"Lily?" Regulus whispered again in disbelief. His mind was in overload. What would have happened if he hadn't decided to go wandering into the forest? How had the men nabbed Lily without anyone noticing? Why had they bothered to take Lily hostage at all? Did anyone know she was gone?

And most importantly, how was he going to get her out of here? Regulus didn't know how to revive people and Lily was out cold, with a faint, diluted glow about her that suggested she wasn't waking up naturally anytime soon. He couldn't carry her; he just wasn't strong enough for that. He groaned realizing the only practical method was to levitate her or make her lighter. He couldn't very well drag her along the forest floor after all…but with how unstable his wand was that was just asking for serious trouble.

Through all the buzzing in his head Regulus could also hear Kreacher's faint voice, a little excited and more than a little disbelieving…Regulus! You've made a FRIEND.

"Okay," he said, straightening up. "Uh…sorry about this, Lily." He took a firm hold of her left bicep with both of his hands and dragged her across the rocky undergrowth in what looked like a promising direction. He let go of her after going about forty feet and stood up, panting and sweating.

"Shit, shit, shit," he muttered. He didn't have a lot of time. He could no longer see the original clearing and his ears were ringing so badly he could hardly hear his own haggard breathing, let alone the forest around him; the two men could be back right now for all he knew.

Pointing his wand at the ground he murmured wingardium leviosa at a nearby rock. It was slightly different than the spell needed to lift a human, but he was thinking if he could pull it off on a rock without a hitch then maybe it would be safe to try on Lily.

The rock, however, exploded with a muted thud and left a six inch hole indented into the ground. A brief shower of dirt and gravel rained down on Regulus and Lily. Regulus shook with exasperation. Of all the moments for his wand to malfunction so badly! It must be all the excitement on his part, but all told he could not risk trying anything on his friend after that.

Friend…

Regulus shook himself fiercely. "Okay," he mouthed quietly. "We can work with this…mobilicorpus!" He whispered the spell as loudly as he dared and flung his wand downward. Another unstable bolt of magic shot out and widened the hole considerably so it was now almost a foot deep and several feet wide. Regulus coughed as more dirt flew into his face and belatedly realized he should have turned Lily's body over so she was facing away from all this.

Regulus worked in a frenzy until he had a hole large enough. Then he grabbed Lily's arm again with one hand and with the other slid several fingers through the belt loop in her jeans. He pulled gently and tried to lower her into the hole slowly but she still got banged around a little, making him cringe. Covered from head to foot in grime himself, Regulus pushed most of the loose dirt and rocks back into the hole until all but Lily's upturned face was lightly buried. He then crept off to the side and pushed at the surrounding underbrush and loose branches to successfully hide her face from view as well.

Suddenly too scared again to even breath, Regulus left Lily—for all intents and purposes dead and buried—and slowly stumbled away. When he could stand it no more he started to walk briskly until somewhere not too far to his left he could hear muted voices and then he all-out sprinted. He ran in a straight line until he burst out of the final stretch of woods and landed spread-eagle on the trimmed Hogwarts lawn, almost convulsing with adrenaline.

Before dragging himself up again he took out his wand. He pined a little, wishing he'd thought to yank a branch off a tree but there was no way he was taking a single step back towards that forest alone. Hastily he shook his wand a little and it began to glow faintly, like a sick, little fairy. He shoved it tip-first into the ground to mark where he was. Lily was a (mostly) straight walk into the forest from this entrance point. Then he got up, fell back down, got up again, and staggered towards the castle's entrance doors without the slightest hint of a plan.

He hadn't made it halfway before he heard the shouting. Filled with more dread than he would have liked to admit, Regulus turned his body around to look behind him. The smaller of the two men was less than twenty yards away, close enough that Regulus could see the tears in his nice cloak, and the disheveled look about his hair and clothing. His face wasn't visible, though; he had slipped his mask back on.

Regulus felt like he was five years old. Suddenly he wanted nothing more than to be inside. Scary things couldn't usually get you if you were in the house, even less so if you were under the covers, and their chances dwindled to zero if those covers happened to belong to your older brother. Regulus turned on his heel and fled with a final burst of energy he never would have guessed he had.

