Magnetism
RLRB Fan Fiction
Harry Potter
ObsessiveDevil23
Chapter 29
Planning a heist against the worlds most powerful and evil wizard wasn't something to be taken lightly, but apparently, that was exactly what Regulus planned to do. They boys had all gathered in the attic room crowded on metal-framed beds and staring incredulously at the youngest member of their group as he paced back and forth and explained the events that had lead to him holding on to a piece of Voldemort's soul.
It boiled down to Regulus' special divination powers alerting him to what the necklace actually was, and how he had been tasked with finding a way of protecting it. Having spent months trying to find a way out of the dark wizard's clutches, however, he had no intention of helping him further his plan for immortality.
"So, you're going to steal it? You-Know-Who will just come after you." Remus fretted.
Regulus nodded, sitting down heavily in the middle of the floorboards. He pulled his legs round so he was sat cross-legged and fiddled with the locket, trying to open the clasp but failing. He frowned at it angrily. James was sat on one of the beds, holding Severus' hand discretely under the covers, Remus was sat on the other, and Sirius was stood awkwardly, leaning against a wall and looking down at his little brother with worry lines etched into his forehead.
"He'll expect a report on how I've protected it. He's a master of Legilimency so I can't lie." Regulus told them. He sighed, chucking the locket away from him, and he instantly looked calmer. He scratched at his poodle curls as he thought. "But I have to try..."
Remus and Sirius both made sounds of protest, but then James cleared his throat and said slowly, as if he was still forming the thought:
"The trick with fooling a Legilimens is show them what they expect to see." All eyes turned to him and he shrugged his shoulders slightly, still thinking through his train of thought. "So… you need to give him the impression that you have protected the Horcrux. You need to throw him off track, because in reality you'll just be protecting a decoy, and we'll destroy the real thing away from you, so you don't have those memories to show him…"
Regulus frowned.
"I have this memory to show him."
James winced.
"Not if we Obliviate you..."
A silence hung over the room. Sirius was glaring softly at his friend and he pushed himself off the wall, crossing his arms.
"No one here is skilled enough to alter his memory to the point where they only extract the incriminating bits. It's too risky that we might leave him a drooling mess!" He protested.
James nodded, not breaking eye-contact.
"You're right, no one here could do it. But… Lily Evans can." He responded. "I hung out with that study group of hers earlier in the year and she's crazy good at charms. And then… I know a place… I think we can do this."
Which was how James found himself explaining his plan to a crowded carriage on the Hogwarts Express back to school. Remus was wearing the locket, looking anxious, and James had a stolen necklace from his mothers vanity secure in his pocket. Severus was chewing distractedly on his thumb-nail, staring out the foggy window. Sirius was sat next to his little brother, legs touching but neither saying anything to each other, and Lily was staring at James wide-eyed as he explained the plan and everything that lead up to it.
"So let me get this straight," She clarified, "Instead of going to school, when we get to Hogsmeade station, we're going to sneak away and take measures to protect a fake Horcrux, which you're going to transfigure, then we're going to destroy the real one, and I'm going to doctor Regulus' memory so that You-Know-Who is none the wiser?" James nodded. Lily smiled. "I'm in."
James grinned back at her, pulling out his mum's locket and his wand. He studied the Horcrux around Remus' neck and took a deep breath, before pointing is wand at his mother's jewellery and muttering a spell. It twisted and grew a little until it perfectly resembled the one hanging around Remus' neck.
"Alright, you wear this one." He said, pushing it at Regulus. The younger boy took it gently, turning it over in his hands.
"This really is amazing transfiguration." He mumbled, and James shrugged, feeling a little bashful.
"It's kind of my best subject." He muttered back. He didn't notice as Regulus opened the locket and slipped a note inside, before closing it again discretely.
He settled back into his chair, but at that moment Severus stopped chewing on his thumb and said:
"It's time."
The train was pulling into the station, and the students were getting ready to pile out and make their way up to the castle. Their carriage steeled themselves, shrugging their school robes slightly closer to them against the January chill and making their way off the train. The station was crowded with students milling about, trying to stick with their friends, and James dragged Lily off to one side, where Remus and Severus were standing, trying to look inconspicuous. A moment later they were joined by Regulus, and then Sirius.
