Things went back to normal, as normal as things could be for a werewolf with knowledge of future events. Break fell between full moons again, thankfully, and in the blink of an eye, Fae was screaming like a lunatic and wearing an amazingly horrific and puffy daffodil-yellow debutante dress complete with a little tiara as she sprinted down the halls of Hogwarts for the 2nd annual Loony Dook.

Sirius upstaged her in a skin-tight aerobics outfit, bright blue leggings, neon yellow leotard, and shocking green leg warmers and wrist bands. James took a different approach, galloping towards the water in a three-piece suit and top hat. Peter joined in this time too, rocking a disco outfit complete with a bleach white afro and sparkly gogo boots.

A few others joined too - namely the Klein brothers dressed as hippies, Marlene McKinnon as a marsh monster, David Bowie, Krampus, Sir Isaac Newton, a hot dog, and some guy wearing a horse head. It was magnificent. They were all galloping in a line, holding coconuts and cups and bowls, clanking them together like horse hooves, laughing maniacally.

Lily, Romilly, Remus, and several others followed behind with the boombox, camera, and towels, eyes rolling and lips curled in reluctant smiles.

It wasn't until after the dip and Fae emerging to be wrapped up in towels and hugs, that she noticed there was a significant lack of effective warming charms.

"Where's Regulus?" she asked Romilly.

The blonde girl frowned and shrugged. "Haven't seen him."

"Weird."

Weird quickly became 'not okay'. The tall boy barely left their side all last semester and now it was the breakfast before classes began and he was still nowhere to be found. Fae stood up on her bench, looking around the large room boldly.

Correction - he was at the Slytherin table, sitting between Avery and Gibson of all people. Fae stared at him, waiting for him to look at her so she could pull a funny face and wave him over. He did not.

He staunchly and obnoxiously ignored Fae and Romilly, sitting in the core of the Slytherin pack for every lecture. With each class, the cold feeling in Fae's chest just got worse. What was going on? Remus voiced the same question, curious about Fae's silence while they ran that night, as deep in thought as she was.

"Regulus is acting strange," she said.

"Is he."

Fae hummed and chewed her lip, nearly running into a tree. "Yeah, he's been avoiding me and Romilly."

"Huh."

That was Monday. It got worse the next day. Suddenly, the rudest bunch of the Slytherins in their class were going out of their way to interact with Romilly.

"Can I borrow this beaker, Eleanor?"

"Wow Eleanor! Your glasses look especially dorky today!"

They went for Fae too, knocking all her stuff to the floor repeatedly. When she went to pick it up, they kicked her over and dropped a pot on her head. "Watch it, Little Potter!"

Which wasn't even funny. Fae glared at Regulus and he glared back, not lifting a finger or saying a word. Fae threw the iron cookware back at her bullies with enough force to break the wall behind them. McGonagall chastised her. Fae quickly apologized for her strength and fixed the damage.

It went on all day until, of course, Fae snapped. It was the day before the moon so what could you expect? The Slytherins found Romilly and Fae leaving Defense Against the Dark Arts and followed them, singing Eleanor Rigby as loud as they could, with, admittedly impressive, practiced harmony. Fae tossed her book bag and dove into the crowd, grabbing for the nearest robe and swinging wildly. Five crying and whimpering boys, six black eyes, a broken wrist, eight bloody gouges, two dislocated shoulders, a cracked rib, a few busted lips, several broken shield charms, and three teeth clacking on the ground later, James was bodily hauling Fae off the dumbasses. He did a poor job and Sirius rushed in to help him, earning a black eye of his own thanks to Fae's flailing elbow. She got away, again, and ripped open her final victim's shirt, not quite able to sink her nails across his white belly when Remus got her around the middle and threw her over his shoulder.

"What has gotten into you?!" he was yelling, trying to set her down and pin her against a pillar so he could speak to her. Fae was too busy bellowing.

"Do it again! See what happens! I'll fucking shove Beatles records down your throat til your shitting vinyl for weeks and shredding your prolapsed intestines, you little bastards!"

"Ms. Potter!" McGonagall shrieked, rushing onto the scene.

And that was how Fae got her first detention at Hogwarts. The only thing she regretted was that she'd reacted so badly to those particularly poor attempts at bullying. Making fun of their names? Not even a color-changing bomb or gum in the hair or shoelaces tying themselves together or poisoning her food? Amatuers.

Remus disapproved, of course, and lectured her all through their pre-moon run the next day. James, Sirius, and Peter met her with a three-tiered chocolate cake before sunset, giving her fist bumps and hoisting her on their shoulders as their queen.

