Chapter Ten

Perhaps by now they should have learned to expect the unexpected. Even so, 'unexpected' didn't even begin to cover nearly stumbling over the Black house-elf on the top of a cliff in the middle of nowhere. Nonetheless, it was definitely Kreacher standing before them.

For his part, Kreacher looked just as confused to see them there. There was a moment where every line in the folds of skin that made up his ugly face was wrought with indecision, the desire to simply disappear without responding warring with his duty to obey. But a master's orders are a house-elf's highest law and Sirius was technically his master, so after hesitating for long enough to land just this side of subordinance he turned his grimy face up to the boys.

"Yes, Master?"

"What in Merlin's name are you doing here?" Sirius did not splutter because Sirius never spluttered, but in his surprise and confusion he came close.

Kreacher dragged one of his feet through the thick grass, twisting his body so he was facing down, away from Sirius, submission in every inch of his form but his bloodshot eyes. "Kreacher cannot tell Master Sirius, Kreacher cannot."

"Cannot," Sirius did splutter now. "I'm ordering you to tell me!"

The house-elf's already ugly face contorted further. "Kreacher cannot! Master Regulus made Kreacher swear he would not tell!"

"Regulus Regulus sent you out here?" That gave Sirius pause. "Why did Regulus send you here?" He demanded.

"Kreacher came with Master Regulus," Kreacher allowed. Sirius growled. This was going to be like pulling teeth. In fact he'd half a mind but even he was aware that might be going a little too far.

"Where is he then?"

"Master Regulus is dead." Fat tears streaked Kreacher's face. The only way Sirius could describe the feeling in his chest was that it was like the time he'd fallen off his broom during Quidditch practice. He couldn't breathe.

"Sirius," James touched his arm but Sirius jerked away from him.

"How?" Sirius demanded, grabbing Kreacher by the shoulders and shaking him. "What happened?"

"Kreacher can't say, Master Regulus ordered him to never tell."

"You have to tell me!" Sirius was furious, shaking the elf so violently that Kreacher's chin hit his chest, teeth clicking together before his head was whipped backwards by the force Sirius was exerting on his frail body. "You have to tell me!" There were hands on his shoulders now, hauling him away from the house-elf with unusual strength. He struggled to reach him again, shouting, demanding that the elf tell him what had happened; but whoever had him held him tightly, not letting go even when Sirius's head made contact with their chin. He didn't know how long he was held but eventually the blind fury passed and he stopped struggling.

"Tell him to stop." It was Remus's voice in his ear. Not surprising; neither of the other boys had that strength. Sirius didn't know what he meant for a moment, but then he realised Kreacher was slamming his head repeatedly into the ground, punishing himself for disobeying a direct order from his master.

"Kreacher, stop." Sirius wasn't entirely sure whether he said it because watching the elf hurt himself like that made him sick, or if it was the flatness in Remus's voice that had caused the twisting in his stomach. Actually, he had a feeling it was the latter, and that worried him a little. Regardless, Kreacher ceased his self abuse, resting his forehead against the grass and sniffling loudly, bruise already forming across his pale skin.

"Ask him if he could tell James." Remus's voice was still flat, empty in that dangerous kind of way that meant he was ready to explode but knew that now wasn't the time or place. Sirius went to protest, but Remus's fingers tightened against his arms and he changed his mind.

"Can you tell James?"

Kreacher lifted his head and Sirius felt Remus's grip tighten again. The elf's bulbous nose was crooked, blood and green mucus smeared across his face, eyes still full of tears. "Master Regulus said not to tell any of the family," he said grudgingly.

"So he can. Order him to tell James as soon as you are out of earshot."

Sirius's glance flicked up to James who was watching him from the other side of Kreacher.

"Kreacher, I am going to walk away. As soon as I am out of ear shot you are going to tell James everything he wants to know. That is a direct order." Sirius said, as instructed.

"Yes, Master Sirius," Kreacher intoned.