The entrance doors, like many areas of the Hogwarts castle, were quite intelligent, though. Sensing the obvious malicious intent of Regulus's adult pursuer, they sealed and bolted themselves shut, leaving the youngest Black child to crash into them impotently and rattle the handles before groaning in defeat and sinking to his knees on the grass.

He felt the ground vibrating as the death eater's footsteps got closer. He was seconds away from a hand reaching out to grab him…and the voice that infiltrated his mind this time was Sirius's. Loud and condescending as usual, Regulus could hear his brother berate him.

Regs, you goddam idiot. Use your portkey!

Everyone in Sirius's dorm was asleep save for him. He sat up in his bed, still fully clothed, fidgeting with the little orb in his hand. He really didn't want to look at it but a part of him was curious. How was Regulus getting on lately? Sirius had sent his brother no Christmas or New Year's gift, despite having received very nice ones from the boy. Hell, he was wearing the t-shirt Regulus had sent him for his birthday at that very moment.

In his hands he held his Spying Stone (as he was now calling it). Should he look at Regulus or not…?

To his right he heard a slight rustle as Lupin rolled over in his sleep, knocking to the ground some newspaper articles he'd been reading before he'd fallen unconscious. Sirius turned back to his stone.

Why couldn't he just cut Regulus off once and for all? He was at school now, away from his family. He had friends, more or less, and a future ahead of him that didn't include his suffocating parents, or that oppressive home.

He did not care what Regulus did, he did not.

Sirius finally caved and held the marble up to his face to examine it. In it he would surely find Regulus sound asleep at Grimmauld Place, a glass of cider on his nightstand, and all his covers tucked in neatly.

That wasn't the sight that greeted him, though. Abruptly he yanked his wand out of his dresser drawer and stood up. "Lumos," he muttered, holding his wand close to the stone to better see the image it contained.

There was Regulus, all right, but he appeared to be on Hogwarts grounds. Sirius seethed at the thought, he had told his brother to stay put! Regulus had always been so good at listening to him before…had one semester away really undone a decade's worth of conditioning?

Aside from that, though, he could see Regulus was struggling with someone: a man. Whoever it was had a hold of Regulus by his necklace, and was shaking him. Again and again Regulus's head slammed into the entrance door.

Sirius acted without thinking. He stowed the stone back in his drawer and threw on shoes and a jacket. He was inches from the door when a sleepy voice inquired:

"Sirius? Where are you going?"

Sirius froze. "Out, Lupin," he whispered curtly. "Don't wake everyone."

"What's wrong?" Lupin sat up and pulled back his curtains. He had been sleeping amongst an entire sea of newspapers and periodicals.

"Nothing—"

"Sirius!"

"My br—that kid is back," Sirius caught himself. "He's here on the grounds and so are those men."

"The ones from before?" asked Lupin incredulously. "How do you know this?"

Sirius thought fast. "I saw them from out the window," he pointed fiercely at the window between his and James's bed.

Lupin got up and peered out the glass pane. "I can't see them…are you sure that you did? The ground is awfully far down…"

"Yes," Sirius snarled. "They're fighting. Now I'm going down there to get that brat out of trouble."

He made to leave but Lupin, now with a jacket and shoes half-hazardly thrown on as well, leapt forward to grab his arm. Sirius reeled at the physical contact.

"I'm coming with you!" he gulped nervously, but his voice was determined.

"I don't want you to!" hissed Sirius.

"I've been researching for Lily!" Lupin insisted. "Believe me when I say you're going to need me!"

"Fine!" Sirius barked, the pounding in his head reminding him of Regulus's small skull crashing repeatedly against the side of the castle. "Do whatever the hell you want, just don't get in my way!"

Lupin nodded, for the moment at least not seeming to question Sirius's vehemence on the subject.

Sirius tore from the dorm, Lupin close behind him. It was a miracle no one had woken up during their whispered argument, but Sirius had a horrible feeling that wouldn't last long.

"Should we get a teacher?" Lupin panted nervously as he sprinted just behind Sirius.

