A/N: I know, I know. *throws chapter 33 at you* here, have like 15 pages of an update and get back to me at the end. *runs and hides*

The party was a success and as Owen Redgrave began ushering them back up towards the castle a smokey smelling James began to clear up. Alice and Lily began to help him,

"you did a great job." Alice told him with a smile.

"It's your birthday next, Potter." Lily said, James looked at her in shock.

"You know when my birthday is, Evans?"

Lily scoffed, "are you kidding me? We've only had to deal with five years of the marauders carrying out the biggest and stupidest pranks every year on the 24th of March for your birthday."

James' smile faded slightly. "Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about that this year."

"What do you want to do for your birthday this year?" Alice asked, attempting to lighten the mood while she gathered up some plates and cups.

James thought for a moment, pausing as he folded some blankets.

"Honestly? I don't know. If you'd asked me at the start of the year I would've said a huge party hands down," he shrugged, "but with the guys all fighting and it being all weird I just don't know." A sigh escaped him, "maybe even just a meal out one Hogsmeade weekend or something." They carried on chatting as they tidied up, Hagrid emerging from his hut to help them too.

"You had a good time?" He asked in his booming voice, they chorused a confirmation. "Yer a good bunch you lot." He slapped them on the back sending Lily and Alice careening into James who promptly fell over, "oops." He yanked James back to his feet. With Hagrid's help they managed to clear everything up pretty fast and were escorted back up to the castle amidst a friendly babble of conversation.


Monday 17th March 1977 Monday evening found Lily walking into the Common Room to a loud discussion. An upperclassman was holding court near one of the fireplaces, around him was a fairly large group of students listening intently as he spoke.

"-I'm not saying his methods are right but I think this guy has got a good point." The student stated, "muggleborns don't know enough about our culture and society to fully understand all the ins and outs of it, so why should they be allowed to vote and put forward bills and laws, when they don't understand what they're doing? They should be kept in lower level jobs for at least a good few years until they get shown the ropes and even then, pure bloods are the ones who do better in higher level jobs." There was a murmur of agreement through the students.

"I have an uncle on the board of education," chimed in another student, "and he says that most muggleborns do worse in school exams and job entrance tests anyway. I personally, don't think their magic is as strong as pure-blooded families. Which is fine, I mean, we're always going to need janitors and cooks and things anyway which muggleborns are usually good at, so maybe they should just stick to what they're good at." Lily frowned as she listened in to the conversation. Her frown deepening at the agreement from many of the students.

"-hear, hear-"

"-now there's a good point-

"Bullshit." A clear voice cut through the clamour, Lily's eyes tracked across the room at the familiar voice, James stood up from the desk in the corner he had been sat at, directing his voice at the seventh year. "What classes did you go to where you learnt all the stuff you know about wizarding society, Fawcett?"

Fawcett frowned, "I had a tutor growing up."

"Exactly!" James said, advancing towards the group like a prowling cat, his steps soundless on the thick carpet. Those who had been pretending to not listen had given up all pretences and looked openly at the seemingly brewing conflict. "You had a tutor, which your wizarding parents provided for you, because Hogwarts the apparent school of witchcraft and wizardry doesn't provide any education about stuff like that. What exactly is it you expect muggleborns to do? They don't know much about wizarding culture and society because there's no access to education about that for them."

There was a hum as the students whispered to each other about what had just been said.

Fawcett straightened up, "well seeing as it's them entering our society then they should set up lessons or something for themselves so they can learn about it."

"Ah yes." James said, a sneer to his voice. "And they can pay for that tutoring using the galleons they don't have, because they've lived their whole lives with a completely different currency-"

"It's easy enough to set up a Gringotts account-"

"With the goblins that they haven't learned about, and never encountered before. Who have a whole society and culture that even most pure bred wizards and witches are ignorant about. Who would, of course, never dream of scamming a wizard or witch out of their money, no matter whether they're pure bloods or muggle borns." James raised his hands exasperatedly. "The only reason muggleborns are 'ignorant'-" James used his fingers to mime quotation marks, "and apparently 'cause problems for the oh so mighty pure bloods' is because the system is against them from the beginning. Which is why Voldemort is full of shit and we need to ignore his stupid rhetoric and instead be pushing through bills to help the muggleborns get equality, or at the very least a bloody introduction into the world they suddenly find themselves in."

