The morning after Olympe's visit found Regulus up early after very little sleep, of course that was usual for him these days.
He was nursing a cup of coffee when Carina appeared at the end of the hallway, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed in front of her.
"Good morning," he greeted.
She hesitated before joining him at the table. Her lips were drawn together in a pout he was sure she didn't realize she was making.
"Everything okay?" he asked tentatively.
"You're leaving Beauxbatons," she remarked.
That was fast. He quirked a questioning eyebrow.
"Sirius gave us a cryptic line about leaving you and mum alone yesterday. It was obvious you were discussing… something of interest. I got it out of Kreacher," she admitted.
He sighed, "The only affect it has on you is you'll have a new Defense teacher after this year," he assured her.
"Which means, for my exam years, I'll have a new teacher," she said accusingly.
"I am confident Madame Maxime will find someone who is more than adequate to take my place."
Her eyes flitted away. "You know Caelum's convinced it's some great thing to have you as a teacher."
For whatever reason, that was true. He did not look forward to telling Caelum the news, but if he was anything like Carina, the novelty of it would wear off soon enough.
"He must've missed you complaining about it for the past four years," he said wryly.
She hesitated, as if debating whether to say something.
"It's not that bad," she muttered. The fireplace glowed green and they both knew it would Harry. She glanced at it before meeting his gaze. "Whatever you're wanting to do – you don't have to leave Beauxbatons to do it. Just stay," she said the last part almost inaudibly as Harry was stepping out of the fireplace.
Neither of them acknowledged him immediately and when Regulus looked up, he saw Harry was looking at the fireplace as if considering whether to sneak back the way he came.
"Good morning," he said more cheerfully than usual. He still didn't know how Carina conned him into getting up so early for something as mundane as surfing.
"Good morning sir," Harry answered politely.
Regulus hid a smile at the formality. He started to remind him, that he wasn't his teacher and it was unnecessary but stopped when he noticed Carina hadn't looked up since making her request, and was studying the glass of the table with far more interest than it should have warranted.
"Did you sleep well?" he asked Harry conversationally.
He nodded through a yawn. "I probably should have gone to bed earlier," he said sheepishly.
Carina glanced at him, and then stood abruptly. "Are you ready to go, or do you need a nap first?" she asked lightly.
It was obvious to Regulus she was teasing but Harry seemed unsure of how to react to her banter.
"I'm ready when you are," he said simply.
"Be careful," Regulus called after them as they made to leave.
"We will," Harry promised before closing the door behind them.
Regulus pondered Carina's request. It wasn't that he was eager to give up his position, but he couldn't predict the future. Undoubtedly, with Voldemort back, there will be times he is less focused than he should be – and that will likely only get worse as more time passes. There was also any number of things that could happen between now and the start of the next school year that could render him unable to teach. He felt it was important for the continuity of the students' education – especially in Carina's exam years - for him to step down.
The Order meeting wasn't until that night, but he didn't know if he would get a better opportunity to talk to Sirius before then and decided to Floo home.
He deduced Sirius was still in bed when he got there and knocked on the door of his bedroom. Immediately, he could hear Sirius clambering to his feet, the door opening a moment later.
"Oh, its you," said Sirius, though if anything he looked relieved.
"Harry is with Carina," he reminded him.
"Yeah… do you really think that's wise?"
"I feel better with him going with her than her going alone," he said honestly. Sirius had his lips pressed together and looked doubtful. "If you didn't want him going, you should have told him that."
"He would have been disappointed," he said flatly.
Regulus gave a long-suffering sigh. "You can't always be his friend, Sirius-"
"What are you doing here?" he interjected. "Besides giving unsolicited advice again."
"I wanted to talk to you before you went to the meeting."
He perked up slightly at that. "I've been thinking... maybe I should threaten to pull Harry out of Hogwarts. Theoretically, you could get him into Beauxbatons. If Dumbledore is worried Harry will leave, maybe he'll tell me the content of the Prophecy to convince me to keep him at Hogwarts."
"Better not tell him I've given my notice then – it would be even less convincing if he knew I don't intend to stay."
"He would probably redouble his efforts at getting you to come to Hogwarts."
"For all he needs to know, I plan to retire from Beauxbatons sometime in the distant future and am choosing to ignore everything going on across the Channel in the meantime." He hesitated. "Do be sure to ask him about the Horcruxes. I agreed to do what I can to help you find them, but I don't have any better idea of where to start than you."
Sirius was watching him appraisingly. "You do realize they're most likely on that side of the Channel, don't you?" he asked carefully.
"If Voldemort is smart they won't be," he pointed out, "but if that's where they are, that's where we'll look."
