To Guest: She doesn't insult him per-say, but I don't want to spoil her final reaction to him during that chapter. Just know that I do agree with you. If you'd like to read the rest with book context feel free to PM me for details!
HPHPHP
There was a resounding crack, accompanied with several yelps of fear throughout the house. Sirius took no notice of any of it, his eyes already narrowed in on the shriveled house-elf in front of him. His first instinct seemed to win out, as his foot swung forward and he tried to connect it with one of the reasons he'd lost his life. The elf seemed to be expecting this though, and ducked on instinct.
Sirius nearly overbalanced and his head would have crashed into the toilet bowl if Remus hadn't caught him. By then the other three tried to force their way in to see what was happening, and James didn't look any more pleased to see that thing than his master.
Harry thought the elf looked just slightly healthier than he'd ever seen him, still old with puffs of white ear-hair and a loin-cloth like towel around his waist, but there was something different in his stooped features of how he carried himself, even around someone he so clearly hated. This was a Kreacher still spending his years with a family he loved and respected, not the twisted version Harry would meet in fifteen years.
"Sirius, what is he doing here!" Lily demanded before James could start strangling the elf.
Kreacher's low, croaky voice managed to swim above all, as he started calling each of them very explicit things mixed in with, "Kreacher does not want to be here, Kreacher was summoned no matter how much he did not want to come, Kreacher-"
"Shut up," Sirius cut him off with pure hatred vibrating through his throat.
Kreacher's face worked furiously, but then his jaw did indeed stop despite his visible protests. Sirius took in a deep breath, clearly unaware of everything else around him as he spoke with an old familiarity, like he'd had to give this order before. "I'm going to ask you a question, and you are going to answer it as truthfully to your knowledge. You will not speak unless you are answering that question, that is an order."
It was genuinely hard to tell who held the most hatred in their shared gaze, but the magic compelled the elf to obey, so there was no response.
For just a moment, Sirius' face flickered with regret. He glanced at Harry with an almost apologetic look, worked his jaw furiously for several moments before asking in a slightly calmer voice, "when's the last time you saw Regulus?"
James stiffened and looked like he was fixing to move to Sirius' side in comfort as he understood, but Kreacher was in the way.
Sirius did not look ready to take any pandering at the moment anyways as he snapped, "answer me."
If looks could kill, the elf would have his master on the floor, but the answer came out as crisply as his old throat could, "Kreacher saw Master Regulus two years ago."*
Sirius' hope was already starting to wobble and fail, sensing where this was going as he would expect the beloved son to check on his parents more often than that, but still persisted, "has he come to speak to you about Voldemort?" Completely ignoring his elf's wobbled squeak of protest at using the Dark Lord's name. "Spoken to you about any tasks he's been given?"
Kreacher seemed more likely to chew his tongue off before answering, but then Sirius gave another barking command for it to be done, and he snapped, "yes."
Sirius sagged, sitting back down on the porcelain and running his hand down his face as he genuinely could not believe his luck, he hadn't even caught this in time. He should have known, Kreacher had said it himself in the future. Regulus was sixteen when he entered, and seventeen when this happened, Regulus would have been nineteen by now. It had been a false hope from the beginning. His whole life was starting to feel like that.
Remus caught his shoulder, nails digging into the flesh as he tried to think of something to say, but no words seemed able to get through. Kreacher had just confirmed that this had already happened, but still giving one last ditch hope, Sirius practically begged, "have you done it yet? What Regulus told you to do for Voldemort?"
For just a moment, he thought the elf actually couldn't answer. Regulus had told him not to speak of this to anyone in the family-
Kercher's attitude didn't visibly change when he saw the sickly white skin or actual care he used in his words, his belligerent tone came out as ever, "yes," even if there were bitter tones of regret laced in his own voice.
Sirius couldn't seem to swallow, choked, and jerked back to his feet coughing and trying to pace in the tiny space. Apparently he really wasn't a part of the family anymore, as far as the elf was concerned. It only furthered what Harry had made him realize, Kreacher had much more thoughts of his own than even orders would ever allow.
"Sirius," Lily began, trying to find some sympathy to offer, but suddenly he jerked back around with a wild look in his eyes, "Kreacher I'm sending you to someone's house, and your going to bring him here, you got it. I don't give a damn what you have to do, you are going to apparate him here, least I can fix one thing-" he finished in an almost inaudible mutter.
Almost. James caught what was going on fast enough, and this time he did shove past Kreacher and got in Sirius' face, stating in no uncertain terms, "oh no you are not. You have a right to whatever you're planning, but not in this house Sirius. Not where my son is."
A muscle was ticking in Sirius' jaw, the need to take action and do something already clearly wanting to overpower him. He hadn't been able to save his baby brother, but every moment that rat was still at large was eating away at whatever he had left. Wizard's magic didn't affect house-elves, they had their own brand. Kreacher could get that sniveling thing here, he was remiss he hadn't thought about this sooner! And yet... James was right. No matter the blood-lust pumping through him, his shaking limbs already trying to force him back to the floor or strangle something he wasn't sure, he could never deny that James was right about this.
Having to take one long, slow, heavy breath, Sirius turned back to Kreacher and stated, "you're are to go back to whatever you were doing, and never speak of this again. Not to a single living soul, not about what I said, what you said, what you saw here, in fact I order you to do whatever the hell you can to erase this from your memory. Even if I ever bring it up again, this never happened! Now get out of my sight," he finished with a deadly step forward, and if the announcing crack hadn't followed, Sirius may well have been without a house-elf. Then he sank to the floor again.
Years! His little brother had been dead for over over two years, and he hadn't even known? It was his own fault, he reminded himself again. He hadn't been keeping tabs on him, though the thought had crossed his mind every time there was a Death Eater corpse at his feet. To lift the masks and check though would have given him an answer he hadn't wanted to know.
There was blessed silence for no one knew how long. No one had to learn any new horrors, there was no shouting or anything really. Sirius finally realized it was for him, and looked up to find his family quietly waiting for him to fully come to terms with this. He cleared his throat first before awkwardly waving his hand around and uttering, "sorry."
"No need to apologize," James said at once, catching his best friends eye and smiling at once.
"I, just," his hand turned into a fist, slamming down with enough force to possibly break a bone. "I had to do something! I'm so sick of just hearing of all this!"
"You and all of us," Harry promised. "How do you think I feel, having to relive all of this, not being able to help them, or you lot, or," he finished with a dissatisfied grimace for these circumstances. "I certainly don't like I'm the reason you're getting all this news, but I can't do anything to help until I know all there is."