Sirius had expected Remus to come with him while James and Peter spoke to Kreacher, but he didn't. After letting his hands drop from Sirius's arms, Remus didn't so much as glance at him, turning his attention to James instead. It was typical Remus language for 'I don't like what you just did but it's not my place to tell you so and even if it was now is not the time'. Well who bloody cared what Remus thought, Kreacher was his house-elf, he could do whatever he damn well wanted to him. Sirius turned away himself, trying not to stomp like a toddler throwing a tantrum as he walked down the shoreline.

Once Sirius was gone, James turned to Kreacher who was still sprawled pathetically on the ground.

"Er, you can sit up," he said, not really sure how to speak to someone else's house-elf, especially not one who looked as pitiful as Kreacher did right now. Kreacher sat up though, and James ran his hand through his hair and glanced over at Remus. Remus shook his head and James sighed, looking back down at Kreacher. Apparently he was on his own for this. Peter had already wandered a few steps away, still watching but obviously not wanting to be included.

"Tell me what happened to Regulus," James said.

"Master Regulus drank the potion," Kreacher said, and then started wailing again.

"Perhaps you should get him to start from the start," Remus suggested stiffly, pacing in James's peripheral vision. James could almost feel the anger radiating off Remus, though he couldn't blame him after Sirius's little display. But that wasn't what was keeping him from helping directly, and James understood that immediately. Even if Remus wanted to tear Sirius's head off and feed him to a Manticore he would still help if he was needed. The reason he was refusing to directly interact with Kreacher had far more to do with the house-elf's general attitude towards anyone who was not a pureblood than it did with Remus's mood. James didn't know for sure, but he had a feeling that Remus may have had a run in with the elf before. It made him angry on behalf of his friend, but now probably wasn't the time to start an argument with a house-elf over the importance (or non-importance) of blood purity.

"Okay, Kreacher. Tell me the whole story."

"Master Regulus wanted Kreacher to take him to the cave where Kreacher had gone with the Dark Lord-"

"What?" James interrupted. Sirius had said that his brother had gotten involved with the Death Eaters, but for some reason even when they were talking about his death James hadn't expected Voldemort to make an appearance in the conversation.

"The Dark Lord needed an elf, and Master Regulus volunteered Kreacher, you see, it was an honour, said Master Regulus, an honour for him and for Kreacher. Miss Bellatrix was to be honoured, too, and Lucius, Master Regulus was proud to be among them. Master Regulus said Kreacher must do whatever the Dark Lord ordered him to do and then," Kreacher hiccuped around a sob, "and then come home." He was rocking on the spot now, the tears flowing down his face again. James had to look away for a moment to recover his composure.

"And what did he order you to do?" he asked eventually.

"He took Kreacher with him to a cave beside the sea, and in the cavern was a great black lake. There was a boat. The Dark Lord took Kreacher to a basin full of potion and he m-made Kreacher drink it." Kreacher was shaking as he rocked, sobs breaking free between his words. "Kreacher's insides burned. He cried for Master Regulus to save him, for Mistress Black, but the Dark Lord made him drink all of the potion." The elf's breath was rasping in and out of his lungs as he sobbed. "He put a locket in the empty basin and then filled it with more… potion and then he sailed away, leaving Kreacher on… the island. Kreacher needed water, he crawled to the island's edge and he drank from the black lake and hands… hands, dead hands came from the water and dragged… Kreacher under… the… surface." Kreacher stopped, the sobs that were wracking his body too violent for him to continue speaking. James waited, giving him time to pull himself together but also giving himself time to process what the house-elf was saying. The locket. They needed that locket, it had to be Slytherin's locket, the Horcrux they were looking for.

Eventually the sobs subsided and Kreacher continued, voice steadier than it had been before. "Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back, so Kreacher did. And Master Regulus was very worried. He told Kreacher to stay hidden and not leave the house. And then, a while later, Master Regulus asked Kreacher to take him to the cave where Kreacher had gone with the Dark Lord.

James had an awful feeling he knew where this was going and he was glad Sirius wasn't there to hear it firsthand, even if that meant someone would have to repeat it to him later.

