Sirius walked purposely towards the infirmary of Hogwarts to join the Order members who were already gathered. Due to several of the older members being hospitalized following a brush with some snatchers, Dumbledore decided to have them meet in the infirmary to allow those injured to listen in.
Upon entering the infirmary, he distinctly wished he had stayed away. Having mostly forgotten about what had been written about him in, The Prophet, prior to leaving the country, it hadn't occurred to him that his fellow Order members might actually place some stock in the garbage printed in the newspaper.
That fact was forced in his face as he realized nearly every Order member seemed unable to look away from him.
"I'm back," he grinned roguishly at them all.
"Where' Marcus?" Benjy Fenwick asked.
Sirius made a show of looking around them, "He isn't here?" he asked innocently.
"No, you both disappeared," Fabian began.
"And according to, The Prophet, you're the same person," Gideon added.
"So it was assumed that the two of you were at least together," Fabian finished.
"No, I haven't seen Marcus," Sirius answered. Only Regulus he added silently to himself. "Has your sister had that baby yet?" he asked in effort to change the subject.
"No, should be anytime now though," Gideon answered.
"Another redhead, do you think?" Sirius asked as he made his way past the twins towards a vacant seat near Remus, James, Lily and interestingly- Rachel.
"What else could he be?" Fabian smirked.
"Illegitimate?" Sirius suggested as he sat down. As the twins made a show of feigned outrage, Sirius was relieved to have at least made it to a seat before the worst of the backlash from the article-or perhaps articles by now, had started.
Seizing the opportunity to ignore the majority of the room, he turned to Rachel.
"I'm glad to see you have recovered from your ordeal."
Rachel gave him an indecipherable look before nodding slightly, "Thanks for that."
As much as he wanted to badger her for details about her past relationship with his brother, he decided against it. Regulus was mad enough at him already about the whole house situation.
James said something to him, but it was drowned out by the sound of the double doors at the entrance of the infirmary being forced open.
Sirius stood, immediately on the alert. He had just enough time to glimpse Barty Crouch, the head of the DMLE, before his line of sight became blocked by a middle-aged, burly man in red Auror robes. That man was followed by two other figures in red that he wasn't able to look at properly before having his arms forcefully pulled behind his back by the first Auror.
"What the hell?" he demanded.
"I would have thought you were smart enough to leave the country, but clearly I was wrong," said Crouch. "Sources informed me you were spotted in Hogsmeade less than a half hour ago. It didn't take long to figure out where you were headed. You are being arrested for the murders of Winston Selwyn and Broughton Travers."
"What?" James yelped in indignation.
"I did not kill them. Where is the proof?" Sirius groaned. The position his arms were being held in was incredibly uncomfortable.
"I suppose we will find out during your trial," Crouch answered.
Sirius saw from the corner of his eye that Remus was seemingly leaving, though where he would be going now he couldn't fathom. He hoped it was to find Dumbledore.
"Selwyn and Travers were both death eaters. Killing them should be without legal consequence."
"If you were an Auror that would be true. You, however, will find it difficult to prove whether their affiliations are as you claim."
"You can't arrest me without more evidence than what is printed in a newspaper controlled by Voldemort. Ironically, it is thanks to his influence at the ministry that I have more rights than most. I am a pureblood, in case you've forgotten," Sirius said superiorly and sounding every bit as arrogant as the head of the Black family had come to be expected over the centuries.
"Which only means you are not required to take Veritaserum. Fortunately, I've come up with another means to acquire evidence," Crouch smirked. "Expelliarmus," he called eagerly.
Sirius felt his wand leave his pocket but there was nothing he could do to prevent it. His heart was racing and he couldn't think of any way out of his situation if Dumbledore didn't return soon.
Glancing around the room, he saw that James was trying to call the aurors off, asking them to at least wait for the headmaster, but no one from the ministry paid him any mind.
Sirius did manage to relax some as he realized it wasn't only James who was voicing his displeasure with his arrest. James' father, Professor McGonagall, the Prewett's and Marlene were being particularly outspoken about it. Lupin still hadn't returned from wherever he had disappeared to.
