November 1977

As the months grew colder, Hermione began to grow more anxious. She knew that soon Voldemort would be hiding away the locket and would call on Regulus to aid him through Kreacher. Hermione kept an eye on the younger Black when she could, which was usually only during meals.

He regularly looked pale and sickly. When not in class he spent time with Snape, but mostly shied away from everyone else.

The threat outside the walls of Hogwarts was continuing to grow as the families of students went missing or showed up dead. The halls were not as lively as the used to be, and students travelled in tight knit groups between classes

The first Hogsmeade visit was coming up and the school was excited as it could be with all that was happening around them. Lily and James would be absent to attend Lily's sister's wedding. They chose to forego the trip choosing to amble mindlessly around the grounds. Remus didn't understand why but walked with them anyway.

Regulus had left the school 2 days previous without reason. They did not know where to go from here, Regulus was needed in order to find the next Horcrux and not knowing what was happening outside the walls worried both of them.

They had completed a lap of the lake and there was a loud crack. Turning quickly they saw Kreacher looking older than either of them recalled standing there. They ran to him and Hermione asked quickly

"Has it happened Kreacher?" The elf eyed her cautiously

"Yes, Kreacher has been with the Dark Lord. Master Regulus helped Kreacher and now he wants Kreacher to take him to where he was."

Hermione and Sirius looked at each other, wide eyed. Remus looked between the elf, his sister and his friend.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked them

"Kreacher, I need you to take us there first. We need to be there before Regulus" Hermione said urgently.

The house elf raised an eyebrow before offering his hand.

"Kreacher will take you there now, and then he will need to go get Master Regulus."

"What?! 'Mione, no. Tell me what's going on!" Remus demanded. Hermione looked at her brother, with shock and sadness

"Sorry Remmy," she said as she blast him with a stunning spell and then proceeded to cast a full body bind on him.

They reached out and took the elf's bony hand and with a crack the left the grounds at Hogwarts.

They reappeared in a darkened cavern, the sea could be heard outside crashing against the rock. No sooner had they arrived, Kreacher left to get Regulus.

"Where are we?" Sirius called out, trying to steady himself against one of the walls.

"I'm not sure, but we're close" Hermione answered.

Not even five minutes had passed before Kreacher returned with Regulus. Regulus looked at the two of them in shock.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He yelled at Sirius.

"I'm here to help you"

"Well clear off, I don't need you"

"The hell you don't, you don't even know what you're fucking doing!" Sirius yelled back. The both of them drawing their wands, but Hermione was faster.

"Protego!" she called out, placing the shield between them; forcing them away from each other.

"Sirius, can you wait over there please?" she asked. Sirius frowned and moved forward.

"I mean it Sirius, don't make me force you." Sirius grunted in response and stalked off towards the other end of the cavern.

Regulus eyed her with suspicion. She lowered her hands and moved towards him slowly.

"Regulus, I know what you're trying to do. Trust me when I say that you will need help"

"Why would I need help from someone like you" he sneered

"Because it's the only option you've got," she retorted hotly. "Look you do what you need to do in there, fine. But I bet you don't have an option for getting out of here alive, or what Kreacher is going to do with that locket once you give it to him do you?"

Regulus looked at her in shock. He didn't know how she knew, but it was clear she'd put more thought into it than he did.

"I know you and Sirius don't see eye to eye, but the reason he's here is to make sure you get out of this alive, not just to try and bring down Voldemort."

Regulus looked up to where his brother was now pacing.

"Okay fine," he said "but I'm drinking that potion in there, not you and not him either."

"Fine"

They walked back towards Sirius, who in turn walked towards them when he saw they had finished talking.

"So we're doing this then?" Sirius asked, looking between the two of them

"Sure, why not" said an unimpressed looking Regulus. Kreacher pointed to the correct section of wall and Regulus proceeded to cut his hand and smear the blood on the rocky surface.

"Ladies first?" Regulus offered, stepping out of the way to let Hermione through.

Hermione peered into the darkness of the cave, Sirius on her right and Regulus on her left. The Black's house elf Kreacher lurked around Regulus' knees, appearing vaguely annoyed.

"Lumos," Hermione lifted her wand into the darkness, emmiting a small beacon of light before them.

"We need to make this quick," Sirius murmured under his breath. "That body bind will only hold Remus for an hour at most."

Discomfort ran through Hermione's veins. She hated that she had subdued her brother in such a barbaric fashion, but sometimes desperate times called for desperate measures.