Fawcett, angry at James' sound refuting of his arguments, stepped up to the messy -haired teen. "Why do you care, Potter? You're one of us, the Potters are a Noble Family, you should be on my side."

"No.You should be on my side." James said, jabbing a finger into Fawcett's chest, he swung an arm around to the observing crowd. "You all should be. Voldemort is killing people! And wizards are killing themselves by insisting on following, a stupid, old-fashioned purity belief. How many of you pure bloods here have siblings? How many of you have a relation that's a squib? How many pure blood families are going extinct because they insist on marrying other pure-bloods who are way too closely related too them and end up not having many- if any- children. Muggle borns are just another witch or wizard, if you all thought for a second and if we stopped setting muggle borns up for failure from the beginning and put us on equal footing from the off. I can guarantee you that most of our problems would be bloody fixed!"

Uproar broke out at his words as the volume in the common room sky rocketed as friend spoke over friend and peers shouted at each other.

"Potter's right-"

"Potter's a blood traitor-"

"Potter," James managed to shout over the commotion. "Thinks that Voldemort's manifesto is poison. And you're falling for it! You're attempting to justify the actions of a violent criminal who is discriminating against a huge portion of wizarding society!"

"Well it's not as bad as all that, surely-"

"I agree with Potter." Cut in another voice from by the window. Lily, along with the crowd turned to identify who had spoken. A bleary-eyed Sirius Black met their stares, booted feet up on the windowsill, dark circles under his eyes. "Voldemort's manipulating the masses to get power for himself and justify his use of messed up magic," Sirius shrugged, "he's violent and cruel."

"And you and your family are angels, Black." Sneered a student, "your family's as dark as they bloody well come."

Sirius' gaze sharpened, "so doesn't that fucking tell you something if the own scion of the most Ancient and Noble House of Black, thinks there's something unsavoury going on?" More chatter broke out and Lily turned once more as another familiar voice split the room.

"You know what would be nice?" Came Marlene's familiar Irish lilt, "if someone fucking asked us." Her clear blue eyes stared down those gathered in the Common Room. "When I was a first year, not one prefect spoke to me about introducing me to this wizarding society, which is practically the complete opposite of the culture I grew up in. Me and Lily resorted to the library. The fucking library! It should've been our peers! Our bloody house mates, the library barely tells you anything. And I know that Lily makes it a point as a prefect to talk to each new muggleborn first year and give them a crash course about the world they've just plunged into."

"Crash course?" Lily heard one confused pure blood whisper to a friend, she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she faced the largest contingent of gathered pure bloods.

"Marlene's right. You're awfully quick to talk about us muggleborns as if we're not here, but we're not deaf, and we're sure as hell not stupid. We're witches and wizards just like you, is it such a big ask that we equal the playing field?" The silence in the common room as she spoke was deafening, her green eyes fixing strikingly on individuals as she looked around. James was transfixed on her, it wasn't often that the charismatic Lily Evans who he now knew so well had this level of confidence in front of large crowds. A messy strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail brushed against her cheek, James admired it as he wondered what it would be like to tuck it behind her ear. He shook himself, swallowing down the emotions as he averted his gaze from her and ran a hand through his hair.

"Is it such a big ask that you don't actively try and prevent us from getting somewhere in this world." She looked directly at Fawcett. "What can you possibly be scared of?" James smirked into the fireplace as Fawcett backed down, turning to his friends who were muttering to each other and the crowd began to disperse.

"Beautifully done, Evans." James said with a smile as he walked over to her.

She threw up exasperated hands with a sigh. "I don't understand why some people think equality between muggleborns and pure bloods is such a big issue."

"We appreciate you fighting the good fight, James." Marlene said with a friendly punch to his shoulder.

"Lily?" Came a small voice from behind the prefect. Lily turned and greeted the small second year by name. "Is it true that the even in the real world the purebloods don't like us?"

