Hello! I am very excited for you all to read this chapter, it is like? so much longer than every other chapter so far. I hope you enjoy it! Make sure to comment and let me know what you think! Happy reading!
Harry knew he wouldn't like it, but he knew he'd have to ask Sirius at some point. The problem was, Harry knew just how estranged Sirius was from his family, and he probably wouldn't take kindly to being asked to get in contact with them.
Especially because the ones they needed to speak to were Death Eaters.
Even more so because Hermione was pretty sure Regulus had already taken the Dark Mark. No matter what Harry had heard before the recruitment meeting, they knew Regulus was at that meeting, and given the company he still kept at school, it was unlikely he had opted out.
Also because they definitely would have heard if another Black child had rejected Voldemort.
Sirius was usually surrounded by the other Marauders and Harry knew he wouldn't want to be asked in front of them. Anything to do with his family, Sirius preferred to keep quiet.
Unless, of course, it was shaming them publicly, which he did often.
"Sirius, could I have a word?"
Harry stood awkwardly in front of James, Remus and Sirius. He had a slightly forced smile on his face, and honestly it weirded the boys out. They hadn't really seen Harry smile all that much since Ron was taken. So immediately they all knew something must be up, but Harry only asked for Sirius. He shrugged and stood from his chair, following Harry out of the Common Room and into the corridor where Hermione was waiting.
"Is this am ambush?" Sirius joked. He looked between the two of them, and noticed their grave looking expressions. "What is it? Did something happen?"
"In a sense." Hermione said vaguely. "We shouldn't talk in the corridor, come on." She led the way to a section of the seventh floor Sirius remembered as having some...good memories.
Remus memories.
There was a broom cupboard here that they were particularly fond of, when they were dating. Not that they were anymore. Sirius couldn't blame him, he didn't want to date himself either after the stunt he pulled.
But the broom cupboard didn't seem to be there. Instead there was a blank stretch of wall that Hermione paced in front of, her face scrunched up in concentration.
And a door appeared.
Hermione took the handle and pulled, revealing a quaint sitting room. She ushered the other two in. Sirius couldn't help but gaze around in wonder. He had never been in this room before, and he prided himself with knowing the ins and outs of Hogwarts.
"Don't worry, mate. You're not going crazy." Harry dropped a hand on his shoulder. "You probably have been in this room before, it just didn't look like this."
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked. Even growing up in the Wizarding World, this was something he hadn't quite experienced.
"It's the Room of Requirement." Hermione supplied. "It becomes anything you need it to be. Its where we came a lot in the past couple of years, when we needed to get away from all of the lies we had surrounded ourselves with." She smiled sadly at Harry, and in response he threw himself down in a squashy armchair.
"Most importantly, it is a place where we can have a private conversation without anyone overhearing us." Harry gestured towards the other chairs, and the others sat.
"Sirius. I, uh, know how you would prefer not to be reminded, but you are a Black." Harry grimaced and wished he had started this conversation any other way. "And a lot of people in the Black family happen to be, well."
"Death Eaters." Hermione said.
Sirius stiffened in his seat. "And what does that have to do with me?"
Harry and Hermione shared a look. Maybe they didn't think this through enough, but it was too late to stop now.
"We need contact. With a Death Eater." Harry blurted.
"I'm sorry?"
"Its the only way we can think of to find where Ron is being held." Hermione explained.
Sirius looked between the two of them, and seemed to come to a decision.
"Alright. I'm not going to talk to Bella though, that is out of the question." Sirius lounged comfortably in his chair, propping his leg up on the coffee table. "So who did you have in mind?"
Harry took a deep breath.
"Regulus."
Sirius' foot slipped off the table and hit the floor with a thud.
"What?"
Sirius leaned against the cold stone of the passageway leading to the Slytherin Common Room, sneering at Slytherins who walked past and shot him dirty looks. Like it was a crime to stand in the hallway.
"What are you doing here?"
Sirius turned his head and saw his brother shooting him the same dirty look the rest of the Slytherins gave him.
"Hello to you too, little brother." Sirius pushed off the wall and approached him.
Regulus rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"
"Right to business, I guess. You don't even want to know how I'm doing, or you don't want to share anything you've done recently?" Sirius purposefully glanced down at Regulus' forearm, and he quickly hid his arm behind his back.
"Why are you here?"
Sirius sighed. "I need your help."
"What could I possibly help you with?"
