look as bad as he does right now? He must be feeling much worse. 

“Lyn?” He heard Dore ask and he shook his head

“I can’t explain,” He muttered, “I can’t- I just,” He held Sirius tighter and whined. 

“Harry will not recognize him.” Remus said and it wasn’t a question, 

“No, he won’t.” Regulus agreed, “He’s truly their son, new soul.” He said softly as he pulled away and wiped his eyes, retreating and curling into the chair that Dore made for him. He knew that he would be hated by everyone in this room once they knew who he was. He wanted to push it aside, to run away, but he also knew that he couldn’t just hide it. He took a deep breath, and made eye contact with Remus, the safer of the three, 

“Lyn?” Dore asked yet again, he sounded worried

“I lived a life before this, my name was Regulus Arcturus Black and I died betraying Voldemort.” He rushed out to say and added “My proof is on my seventh birthday I broke a vase but Sirius took the blame for it, that was the first time I ever saw my parents use an unforgivable against him.” He finished in a rush and then curled up, avoiding all of their eyes, gazes, anything, he just barely kept from covering his ears.

“Remus what’s happening?” He heard Sirius ask and he felt worried as Sirius sounded terrified, 

“He’s doing what he did on the train,” 

“No, no, no, hey, little brother, come back, come on, look up,” Sirius pulled him out of his ball position and forced him to look up, he looked relieved that Regulus’ eyes were open, “Hey, hey there, it’s alright, we won’t ask any other questions, I promise, anything you don’t want to share you won’t have to. I love you, as my little brother and as my godson.” He said gently and Regulus started to cry, Sirius’ face fell, but he just pulled Regulus into a nice safe hug. 

“Well…” Dore said softly, “I hope you will still like me,” He told Regulus softly, “Hello, Reggie,” He gave a side grin, the grin that Evan always gave him, “I was once Evan Rosier and I died fighting for Voldemort against Mad eye moody, I took half his nose with me.” Regulus blinked at him, “My proof is that in second year when we met Barty for the first time he had scared me so badly that I refused to even look towards the Ravenclaw table for an entire month.” Regulus blinked rapidly as more tears fell, 

“Evan,” He breathed out even as Sirius tensed, 

“I think the question is, are you still loyal to Voldemort?” Remus asked dryly and Evan shook his head, he was staring at Regulus though, 

“I am loyal to Jaclyn Regulus Potter.” He pulled his wand out and made a vow and Regulus found himself sobbing again as he pulled Evan into his arms once he was done. He sighed in relief as he curled into his arms and they both shivered at Remus hugging them all too. It was a group hug and Regulus felt safe and warm and he couldn’t help it, he slipped off into sleep.

He woke up to Remus and Sirius softly talking about Pettigrew and his betrayal. Regulus curled up firmer into Evan’s arms, Evan adjusted accordingly with a soft sigh of contentment. Regulus met Remus’ eyes and whined at how soft he looked, he bent over and kissed his forehead and Regulus remembered the philosopher’s stone

“Oh!” He murmured, a grin on his face and Evan whined as he scrambled up and away, pulling the earring out, the three of them watched him in confusion as he released the shrinking spell and presented “The philosopher’s stone, Nicholas Flamel gave me the recipes needed, you guys can, I can make it for you.” He looked at them hopeful, “That way you can wait for us until we are the same age and then we can take the potions too and, and…” He trailed off and curled up, “Please?” Sirius was staring and Remus took deep calming breaths but, for some reason Regulus knew they would accept. 

“Alright,” Remus said softly, and Sirius nodded, staring at the stone, “Did he give it to you unprompted?”

“Yeah, it was weird, I can show you?” He went to grab his wand but Remus stopped him

“No, I believe you.” Stupid idea to just trust Regulus like that but okay. Regulus thought to himself, despite the fact that he was indeed telling the truth. 

“You just wear it as an earring?” Sirius asked faintly, 

“I don’t have a safe place to hide it and no one notices anyways.” He told him and Evan just started to laugh, he sounded slightly hysterical, 

“I’m sorry, is that not what the dark lord was after in year one?” He hissed angrily once he calmed

“And he’s not here anymore now is he?” Regulus asked lifting his chin up in a challenging way and Evan groaned, muttering something that sounded like 

“Problem child” Sirius was chuckling while Remus looked at the wall as if it held all of the secrets to life. 

They stayed there for a while, planning after Sirius told them that Scabbers of all creatures was Pettigrew. They had to make it where he’d be revealed in front of Fudge of all stupidity and all that fine details so Regulus knew what he had to do, he pouted but he had to get Crouch Sr and Fudge down there so he wrote the letter and just hoped they wouldn’t be too mad at him. 

“Wait, isn't that Barty’s father?” Sirius asked

“If all goes well I’ll never have to stay with him,” Regulus muttered, “anyways we should head back.” He wasn’t looking forward to it but it was necessary. 

The first part of their plan didn’t really go to plan. Crouch Sr had to schedule a day to come and that was more towards the end of the year and so they kind of realized they were stuck twiddling their thumbs. 

Harry was convinced Sirius betrayed their parents despite everything Reglyn told him

“HOW DO YOU KNOW?!” 

“I-” Regulus cut himself off “I just know, Sirius would never do that.” Harry stared at him for a long moment, they had a silent conversation of Regulus promising to explain later and Harry basically glaring at him saying that he had better explain. But it had to do with who he was as Regulus and well, he just knew.

They split up, Harry needed time to calm down so Regulus waited a bit before heading to Divination after him, on his way he ran into Remus who nearly tripped over him. They chuckled over it and that was when Regulus decided he should probably tell Remus he was the writer of those books, 

“I figured that out after the other night, I- I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you.” 

“Don’t worry about it, I didn’t let anyone help me.” Remus gave him a hug and he smiled at him as they parted ways.

  Regulus entered Divination and all eyes turned towards him as Trelawney said something about the tea being especially bitter today and how that meant there was strife between brothers, Regulus chuckled

“Yeah, there kind of is.” He agreed as he sat and sipped at his tea and noted that it really was oddly bitter. The tea leaves at the bottom of his cup showed, he blinked a wolf howling at the moon “If I get bitten by Moony I reserve the right to be livid.” He grumbled, way too quiet to be heard by anyone but Sirius, as he put the cup down, noting the snake on the side of the cup again. He wondered if it meant the traditional sense of what snake imagery meant or if it meant Dore, as he was on the sidelines of their life more often than not. Sirius as Ebony struggled onto his lap to look into his cup which did not go unnoticed by the Professor 

“Let’s see what has gotten your familiar so excited.” She stared at it for a long moment, unlike with Harry’s cup she didn’t immediately throw it down, she just eyed him for a bit and then tipped it over and stared at the pile of leaves on the floor dispassionately as they formed

“Oh,” He murmured as he stared at the phoenix that had formed. She looked up at him and kicked the leaves for an added bonus. 

“Child,” She said to him, her eyes unnaturally old, unnaturally heavy, “You do not have to follow the path you did before. Your life is not destined for sacrifice as it was before.” She grabbed his hand, “If you believe anything from this classroom, believe that, you have Paid Enough.” She blinked and went back to teaching. 

“It’s either me or Harry,” Regulus murmured, “I refuse to let Harry become the sacrifice.” Sirius whined. 

After class Hermione stopped him and gave him a deep searching look, 

“Remus is your father.” She said it simply, 

“Ew no,” He immediately denied that, “Fun uncle, or older brother, not father, nope, no.” He could bend the other two titles as something, never Father. “James was my pa,” He said and she searched him and nodded, 

“Okay, why are you so distant from Harry this year?” 

“He left me on the side of the road after turning a horrible hag of a woman that we are forced to call Aunt into a balloon.” He told her, “He half-butted his apology and he’s been yelling at me a lot, I just, I don’t get what I did to him to make him dislike me.” 

“He says that you ignored him first, that you are so drawn up in your writing that you barely notice whenever he gets in trouble-” 

“Oi! He wouldn’t get in trouble if he just followed my lead! I’ve gotten us through worse months with my quiet meekness.” She looked at him

“Some people aren’t made for silence,” 

“Don’t I know it,” He grumbled, the past was repeating but instead of older and younger it was with twins. 

