A/N: Hello people! Hope you're staying safe if you've got a lot of snow as we do here in Europe! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, or any other recognizable character for the Wizarding World universe. I own, however, my OCs the Selwyns and several minor OCs. The plot had been written purely for entertainment value.

Chapter nine: Hidden

July 1994. Dorset.

It was raining hard that night. Selene was grateful for the fact that she could Apparate directly into her study, rather than have to face the weather. She'd asked Minty to light a fire, despite it being early July, for the rain was surprisingly icy.

She'd had a difficult day at work. One of those days when Hogwarts pupils who went back home couldn't refrain from trying one or two spells in their bedroom, persuaded that no one would catch them doing it. She'd had to Obliviate a dozen Muggles who'd seen things fly or swell in their neighbours' gardens; and it had been tiring. Not to mention, of course, the lingering unrest at the Ministry regarding Sirius' disappearance a few days prior.

She was looking forward to a quiet evening in her home, far from London, far from worry. She had just sat back and closed her eyes to enjoy the sound of rain and fire when Minty popped into the room, looking alarmed.

"Mistress has to come! Someone is at the door!"

Selene bolted upright. No one knew about her Dorset home. It was warded, invisible to everyone's eyes. Unless her wards had failed, no one could possibly be at the door.

"Who is it?" she barked, making the House-Elf flinch, though not in fear for herself.

"Two men, Mistress. They are wet."

Two men. Selene supposed that, had it been Aurus, there would have been more Dark Spells involved, rather than knocking. She stood, raised her wand, and hurried to the front door, one she never used, and possibly hadn't opened in more than fourteen years.

"Who are you?" she shouted at the closed door when she heard the angry knocks and impatient voices in the rain.

"S, open the damned door, we're freezing!"

Selene froze herself. Her wand in mid-air, she thought about turning around and fleeing the room; or pinching herself to check if she wasn't dreaming.

A second later, she was proven that she wasn't dreaming at all.

"Selene Selwyn, open the fucking door, or Godric help me, I'll kick it down!"

She whirled her wand, and the wooden panel opened, letting the cold night air and some of the rain inside.

Two men stumbled into the corridor, one closing the door behind them before placing a trunk on the ground. The other was haggard-looking, and still clad in a striped uniform that had been plastered all over England for a year along with his face.

His eyes were still grey, but sullen, almost dead. His hair was overgrown, as was the horrid thing he'd call a beard. He looked as though he hadn't eaten in years, and as if he'd snap in two if she so much as touched him.

Which didn't stop Selene from slapping Sirius Black across the face.

"You…..moron! You absolute moron!"

She slapped him a second time, then pulled him into an embrace he returned like a drowning man being offered a lifeline.

"I've missed you, Sirius…" she managed to croak as she hugged him. She would hate herself for showing so much feeling later. She hadn't seen this idiot in fourteen years, and she couldn't help herself.

When they finally let go of each other, and Sirius managed a smile that looked like a first attempt at the thing, Selene turned to the other man, who'd remained out of focus as she was reunited with her cousin.

Remus Lupin, as she had seen at Hogwarts castle the previous November, hadn't changed a lot these past few years. Or at all. The same scars that crisscrossed on his face, the same wonderful amber-green eyes. The same taste for ugly cardigans.

She stared at him blankly for a while, unsure of herself or what to do.

Instead of saying anything to him, she turned on her heels and chose to bark "Come on. I'll ask Minty to cook something for you both. You look like shit and you owe me a big explanation."

She was immensely proud of herself for having managed to refrain from snogging Remus senseless. That was a rare thing indeed…

Sirius had wolfed down the stew that Minty had quickly cooked for him, along with at least half a loaf of bread, by the time Selene had come back down from the only guest room of the house – incidentally, it had belonged to the same Sirius once upon a time – with a set of old but clean clothes.

Remus had been more measured in his way of eating, but his cheeks had retained a bit of colour, at least, which was good.

The dark-haired witch plopped the set of clothes on a vacant chair before sitting down herself, lips pursed as she watched her long-lost cousin stain the long oak table. She was torn between chastising him for making such a mess and worrying over his malnourished state.

"Where the Hell have you been all this time?" she found herself ask without meaning to.

Fishing a strand of messy hair out of his plate to look back up, Sirius licked his lips, eyes sullen, but a spark of the person he used to be appearing in their grey. "That's the first thing you're asking? After fourteen years?"

Selene huffed, leaning back on her chair to cross her arms. She eyed Remus, who was drinking his glass of water without a word or a glance in her direction. "Has he told you about what happened back then?"

The werewolf finally met her eyes at that. He looked almost angry at the way she was addressing him. But, considering how their last encounter had gone, he couldn't really blame her…

Sirius seemed not to think anything about her animosity, and tilted his head to the side. "No, he hasn't. What happened?" he asked his old friend.

Remus sighed, placing the glass back on the table as if gathering his thoughts. When he spoke at last, Selene was almost shocked to hear his voice. It made a shiver run up her spine. That hadn't changed either, then. "When…when James and Lily… When Voldemort went after them, and you went after Peter, I met with Selene in London."