"Master Regulus gave Kreacher a locket like the one that the Dark Lord had," Kreacher said. "And he told Kreacher to take it, and when the basin was empty, to switch the lockets. And then he ordered Kreacher to leave without him and never to tell the family what happened in the cave… He said Kreacher had to destroy the first locket and then he drank the potion and Kreacher swapped the lockets and watched as Master Regulus was dragged beneath the water." The steadiness he had gained was gone now and he was rocking so violently he looked in danger of falling over.

"Kreacher, we need that locket," James said softly.

"No! Master Regulus said Kreacher was to destroy it!"

"I know," James had no idea how he was going to convince Kreacher to hand over the locket. "But it's not possible for you to destroy it. It can only be destroyed by one thing, Kreacher, and I have that thing. If you give the locket to me, we can destroy it. If you take it now you will never be able to fulfil your promise to Regulus.

Kreacher looked torn. "You're lying," he hissed.

"I'm not. Why would I lie? Please, Kreacher." When the house-elf just stared at him, eyes full of distrust, James added. "it's the only way to make sure Regulus didn't die in vain.

It worked. Somehow, it worked. Kreacher handed over the locket not without a large degree of reluctance but when James tried to offer him something to eat he shook his head. "Kreacher must return to Mistress Black," he said, and Disapparated with a crack.

"We have the locket, then." Peter said, after the silence had stretched out and settled with a disconcerting permanence.

"Yes," James agreed, shaking his head. "Yeah. We better go get Sirius."

Sirius was sitting cross legged and tearing up clumps of grass when they reached him. He'd been sitting there for long enough to really feel guilty about the way he'd treated Kreacher, but everything about the house-elf reminded him of his family and filled him with hatred and contempt. And now Regulus was dead stupid, soft Regulus who had no chance, really, he'd always believed everything their parents had said, always been so excited to serve Voldemort like their cousins Regulus was dead, and Sirius missed the boy he'd once been with a burning intensity of feelings he hadn't felt for his brother since he was a child.

"We have the locket," James said, a welcome knife through Sirius's thoughts.

"You- how?"

"Remus will tell you," and James did feel a twinge of guilt when Remus looked at him, amber eyes full of reproach, but there was no way he was going to shoulder that burden himself. Sirius, for his part, glanced at Remus, mouth open ready to demand that he tell him immediately, and then looked away without speaking.

"I think we should set up camp back on the tree line," Peter said, and began walking in that direction. The others followed.

o o o

Setting up camp didn't take long. They'd done it so many times by now that they could probably do it in their sleep. Everyone was rather quiet though, none of the usual chatter flowing easily between them. Unfortunately, it was an all to familiar quietness, they'd spent far too many days fighting since they'd left Hogwarts almost a year ago.

Remus didn't avoid Sirius, though he considered it. It would have been easy to go for a walk, and let Sirius wait. But as angry as he was at the way Sirius had treated Kreacher, he knew he needed to tell him. They couldn't keep moving forward until Sirius had been brought up to date, and there wasn't enough time for them to waste it sitting around until Remus had talked himself into forgiving Sirius, like everyone (himself included) knew he would.

Sirius, for his part, kept quiet. His need to know what Kreacher had said was like a fire burning inside of his chest, but he didn't even glance at Remus until the other boy approached him. He knew that what he'd done had disgusted Remus (given time to calm down he wasn't too impressed with his own actions either) and he didn't want to see that look in his eyes again just yet.

"Come for a walk?" Remus spoke from behind him. Sirius looked up, hopeful for an instant, but Remus was still upset. The look on his face was controlled, James had said he had to be the one to explain to Sirius, and it had to be done before they could move forward. Remus was fulfilling his duty to the group, not extending an olive branch.

Sirius nodded. "Okay."

They didn't go far, sitting on a convenient fallen tree, slightly more space between them than usual. It was subtle, but deliberate.