“He also hates Nott.” 

“He doesn’t even know Nott, all he sees is Slytherin and no that isn’t a good enough reason to hate someone.” He told her before she could say anything more. Crooshanks stalked over to them and he bent down, holding his hand out and Crooshanks began to purr as he bumped up against his hand. He felt Hermione watching him

“Right,” She murmured, “But he blew up your potion and gave you really bad burns, bad enough burns that you scarred.” 

“Which was in all honestly my fault too, I chose to protect him and not myself.” Regulus pointed out, He did have some troubles now, moving his hands but he was honestly kept distracted enough that he barely noticed it. He had to change how he held his quills and wands too but it wasn’t debilitating. 

“So Harry was right…Nott did it on purpose.” She growled

“So would you if you knew that because you couldn’t say a word that your family expected you to say you’d be tortured upon returning home.” She looked horrified, “They call it punishment,” He said softly, “But it’s torture.” Man that took him a long time to realize,  “And nothing legally can be done because the Nott’s are the fourth richest family, and with Malfoy backing their claims it would be a moot point from the beginning.” He explained and she huffed, stamping her foot

“That’s not fair!” 

“It’s the same in the muggle world,” He said softly, her face scrunched up, “The rich and influential get to choose what laws they want to follow.” He shrugged, “Dore was doing what he did out of desperation, as long as his family knew that he retaliated he wouldn’t be punished, he also kept me safer by choosing such a dangerous thing to do. Malfoy and the others each got letters urging them to drop it, to do more would put their families in a bad position, it all worked out to help the most people.” 

“You know a lot of things,” She murmured, 

“I like to learn,” He told her, “I tried to choose Ravenclaw but the hat didn’t want to separate me and Harry, I’m his protector after all.” Regulus said and Crooshanks meowed, Hermione looked at him for a long time before she said

“I think Professor Trelawney was right, you’ve sacrificed enough.” She nodded, “I’ll talk to Harry, force him to research, it will do him some good.” 

“Please tell me that you didn’t mean to imply that Harry wasn’t studying,” 

“I- I’ll handle it, you’ve got enough to argue with him about.” She promised as Regulus let his eyes close, 

“Thank you.” She hugged him, 

“Of course, we are friends, it’s what we do.” He grinned at her, She nodded and they split up. For the first time in years Regulus found himself completely alone as he walked, he didn’t have Sirius who stayed with Harry, he didn’t have Malachite who was helping Evan become the Slytherin king, he didn’t have anyone and so he was just a tad bit relieved when Malfoy showed up with a sneer,

“Oi Potter,” Malfoy spat out and then paused and looked around, confusion coloring his face, 

“What do you want, Malfoy?” He asked softly, 

“Why are you alone?” He raised an eyebrow at the meekness of Draco’s voice

“What do you mean?” 

“You shouldn’t be alone!” Draco hissed, “Where’s your squad of protective magical creatures?” He spun around, “Nott? The other Potter? Granger???” He seemed to get increasingly more worried, “Oh no, no, no I can’t be the one!” He glared at Regulus as if he was the reason that  Draco was getting worked up.

“Erm?” 

“Oh noooo!” Draco was very dramatic, Regulus was just now noticing this, he must give Narcissa a heart attack sometimes with how much like Sirius he seemed to be. “I’d take the bloody Weasley rat being with you over THIS!” He exclaimed

“Let’s just get to class before we’re late,” He grumbled and Draco muttered some choice words that would probably make Narcissa faint. 

“Oi Potter!” Draco growled stalking to where Hermione, Ron, and Harry stood, which had Regulus tilting his head because Hermione should still be behind him considering she went back towards the castle rather than Hagrid’s hut, he would think more on that later.

“What do-why were you with Jaclyn?” Ah as if Harry needed more reason to dislike him

“Why weren’t you?!” Draco practically screeched, Evan moved to his side and subtly checked him for injuries and Regulus realized quite suddenly that he wasn’t wearing the gloves he made an outfit piece ever since that potions class which means, he flinched at the guilt in Evan’s eyes

“Dore, I’m fine,” He said softly, the frown was not something that instilled confidence in Regulus, 

“Why were you alone?” He asked and Regulus felt his eyebrow twitch, 

“Did I miss something?” He asked, pulling back a bit, “am I not allowed to be on my own?” He realized he was sounding a lot like Harry but he was confused and scared. 

“Lyn,” Evan said softly, “One, you have never been alone for a single moment since you started school. In first year if it wasn’t Harry and his friends with you it was Neville or the twins were dragging you into pranks, in second year when it wasn’t Neville it was that new Ravenclaw first year Luna, if it wasn’t her then it was me after the potions incident. You Haven’t Been Alone Once.” He made it sound like a big deal

“I’m not going to disappear if I’m alone for once,” He grumbled but based on the look on Evan’s face, Evan didn’t believe that. “I’m not fragile!” He added angrily

“Of course not,” Evan countered, “But sometimes you run off to caves and you tell no one and disappear for YEARS, so forgive me for being worried that you have no one.” 

“WELL OF COURSE HE BLOODY CAN TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF BUT HE SHOULDN’T BE FORCED TO!” Draco’s screech startled Regulus who just kind of stared at the heavily breathing kid for a long moment, 

“Dore, what did I miss?” He asked softly, 

“Oh you really did miss it,” Evan murmured, “Lyn, I’m the king of Slytherin, you’re my future husband.” He said and Regulus slowly turned towards him 

“You…” He started to giggle and Evan got that proud look on his face that wasn’t a smile but it wasn’t a frown either. Regulus really did lose himself to the giggles, “How’d you convince your parents?” He asked softly when he calmed down, 

“You being a parseltongue who tamed a basilisk that once belonged to Voldemort helped quite a bit. Finding a potion that will allow you to bear my children also helped convince them-” He broke off with a gasp as Regulus threw himself into Evan’s arms, 

“Yes,” He whispered, “yes, yes yes yes.” Evan chuckled 

“So that means Slytherin is taking more notice of you and Draco was one of the ones to realize that you are almost never alone.” 

“So?” 

“So, as far as everyone else is concerned there is a mass murderer running around trying to finish what he started. Meaning you must be protected at all costs.” Evan grinned then, blood thirsty and very proud of himself, 

“Alrighty, gather round, gather round, we’re still studying Buckbeak!” Hagrid called and Regulus reluctantly pulled away from Evan, 

“Can you start wearing the ring?” Evan asked softly and Regulus immediately took it off the necklace and put it on his hand, it shrunk to fit him and he grinned up at Evan who looked shocked. 

“So he accepted,” Blaise Zabini stated as he suddenly appeared, “Impressive work Nott.” Evan’s face became a strained smile. Draco was just staring between the ring and Evan before he touched his forehead with the back of his hand much like Sirius did whenever he was feeling dramatic and wanted to show his disbelief. That made Regulus burst into laughter as he caught sight of Siri who looked both insulted and delighted. 

“Oh right, he must drive her mad with worry.” Evan said quietly and Regulus doubled over. When he calmed he followed the class to where Buckbeak was and watched as Harry made friends with him. 

–

Later that night he and Harry retreated to the Chamber of Secrets under the cloak, 

“Alright so explain, how could you possibly know that Sirius didn’t betray our parents when you were dead.” 

“I was also reborn as your brother,” Regulus stated dryly, Harry pouted “And simply put? Because I was awake most of the time and I knew Sirius, he would die before he betrayed them. After that all happened I just assumed he had died because I couldn’t understand anything else that had happened. Sirius living longer than James and Lily just wasn’t an option in anyone's mind who knew them.” He took a moment to collect his thoughts, “Remus, Sirius, James, and Lily were all a couple, together forever sort of thing but Remus had lovers outside of them too, consensual and all that, our parents were so relieved you know, when they learned of Remus being in love with others too.” Harry sat mulling over that

“So Remus is our da?” 