Regulus had once said that he believed all of the Order to be sheep. Sirius would have to remember to bring this incidence up to him, should he somehow get out of this.
Crouch was now examining Sirius' wand carefully. As disinterested as he wanted to appear, he couldn't deny he was curious,
"What are you doing with that?" he demanded.
"As you've said, I cannot give you veritaserum. In response to that recurring hiccup we have experienced, I have developed a spell, not unlike 'priori incantatem,' in that it will allow me to see your past spell selection. Rather than revealing every spell in reverse sequence of when they were cast, it shall start from the beginning, displaying only those that were illegal."
"Good. As I've never cast anything that was illegal, this should be over quickly," he answered scathingly. "I can't imagine that spell being commended by-" Sirius began.
"When Voldemort finds out about it, perhaps his influence in the ministry will see to it being outlawed. As of now, it is perfectly legal," Crouch answered, before prodding Sirius' ebony wand with his own.
Regulus apparated to the front stoop of Grimmauld Place. Seeing no one, he quickly made his way inside. He wasn't planning to remain at Grimmauld Place, he simply needed somewhere to create a potion and thought the basement of his childhood home would be ideal. After preparing the potion he could figure out where best to get his own place.
He supposed he could just move back into Grimmauld Place. It was safer by far than anywhere else he could stay. Unlike his mother, he could come and go as he pleased and wouldn't be any less safe than he would be anywhere else as he wasn't particularly safe anywhere.
After having Sirius divulge the location of his last two residences, Regulus preferred to have a place of his own that Sirius didn't know about. With Cassie being the secret keeper for Grimmauld Place, that could almost apply to his childhood home, but he didn't want to live there either.
Not for the first time, Regulus wondered if even Sirius knew exactly what he expected from him. First he wanted Regulus to stay and fight, and then he wanted him to leave and be safe. When Regulus decided to leave briefly with their mother, Sirius had insisted on going with him. Now that they were back, Sirius informed him he had given his house to Remus because he needed it more?
Giving away their Uncle Alphard's house wasn't a move that in any way sustained his safety. In fact, it left him homeless.
Seeing nothing out of place as he walked through the house, Regulus made his way downstairs to set up work on concocting his poison. He felt at this point he had little to lose in attempting the use of poison on the ring as everything he had attempted thus far had been entirely ineffective.
He also hadn't forgotten about what The Prophet had been writing about 'Marcus' and Sirius before they had left the country. He thought allowing Sirius to handle the brunt of whatever the rest of the Order's reaction was to be fitting. After all, he had his friends to back him up. Regulus didn't even have a place to live.
Before he had done little more than set up his work station, however, he was interrupted by a patronus.
Judging by the wolfish appearance as the patronus approached him, he presumed it to be the ex-girlfriend wooing, house confiscating marauder. Regretfully, his suspicions were proven true when the patronus spoke in Remus' voice.
Apparently Regulus' presence at the Order meeting had not gone amiss. Since it was Lupin who was requesting his presence, he would have felt more tempted to attend the meeting if the poison had already been made.
Considering the werewolf's recent fondness for everything Regulus had first, it likely wouldn't have taken much to convince him to taste the potion, had it been ready.
After several minutes in which the auror holding onto Sirius forced him to his knees, Dumbledore remained absent, and Crouch prodded several odd puffs of air to come out of his wand, Sirius was beginning to get really frustrated.
Eventually, Crouch remarked, "You've clearly used a multitude of dark spells. Unfortunately, I didn't recognize many of them. They were from your family's collection, I take it?"
Sirius recalled the rage he had felt, and subsequent sequence of potentially lethal spells that followed after watching his parent's muggle neighbor be killed, and was filled with shame. Decidedly not looking at James, he answered, "I've used nothing that was illegal."
"I can assure you they would be, if the ministry was familiar with them," Crouch answered dryly. "If there is anything illegal you've cast, I suggest you disclose it before I find it."