"I still should have told Kreacher to give me that locket while I had the chance," Sirius muttered, glaring at the spot he'd vanished.
"Do you have a basilisk fang handy, or a sword embedded with it we can make use of?" Remus corrected, catching his shoulder and forcing him to look at them again. "Come on Sirius, I promise you, Regulus did not die in vain. Kreacher kept that locket hidden away for almost seventeen years, he can for a few more days while we figure out how to get rid of it properly."
Sirius flinched, then began twisting his hands together even more painfully. So quietly, he spoke as if he hoped they wouldn't hear him, "it feels so inevitable now, I couldn't catch this in time. I hardly even liked him and I couldn't save him, now-"
"I'm not going anywhere!" James said ruthlessly. "We," he caught Lily's hand to prove his point, "are staying right here, and we'll figure this out as we always did, together."
Sirius watched him for several moments with an unreadable expression. James and Remus were well aware he was still holding back, probably wouldn't admit to his dying breath how much he had wanted to care for his little brother but had never given himself the chance in the mess of his life, now he'd never get the opportunity. In all this, he still had two more brothers here for him now. "Prongs," he took a deep breath, and then smiled again. "You're such a cheese-ball."
"It worked on Moony," James shrugged without regret. "Should have known you'd be harder to convince. Err, how about, together till the end? No? Hmm, what to say to get you back on your feet? Oh, I know-"
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," all three said at once before laughing. Sirius got to his feet then, leading the way back-down stairs. He was not done thinking about all he'd learned, but for now he'd have to focus on moving forward.
Lily snatched up the book and plopped down on the love seat, Harry joining her while the three boys took the couch now. She thumbed through to find her place. As slow as it was all coming out, answers were clearly still to be discovered through Harry's adventure, and she was confident they could handle whatever was next without any more episodes.
"Meh," Sirius stated, putting all of his focus onto this idea rather than thinking of anything else for now. "He's got a talent for avoiding people, it's one of the many reasons the Order actually likes keeping him around. Might take someone competent a day or so," then he caught the stern look on Harry's face, exhaled, and continued just a touch more pleasantly, "and, ah, Kreacher having his own magic, maybe even less."
Harry beamed at him, trying to cover the sadness he felt it had taken Sirius hearing the loss of his brother to really put in effort to change his mind towards a house-elf he clearly still disliked, but some part of him hoped this would help in the long run.
"That's all the food she brought along?" Lily asked in surprise.
"No, we err, found it there," Harry muttered, his nose scrunched up with remembered distaste.
Lily's eyes bugged out in concern, she felt the need to check to make sure he wasn't sick at the idea! "All that time prepping, Hermione even sorting through her books, and she didn't think to bring along any meals? Who knows how long you might have to go before you can get somewhere."
Harry's frown grew, he had a bad feeling this was going to be a recurring problem, but he had no answer.
"Death Eaters," they all muttered in concern.
"I suppose, they're likely just staking the place out," James said with forced hopefulness. "Surely if they knew you were in there, Snape would already be barging in."
"Maybe," Harry agreed, hoping the same.
James face-palmed while Sirius snickered heavily.
"I'd take that as a compliment Prongs," Remus rolled his eyes, "you said the same thing as the cleverest witch her age."
"Shut up, the both of you," he grumbled.
"I'm still not sure what's to stop Voldemort using Occlumency to get the information and share it with the others," Lily sighed.
"Hopefully the enchantment to stop Snape speaking of it stops him from communicating it at all. Writing it down, anything," Remus offered, though as he was only guessing, none of them were sure and still wanted Harry to leave as soon as he could. The place would never feel safe after what had happened to Sirius there.
"Goody for them," Sirius scowled, "doesn't mean I want him there!"
"I doubt they know that," James sighed.
"Happy though, let them keep barking up the wrong tree," Remus shrugged.
"I can see her point," Lily said fairly, "but it's a tiny little thing. Took us little more than an hour to read it with you lot interrupting every five seconds, she should finish it in less than thirty minutes if that!"
"She was studying it," Harry emphasized. "She may finish her homework ages before us, but she's still going over it until the last second to turn it in to make sure she had it all right. She was being five times as bad with something Dumbledore gave her, there were scraps of parchment all over the place covered with her notes of the tales, but all in runes," he finished with a little laugh of remembrance. It felt so normal, even without school on the horizon. He tried to cling to that feeling while he still could.
"To annoy the piss out of others?" Sirius snorted. "Yeah, seems good to me!"
"Never let him get his hands on this," Remus groaned mostly to himself, but no one else disagreed.
All pleasantries forgotten, the five of them sat tense and waiting. No one had been naïve enough to think this place safe anymore, now Snape had come, and Harry was going to be in for the fight of his life, even with Ron and Hermione as backup!
"He's always been a bloody liar, wouldn't surprise me to stop now in that things face," James stated with cold fury.
"Always loved those instincts of yours," Lily swore. Her fingers were white along the books bindings, she was likely to start ripping it apart the moment that bastard threw the first curse at her son.
"What lovely background noise for a fight to the death!" Remus growled, hand tight along his wand, wishing the Order hadn't trusted Snape so much! That he would actually be distracted and surprised by such a thing, that Harry could have some sort of advantage!
Lily tried to swallow again as she heard that, one tiny part of her wishing this meant it was someone from the Order rather than a ruse and Snape wasn't about to fire on him any second.
"Moony!" Sirius whacked him over the head, hard.
"Ouch!" He yelped, nearly falling out of his seat in just as much surprise. "It's not my fault you arse, I didn't do it on purpose."
"Yeah, I know," he huffed, still shifting in unease and checking to see if he'd pissed himself. "Sorry," he finally muttered.
The rest of them were too relieved to laugh at the pair.
"I didn't know Polyjuice potion doesn't, err, work on you," Harry said lamely, then defensively, "I was going off of Kingsley, he checked-"
"I'm not upset!" Remus quickly corrected. "I'm proud, that really should always be your response, no matter who it is. Even Hagrid needs to be checked every now and then, you never know with magic."
Harry blinked again and realized he spoke the truth, he looked nothing but happy at all of these turn of events. So why did he feel so defensive around him?
"I didn't know that was your middle name then," Harry interrupted, a feeling forming in the pit of his stomach warning him he wasn't going to like the rest of this encounter with his old professor, so he played it off for now to put a bit of delay.
Sirius snickered for no apparent reason to Harry as he said, "well, it could have been far more interesting, eh James Fleamont Potter."
"F' you Sirius," he grumbled.
"I don't get it? What's his actual middle name." Harry didn't feel any less stupid for asking such a thing about his dad even as he tried to join in.
