Chapter 35:

Let Me Protect You

"Did you believe him?" Lily asked Sirius.

"I don't know…" Sirius frowned, "I can't see any other option. I mean its Peter…"

"But he was trying to curse Potter."

"He's our friend; James is right – he's our brother."

"So you believe him that your actual brother cursed him?"

"No – he definitely lied about that…"

"Well there you go then," Lily was getting annoyed.

"I think that one of the seventh or sixth year Slytherins did it."

"Why?" Lily looked confused.

"They aren't stupid," Sirius answered. "It makes sense. They cursed Peter and then made him think it was Regulus so that we would either blame Peter or Regulus… so Dumbledore would expel Regulus instead of them."

"I guess that does make sense," Lily nodded. "But I still don't trust him."

"No, me neither…" Sirius frowned, "we need to keep an eye on him; just in case."

Lily nodded; "that makes sense."

The very next day, James received a letter from his parents;

Dear Jamsie,

I'm so sorry you haven't heard from us in such a long time. We've come home. We've missed you. I'm so sorry that we were away for Christmas and I'm so sorry that we haven't been able to write. We've been so busy and we've had to hide, not been able to communicate with anyone except Dumbledore. As you know we were on a mission for the Order. We were trying to win the giants over, unfortunately the Death Eaters beat us to it. When we spoke to them Voldemort had already offered them so much; revenge, land, power… we had no chance. We tried to win them over with kindness, and gifts but nothing we said worked and nothing we offered them compared to what Voldemort has offered them. They laughed in our face.

As if that wasn't enough, your mother fell ill last month. She refused to come home until we succeeded with the giants but she has deteriorated. I had to bring her home. She's in St Mungo's. She had Dragon Pox, James. I have arranged with Dumbledore for you to visit her tomorrow.

I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner but I needed to get her home safely.

Love Your Father.

"Shit," James frowned.

Lily leant over her breakfast to see what had upset James, "what's the matter?"

"My mum is sick," James told her.

"James – oh love – I'm sorry," Lily frowned, "what's wrong with her?"

"She's got dragon pox," James handed her the letter.

Sirius patted James on the back whilst Lily read the letter. As soon as she'd finished reading she wrapped her arms around James and held him close. James was so tempted to cry. If they weren't in the Great Hall, if it was just him and Lily in their secret garden then he just might have completely broken down in her arms.

After dinner, whilst the other Gryffindors sat in the common room, Peter was in an empty classroom waiting. Regulus had passed him a note in the corridor asking him to meet him. He heard the door open and turned to see the Slytherin fifth year stood before him.

"What do you want?" Peter puffed out his chest and tried to act comfident.

Regulus laughed, "I took the blame; well actually I pinned it on one of the other Slytherins…"

"I'm n-n-not going to thank you," Peter frowned, "I nearly lost my friends because of you."

"As if – they're not your friends, Pete. When are you going to get it through your thick scull. They don't like you; you're just the fat kids that follows them around."

"You're wrong," Peter was close to tears.

"I wish I was," Regulus replied, "you'll see; soon you'll be crawling back to me saying that I was right."

"I won't," Peter told him.

"Don't be stupid Pete. You heard the things they've said about you."

Regulus had been avoiding Rebecca ever since he left her stunned in the Gryffindor common room. He saw her sat on her own in the library. He stopped dead, catching her eye before turning on his heals and leaving the library again. Rebecca jumped out of her seat and ran after him. "Black, don't you dare," Rebecca called after him.

"Go away Rebecca," Regulus told her.

"You hurt me," Rebecca frowned, "I deserve an explanation."

"I told you; I told you from the beginning that I was going to be a deatheater one day… you knew I had a mission…"

"I didn't realise I was the mission."

"You weren't," Regulus pouted.

"Oh… I'm sorry… I was just the key to the mission's success… you used me."

Regulus looked around them, the walls have ears, "Yes, I was using you, you stupid bitch. I can't believe you ever thought I liked you… you're a bloody Gryffindor."

"I don't believe you," Rebecca came up to him, standing right in front of him, "I know you Regulus. You don't want this… you don't want to be like them…"

"You don't know what you are talking about," Regulus laughed coldly.

"I do… you love me," Rebecca smiled.

"You're talking shit," Regulus wanted desperately to protect her from his life, from his future.

"You love me. Do you want to know how I know?"

Regulus could barely look at her, "I know because I love you," Regulus looked into her eyes at her words.

"Rebecca please don't do this. I'm just going to hurt you…"

"No you won't," Rebecca told him before kissing him gently on the lips.

When he finally broke the kiss, Regulus frowned, "we can't do this – it's too dangerous."

"I don't care," Rebecca told him.

"I do," Regulus whispered in her ear. "I care – let me protect you, just this once."

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