"How are we getting there?" Asked Sirius, wringing his hands in nerves. James bit his lip.
"We're flying. Lily with Sirius, Severus with Remus. I'm going to take Regulus up front. It's very important you guys stay out of Regulus' vision." They all nodded. James turned to Lily. "Fancy summoning us some brooms?"
Lily waved her wand through the air.
"Accio." She said, eyes closed in concentration.
A few moments later three brooms came soaring towards them. James caught one out of the air, and noticed Sirius catching the other two. The eldest Black handed one over to Severus, and helped Lily climb on to the back of his. James settled on his own broom, sitting further back then he usually would, and motioned for Regulus to sit in front of him. The boy did so with a deep breath.
"I don't fly like you, don't try and take control – you're only there for directions, remember." He warned, gripping the handle and looking straight ahead. James had a moment of wondering where to put his hands, before eventually deciding to grip lightly on to the younger boys hips.
"No one flies like I do, kid." He mumbled, smirking slightly and feeling some of his old confidence returning to him, since he was on a broom, even if he wasn't allowed to take control of it. "Now kick off and head North-West, keep low to the trees until we're a safe distance from the castle."
Regulus did exactly as told, and they flew in peace for some time, James kicking the back of Regulus' legs to encourage him to left or right, and gently steering his hips to get him to go up or down, despite the boys warning not to take control. James didn't want to talk to much, to save Lily too much editing, and Regulus was unable to respond to James steering touches for the same reason. Eventually, having flown for over an hour, and so high that James' fingers were turning slightly blue, James pushed on Regulus' hips to get him to start the descent, and they landed, deftly, on a small rock next to a sheer cliff face.
"Broadsands?" Regulus asked, looking up. James shook his head.
"I wish."
The others landed behind them, but Regulus kept his eyes trained on the cliff. James motioned for them to follow, and began gently pushing Regulus along the cliff wall, towards a fissure in the face. They stumbled and slipped and carefully picked their way down the treacherous path, until they came to a dead-end at the opening of the fissure, where dark, cold water was lapping at the sides of the cave.
"Ready for a swim?" James asked, and Regulus, good as ever, kept his eyes trained on the water as he jumped in.
James was not long after, and he thanked his parents stupid traditions of jumping off cliffs in the middle of winter for preparing him for icy, salty water around him. His school robes instantly became water logged, and weighed him down, but he pushed on despite them, shoving Regulus forward into the fissure and through a horribly claustrophobic tunnel that would fill with water easily at high-tide, until it eventually widened out into a large cave. Regulus found purchase on the rocks and rose out of the water, James and the others following behind. Water splashed off their clothes, and looking around he saw Lily and Sirius both shedding their robes and standing in their school sopping school uniforms underneath.
Severus waved his wand, and some heat returned to their body.
"Thanks." Said Regulus, almost turning around, but James pushed his head back to the cave wall.
"Here's the entrance." He mumbled, and Regulus stepped through the darkened opening, lighting the tip of his wand as he went.
"Lumos Maximus." Regulus said, a second after disappearing from sight, and the bright light on the end of his wand grew into a large ball, which Regulus flicked into the air. As it rose it illuminated an eerie black lake, and James stepped through the entrance after him as Regulus went to step into the water, and pulled the boy back.
"Don't." He muttered harshly, and then pressed a finger to his lips and made a shushing sound. "This place is more dangerous than you know."
James didn't want any of them to ask how he knew of this place – or why he thought it was a good place to hide a fake Horcrux, and he knew he was giving too much away already, but he was eager to avoid waking the monsters in the lake if he could. He pointed to the middle of the calm black water, where a small island was situated, and took a deep breath. Once he was sure Regulus had seen it, he pushed the boy around the edge of the lake, allowing Regulus to take in as much detail as he could of the place without seeing any of the other teenagers behind him.
James herded the fourteen year old towards a small boat. It had a coppery-green chain which he used to haul it closer to the surface, and then he ushered Regulus inside to sit directly at the front. There wasn't enough room for all of them, so he turned to the group.