"That is the joke," Remus answered with an unrepentant smile. "His middle name's already so ridiculous we don't need to replace it."
Harry snorted in surprise while James tried to put a proud look in place. "My dad was a great duelist because of his name, and you lot are just jealous-"
Then Lily cracked up too, and he couldn't fake it any longer and joined in, the pure relief they all held Moony was back and everything felt safe again for just a moment.
"You left out all the good parts really," Sirius sighed. "I hate potions class, I have an eerie ability to never pick a bad sweet, I once cross dressed for an entire day-"
"It doesn't count when you did that to me!" Remus snapped back.
The two fell off bickering for a moment about it, while James watched with depression. The reason Harry didn't know any of that or many more things about one of his best friends is because Remus had never spent much time at all around Harry for him to know. The most poignant of all those facts was that it was Professor Lupin to teach Harry his patronus, everything else was either common knowledge or things Harry had learned in some roundabout way. He'd managed not to resent Remus from pulling away from Harry and never taking part in his life, but moments like this made it very apparent how much was missed. He tried not to feel too disappointed in his friend, even if he'd never get a real answer for why.
Lily finally cleared her throat and read around the two, and James was very grateful for it.
"Well yes, nobody was arguing that fact," Sirius did break off from glaring to agree to that.
"Always schooling everyone around him," James sighed.
"That's why his name's on the map first," Sirius rolled his eyes.
"I thought you said it was because that was the order you transformed?" Lily asked in surprise.
"I'm still not wrong," Sirius shrugged.
"Wait, wait!" James suddenly did look genuinely concerned. "Where's Tonks?"
"I'm not bloody joined at the hip with the woman!" Remus venomously protested at once.
"Can't you at least pretend to be concerned about her!" Lily snapped, flaring up at him. "You've been acting like a right prat about her since the announcement someone actually wants to marry you!"
"It's hard to be concerned with someone already daft in the head!" He snapped right back, regretting the outburst at once as all four of them scowled. He took an uneasy breath and relented, "course, I do about these two often enough, I suppose I, could try harder," he finished on a mutter. His perspective wasn't going to change one jot, he couldn't believe for a second this was in any way a possibility for his future, but there was no since reminding them of this constantly while it was being shoved in his face.
James couldn't help but smile, just a bit, that Remus had checked this place. He did at least seem to know Harry and how his mind worked, even if the reverse wasn't true.
Harry tried to look relieved at this news, rather than pulling his hair out with worry he was the cause of so many other people's misfortune right now.
"The usual with him," James snorted. "Got into a life or death situation, got out of it, than sat around complaining to others."
"Gee, thanks," Harry huffed.
Sirius snorted enthusiastically. "When on Earth did you have the time to go pick some of those up while out, doing whatever you've been doing?" Sirius demanded.
"I'm supposed to know this how exactly?" Remus demanded.
"Shush, it's the thought that counts," James shrugged, though none of them could quite shake off the question. What was Remus up to? Was he out looking for Harry to check on him, or looking for something else?
'Just him?' Lily couldn't help but pick out in her head, stopping again as she couldn't shake the thought of what had happened to Tonks. Surely she was fine and had gotten away from the wedding, but then why wasn't she out with Remus helping him do whatever it was he was up to?
"Waste a perfectly good drink on a scare," Sirius grinned. "Couldn't be prouder of you Harry!"
"Can't say I'm glad you're as confused as you are now," James pouted while Remus went cross-eyed.
"Considering we have no new ideas, just shooting down one, I suppose," Lily sighed, though found it paramount to be answered sooner rather than later.
They all shivered in disgust at that idea, particularly Lily. She'd bite her wand before she'd be labeled as such a thing!
James blinked sluggishly for a moment as that caught up with him. The last thing he'd wanted to do was blast his face off, now he found the man had died defending Harry in whatever way he could. He still didn't have to like him, but he didn't deny the gratitude he felt.
Lily's voice was pure warmth, for finally someone else being out there with no motive to do the right thing! It really wasn't just the Order against the world.
Harry watched them go tense with unease, and Harry recalled that a few had. Luna and Dodge, but if Lupin didn't seem worried, likely they'd gone before this had happened. He certainly hoped so!
"Thank Merlin," Sirius sighed in relief, his mind on Andromeda.
They all jolted like they'd been hit with an electric shock, Remus half shouting in a trembling voice, "well, I found Tonks!" She'd obviously be with her parents now to be sure they were safe for awhile! He had no one else to go to.
"Good," was the genuine sigh of relief from all around, Harry's quietest of all as some nasty part of him wondered how long that would last.
"Magic can't stop everything forever," James whispered.
Sirius let out a hiss of air through his teeth in frustration of the fact he couldn't release a torrent of curses on them all for this! Who ever thought he'd be the one wishing for boundaries and repercussions to be back!
"Oh no!" James groaned in protest at once, burying his face away in his fingers. Had this blasted thing ever delivered good news in Harry's time?!
Lily could hardly finish, her mouth was just hanging open after finishing their old headmasters name.
Sirius fought hard to get his features properly schooled, before loudly stating, "I've found it! The most ludicrous headline to ever exist! Finally one to top that expose' over Harry's love life!"
"That's been the most ridiculous headline in your life?" Harry asked mock politely, anything to stop the flare of anger he had no wish to concentrate on when he couldn't act on it. "Not even the ones featuring you beat that out?"
"What can I say Harry, after a while all the vanishings and murders blended together, and I'm too used to ignoring anything others have to say about me. That one stuck out," he returned with a sigh.
Lily reached over and gave her son a long, comforting hug, never stopping the wish she could take all this madness away from him.
"Is that really surprising at this point?" Remus asked the ceiling, feeling there wasn't a corner left they couldn't reach.
"Not that it was doing much good before then," Sirius scowled.
"Not after they ruined the bloody wedding of the century!" James mock gasped, his eyes flashing with genuine outrage.
"That's fair," Remus retracted himself. "I still can't see, even all those wedding guests, spreading the news fast enough. There will still be too much fear, disbelief, no one will realize what's happened for quite some time-"
"And by then it's already too late to stop it," Sirius finished bluntly.
"How do you know that?" Lily asked with worry, some horror flashing through her mind of Remus being dragged off to the Ministry before he'd gotten away.
"I'm sure I heard it through other members of the Order who have been around him," Remus reminded. "Arthur, Kingsley," he purposefully left out Tonks's name, and she clucked her tongue at him.
Remus chuckled in surprise, he couldn't exactly picture Voldemort behind a desk, not to mention it would do him no good when he had puppets for that.
"Good to know some things about you never change," James chuckled while Sirius laughed.