"You can," he hissed as they clattered down the stairs, unmindful of where they ran or how much noise they made. Even if a teacher heard them, they certainly weren't going to be able to catch them. "I'm not stopping for that. You know it'll take half an hour to even get them to consider looking outside…"

…not to mention Sirius would have to admit he'd stolen from the trophy cabinet. No teacher would believe he'd seen two distinct figures on the castle grounds through the window in the topmost tower in the middle of the night.

Lupin didn't even consider. He'd asked his question more out of obligation. "You can't go alone," he insisted.

Sirius crashed up against the castle doors and threw them open—nothing at Hogwarts locked from the inside, after all—and he saw them immediately. Somehow his brother had managed to wriggle free of his captor and staggered to his feet, but he appeared to be unarmed, and the man grabbed ahold of him again. A second man was sprinting up to them, this one much larger than the first.

"Greyback," the skinny man hissed, holding Regulus by his neck and arms. He seemed not to have noticed Sirius and Lupin just yet. "Look, it's the one who had the photo!"

The second man, Greyback, pointed furiously behind his comrade, right at Sirius and Lupin.

"Fuck!" the first man fumbled for his wand while Greyback surged forward. It was at a price, though. Letting go of Regulus with one hand allowed the child to get free, and he wasted no time in landing as hard a punch as he could.

Sirius was poised to meet Greyback head on, wand at the ready, but Lupin had been prepared for this.

"Go get Regulus," he insisted, pushing Sirius to the side. Greyback's unusually large teeth were already starting to come out, and his eyes slitted dangerously.

Sirius yanked his brother out of the fray so he could clearly aim at his target. He had a few second's head start on the man and got the first spell fired off.

Lupin tried valiantly to keep Greyback away from him, but his stunners and meager combat spells seemed to bounce right off the man, and eventually he found himself face to face with someone he'd hoped to never see again.

Sirius could vaguely hear the tears and growling coming from the scuffle going on behind him, but ultimately ignored it. Lupin had chosen to come along; it was his own fault what happened to him. Despite having vastly more knowledge of dueling than most students in his year, Sirius knew he would be no match for an adult in the end. What mattered was that he'd gotten to Regulus before he'd been killed or seriously injured. Regulus now needed to take the hint and go get help.

"Regulus, get out of here!" Sirius screamed at him while throwing up a temporary shield in front of himself.

Regulus started to turn away but was hit almost instantly with a binding spell from Sirius's opponent. "He's not going anywhere," the man hissed. Then he looked back to Sirius. "Is that your little brother?" he asked, pointing to Sirius's face and then to Regulus's. "Well he's stolen something of our master's."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sirius yelled honestly. "Regulus?" he demanded.

"I have no idea!" Regulus cried pathetically from the ground. He struggled, but managed to position himself on his knees. Pleadingly he looked at the fighting going on around him. "I don't have anything of anyone's, really! I just came here on impulse and when I saw they'd taken Lily—"

"Lily?" demanded Sirius. "What's she got to do with anything? Protego!" he cried again just in time to mitigate the shock of a nasty curse, although it still sent him skidding back a few feet with an audible thud.

Regulus wriggled frantically on the ground. Sirius wasn't going to last much longer like this, and Lupin was in even worse shape, pinned to the ground by a half-transformed werewolf. With effort, Regulus managed to loop his bound wrists around his legs so they were in front of him now, and no longer behind his back. Mindlessly he fumbled for his portkey, already starting to yell before he'd even landed.

Sirius stared in shock at the empty space that had previously held his brother. How had Regulus disappeared like that? Where had he gotten such a device? His momentary bewilderment proved detrimental, and he was sent careening backwards by his opponent.

"Shit," he sputtered when he hit the ground. He rolled sharply to the left to avoid the next jet of purple light sent towards him. It left a half-foot wide smoking hole in the ground where it connected. The next spell hit him square in the stomach and he doubled over, groaning.

"Sirius?" an incredulous voice demanded.

Sirius raised his head and opened his watering eyes just long enough to see a familiar figure running head long towards him from the castle door: James Potter. The Death Eater standing over him took the time to notice James as well, and Sirius used a final surge of energy to kick him in the knee, knocking him to the ground.

"Stupefy!" James yelled. The spell didn't stick the first time, merely careening off the kneeling man, but a second attempt was more successful. The Death Eater keeled face first into the ground.