Lily bent down to meet the wisp of a girl's big brown eyes. "There'll probably always be people who don't like us, I'm afraid, Millie." She said with a sad smile. "We just need to show them that we're worth it. You're still taking part in that homework group we talked about?" The girl nodded earnestly. James' heart had just about melted for the sweet second year and he crouched down in front of her.

"I'm a pureblood and I like you." He said softly.

Her eyes were impossibly wide, she looked somewhat starstruck as she took him in. "You're the Quidditch captain!"

James smiled, "do you play?"

"Y- yeah! I love Quidditch! At first I found it really hard, but I've gotten much better this year."

James grinned at her and the small group of her friends that had started to gather behind her as she spoke to the older students. "Well if you ever want any tips, feel free to come and ask, and I know Lily's probably done a great job at answering all your questions about Hogwarts and the wizarding world but if you get any more you can ask me as well." He straightened up as he was profusely thanked by the squeaky Gryffindors. Lily fixed him with a fond smile, James noticed and grinned back, their eyes met.

"I swear I was never that fucking small as a second year." Sirius said as he slunk into the gap between James and Lily who quickly looked away from each other.

"You're still fucking small, Sirius." James said with a tentative smirk, he was rewarded by a bark of laughter.

"And you're still a fucking asshole." Sirius shot back cuffing him on the back of the head, James laughed. "Ah shit, Remus is heading this way, I'll catch you guys later." As quickly as he came Sirius was gone again and James' eyes tracked him with a frown as he disappeared up the stairs.

"That was a bit mental." Remus said as he joined their group which had gathered.

"Wasn't it?" Asked a worried Frank from next to Alice. "It doesn't bode well that even some Gryffindors are giving Voldemort the time of day."

"And if it's like that here, what is it like in the adult world?" Alice added.

"People are being attacked and murdered in the adult world." Dorcas said vehemently. "They know it's Voldemort's people doing it, I'm sure they're all opposing him, we won't allow him to bully his views into the wizengamot."

"They're already in the fucking Wizengamot." James muttered as he looked around, committing to memory those who had been most vocal, both for and against Voldemort. He'd be writing a long letter to his parents tonight, Monty had been keeping James updated on the political manoeuvrings that had been going on recently and the way some of the most influential members of society were moving filled him with a deep sense of dread. Coupled with that dread was the freezing anxiety that filled him as he considered his father's ailing health. Fleamont Potter was powerful in society and the last thing the Potters needed was his health to fail him now. James ran both hands through his hair and let out a deep sigh, "I just really hope people wise up soon," he said quietly.


Saturday 22nd March 1977

Lily's eyebrows rose as Sirius finished telling her and her dorm about his idea for James' birthday.

"That is…" She finally said as Sirius sat down on the bench at the Gryffindor table opposite her, "actually a fantastic idea, Sirius. James would love that, he's obsessed with all things muggle culture." Sirius gave her a smile and it took her aback for a second, it had seemed like ages since she'd seen a genuine smile from the boy.

"Right? The only problem is I've got no idea if the room of requirement can do it and I would have no idea what to ask it for."

"Well that's fine," Lily waved his protests away, "I can do the room of requirement, if there's stuff it can't do I can always resort to transfiguration, and I know for a fact there's a Hufflepuff in the year below who's got a bunch of film reels he lets you borrow for a few sickles, I'll see if I can find him after this."

"Me and Frank can sort out snacks and stuff." Alice offered, Lily nodded oblivious to the fact that she had just taken the lead on James Potter's party planning.

"Yeah that'd be great, Mar you could maybe help them out? Get some classic muggle snacks, James isn't that picky when it comes to food but if we're doing this we'll need popcorn."

"I couldn't imagine doing it without popcorn." Marlene said, deadpan, Lily laughed, but it soon turned to an exasperated sigh as the purebloods just looked at them, confused.

"Oh god." Lily said, squeezing Marlene's wrist as an expression of deep grief appeared on her face, "sometimes I forget just how sad the life that witches and wizards lead can be." Marlene clutched Lily's wrist in return.