"I've never really wanted to know what his ultimate goal was," Lily muttered, sadly aware of it anyways. Purebloods in power and ruling everything with an iron fist, others like her left to live in hiding, or worse. Soon they'd move on to enslaving Muggles across the world, and who knew what else.
"I wonder what that feels like," James whispered, clutching his hands painfully in front of him. He wished he could be holding his infant, or his wife, but then Sirius gave him a little nudge and a smile, the first real one since he'd found out about Regulus' death.
"I'll tell you about it when you're older Prongs."
James laughed, of course he did, and the others were quick to join in just for the freeing reminder there was an end to it all, there had to be.
"I don't buy that," Lily said at once, but not as if she really meant it. She kept going in a lackluster sort of way, "I mean, anyone who knows him would recognize in a second..." but she trailed off miserably, not needing to be told her own flawed logic. Those peers would be school children, not those in power who were needed for this, like the Order who were already aware. She sighed, bit at her lip for a moment, but kept going loudly to see if Remus was going to offer any good news!
"That's what I was waiting for!" Sirius snarled in blackest disgust.
"They're on the same level now as far as I'm concerned," Remus agreed.
Lily already fought back a snarl of protest, not even wanting to finish the thought of what all that could entail. Ghastly torture and horrid experiments floating behind her mind's eye she fought back with a vengeance.
James was opening and closing his mouth, but the protests and ludicrous of this was dying on his lips before he could even get started. The true answer was a mystery, a phenomenon, it even had a vague answer if one bothered to trace a Muggle-borns magic far enough back by several generations, but this was not any of that!
"Volunteer, yeah, I'll be right in line for that!" Sirius stated.
"You mean the line next to it," Remus corrected, "for The Wizard Registration Commission, expressly for those wishing to duel out some payback for this nonsense."
Lily ground her teeth together furiously, and every one of them in here felt like taking a step back from her, pitying the poor fool who thought they could round up her or anyone in her gaze. It didn't stop the worry clouding their minds though, the young kids being persecuted for this, the family's being ripped apart! No matter what was done to stop this, some screams would still go unheard.
"Thank you Ron!" James nodded adamantly. "Nice to know there's still people out there with sense!"
Lily couldn't bare to ask what that was, and she prayed Remus didn't answer the unspoken.
"There won't exactly be a lot of sitting around waiting for that I presume," James said brokenly.
Lily finally took a breath again, the solid knowledge bright in her that Ron would not be the only one like this. The simple fact was there were more half-bloods than the other two, and so long as they all banded together and looked out for each other, people would make it through this.
"Most important test of her life," Remus gave a half-hearted laugh.
"And the one she has no hope of passing," Sirius whispered so Harry couldn't here.
"As usual, she has a point," James smirked.
"I can't believe she asked that," Sirius had to fight back the urge to cover his ears and scream. "Malfoy's wish finally came true, there will only be about twelve students in that school!"
"All Pure-blooded, and all having one single mind," James agreed with an ugly grimace. "The worst playdate imaginable for an entire year."
"Oh, no, that's much better!" Remus yelped, looking sick at every implication that came with!
Lily closed her eyes tight and had to remind herself to breathe again. She was well aware her name would have suddenly vanished from that list! Her time at Hogwarts hadn't always been the best years, but they were still memories she'd never do without. Now there were some out there who would never be given that chance.
"I, I- they can't!" James just couldn't believe this, how it had all gone so bad, so fast! "Parents, they, their kids..." his mind was a scrambled mess, eyes fixed on Harry's also wide with horror, but still picturing his little infant. Still safe and away from this, his name being of some protection, but what he'd be facing in that school a new level of education. His parents would not have stood for it, and neither would he!
"It won't happen," Lily vowed, gazing at her boy, all to easily picturing herself through all of this. "He'll never get this far, not again." She quickly finished. Harry was flush, his eyes darting uncomfortably around him as he once again remembered this had happened, some kids out there had futures ruined and lives they couldn't have back while Harry spent his time here. It didn't seem fair.
"I wish!" James sighed. He didn't really think Moony could provide any new insight into any of this, possibly not even the knowledge of the Sword of Gryffindor's new powers if he didn't know about the Chamber, but it would be more than nice! Not just for the extra protection, another wand guarding his sons back, but just the simple idea of having Remus around again! Words couldn't express how much he'd missed that the past few days of hearing Harry's life, even when Sirius had been there, a void was still present.
Harry looked genuinely startled, and then immensely guilty. He found in him the urge to explain himself, "but, Dumbledore-"
"His word is not law," Sirius huffed. "Would you really not have told me either?"
Harry felt his stomach twist painfully inside him, and couldn't answer. Sirius nodded, like that was answer enough, both of them feeling even worse for Remus trying to hide a flinch, though he hadn't exactly been unaware Sirius held a higher place in Harry's trust than him.
"Saw that coming," Remus put a painful looking smile up, but damned if he didn't continue with it as convincingly as possible. "I like to think you'd have told me before I cornered you for it."
Harry didn't answer, couldn't even meet his eyes. The massive waves of feelings colliding inside of him didn't all seem to be guilt over this, there was something else rapidly bubbling to the surface he was trying hard to suppress about someone he so cared about.
Sirius cleared his throat theatrically and put on a fair impression of Harry, "Professor Lupin, I need you to walk off for about ten minutes or so while we discuss the thing you can't help us with! We'll continue this every other hour, and then include you on the conversation of what we'll have for lunch."
Remus flicked him in the ear, his face chagrined but still determined. "Better than nothing! It's high time I've gotten my arse in gear and done this!" He had no clue what this sudden change was, but he was elated for it! Finally he was putting Harry first over any other nonsense going on in his life!
"I think Harry will crack in the first week anyways and tell him, so I'm all for it!" James finally snickered again, though it was rather subdued after the last depressing topic. Better to keep moving forward and look for the answer of fixing it!
Lily didn't say her opinion as she twirled with a bit of hair. Something about this just felt off! Remus had been acting odd this whole book, could it really be he was so displeased with himself marrying Tonks? Was this his way of taking that decision back? She still wanted to know far more about that, what had made him say yes in the first place?
"You're already seeing the beauty of his plan!" James congratulated.
"He wouldn't even have to trick you into telling, he's clever like that," Sirius snickered.
"He doesn't need her permission!" Sirius scoffed.
Lily looked a touch hurt. "You'd really run off and do this without telling me what happened to James?"
Sirius spluttered, looked to him for help, who raised his hands in surrender and a clear, 'you started this look.'
"I, not the, Lily!" Sirius grumbled for a few moments.