“Er, yours yeah.” He coughed and Harry thought on it and seemed to remember the book and he pat Regulus’ shoulder in comfort

“This must suck for you,” He said softly, 

“Well kind of yeah, my other boyfriends are also complicated for me,” 

“Right, Rosier, that’s his ring which means…” Harry gave him such a judgmental look that he snorted in amusement, 

“Dore is Evan,” He admitted and watched Harry’s eyes widen and then he was hugging Regulus

“I’m happy for you.” Regulus melted into his arms and giggled a bit, 

“Even if he’s a Slytherin?” 

“Hermione talked to me, she was very adamant that I get over my prejudice, so this is me, trying.” He took a breath, “Malfoy yelling at me for leaving you unprotected helped.” 

“Yeah, sorry, what was that about?” He asked as he pulled back and gave Harry a look that he hoped translated to ‘no seriously, tell me now.’ 

“Apparently because of your relationship with Nott all the Slytherins now have to worry about you or something,” 

“Ah yes the fear of Malachite,” He giggled but Harry didn’t he just sighed

“You and your magical beasts.” He said with a sigh as he leant backwards. They curled up together under the cloak, as if they were kittens, the days events taking their toll on them. 

“I hope they don’t panic.” Harry murmured, 

“Eh they will, probably,” Regulus murmured back but Harry was already out and Regulus followed him into sleep soon after.

“Are you sure they are down here?” Sirius’ voice woke him up, 

“Yes Siri, the map never lies.” 

“Can’t believe those Weasley twins were the ones to find it and they got it to work,” Siri said gleefully, 

“I can.” Remus sounded amused, and closer, Regulus moved the cloak a bit, revealing his and Harry’s heads before he let himself drift back into sleep, 

“Oh,” 

“They-” the two said something but whatever it was Regulus didn’t hear.

He next woke up in his dorm room with Sirius as Ebony curled up behind him. Regulus noted the time and then turned around and curled into Sirius, petting him gently until he fell back asleep. 

The next day was interesting as he was practically dragged to the Slytherin table by Crabbe and Goyle and deposited next to Evan who looked, honestly, terrified. Regulus was too tired for this so he just kissed Evan’s cheek

“Your food is different from the food at the Gryffindor table and I’m too tired to try and parse out what I might like.” Evan burst into movement, fixing him a plate and snapping his fingers twice, getting them some tea. Regulus let him pull him closer and feed him. He took to just relaxing into Evan’s arms until two people lifted him up and out of the Slytherin table, he whined but didn’t fight the twins as they loudly proclaimed that the Slytherins could not steal him even if he was easily manhandled this early. 

“He’s engaged to me, he’s wearing my ring,” Evan pointed out dangerously, 

“Exploding powder, metal, smoke, and warmed cotton, “Regulus mumbled to Evan, knowing he’d understand. Evan immediately backed off, 

“Oh fine,” He sighed as he sat back down, “I demand jumpers in payment,” Regulus knew that there was a light blush on Evan's face, even though he couldn't keep his eyes open, and it made him giggle. He felt the twins shrug

“Alright,”

“We can-” 

“Do that.” And with that the twins carried him off to the Gryffindor table. Remus was giggling into his hand at this entire interaction, Regulus caught a glance at him and it made him smile happily. 

“You can place him next to me,” Harry said, “I don’t think Nott would like you two feeding Jaclyn, even if you two smell nice.” Harry teased

“Charlie smells better,” Regulus murmured and Harry burst into laughter while the twins pretended to be insulted. Harry fed him as he couldn’t keep his eyes open and then it was off to Transfiguration, 

“I really hope she doesn’t want me to do any spell work, my poor animal might end up with rearranged insides” He mumbled and Harry chuckled even if it sounded a bit worried. 

Professor McGonagall did not in fact expect him to even stay awake in her class, she came in and transfigured him a pillow that’s how not expectant she was. He heard snickers from his fellow Gryffindors but Harry whispered to Ron and Hermione that he had slept all night, Harry was very worried for him. 

“Wait he slept completely?” 

“Yes,” 

“Oh that’s not good,” Evan murmured, “what magic has he been doing?” 

“That’s a hard question to answer, you know how quick he is and silently too for half the spells he does.” Harry whispered back, Regulus fell asleep to their concern and woke to screams, 

“Wha?” 

“It’s okay, it’s safe,” Evan was suddenly there holding him, petting his hair. 

Regulus slowly stopped panicking and looked around he saw that a cup was screaming? 

“Why is a cup screaming?” He asked softly as Professor McGonagall looked horrified and like she was trying to calm it down, 

“Parvati tried to curse you in your sleep,” Evan said, “Before I noticed Goyle did and well,” He motioned to the screaming cup, 

“Oh, thank Goyle for me,” Regulus said softly, before silencing the cup and rubbing his eye as he pulled away from Evan, he went into the trance that allowed him to do deep expert level magics and focused on the cup, on how it was twisted up and on what the magic signature said it should be, he tried to picture Parvati in his head as he raised his wand and spoke the words, they fell off his lips like a lullaby and when she was back, gasping and screaming for her voice back, perfectly human he unsilenced her and closed his eyes against the headache. He sunk into whoever smelt like citrus and a fresh herb scent. 

“Oh wow,” he heard someone mumble, he completely gave back into sleep even as the person holding him frantically called 

“Nott!” 

“Oi, he’s my twin, call me instead,” Harry grumbled but whoever got him was unknown to Regulus. 

Regulus woke in the medical wing, Madam Pomfrey and Remus were whispering together and when Remus noticed he had woke up they turned their full attention to him, 

“Professor McGonagall was impressed with your transfiguration,” 

“As am I, not even an organ misplaced or damaged.” Madam Pomfrey said as she gave him a perk me up potion. 

“Thank you,” He said softly, 

“Although I would suggest that when you are magically burnt out that you refrain from doing such complicated spell work,” 

“I couldn’t very well leave her silenced and unhealed,” He mumbled and Remus chuckled, he tried to stifle it but he didn’t and Madam Pomfrey slapped his shoulder but she too was smiling. 

 

After he got out of the medical wing he knew far more about Herbology than he ever wanted to, but it made Neville happy to talk about his plants so Regulus let him ramble. It was relaxing too, to have Neville reading to him, when he shook off the nerves he had the best reading voice, almost as good as Remus’ 

“What are you thinking about?” Remus asked out of nowhere which caused Regulus to jump, 

“How relaxing it is to hear Neville read. I mean I know more about Herbology plants than I ever needed to know but,” He shrugged as Remus chuckled, 

“Weren’t you the same way with Barty and I?” He asked quietly, 

“Mhm, you and your quidditch things, who would have thought? And Barty and his…interests…” He scrunched up his nose, “Always was more bloody than all of us combined,” He sighed longingly, 

“I’m sorry,” Remus said softly, “I shouldn’t have brought him up, not after-” 

“It’s okay, he could be like Evan and I, reborn, we just have to be patient,” Regulus murmured, “He might be in another school.” 

“Yes,” Remus murmured, pulling him into a side hug, “Patience.” He breathed and Regulus smiled up at him. 

Notes:

Me *realizes I backed myself into a corner for the next school year*
Also Me *commits to it 100%* lol this should be fun

Chapter 4: Interlude: A bit of humor

Summary:

"Once he was done with the first set of potions he secured the philosophers stone to the earring and put it back in his ear,"

 

Time passed, the potions were created and Harry, Ron, and Hermione got themselves wrapped up in trouble again. He was safely tucked away in the chamber of secrets when the explosion happened, but he felt it all the same.

“Please don’t be my idiots,” He muttered as he quickly left the chamber and ran towards the fire and smoke, so of course it was his idiots. 

“What happened?” He asked idly as he surveyed the mess. Everyone just froze staring at him, he knew that he wasn’t wearing the traditional robes, he didn’t want them to get damaged but he was wearing rather fine quality muggle clothes that some of the richer muggles wore, which meant that he was dressed and they should be answering him. 

“Wha? Oh Jaclyn, right, erm, we might have wanted to erm,” Harry muttered while Remus was laughing, he was losing his shit behind Regulus, Regulus did not appreciate that. 

