Asking for Help

Fandom: Harry Potter

Characters: Regulus Black, Sirius Black

Warning: None

There was so much Regulus wanted to tell Sirius.

"I'm sorry" would be the first. Then, "You were right". "I was an idiot" sounded like something he should say too.

First, he would have to explain what he had discovered, and hope that Sirius didn't turn him away before he could get to the point.

He had carefully planned what he would say, and it was better if he sticked to it.

Because this — what Regulus found, what the Dark Lord had done — was more important than Sirius' grudge against him. Regulus didn't blame him for it, not at all, it was just that the future of the magical world was at stake here.

He wouldn't be able to force Sirius to listen to him, or even believe him, but he could still try.

He shifted a little on his feet and ran a trembling hand through his hair. It hadn't taken him too long to figure out where Sirius was staying. A couple of well placed mild truth serum and less than a handful of memory charms had done the trick.

Honestly, some members of the Order of the Phoenix didn't know how to protect their secrets properly. No wonder the Dark Lord kept killing them left and right.

He should probably not tell Sirius this, not after what happened to that Meadowes last week. It hadn't been pretty. Regulus knew, he had been there. It was better if he kept his mouth shut and avoided antagonizing his only potential ally in this mess.

He knocked on the door and waited. It was a Muggle apartment complex and, no matter how right Sirius was about Muggleborns, Regulus would probably never be comfortable in a Muggle surrounding. Too many things he didn't understand.

It didn't take too long for Sirius to open the door. He was the same as ever, just looking a bit more tired, and his hair had grown to his shoulders. He stared at Regulus for a long moment, then scowled.

"I don't have time for this bullshit," he said, and closed the door right in Regulus' face.

He should've expected this. One if his friends had died less than a week ago and he spent a lot of time fighting.

Regulus knocked again.

For a moment, nothing happened. Regulus sighed and turned away, ready to leave. Maybe he should just try to find the Horcruxes by himself — Horcruxes, plural, because the Dark Lord was crazy enough to make several, and it was better to overestimate the number than underestimate it.

Thank to Kreacher, he knew where the locket was already. He didn't need Sirius' help to get it, and then he could go on from then. Maybe the other Horcruxes were in objects similar to Slytherin's locket. Objects passed down in the Slytherin line…that would be a pain to dig out, but he could manage alone and—

The door opened again, and he turned back to find himself on the business end of his brother's wand. HIs first reflex was to pull out his own, but he stopped himself. He was a Death Eater at an Order member's door, he had better look as harmless as possible.

"What the hell do you want?"

He looked up at his brother, trying to find the right words. Everything he had prepared — an explanation, short and to the point, to make sure Sirius understood the gravity of the situation and to avoid arguments — flew out of the window.

"Please help me," he blurted out, and he hated how small and pleading his own voice sounded.

Sirius glared, and Regulus only hesitated for a second. He slipped his wand out of his sleeve. His brother tensed, ready to cast a spell, but Regulus simply handed it to him.

"Please," he said again. "I need you to listen to me."

His brother took his wand. Regulus felt naked without it, but it was a small sacrifice if he wanted to talk to Sirius without risk of being hexed.

"Why me?"

"I don't know who else to ask."

"What about your…friends?" He spat out the word "friends" like it was a dirty word, which was fair. Sure, Barty was sweet and Evan was fun, but they weren't the best kind of people.

Birds of a feather, or whatever Muggles said.

"No," he said. "Anyone but them. It's about…" He looked around, making sure they were alone in the hallway. "About the Dark Lord."

He tugged on his sleeve, extremely aware of the mark on his forearm. With it, he felt like the Dark Lord knew where he was and what he was doing, like he already knew about Regulus' betrayal and other Death Eaters were on their way to get rid of him before he could reveal sensitive information.

Some people would call him paranoid, because there was no way for the Dark Lord to know, but you were never too careful.

Sirius wasn't an idiot — never had been, never will be — which meant he quickly understood what he was implying.

"Get in," he snapped. "I'll hear you out, but don't think for a second that I trust you. If I don't like what I hear, you'll be on your way to Azkaban in less than an hour."

Sirius' small apartment, that he probably paid for with the money Uncle Alphard had left him, was the kind of mess only Sirius could find his way in. Posters of Muggle bands and strange looking, two wheeled vehicles were stuck on the walls with what looked like Spello-tape, and miscellaneous objects were scattered across the place.

Regulus, with Sirius' approval, sat at the small table in the kitchen. His brother sat in front of him, wand still trained on him, ready to fire at any sign of hostility.

"So, what is it?" Sirius asked.

"The Dark Lord made Horcruxes," Regulus said quickly, trying to squeeze as much information as he could in one go. "Also, you were right about everything. About the Mud—" he caught himself. "The Muggleborns, and blood purity, I'm sorry I never listened to you and—"

"Wait a second," Sirius interrupted. "Rewind. Horcruxes?"