She seemed satisfied enough her point had been made, but then turned to Remus with even more worry he hadn't been the one to answer.
"What?" He asked in surprise under her focus. "Doesn't matter what I say does it? Clearly my opinion on this subject in general will change quite drastically over the years," he finished with a bitter smirk.
Lily only looked all the more angry, she always wanted to smack him when he went on like this about how nothing like this was possible for him. They were hearing the opposite and still he chose to be daft!
"I'm sure she will be," Remus said stiffly, "with the Order! I don't need a bloody plus one to help you!"
Harry frowned uncomfortably, he really didn't like the unease that was rising in him with every word, some fight was on the horizon, though he couldn't imagine what. What could Remus have done aside from offering this?
"I don't really think that's her business," Remus said pointedly, still glaring at Lily while she read all this completely huffy, it was clear she'd be demanding the same if she thought it would do any good.
.
There was the tiniest span of a second, a bubble of surprise and happiness, but it popped before it could even grow.
Lily still remembered saying those words to her husband, full of love and heart and mostly surprise herself as they'd never have dreamed of doing such a thing on purpose with their lives, but it was the best mistake they'd ever made. To hear that echoed back now, in such a cold flat tone, she skipped right past her surprise and couldn't even look at him she was so angry.
Remus' friends sure could! They instantly knew they'd been duped. He wasn't there for Harry, he was there to get away from-
"I, I can't do this-" Remus shook his head painfully, like he was hoping to break his own neck. "I, I swore I'd never, hurt-" he got up and nearly fell back down, so erratic he could not have control of his own limbs. He stumbled all the way to the front door, muttering to himself and leaving it open.
It took a second for them to realize what was happening. Then Harry got this feet, wand drawn and looking prepared to stop him none too gently.
"No- Remus, don't!" Sirius went bolting after him, looking more hurt than anything at this turn of events.
James still looked stunned, messing up his hair almost painfully. "Relax, he ah, had a bad reaction sure, but don't be ridiculous! Remus, he wouldn't try to-"
"Make a run for it?" Lily finished coldly. James flinched, could think of no other defense, and went sprinting out the front door. Remus was almost to the disaperation border, being held painfully in place by Sirius twisting his wand arm behind his back.
Remus was making it worse for himself by struggling to get away and shouting, "I don't care! I won't do that to a child! I have to, get out of here, stop myself-"
"Sounds to me like you already did it," Sirius snapped back. "Now own up to it! Instead of abandoning the little thing to Tonks, at least pretend like you'd stick around and help the baby through whatever the bloody hell is going to happen, which you don't know!"
"Honestly, stop being an idiot!" James quickly jumped in. "Go back in there, find out-"
"That's not the point!" He sounded inhuman now, voice garbled between pain and anger for this miserable existence being put in front of him. "I can leave here because I'm not human, nothing will happen to me! It will to, to the child though-" He was cut off in a twisted cry of pain as Sirius tightened his hold.
"You really think that matters?" James was actually getting angry now as he watched this, feeling the blood rush to his face. "If the baby's like you? I died trying to save my son, and you can't even be bothered to stick around for yours!"
"You seem plenty human to me, making whatever stupid arse decision this is," Sirius hissed in his ear. "So help me Remus, I'll pull your arm out of socket if you say so again! Then I'll transfigure it into a pacifier and not let you forget it until we're done with this!"
Remus didn't look at him, he couldn't look at any of them. His eyes were fixed on the spot where he was convinced he'd be able to leave all this behind because he wasn't like them! If it wasn't because he'd ruined an innocent woman's life with a brood of his, he'd make some ghastly mistake and still ruin someone else's life some day because of his affliction! He had to get far away from this! He should have done it already, back when they'd found out about this entrapment they were in, back when...his mind froze on that memory. How he'd been sick with pain then too, but he'd refused to leave James with the news of this betrayal while Sirius had run with a vengeance. He hadn't abandoned his family then- but this was different! Right? Yet, even with a full moon that night, and they'd still found a way to live on...
"Moony, listen to me!" Sirius pleaded, his hand relaxing by only the smallest margin as Remus stopped fighting, but his hand twitching for his wand anyways in case this was a ruse. "I'm not sorry this happened to you, hear me! You need to hear this you daft idiot because I'm at my wits end with you, trying to get through your thick head. Get your arse back in there and hear what happened! If the baby's like you then you can still make a better decision than not knowing, right?"
"Okay," he finally whispered, voice hoarse and painful, no relief as a tear slipped into his mouth.
Sirius released him slowly, wand already drawn, prepared to knock him out and drag him in should he not mean it. Head hitting every rock along the way.
Remus did mean it. He turned slowly, rotating his shoulder, the only thing here holding him was the last shred of hope he still had to cling to with his friends never having let anything bad happen before. They weren't there to do it in this despicable future, and he'd find out how wrong it all went and fight his way to fix that, just like he'd promised Sirius.
The cold, alien look on Prongs' face wasn't helping. The fact that he was still out here had to mean he still cared, would have done everything to stop Moony from leaving, but not without somehow being even more painful than Padfoot about it. Remus shrunk back, nearly hid behind Sirius before he checked himself and tried to whisper an apology.
James snorted unkindly, turned on the spot and went back inside.
"Wha-" Lily tried to ask, having been watching the whole thing but missing the real conversation.
"He's a bloody idiot," James said harshly as he walked past her, eyes on Harry who still had his own wand drawn and looked more than angry enough to use it if Remus came back. He was well aware how Remus felt about himself, but even he couldn't find a way to talk his friend out of this one, he had no idea how Sirius had managed it.
"James," Lily whispered, placing a hand on his arm. He didn't react at first, but when she tightened her grip he made a disgusted noise and stalked towards the armchair. Lily padded back to her seat with a far away look on her face. Truth be told, she'd never been more disappointed in Remus in her life. He'd always been hard on himself because of the dangers he could pose, but even she wouldn't have called him on this.
She watched as he trailed in behind Sirius, still rubbing his shoulder. He lingered by the staircase instead of joining them, eyes up and through to the crib and the baby beyond. She'd seen the way he'd gently hold that infant, how he'd affectionately even called Harry a little cub from time to time.
'It's supposed to be a joke,' he'd quickly said the first time she'd looked at him when he'd said that. 'You know, wolf pups are called, well, pups, and Sirius uses that because he's an idiot, but I-' She'd just laughed at him then while he went off to change the baby's diaper. The man was destined for a happy life and his own kids if he'd just get his head out of his arse and see it.