"I've never cast anything that wasn't perfectly legal," Sirius answered irritably.
Regulus arrived just outside Hogwarts and made his way towards the infirmary. As he had given his phoenix portkey to Cassie, his progress to the meeting was impeded more than it should have been. Not feeling particularly invested in the Order, he didn't regret it.
The only Order member who didn't hate him was likely Sirius, and even that depended on what sort of mood he was in. He thought he might prefer to correspond with his brother individually and stay away from the other members altogether.
As Remus had sent him multiple messages by now, each one more frantic than the last, he decided to find out what it was all about.
Lupin was there when he arrived, clearly waiting for him.
"I called for Dumbledore first - I don't know what is keeping him," the werewolf started to explain. "They're arresting Sirius for the murders of Selwyn and Travers."
Regulus pursed his lips wondering what he was meant to do about it - he was supposed to be dead. Then again, Voldemort must at least secretly know that he is still alive. In that case, why should he hide it anymore? Oh right, because he was rightfully suspected of being a death eater, and unlike Sirius, he was responsible for Selwyn and Travers' death.
He stood to the side of the door leading into the infirmary and could see Sirius was in a rather compromising position.
He idly wondered what Lupin thought he could possibly do to help unless he was meant to confess his involvement in the death eaters' deaths?
"Hmm," Regulus heard Crouch say as he stalked towards Sirius. When he stood just before him, he asked menacingly, "Not even once? Not even one little Imperio?"
"That… wasn't what you think," Sirius said, realizing the implication.
"Oh, really? Because I was thinking that the casting of an unforgivable curse meant a lifetime sentence in Azkaban."
"I'm sure Dumbledore-"
"Despite what you think, Dumbledore has no say in the doings of the ministry. As he was not the one who cast an unforgivable, this conversation has nothing to do with him. If you have nothing else to say to reasonably defend yourself, then I'm afraid you're under arrest."
Regulus knew Sirius had only ever cast an imperius curse to give him a chance of escaping the death eaters. Unwilling to let him take the fall for it, at least if he could help it, he braced himself for the inevitable. Setting his jaw, he pushed the door to the infirmary open, and walked inside.
"An imperio is only punishable when performed on a living human," a familiar voice called from the doorway. As whispers broke out around him, Sirius looked in the direction of the voice and thought he might vomit.
Regulus was walking towards them as if entirely unconcerned with his inevitable arrest nor the fact that he was supposed to be dead and hadn't even bothered with a disguise.
"Regulus Black," Crouch remarked as he approached them. "I thought for sure I heard you were dead. Could this perhaps explain the similarities between Sirius and the elusive Marcus?"
Regulus shrugged disinterestedly, "I've always found it interesting how quickly rumors spread," he answered noncommittally.
Crouch studied Regulus for a moment without comment. Smirking slightly, he remarked, "Looks like I will have two Blacks to arrest today."
"As I've already reminded you, an unforgivable is only punishable when cast on a living human," Regulus corrected him.
"I don't have time for games, Black. It was plain enough to see from the regurgitating spell I cast that your brother performed an unforgivable on another human. Furthermore, it's quite obvious that, whether your loyalties have since wavered or not, you were at one time a death eater."
"On the contrary, if you would have studied the scene more carefully, I'm sure you would have noticed the target in which Sirius cast his spell to have been for less sentient than any living human.
"Furthermore, I was only ever suspected of being a death eater because of my family connections. I was supposedly killed only a few months after leaving Hogwarts. Surely, Voldemort was not so desperate for followers that he would have had any use for someone as young as I was then."
"Faking your death doesn't paint the best picture of innocence. Though I suppose we shall find out easily enough." Turning to the other male auror, Crouch commanded, "Jones, cast a barrier spell between us and the others," he said indicating the Order members who did not bear the surname Black. "Baker," he called, addressing the last of his aurors, "I require Black's wand."