Sirius staggered upright and James immediately turned his attention to Remus and Greyback, who were still more or less fighting hand to hand. Greyback had torn a good chunk out of Remus's arm and shoulder, and there was blood on the ground. Sirius noted with approval that some of it was stemming from Greyback's own twisted nose. Remus must have landed at least one good punch during the scuffle.

Greyback was a horrifying sight. Sirius realized with a creeping dread that the man must be a werewolf of some kind, and though the full moon was not for days, he had managed to semi-transform himself. His mouth jutted out too far and his canine teeth had developed into fangs. He was hunched over and his nails were sticking at least a quarter inch into the skin of Remus's neck and chest. Remus had since gone limp in his grasp.

Sirius and James raised their wands, Sirius a little unsteady on his feet. With his free hand, he clutched at his stomach were the other Death Eater's spell had struck. It came away sticky with blood.

Greyback wasn't taking any chances. It seemed the body of his fallen comrade had sobered him to the revelation that he may lose this fight. He straightened up and took Remus with him, holding the boy by his neck in front of him like a shield.

James shook. "We heard you two leaving the dorms and I followed you," he explained to Sirius in a whisper out the side of his mouth. "Peter went to get a teacher. I came here."

Sirius grimaced. He was silent for a moment, expecting James to understand his intentions, but when the other Gryffindor merely stood by his side, shaking, Sirius was again infuriated that his classmate did not know him so well as his brother. Regulus would have understood. Regulus would have gotten the hint, but here Sirius was forced to whisper back, and pray the werewolf couldn't hear him.

"We need to distract him until they get here, then," he said. "Regulus left for help as well."

"Regulus was here?"

"What do you want?" Sirius intoned loudly, hoping to delay Greyback's decision-making process.

"Our master's relic," he hissed simply. "Your little girlfriend had it at one point, and so did that other brat. We were sent here to get it, and keeping it from us," he paused to slide several of his embedded nails and inch or two higher up Remus's throat. "Is not a wise decision."

Sirius could see that the man was panicking, despite his cool demeanor. He had obviously not intended for this to devolve into a fight. He had probably been planning on sneaking in and out of the school undetected, relic in hand.

"Girlfriend?" repeated James dumbly.

"Lily," Sirius explained, his wand wavering as he felt the last of his energy draining. Unable to stand anymore, he sank to his knees on the grassy lawn. All around him the small lights from the castle and the stars seemed to grow brighter. Beside him, James quivered.

Greyback smirked. The only consolation was that the rise and fall of Remus's chest was still strong.

"What could Lily possibly have that you would want?" asked James desperately.

"Nothing for you to worry your head over, now put down the wand," Greyback commanded, twisting his hand hard. More blood ran down Remus's neck. Sensing few other options, James slowly lowered his arm and let his wand fall to the grass next to Sirius, who seemed barely conscious.

"Good job," said Greyback. "Now—"

But his didn't make it any further than that. With a startled cry he was sent careening forward and toppled to the ground, completely dropping Remus in the process. Behind where he had been standing, a now bloodied rock in her hand, was Lily, covered in dirt and scratches from her neck down.

Greyback wasn't unconscious, though, and soon whipped around to face her. Quickly she backed away as he surged forward. She threw her rock right in his face, striking him between the eyes and making him yelp in a manner eerily similar to a dog, but it didn't deter him for long.

"Stupefy!" he was inches from her when he fell with a crash to the ground. Lily whipped her tangled head around and saw two adults and a child rushing up to her. It was a man and a woman, and behind them came Regulus Black, limping but otherwise unharmed.

The man pushed Lily roughly out of the way and stepped unceremoniously over Lupin. "Sirius," he barked roughly, and tugged Sirius up from the ground. Sirius's eyes were starting to roll back in his head.

The woman glanced behind her and when she noticed Regulus, screeched, "Regulus! You were told to stay at home!"

Regulus pushed past her and rushed to his brother's side. Lily and James heard little of this exchange between the two Blacks as they had both fallen to Remus's side and were staring horrified at how much blood he had lost.

When Lily looked up she saw the man had Sirius in his arms and the woman had dashed up to the caste, meeting headlong a swarm of teachers led by Peter Pettigrew. She began talking furiously with them.