"It really does deeply upset me sometimes." The muggleborns laughed together. After coming up with a few more ideas and giving a very keen Sirius several tasks to do, it seemed to Lily like things were pretty set for James' birthday which was a relief seeing as it was in two days and they'd been struggling to come up with something for weeks. Sirius left to go to a detention and Marlene had been just about to dig into some of the pastries left over from the ending lunch hour before Dorcas dragged her away to work on some potions homework.

"Let me know if you need some help." Lily called after them as Marlene stuffed a few pain au chocolats into her pockets before she gave in to the taller girl's much stronger grip and allowed herself to be dragged away. Lily was left sat at the table with Alice and she took a pastry for herself and slowly began nibbling on it.

"So," Alice began, shifting position on the bench so she could look directly at Lily. Lily raised an eyebrow in question, mirroring her position on the bench. "You seem pretty invested for James' birthday."

Lily shrugged, "it was a pretty good idea. It's nice to see Sirius get interested in something other than ruining his own life for a change."

"You guys seem pretty close lately." Lily looked at her pastry, she wasn't sure she was going to like where this was going. "You've really changed your opinion on him this year, he has matured a lot. He's come into himself more, I always told you he was actually a good guy."

Lily shifted uncomfortably. "I guess I've just gotten to know him better. Plus we've been through a whole bunch of traumatic stuff so I suppose we've bonded." There was silence for a few seconds as Lily picked at her food. She looked at Alice suddenly.

"Did you know that he's been joining me on rounds when Remus is ill or can't make it. When the other prefects can't cover Remus' rounds, James does so I'm not wandering around the corridors on my own while the Slytherins are out to get me and other pesky muggleborns."

"I didn't know that, no." Alice said quietly, she cocked her head slightly as she studied the strange expression on her friend's face.

Lily's gaze slid away from Alice, instead looking absently around the great hall. "We just chat the whole time, about serious stuff but also just about the most stupid things. He's got a million questions about the Beatles and Elton John and ABBA." Lily shrugged, "we actually get on so well, it freaks me out sometimes when I remember how much hell it felt like he used to put me through."

"Lil." Alice said gently, "it's OK to be friends with James and enjoy his company, I mean, you've forgiven him for all that stuff he used to do, haven't you?"

Lily let out a distressed sigh, had she? It still didn't sit right with her that she now counted James Potter among her closest friends after he'd apologised and grown up a bit whilst Severus had begged for her forgiveness and she couldn't find it within herself to continue being his friend. Well maybe that's because James is trying to be a better person and fighting for the right things, Severus meanwhile is hanging out with death eaters who want to hunt you down and kill you, if not do worse, a part of her mind whispered to her. Lily sighed, she'd been arguing with that part of herself for a while now, talking herself round in circles. She didn't fully trust that part of herself, as that was the part that loved making James laugh and admired his silhouette in the firelight of the Common Room.

"I mean, I think I have." She said finally. Alice paused, she couldn't shake the feeling there was more going on here. She saw the way James lit up whenever Lily talked to him, she'd seen it for years but she'd only recently began noticing how Lily laughed as her and James worked on their transfiguration project together, how she usually scanned the common room for him whenever she walked in, she even cheered more enthusiastically for him in Quidditch than she used to. Alongside this though was how she edged away from James whenever Severus Snape was in the vicinity, the sometimes almost guilty expression that would cross Lily's face when she realised that she was having a good time hanging out with pranker extraordinaire, mischievous marauder James Potter.

"Lils…" Alice said, voice low, "it's also ok, if you like him more than as a friend, if you-"

Lily jolted. "Alice." She said with a shaky laugh, "C'mon, James? I don't- we'd never- I think friends is enough for us, I don't like him like that." Are you sure? Shut up, she thought at herself, she wasn't going to think about his breath on her face underneath the quidditch stands, or his good hugs, or the lines of his abs underneath a bloody shirt. She was Lily Evans, she would never end up with James Potter. Are you sure? He was almost pureblood royalty he could never be with a mud blood like her. Are you sure? It's not like he cares about that stuff. Are you really sure? Lily groaned, stuffing the rest of her pastry in her mouth in an attempt to quiet her inner monologue.