Lily cracked the book back open and sat alone for a few minutes as she found her place, Harry uneasily taking his seat back beside her, but they all remained tense and on edge. Sirius was pacing between his two friends with a torn expression in place. Harry had stowed his wand away already, but he was still tapping his knuckles on his knee with a mutinous expression. Nobody needed to guess this conversation was going to go any better without Remus' old friends there to stop Remus doing something really stupid.
Remus gawked at the book like it had swore at him, especially Ron's! Did they not realize what they were saying? Did anyone but him? The four stony expressions around him made it clear, not.
"Harry would sooner hand over Hermione to the Death Eaters than let you do something so stupid!" James said with pure confidence.
Remus flinched, growing angry himself now that no one was listening to him how much of a bad idea this was, but took that one in good grace. One look at him made his feelings clear as well.
"They don't get a vote on thi-"
"No!" James snapped at Sirius, who held his hands up in surrender and resumed his pacing. He was aware humor was not to be had right now, but he had to do something or he was going to burst!
"That's entirely not the point Moony," Sirius groaned, the man wasn't helping himself in any sense.
Remus had collided with the wall almost in the same breath as Lily finished. "Don't you talk for me right now!" James bellowed while Sirius held him back, trying to snatch his wand away. "I'd say nothing of the sort knowing-"
"Okay Prongs, he still needs to be conscious to learn his lesson!" Sirius pleaded.
James lowered his arm, slowly, while Remus got back to his feet defiantly and walked back to stand next to the couch now, glaring at James as if just daring him to take another shot.
Lily's hands were shaking as she tried to keep going. She'd tried doing homework around them for seven years no matter what they got up to, she tried to convince herself this wasn't any different.
James did look at Remus again then, a triumphant smirk in place.
Remus just crossed his arms, looking unimpressed as he sat down now, digging in his feet for the long haul.
Sirius remained hovering between the two and looking sick for it.
"You always do the stupidest things when you're scared," Sirius quietly agreed with that logic. He could all but see it in his head, Remus had already lived thirteen years alone, he wouldn't want to bare doing it all again. He'd take up the lively girl who became infatuated with him and be happy for it, until this came to light and Remus once again was faced with how others saw him. Just like he'd tried to run away from the school when he'd found out the three of them had become illegal animagus' for him, and Prongs had caught him and the three of them had talked him down. Then, right there outside the Whomping Willow they'd taken a picture for each other, a promise they'd always do this for each other.
Sirius may understand why he did it, but it didn't make him any happier about it. What would it take for Moony to see the same thing they all did?
James and Sirius exchanged a terrified look at that, both having the urge to caution Harry to be very careful what he said next now, neither had realized how far Harry was pushing him! The only time they'd seen that was when he'd found out what Sirius had done to Snape, Moony had damn near killed Sirius then with that same shadow in place. The only thing that stopped him was Prongs, reminding Remus what he'd just almost done to Snape.
Lily wasn't even sure what Harry meant by that, she'd never seen any such thing, but she recognized the danger it posed. She'd certainly never been more afraid of Remus than she was right now, watching him so adamantly try to destroy his life.
Harry just sat up straighter and crossed his arms, he'd take whatever Remus did to make him see.
Lily bit back a small whimper, some sympathy bleeding back in past her anger now. How long had Remus held all this in? He had no one else to go to but Harry now, as Tonks wouldn't have listened to any of this but brushed all these worries aside and assured him everything would be fine. Remus needed to get this out to see everything clearly.
"I still don't see where that gives you the right to run!" James said coldly, as Remus wasn't exactly contradicting himself he'd do any different now. "It happened, now the least you can do is be there for the kid, help that baby like no one could for you!"
Remus barely heard him, he couldn't get the image out of his head of some half human creature breaking out of Tonks, killing her in the process and then going on to murder more all because of him. This was no precious babe like Prongs', it would be a monster.
If he'd tried to convince her of this, and she'd fought him, then this would be his only option left.
James looked ready to throttle Remus. "You going to tell that to Harry, of all kids! Is this why you never went to look out for him, you thought he'd be ashamed of you? Are you going to do this in a few years when my son starts calling you Uncle Moony?"
Remus flinched with every one of James' accusations that he couldn't fight back, especially the last.
He hadn't allowed himself to ever think so far ahead, cherishing the time he had now with this family. He already hated himself some days for not putting more distance when he had the chance so they wouldn't have to make this decision.
He didn't answer, and James was left with another clarity this could have been the original reason he'd allowed the ruse to happen without Remus knowing. How long until he would have started doing exactly this, leaving him and Lily sick with worry what was wrong with him to be distancing himself?
Remus turned to Harry now, anger finally coloring his face in here, the curb of dealing with his friends beginning to wane to defend himself from all sides.
Harry was glad for it, he needed some way to vent and felt as if he'd been holding his tongue. If Remus took it back in here, it wouldn't be fair to continue accusing him of this, but he hardly was.
Sirius cut in before either of them could get started. "Oh come on Harry, would you try reasoning with him a bit rather than insulting him, it's not helping!"
"Clearly your way isn't either!" He thundered back. "What would you have me say? I'd think just by looking at me he'd know how I'd feel about him abandoning his kid like a coward!"
His wand wasn't even fully clear of his pocket when, "Expelliarmus!" It flew across the room, landing neatly on the mantel.
"Don't you dare do it," Lily said quietly to his near murderous face. She knew he wouldn't do her boy any real harm, but she wouldn't have it, not to him. The three Marauders could curse each other to kingdom come and come back from it, but she would not tolerate it on Harry.
Harry was surprised to see a tint of amber fading from his dark green eyes as he realized what he'd almost done. He didn't even look at the other two as Lily picked up the book again, fingers not even shaking anymore. Harry half wished his mum hadn't stopped him, there was some sort of finality he knew he was missing, he couldn't imagine if anything would get past that fury now.
"I'm long past Muggle punches," James hissed. Remus flinched and still didn't look at him.
Lily wished, more than anything, he'd heard that! When she glanced up though, she still couldn't find a single bit of his resolve wavering, it was maddening! Did he really think he could run from this forever? He should know better than anyone what kind of life that child would grow up having and be begging to be apart of it!
"What on Earth makes you think invoking my name will help?" Sirius sighed, as he clearly hadn't done any more good in this future than he was to this Remus proving what an idiot he was for housing these thoughts. Then what Harry was really saying caught up and he looked truly hurt. "What's that supposed to mean? Harry, I only ever did what I could for you, I'd never aban-"
"I know that!" Harry was quick to reassure, his anger simmering out as he looked guilty at his godfather. "You, just ah, well I meant you just didn't, well, think things through." It was the nicest way to put what was on his mind, he'd come to the realization once if Sirius hadn't gone to Azkaban that night he could have taken care of Harry. This had been his moment to voice that, another Marauder leaving a kid in their responsibility for other reasons.