Regulus watched as a girl he vaguely recognized to have graduated a couple of years previously approach him rather timidly. Her name was something dreadfully muggle, Cadence or Candice, she was seldom called anything aside from 'mudblood' by anyone he knew. As she had endured quite a lot of ridicule from the older Slytherins, he suspected becoming an auror and arresting former Slytherins must be most satisfying for her.
Apparently, her only 'weakness' was not being muggleborn though, as she seemed entirely too nervous to be an auror. Regulus wondered if she might still be training, for her apprehension was easily seen in her mannerisms. Like why she hadn't already thought to summon his wand, for instance. Instead, she looked to be considering the prospect of simply reaching her hands into his robes, and extracting it in distinctly muggle fashion.
Regulus raised an eyebrow but remained still, making no effort to help or impede her effort.
Evidently tired of waiting, it was Crouch who summoned his wand.
"And what are you doing with that?" he asked as the head of the DMLE caught it.
"Less confident now are you?" Crouch mocked. "Can't say I blame you. This spell will recant any illegal spells your wand has cast." Looking Regulus over appraisingly, he added, "We shall start from the beginning."
Rachel was seething. Regulus just came waltzing into the infirmary as if he owned the place. Did he want to be arrested? Could he not have thought of a plan first? Did he really even think 'saving' Sirius to be necessary? There was no way Dumbledore would allow Sirius to go to Azkaban. As she couldn't say the same for Regulus, she thought he had far more to lose by coming here than Sirius had to lose with Regulus staying away.
It wasn't even Regulus' infuriatingly blasé attitude that bothered her most. After the initial commotion that had been caused by Regulus' arrival, undisguised and obviously not dead, the room had grown mostly silent around her. Now that it was Regulus being investigated and Sirius was being left alone, the righteous indignation of everyone else had seemingly died out.
"If not for Marcus, who was obviously Regulus all along, none of us would know about Pettigrew. He would still be among us, selling us out one by one," she reminded those around her.
"Kind of like what happened to Diggle, do you mean?" Fenwick asked.
"Regulus and Sirius were gone for weeks. Knowing he was out of the country, did anyone bother telling Sirius about the meeting times while they were gone?"
When everyone looked at James, he shrugged, "I told him about this one because I knew he was coming back. I never mentioned the time or location of any of the ones we had while he was gone."
"Exactly. And no one would have told Regulus either, seeing as he was believed to be dead."
"How do we know you didn't tell him about the meeting?" Marlene asked.
"I've had no more contact with either Black than you have. Probably less actually-"
"Rachel didn't tell either of them, Marlene" Lily interrupted. "We can't be divided amongst each other. If we can't trust each other, who can we trust?"
As the others half-heartedly agreed with Lily, Rachel relaxed slightly, hopeful that she would now have some backup from the Order while she pleaded Regulus' case. Before she could speak up though, she became mesmerized as Crouch forced images out of Regulus' wand.
Regulus grit his teeth as Crouch went through his wand's memories for lack of a better word. Depending on whether the spells from the Black grimoires, that should have been unknown to the ministry, would register he realized he hadn't cast anything illegal until after he left the death eaters. He expected that would make little difference.
His thoughts were interrupted as the 'morsmordre,' spell erupted from his wand, causing the eerie glow to light up the room.
Perhaps he had forgotten one.
Crouch chuckled, "And I suppose that is a coincidence?" he asked indicating the serpent.
"I bribed my cousin Bellatrix to show me once," right after I had taken the mark.
"And she just showed you without contest? I would have thought such secrets from one's master to be better kept. By Bellatrix Lestrange of all people."
"I suppose you could ask her why she showed me yourself, if you ever manage to catch her," Regulus drawled.
Crouch set his jaw, and turned back to his wand, "I think your friends here might like to see what else you've been up to," he answered before resuming the spell.
Hundreds of spells passed rapidly, not coming to fruition because they were either legal, or unrecognized by the ministry.
At some point someone had cast a silencing spell on Sirius because of all of the insults he was throwing Crouch's way. Regulus wasn't sure whether it had been an auror or Order member who cast it. He thought whomever it was had been doing Sirius a favor as he would only get himself into more trouble otherwise.