The silence stretched as Remus stared at his feet. "He died getting the locket," he said eventually.

"Why would he-"

"No, just. Just let me talk, okay?" Remus exhaled. "He knew about the locket because Voldemort used Kreacher to hide it there. He thought he was special because Voldemort trusted him enough to use his elf. So he let him use Kreacher, but Voldemort left Kreacher to die, and he only got back to Regulus because of the house-elf magic." It started out as a list of facts, the voice he used when he was explaining the chapter of A History of Magic that Sirius had to write this weeks paper on, but when he continued Remus's voice was softer. "Regulus was upset, and he must have figured out what the locket was, somehow, because he made Kreacher take him to the cave and he died so that they could switch out the locket." He finally looked up from his feet, and the blank façade was all but gone. "He died doing the right thing, Sirius."

"He died a selfish git," Sirius replied, voice hard. "He didn't do it to help the rest of the world, he did it because he was personally offended."

Remus looked at him, not saying a word.

"I know. Okay. I know." Sirius's hands were clenched into fists at his side. "I should have been there for him, but he was just like the rest of them. They're all so obsessed with blood purity and he was soft enough to believe them. I hardly spoke to him after my sorting. It wouldn't have made any difference if I'd tried; Regulus was a Black, through and through. He always wanted to be a Death Eater."

"It's not your fault."

"That's what I am saying, isn't it?" Sirius snapped.

"Yeah," Remus was still watching him and Sirius hated the way he always seemed to be able to see through whatever lies he was being fed. Perhaps it was because he was such a good liar himself, or maybe it was just an innate perceptiveness. Right now it made Sirius want to punch him.

"Sod off, Moony. Get out of my head."

Remus raised his eyebrows and looked away, tilting his head back to stare at the sky. A few minutes passed like that, Sirius watching the line of Remus's throat as he swallowed, before Remus spoke again.

"James wants you to be the one to destroy the locket."

"What? Why?" Sirius hadn't expected that. He'd been waiting for a comment about the way he'd treated Kreacher, he'd been preparing to apologise, he'd almost said sorry anyway.

"Because he was your brother, Sirius. And I don't care how much say you hated him; we can all see that it hurts to know he's gone."

"He was an idiot. Taken in by all of the pureblood mania." Sirius knew Remus could tell his heart wasn't in the protests anymore.

"He was still your brother." Remus looked back at Sirius finally and his eyes were sad.

"Yeah." Sirius exhaled slowly, letting his head fall into his hands.

"He died defying him," Remus said quietly. "He died to make it possible for Voldemort to be killed.

Sirius didn't reply. A few moments later he felt Remus's hand warm against his back, resting between his shoulder blades. Neither of them spoke, not because there was nothing more to be said, but because right now they both needed the silence. Remus watched the clouds pass by overhead and pretended not to know Sirius was crying.

o o o

"There is one thing Kreacher said," Peter said later that evening. They'd been sitting in their bunks where it was warm and discussing their next move for the last half hour, but no one had come up with anything of use so far. Sirius was quieter than usual, not that anyone blamed him. Remus was sitting beside him, their knees almost touching. Nothing had been said, but some semblance of an apology seemed to have been passed.

"What?" James asked, when Peter didn't immediately elaborate.

"It might be nothing. But he said Regulus was excited to be honoured like Malfoy and Bellatrix."

"So?" Sirius asked. "He always looked up to them."

"Well, we know Malfoy had a Horcrux," Peter's cheeks flushed as he thought of the diary. "He gave it to me. And Regulus's honour was to send Kreacher to hide the locket."

"You think Bellatrix has a Horcrux," Remus was the first to figure out what Peter was getting at.

"Pete, that's genius," James stared at him.

"You don't need to look so surprised," Peter sulked but there was a lightness to it. No one had really noticed how damaged their friendship had become until they'd destroyed the diary and everything started to fall back into place. The diary hadn't created the poison but it had helped it spread, and somehow its destruction had brought them closer than they'd been before it had been dropped into their lives.