She just couldn't get Regulus' face out of her head. The blank, dead stares. The challenging gaze. The helplessness when he thought nobody was looking. It finally hit her the next day when she was resting in bed with Remus after the moon. She'd woken up and just lay there, curled against his side, thinking. And then she sat up with a gasp, accidentally knocking Remus' book right out of his hands to the ground.

"No!"

"What? What's wrong? What's wrong? Are you hurt? Did you have a nightmare?" Remus asked frantically, searching her over.

Fae squirmed out of his gentle hands, threw back the sheet, and started sprinting. She called behind her, "No, worse!" Because she thought she knew what was wrong with Regulus, and prayed to all the Gods that she wasn't right.

Regulus usually smelled like a low-burning bonfire, kind of smoky. He smelled like sandalwood and peanut butter. But since he'd been back, there had been a distinct smell of ink and something gross. Like burned flesh. Fae ran to Gryffindor tower, burst into her brothers' room, and dug frantically through James' chest, not reacting to Sirius' outraged yell and the rather high-pitched shout of the guy in bed with him.

"Sorry guys, emergency!" she said and then she was gone again, racing for the Astronomy Tower. Of course. Regulus liked to look at the sky when he was upset, tracing the stars even in the day when they weren't all visible. She found him and he looked surprised to see her. Striding over to him purposefully, she grabbed his left arm and ripped back the sleeve of his robes. And there it was. The curling snake and skull, staining his pale skin and practically oozing the disgusting smell of rotted flesh, so strong that it was almost a tangible weight in the air.

"No," Fae whispered.

Regulus tore his arm away and looked at her with sheer panic. Then he was gone. Fae fell to her knees and thought long and hard. She stared at the map. Regulus was back in the Slytherin Common Rooms. She knew the password, Rattlesnake, and could go to him, but knew that would do no good right now. Plus, she'd likely be stabbed after what happened yesterday. Even Brock and Brandon had been giving her wary looks today. Instead, Fae picked herself up and went to Hufflepuff where Romilly was keeping her armchair warm, apparently skipping Alchemy today alongside Regulus. It was good timing, the common room was empty.

Fae threw herself into the chair with Romilly and leaned heavily onto the taller girl's side with a deep sigh. Romilly knocked heads lightly and closed her book, waiting. Probably waiting for an explanation of where Fae had been this morning - which the excuse this time was detention.

Instead, Fae asked, "Romilly, what do you know about the war going on?"

"Not much?"

So Fae broke it down, telling her things that Fae wasn't even supposed to know herself. Those days during the summer studying current events came in handy now. She told her about Voldemort and how he'd been a rising power in the past few years, known for being strong and cruel and relentless with the dark arts. How Voldemort believed in blood and magic purity. How he'd been gathering followers and using them to go after people he disagreed with him. Strange disappearances. An uptake in werewolf bites. Mysteriously burned buildings. It was getting worse and he was gathering more followers.

Some pureblood families stayed out of it. Some stood against it. And some were born into it, were bred to join the cause, were raised to hate muggles and muggle-born and half-bloods.

Romilly was quiet for a long time and then nodded surely. "So what do we do?"

They cornered Severus Snape, the only other person she knew who had connections to Volde-bitch and would speak to her. Or at least, not snitch on her for forcing it out of him. Severus was many things, but he wasn't a tattle tale. Too much pride. So far, anyways.

"What do you want Fae?" he spat after she and Romilly had whisked him away into an empty classroom later that day.

"How did it happen?"

"How did what happen?"

"Regulus taking the dark mark. How," Fae demanded to know.

"How do you even know about-"

"Never fucking mind that. Tell me. Everything."

Severus eyed Romilly who was guarding the door. Then shrank under Fae's intense gaze and sighed deeply. He spilled.

The bad news is that Fae was right.

Severus had been there. Been there as they all assembled in the drawing room. As Walburga brought Regulus in and he stared, horrified, surprised, wide-eyed at all of them. Scared. Walburga offered him up, stating she just knew Regulus had always been a supporter and was eager to prove his worth. He was intelligent. Skilled. Useful.

But the good news is that Fae was right - Regulus didn't want it.

Severus suspected he had been surprised and too shocked and nervous and worried and scared to say no. It came out of nowhere, a way to lock him down thanks to Narcissa snitching about how close Regulus had stuck to her and Romilly over last term. He'd been told it was an honor all his life. A certainty. He wouldn't be a disappointment like his brother, would he? A blood traitor?