Eventually his creating the inferius showed, which was met with a suffocating silence.
"I suppose that is whom the elder Black cast his imperius on?" Crouch asked. At Regulus' nod, Crouch signaled for his auror to back off of Sirius slightly before continuing on.
A relatively short time passed this time before the scene between him, portraying Rodolphus, with Lily and Snape unfolded. Regulus ignored the loud whispering that took place around him from the other Order members as they tried to disentangle their thoughts for what they had seen.
"I believe that puts us at one conjuring of the dark mark, the creation of one inferius and the use of one cruciatus curse. As that alone is enough cause for more than one lifetime in Azkaban, I see little reason to continue. Do you?"
"You're the Head of the DMLE," Regulus answered dryly and feigning indifference, despite his heart pounding hard enough for him to feel it in his ears and throughout the rest of his body.
Crouch chuckled lightly, "You want to know the best part about arresting arrogant pureblood elitists who believe themselves better than everyone else?" He asked conversationally. At Regulus' blank expression, he answered, "They're too proud to put up a fight. You would rather risk Azkaban than suffer the indignation of having to defend yourself. You expect to receive a free pass because of your pedigree. You think your family's supposed status will protect you from actually going to prison. As such, you will not bother to defend yourself while you have the chance. While I find it ironic, it is also quite fitting."
"Ah, so no trial for me then? How disappointing."
Crouch looked somewhat surprised with his quick grasping of the implication. Before any more could be said though, they were interrupted by Rachel, "You can't lock him up without a trial!"
"I daresay I know better than you, who is required to be given a trial. Death eaters, for example, are not required to receive one."
"All you have proven is that Regulus cast the dark mark one time. As no murder was shown prior to the casting of the spell it is entirely possible that what he said was true, that it had only been experimental. His casting of the cruciatus was on a known death eater, Severus Snape, and according to Lily, it likely saved her and her child from a different fate."
"That's true," Lily agreed, but stopped as Crouch held up his hand to stop them both from talking.
Rachel was less easily deterred, "The little Minchum girl is likely only alive because of him. As for the inferius, I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation, but if you lock him up without a trial, you would be forfeiting your chance to find out what his reasons were for anything."
Crouch smirked, "I think I'll take my chances. The apple never falls far from the tree, after all."
Regulus watched as Rachel began to say more but was pulled back by one of the Prewett twins, and rightfully so. It wouldn't take much for Crouch to arrest her too. Between Rachel attempting to stand up for him and Crouch insulting his family, Regulus was feeling a strong desire for vengeance.
"It's a shame I couldn't have had someone like you as a father. Your son… he earned twelve OWLS, did he not?" Regulus asked in a would-be innocent tone.
"He did," Crouch answered simply.
"I suppose that wasn't surprising though, was it? He was sorted into Ravenclaw and does have you as a father. What are his plans after graduating?"
"How is that any of your concern?" Crouch asked irritably.
"I suppose it isn't. As I stand on the brink of imprisonment though, I just can't help but wonder what could have been. You're such an inspiration to those who wish to live in a world free of prejudice. Your son, Barty… I suppose he is who I could have been had I grown up with better influences in my life."
Catching Rachel's eye, he added, "Perhaps a comparison between the two of us could serve as a reminder to others how much better it is to stand by what you believe to be right, rather than unquestioningly supporting the ideas of the family you happen to be born into. If he were here-"
Regulus chanced another look at Rachel and his heart sank to see her look entirely bewildered as to what he was on about.
"I can't imagine I need to compare the two of you when all of that should go without saying. Come now," he summoned his aurors. "We have wasted enough time here. The eldest Black is free to go, the younger is to come with us."
Regulus was then roughly jostled between the two male aurors. As they made it about halfway to the door though, their way became impeded as Dumbledore, followed by Lupin, entered the infirmary.
"I'm afraid I can't allow you to take the youngest Black, Bartemius, Dumbledore remarked calmly, "Neither Black, in fact.