Regulus walked to the edge of the pitch black lake, pulling a chain from the water and encouraged a boat to appear from the depths with a tap of his wand. Kreacher shifted uncomfortably.

"Master Regulus should not be here," the house elf croaked. "Master Regulus should be at home where he is safe."

He looked down on the elf with a sad smile.

"Mistakes must corrected, Kreacher. I must atone for my mistakes."

The boat lazily came to the edge, all three of them walked towards it and made to enter the vessel. Sirius turned to Hermione.

"No, you're staying here."

"Like hell I am, you wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me. You can stay on shore."

Sirius eyed his brother, hoping for some form of support.

"It doesn't matter to me, I was planning on doing this alone" voiced the younger Black, as he pushed hair from his eyes.

"That boat doesn't look like it'll hold all of us," Sirius said pointedly.

"Well you're the biggest, so you can stay here" Hermione challenged.

Regulus sighed, they would be here all night if something didn't happen soon.

"How about you both go in the boat and Kreacher can apparate me over there?"

Sirius mulled the option over, he knew there was no way that he would keep Hermione away. Even though the thought of her being in any danger made him sick to his stomach he agreed with the proposition and climbed into the small sodden boat after her.

The island in the middle of the black glass lake was barely big enough for the three of them plus the house elf. Kreacher stared at the pedestal in the middle, the potion within faintly glowing green.

"There Master Regulus, that is where the Dark Lord put it. He hides it in there, and he made Kreacher drink so he could"

They all stared into the stone bowl. Sirius pointed his wand at the potion in an attempt to empty it. Nothing happened.

"It must be drunk," Hermione whispered looking at the potion with shock and trepidation. Her fingers reached out for the goblet, but her fingers grasped air. Regulus had already seized it and was half way through his first cup full. His body shuddered as the contents hit his stomach.

He turned to Kreacher.

"Make sure I drink all of it Kreacher, that's an order."

Ignoring Sirius' protests and fending him off, Regulus finished another goblet full. Hermione held Sirius back.

"He wants to do this Sirius. Don't worry, we won't leave him here." She assured him as they watched Regulus empty the goblet again.

After his sixth or seventh Regulus slumped to the ground shaking. Tears poured from his eyes while Kreacher refilled the goblet.

"Kreacher make it stop," he cried to the elf. "Please!"

"Master Regulus must drink" was the croaked reply as another goblet was pressed to the boys lips. Hermione crouched behind Regulus holding him up, a feat in itself considering how small she was to him in comparison.

Regulus continued to sob, and Kreacher continued to pour the potion down his master's throat. Regulus' cries varied from "I'm here, please, I am here" to "not them, they're innocents. Please don't hurt them."

Sirius ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"I can't let him do this to himself," he said

"You have to; he needs to do this for himself. Besides I don't know what will happen if you take over." Hermione said reaching out to hold Sirius hand. He took it an sat on the ground next to her.

Kreacher dutifully continued to force the potion onto Regulus. After what seemed an eternity with Regulus' screams echoing around the cave, the elf reached the bottom. Sirius stood quickly looking into the bowl. At the bottom was the locket, which he quickly scooped out.

"Water," Regulus gasped.

"As soon as we're out," Hermione assured him, searching the boy's pockets for the fake locket. She handed it to Sirius who placed it into the bowl, as he stuffed the Horcrux into his pocket. The bowl refilled itself the moment the last of the chain on the fake hit its bottom.

Hermione turned to Kreacher who was moving towards the lake with the goblet.

"Kreacher, don't. We need you to take us back to Hogwarts."

"Kreacher needs to get Master Regulus water"

Sirius reached for the elf a moment too late. The goblet touched the surface on the lake and on contact the wet bodies on Inferi began to pull themselves from the water.

"Give it to him at Hogwarts, we need to leave here now!" Sirius yelled grabbing the elf. With Sirius holding of Kreacher's hands, Hermione thrust both hers' and Regulus' into the elf's free hand as the Inferi grew closer.

She pointed her wand at them and screamed an Incendio at them as they vanished.

A/N

Yes, I'm here. I still exist. I haven't forgotten about this story. I've been very busy with other work and school, I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep you updated.

I have done some re-writing on the previous chapters. Mainly 11 through to 19 (because I changed some of the plot points.) But the prologue through to 10 have also been looked over and some grammatical errors have been corrected and a few extra sentences which don't make up for much over that many chapters.

Thanks for all the new reviews, favourites and followers. I hope to update again soon, and not leave you all in the lurch again.

Much love.