It made her own blood boil, imagining the pressure that had been forced on him, the way Walburga would've pushed him before Voldemort with glee. And Regulus, gentle and considerate Regulus, would have had no choice. His mind was divided, she knew that. And she hoped it was leaning more toward her side than the darker side.

"Well there's nothing for it. We'll have to trap him and ask him," Romilly said, reading her mind.

Fae nodded, wheels already turning. He'd only left the Slytherin Common Room in the past few days for classes. Likely commanded the younger Slytherins to bring him back meals, she hoped. It'd be bad if he wasn't eating, but he did tend to get peckish when he was caught up in his own head.

"Brock and Brandon will help. And Severus, you can lure him out," she said.

"What? No, don't drag me into this," the sixth-year drawled.

Fae shot him a glare. "You're already in. Just get him out of the common room, say about 6 o'clock this Saturday."

"Make it Sunday," Romilly said. "I've got something in mind."

Fae grinned, catching on. "I like the way you think."

Severus gaped at both of them. "What? Why? Why does it matter if Regulus is a Death Eater? He clearly wants nothing to do with either of you anymore."

"He's ours," Romilly said.

"We don't share and we won't just let him go that easy, not unless we know he'll be okay and it's really what he wants," Fae added.

"Psh," Romilly scoffed. "Regulus never knows what he wants."

"Yeah, you're right," Fae laughed. Then grinned at Severus. "That's why he needs us. Now, you're going to tell him that Slughorn wanted to talk to him about a Slug Club event coming up, a social event for families of the Sacred 28. Savvy?"

"...fine."

"Thanks mate."

"I'm not your mate."

"Keep telling yourself that."

They went back to Hufflepuff, grinning and planning. And then stopped when they saw Remus pacing back and forth outside of the portrait. He caught sight of them a moment later and rushed forward, wrapping Fae up in a hug so fierce that it lifted her off the ground and reminded her that she was, in fact, still quite sore from the moon last night.

"Oof," she wheezed.

"Fae! Are you alright? Where have you been? I've been worried sick since you ran out of the infirmary like that! And Sirius said you took the Marauders Map for an emergency? Fae, what's going on?"

"I'll just… leave you two to sort this out," Romilly said as she disappeared into Hufflepuff.

Fae pulled away and smiled nervously. "Uhh… so here's the thing. I'm fine."

"Oh thank Merlin," he breathed.

"But Regulus isn't."

"Regulus," he repeated.

Fae frowned and started ranting, all the thoughts she'd had in the last hour or so coming out automatically. "His mother essentially sold him to the Dark Lord. Apparently, his cousins snitched on him for being so chummy with me and Romilly last term."

"This is about Regulus?"

"Yes, keep up. Remus, they made him take the Dark Mark. He's a Death Eater now…." she said sadly. Then cursed. "Don't tell Sirius! Not yet. I need to talk to Regulus and sort things out before I can deal with Sirius. Merlin, he's going to lose his fucking mind when he finds out," Fae hissed. Sirius was going to attack the Black House head on or something stupid. She'd better plan telling him too. A padded, locked room couldn't be too hard to set up.

"Don't tell Sirius."

Fae grinned up at him. "Yes! Thank you, I knew I could count on you. I'll tell him soon, promise, I'm already working on a plan to pin down Regulus."

"Right." And then, for whatever reason, he turned and walked away.

"Remus? Dude, what?" she called at his back. Then shrugged and turned to head into Hufflepuff and get planning with Romilly again. "Okay, bye!"

How sweet of him, coming to check she was okay.

Romilly was waiting in her chair, perched on the arm easily. "So I was thinking, Brandon and Brock have been really into water manipulation lately…"

It went like this - Severus told his little lie to get Regulus to head toward Slughorn's quarters on Sunday night. Sunday nights when Slughorn always ended up trading potions for creature parts with Kettleburn over a stiff drink.

On the way, the Klein brothers sent a wave down a deserted hallway near the quidditch pitch, drenching Regulus in pink, rose-scented, clothing-eating, fizzy water. The brothers surfed to safety and Regulus ducked into the closest bathroom to wash off because he hated being anything but pristinely clean. Robes and all, he tossed himself into the nearest shower stall and began rinsing himself off, not realizing there was a bit of sleeping draught in the stream.

He woke up tied to a chair in Fae and Romilly's silenced room. The two girls had easily bribed Ellorie away for the night with their chocolate stash and Sirius was taking one for the team by whisking Marley away for a secret, thrilling night in Hogsmeade.

Regulus woke up, blinked, and started screaming. "Let me go! Let me go this instant, you filthy mudbloods! You'll pay for this - the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black will have your heads!"

