Chapter 3: Meeting Regulus

(3rd person Pov)

Sirius was staring blankly at the spot Kreacher had just disapparated in when Hermione wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him.

"That's great Sirius." She smiled.

"You should take back-up mate." James said, but he was smiling at his friend's happiness.

"Ok. But you have to stay hidden unless there is an emergency. I don't think Reg will trust anyone other than me. He may not even trust me." Sirius said forlornly.

"He must have agreed to see you for a reason." Remus reassured him. Everyone nodded. Lily came in with a piece of parchment in her hand.

"I'm going to ask Professor Dumbledore if I can use a Hogwarts owl to send this to Sev." She announced. James scowled slightly.

"Why can't you use Mercury?"

"You really think Sev won't recognise your owl after seven years of school together James?" She sighed. "I doubt he will even open it if it's from you."

"Fine then." He agreed with her reasoning but he didn't have to be happy about it. She went through the floo leaving Harry with James. The three friends and Hermione spent the day amusing Harry and playing games again. There was slightly more tension this time around as they were all eager to be getting out there and starting this fight.

"Have you thought anymore about how to get into Gringotts?" James asked.

"Well, if me and Reg patch up he will be a big help. He will be close enough to the Lestranges and Malfoys. Maybe we can do it the way you guys did, using Polyjuice potion. He could potentially get a hair from Lucius or Rudolphus and we can go in." Sirius suggested.

"That's an awful lot of maybes. We should have another plan too." Hermione said. "That would be a good one if we can pull it off though."

Nobody said anything more as they were each lost in their own thoughts about how it could be done, until Harry started squawking to get attention. Sirius then transformed into a dog and gave Harry rides round the room until Lily came back.

"So what about us becoming animagi?" Hermione asked.

"It's a really long process. You carry a mandrake leaf around in your mouth for a whole month. It tastes horrible and gets quite uncomfortable after a while. I'm not 100% sure why, but it's how it's done." James informed the two.

"There is a potion to take. It's supposed to help your body become accustomed to changing shape. You have to meditate for a long time. Once your mind is completely clear you then attempt to transform. You do it slowly, one part of your body at a time. Then you're stuck in that form until you can transform back. Or someone does it for you." Sirius continued the explanation.

"It is possible to transform all in one go but that hurts and takes up more energy." James added.

"Did you do that?" Hermione asked.

"No. That was me." Sirius grinned sheepishly. "I wasn't getting anywhere and it was really frustrating. Then one day we were practising, James had transformed both his legs by then, and someone burst into the room. I had been so focused on what I was doing that I jumped and suddenly I had four legs and a tail."

"It took us four hours to transform him back." James chuckled. "Once we got him human he slept for 24 hours straight."

"That was the day I found out what you were doing." Remus smiled, both fondly and sternly.

"So, can we brew the potion we need here?" Hermione asked.

"Yes. I have a small potions lab in the basement. I always did love potions." Lily smiled. "We will have to get the mandrake leaves from somewhere though."

"School greenhouses." Sirius suggested. "That's where we got ours."

"Or we could just go and get some from Diagon Alley." James rolled his eyes. Sirius stuck his tongue out.

"I need to meet Reg in Hogsmeade tomorrow. I could stop by Diagon Alley on my way back." Sirius offered.

"Good idea. Now. How are we going to do this meeting?" Remus asked. "You are not going alone."

"I have to. He's barely going to trust me."

"I know that, but you need backup around Hogsmeade." Remus replied.

"He's sure to check out the area beforehand, maybe have lookouts around." Sirius said.

"Well if you meet him at midday, Remus and I can apparate into Hogsmeade just before that, hide under my cloak and watch you guys. The Hogs Head is down quite a long path from Hogsmeade so we can't stay in the village. If you're attacked we won't get there in time." James put in.

"Alright. But you arrive just before twelve. Apparate under the cloak and do not get seen." Sirius told them both. "You can search the area and I will apparate in dead on twelve." He agreed.

The rest of the day passed reasonably slowly. Lily and Hermione spent a while debating what animals they would become.

"Do you become your patronus animal?" Lily asked the boys.

"Me and James did. The traitor never managed a patronus so we don't know. As far as I know it's very common to have the same animagus form as patronus, but it's not definite. Not as many people become animagi now though." Sirius told her. "What's your patronus 'Mione?" He asked.

"An otter." She told him.

"I'm sure you'd make a cute otter." He grinned.

"Lils you'd make an awesome doe." James smiled. "And then we'd match."

"That would be lovely dear." Lily smiled back.

"Well you can start training tomorrow. I'll get the ingredients for the potion and the mandrake leaves then." Sirius told them.

"Great!" The two girls said in unison.

Next morning Sirius was so nervous he didn't want to eat anything. This had Lily so worried she began checking him for illnesses. Hermione spent the morning convincing him it would be fine. At quarter to 12, James and Remus got under the invisibility cloak and left the houses boundaries so they could disapparate. They searched the area around the Hogs Head and found no evidence of any Death Eaters. Regulus wasn't there yet either. Fifteen minutes later, Sirius apparated to the front door and stepped into the pub, watched by his friends. Two minutes later Regulus appeared alone, and went into the pub as well.

"Hey Reg." Sirius smiled at his brother.

"What do you want?" Regulus cut the pleasantries short.

"Can we take this somewhere more private?" Sirius asked. Regulus nodded. They both stood and walked out. Sirius headed towards the shrieking shack.