"Can we talk privately? I feel like this is information you wouldn't want being spread around." Sirius nodded towards the group of Slytherins gathered at the end of the corridor, watching them closely.
Regulus glared and took Sirius' arm and led him to abandoned classroom.
As soon as the door shut, Regulus unceremoniously let go of Sirius' arm and stepped back from him. "Now will you tell me what the hell it is that you want? I can't be seen talking to you, Sirius. It isn't safe."
"Why isn't it safe, Reg? Is it because you're now loyal to someone who doesn't deserve it?" Sirius said. "I know you took the mark. You don't have to hide it from me."
"You don't know anything, Sirius. You abandoned me, so you don't have any say in the matter." Regulus said. "What I do in my time has nothing to do with you."
Sirius barked out a laugh. "Oh in your free time? So you're telling me that this is something you chose for yourself then? You chose to be in the service of some megalomaniac who cares more about his longevity than the safety of his followers?"
"What are you even talking about? The Dark Lord cares about us."
"You're naive, Reggie. I know you can be better than this, you just have to try." Sirius' voice took on a desperate note. "Please. I need your help."
"My help? What could you possible do with my help with?" Regulus started to get more animated, gesturing wildly with his hands.
"My friend was kidnapped. I want to know where he's being kept."
"That Granger kid? How am I supposed to know where he is?"
Sirius wanted to shake him, and only barely resisted the urge. "You have ways to find out, even if you don't know right now." Regulus' eyes shifted away from him and Sirius knew. "But you do know. You helped them get on the train didn't you?"
Regulus' voice was soft when he responded. "I'm not proud of it, Sirius. I didn't have a choice."
"You have a choice now, Regulus." Sirius moved forward and placed his hands on his brother's shoulders. "You can help the people who were taken. This is your chance. They won't ever know it was you."
"Sirius, I don't know…."
"Please, Reggie."
Regulus took a deep breath.
"Okay."
"So you know where he is?"
It was the first thing Sirius heard when he entered the dormitory later that night. He looked around and saw six people waiting anxiously on the floor for him. He went over and plopped himself down next to James and felt every eye in the room on him.
"Reggie told me, yeah." Sirius looked over at Harry and Hermione and took in their anxious faces. They looked on the verge of a breakdown, and Sirius couldn't blame them. The news he had wasn't going to make it any better.
"Well, what did he say?" Lily asked, her arm wrapped around Hermione's shoulders for comfort.
"He's being kept with a bunch of other prisoners on a pureblood property in Wiltshire." Sirius was debating whether to tell them who the owners of the property were, when James straightened.
"You don't mean Malfoy Manor, do you?" Heads swiveled in his direction, and James shrugged his shoulders. "There are only two pureblood families who live in Wiltshire, one is the Malfoys."
"And the other?" Remus asked.
James looked at Lily and grimaced.
"The Lestranges."
Lily turned to Sirius, her arm around Hermione tightening. "Where did Regulus say, Sirius?"
He sighed. "He said they're being kept at the Lestranges."
Harry stood. "We know where he is, and we've even been there before. I'm going to get him." He looked down. "Hermione?"
"Harry…" Hermione gently removed Lily's arm from her shoulders and stood as well, reaching out to Harry. "I think we should wait."
He took a step back. "Wait? Hermione it's been two months. Who knows what they're doing to him there? We know where he is. We can get Ron back, Hermione. Don't you want Ron back?'
"Don't try and guilt trip me for wanting to wait, Harry Potter." She poked him hard in the chest. "Of course I want him back. Its not the same without him here. But I know we should plan it out more, or else we could get seriously hurt. There are lives at risk here besides your's or mine or Ron's. There are other prisoners that if we're going we might as well free them too." Her face softened. "Please, Harry. Just a few days. You're no use to anyone if you go off and get yourself killed."
Harry took her hand and sighed. He didn't want to wait, but he knew Hermione had a point.
"Okay, 'Mione. We can wait."
She smiled and wrapped him in a hug, secure in the fact that he was going to wait.
What he didn't say, was for how long.
Harry didn't want to lie to Hermione, but he also wasn't sure he even wanted her to come. She had already been to the Lestrange's manor house once and Harry thought that was entirely too many times. After everything she had gone through, he didn't want to force her into a dangerous situation that she was uncomfortable with.
That was why Harry was alone when he descended the staircase into the common room, wand strapped securely to his arm and a fierce determination filling his heart.
The common room was deserted, or it appeared that way to Harry and he made his way past the portrait hole.