“Well we were just,” Hermione stuttered out turning bright red, 

“Oh come off it you two! It’s just Jaclyn, we wanted to test Fred and George’s latest creation it was supposed to be a board that flew like a broom but it uh,” Ron trailed off, eyeing the mess,

“It blew up?” He asked idly and looked for the offending twins but they were showing their continued intelligence by not being there, 

“Yeah, well it did.” 

“Right,” He sighed, just as Mcgonagall forced her way through the growing crowd and just 

“Why is it that whenever something happens, you three are always involved?” She sounded so tired

“Trust me professor, I've been asking myself that all the time too.” Ron mumbled, Regulus rubbed his forehead, 

“Honestly, this is why you don’t try new things without the proper protection charms,” He shook his head, pulling his wand from his hair which made it fall in an unflattering wave of tangles. It was down to his shoulders now but he didn’t like looking like James so he kept it long. He worked on putting the fires out and fixing the crater. Soon Remus joined him, still chuckling a bit. 

“I have never seen Hogwarts respond so well to a person’s magic,” They heard McGonagall say faintly, Regulus glanced at Remus and he did have to say that he was having an easier time of it than any other professor he had seen before. Once they fixed the damage to the grounds they retreated to the medical wing where his idiot trio were no doubt taken. 

“I have to say,” 

“That it could have gone a lot worse,” 

“We were able to collect-” 

“Very useful data today.” 

“We could have been killed!” Ron yelled 

“Or worse, Expelled,” Hermione added sounded distinctly put out, 

“Yes well,”

“But you weren’t,” The twins talked over each other defending themselves, 

“Next time just ask me and Nott, we at least, will make sure there are protection charms up just in case your projects decide they would rather paint the area in destruction rather than be useful.” Regulus said as he entered the room and everyone stopped talking. Fred and George made strange noises while Harry giggled and Hermione turned red,

“Even you two?!” Ron sounded enraged, “I don’t get it!” he crossed his arms

“It’s just-” 

“He’s so tiny!” 

“And yet-”

“He can-” 

“Snap us in half as if we were twigs.” The two finished together and Regulus felt an eyebrow lifting as he turned his attention to said twins. With a chuckle Remus draped his outer robes over Regulus which just made a whole new problem as Remus himself stood there looking mighty fine in his dress pants and shirt that go under the robes. 

“That helps,” the twins said “Sort of…” Harry was just laughing, full on laughing at this point and with a sigh Regulus pulled his hair up like Sirius always did and secured his hair. 

“Sugar, honey, iced, tea,” Hermione mumbled under her breath as she pointedly looked at Ron and forced him into a conversation. The twins appeared to lose all their brain cells as they made excuses and left and Regulus just sighed as Remus joined Harry in laughter. 

“Oh that was beautiful,” Remus said “I can’t wait to tell Ebony,” He left still chuckling and Regulus had a realization, Remus was fucking Sirius, which should have been expected but Regulus still found himself shoving it deep down in the abyss of his mind to freak out later, with all that other stuff he still hasn’t processed completely. 

“Alright, so why did you want a flying board and not a broom?” He asked idly, 

“Skateboarding.” Hermione answered as if that was a sane answer and he just

“Nope. I have potions to work on, don’t blow up the school again, Harry you’re making a habit of this, first poor aunt Marge-” He dodged the pillow and left giggling. 

It took him until he got to the potions lab again to remember that he was wearing Remus’ robes which Remus must have transfigured to fit him. He stared at them for a long moment before nodding, he was keeping them. He set a preservation charm over the smell and put them with his other robes. 

Once he was done with the first set of potions he secured the philosophers stone to the earring and put it back in his ear, he then  stretched and put on his robes, hiding Remus’ away and retreating to the dorm room where he proceeded to find his best kept robes, transfigured the two sets together to make them the size they needed to be to fit Remus and then he headed out, 

“These aren’t mine,” Remus said idly

“That sounds like a you problem that you should have expected.” He told Remus and heard Sirius start to chuckle helplessly, 

“Jaclyn…” Remus sounded a tad bit lost, but Regulus just plopped the robes onto his desk and turned to leave, which allowed Sirius to actually catch sight of him and all the air whooshed out of his brothers chest

“Reggie,” He sounded broken and Regulus looked at him and raised his chin

“I’m still waiting on something from you too.” He said and then bolted. So of course he ran into Evan, the two collided in a pile of limbs with twin yelps and then they were laughing.

“I heard you looked positively delightful today.” Evan said below him and Regulus just shrugged, 

“I never noticed anything different? I was just wearing that fancy muggle clothing James was obsessed with when he first started dating Lily before he discovered comfort muggle clothes,” 

“Oh,” Evan said and then laughed, “Oh yeah, that would do it.” Regulus helped him up,   

  “Harry and Remus couldn’t stop laughing,” 

“Yeah, It would be rather funny to see you oblivious while people drooled over you.” 

“I am a lanky thirteen year old-” 

“And they are lanky, what, fourteen year olds?” 

“The twins were not!” 

“No no, the fourth years outside while you were fixing everything, Merlin the Slytherins of that year just wouldn’t shut up about fine breeding and if I ever get tired of you,” He rolled his eyes, “As if.” He muttered, 

“I feel like we need to talk about that “as if”, should we do that now or table it for later?” 

“Or never.” Evan said and pulled him into a hug, “Hey you were stolen from me this morning, you should sleep in my dorm room tonight, I miss our cuddles.” He nuzzled into Regulus’ neck and Regulus melted feeling warm and happy as if he was just suddenly wrapped in the warmest of blankets. All his worries and tension just went right out the door. 

“Yeah we can do that.” He murmured, Evan smiled looking happy. 

Evan melted once they reached his bed and they curled up and around each other, and for some reason their magic reacted and mixed too which led to Regulus feeling like he was held in a safe warm cocoon where nothing bad would ever happen. 

They woke up and sleepily got ready for the day, he borrowed some of Evan’s robes and reused his own tie, he showered in their shower and dressed in their bathrooms and sleepily followed Evan out to breakfast after making sure he had everything on correctly. Together they curled up at the table and took turns feeding each other and napping. 

“Why are they so cute?” Someone asked, sounding very disgusted.

“How are they so in love?” Someone else asked full of curiosity, “He can’t have stolen Potter’s heart in the short amount of time after blowing his potion up, could he have?” Regulus tried to ignore them

“I wonder if he’ll teach us how to do that?” 

“You need to stop before they wake up.” Neville said and that had Regulus opening one eye to figure out what was happening, he was sitting next to Avery who just sighed and drank her juice like it was a shot of firewhiskey. 

“Wait, aren't you a Gryffindor?” Someone asked, 

“So is Jaclyn and yet here we are.” 

“Yeah but Potter is marrying Nott,” Malfoy pointed out, 

“Why Draco, are you proposing to me?” Neville asked and Draco went suspiciously red

“You wish, Longbottom,” Draco squeaked out before shoving food into his face with as much pureblood grace as he could. 

“Oop,” Evan murmured, “I ship it.” That made Regulus giggle, to hear something Lily said all the time coming from Evan’s mouth was hilarious, Neville just raised an eyebrow and Evan buried his face in Regulus’ shoulder “I’m too tired today,” He whined, “Be the put together one today?” 

“I think that’s literally impossible for me to do now,” Regulus told him, Evan just whined 

“Crabbe and Goyle want to know how to make someone in another house like them,” Draco spoke up looking as if he also didn’t want to know, he almost got the look down but his eyes gave him away. 

“What house?” He and Evan asked together

“Hufflepuff,” 

“Ravenclaw,” Crabbe wanted to Hufflepuff and Goyle the Ravenclaw, 

“Hufflepuff is simple, show them that you can match their loyalty, show that you have compassion and you care about the problems they care about which means figure that shit out and head to the library,” Evan said

“Ravenclaw requires some more research, what kind of Ravenclaw first and foremost,” 

“Well, her name is Allison Moon and she’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.” 

“Well that’s a good start,” Evan mumbled

“Moon?” Regulus asked, “So psycho Ravenclaw, you are in luck,” Evan started giggling, 

“She’s not-” 

“Oh she is,” Regulus cut him off, “She’s interested in the darker things of life, the questions that make normal people either turn away, cry, or throw up.” Goyle tensed and looked unsure, “She once asked me if she could cut me open to see if what they said about Half-bloods having different color bloods was true, and when she cut she watched the blood fascinated and asked a lot of questions about blood.” Regulus explained

“I’m sorry you let who do what?” 