"Off with our heads!" Fae shouted and then returned to applying black polish to Romilly's big toe.

"Paint the roses red!" Romilly added, and Fae took the hint, casting a drying charm on the polish and starting to paint a red flower over the black polish.

He was shaking and struggling so much. Good thing they put sticking charms on the chair so it stayed glued to the ground. "Are you both mad? I'll hex you into bits! When I get out of this, if you even think of coming near me ever again, I'll sicc Avery and Gibson on you! I'll let them lace amaryllis in everything you eat. I'll tell them to set the flobberworms on fire!" he screeched.

"Oooooohhh," Fae giggled.

"How scathing," Romilly gasped. Then held out three other bottles of her polish for Fae to choose between. Fae was good at painting other people's nails, but rubbish at painting her own. She picked a pale pink and then squirmed happily as Romilly removed her gloves and softly, daintly, took Fae's hand to begin applying the polish in smooth, sure glides. Romilly still wore gloves all the time, save for handling creatures. And for assisting Fae with her hair or nails or what not. Fae felt very special to be considered on par with creatures in Romilly's world. Even with Regulus, she would elbow him or shoulder-check him. Once, they bumped fists, but her gloves were on. She wondered if Regulus had ever even seen the scars on Romilly's hands before now.

Regulus kept right on screaming. They tuned him out and then tuned back in when they heard the names of their brothers. "The Death Eaters will kill you. They will hunt you down and you'll disappear. Never to see your families again. Never see James or Sirius or Ilan or Matty. They'll torture you. Don't you understand?" His voice was taking on a desperate, watery edge. They were getting close to breaking him.

The two girls shrugged and put away the nail polish. They charmed their nails dry and Fae turned around so Romilly could brush out her hair and put it in twin french braids. She was even better than Euphemia at this sometimes, especially braids.

"I'm a bloody Death Eater now! I do the bidding of he-who-must-not-be-named! The Cruciatus Curse will look like child's play compared to what he'll do to you! Do you know what kind of dark magic he's capable of?"

"We don't care," Romilly answered idly, focusing on looping the strands and keeping them from tangling again at the bottom. Fae's hair was really getting long, but the last time she'd suggested cutting it, Romilly had removed all sharp objects from her reach for a week.

"Just stay away from me! I'll kill you! I'LL KILL YOU if you come near me! I'll Imperious you and have you murder your own families! I'll hex you so your entrails hang from the ceiling of the Grand Hall! I'll-"

Fae could tell he was about to cry so she looked at Romilly. Romilly considered for a second, then nodded. With a flick of her wand, Regulus was set free from the chair. With a synchronized flick of Fae's wand, Regulus was given his own.

"So do it," she told him. The two girls met his wide-eyed stare and waited.

His mouth gaped up and down like a fish and it would've been kind of cute, if it weren't for the tears spilling down his cheeks. "I- I! I...can't," he exhaled, collapsing to the ground like the drama queen he was. Sometimes, Sirius had nothing on his little brother. Romilly slid her gloves back on and Fae swept her half-braided hair out of the way as the two girls rose in unison and joined him on the ground, wrapping their arms around him, rubbing his back and petting his hair. Romilly gave the best pets - she had the gentlest hands. Fae had the best collarbone for cradling tears, or so Sirius had told her once.

"We're not going anywhere Regulus, no matter what," Fae promised.

"Threaten us, curse us, try and hurt us, we'll be fine and we'll just keep coming back. We aren't giving up on you," Romilly soothed.

"But..But they'll come after you. They won't like it if-" he stammered through watery choked noises.

"A Death Eater and couple of mudbloods are friends? They can kiss my filthy, muddy ass." Fae grinned. "You're ours. They can't have you," she declared, kissing him on the head.

"That's just the way it is," Romilly said.

Regulus sniffled loudly and rubbed at his eyes, weakly trying to escape their grip. "You don't understand, they will hurt you. I can't protect you!"

Fae and Romilly shared a look. Rolled their eyes. "Frankly, I'm more worried about you. Will they hurt you if you're with us?" Romilly asked, thoughtful and sharp.

Fae nodded. "I know they marked you because of us. Because you hung out with us so much last term. Will it get worse, if you keep it up?"

He chewed his lip. "I… I don't know. Probably not, I'm just a newbie. The Dark Lord has… more important things to focus on," he said carefully, quietly.

The werewolf huffed a laugh and ruffled his hair. "Yeah, and besides you can just tell them you're spying on me and my family!"

"I would never do that!" Regulus startled, suddenly shouting again.

Fae smiled tenderly at him and tucked a lock of hair behind his ear. "But you will if you need to keep yourself safe. I trust you not to truly betray me."