"Do you think she has the cup, then?" Sirius asked. "That's the only thing left, right?"

"The only thing we've guessed at that's left," Remus reminded him. "We decided he probably has six, didn't we? The ring, locket, diadem, cup and diary only make five. If we're even right about the cup."

"Bellatrix definitely has something," James asserted, even though minutes ago the thought had never crossed his mind.

"Well she wouldn't keep it at her house," Sirius said. "Too risky."

"Where else would she keep it?"

"Gringotts." Remus sounded so certain that the others stared at him. "Well, it makes sense. If you had something valuable you didn't want anyone to find, Gringotts is the safest place to keep it. Apart from Hogwarts, maybe. But I honestly can't see Bellatrix hiding a Horcrux at Hogwarts."

"Bella has got a high security vault," Sirius added. "That would make sense; she'd think it was safe there." He tugged at the blankets that were caught under Remus's leg until Remus shifted, allowing him to pull them over his lap to protect his legs from the cold that penetrated the tent.

"Because it is," Peter said dully. "If it's in Gringotts we'll never be able to get it. We can't break into Gringotts. It'd be suicide."

"If it's there, we'll have to."

"You know what else," James said slowly. "When we ran into Malfoy at Borgin and Burkes, he was doing something for Bellatrix. What do you think the chances are that he was organising to move the cup to her vault?"

"I think you're reaching, a bit," Remus admitted. "But I do think that Gringotts is the most likely place for it to be."

"Malfoy would know, anyway," Peter said.

"And you want to what, ask him?" Sirius looked incredulous.

"No, Wormtail has a good point." James stopped Sirius with a look. "I think we're right. It must be there. And it's the only option we have, anyway. We may as well try."

o o o

The next morning, James gathered them all outside the tent. They had decided to wait until after full moon before heading to Diagon Alley, but James wanted the locket and ring destroyed.

Carrying around a Horcrux was risky. The spell Remus had cast on the bag had seemed to work so far, but then again, had it really? They'd certainly been fighting a lot, even if most of it could be put down to living in such close quarters and in such high stress situations for so long. Nonetheless, the excuse for dragging them across the countryside with them was gone now. They had the means to destroy them, so they may as well get it over with.

That was James's reasoning anyway. The others agreed, of course, but it wasn't as easy as that in the end. When it came down to it, Sirius couldn't do it. The locket dangled from his hand, chain tangled in his fingers, but he shook his head as Remus offered the Basilisk fang.

"No, I can't. Not yet." It wasn't easy for him to admit, but it was easier than going ahead and trying to destroy the locket. Peter's ordeal with Riddle was still too fresh in his mind, and the idea of what the locket might throw at him made him feel sick.

"We can't keep carrying these things around," James objected.

"It won't hurt to wait a little while," Remus interrupted, holding the bag out to Sirius so he could drop the locket back into it. "We can destroy the ring now, and do the locket later.

Sirius swapped the locket for the ring, offering it to James.

"Me?" James asked, surprised.

"Or Moony," Sirius shrugged, looking at Remus. Remus looked at James. Neither of them wanted to, though they knew they all would have to at some point. It wasn't a spoken agreement, exactly, but they had somehow all assumed they'd all have to destroy at least one. It seemed only fair.

"I'll do it," James said, taking the ring from Sirius and glancing around to see where he could rest it. His gaze landed on a suitable rock which he placed the ring on, carefully centring it before looking up at the others. "Do you think it's going to…" he trailed off.

"No idea."

"Okay. Well." James rubbed his hand through his hair and then reached out to take the fang from Remus. "Might as well get it over with."

Perhaps because the diary had known Peter so well, or maybe because the ring wasn't quite prepared for its destruction, there wasn't as much fanfare as there had been with the diary. James lifted the fang, and he must have closed his eyes because he saw Lily for an instant, spreadeagled across a carpeted floor, eyes staring unseeing into space, heard a baby cry, Peter's voice you don't understand, he would have killed me, Sirius laughing, and then the fang struck the ring, the stone cracked and Sirius caught him as his legs gave way.