"I don't." She said with a full mouth. Alice raised an eyebrow, unconvinced but she relented, raising her hands in surrender. Of course she wasn't convinced, Lily thought, Lily wasn't even sure she'd convinced herself.


Monday 24th March 1977

"Sirius, are you hungover again?" Peter asked, as the teen in question waked gingerly out of their bathroom. James looked worriedly at his friend as he groggily opened the curtains of his four poster. Sirius was still seeming to deal with his stress over Remus' continuing refusal to forgive him with drinking with people he barely knew and bad decisions.

"Happy birthday, James" Sirius said hoarsely as he passed, ignoring Peter he spared a second to ruffle James' hair which was already exceedingly messy seeing as it was first thing in the morning.

"Oh, yeah." Peter said, turning to James who was attempting to locate his glasses, "happy birthday!"

"Happy birthday." Came Remus' muffled voice from his own bed.

"Thanks guys." James stretched, wincing as his back cracked. Once he had got himself ready for the day James descended the stairs with Remus and Peter in tow. Sirius had been left rummaging around in his belongings for a painkilling potion.

"Happy Birthday, Potter."

"Happy birthday, Captain!"

"Should we be expecting a marauder prank today, you guys have been so boring lately." James responded to the various birthday greetings he was receiving, waving off the last student who'd directed their comment to him. He reflexively cast his gaze around the common room looking for a familiar red head as he'd begun to do most every morning but he was distracted by Alice walking up to him with a kind smile.

"Happy Birthday, Jimbo." She said wrapping him in a strong hug, James grinned as he hugged her much smaller stature.

"Thanks, cuz."

Frank wished him a happy birthday, giving him a cheerful slap on the back. Marlene and the rest of the girls soon followed suit, Lily bumping his hip with her own.

"Happy Birthday, Bambi."

"Cheers, Red."

"Shall we go down for breakfast, I'm bloody starving." Stated Dorcas

"And remember, James," Alice said over her shoulder as they exited the common room, "room of requirement tonight at 7.30 for presents and your 'thing'." James rolled his eyes, he had told them repeatedly he really wasn't up for something big when the marauders were in the situation they were in, and the world itself was so messed up. They'd been planning something despite James' protests but they kept swearing it was just a small thing.

Sirius muttered to himself as he made his way down one of the upper corridors, he was meant to be studying but honestly all his grades were so shite at the minute it probably wouldn't make much of a difference. He couldn't focus on anything, the whole castle was filled with memories with his friends and he'd fucked it. He didn't like sitting in the common room because people always asked him about why the marauders hadn't done any pranks in months, why wasn't he talking to Remus, why were him and James no longer connected at the hip, why was he now ignoring this girl even though they'd he'd just shagged her. Everyone had a bloody question and Sirius was tired of it. He didn't like sitting in the dorm room because that was just depressing. He'd taken to migrating towards the group of 'slackers'- an inter-house group of students from various years who were united by how fed up they were with the bullshit of life and little else. Sirius knew it wasn't good, and he knew James would give him that disappointed gaze if he knew even half the shit Sirius got up to. James was usually down for most things if it was done for a laugh but when it came to genuinely self-destructive habits he had a low tolerance, the boy cared too damn much.

And so Sirius had watched as he slowly become a shade of himself and couldn't seem to muster up the willpower to stop it, what was the point? He rubbed his head tiredly, he seemed to always have a perpetual headache these days.

Today was James' birthday and Sirius had finally had a good idea of how to celebrate it which he'd pitched to Alice and the girls the previous Saturday when he'd heard them talking about it, and they'd liked his idea and he could finally do something decent for James. There were a few final things Lily had tasked him with over the weekend and he'd be damned before he messed this up.

He was running through his mental task list once more when he suddenly heard a spell being muttered from behind, he went rigid as the Petrificus totalus took effect.

Fuck.

He landed prone on the floor unable to see anything except the cold flagstones beneath him, his already sore head pounding even more from the impact.

"Get up you asshole." A voice hissed as the spell was lifted. Before Sirius could even gather his wits about him and use the wand he'd drawn the second he'd regained movement he was hit by a disarmer.

Double fuck.