Which is why he was extremely startled when someone spoke.
"I thought you said you were going to wait."
Harry whipped around, his wand falling into his hand and trained on a chair by the dying fire.
James.
He lowered his wand as James stood and walked closer to him. "I did wait. I waited for Hermione to go to sleep so I could sneak out."
"You know, if I doubted the fact that you're my son before, that would've confirmed it for me. That's a very Marauder thing to say." James stood next to Harry, and suddenly Harry was sure he was going to stop him from leaving.
"I can't just leave him there, not when I know where he is. I can't do it, James."
James slapped his hand onto Harry's shoulder. "I'd never ask you to, mate. I'm coming with you."
"You're…. What?"
"I can't very well let you go bust into a Death Eater's house alone, now can I?" James took a step closer and dropped his voice. "What would Lily think? I've finally gotten into her good graces, I can't mess that up now."
Harry was forcibly reminded of a situation soon after they arrived in this time. He, Ron, and Hermione waiting in the Common Room for Lily to come down the stairs so they could join her on her way to the Lestranges.
Harry smiled. He guessed some things really do run in the family.
"We'd better get going." Harry slipped his wand back into it's holster and clambered through the portrait hole.
Ron was bored.
He didn't know how long it had been since he had been captured, but it was longer than he wanted it to be.
Not that anyone ever really wants to be kidnapped. Ron just really missed Harry and Hermione, and knew they must be worried out of their minds.
And no matter how many times he checked, there was no way he could break out of the cell, unless he suddenly turned into a very small animagius.
He just had to be patient, and wait for Harry and Hermione.
Being patient had never really been Ron's strong suit.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey." Ron said, looking through the tiny window into the hallway at the Death Eater assigned to guard him. His guard ignored him.
"That's not very nice. I just wanted to say how handsome you look today. Are those new robes?"
The Death Eater visibly clenched his jaw, but didn't turn to look at Ron.
"I think that those robes would look much better somewhere else though." Ron could tell he'd gotten the man's attention, and tossed a saucy wink his way. "On my bedroom floor, if you catch my drift."
The guard stiffened, and very quickly turned and thrust his wand through the small opening.
"Say something else, Mudblood, and I will not hesitate." He growled, his face beet red.
"Seems someone is a little embarrassed, don't worry I won't hold it against you." Ron winked again, and the Death Eater looked like he was going to explode.
"That's it you little-"
An explosion.
The Death Eater whipped around, falling against the door. Shouts could be heard from another area of the jail, and Ron's guard shot him one last glare and then ran towards the shouting.
Ron craned his neck, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening. When he had no luck he slumped against the wall and closed his eyes.
At least the guard was gone.
Spells flew around them, James and Harry throwing back more than their fair share. There weren't as many Death Eaters here as Harry thought there would be, and they quickly made it deeper into the house.
Bodies of stunned or cursed Death Eaters surrounded them, and none of them were any Harry recognized. They all looked….
Young.
Voldemort's recruiting tactics must be working.
A thought crossed his mind that this was too easy, but the only thing Harry cared about right now was-
"RON!" Harry shouted as they started to see blocks of cells, some empty, others with very frightened occupants. James started unlocking doors and letting people out, while Harry jogged down the hall, calling for Ron, when he heard it.
"HARRY!"
His feet sped up and suddenly he was outside a door with very familiar blue eyes peering at him from the other side.
His breath hitched in his throat, and tears of relief gathered in his eyes.
"Ron."
"Harry."
They both just stared for a moment, until Harry remembered he needed to unlock the door.
With a wave of his wand the door sprung open, and Harry and Ron surged together, clinging to each other. Ron's body sagged against his and Harry only tightened his grip.
"Ron." Harry whispered, reverently. "I'm so glad you're okay."
Ron pulled back from the hug to drink in Harry's face. "I can't believe you found me."
Harry moved his hands up to cup both of Ron's bruised cheeks.
"I'd never leave you, Ron. I'll always find you."
He leaned forward and Ron leaned with him, their lips meeting in the middle. Ron's arms tightened around Harry's middle and Harry swept a hand up through Ron's hair. They poured everything into the kiss, and Harry felt Ron's energy drain. He moved his arms around him for support, and had every intention to keep kissing him, but behind them someone coughed.
Harry turned his head and saw James blushing in the corridor.
"We should, uh, get going." James stuttered.
"Right." Harry turned back to Ron and pulled his arm over his shoulders, supporting the taller man. "Let's get you home, Ron."