He looked back and forth between them several times, eyes getting wet again. "Why?" he asked, "Why are you doing this?"

Romilly actually smacked him upside the head. "How many times do we have to say it? You're ours."

"And besides, the way I see it, we're still students. Nothing is going to happen, not really, for another two years most likely. Voldemort is still gathering supporters as far as I know. This isn't a full scale war with a line drawn clearly in the sand just yet. For now, we're still us, fifth years at Hogwarts and best friends. When the time comes, we'll figure it out. Just trust me," Fae told him, taking his hand and holding it tight, reassuring him with her solid, confident voice. Fake it til you make it, yeah? She didn't know how to get him out, but over her dead body would she let him die. Not young. Not alone. Not for the Dark Lord. She would save him.

"She's right," Romilly said, catching him in an affectionate headlock. "We could always ditch it to America as soon as we graduate or something," she suggested cheerfully.

He laughed helplessly. "You're mad. The both of you."

"Like that's not why you love us."

They didn't let him leave that night, not that he really tried to. He was more curious about how they'd gotten him into the girls' dorms. Fae grinned. Only the stairwells and doorways were charmed - the windows were not. Effective for the towers like Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, and beneath the ground like Slytherin. Hufflepuff, even with the earth, was practically inviting it. They were the chill house after all.

So they turned out the lights and cast an enlargement charm on Fae's bed and conjured fairy lights inside the closed curtains. They shared treats and drinks so he wasn't dehydrated and starving anymore. They made him let them paint his nails and brush his hair til it was silky smooth, but really he just needed some pampering. Fae cast a small atmospheric charm on her canopy ceiling and told him to create stories from these brand new stars, Romilly lying on his right and Fae curled up on his left, digging her cheekbone into his thin shoulder.

It was with the assurance that they'd just steal him back and bind him to their side if he didn't join them willingly in class that Regulus left early the next morning, returning to Slytherin. Fae walked him and hugged him at his portrait, holding him close and promising things would be okay. Remus was waiting for her at Hufflepuff when she got back and she ran very quickly that morning, springing and leaping happily. Not expecting it, he was left in the dust initially and struggled to keep up.

He must've been curious about her good mood because he followed her to Hufflepuff table for breakfast. "What are you doing?" Remus asked while Fae took a deep whiff of her plate of food and poked at the scrambled eggs with her fork.

"Checking my food for amaryllis," she answered casually.

"Sorry what?"

"Avery and Gibson poisoned me with amaryllis last time I stole Regulus from them and frankly, I don't think they are creative enough to come up with anything else," she explained. Then dug in, her food was clean and she was starving.

"Pft." Regulus laughed, settling down beside Romilly on the other side of the table. "They didn't even come up with it last time, it was an accident, remember?"

"Oh yeaaahhhh" Fae said through a mouthful of food. Romilly and Regulus snickered.

That evening, she and Remus were settled rather comfortably into their library den when he asked, "Why are you doing this Fae?"

"Uh, specify. Doing what?"

"Bothering with Regulus," he said.

Surprised and suddenly much less comfy, she repeated his words. Just to make sure she heard that right. "Bothering… with Regulus."

"You know what I mean," he huffed. "If he's really a Death Eater now.. Then you know how it's going to end. Why put yourself at risk being friends with him?" He said Death Eater the same way other people might say werewolf. It was unacceptable.

Fae sat up, completely off Remus, and frowned deeply at him. How dare he? What the actual fuck? "Remus, that's like asking why you would bother being friends with me, knowing odds are I could kill you one day, especially if I keep getting stronger, which I will."

"What? It's not the same at all! You would never hurt me."

Fae snarled. "And Regulus would never hurt me. You don't know him like I do." Then she gathered her stuff and dropped out of the den to the ground, stalking off.

"Where are you going?" he called.

"Detention," she answered coldly.

Remus apologized later, although he didn't sound very sorry, he just sounded miserable that she wasn't speaking to him. Fae accepted it because she missed him and because she just couldn't handle being out of sorts with him at the same time as handling Sirius' rage.

Sirius did not take it well. She explained it as best she could, that Regulus wasn't sure what he wanted and had been avoiding making a choice, but was forced into making this choice, and now was back to avoiding the overall choice because they were just kids for two more years, so they had time to figure it out, stay calm Sirius.