"Lily, Sirius, Remus..." He started. "Stay and keep a look out from the rocks here. If you see anything moving in the lake that isn't us… then I need you to use every defensive spell you know."
"James, how dangerous is this place?" Sirius asked, frowning. James bit his lip. "How come you even know about it?"
James shook his head, glancing back at the boat and seeing Severus climb in after Regulus, it was already a tight fit, but James was the man with the plan, so he'd have to squeeze in as well.
"I'll tell you, I promise. But not now. The less time we spend here the better." He replied.
Sirius frowned, but nodded, and the three of them stayed back on the rocks as James climbed down into the boat with his two Slytherin friends. He clutched a little at the back of Severus' freezing and wet robes, and then tapped the edge of the boat with his wand, and it immediately began to move smoothly through the water. Regulus' spell was beginning to wear off, and the boy sent another ball of light shimmering into the cave ceiling. As he did so, James glanced over the side, to see the horrible monsters of the lake lying, lifeless, amongst them.
He closed his eyes and clutched tighter to Severus' back, and as he did so Severus also looked over the side and let out a loud gasp.
"Ja-"
"I know." James whispered over him, shushing him quickly. Regulus head twitched back towards them, but he didn't turn around fully, and kept his eyes trained on the pitch-black walls of their underground cave. James was grateful that Regulus had yet to peer too closely into the water.
They sailed for a little while, squished into the boat, until eventually they bumped into the island in the middle, a small area of smooth black rock, with a pedestal and stone basin standing proudly in the middle.
"What is that?" Regulus asked as he exited the boat, jumping over the last bit of water and onto dry land. James couldn't answer, it was very important Regulus do this next part without any disruptions, as this was the memory they needed Voldemort to see. He and Severus tripped from the boat, and Severus pulled a phial of emerald green, phosphorescent liquid from his robe pocket. Deftly, he handed it to Regulus, and then stood behind him.
As per plan, Regulus took the fake Horcrux from his neck and slipped it into the basin, and then he uncorked the potion and poured it over the top.
And it should have been as simple as that. Severus had made the potion – a vile thing that Severus had hated making every second he slaved over the cauldron, but necessary – and so James had complete faith in it. And for a moment nothing happened, but then a blood-curdling scream echoed around the chamber, and James spun around to see the monsters emerging from the water.
Eyes wide with terror, he heard Regulus shout with fright, and backed up, his back hitting Regulus' with some force.
"Don't turn around! Stick to the plan!" James demanded, wand raised, at the same time Severus shouted -
"James, where the fuck are we?"
James didn't have time to answer, even if he wanted to, because an army of the dead was rapidly coming towards them. He could see, out of the corner of his eyes, that the friends they had left on the outskirts of the lake were firing spells, sparks of light and puffs of smoke that were doing very little.
Regulus was shouting hexes towards the Inferi, but they shrugged them off as if they were nothing, and kept advancing. One was so close that Severus forwent his wand and kicked dirt at it, which did nothing to stop the assault.
Instinctively, James waved his wand above his head and before he could even shout an incantation flames had erupted from it. They filled the lake instantly, sending the Inferi shrieking back into the water, and the flames seemed to take on a life of their own, twisting and swirling into a great dragon-like creature, and flying around the cave, rounding up the monstrous zombies and sending them, confused and terrified, back into the depths of the lake. James watched the flames, wide-eyed and mouth hanging slightly open, for the time it took the fire-dragon to banish the Inferi, and then, fumbling, he dropped his wand.
It could have been a disaster, but luckily, the second his wand slipped from his grip the dragon dissipated into the night. James was left staring at the charred rock where it had been, before Severus scooped up his wand and shoved it into his hands, beckoning him back to the boat which was somehow unscathed.
The three of them bounded into the boat an Severus shot a stream of air from his wand, out the back, to propel it back to shore. As they arrived on the rocks the Inferi were beginning to rise from the water again, and James rushed forwards towards Sirius, Lily and Remus and began pushing them back out the exit.