"Isn't this place haunted?" Regulus asked with an air of interest.

"Supposedly." Sirius shrugged. Once they reached their destination, Sirius stopped and turned to his brother.

"Look, Reg, first of all I need to say I'm sorry." Regulus looked at him in shock. His brother never apologised. "I let you down. I'm your older brother and I should have looked out for you no matter what house you were sorted into." Sirius watched his brother carefully.

"I didn't need you to look out for me." Regulus snapped, recovering his composure.

"Apparently you did." Sirius retorted. He regretted it as his brother's face immediately became more hostile. "Look, Reg, you are not a bad person. You had the misfortune of being born into a crappy family."

"Don't talk about my family like that." Regulus snarled. Sirius noted he didn't say 'our'.

"I can talk about them as I please. Sadly they are mine too. Being blasted off the wall doesn't mean you aren't my family." Sirius told him. "I may have let you down before, I was blinded by house prejudice, but I don't want to let you down again."

"You turned your back on my family. I didn't need your help then. Nor do I need it now." Regulus held his head high.

"You don't know what they are capable of Reg. Voldemort," Regulus flinched. "Doesn't care for his followers. He will kill you without second thought if it benefits him regardless of your service."

"I have seen what they are capable of." Regulus told him. A flash of regret and disgust filled his face and then it was gone.

"Do you really want to spend the rest of your life torturing innocent people? Killing them?" Regulus didn't answer for a minute.

"I don't have a choice." He said.

"Yes you do." Sirius replied firmly. "There is always a choice. Sometimes there is a choice between what is right and what is easy. You have to make that choice Reg."

"You don't just sign up for the Dark Lord's service and then change your mind." Regulus hissed at him.

"Come with me. We can protect you." Sirius pleaded.

"I told you Sirius. I do not need your help. Nor can I afford to hide like a coward. There is something I need to do." Regulus said. "I have wasted enough time here."

"So why did you come in the first place?" Sirius shot at him.

"As you pointed out. We are still family. And maybe I missed my brother." Regulus whispered the last part. A look of longing crossed his regal features for a split second.

"I'm offering you the chance to be brothers again. Properly." Sirius told him.

"I have a job to do Sirius. I can't afford to be distracted."

"You knew that before you came here yet you came anyway. Stop giving me bullshit Reg." Siris said angrily. "I know about the horcrux you want to destroy." There was a loud gasp somewhere from Sirius' left but thankfully Regulus had gasped at the same time so didn't hear.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Regulus said after a seconds hesitation.

"Don't lie to me Regulus. I can help you destroy it. You don't think that Voldemort left the thing undefended do you?"

"Of course not. I know what I'm doing/" Regulus replied sharply.

"You're working against him. So am I. Reg we are on the same side!" Sirius said desperately.

"How can I trust you?" Regulus asked him.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that, as a Death eater?" Sirius sighed. "I give you my word as a Black that you can trust me." Regulus gaped him. His face was indecisive.

"I'll think about it." Regulus said finally. "I will send word through Kreacher if I wish to see you again."

"You're going to want to work on your occlumency." Sirius warned.

"Severus is helping me." Regulus told him. "Goodbye Sirius."

"Bye Reg." Sirius smiled which Regulus returned faintly. Regulus turned and disapparated. James and Remus came out from under the cloak.

"What on earth did you tell him we know about horcruxes for?" James demanded.

"It was the only way he would listen to me." Sirius defended.

"And what if he goes back and tells Voldemort we know about them?" Remus asked him.

"Sirius, I know you want to trust your brother, but as of now he is still a Death Eater." James said seriously. "You can't go giving away that we know stuff like that."

"I know. I screwed up!" Sirius snapped. "But he's my little brother. I failed him at school and in the future. I won't do it again." He added quietly.

"Well there is nothing we can do now. Let's get back." Remus sighed. The trio disapparated together.

Meanwhile, Lily squealed delightedly when the owl she had sent to Severus came flying in through the window and dropped a letter in her lap. Hermione came running in to find out what was going on to see Lily smiling at an open letter.

"Sev is willing to meet me in the woods in Cokeworth. In the old clearing we went to as kids." She beamed. "He might let me save him."

"That's great Lily." Hermione smiled. They were both looking at the letter when the boys came through the front door.

"You're back!" Lily exclaimed. "That was quick." The boys just shrugged. James shot Sirius an annoyed look but said nothing, dropping their bag of shopping onto a seat.

"What happened?" Hermione asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Sirius told Regulus we know about the horcrux he wants to destroy." Remus announced finally. Lily gasped and Hermione sighed.

"It could be worse." Hermione told them. "You shouldn't have, but there is nothing we can do now. If he is already trying to destroy it then he already has cold feet. I doubt he will turn you in to Voldemort."

"Thanks." Sirius smiled at her.

"What's that letter?" James asked.

"Sev agreed to meet me in the town we grew up in." Lily smiled. James looked unimpressed but resigned. He tried to remember his thought process where he was putting aside his hatred for Snape, but it seemed to be eluding him at the moment.

"Same thing?" Sirius suggested. "Two go under the cloak and scout then stay as back up." Everyone nodded.

"I'll get started on the potion." James said.

"I'll help. I want to see how it's done." Lily offered. "Remus would you mind feeding Harry?" Remus quickly agreed and went to fetch some food.

(A/N Any ideas for the animagus forms of Lily and Hermione please leave in a review. I will then tell you what the most popular options were next chapter, where you can vote for your favourite.)