"Where did you come from, Lily?" Sirius mumbled weakly. "Thought we were finished."

"Yes," Regulus asked her, although his eyes were still on Sirius as he gently wiped blood and grime from his brother's face. "How did you wake yourself up?"

Lily shrugged. "He," she pointed to the skinny Death Eater. "Had me under some sort of stasis spell, I think; I heard a little of it before I went under. It must have lost its effect when he was knocked out. I woke up buried in the forest, and I could hear you guys yelling…"

"That was me that buried you," said Regulus sheepishly. "I couldn't think of what else to do, and I couldn't just leave you there."

"Thank you," remarked Lily honestly. "And is this yours? I saw it lit up and it led me out of the woods," she pulled from her jeans Regulus's wand.

Orion's eyes narrowed and he snatched it from her. Lily started to protest. "Hey, what do you think you're doing, Mister? That's my friend's!"

Orion didn't grace her with an answer. He merely jerked Sirius away from Regulus and started towards the castle. Lily watched him go before kneeling back down by Remus.

Soon everyone was congregated together. One by one, a multitude of lights flickered on in the castle. It seemed the whole school was waking up.

Peter had brought with him McGonagall, Dumbledore, Tektite, and Slughorn. McGonagall gently pushed Lily aside and rolled Remus onto his back.

"Is he going to be okay?" demanded James softly. The teacher nodded.

"Yes I'm sure of it," she muttered, closing as many wounds as she could with her own wand. Lily watched in awe as the skin healed and the blood dried. "But he needs to be in the hospital."

James nodded.

Dumbledore had the two Death Eaters' limp bodies restrained. "Summon the Ministry, Tektite," he commanded. "It seems we have several most unwelcome guests. As for you two," he addressed James and Lily. "You will accompany Mr. Lupin and Mr. Black to the hospital wing. When they are fully awake and alert we are going to discuss what went on here, is that clear?"

James and Lily nodded mutely, and they proceeded to follow McGonagall as she solemnly levitated Remus's body towards the school. A slow but steady trail of blood still fell from him.

"And you as well, Mr. Black, I believe you have a place in these proceedings as well," said Dumbledore quietly. Regulus, who had been slinking off to the edge of all the commotion now that he had been assured Sirius was in no mortal peril, started.

He looked up at Professor Dumbledore quizzically. The man was wearing a sickeningly periwinkle nightgown and a pair of bright red slippers. Regulus was hardly threatened by him, and had every intent to sneer a little before apparating away again, until he met the Headmaster's eyes.

"I don't think I should be present, Sir," he murmured with his eyes down.

"Have you not had an enormous impact on the events of this evening?"

Regulus looked up at him pleadingly. "I really haven't," he insisted. "I know nothing about what was going on, I was only here just tonight," he knew Dumbledore would see through his lie unless immediately distracted and so opted to quickly mutter, "and I can't stay any longer. I'll just cause damage if I do. None of his new friends know my last name."

He looked forlornly in the direction of his brother. Dumbledore seemed to understand what he was saying. "That is such a shame, Regulus," he said sadly. "Because you are such a good brother, and you do deserve that back."

It was the first time in his life that Regulus had ever heard someone praise him for how much he cared for Sirius. After years of being ignored by his parents and having his fraternal obsession deemed insane by Kreacher, it was something that hit home.

Regulus let this man's alternate opinion on him sink in for a minute. Then he walked briskly away. "Send me an owl with the details of my brother's recovery," he said over his shoulder.

"Of course, and Regulus?"

"Yes?" Regulus paused briefly.

"It is not a common occurrence for a student not yet enrolled in my school to break so many rules in one semester."

"I expect there to be a trophy with my name on in it fully engraved by this fall," Regulus replied snarkily. Then, when Dumbledore had finally turned from him to engage the other teachers, he grabbed his portkey once again and returned to Grimmauld Place. There his adrenaline high would wear off and he could fully process what had taken place up at the school, all while Kreacher yelled his ear off for running off twice in one night.