"Shit, James," Sirius lowered him to the ground a little too fast.

"I'm fine," James said. He was sitting in the dirt, not entirely sure if Sirius had dropped him or placed him there, and the images he'd seen were still burnt into his brain, but he was fine.

"What happened?" Peter asked.

"You just kind of froze," Remus added.

"I just nothing. It was nothing." If he lived forever he would never be able to get that vision of Lily lying dead on the floor out of his head.

o o o

They Apparated back to Diagon Alley a week after full moon. It was mid February now, and even with the war raging the streets were full of witches and wizards going about their lives as usual. It made everything seem a little surreal, to see life going on as normal, though the daily prophet was full of reports about muggle deaths and wizards vanishing.

They found an empty flat a few streets away from the bank and broke in. It wasn't much, but considering they weren't paying they couldn't really complain. Remus set up their usual wards, and they dragged the mattresses out of the tent to set up beds in one of the empty rooms. It only took a few days before their possessions were spread about the flat enough to make it feel like a home, however temporary.

It was going to be a suicide mission, at the very least, so they wanted to be sure that they were going to find something before they put their lives on their line for nothing. The only real way to do that was to keep their eyes and ears open, spending far more time in Knockturn Alley than any of them would have liked as they tried to piece together enough evidence to make their hypothetical bank robbery justifiable.

February dragged into March, and the boys had seen Malfoy and even Bellatrix herself in town enough times to gather that yes, there was at least something important in Bellatrix's vault. They were taking their time with their plans, the warning on the doors of the bank seared into all of their minds. Enter, stranger, but take heed. Rushing would result in failure, and failure certainly meant death.

Three days before the next full moon Remus turned nineteen. He'd expected the others to forget, but none of them did. The gifts weren't much, an assortment of sweets from Sugarplum's Sweets Shop and some books from Flourish and Blotts, but he hadn't been expecting anything and he couldn't get the smile off his face. They didn't take the day off from their reconnaissance mission, but they did make the time for an ice-cream at Florean Fortescue's to celebrate the occasion.

Full moon itself fell on a Tuesday, and it wasn't pretty. It had been a long time since Remus had been forced to spend the night in an enclosed space, and even though they cast charms all over the room to soundproof it the others couldn't believe the amount of noise he made. The mess the next morning had Remus repeating apologies for hours, even as Sirius tried to clean the numerous wounds he'd managed to give himself. It wasn't the worst night he'd ever had, but it wasn't the best.

It took over a week for Remus to be well enough to leave the flat, and he spent most of that time in bed. Sirius sat with him, and they used the time well, managing to work out a semblance of a plan while James and Peter were out on the streets trying to gather more information. It was scribbled on cheap parchment, and it wasn't complete, but it was the best they had so far and probably the best they were going to come up with.

They all sat around the small table in the kitchen of the flat. Remus was still paler than usual and he leant too heavily on the table, but he was looking and feeling far better than he had and he was the one to outline what they'd managed to decide on for the others.

"If we go in pretending we want to visit Sirius's vault, we can get ourselves past the entrance and into one of the carts." Remus had visited Gringotts with Sirius only once before, but he would never forget the harrowing experience of the cart ride down to the vault. "The higher security vaults are opened by the Goblin's touch, not with a key, so it won't matter that we've told the Goblin's upstairs that we're heading for a different vault, I hope. Then," he scrunched his face, twisting his mouth to the side and taking a breath. "Then we're going to have to use the Imperious curse, I can't think of any other way."

"On the goblin?" James asked.

"On the goblin, yes. Once we're… in control of it, we just tell it to go to Bellatrix's vault instead of Sirius's. Use the goblin to get past whatever security is outside the vault and get the vault open. Then we'll need to think on our feet in case she has extra security in the vault itself."

"She will. It's Bellatrix." Sirius added helpfully.

"Okay, but we can't really plan for it if we don't know what it's going to be. We'll just have to deal with that when we get there. Anyway, even if we assume we manage to get the cup, then we'll need to get back out of the bank."