"Why?" the Black asked, visibly puzzled.

"Remus thought I knew about your betrayal. Wanted confirmation." Selene was staring hard at a knot on the wood, refusing to look at either man.

Sirius snapped his head at her, then back towards his companion of infortune. "Why did you think she'd know anything?"

Selene snorted, and didn't let the werewolf answer. "Because I'm the daughter and sister of two Death-Eaters, of course."

Remus hissed, prompting her to meet his blazing gaze. So, he was still angry about that day, then. Good. They had that in common. "The important thing," he said, turning back to Sirius, "is that Selene never believed you'd betrayed the Potters."

"You didn't?" Sirius said, almost pleadingly, as he leaned forward, as if to leap into his cousin's arms.

She sent him an incredulous glance. "I'm offended you'd think me this stupid, Sirius. I couldn't logically believe that you'd sold your best-friend, your brother really, and his wife and child to the Dark Lord. I'd have been a moron, and wouldn't have known you at all if I had believed those lies." She'd said the last part while glancing in Remus' direction. Stoking the fire. "Anyway, going back to my initial question: where have you been all this time? Why didn't you come here to hide? And how did you escape in the first place?"

Sirius chuckled at the onslaught of questions, and even his angry brother-in-arms smiled a bit.

It was Remus who answered first, though. "Ah yes, the escape… Well, to understand how Sirius escaped, we must both admit to something first, don't we, Padfoot?"

Selene hadn't heard the nickname in so long, it took her a moment to remember it. She turned to her cousin, then, and he looked contrite, almost.

"Ah, yes… S," he said, shielding his eyes with his hair, "you see, when we were at school, and James and I – and that bastard Peter – disappeared to 'study', we were actually…uh… Well, we were…"

"Were what, Sirius? Learning how to kiss properly?" Selene rolled her eyes in impatience, crossing her arms again.

He chuckled darkly before explaining. "No. But that wouldn't have been such a bad idea, at the time… No, we were actually studying how to become Animagi. To spend the full-moon with Moony."

She looked between the two men, incredulous, her hands falling to the table, her eyes widening in shock. "Did you know about this?" she hissed towards Remus, who looked as contrite as his friend.

"I didn't until it was too late, and they'd already turned the first time…"

"Which was when?"

"Fifth Year," Sirius said proudly. And that was an achievement for sure, but still, a betrayal in its own right.

"And you didn't think to inform me of that…" She stood, pacing towards the cooker, feeling the residual heat fuel her anger. "You didn't trust me with your secret, did you?"

Sirius pushed back his chair, she heard it, but he didn't get closer, sensing danger, perhaps. "Sorry, S… It was too big."

"I've kept all of your secrets all my bloody existence, Sirius Black! If I hadn't, do you think Potter and Evans would have lasted as long as they did?" She whirled around, facing their shocked face with a fiery gaze of her own. She hadn't shown that much feeling in a long time, but that night was one filled with surprises, it seemed…

"Sorry, S…"

She thought about striking him again, shoving him outside in the icy rain to fend off for himself, but instead, she felt a haze of peace run through her, obviously unnatural. With a sigh, she turned her gaze to the small House-Elf who was holding her wrist. "Minty, stop that, please."

"I will, when Mistress is calm." And the tiny creature kept on drowning her with peaceful feelings that soothed her, albeit unnaturally.

A disobedient House-Elf, that one…

A few moments later, she got back to sitting down, still glaring daggers at her cousin. "So, you're a bloody Animagus. And?"

Sirius stared at her worriedly before sitting back down as well. "So, the Dementors don't feel animals the way they feel humans. When I was sure Peter was at Hogwarts, hiding under his Animagus form, I knew I needed out. I turned, and I was so thin I could get through the bars and swim back to shore. I hid near Hogsmeade all that time. In the Shrieking Shack, mostly."

She processed the information, trying to shove the disappointment and anger of his – their – deceit away. "That's twice you've mentioned Pettigrew in a disdainful way. Has he got anything to do with this, then?"

Remus sighed, and she looked back at him. "Peter was the traitor all along."

Sirius let out a pained sound, almost like a yelp. "I convinced James to change Secret Keeper. I'd have been too obvious. But, in the end, that rat didn't even last a day before he sold them off…"

Selene felt another kind of anger rise in her veins. Pettigrew. That coward, that false, that little turd… But, something occurred to her then, something important.

"If Pettigrew has been working for the Dark Lord, why hasn't he sold me off too? Surely he'd have given me away, told them how close we were, how I helped your lot!"

Remus sighed, sharing another glance with Sirius. "We don't know…"

Silence fell over that pondering. It was worrying, though. If Selene was in danger of being discovered as a double agent, she needed to know. She needed to know because she'd then have to disappear, go far away, far enough…

Then, at long last, she finally asked "And what kind of sodding animal do you turn into, then?"

It wasn't much of a surprise, but she still jumped out of her seat when the giant dog tried to lick her face…

1978-1979. Hogwarts.

