Chapter 4
"He said," Sirius fumed, pacing about the drawing room. "And I quote: 'I'm not supposed to say this word because Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon both get really mad and say it's not real if I do!' About magic, Regulus!"
"Yes, I heard you the first dozen times." Despite his calm demeanor, though, the younger wizard was outraged as well. It was one thing for a muggleborn raised by their own family to not believe in magic before receiving their Hogwarts letter, but for any magical child born to a witch and wizard, let alone Harry bloody Potter, to say such a thing... Regulus was suddenly inclined to go along with his brother's desire to remove the child from his relatives even without the counterwards ready to go.
Fortunately, they only had another two days or so of waiting before those preparations were complete.
The stone that Regulus was slowly but surely chiseling runes into for the purpose of mimicking Harry's magical signature was almost finished. Then, all they'd have to do would be touch a drop of the boy's blood to it for activation, sneak him out under his relatives' noses and the trio would retreat back to Grimmauld Place. Then, the fun explanations of magic could begin...
Sirius, though, wasn't quite looking that far ahead.
"I've to get him out right away," the animagus was muttering as he continued to pace. "No more waiting, no more starving him, I-"
"You are going to sit down and drink something before you expire." Regulus ordered, getting to his feet. "We have to stick to the plan, Sirius. Or else Dumbledore will know Harry's gone, and probably blame you, in which case they'll try barging in here again to search." And hadn't that been a fun day of ducking about. Regulus had undergone careful schemes after his theft of the Dark Lord's horcrux years before to make the Wizarding World assume him dead, while still working behind the scenes as Lord of the House of Black. He'd not needed any of Dumbledore's manipulations in his life, nor any of his former Death Eater comrades coming to exact revenge on him for turning traitor. All of which meant, that when the Aurors came to Grimmauld Place looking for Sirius, the two brothers had needed Kreacher's help to keep one step ahead of them. Putting the house under the Fidelius would have been the simplest way to avoid such headaches, but also would've made it painfully obvious to anyone aware of the home that someone was hiding there.
Sirius swore again, and punched the wall. Regulus rolled his eyes at his brother's dramatics, before using his wand to force the older man to sit down.
"Calm. Down." He ordered, putting a bit of the Lord Black tone into the words. Sirius glared up at him, but remained silent. "Now. If you can't bring yourself to wait until we're ready, then I will be happy to have Kreacher seal you in your room until the stone's fully prepared."
"I'll manage." Sirius grumbled, sinking down into a sulk.
"Good. Let's have some dinner, then."
For the rest of the evening, Regulus kept a close eye on his brother, until he had to return to working on the key to sneaking Harry away from his relatives. Even so, he ordered Kreacher to make sure that Sirius didn't leave the house during the night, otherwise it was practically guaranteed the older wizard would slip off to Privet Drive.
Unfortunately, Regulus dropped off to sleep sometime after one in the morning, and neglected to alter his order to the house elf...