Sirius apparated to the front stoop of number twelve Grimmauld Place with Harry, both hidden beneath Harry's invisibility cloak. From the moment he saw the serpentine knocker, he was grateful he hadn't been staying there and immensely dreading when he would have to return for any length of time.
As quietly as they could, they made their way through the entrance hall. Harry took the invisibility cloak and darted up the stairs while Sirius went down to the kitchen.
Most of the Order members had already gathered by the time he entered the room. He knew everyone apart from a younger witch with black hair. He thought he'd seen her before but couldn't place where it would have been and knew it wasn't at an Order meeting. Nearly everyone stopped talking mid-conversation and stared at him.
"Wow, Sirius. You look…different," said Tonks.
"I think some time away has been good for you," Arthur added, shaking his hand in greeting.
"Yes, that's very good, but where is Harry?" Molly asked.
He hesitated. She cared for Harry sure, but the woman drove him nuts.
"He is safe," he said evasively.
"You've left him alone?" she squawked.
"He's fifteen," he pointed out.
"And Voldemort wants him dead!"
"He wants us all dead," he reminded her.
"Are you even considering his best interests? First, you leave with him in the middle of the night – and now this?"
"Molly," Dumbledore said from the doorway before things could escalate. "You'll find Harry is upstairs visiting with the youngest Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger."
As if in slow motion, her head turned, looking from Dumbledore to him.
He merely smirked in response, ignoring the irritated look she was giving him.
Harry crept up the stairs, careful to keep from waking up Sirius' mother in the portrait. On the first landing, a long mane of red hair appeared and with it the distinct smell of dung-bombs.
"Oh hey, Harry," greeted Ginny brightly. "I didn't know you were here." She tilted her head, "Where are your glasses?"
"I might have lost them," he realized only then. He shrugged unconcernedly, "I just got here." His eyes settled on her brown hands. "Do I even want to know?" he asked amusedly.
She grimaced, "I'll just… go and wash up." With that, she turned and went back the way she came.
He continued up the steps and found Ron and Hermione in the room he and Ron briefly shared.
"Harry," Hermione squealed when she saw him and jumped up to hug him. He grinned as he hugged her back and shook Ron's hand.
"Welcome back, mate," Ron said. "Where've you been?"
He remembered what Sirius said about Snape reading minds. If they knew about Regulus and his family, could Snape find out through them, even without ever meeting? If anything, the brief Occlumency lesson he had with Sirius earlier, left him more confused.
"The Blacks have another house – it's in the countryside... I don't exactly know where it is," he said ambiguously. It wasn't a lie as he really didn't know where their house was apart from it being in France. He hoped it would be enough to satisfy their interest until he knew what was safe to share.
"Is it as creepy there as it is here?" Ron asked.
"No, it's quite different from here actually. I've – err – gotten to spend a lot of time outside. Flying mostly."
"Where are your glasses?" Hermione asked suddenly. "Did you get contacts or something?"
"No, there's a spell you can use."
"Ohh, but weren't you afraid to use something like that on your eyes? What spell is it? And what have you done to your hair? It looks like…oh, I don't know if I like it."
His hair was a bit wavier than normal after being at the beach and he hadn't had a chance to shower before the meeting. He started to flatten it over his forehead but knew there was even less chance of that happening than normal. He swept the fringe to one side to keep it out of his eyes.
"Well... thanks," he sniggered.
She tilted her head as if to get a different angle.
"Actually, it's not bad," she backtracked and smiled slightly. "But you aren't becoming high maintenance, are you?"
He blinked, "I don't think you have to worry about that happening."
"That's good," she said, still looking at him. "You look… rather handsome now that I'm getting used to it."
"Err- thanks…" he muttered. Apart from not wearing his glasses and having clothes that fit him properly, he didn't think he could look much different.
"Heyy-!" Ron protested. "What about me?"
"You look the same as always," she snapped.
"I think you look rather handsome too," Harry told him jokingly.
Ron threw up his hands as if it was what he already knew. "Thank you," he said, giving Hermione a smug look which she ignored.
Harry glanced at her and saw her eyes were still on him.
"What?" he asked, starting to feel self-conscious.
"Nothing, just… you seem happy."
He hesitated, "I don't know if 'happy' is the right word, but the past few weeks have been better than I would have thought possible considering Voldemort is back. It's also really good to see you two."
"We're glad to have you back," Hermione beamed.
"Mum was beside herself when she realized you were gone," Ron said darkly.
"Yeah, it wasn't pretty," Hermione agreed. "She said some pretty terrible things about Sirius being irresponsible."
There was a wheezy sort of laugh that didn't belong to any of them. They looked at each other in alarm for a moment before Harry realized who it had to be.
"Kreacher."