He absolutely trashed the room they were in and Fae was suddenly glad that she'd pulled him into the History room. Only desks and bookshelves in there really. But damn, could that boy shatter solid oak and shred paper. Then he abruptly stopped, took big, heaving breaths, and headed for the door. Fae stopped him and blocked him until he promised not to confront Regulus. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I'm not going to go after Regulus. Do you know how badly that would go?" he said. Then settled his hands on her shoulders and hugged her briefly. "Look after him Fae. Keep holding onto him."

"Sirius, don't do anything stupid," she called after him as he strode out of the room.

So what did her brother do? He went after his favorite punching bag, the fucking asshat.

"This is why I said to leave me out of it!" Severus seethed at her a day later, gesturing to his boil-covered face.

"Oh, fuck," Fae said. Then, "Damnit Sirius!"

And again a few hours later, "Merlin fucking- this is why we're not allowed to have nice things!"

It was like deja vu - in the clearing by the same fucking tree, drawing a crowd with all the loud insults, tossing hexes back and forth. At least James kept his nose out of it. Fae rolled her eyes and let the vines take Sirius and Severus before commanding everyone to clear out. They didn't wait for her to ask twice this time.

"Severus, you good?" she called.

"Fuck off," he snarled.

"Sirius?"

"He started it! Bloody git!"

She sighed deeply and then let the vine lower Sirius into her iron grip. "Come on you two, let's have a chat. Remus, grab Severus if you please."

"Uuuuh, sure."

She took them to the Gryffindor common room and let loose, bitching them out heatedly because she was tired of their bullshit. Remus, good boy, had gone to get James, Lily, Peter, and some popcorn to eat while they watched and laughed at the two sixth-year boys being berated and talked at like toddlers.

The conclusion came with an action - a binding chain, 'courtesy of Regulus and the Black household' she said, locking their hands together, fingers-laced couple style. They began screaming and trying to wrench apart from the other frantically. No such luck. The two black-haired boys caused quite a bit of collateral damage while Fae was too busy laughing at them with the rest. Eventually, though, she did send them crashing back down on the couch with a quick Jelly Legs jinx.

"So here's what we're going to do. You two are going to do everything together. Everything. For however long it takes to apologize sincerely to each other. When you say sorry, and mean it, the chain comes off. You do this shit again, I put the chain back on, and you become Hogwarts' newest and cutest couple for the foreseeable future, whether you like it or not. Got it?"

It reminded her a great deal of Kagome putting the beads of subjugation on Inuyasha and 'sit boy-ing' him to oblivion at her whimsy. Good, heady feeling that one.

They started yelling, again, and she held up her hand to quiet them after about five minutes of deafening noise. "Shitty home lives, intelligent, clever, protective of your best friends who are practically dating each other, short tempers, drama queens, attention-seekers, often terrorized by me, ridiculous lung capacity…." she hummed, listing them off and counting on her fingers. Then she smirked. "Shame you two don't have anything in common."

Then she said, "Well. At least you both have long, pretty, girly hair."

"It's not girly!" they yelled in unison. "It's punk," Sirius argued at the same time Severus was saying, "It's sophisticated!"

Fae arched an eyebrow. "Mhm."

"Have fun boys!" Then she turned to the couch of howling, shrieking hyenas. "James and Lily, give em hell," she commanded, hoping those two ran wild with pranks and obstacles. They grinned at her in cute, match-making unison.

"Peter, get pictures," she told him, grinning at his broad smile and thumbs up.

"And Remus? You know what to do," she said, leaving it to him to keep the chain active and to release it when they gave up. It was just a plain old chain and a simple binding spell, not some mystical antique, but they didn't need to know that.

Remus grinned wolfishly and cracked his fingers. "This oughta be good."

The sixth years left for class shortly after, Fae wishing she could be a fly on the wall, but trusting Peter and Remus to give her all the details later. She skipped off to the kitchens, humming cheerfully to herself.

Severus and Sirius were stuck together for two days. Nearly three, but they had casually apologized about a spilled drink without thinking and Remus had decided enough was enough, they were civil enough to each other and had learned their lesson. They had fought and bickered the entire time, but showed surprising teamwork against Lily and James' attempts to fuck with them. Remus told Fae that she should've listed 'stubborn as hell', because he sincerely thought it might've been months before they actually apologized for being assholes to each other.

"I hate you," Severus told her a day later, finding her taking photos of the Ravenclaw Quidditch practice during her yearbook club.

"That's fair," she told him. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask another favor of you."

"You can't be serious."

"I'm not Sirius, I'm Fae," she said, snickering. He rose to leave and she stuck his robes to the benches.

"Sorry! Sorry, bad joke. Anyways, I want you to do something for me."

"Sure, love to, why not," he answered, voice dripping sass and disdain.

"Look after Regulus," she commanded.