"How?" Peter asked. This was as far as he'd heard of the plan so far, and he wasn't all that optimistic that they'd managed to come up with a decent solution yet.

"This is the fun bit," Sirius grinned. Remus didn't look so enthusiastic.

"We tell the goblin to take us to Sirius's vault. When we're nearly there can you even tell when you're nearly there? Once we think we might be nearly there, I guess, we need to use a false memory charm and remove the curse. Let him take us to Sirius's vault and then let him take us out."

"Can you do that?" James asked. "The memory charm, I mean."

"I may have tried it before," Remus said, a little ambiguously.

"Successfully?" James pressed.

"Yes."

"Okay."

"Okay?" Peter stared at them. "That sounds too simple, what if you don't get it in time? What if we run into another goblin? What if they know someone has broken into Bellatrix's vault and they're looking for us?"

"Merlin's beard, Wormtail. If we run into another goblin, we charm them too. If they know someone has broken into a vault they won't just know it is us, we'll have a goblin with us who will tell them it wasn't us."

"I don't know."

"It's not perfect," Remus said. "We're still working on it, Pete. We'll get there."

"Eventually," James sighed, leaning his face in his hands elbows pressed against the kitchen table. "Eventually."

o o o

James got Quidditch books and chocolate frogs for his birthday and they laughed and joked their way through half a bottle of Firewhisky that night. It was almost nice to forget about the war for a moment, even if it made their heads hurt the next morning. The surveillance of the bank continued, ultimately proving invaluable as they tried to figure out the best time to strike. In the end, they decided on a Friday, watching the flow of people to determine when there was enough that they wouldn't be remembered, but not too much so as to leave them waiting for too long. Everything was coming together nicely; however, after weeks of organising things, everything suddenly threatened to fall apart.

"We have to do it this Friday." James threw the Daily Prophet onto the floor when he walked into the kitchen.

"What?" Peter stopped, biscuit halfway to his mouth and dripping tea.

"The break in. We can't wait til next week." Sirius followed James inside. "We saw Lucius in Borgin and Burkes, he didn't see us. They're moving it on Monday."

"He said that?" Peter stared at them.

"Not in as many words, no, but that is the general gist of things. Where's Moony?"

"I'm here." Remus was standing in the doorway to the adjacent room, face rather blank.

"We have to move things forward." Sirius said, stealing a biscuit from Peter's tin and dropping down into the chair beside him.

"We're ready, anyway." James added. "It won't affect anything."

"Yeah, we figure that two will be the best time to go, that way we'll get through without too much of a queue but it will be busy as hell as we leave. Should make things easier, hopefully." Sirius was talking around a mouthful of crumbs.

"But it's only four days away," Peter complained. "I thought we were going to wait until next week."

"They're moving something important on Monday. If the cup is there now, it won't be next week." James told him, taking the last biscuit before Sirius or Peter could.

"What's up, Moony?" Sirius asked, realising Remus hadn't moved from where he was standing in the doorway.

"It's full moon on Thursday," Remus said.

"Fuck."

"We can't wait another week. We just can't." James looked apologetic, refusing to meet Remus's eyes.

"No way. We're not going without Remus." Sirius turned on him.

"We have to." His voice was firm. "We can't wait."

"We won't get five steps without him!" Sirius was on his feet now, pacing the kitchen agitatedly.

Remus, for his part, stayed mute. He knew James was right, but he was furious at the thought of being left behind. Even more so, he felt guilty that his friends would have to go without him. None of them were operating under the delusion that this mission would be safe. There was no way they were going to get in and out of Gringotts without the whole thing exploding in their faces perhaps literally. Remus didn't want to be curled up in bed while the others were risking their lives. But there was no other option, and he knew it. There was absolutely no way he'd be well enough the day after full moon to go with them, especially full moon in the city where there was no prey except himself.

"We can't wait. We're going to have to go without him." James ran a hand through his hair, for once out of frustration rather than vanity.