"As I've said before, Albus, your opinion means little in the matters of known death eaters."
"Regulus is no longer a death eater," Dumbledore answered serenely. Regulus cringed inwardly at his word choice, as it clearly implied that he had in fact been a death eater at some point. "He has since come to realize the beliefs of Voldemort to be different from his own and has sought to rebuke his past affiliations."
"You should be more concerned I do not have you arrested for knowingly concealing a death eater from the ministry, Dumbledore. You can no longer protect him as you never should have from the beginning."
"Bartemius, I am telling you, there is no doubt in my mind that Regulus Black is against Voldemort. He has done more in this war to oppose him than the majority of your aurors."
"What has he done to oppose Voldemort? What do you know, Dumbledore, about defeating him that you are not sharing with me and my aurors?"
"Regretfully, I cannot say."
"Then you must know I cannot allow a known death eater to remain free!"
"Be reasonable, Bartemius. You must realize that locking him up in Azkaban would be his death sentence. Need I remind you that Voldemort has free reign of the prison?"
Their conversation was interrupted as a new presence entered the infirmary in the form of Barty Crouch, Jr., who was looking around apprehensively.
"What are you doing here?" Crouch Sr. demanded harshly.
"I was summoned here," he stated almost as a question.
Regulus, who had been partially concealed by the burliest auror had to stop himself from laughing. Apparently Rachel had figured out what he was trying to convey. Taking advantage of the relatively lax hold the aurors had on him, as they too seemed not to have expected him to put up a fight, he quickly moved away from them.
Before they noticed his absence, he had slipped behind them and moved to stand beside Barty. As their wands were quickly redirected at him, Regulus turned and embraced the younger wizard, essentially using him as a human shield. Naturally, the younger wizard's horror could only be rivaled by his humiliation at being embraced by another male, and publicly, no less.
"It's so good to see you," Regulus chuckled in his ear. Barty made to grab his wand, which was exactly what Regulus had hoped for. With the location of his wand being identified, Regulus quickly grabbed for it too, managing to wrestle it out of Barty's right hand with both of his.
Regulus then had to duck to avoid a ray of blue light, and cast a shield strong enough to deflect two more beams of light, this time red, as he stood up. Apparently deciding not to mess around, Crouch Sr. chose then to cast a killing curse at him. Considering that Regulus could have easily grabbed his son again to use as a shield, this only further infuriated him.
Choosing instead to throw himself to the ground, he avoided the spell. Using his new fighting skills, compliments of Sirius, he intentionally tripped Crouch Jr. before forcing him to his stomach with his arms behind his back, just before casting another protective shield between him and the aurors.
Ignoring his own feelings of guilt, he clutched Barty's left hand in his and severed the sleeves of his robes and shirt. Ignoring Barty's protests and careful not to make the 'big reveal' too soon, Regulus chuckled,
"Perhaps you should have made more time for your son, Crouch. Even I could have told you what his plans for after graduation were," he remarked as he quickly turned Barty's detached sleeves into a portkey.
Pausing just long enough for dramatic effect, he pulled away his new portkey, revealing the dark mark etched in Barty's forearm to the room at large.
Anticipating that he would be attacked before his portkey left, Regulus stood up and backed away from Barty who was clearly petrified. Regulus considered at least returning Barty's wand to him so that he wouldn't be so defenseless. As he wasn't feeling any particular sense of good-will towards anyone at the moment, nor did he think Barty above cursing him, especially after this, he held onto the confiscated wand.
Fortunately, it seemed everyone was too shocked to react right away. Barty hesitantly stood up, his expression somehow equally comical as it was gut-wrenching as his father stared back at him unforgivingly.
It was the elder Crouch that was the first to react, casting a powerful killing curse at his only son.
Instead of diving to the ground as instinct should have enforced, Barty made a nearly suicidal dash and low dive towards Regulus, latching on to his leg with a vice-like grip just as his portkey carried him away from Hogwarts.