"It's a piece of soul in an object. The Dark Lord cut his soul to be immortal. As long as his Horcruxes exist, he can't be killed."

Sirius leaned back on his chair and narrowed his eyes at Regulus. His mouth twitched slightly, showing his teeth in an expression that's definitely not a smile. The way Sirius snarled was reminiscent of a dog, which made sense considering his Animagus form.

"Imagine that I believe you," he said. "How do you know?"

"He brags a lot, and hinted at several of them," Regulus answered. "He thinks we're too stupid to put the pieces together. Also, he borrowed Kreacher to hide one and it almost killed him."

Sirius snorted, and Regulus scowled, crossing his arms.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, though I'm not going to leap in joy knowing that the blasted elf is still alive and kicking. I don't know why you like him so much."

"He's my friend, and he's not as bad as you make him out to be."`

"Yes, he is. The little bastard always was a pain, and he —"

"Maybe if you had treated him a little better, he wouldn't —"

"He's our parents' elf, for Merlin's sake. As if he was ever going to like me. They hate me too, remember?"

"You would have had him as an ally if you were nicer to him," Regulus insisted, feeling more and more annoyed at Sirius' stubbornness.

"I would've been nicer to him if he didn't worship the ground our parents walk on!"

"All right," Regulus snapped. "All right, he was terrible to you, and you were terrible to him." Sirius opened his mouth to protest, but he cut him off, slamming his hand on the table. "I'm not here to argue with you about your shitty relationship with Kreacher, I'm here because I want to kill the fucking Dark Lord!"

He breathed hard, surprised at his own outburst. It had to be the nerves. It also seemed to stun Sirius into silence. "Well, that came from the heart," he said after a while. "Never thought I would ever hear you swear, though, you were always too stuck-up for that."

"You've obviously never been in the Slytherin common room."

While Slytherins generally liked to look proper, the common room was free for all with an implicit rule stating that what happened in the dungeons stayed in the dungeons. The rest of Hogwarts didn't need to know about the snakes' dirty little secrets.

"I swore to myself I would never put a foot down there, and I've been successful. James though—"

"I know, I caught him sneaking around the entrance once."

"You would've told Slughorn."

"Technically, he hadn't done anything yet. However…do you remember that around this time Potter had hives in…ah…interesting places for a week?"

"Yeah, it was a nightmare—" Sirius stopped, and stared at Regulus. "That was you?"

Regulus shrugged and looked away from Sirius to hide the small smile forcefully making its way on his face. That had taught Potter to prank them.

"It's not like you can prove anything," he said.

"You were fourteen. How did you know the curse for hives at 14?"

"What do you think? I read ahead."

"You fucking nerd."

"Like you're one to talk, Mister I became an Animagus at 15."

"How do you know about that?"

"Do I look stupid to you?" Sirius started to answer, but Regulus made a dismissive movement with his hand. "Never mind, don't answer that. Now focus. What do we do about the Horcruxes?"

"Hey there, I never said I believed you about that. And why would you want the Voldemort gone in the first place?"

Regulus flinched at the name. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"You know what."

"What? Say Voldemort?"

He flinched again, and glared at Sirius. Nobody liked hearing the Dark Lord's name, including Death Eaters, and Regulus wasn't about to start saying it. There was a reason his name was feared — saying it out loud got people killed, he had seen it first hand.

No matter how much he had messed up, Regulus didn't exactly want to die.

"Stop that," he hissed. "First of all, I can swear on whatever you want that I'm telling you the truth about the Horcruxes. I want the Dark Lord dead because he's a menace and needs to be stopped, and because I know I made mistakes, but if there's a chance I could do at least one thing right in my life, I want to take it. I was an idiot, Siri. It's time I try to make up for it."

The childhood nickname slipped out before he could stop it, and it was too late to take it back. Sirius stayed silent for a long, nerve-racking minute.

"I believe you," he finally said. "I don't trust you — I don't think I could ever trust you — but I believe you. And I'll help as long as you don't try to stab me in the back."

"Thank you," Regulus said, his voice a little shaky. He swallowed hard, trying to stay composed and look confident, but his eyes were burning and he couldn't hold back a sob.

"Wow, Reg. Calm down. Don't cry on me, I'm not good with— Merlin's balls."

Hot tears were running down Regulus' face as the tension suddenly left his body. He hadn't noticed how anxious he had been about this. He tried to wipe the tears with his sleeve.

"I'm sorry, I-"

A hiccup stopped him from finishing his sentence.

Sirius had agreed to help. Sirius believed him. He wasn't alone in this.

Merlin, he had forgotten how reassuring having Sirius on his side was.

His brother patted him on the shoulder, muttering an awkward "there, there, it's all right" and handed him a box of tissue.

"Thank you," he said again. "Thank you so much."

Thank you for reading! This is the first part of a series, the second part is titled "Into the Cave"!

Please, don't hesitate to leave a review!

See you~