"Regulus?"

Fae met his gaze and then nodded. "I don't know how far down the rabbit hole you are, but I know you're more connected to that whole business than anybody else I can ask."

"How do you-" he began to ask, but she cut him off.

"Madam Johanson's Divination class taught me the power of nature communication and the trees of the Forbidden Forest are chatty, especially the pines."

Her delivery must've been perfect because Severus sincerely looked like he didn't know whether to believe her or not. Score.

"Please. Regulus is too gentle, too kind. Look out for him, will you?"

"Why do you go so far for him?" the sixth-year asked.

"Because he's my friend and I care about him and I want him to be happy," she answered easily.

"Hmm."

There was an easy moment of silence between them and then Fae bumped his shoulder with her own. "You know, despite her growing friendship with my idiot brother, Lily feels the same way about you."

"Hmm," he said again.

"And I think.. you should let her care about you. She wants to help you, she just doesn't know how." Because Lily was sharp and clever, but a truly pure girl. No clue how to handle, confront, or wield darkness. Shame, that. "But, at least here, you two can still spend time together. Life is short and sometimes all we get is each other and brief, commercial-like moments of happiness and freedom. You should take them while you can."

And also, if he and Lily didn't friendship-break-up, maybe he would do the decent thing and not rat on her and her brother and their soon-to-be-born child-of-prophecy. That would be great.

After that, Severus was around more often. He and Sirius bickered incessantly and came up with hexes for each other constantly, which was actually pretty impressive. Annoying at first, but the fighting became background noise with time. Fae figured it was a good outlet for their tempers and energy and creative intelligence.

And that's how on Valentine's Day, Severus, Lily, James, Peter, Sirius, Romilly, Regulus, Remus, and Fae ended up having a picnic outside the Forbidden Forest, dramatically reading and acting out Shakespeare. Sort of.

"Romeo, romeo, wherefore art thou romeo?" Lily cooed sweetly.

Fae grinned. "Translation? Desperate! desperate! I am really desperate! Are there any stalkers on my grounds?" she said, causing Remus, Severus, and Romilly to burst into laughter.

Lily gasped and threw a chip at her, which Fae just caught in her mouth, ungracefully flinging herself over Regulus' lap.

"Shakespeare is sacred! Don't be so crass!"

"Shakespeare is lame. And two children falling in lust, causing the deaths of like eight people, is not classic. Or should not be classic."

"Well, she's not wrong," Severus said, shrugging as Lily looked to him for support.

James tried to argue with Fae on Lily's behalf, but he was too busy considering how to say his lines as Romeo as romantically and convincingly as possible.

"Please guys, I know it's a lot to ask, but she's getting suspicious and I feel bad lying to her all the time," James begged a month later.

For his 17th birthday, he was requesting that Fae and Remus allow him to tell Lily about their lycanthropy. For Fae, it was no big deal. Severus could probably use a friend to talk to about it with and she knew Lily was loyal, here to stay, and would keep her mouth shut. Remus didn't know any of that. Lily had been one of his first friends here and one of the truest. Or, most sane, anyhow. But it meant so much to James and Remus was a bleeding heart who didn't want to lie to her either. So with anxiety sending tremors through the hand Fae was holding, he gave James a shaky nod.

Lily took it well. Not that Fae and Remus followed James under the invisibility cloak and watched him tell her or anything. But she took the news like a champ, surprised, thoughtful, and then with a good attitude as all the antics and oddities over the years clicked into place. She cornered Remus to talk to him about it a few hours later, although strangely requesting that Fae leave so she could speak to Remus alone. Figuring it was because they were closer friends, Fae took off.

She waited in their library den and as she guessed, Remus turned up an hour later with slightly red eyes and a small, happy smile. He crawled in and they easily adjusted to each other in the small space. It was only getting smaller since Remus just refused to stop getting taller or more lean, but neither were quite willing to expand the space when they could just curl closer together and ditch some of the pillows. Werewolves had excellent body heat, after all.

"She took it well, I'm guessing?"

Remus nodded. "Yeah, she did. She said she was sorry."

"For?" Fae asked, hoping Lily wasn't going to apologize that they were cursed and suffering and blah blah blah. She hadn't, thank Merlin.

"For all those years I wasted, spent worrying about what she would think. 'You're still the same, Remus' she'd said."

"She wasn't wrong. People love you much more than you realize, you know," Fae said all too easily.

"Yeah, yeah, if you say so," he answered, rolling his eyes. Oh he had no fucking clue.

"I do. And I'm always right. Or at least, not wrong."

"Uh-huh, right."