The ancient house elf appeared wearing a pristine tea-towel inscribed with the letter B. Hermione gasped and Ron leapt backwards.
"You called?" he asked, with an irreverent tilt of his head.
"What are you doing here?"
"Kreacher lives to serve the house of Black. This is the Black's ancestral home."
Hermione put a hand over her mouth and her eyes were flitting between the two of them rapidly.
"But why are you here now? Did some – did Sirius send you?"
"Kreacher was not sent. Kreacher has come to clean as Kreacher has done for years."
"Oh, that's good." Ron said. "I found a spider the size of my hand in here yesterday. I could barely sleep-" he was silenced by a look from Hermione.
"I cannot believe Sirius has a house elf," she exclaimed. Kreacher looked just as outraged as she did though Harry suspected it was for a different reason.
"The Blacks are an ancient family," he reasoned. From what he could tell, Regulus' family genuinely cared for Kreacher, and the feeling was mutual.
"But its Sirius," Hermione objected. "He knows what it is to be imprisoned. Why doesn't he free him?"
The house elf fixed her with a cold glare, "Kreacher does not wish to be free," he croaked.
She shook her head and knelt to be at his level. "You only say that because you don't understand."
She reached for him, and he jerked away from her in alarm.
"Hermione," Harry said sharply. "I'm only going to be here until the meeting is over. Can we please not spend our time talking about house elf rights?" He then turned to the house elf. "Kreacher, if you're going to clean, go and do it somewhere else." Seeing the way Hermione was looking at him, he tacked on the word, "Please."
He wasn't sure if he would listen to him, as he wasn't a Black, but Kreacher gave a mocking sort of twitch of his head and disappeared with a loud 'crack'.
"You aren't staying?" Ron asked after he'd gone.
"No, we'll go back after the meeting. Sirius doesn't like being here."
Hermione looked as if she was holding back a comment only with great effort. As Harry suspected it would either involve Kreacher or Sirius, he thought a subject change was in order.
"I got my class list," he announced.
"Yeah, us too – we were both made Prefects," Ron said, sounding awe-struck. "Can you believe it?"
"No," Harry said instantly. "Err – I mean, congratulations. That's really… great," he smiled and knew it must have looked as forced as it felt. He had forgotten Prefects were chosen beginning in fifth year.
Rather than let things get awkward, he jumped into what he really wanted to talk about.
"Have you heard of Legilimency?" he asked, looking from Ron to Hermione. He explained what Sirius told him about it and that he was going to try to learn Occlumency. He stressed they should avoid making eye contact with Snape less he could read their minds.
"Maybe after you learn Occlumency you could teach us," Hermione suggested eagerly.
"Sure," he shrugged. "I mean if I can."
They spent the rest of their time discussing the endless, mostly unethical, possibilities Legilimency presented.
It felt like he'd just gotten there when there was a loud knock on the door, immediately followed by Mrs. Weasley pushing it open.
"Harry," she said, pulling him into a tight hug. "We've been so worried about you."
He smiled, "Thanks, but you don't have to worry about me. I've got Sirius."
He felt her tense at his words.
"Well, let's look at you properly," she said, pulling back.
"You've been fed better this summer," she said approvingly. "But I don't know how I feel about your use of magic to correct your vision." He furrowed his brow. "I had a talking with Sirius. He's agreed to get you some new glasses before you go back to school," she explained. "And isn't there a hairbrush where you're staying?"
"I'll try to find one," he promised with a grin.
"Oh," she sighed, "I suppose you've done alright for yourself," she conceded. After another few minutes of her fussing over him and ensuring there was nothing he needed before school started back, Harry got another tight hug, and she excused herself.
"Dumbledore, a word, if you please," Sirius said, after the meeting ended.
He nodded and the remaining stragglers from the meeting cleared out.
Sirius moved to the chair that was directly across from him.
"Tell me about the Prophecy," he said bluntly.
The aged headmaster sighed, "We have been through this, I don't know how many times."
"Tell me or Harry isn't going back to your little school," he pressed.
"Be reasonable, Sirius. Harry belongs at Hogwarts."
"He belongs where he is safe and happy – he is both of those things in France."
"Hogwarts is his home."
"Hogwarts is his school – not his home. And considering he's nearly died every year he's been there, and we've now got you lording information of this Prophecy over our heads – it's difficult to refute he would be safer elsewhere. We may have an in at Beauxbatons, come to think of it."
Dumbledore pursed his lips, "Perhaps your efforts would be better spent in convincing Regulus to come to Hogwarts. It would keep the Ministry from intervening which we both know would be disastrous."
"Or maybe, I should send Harry to Beauxbatons where Regulus and I can both keep an eye on him – and there is no concern with the Ministry intervening or a headmaster overstepping their scope."