Selene started her Seventh and final year at Hogwarts with mixed feelings. Well, not really mixed, as they were mostly negative feelings. She daren't admit it to herself, but she was still heartbroken over her and Remus' final words; and there obviously was the matter of her incoming Marking.

She was going to turn seventeen in early November. Her father had proudly announced that the Dark Lord would grace the Selwyn family with his presence during the Christmas holidays – although, of course, not for Christmas, it'd have been preposterous – and she counted back the days with rising anger, and excruciating fear.

Montague and Snape gone, she was left alone for the most part, thankfully. Regulus was now the head of his own band of would-be murderers, and was showing off his own Mark to whomever wanted to see it. Or didn't, as he regularly flaunted it at his intended's face. To her utter dismay.

"I don't get why you're not happier about it, Selene," he would parrot almost everyday when they met, at 7pm sharp, in the common room. To keep appearances, although the Black heir seemed more and more at ease with the idea of spending the rest of his life with her. He'd tried to kiss her once or twice, when Christmas break effectively came around.

She'd pushed him away both times, but couldn't for the life of her choose if she had been revolted by the idea of kissing him or by kissing someone else than Remus. Both things were stupid, though. She'd have to get used to kissing Reg, after all…

She hadn't been inside Selwyn Manor for two minutes when Aurus came barging through their father's study's door, obviously fuming. He pushed past his sister without a word or glance towards her – she was grateful – and she heard him reach the sitting-room where he started shouting, no doubt to his wife Antonia.

Janus Selwyn exited the same study a few seconds later and, upon seeing his daughter handing her cloak to a House Elf, he strode to her, sighing deeply, looking almost as disappointed as his son.

"Ah, Selene. Welcome home. Unfortunately, I have bad news." Not knowing what to expect, she silently waited for the rest, a lump already forming in her throat. "The Dark Lord cannot be with us for a few months. He is very busy, as you can imagine, Marking a witch isn't on his list of priorities. So, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until at least summer to be honoured with his presence."

Selene froze. A warm feeling rose into her chest, one she could not describe at first, but that was true and unadulterated happiness. Thankfully, she managed to keep it off her face, as always mastering the mask of indifference that was a family trademark.

After a moment, she tried to look disappointed as well, dropped her gaze to the floor, and said "I could not hope to be indispensable to the Dark Lord, Father. I shall wait to receive his Mark with baited breath."

It seemed to please her father, as he nodded once before joining the rest of the family in the adjacent room.

Selene stood in the same spot, staring at the same knot in the wooden floor, for several more minutes. She was saved for now. For a few more months, at least, she was her own person. She didn't belong to anyone, and she didn't have to become a murderer…

She breathed out a sigh of utter relief, but toned it down, in case someone was spying on her.

Thank Salazar no one was.

N.E.W.T. year was intense, Selene knew it, as she had lived through Sirius and Remus' the previous year. She therefore resumed school with the intention to study harder than ever for her end of term exams. She buried herself under dozens of books, stayed late in the library, sometimes even spent hours on end some nights in the common room to study while the others slept.

At first, Regulus voiced his displeasure at having his betrothed avoiding his presence to 'study', as obviously, Selene wouldn't be expected to have a job once she graduated, she was, after all, going to become a wife, and wives didn't work. But then, gradually, he stopped complaining, and spent more and more time out and about, sometimes even out of Hogwarts, no doubt on Death Eater missions.

She never asked, and tried her hardest to ignore that, with the approaching summer, also came, once again, the threat of her own Marking.

Then, around Easter, Regulus barged into the library late into the afternoon, grabbed Selene's hand, and pulled her into an empty classroom. He looked livid, dark bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in ages. He looked terrified, disgusted, lost.

She had never seen him like that, and it worried her.

"Reg? What happened?"

It took him a moment to gather his thoughts, but when he did, his voice was trembling. "I was wrong, I was so wrong, Selene! The Dark Lord, he…he's not right! He's… He's…" His gaze dropped to his left arm, and he grasped it, as if trying to scratch the skin off through his sleeve.

Selene grabbed his hand to stop him. "What are you talking about? You're not making any sense!"

"I know, I know you believe in him, I know you're proud to join, but Selene, you mustn't!" He grabbed both her hands now, and looked almost crazed. "You mustn't, promise me you won't!" He carried on, his grey eyes watering, to her shock. "He's a monster, Selene. We are all wrong about him, he's done unspeakable things, he's…he's gone too far. I must stop him. Yes, I must stop him. You understand I have to stop him, right?"

Selene was looking at him as if he was losing his mind. Which could have been what was happening, as far as she knew. She had no idea how to react, but in the end, she didn't have to.

Regulus released her hands, eyes calming down, but still trembling. "I'm leaving tonight. I have to do something. To try and stop him. I…don't know if it's going to work. Please, Selene, promise me, swear to me, that you won't join his ranks."

The last words Selene Selwyn told Regulus Black, her fiancé, were then "I promise, Reg, I won't. Ever."

He nodded once, and disappeared back through the door.

Two days later, word broke out: Regulus Black had betrayed the Dark Lord. And the Dark Lord had killed him himself for it.