Sirius was only partially awake while his father carried him, drifting in and out of the waking world every hundred yards or so. He went out completely just before being set down on his hospital bed, only to be woken fully an hour or so later by a combination of medicine, spellwork, and the really loud noise he heard which turned out to be James accidentally knocking over a chair.

"Mr. Black, how are you feeling?" asked Professor Tektite, who was closest.

"Like shit," Sirius answered, sitting up. "Everything hurts."

"You were hit with some nasty curses," commented the nurse as she smoothed down a bandage on his arm. "But the worst of it's been eradicated now. You just need to rest for a little while, and get used to having a bit of a scar on your tummy."

"I'll just tell everyone I had a C-section," Sirius quipped. James and Lily, who were sitting on the foot of his bed, laughed. None of the adults looked pleased. Dumbledore, Tektite and McGonagall were all there. Slughorn had disappeared, and Sirius's parents were nowhere to be seen.

"Your mother and father went back home," answered Dumbledore keenly, seeming to know what Sirius had been wondering. "To deal with some…other disobedience issues."

Sirius cringed at the Headmaster's subtle way of saying his parents had gone home to lay into Regulus. Sirius also noted how Dumbledore had avoided mentioning his connection to his brother in front of his friends. When he looked into the man's eyes he saw quite a lot of disappointment, but not enough to move him.

"Oh," was all he said, and Dumbledore's disappointment seemed to increase.

"I would like an explanation," the school's leader continued. "There are aurors and Ministry officials right now interrogating two criminals who, for the moment, have refused to divulge any information about why or how they broke into my school. And I feel it may take all of you to explain this. Poppy, is Mr. Lupin awake and coherent?"

"Yes," came a small voice from the bed next to Sirius. Sirius swiveled around to see Remus Lupin sitting up and smiling woefully at them all. "I'm awake," he admitted.

"Good," said Professor McGonagall. "Then let's get this over with."

"It was my fault," offered Lily immediately. "I was the one wandering around outside at night. They ambushed me just outside the gate and dragged me into the forest. They kept asking me where I'd hidden their thing-a-ma-jigger, but I've no idea what it was they were looking for. I guess I didn't have it on me, either, because they searched all my pockets and then knocked me out. I woke up when everyone was fighting and went to help."

"So this is the first of these men you have seen?" inquired Professor Tektite.

"Yes," said Lily earnestly.

"I heard the commotion of Lily getting dragged away because I was awake and had the window's slid open for some fresh air. I thought she was just messing around with some friends because the noises weren't very clear. I was bored and thought I'd go join the fun," said Sirius nonchalantly, having caught on fairly quickly to Lily's plan.

"Him leaving woke me up," said Lupin simply. "And I followed him the whole way outside trying to convince him not to break curfew. I guess I wasn't very good at it," he added ruefully.

"And you slammed the door too loudly," said James smugly. "I heard them leave and followed out of pure curiosity. Peter had more sense than me, though, and said he was going off to find some teachers in case something was up…where'd Peter go anyway?"

"I sent him to his dorm to rest," explained Professor Dumbledore. He was the only one of you not bleeding all over my hallways and thus the least culpable in all this. I will most likely be speaking with him a bit later, though I doubt he will have much more to add to your story."

Professor McGonagall seemed unconvinced by them all. "It seems to me that something is being left out of all this. What of the other boy?"

Sirius began to sweat. McGonagall was looking right at him. Before he could say anything damning, though, Lily saved him again. "Regulus is a friend of mine from outside school," she admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "He'd been talking about meeting up with me sometime here, but I didn't believe him when he said he'd be on the grounds tonight. I thought he was kidding and that I was going to wander around all alone for several hours before going back to bed. Which almost happened. Regulus was the one who got me away from those freaks."

"So you were outside tonight to meet up with him?" inquired Professor Tektite incredulously.

Lily looked unblinkingly up at her Astronomy professor. "Yes," she said. "He said getting into the castle itself would be nearly impossible with all the spells and security it's got."

Tektite nodded, not so much convinced as worn out with the conversation.

"And none of you have any idea what these men were looking for? Did they describe it to you at all, Ms. Evans?"

"No," argued Lily. "They just kept acting like I should know already. I think they are insane," she added so seriously that it forced a smile onto McGonagall's face.