He raised an eyebrow. "Frankly, I'm a bit surprised you've put so much trust in Regulus."
Sirius blinked, "Says the person who wants him to teach at Hogwarts."
"I see value in having him back in Britain, both to keep the Ministry out of Hogwarts and because I believe Regulus could prove instrumental to the Order. However, if this threat is from him – if he wants Harry to transfer to Beauxbatons – I find myself wondering what his goal is in isolating Harry from everyone and everything he's ever known."
It was true that Regulus had suggested Harry could go to Beauxbatons on more than one occasion, but it had never been more than an offhanded remark. He seemed perfectly aware Harry wouldn't leave Hogwarts. Without knowing what they knew, he might have understood someone being leery that Regulus, the "reformed" death eater, could want to lure Harry into danger, but Dumbledore knew what Regulus had done to defy Voldemort already. How could he question his loyalty so easily?
He didn't bother to keep the disdain from his tone, "Do not tell me you don't trust Regulus when you trust Snape."
"It is not a matter of trusting Regulus. I was simply commenting on my surprise by the degree in which you seem to. He has made it clear it is his family whom he will protect above all else."
"As any man would," Sirius pointed out.
Dumbledore brought his fingertips together as he observed him. Sirius expected he would unnecessarily point out that he nor Harry were included in the family dynamic Regulus sought to protect.
"You can't pull him out of Hogwarts," he said instead.
"If it was any other student, would you even care? What is in that Prophecy that makes it so important for Harry to stick around?"
"It's nothing to do with the Prophecy. It is about what is in Harry's best interest. His parents went to Hogwarts. His friends are there. Are you telling me he wants to leave Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger? Sirius, we both know this is an empty threat."
"He's quite content in France actually. He's been learning French. He's made friends," Sirius shrugged. Of course, he knew it wouldn't be convincing if he overlooked the value in his friendships at Hogwarts. "Obviously, he would still stay in touch with Ron and Hermione." He gave a long-suffering sigh, "Why won't you make this easier on both of us and just tell me what the Prophecy says."
"Horcruxes, Sirius. They are more important than any Prophecy – our focus should be on those."
He wasn't going to be deterred that easily. "If I can convince Regulus to help me hunt for the Horcruxes, will you tell me the Prophecy?"
Dumbledore seemed to contemplate it for a moment.
"If you convince Regulus to teach at Hogwarts – then I will consider it."
"Consider," Sirius repeated derisively. Regulus was as likely to sneak Harry into the Department of Mysteries to listen to the Prophecy himself as he was to teach at Hogwarts. Unbelievable as it was, he was beginning to think that might be their most viable option.
"Now that's a tempting proposition, isn't it?" he remarked cynically. "Hey Reg – if you announce your survival to wizarding Britain, Dumbledore might tell me a Prophecy you have no reason to care about."
"On the contrary, if Regulus has spent any amount of time with Harry, I would be surprised if he hasn't come to care for the boy." He raised his chin. "The two of them have something in common too."
"They both hate Voldemort," Sirius said knowingly.
"Beyond that, they've each destroyed one of his Horcruxes. For Regulus it was Slytherin's locket, and for Harry it was Tom Riddle's diary in his second year."
Sirius took a deep breath, reminding himself they needed to know about the Horcruxes as much as they needed to know the Prophecy. He recalled the story about the Chamber of Secrets.
"That came to the Weasley girl from Malfoy, right?"
"Indeed," Dumbledore said approvingly. "Perhaps Regulus would know if any other death eater was entrusted with something similar."
After what he considered to be an unsuccessful meeting with Dumbledore concluded, Sirius trekked up the stairs to the room Harry would be sleeping in if they were staying there. He knocked on the door and it was immediately answered by Hermione.
"Hello Sirius," she said brightly.
"Hi," he answered, looking from her to Ron before his eyes landed on Harry.
"What happened in the meeting?" He mouthed.
Sirius pushed the door closed and leaned against it. He turned his head to listen for anyone outside before turning back to them. "Honestly, not much. I think the only new bit of information is they've decided to disband the guard on Privet Drive – which, I thought they'd already done."
"That's it?" Ron asked incredulously.
Sirius shrugged, "Slow news day."
"Mrs. Weasley was up here ages ago, what took you?" Harry asked suspiciously.
He raised an amused eyebrow, "I didn't realize you'd be in such a hurry to leave."
"I'm not," he said instantly. He looked around them uncertainly. "I actually wondered if it would be okay if we stayed a bit longer before going home."
He obviously hadn't given much thought to his word choice until he saw how the three of them were looking at him. "Err- I mean-"
Sirius put up a hand to stop him. "Just let me know when you're ready," he said, excusing himself.