"We need him!" Sirius had reached the far end of the kitchen, but he turned now, glaring at James. "You know we need him. We can't do it on Friday."

"We can't do it tomorrow! And he'll be no use by Wednesday. Friday is our last chance. We have to do it without him." James was apologetic but calm, Sirius was anything but.

"We may as well not bother," Peter said dully, staring at the empty biscuit tin.

"We're not doing it without him," Sirius repeated angrily.

"We'll have to. Sirius, shut up for a minute and think about it. You know that we can't wait, and you know Remus won't be able to come, not the day after full moon." James was getting angry now. "We need to figure out how it's going to work without him, not waste our time arguing when there's nothing we can do to change the fact he can't come."

"Right here, by the way," Remus put in, waving his hand at the other boys. "James is right. It doesn't change the plans much. It just means one of you will have to do the memory charm." They hadn't actually settled on who was going to manage the Imperious curse yet. Surprisingly enough, no one had volunteered.

"This is fucking bollocks." Sirius kicked his empty chair, sending it skittering across the room. "What the fuck are we going to do when we get into the vault? We know there'll be protections on it that we can't just get past using the goblin."

"I don't see how having me there would change that."

"Bollocks, Remus, you bloody well know that you've the most chance out of the four of us of coming up with something genius to get us all out."

Remus shook his head. "That's not even true."

"Sirius," James put his hand on Sirius's shoulder before he could voice his response. "Sit down." He flicked his wand at the chair Sirius had kicked and it flew back across the room, righting itself at the small table for Sirius to drop down into. "Getting angry isn't going to help. There's nothing we can do to change the fact Remus can't be there. We need to figure out how we're going to make it work without him." He took a seat himself on the opposite side of the table once he was sure Sirius wasn't going to leap back to his feet and rage again.

"We're doomed," Peter sighed, tapping the kettle with his wand to reheat the tea and pouring himself another cup.

"Don't be ridiculous," Remus said testily. "Me not being there won't make a bit of a difference. It'll probably be easier getting three people in than four anyway."

"Moony, come sit down. We'll figure it out."

"There is nothing to figure out," Remus told them. "I'm going for a walk."

"Remus James's sentence was cut off by the door falling shut behind their friend.

"He's upset he can't come," Peter said, into the resulting silence.

"Of course he is," Sirius snapped.

"He really does think he's useless, sometimes. You know that, right?"

"Since when did you know anything about Remus?" Sirius growled.

"Sirius," James warned.

"This really is ridiculous," Sirius stood up, almost knocking his chair over in the process.

"Don't follow him."

"Why the fuck not?" Sirius was out the door before James could reply.

o o o

Sirius caught up to Remus on the street outside and fell into step beside him, neither boy saying a word. Remus didn't look at Sirius, but he didn't make any attempt to get away from him either. They continued like that, walking side by side in silence, for a few minutes before Remus sighed.

"I am fine, okay?"

"Of course you are," Sirius shrugged. "Why wouldn't you be?"

Remus frowned but didn't reply. When they reached the end of the street he turned left. They walked in silence for another few minutes.

"Just for the record, it's going to be bloody hard without you." Sirius made it a few steps before he realised Remus had stopped. "Hey," he said. "I thought you said you were fine."

"I am fine." Remus gritted out between his teeth. "Stop talking about it." He resumed walking, resolutely watching the pavement ahead of him.

"Sure. But if it was me, I'd be pretty upset about having to stay behind."

"Sirius, really, just stop. You're terrible at this."

"I know," Sirius grinned. "But I'm trying. The least you could do is try too."

"What do you want me to say? I'm fucking devastated I can't go. If anything happens to you, while I'm sitting in an empty flat feeling sorry for myself-"

"It won't be your fault if anything does." This time Sirius stopped walking, but he caught Remus's arm and pulled him to a halt too.

Remus stared at him for a few moments. "I know. But that won't change the fact that you're all dead and I have to live with it."

Sirius didn't know what to say.