"Go – Go!" He yelled, and as they were all through, he turned back to the entrance and stamped his foot on the ground. Immediately a wall of solid black rock rose up from the ground where he had stamped and sealed the lake inside the cave, leaving them in an antechamber. James bit his thumb roughly and sharply, hissing as he drew blood, and used that same blood to mark the new stone, writing the ruin for 'payment' on the black surface in red.
"Crude." Severus remarked behind him, sounding a little hollow. James huffed.
"Yeah, well, zombies don't bleed." He shot back as explanation. Anyone that wanted to get in or out of that cave would now need to make a blood sacrifice, and Inferi were incapable of that. They were trapped in there, unless someone decided to let them out, and that suited James just fine.
He turned back to his friends just in time to see Regulus keel over, and he rushed forwards to catch the boy, but was beat to it by Remus.
"Shit, I think one of those things got him." The werewolf panicked. "He's got a long cut up his arm, and it's already going yellow."
James drew in a deep breath. A wound from Inferi could kill in less than 30 minutes.
"What do we do?" Sirius asked, dropped to his knees next to his brothers now unconscious form. "What even were those things?"
James clenched his fists at his sides.
"They're Inferi." He confessed, he turned to Remus, because the boy was hoping to be a healer and was probably Regulus' best hope of surviving this. "They're cursed by You-Know-Who himself. The wounds they inflict are susceptible to the same things they are… fire."
Remus was looking at him as if he had grown another head, but then he swallowed thickly and nodded.
"We'll need to draw the sepsis out, before cauterizing." He mumbled. James nodded, but Sirius coughed in protest.
"Did you just say 'cauterizing'?" He all but squeaked. Remus looked like he might be sick, but blew out a short breath and nodded. Sirius looked like he was going to protest more, but Lily put a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him kindly.
"Remus only has his best interest at heart, love, you know that." She reassured him.
Sirius still looked sceptical, but he put his hands up in acceptance and stood up, pacing slightly a little way away from where Remus was hovering over his brother. The werewolf shot a glance at Severus.
"You keep a basics ingredients kit on you?" He asked, and smiled slightly when Severus nodded.
The Slytherin pulled out a rather damp leather wallet about the size of a small make-up bag, and opened it up, to show various plants and tiny phials of wet ingredients. Remus surveyed them and picked out a small phial of brown coloured paste, and some large laurel leaves. He spread the paste on Regulus' wound, and then placed the leaves gently on top, pressing them down slightly. Then, he pulled out his wand and pointed it at the younger boys arm.
"Exantlo Venenum."
In seconds the leaves and paste had turned a horrible yellow colour, and Remus wiped them from Regulus' arm to see the now healthy, but still bleeding, flesh underneath.
"The poisons gone." Severus stated, but James just hummed unhappily.
"It will keep bleeding until you close the wound. It has to be done with fire." He explained. Remus shot him a look, steeling his nerves, and puffed out a couple of steadying breaths.
"Okay." He mumbled, pointing his wand once more at the wound. "I'm sorry, Reg… Incendio!"
Regulus had been asleep, but on having his flesh burnt he woke up, and he cried out, terrified, confused and in pain. Severus held him down, where Remus was still searing the flesh to close the wound, and the young boy sobbed and yelled incoherently. James glanced up to see Sirius, white as a sheet, being physically restrained by Lily.
And then it was over, as quickly as it had begun, the wound was closed, but smouldering, and clearly hurting like hell. Remus slumped over, apologising, and Severus let go of Regulus long enough for the boy to scramble away and make off to Sirius, who gathered his brother up in his arms the second he could. Regulus cried, like the child he was, and when James looked back to Remus, he saw Remus was crying too.
He held a hand to his mouth, suddenly feeling sick.
"I'm sorry." He said, feeling responsible. It had been his plan, after all, to take them to this place. There was a small lull in which nobody spoke, and the only sound was Regulus' sniffing and crying. Then Severus sighed, running a hand through his hair and shaking his head in slight exasperation.
"We're going to head back to school… Lily is going to doctor Regulus' memories as best she can, to give him the best shot at showing The Dark Lord what he wants to see, and then, James, you're going to fucking explain yourself."