Sirius still looked greatly troubled, but he was well aware of this himself and didn't fight Harry. He wasn't proud of everything he'd done, Merlin even half the things he'd done, or more accurately, hadn't done.
"Remus!" Lily screeched, her hand already being placed on her own wand again in pure instinct of anyone hitting her son.
"Oh I deserved that one," Harry said at once, waving his mother down but not taking his eyes off of Remus. "If it put his arse right, then I don't hold a grudge one bit."
"That makes one of us," James growled, and Remus did look at him then as he saw Prongs was near tears. James couldn't help it, as suddenly all three instances were on a loop through his mind, first Sirius nearly strangling Harry, then Peter punching him in the face in service to the Dark Lord, now this! He suddenly couldn't breathe, what the bloody hell was this future! Where were his friends instead of these horrid copies zapped of everything James knew! He didn't care Lily had propelled his wand away, James still wouldn't have believed it until Remus had uttered the curse any of them would raise a wand to Harry! He wasn't talking to his Moony anymore.
Remus didn't know that. His breath caught in his throat, and he looked almost in a panic to the door again. He'd never be able to live through this without them, clearly, the evidence was right in front of him!
"Enough, both of you!" Sirius snarled, almost bouncing on the spot with the urge to knock their heads together. "I lost Regulus because I couldn't look past a stupid decision of his, I'm not going to watch you two do the same!"
He turned to Remus first and looked him dead in the eye. "You need to get one thing through your head once and for all, stop caring what others think of you! So long as you know what you're capable of, you can handle your own life, to hell with the rest of them!"
In a slightly calmer voice he turned to James, who tried to defend, "I, I meant-"
"I know what you meant Prongs, and I don't disagree," Sirius brushed past. "Remus would be an excellent parent, but you can't force him into going back by guilting him into it, that'll only make things worse! He'll resent being there and, well you're son's again proof enough children shouldn't be raised by someone who doesn't want them!"
He crossed his arms and glared at the pair, clearly waiting for something that didn't seem forthcoming. "I'm not going to let Lily keep going until you two say something! I'll recite limericks over History of Magic if you two don't-"
"Okay," Remus whispered. "Alright, I'm sorry, for all of it. I, wish, I'd done things, differently. Especially to Harry," he said sincerely, looking first at him until he nodded his understanding, then at James.
He couldn't believe Harry seemed so instantly forgiving of this, and it occurred to him his son hadn't spoken just in anger but maybe he was channeling a bit of him there, trying to goad his old friend into doing the right thing. He hoped it worked. "Moony, I," he waved vaguely to the yard, swallowed, and then said with sincerity, "I don't want you to leave."
Remus actually smiled, a little one granted, more in surprise than anything that's what had come out. "I don't want that either."
"See, we can all agree on something!" Sirius clapped his hands, then flopped into the nearest seat feeling exhausted.
"I'm glad you lot are happy," Lily sighed, still watching Remus with worry. She kept most of it to herself. If Remus didn't go back what would become of him then? Worse, if he did and Sirius' prediction came true. She still wasn't very happy at all with him, just because he'd apologized didn't mean he wouldn't go doing it again the next time this topic came up as it was bound to do, but she tried for now to take a deep breath and not let it consume her.
All five of them winced as if that had echoed through time. The finality of it almost scared them.
"I'm glad that was so easy for you," Sirius groaned. "I feel like I can't go more than five minutes without someone exploding around here!"
Harry couldn't even bring himself to smile, let alone joke back. He felt the same way.
Lily read that with pure iced venom, and Remus still flinched even without the tone. He certainly regretted that one.
"Ah look Moony, you have a champion!" Sirius told him cheerfully, trying to prod him in the shoulder so he'd quit sitting stiff on the edge of his seat.
Remus waved his finger away without comment, he deserved no such thing.
Lily read each of them like a blow to her soul. She was nearly crying at the end, and Harry finally sat back in his seat to put a comforting arm around her. She took a moment to sniffle and pat his arm in thanks, meeting his eyes with pure regret. He'd been through so much, now here he was comforting her!
"It's okay," Harry whispered. "I know."
It took a moment for her to clear her throat. She'd kept herself out of the boys argument because she'd made herself perfectly clear from the moment it started and was hoping they'd hash it out. Now Harry had done it for all of them, as Remus' face twisted with shame for what he'd put Harry living through.
Remus flinched again, twisting up the hem of his robes into little frayed strings. The defense on the tip of his tongue, that this wasn't the same! He looked up at Prongs though, at James who'd never hear anything of the sort, and finally began to wonder if he was wrong.
Sirius tried for a laugh at it all, the noise dying quickly in the silence as he remembered even more vividly Harry appearing there later to no one being there for him when it had really mattered. Now it really felt like no one ever would be.
Remus made a guttural noise, maybe it was supposed to be a laugh, but it sounded more like his gut had been punched. "Oh don't worry about that one Harry, the last person I'll hold a grudge against is you."
Harry fidgeted uneasily now that it was all bubbling back down, trying to catch his dad's eye. The question buzzing in his mind wasn't nearly as powerful as it was at seventeen, but he still wondered...but his dad wasn't looking at him. There was some guilt and shame on his own face. For how Harry handled it? Or something else?
"Is that really a question?" James demanded, clearly aghast.
The look Harry gave him made it clear that was indeed something Harry was still wondering, and James' mouth opened and closed a few times with lingering surprise before he took a careful breath, still eyeing Remus as he addressed Harry. "You know I love you without question son, and I'm sorry if you've ever doubted that. I feel like I've spent half my life defending this idiot, that doesn't mean you should ever feel sorry for sharing what you think." He finished with a visible shudder, and Harry only then realized how much it must be killing him to be 'taking sides,' in this. He'd never have asked his dad to do that for him.
"You know what, I lied before," Sirius nodded to himself, while a thrill of fear went through Harry and everyone looked at him for a second as if he'd lost his mind. "I could be prouder of you, and it's now."
Remus couldn't help it, he gave a surprised snort of laughter. "For that! Glory Sirius, have some standards!"
"I do, and none of them involve you," he sniffed, not bothering to hide twitching lips.
James made a tiny little sound, maybe a bit of laughter he was trying to suppress at the pair, but Lily would still rather ignore them all for now. She wanted to finish and go upstairs to check on her baby again, make sure all the charms around his room blocking him from this noise were still in place. She knew they were still going to be needing them.
"Sounds like a sight," James muttered without much interest, his mind still on very many other things.