Settling down and opening her book, she nudged his shoulder playfully. "Well, it was a very Gryffindor thing to do. Very brave, darling. I'm glad it went well."

"Thank you," he said, rolling his eyes, but there was a pleased arch to his eyes.

"And for doing something so brave, I think you deserve a little special something."

"Oh?"

"Happy 17th birthday Remus," she said, pulling the card out of her book sneakily. In it were some massively generous coupons to Zonko's and Honeydukes. He grinned brightly and pulled her close to tickle her madly. Asshole.

Fae got her turn with Lily Evans a day later.

The red-haired girl cornered her and demanded she accompany her to Hogsmeade. Fae was very much charmed and amused, normally she was the one doing the whisking away. The two girls walked and chatted easily. When they sat down in a booth at the Three Broomsticks, drinks in hand, Lily got serious.

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Everything?" she said, whispering almost conspiratorially and glancing around to make sure no one was listening. It was so cute. "Being a werewolf, being your lunatic brothers' sister, wearing trousers or skimpy cheerleaders outfits or whatever you want, being friends with-"

"With a Death Eater?"

She frowned. "So you know then. About Regulus. About Severus."

Fae shrugged and took a deep drink. "I wasn't sure if Severus had taken the mark yet, but I suspected."

Apparently, Lily wanted to talk about how to be friends with Death Eaters rather than Fae's lycanthropy which suited Fae just fine. The girl was clearly worried about Severus, going on a long, winding spiel about how she feared he was falling to the 'dark side' and was 'slipping away' and she didn't understand him anymore. So sweet and naive.

Before she got too carried away, Fae cut in with a bit of a rant of her own.

"They're just kids Lily. We're all just kids. This war is going to make all of us grow up, very fast, no doubt. But I want to believe in the best in people. And I want to judge Severus and Regulus by the good things they do and all the small, great things they do all the time, not by the shitty decisions they make without realizing the magnitude." And, well, it helped that she knew how shitty and non-shitty they were in the future. In a future.

"It'll hit them one day and we'll either be there for them or we'll be standing against them. But today, we're still kids. I just want to give them a chance. A choice. And at least, good memories."

"You're right," Lily said eventually, mulling it over and then smiling softly.

"I get that a lot," Fae said. Really, she liked being a teenager, but she'd forgotten how extra they got about everything. Just gotta chill, take it day by day. Things work themselves out so don't get in a tizzy. Then she grinned mischievously. "So… you and my brother, huh?

Lily didn't miss a beat, grinning sharply back. "So, you and Remus, huh?"

Fae narrowed her eyes at the red-head. "Cheeky bint."

"Savage animal."

That made Fae laugh, long and loud and clear. She wiped a tear away and then said, "I want to be a bridesmaid at the wedding."

"Sure, as long as you don't mind wearing peach," Lily joked.

"I look divine in peach!"

Rolling her eyes, the girl then declared, "I'm not marrying James."

"And I'm not in love with Remus," Fae agreed sagely.

"So you admit it."

"It's obvious to everybody but him," Fae said, waving it off. Because, sadly, it was. "Do you admit it?"

"Well," Lily said, chewing her lip. "He's not so awful this year, I suppose."

"High praise," Fae joked, causing both girls to giggle. "Look, he's an idiot and undiplomatic and kind of dumb, but I do love him to bits and he cares about you a lot. Treat him well."

Lily smiled, blushed, and nodded. "Yeah, I know. I will."

Teeth on full display, Fae shot her another bright grin. "Good. And as per sibling shovel talk, if you hurt him- and he didn't deserve it- I'll shave your head and tattoo 'lying heathen' across your eyelids."

"Creative" Lily complimented. Then leaned in. "So how'd you figure out how to gain awareness during the moon? Tell me everything."

"Everything? It's pretty gory, you know, having all my bones break and reshape themselves twice a month ish. And don't even get me started on the stuff I learned about Greyback or Callum the Cruel or Bobby Bonecrusher."

"You made those two up."

"Did I?"

So maybe Lily had a little dark fun to her after all. Good to know.

It was a lovely day and Fae felt like she could really call Lily her friend by the end of it. Of course, good things never last and the second Fae stepped into Hogwarts, Sirius was on her, dragging her to the infirmary.

"It's Moony," he said. "Something really bad happened."

A/N: There are a few references in this chapter and I give major kudos to anyone who catches them. Anyways, I promised to make up for not posting for a whole week so here's another chapter and more Regulus!

Also, I hope ya'll are ready for next chapter. Fae lets loose her wrath - followed by a summer that is less idyllic than the previous.