“I was bored and in my defense I was left alone.” 

“See this is why you can’t be left alone! You’d let just anyone experiment on you because you were bloody bored!” 

“That’s not exactly true,” He grumbled, “Anyways you’ve got to be prepared for her weird questions and you cannot be a doormat. She has to see you as a partner not an experiment.” Goyle blinked at them, 

“How do I do that?” 

“Power.” They spoke together, “You’ve got to have sustainable power, knowledge, respect, anything that is sustainable and continuous, that gives you an edge to say no over some of her more invasive questions.” Goyle looked determined so extra points to him. 

“Alright but don’t call her psycho again.” He warned and the two shrugged, 

“It’s not an insult-”

“If it's true and-”

“If she accepts it.” 

“Sounds like you two have been hanging out with the Weasley twins too much,” Someone muttered while Harry yelled

“Hey why don’t we do that, Jaclyn?” Regulus just groaned and took a sip of his water. He ignored Harry, he was not yelling, with a sigh Harry came over to him and asked the question again

“Because we usually disagree on a lot of things,” Regulus answered 

“That makes sense.” They exchanged a look, and they heard the twins whoop happily and exclaim how proud of their prodigies they were. Regulus giggled and leant into Evan’s weight, he was ready to sleep for weeks. 

“You need to stop doing high level magic without proper preparation.” Evan told him softly, Regulus just whined in agreement, 

“But I completed them,” He said softly and smiled and Evan gave him such a nice warm loving look that Regulus just melted. 

“You two are absolutely adorable,” Neville said with a soft laugh, meanwhile Ebony showed up and just jumped on the table making the others cry out and shout 

“Bad Dog!” 

“POTTER GET YOUR DOG!” 

“Hmm, no,” Regulus murmured, meanwhile Harry just burst into bright laughter, Regulus felt warm and content, the loud feeling of discontent disappeared entirely as he watched Sirius play tug of war with a seventh year and their broom while Remus was losing his shit up at the teachers table. Oh he tried to hide it through mortification but the chuckles won out in the end, Regulus whistled, once, low and sharp and Sirius dropped the broom and perked up towards him

“Ebony,” He said softly, a small smirk on his face, “Fetch professor Lupin,” Sirius fully perked up and barked once sharply, 

“Jaclyn,” He heard someone say helplessly and Sirius bound off the table and bolt towards Remus who wisely didn’t run, Sirius ran around him barking and yipping and playfully pulling on his new robes, 

“Don’t put holes in these, they are new,” Remus told Sirius as he stood up and, still chuckling, walked towards them. 

“Why Professor Lupin?” Neville asked

“He’s the only one Ebony wouldn’t drag over here like a stuffed animal.” Silence fell for a long moment as everyone digested that, 

“Even Professor McGonagall?” 

“Well, he’d surely try,” He said idly and the table erupted into choked laughs, “But Professor Snape would definitely need to run.” That made them hysterical

“Yes, Jaclyn? How can I help?” Remus asked, he tried to look stern but his eyes gave him away

“Can you babysit Ebony today?” He asked and Remus held out for a good ten seconds, what broke him was glancing at Sirius and seeing how offended he looked, Remus burst into heartfelt laughter, doubling over and Regulus smirked at how happy he sounded. 

“Oi!”

“How’d you do that?”

“We’ve been trying-”

“For the entire year-”

“To get him to laugh!” 

“Not even the bubbling Laughter drops did it!” The Weasley twins stumbled over themselves to get over to them and Regulus just sank into Evan’s hold with a soft giggle, 

“He just asked if professor Lupin would babysit his dog.” Evan said, acting as if he didn’t understand the joke, Sirius huffed and pouted and Remus barely got himself back under control, 

“Right, yes, is there anything else you need Jaclyn?” 

“To be put in a coma for thirteen years?” He asked, semi-hopefully, 

“Er, how about a pepper up potion?” Remus asked softly, concern radiating off of him

“Oh, right, those exist.” He blinked as he pulled away from Evan with a soft whine and almost missed Everyone sharing looks of concern. Remus knelt to his level, feeling his forehead with the back of his hand, his forehead wrinkling with concern, 

“Alright no more magic for you for a month,” He said softly, “Jaclyn, I’m being very-” He paused for a moment, his mind doing a quick calculation “serious, right now,” Ebony barked and Remus held back the look of dissatisfaction with him by willpower alone, Regulus was actually impressed. 

“I know,” He said softly and kind of just let himself fall forward and Remus caught him, 

“Alright, off to the medical wing we go,” He said, he must have given Madam Pomfrey a look because she was soon bustling down the hall with them asking questions like what kind of magical exhaustion and whatnot and Regulus explained to the best of his ability without revealing that he was fucking around and finding out with a philosophers stone. She seemed less concerned than Remus but that was only because she didn’t know the full truth. 

Later that night Remus and Sirius stood there at his bedside as he handed the potions over and they shared a look, 

“Well, we’re committed now,” Sirius joked after they downed the potions and Remus rolled his eyes fondly. 

“So…” Regulus said softly, “Can I get cuddles?” They gave him the warmest fondest looks that Regulus had seen besides Evan’s and Sirius as Ebony and Remus curled around him as he drifted off completely exhausted and drained. He knew that he’d have to empty the folder of “ignore until you can’t anymore” stuff in his brain but for now he was with part of his pack and he was content.

So of course Regulus sat up with a sharp gasp as he finally fucking realized what was affecting him this entire time, he took short gasping breaths as panic overtook his brain, he was barely aware of Remus and Sirius trying to calm him down but-but there was no calming him down because He Wouldn’t Be Normal about anything ever again because, because Lily must have had sleeping magical creature blood that awakened when she got with James and oh no. 

Slowly he explained to Remus and Sirius what he realized, that he was a magical creature, that they were pack, that it was a rather large one at that. 

“It can’t have come from James, he wouldn’t hide stuff like that but Lily? She wouldn’t have known to even look for it.” He said softly, finally calm as the two soothed him and told him that they would figure out what he was, “What if it's vampiric?” He asked because yeah no vampires were just not okay. Remus huffed, 

“You’re not a vampiric creature, I wouldn’t be able to deal with the fact that you are breathing if you were.” 

“That sounds like experience,” Reglyn muttered,

“It was rather interesting to be honest.” While Sirius himself went through calming breaths 

“You two are going to be the reason I grow gray hair before I’m old enough to be gray.” 

“Wait with the potion…” Remus trailed off

“Oh you can still go gray from stress.” Reglyn said happily and laughed gleefully at the looks of horror on their faces. He was fine, he’d just have to be more careful and make sure his creature didn’t pack bond with horrible non compatible people, it would be fine. 

Chapter 5: Peaceful Conclusions

Regulus officially hated Snape. He was petting Sirius to keep him calm and wondered just why Sirius was there with him rather than with Remus who was still recovering from the other night's full moon. Snape was giving them a lesson of Werewolves, the asshole. Hermione answered all his questions and he mocked her as an

 

"Insufferable know it all" and really that was probably the nearly last straw, his reply when Harry asked where Remus was was the first of many straws that would break this particular camel's back. Ron's

 

"He's got a point you know" earned a rather pointed slap to the back of his head from Regulus. Snape continued to lecture them on werewolves but Regulus was sort of hung up on what Hermione said, that the werewolf forgets who they are and who their friends are but...he remembered the ...unfortunate incident...where Sirius was under the imperious curse and made to do the cruelest prank he knew, which ended up being telling Snape where they went on full moons and how to get there, Regulus doubted Sirius admitted that he was under a curse, probably far too hung up on the fact that he had nearly gotten Remus and Snape killed, even if it wasn't his fault. The particular of that night that Regulus remembered well was that Remus as a werewolf had escaped James and Sirius and found him hidden away and he had stopped. Remus had stopped, he didn't attack-ish but he stopped when Regulus submitted. Werewolves had reasoning it was just...different, governed by different rationale than humans did. He wondered if Remus remembered anything after waking up, they never talked about it...

