Severus was finally released from the Hospital Wing ("please give me a chance to miss you two," Pomfrey said wearily as she signed the paperwork).

He and Regulus were finally truly together - as together as two men could be - the distrust between them was finally gone, and they had at last exchanged their "I love you's". True, Severus had said it to Regulus under the influence of Veritaserum and Regulus had said it to Severus when he thought nobody could hear him, so this was not the sweet and tender romantic moment most people dreamed about, but both of them thought it was better for it.

"You do realize that I still don't know what my dear brother did, though," Regulus pointed out.

"I don't know what to tell you," Severus shrugged. "It's bad enough that somebody wants me not talking about it, bad enough that even the Veritaserum did not work, so that should tell you something."

"This is why I have to know! But I think there is a way."

"Oh, no. Not again," Severus protested. "That's two for two now that Blacks have nearly-" his throat seized up, and he cursed himself for forgetting that the words "killed me" were exactly the words he was having such difficulties with in the first place. Serves you right for trying to joke about it, he told himself.

"Nearly what?" Regulus questioned him, and Severus rolled his eyes. "Nearly ran his hand through your hair and pulled you closer to get his hands on that chest of yours?" He teased.

"Don't make me retch," Severus interjected as an overly vivid image came into his mind. It was hard enough to deal with how much they looked like one another without Regulus hammering the point in. "You're being a pig," he added with a smile.

"Well, I don't think it's dangerous, really… you won't need to do anything." Severus looked puzzled, and Regulus pulled the book out of his trunk. When Severus saw the title, he grabbed the book out of Regulus's hand and opened it on the bookmarked page (he could not help but notice that even the bookmark looked more expensive than anything he owned). Regulus watched his doe eyes flick across the pages at an astonishing speed, his face going from apprehensive to stunned. "You can do that?!" He asked, agasp. "I just have to think about it? That… I think I can manage that," he said, thinking back to the months that followed Sirius's little joke, when he seemed to be able to do nothing but that.

"I have not had anyone to practice on," Regulus said, almost apologetically.

"Try." Severus could feel it, he felt near-palpable lightness as the idea that he could unburden himself of his forced secret became a possibility rather than a fantasy. "Please," he added. He did not realize how much he had missed the feeling of not having a secret.

The book said eye contact was essential, and so Severus positioned himself face to face with Regulus, and fixed his gaze on his eyes. "Legilimens," Reg mumbled, and nothing happened. All he saw was a pair of black anxious eyes.

"Well?" Severus whispered.

"Nothing."

"Again. You have to want to know."

Regulus was not surprised that Severus had already committed what he had read to memory.

"Legilimens," he said again, and an image flickered in his mind - a dark, narrow tunnel.

"Again," Severus whispered, pale, and he grabbed Regulus's hand without realizing he was doing it.

He said it more decisively this time, and both of them saw flashes of Severus crawling down the tunnel, nearly consumed with morbid curiosity… "Yes, yes, I know I'm a dunce for going in there," Severus raised his voice and looked away.

"I did not say that. What's that tunnel?"

"It leads to the Shrieking Shack," Severus answered, his heart pounding, a chill running through him. This was not working.

"I think you need to feel what you want me to feel," Severus said, gathering his thoughts. "It's about emotions. It says so in the book."

"What do I want to feel, then?"
"I think… you're curious now, so you're seeing me when I was curious… you need to be afraid. Think of something scary."

Regulus knew exactly what to think about. He thought back to the dreadful moment when Severus had collapsed in front of him, how his eyes had rolled back, and he was ready. "Let's go. Legilimens."

He saw Pomfrey leading Remus to the willow. He saw his brother telling Severus how to get past it, looking perfectly smug, and he saw Severus prodding the base of the willow with a long stick and the willow going limp… Severus's hand clutched his again, and he saw a loose, full-grown werewolf prick up its ears and sniff the air… "No-" Reg said, pale and horrified, "he wasn't… no, not even he could-"

"He knew."

"How can you be sure?"

"Are you defending him? I'm sure. He tried to kill me, Reg."

He had said it. The charm did not work on people who already knew. His throat hadn't seized up, words he did not want to say had not forced their way through him… he had done it. Regulus was less than ecstatic at this development. He buried his head in his hands. "He tried to feed me to a werewolf because I had inconvenienced him and his friends," Severus said, and saying it felt like a dream. "Why are you being like that, Reg? Did I not tell you it was bad?"

Regulus looked as if he had just met a werewolf. He was pale, shocked, and frankly, quite irritating.. Is that what I have been like? Severus asked himself.

"I made it out alive, as you'll observe," he said impatiently, amazed that it had come to him trying to calm Regulus down about this.

"How?!" Regulus asked, still not believing what he had seen. "You were not even bitten. What happened?"

"I see the rumors of Potter's heroism have not reached the entire school," Severus hissed, his bitterness returning to him. "How did he save you?" Regulus inquired.

"Saved me?! He was saving himself. And your brother. And the werewolf, of course. I told you, he knew, they all knew exactly what they had led me to."

Regulus looked at him, not with pity but with anguish, as the pieces came together and his world came apart. Severus realized he was in the perfect state of mind for viewing the rest of the story. "Again," he commanded, and Regulus whispered the incantation with dread.

"I cannot allow you to speak of this," he saw Dumbledore explaining, and casting the silencing charm that had caused them so much trouble… that conversation with Lily… and he felt the humiliation Severus had felt, the helplessness and the hurt… he could not take it anymore. "That duplicitous mudblood," he spat, taking his anger out on Lily, of all people - exactly as Severus did.

"She's alright… used to be. I think." Severus did not know what to think about her these days, so he tried not to think of her at all, but he could not shake the urge to tell her that he (he!) had somebody, and to share his amazement with her that it was none other than a Black.

"Tell me it gets better," Regulus pleaded.

"A little," Severus replied cryptically, as he took Regulus's hand in his. He smiled his twisted closed-mouthed smile at him. "What are you so upset about? I'm the one it happened to, remember?"

"Well, exactly!" Regulus hollered, thinking he was making an obvious point. "I should have poured swelling solution on his head," he mumbled.

"You will do no such thing. If Dumbledore finds out you know, he will expel me and erase your memory. He already threatened me with that."

"But-"

"But what? It's not fair? It's not right? It's not safe? It's a complete and utter travesty of justice?"

"Yes!"

"Even so, you will tell no one. Don't worry," he pulled Regulus toward himself. "I told you, it got better." He was suddenly strangely uplifted.

"If you want to make me happy, beat Potter at the next match."

"I can't believe you survived all of… everything."

Severus said nothing, as he remembered that he had nearly killed himself. He shuddered, and passed it off as a sudden coughing fit. But he had done it - he said the words to somebody, and that somebody was Regulus, and Regulus heard them, and he believed them. Severus silently thanked his lucky star.