"I disagree!" Lily groaned, face planting the pages so hard she wondered for a moment if she'd break her nose in them. "What on Earth could be in there by her to make you think that?"
Harry didn't answer, and Lily sighed before deciding to get it over with.
Harry was flushed red with anger all over again, while Remus wondered if he was going to be sick.
"Well, nothing new on that front!" Sirius said loudly. "Skeeter's still spewing more opinions than facts, and a batch of Cauldron Cakes got put to waste!"
Again nobody answered him, and he was growing very restless at all this. He looked pleadingly to Prongs, but his head was bowed and he didn't seem to want to do anything for now, clearly all these dark questions about Dumbledore wasn't helping pull him back.
"What now?" Lily nearly sobbed. She was exhausted and just plain done, there really couldn't be anything left could there?
"With any luck, Moony's back already?" Sirius offered hopefully just for someone to talk to. Lily gave him an exasperated look of disagreement, she really couldn't handle another row.
"Ah," James looked blearily at Lily again, pummeling his brain to recall the reason Harry was on this dastardly quest. "Right, err, the locket Horcrux. Let's hear some good news then."
He fixed a smile into place without any hope, it looked painful, but Lily kept going anyways hoping to oblige.
"You three really do make a good team," Sirius chuckled, remembering being attacked by three thirteen year olds again with some detached fondness. Mundungus didn't stand a chance.
Sirius nearly fell out of his seat in surprise. Kreacher regarding Harry with some civility was one thing, but what was this? He exaggeratedly stuck his pinky in his ear and cleaned it out, while Lily rolled her eyes fondly at his theatrics.
Sirius' mouth did fall open at that, and it wasn't mock surprise. "He, he knows how to do that, without insulting someone?!"
'To those who've earned it apparently,' Lily thought, but kept that one to herself as she kept eyeing him. Both of his friends were now doing the same, they certainly could band together over this surprising turn of events. She kept going with a smile at least for now, even something as minor as Harry making peace with Kreacher she'd gush over saying.
"Not anyone," James said in a clipped tone.
Remus agreed without thinking, "some people do have better things to do instead of hide in holes."
The two grinned, albeit with a suppressed edge, but Sirius nearly burst into applause with gratefulness. As far as they could tell, Remus hadn't done something unforgivable in James' eyes, yet, and Remus was all for the change of subject that didn't revolve around him, so they were almost happily looking into this update.
"A miracle that," Sirius snorted.
"I can believe it," Lily sighed. After all this mess being piled on top of each other, here finally was one straight answer!
Sirius blinked once, twice, and then realized Lily was not joking and had in fact given him one of the nicest but most mental pictures ever. "Well, I'm screwed. Now I can't not be nice to the bugger if he's got that in him!"
"Was that all it took?" Harry muttered with some genuine amusement.
"It would help if you'd start saying Kreacher's name, instead of, everything else," Lily kindly instructed.
"Right, err, did he ever even get a name?"
Lily groaned that he was still joking about this, but for once there wasn't a drop of anger in his voice. He still looked rather impressed at this display.
All five of them got a laugh out of that.
"It's a nice feeling," James grinned for real this time.
"We need more of it," Remus groaned, well aware he'd been the source of the problem this time but at least trying to force it off for now. "I say we stop every five minutes and do a skit from The Tales of Beedle the Bard for a good laugh, I'll even let Sirius pick the rolls."
"Flatterer," Sirius scolded with pride.
"And not happening!" Lily cut in. "We'll be thirty by the time we finish this! You lot are fine, tough it up."
"Gee, thanks Lily Flower," James sighed, but didn't disagree with her. He'd find a way to get through every rough patch with his friends.
"I've officially found a use for, err, Kreacher!" Sirius beamed.
"I'm scared now," Lily muttered for herself, this wasn't what she had in mind for the two to bond over.
"Ugh, please let Hermione be right!" Remus pleaded.
Lily all but screamed in frustration, fighting back the urge to get to her feet and ball her fist at the sky for this endless nonsense!
"I swear if he doesn't remember every detail of the next bloody person you're going to have to hunt down, I'm going to fit his head into a doxie hole and never let him out!" James snarled.
"Well at least whoever it is doesn't seem so bad," Sirius sighed.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and you can trade her for something else, err, like the deluminator?" Remus offered. "You think that's why Dumbledore gave it to them?"
"I'm doubting it," James sighed, "but you're probably on the right track."
"Least it wasn't Borgin," Lily agreed.
The book fell from Lily's numb hands.
Sirius excused himself to go shove his head in a toilet for what he'd dared to say in ignorance.
They all collectively looked at the back of Harry's right hand, and cursed.
HPHPHPHP
God I love this chapter! Hope you did as well!
This chapter title always baffled me. Who's being bribed? Is Remus bribing Harry to go with him? Is Mundungus being bribed to give back the Locket? No, to both. A much better one, I think, would have been The Interrogation because that happens in multiple levels. Harry sort of interrogates Remus for information, Harry's wanted for an interrogation, then Harry and Kreacher again interrogate Mundungus, not to mention now the implied future interrogation of Umbridge. Just a personal opinion.
Also, my first AU idea ever was to wonder if Remus had gone back and spent the book with Harry and co., and how that would have changed things. I've yet to find a fanfic about this, and I want to!
* JK's math is being a bit screwy again. On an official Black Family Tree JK's posted, Regulus' death is marked as 1979, putting him at the age of 18. However, in OotP the date was marked as "some fifteen years previously" of when Harry saw it, which would instead put Regulus as dying in 1980, the year Harry was born. Yet in the previous chapter it specifically says Regulus died at seventeen. While technically there is wiggle room to suggest Regulus hadn't done the deed yet then, give or take some months unaccounted for in all this, I placed him as dead already, as I've had the headcannon for ages Regulus died on April 29th, his birthday. I imagine that if he'd somehow managed to live through it, even with the knowledge he wouldn't, he would have tried to go to Sirius on Regulus' own birthday because I just spew stupid poetic justice like that. Also, I didn't at all want to give the temptation Regulus would live in the AU, this is one of those deaths I have to admire and wouldn't want to take away.
Plus, it's such a drama scene that wouldn't have occurred between Remus and Sirius otherwise. That's not a good reason, and I'm not sorry.
Also, he is still alive in my All in the Family fic, so there's still hope for that! Anyone wanting a Sirius Regulus reconciliation will get it when I swing around to Kreacher's Tale in that book!
** Remus actually did this once through my doing the series, when Pettigrew punched Harry in the face. I liked the comparison it created.
Okay, I'm done now. Next chapter Monday as usual!