 

The homework assignment was unnecessary as was Snape's reaction to Harry talking about Quidditch

 

The next day after he completed his assignment and put in his musings on pack mentality just to piss Snape off he followed the others to the Quidditch game, a game that would forever mar his memories of his favorite thing to do. It was pouring down rain, and Regulus, with Hermione's help cast several charms to keep the rain off of him, hoping to keep the memories of the cave at bay as they watched Harry play.

 

The Dementors weren't supposed to be there, they weren't supposed to be there! That happy little bubble Regulus had wrapped himself in burst into jagged icy thorns, inferi hands reaching from the water, to Harry in the air, the demented taking turns draining him and as he fell Regulus felt something in him snap, his scream harsh and beyond anything he'd ever known swept through the air as Harry was caught by Dumbledore's magic. Then all of the teachers cast the Patronus charm but Regulus barely noted it, he was already halfway to Harry. A tad hysterically he thought that tonight would have been the best night to complete an animagus transformation.

 

Of course later Harry was more upset about the broomstick and losing the game rather than anything else. Regulus found himself chuckling at Harry and his thoughts considering he understood. It was much easier to just shove all that in a box. 

 

Later they had the Hogsmeade weekend before the holidays and Regulus raised an eyebrow as he was kidnapped by the twins who handed him a piece of parchment

 

"Whoa" he murmured as he saw "Messrs. Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the marauders map" he murmured out loud trying to hide Every feeling that just ran right through him.

 

"We have decided"

 

"That your needs are more than ours" 

 

"And so"

 

"Here you go, you can see"

 

"Everyone"

 

"Everywhere"

 

"All the time" 

 

"And when you go just say"

 

"Mischief managed or else"

 

"Anyone can read it." They finished together 

 

"Where'd you get it?"

 

"Nicked it from Filch's office,"

 

"First year"

 

"I’m grateful guys, but...why?"

 

"Well Harry has that fancy cloak of his"

 

"We just"

 

"Knew you'd need something too" they grinned at him

 

"What do I owe you?" He asked and the two exchanged a look before shaking their heads and ruffling his hair 

 

"If you find out"

 

"Who they are"

 

"Do let us know '' oh, oh he could...couldn't he? He giggled, Sirius gave a very concerned bark that almost sounded like

 

"Please don't" 

 

"Well I already know who Prongs is" Regulus said softly, grinning stupidly at the map, 

 

"Oh?"

 

"Do tell,"

 

"My Father, James Potter." He grinned at the shocked look on their faces. 

 

"Well than,"

 

"We are certainly"

 

"Honored, to be in"

 

"The esteemed company"

 

"Of the son of Prongs himself!" The two said with goofy grins and he laughed

 

"Thank you" he said softly, tucking the map away before he hugged both of them and then he giggled again as he glanced at Sirius who even as Ebony conveyed how utterly concerned he was. 

 

"You're welcome!" They called after him as he practically skipped to Remus' room. 

 

"You assholes!" He yelled once he set up the proper secrecy charms as he pulled the map out "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good" he tapped the map and practically threw it at Remus ``you four created this and and even after Everything! You told no one?! You didn't think that this could be used in the war?! That you could, I don't know, tie it to the registry for Death Eaters?! Larger maps?!" He ranted for a long time as the two sat in silence.  When he finally stopped ranting Sirius gushed about the twins being so intelligent as to get the map in their first year. Regulus made the most discontent annoyed sound he could, turned on his heel and in true Potter fashion strut from the room.

 

So of course later that night he let Harry study the map. Of course Harry told him all about hearing how Sirius destroyed Pettigrew and Regulus just groaned and then they saw his name on the map and Harry just Had to go find him

 

"Harry," he hissed but followed anyway and nearly laughed as he watched Pettigrew run right by Harry as Harry gave himself a heart attack by catching his reflection in the mirror. Regulus slipped deeper into the shadows as Harry mischief managed the map and turned his lumos off and then Snape was there with his own Limos

 

    "What are you doing, wandering the corridors at night?"

 

"I was sleepwalking"

 

"How extraordinarily like your father you are, Potter, he, too, was exceedingly arrogant, strutting around the castle,"

 

"My dad didn't strut. And nor do I" Regulus clapped a hand over his mouth to smother the bark of laughter that nearly escaped. James Potter's struts were infamous in the Slytherin common rooms, they used to give competitions to get the right amount of rogue-ish charm, general pratty-ness, arrogance, and innocence down in his struts! 

 

"Now if you don't mind, I would appreciate it if you could lower your wand"

 

"Turn out your pockets." Harry made him repeat himself and then he pulled the map out "what's this" 

 

"Spare bit of parchment"

 

"Really? Open it" Harry did so "reveal your secrets. Read it," Harry Bless him, was going to do so. Regulus burst in pretending to be out of breath

 

"Harry! Oh good you didn't use it yet!" He exclaimed and then pretended to just now notice Snape "oop, Professor Snape," he mimicked Remus' 'you know this is entirely my fault but you can't prove it therefore I am innocent' smile and said "I was just heading to Professor Lupin’s to give him a bit of a cheer up soon and get better magical joke parchment and then I realized that since it appears blank someone might have taken it for essays, lo and behold I found Harry missing, sleepwalking again no doubt?" He asked Harry who nodded "and he does indeed have my joke parchment." He grabbed the map from Harry with a few giggles. Snape was blinking at him, mouth opening and closing

 

"I'm going to get Harry back to the dorms, his sleepwalking is quite the problem but this time I won't forget to set up the warning charms." He called over his shoulder

 

"MR. POTTER!" they heard Snapes' annoyed yell. He giggled as he dragged Harry away before unfolding the invisibility cloak he had hidden before they left earlier and the two snuck back down the corridor to see Remus and Snape eyeing each other as Sbape made snide remarks about Remus being a werewolf.

 

Regulus smirked as Remus tensed a bit but didn't give away that they were back and he slipped out from under the invisibility cloak to get closer to Remus. After Snape left he stepped fully into Remus' side and giggled causing Remus to look down at him

 

"I know why you guys did it now," he sing-songed, "I feel great" he giggled again and Harry snorted as he pulled the cloak off. 

 

"That was rather brilliant." He said softly, "your lie about this being a joke parchment."

 

"Unfortunately we have to give it to Remus now" Regulus pouted while Remus just sighed and in Remus fashion asked 

 

"Where is Ebony?"

 

"Hunting a rat." Regulus said, "speaking of," he made grabby hands until Harry handed him the map, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good" he poked it and grinned as it said

 

"Messrs. Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs would like to present the Marauders map" appeared and he opened it and pointed out Pettigrew name 

 

"He's not even close." He said with a giggle while Remus just sighed

 

"You know-"

 

"Don't lecture," Regulus said softly, "please," Remus got a pinched look on his face but relented with a sigh

 

"I shall leave that up to Sirius, shall I?" He asked knowingly

 

"Yeah, oh, Harry did we ever talk about that?"

 

"Yeah, in the Chamber." Harry said with a chuckle, "you know it's very hard pretending that I believe what everyone is saying when you show up and whisper these things' ' he pretended to pout and Regulus laughed. 

 

They lent Remus the map and retreated to the chamber of secrets. Earlier while he was working on the potions he also transfigured a large part of this place to be a living area. Harry froze at the sight of it and slowly turned towards him and he shrugged

 

"I got bored, I like to be comfy" Harry snorted

 

"Hey Jaclyn..." Regulus hummed "do you think, do you think our parents were reborn?" 

 

"Yes." He told him, curling up tighter into Harry's warmth, "at least a year or two younger than us now, but yes." 

 

"Who?"

 

"Bloodlines" he murmured 

 

"Bloodlines?"

 

"Mums a muggle born again unless she had latent wizard family bloodlines, pa is either in the Black family Somewhere or Malfoy, or he's a Weasley, specifically-"

 

"Ginny?!" Harry sounded faint as Regulus giggled. 

 

"So they'll either stop hiding"

 

"Or pretend they know nothing, try to get close to us so they can protect us again?"