He whirled around, ready to charge the attacker but stopped short as he saw their face.

"Regulus?"

His little brother strode towards him, Sirius' wand clutched in his hand and his eyes burning in his face. He seemed taller than Sirius remembered, skinnier too, and also tired. Sirius frowned in concern.

"Reg, are you-"

"What the fuck are you playing at Sirius?"

"What do you-"

"Have you looked in a mirror recently?"

Sirius frowned, he actually hadn't. It wasn't usually like him to not care about his appearance but honestly it wasn't like he'd been feeling like himself recently. Regulus wordlessly withdrew a mirror from his pocket and handed it to his brother. Sirius winced at what he saw, half-assed teenage stubble patched his jaw. He was pale, eyes bloodshot and tired- shit he even had a few spots around his forehead and-

"Bloody hell." He muttered, handing Regulus back the mirror as he looked away. Sirius Black's hair was greasy. He was practically as bad as Snivellus.

"You're a fucking embarrassment right now, Sirius." Regulus said in a voice cold as ice. Sirius met his eyes, shocked at the strength of emotion he saw there. "So, you did something fucking stupid and practically destroyed all your close friendships, as well as getting banned from Quidditch and getting Salazar knows how many detentions. So what? That is not an excuse for you to be seen like this. You're drunk practically every day at one point or another. Giving a piss-poor performance in class, having sex with a whole host of unsavoury girls- so much so that honestly, I'm pretty surprised you haven't got one of them pregnant yet- and hanging out with that bunch of scum." He stepped forward and shoved Sirius in the chest, "pull yourself together."

Sirius had no words, he looked at Regulus in shock as he ran his hands through his hair in a completely uncharacteristic gesture. Regulus' distress was visible as he regarded his brother, he turned away and paced a few steps.

"Regulus-"

Regulus turned back around and closed the distance between them, Sirius was made very much aware of their height difference, he had to look up to meet his eyes as his little brother jabbed Sirius' own wand into his chest, an electric blue spark of magic zapped down the wand Regulus held, sending a brief icy spark dancing across Sirius' shoulders.

"Dammit, Sirius! I'm not watching you turn into our fucking father!" Regulus' voice cracked and his chest heaved. "You have no idea what it's like to be stuck in a house with him and mother when he's off his face with alcohol all the time! You're better than him, you asshole!" Regulus gestured around them to Sirius' general person. "You're better than this." Regulus blinked rapidly as he fought back emotion, Sirius felt his own eyes fill with tears. "You've got some problem with your perfect little friend group? Then fix it. You've got some regrets over a decision? Then deal with it, in private. Don't try and drown it in girls or alcohol or whatever the hell else other shit you do. Look yourself in the eyes, process whatever it is and don't let anyone see your weakness. These are the basic lessons we learnt when we were kids, Sirius. Whether you considerer yourself a Black or an outcast or my brother or whoever, have some dignity! Me and you-" Regulus gestured between them, "we don't do this, we can't afford this shit you're pulling, so fucking get it together."

Sirius was stunned and silence reigned for a few moments as he absorbed what Regulus had just said. He was right, he was completely and utterly right, how he was acting was pathetic.

"Ok." Sirius said simply.

"I don't care what you- what?" Regulus frowned at him.

"I said ok. You're right, I'm a mess right now and it's pathetic." Regulus took a slight step back and he seemed to shrink in front of Sirius' eyes as the strength of his anger faded, Sirius' eyebrows knit, "I've never felt this crap before Reg," he shrugged, "even when I've fallen into these slumps in the past, it's never felt like this. I'm usually much better at getting through it."

Regulus looked away, a flash of distress crossing his angular features. "You need to stop drinking with the slackers, they mix all types of potions together with their drinks to deal with the shit they're each going through."

Sirius' face dropped with shock. "Please tell me you're joking."

Regulus shook his head, "I just found out the other day there's quite the demand for mind altering potions if you're a skilled enough brewer. And that group of disappointments make up most of the market."

Sirius leaned against the wall, his legs suddenly felt vey weak. "That shit can be addictive, Reg. I don't even know what I might have taken." Regulus' shoulders slumped and he leaned against the wall next to his brother.