"Headmaster," interrupted the nurse from behind Lupin. "If I might ask that these children be allowed to rest now? I don't think you're getting very far with this interrogation."

"You may be right," said Dumbledore, standing up carefully. "If there is anything else you feel we should know, don't hesitate," he looked at them all sternly.

All of the students save for Sirius fidgeted uncomfortably.

"No one is being expelled," reassured Dumbledore. "To do so would be a grave error on my part, and detention would make little sense with the school year being over."

"Huh?" asked James and Lily at the same time.

"It's February!" Lupin exclaimed.

"Not according to the weather, which has been uncharacteristically warm and devoid of snow," said Dumbledore simply. "Besides, there are some updates to the school's security that clearly need to be addressed and will take quite some amount of man-power and time. Also I appear to be lacking a Defense Teacher."

"Where is Professor—"

"Andrew decided teaching wasn't really his calling and sent in his resignation to me just this evening. He seemed awfully jumpy about it," responded Dumbledore casually.

The students shared uneasy looks. In Sirius's mind, and likely everyone else's, such a fast and timely resignation most likely signaled some kind of affiliation with the two Death Eaters who were now being interrogated at the Ministry.

But was he running because he'd worked for them or against them?

"I suggest you all get some sleep," said Professor Tektite curtly. "We can't have you all tired for the feast tomorrow. Goodnight you four. You are a very lucky, very selfless child," he added with a stern look towards Lupin.

"G'night," they murmured in unison, Lupin in particular looking sheepish.

The hospital door hadn't been closed for ten seconds before Severus Snape came bursting in, panting and clutching his chest.

"Severus!" Lily exclaimed, getting up to guide him onto the bed next to Sirius's. There they sat down together, joined soon by James, who seemed to think Sirius might break if anyone stayed too close to him."

"I heard…" he panted.

"Shush," Lily hushed him. "Here, we'll take it from the top."

Everyone leaned forward.

"I went outside tonight because I saw those two freaks again."

"And you didn't think to get us?" demanded Severus.

"Well I wasn't sure of what I was seeing and I didn't want them to slip away," Lily snipped. "Anyway, I was only going to get a snapshot of them with my camera, you know, for photo comparisons. I was standing with the main door propped open and I got my photo. It was a little grainy from having to zoom for far in, but the door managed to swing shut behind me, and then the castle wouldn't let me back in!"

"Those two death eaters were probably too close for comfort and the school locked itself," Remus offered by way of explanation.

"Well it's a shitty system, either way," Lily griped. "Those bastards heard the door slamming and immediately cornered me. It was two against one, I didn't really manage to put up much of a fight, although I loosened the big one's nose for you Lupin...broke my new camera in the process..."

Remus smiled a little.

"Well it turns out they'd been looking for me, like…stalking me. By the way they were talking, they'd been trying to get me alone for months, but hadn't figured out how to do it yet without bursting into the school itself. They were looking for me because they'd happened upon one of the pictures Regulus took of me. The one in that Room of Forgotten Things where I'm wearing some sort of tiara."

"They're after a tiara?" James asked in confusion. "And how'd they get the photo?"

"Regulus...dropped it out the window..." Sirius said slowly.

"Yeah, a tiara," Lily shrugged. Severus leaned his head on her shoulder and whimpered a little. "I don't know why but they really wanted the fucking thing."

"Should we have told Dumbledore this?" asked Remus nervously. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Madame Pomfrey had not returned from her office, where she had retired to when the teachers had left.

Lily shook her head. "And admit to everything?"

"What difference does it make," scoffed Sirius. "The men are in jail, they didn't get what they wanted. End of story," although he said the words mainly to shut Lupin up.

"Wow," breathed Severus. "What an ordeal. Tell me how you got away from them…"

They filled Severus in on all the details, but before any talking after that could go down, their exhaustion caught up with them all, even Sirius, and they fell asleep almost in unison.

Sirius's final thoughts fell to his brother. He had tried so hard this year to distance himself from Regulus, and his family as a whole for that matter, but now it seemed that fate itself—and the Headmaster—had aligned against this plan, giving him three extra months of summer break to spend alone with Regulus Black.

Regulus, you have so much explaining to do.

End Section 0.