 

"Mhm." He murmured sleepily and the two fell asleep rather quickly after that.

 

They woke to Sirius and Remus shaking them awake

 

"You're going to be late for Divination" Remus said softly and Regulus sighed but got up.

 

They were gazing into crystals and Hermione faked a sight and got insulted which Regulus could understand like honestly Hermione has been rather rude the entire class but

 

"Her soul isn't actually as dry and brittle as old age" he pointed out "her sight is actually blocked by disbelief, by the unrelenting need to have logic win out and as far as she can tell there is no logic to divination" Hermione froze and turned slowly to him

 

"Jaclyn, there is no logic, it's not just as far-"

 

"No there is. Everyone looks at it through the eyes of mysticism, which does, unfortunately for you, have logic. Illusions have logic too, but Divination is based upon scientific theorems of multiverse, time travel, and the inherent existence of deja-vu and paradoxes. Paradoxes and I'm sure you are well warned against. If time travel exists then so too does the inherent logic of The Sight for if you can go Back in Time why not forward? And if you can go back in time physically which is a step more difficult than just mentally with the application of Physical magic rather than just Mental magic then why can't you do a rather simple version of casting your mind forward in time?" She gaped at him before 

 

"I have to study!" And fled the room. 

 

"Of course divination isn't time magic because a lot of professional time wizards would have fits..." He mentioned lightly and Trelawney burst into giddy laughter. 

 

He looked into his own crystal ball and watched as the clouds parted to reveal Sirius falling into some kind of cloudy thing with Dementors within it, Harry was Screaming, Remus held him back and Regulus? Regulus was plunging in after Sirius with a yelled

 

"Pa, catch us!" And then the crystal orb cracked and shattered and he drew back sharply

 

"What did you see?"

 

"Sirius Black's death." He said staring at the remains of the crystal ball "Dementor's Kiss" he mumbled faintly and heard Ebony whine. Ebony, Sirius, and he suddenly realized that the crystal ball broke because of him and his magic and something inside him fractured more as the Bellatrix level laughter escaped him and he heard Harry's worried call of his name. He waved Harry off and stumbled out of the divination classroom. He couldn't, he couldn't take the fact that he destroyed the crystal ball by completely deciding that Sirius would absolutely Never go through the veil. 

 

Sirius caught him, he caught him and pulled him back and soothed him, making the laughter dissipate and the sobs to start and then later, when Remus calmed them both down, heard what happened he explained the full thing.

 

"You are to Never step foot in the hall of mysteries." He ordered Sirius, holding his face between his hands "Harry and I make it out, you made absolutely No difference, you Just Died." He growled.

 

"If it-"

 

"No." And that was that, Sirius promised him to never go there and Regulus relaxed. They went to find Harry and heard the prophecy he heard from Trelawney

 

"He will return tonight. Tonight, he who betrayed his friends, whose heart rots with murder shall break free. Innocent blood shall be spilt and servant and master shall be reunited once more, that's what she said" he told them

 

"So Pettigrew returns tonight, someone innocent loses blood, he gets away, and reunites with Him?" Regulus asked feeling particularly pissed off 

 

"Can we stop it?"

 

"When it was spoken by a speaker?" He asked idly and tilted his head 

 

"NO!" Sirius yelled standing up and leaving "I WON'T STAND FOR THIS!" 

 

"Siri!" But he was already gone. They exchanged looks, Remus was exhausted as tonight was a full moon

 

"It'll be fine," he assured Remus, kissing his cheek before running after Harry. They ran into Hermione and Ron, traveled down to Hagrid's, hoping that Sirius ran there, they didn't actually tell Hermione and Ron anything.

 

Hagrid had Scabbers. Hermione demanded an apology and Regulus realized he missed something big. They went to the top of the hill got halfway back to the castle when Scabbers bit Ron And ran. Ron of course ran after Scabbers catching him in front of the Whomping Willow and then Sirius appeared in his true coloring and form and Ron called him the Grim. Regulus felt terror as Sirius dragged Ron and Pettigrew into the shrieking shack and Harry and Hermione fought a tree. He cursed and dove for the knob button and pressed it causing the two to land behind him with twin "oofs" and they all entered the tunnel which led to the shrieking shack.

 

Ron was yelling in pain, they made it to him, Ron yelled it was a trap that "he" was an animagus and there was Sirius and Regulus damn near sighed in resignation, tonight was about to get Very Dramatic, Very Fast. He glanced at Harry and glared with a hissed

 

"Harry don't you dare!" 

 

"If you want to kill Harry, you have to kill us too!" Hermione stepped in front of Harry and Regulus felt like pulling his hair out, 

 

"No, only one will die tonight." Sirius spoke sounding slightly manic, 

 

"Harry," he cursed afterwards, too quietly for anyone but Sirius to hear as Harry attacked Sirius and they must have planned this at some point, choreographed this entire show for everyone as Sirius chuckled under Harry's wand just as Remus burst in and used the disarming spell against Harry and motioned for him to get back to Hermione, who clung to him. 

 

"Well, well, Sirius, looking rather ragged are we? Finally the flesh reflects the madness within." Regulus blinked, is he, is he flirting with Sirius? In front of him?! 

 

"Well you'd know all about the madness within, wouldn't you, Remus?" They were! Regulus felt insulted he couldn't believe, they would! In front of his own eyes! The least they could do was pretend they weren't fucking each other. Regulus pouted as the two embraced 

 

"I found him,"

 

"I know," wow way to sound long suffering Remus, 

 

"He's here,"

 

"I understand" perhaps that prophecy broke Sirius' camels back too much? 

 

"Lets kill him"

 

"No! I trusted you!" Hermione screams startling Regulus from his thoughts "and all this time you've been his friend." Regulus shivered at the look in Remus' eyes as he regarded Hermione, Regulus would like it noted in the privacy of his mind that this was all his, Sirius, and Harry's fault and both Hermione and Ron were well within their rights to react the way they were reacting in said situation. Speaking of which, he glanced at Ron who looked terrified and nearly sighed. These dramatics were considerably more mild, he couldn't imagine how James himself would be if he was here too.

 

"He's a werewolf-"

 

"Hermione!" Regulus didn't mean to speak but outing Remus was not okay 

 

"That's why he's been missing classes!" And yeah there was Remus looking terrifying

 

"How long have you known?" 

 

"Since professor Snape set the essay"

 

"Well, well, well, Hermione, you really are the brightest witch of your age I've ever met." Was he...was he being condescending? 

 

"Enough talk, Remus! Come on, lets kill him!" Regulus couldn't help the snort that escaped him, he couldn't, 

 

"Wait!"

 

"I did my waiting! Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!" Based upon the immediate look on Remus' face, this was Not the first time they had this argument. 

 

"Wait." Regulus said, he pitched his voice to carry with all of the weight if his order and Sirius tensed, Remus whirled to stare at him. And Regulus damn near rolled his eyes and groaned at what he was about to do, "you said only one," he pointed at Sirius, but, there's two of us. We Both survived that night..." He was frowning

 

"Jaclyn you know everyone overlooks you for Harry," Hermione said, "don't make this about you," she sounded, pleading. He kind of just tilted his head 

 

"This was a thorough betrayal though, Hermione. It makes no sense to want to kill one survivor and not the other." 

 

"Obviously because Harry protected you by surviving" Hermione sighed out, as if this was something everyone should know and Regulus couldn't help the sharp jagged laughter that slipped out.

 

"They lie about the killing curse," he said idly. And noted both Remus and Sirius had tensed, eyes wide "it feels like a sharp gust of cold wind, like missing that last step except you keep falling, you don't stop," he dropped his outer robes and unbuttoned his shirt and opened it revealing the scar that matched Harry's, "its cold and nothing at all like falling asleep, and," he added, "it's not quick, not when you are waking up from it." She gasped, her eyes wide and watering as her hands covered her mouth. "It. Makes. No. Sense." He said again, the sharp laugh that left Sirius' mouth told Regulus the drama play they were putting on was over, he had covered his eyes.