"You need to just stop drinking with them all together I'd say. Stop drinking full stop if you can."

There was a few seconds of almost companionable silence

"Father's pretty bad then?" Sirius eventually said, looked at Regulus intently, a feeling of brotherly affection he'd almost forgotten he could feel unfurling from somewhere behind his sternum. It had been months since he'd last spoken to his little brother.

Regulus hesitated before nodding. "Have you got somewhere to go for easter?"

It was Sirius' turn to nod now, "yeah the Potters have said they'll have me back, what about you? Maybe you should stay here." Sirius didn't know where would be worse for Regulus, their foreboding family home, or the halls of Hogwarts which were potentially filled with junior death eaters.

Regulus looked at his shoes, "I can't. Mother's summoned me back."

"Reg, you could-"

"I can't."

"I can talk to James he could-"

"I can't, Sirius!" Regulus glared at Sirius but some desperation leaked through, Sirius himself also felt the beginnings of desperation. Regulus was not okay, he swallowed down the argument that was beginning to form in the back of his throat.

"I've been in touch with Alphard," Sirius said instead, "I've arranged to go to France to see him in the second week of easter," a small flash of relief crossed Regulus' face, "maybe you could arrange something? I know Alphard isn't popular in our family, but you could maybe wrangle something and come out for that week as well? We could hang out? It's been a while…"

Regulus fixed his gaze on the opposite wall as he thought. It could potentially work, a treacherous ember of hope ignited at the idea. A week away from their god-forsaken house and his batshit crazy mother and drunken father? A week away from Bellatrix and her training? From Death eater sympathiser meetings and his psychopathic peers wanting to get out into the muggle world to practice Voldemort's 'teachings'? It seemed too good to be true.

"I'll see what I can do," he said quietly, "if I maybe got father on one of his good days…" A small smile wriggled its way onto Sirius' lips, he squeezed Regulus' shoulder and Regulus found himself leaning into his comforting grasp ever so slightly. The moment was broken as footsteps began to echo from farther down the corridor and both Black boys straightened up.

"You're going to pull yourself together?" Regulus asked Sirius as he straightened his robes, his aristocratic mask starting to return.

"I am, Regulus," Sirius nodded, straightening his own robes and rubbing his face, swearing to himself he was going to shave as soon as he got back to the dorm, "and you'll let me know if you can make it to Alphard's?"

Regulus nodded, feeling lighter than he had half an hour before. "Alright then, I suppose I'll see you around." It was a slightly awkward departure with neither teen quite knowing what they were supposed to do, after a pause Regulus turned on his heel and began to walk away.

"Regulus." Sirius called. Regulus turned around, Sirius was smirking slightly holding out a hand, "can I have my wand back?"

Regulus looked down, realising he was in fact still holding it loosely in his grasp. He returned the wand before turning away and walking again. "And Reg?" He stifled a sigh as he turned around yet again. Sirius had closed the distance between them and before Regulus could protest Sirius had wrapped him in a strong hug, Regulus hesitantly returned it. "Thank you." Sirius said gruffly, "I hope you know I'm here for you if you need me. I'm a bit useless, but I'm here. I can't imagine the shit you're dealing with in Slytherin and with our family, but I'll help if I can."

"Ok." Regulus managed to choke out. Sirius truly had no idea what Regulus was dealing with. If his Gryffindor brother knew the things he'd done, the thousands of tiny atrocities he committed every day just to try and keep himself on the fringes of all the bullshit he was surrounded by. If Sirius only knew, he wouldn't be saying that. Sirius could never know. They broke apart and Sirius kept his eyes on his little brother's back as he turned off the corridor and disappeared from view.

A/N: Ok, so what did you think? I haven't updated in ages and I can't promise this is the start of regular updates again seeing as I'm in my final year of uni and have adult things to do, but I really hope you enjoyed this. I've missed Regulus! I really enjoy writing his and Sirius' interactions and I hope you do too, also Alice is sensing something fishy about Lily's feelings for James...

Please let me know what you think in a review, follow/favourite if you want, and I hope you're all staying sane and safe. Thanks!