 

"Alright," he said softly, "you win," and then Snape burst in and disarmed Remus

 

"Absolutely not," Regulus growled, "Totalus Petrificus" he petrified Snape "I am so far beyond done with Dramatics, now if one of you won't do the honors of removing the traitorous beast who led to my pa and mums death I Will and it will be slow, painful and piece by bloody fucking piece." He glared as he flicked his wrist again. Hermione's wand flicking into Sirius' hand and Remus got his back. They both gulped.

 

"Jaclyn!"

 

"Hermione, I swear I will explain but for now, please, come here" he held out his hand. She hesitated but soon took it and he pulled her close and hugged her. She smelt like grapes, cats, and old books. 

 

"Jaclyn?" She asked and he hummed 

 

"Pack bonding." He mumbled and she laughed softly, leaning into him. He flicked his wand and Pettigrew went flying much to Ron's horror

 

"Sorry Ron," Harry said softly as he watched Jaclyn hit him with the revealing spell and there stood Peter Pettigrew and Regulus felt a huge wave of rage. He bottled it up, took out the mirror Crouch Sr gave him and activated it while Sirius and Remus yelled at Pettigrew

 

"I'm busy" crouch Sr growled, sounding like he was struggling

 

"I just need to clear Sirius Black's name, won't take but a minute" he flipped the mirror revealing Peter Pettigrew just as Remus asked

 

"You sold James and Lily out to Voldemort didn't you?"

 

"I didn't mean to, the dark lord. You have no idea the weapons he possesses! Ask yourself Sirius! What would you have done?"

 

"I would have died! Died rather than betray my friends!" Harry blocked Pettigrew way

 

"James wouldn't have wanted me killed" the sound that wormed its way from Regulus' mouth was decidedly dark and unpleasant

 

"You may return to whatever you were doing Mr. Crouch Sr. I have a rat to flay." He handed Hermione the mirror, Hermione who made a sound of terror as he raised his wand and said casually, "demergat" the water drenched Pettigrew who drew back spluttering and gasping and then froze and squeaked in terror when he actually looked at Regulus

 

"Jaclyn, dear boy," he tried so hard, saying all sorts of pathetic things and the only thing that kept Regulus from Flaying Him was 

 

"Jaclyn Potter I cannot condone the act of flaying, as your legal guardian I Will have your wand temporarily removed for any dark magic you might want to throw." 

 

"Crouch Sr. Sir." Regulus really tried to be civil "he led to my parents deaths"

 

"Yes and as it has been recorded and shall be shared Sirius Black will be pardoned even if that beast escapes. Congratulations, your long felt dream of Not being in my custody is realized. I demand him for a week before the world Quidditch cup, Sirius Black, am I understood?"

 

"Demand him?" Sirius asked, peeking around everything to look at Crouch Sr.

 

"Yes, I am clearing your name after all" Sirius met Regulus' eyes and he shrugged, it obviously wasn't crouch Sr speaking but meh more important shit to deal with

 

"Alright"

 

"Fine. You owe Your life to" he glanced behind him and chuckled a bit "Lucius Malfoy it appears." He told the rat who thanked the mirror over and over even as the glamor fell and Lucius said in his own voice

 

"Filthy vermin," while Crouch Sr worked on paperwork in the background, there was something fishy happening but it didn't really matter to Regulus at the moment as Snape was moving again and he nearly petrified him again. 

 

"That is...disappointing." He muttered in typical Snape fashion before he bound Pettigrew and petrified him. Levitating him he swished out of the room and Regulus turned the mirror off with a soft thank you and followed.

 

And because of course the world hated them, Pettigrew escaped the petrification, got Snape's wand after biting him, turned into a rat, and escaped. Snape and Sirius started to argue and the moon that was full, mind you, rose.

 

"Oh no,"

"Professor Lupin!" Hermione screamed, Sirius cursed while Snape looked faint, very faint. 

 

"Hermione, Harry, Ron, Professor Snape, get back to the castle." Regulus ordered already shoving his outer robes into their hands as Sirius in his animagus form watched Remus transform, "NOW!" he pushed them, Harry called his name but Regulus was already running as far from them as possible, tapping into that part of his soul that was still connected to Remus and when his transformation was complete, when he tried to go for Harry and the others, when he knocked Sirius off of him who rolled down the hill and was followed by Harry, Regulus took a deep breath in, called deep within that connection and howled.

 

Mooney paused in his pursuit, Regulus howled again and Mooney turned towards him, with a howl he bolted towards him and Regulus ran away, it was a game of chase and Regulus knew how it would end. There was no Prongs to barrel into his side here, there was no Padfoot to bite at his ankles and keep him off Regulus. There was just Regulus keeping him away from the others. He was soon pinned against a tree with a yelp. He tilted his neck, having nothing else he could do as Mooney was already biting down and the scream that escaped Regulus was one of pain and then he whimpered as their bond completed and some of the most intense waves of euphoria and content that he had ever felt washed over him. He knew nothing else but the vague imprints of things going on around him, of Mooney whimpering and trying to move him. He felt Dementors pass overhead and then he heard a howl, 

 

“No,” He whined, he didn’t want his warmth to leave him, Mooney didn’t leave him, he curled up on top of him and that was that. Soon Regulus was asleep and he just knew that everything would be alright.

 

When he woke up Remus was there with him, curled into the bed next to him. Sirius was awake and curled around him. Crouch Sr was not there but there was a letter. It detailed the events that Sirius was cleared and the firm denial of anything werewolf related, he was not infected which was statistically impossible if he faced an actual werewolf. Regulus just smirked, it's only statistically impossible for full humans, he just narrowed what magical  creature bloodline he and Harry could be a part of by a fair amount.

 

Later during the end of the year feast, as Regulus curled into Evans' warmth, Harry was given a firebolt from Sirius who had gone to attend to the family affairs, finally. He had only done so after Regulus ranted to him, for several hours in the hospital as they recovered, about Dumbledore letting the Potter properties waste away.

 

They were also given adoption certificates naming them the children of Sirius Black, that was, that was probably the best moment for Regulus, the feeling of the Black family magic completely embracing him again. Harry looked like he felt weird about it but Regulus felt the Potter family magic and the Black family magic mix and share between each other within him completely at ease with each other. He'd have to ask people about that one day, but today he was going to relax, eat his dinner, and soak up Evans warmth. 

 

This summer they would move in with Sirius despite Dumbledore's protests and Regulus would have to spend a week with Crouch Sr or was his time loaned out to Malfoy? He couldn’t really remember… but it would be fine. It would. And hey maybe they'd find Barty this way? Everyone said he died in Azkaban so he had to be reborn in the family. The best way to find him would be to go to the family home. He giggled a bit, thinking about Barty being reborn as a girl and fed Evan a bit of his breakfast. Evan was humming, enjoying himself as the Slytherin table cooed or insulted them depending on age and position in the house. It was bloody hilarious. All in all it was a good year. Ron stood up shouting something at Ginny and she turned completely red, standing up too and yelling back, he vaguely wondered if maybe Lily could have been reborn a Weasley but no, she didn’t walk like James or Lily, he sighed sadly, 

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“Trying to figure something out, it’s alright I’ll think it over the summer,” He chuckled, “It’s going to be the worst year next year isn’t it?” 

 

“Why do you say that?”

 

“This year was too peaceful, I got too many people, the worlds going to remember my horrible luck and then I’m going to be scrambling and I don’t want to deal with it.” 

 

“Then don’t,” 

 

“Who will if I won’t? Harry?” He asked rhetorically and Evan just kissed his cheek, 

 

“I’m sorry love,”

 

“Don’t be, I love you.” He curled up deeper into Evan’s warmth, “I really don’t want to go to Crouch Srs household, I feel like its going to cause me grief.” 

 

“I can show up there and interrupt?”

 

“Would you?” He sounded pitiful, he honestly didn’t care. His pride drowned in that cave

 

“Of course, always.” 

 

“I can’t wait.” Regulus joined Evan in humming, he did note that the other Slytherins looked absolutely terrified but he couldn’t fathom why, he and Evan were in a really good set of moods, it probably was not what was panicking them. 

 

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 3 of Regulus Reborn as Harry's Twin