Regulus looked up when he heard Tonks re-enter with another person, and his eyes landed on Remus Lupin with some relief. At least the young woman had gotten who she said she'd get. "No, actually," he croaked, leaning back against the chair.

"Well, no, you couldn't be," Remus answered, staring at him and shaking slightly. "But . . . Regulus Black? Good God."

He looked up again, some irritation shining in his grey eyes. "If you wouldn't mind elaborating before you start cursing worse?"

Remus wandered over, an odd look across his pale fair face, and tentatively put a hand on the younger man's shoulder, as if checking to make sure he was no apparition. Regulus allowed the hand to stay there. "But how could you possibly. . . ?"

"Nott's an idiot."

Remus snorted, and something of the slightly irritating "good boy" of the Marauders Regulus remembered from their school days returned to Remus's tone. "You tell me nothing I don't already know. Care to explain exactly how you wound up alive?"

"Um. . . . that's rather a long story."

"And it's rather a long time before morning," Remus pointed out. He leaned against the table, crossing his arms, and stared questioningly at the younger man.

Regulus knew from long experience that Remus Lupin was patient enough to wait almost any other man out. Finally, he shrugged. "I lost my taste for killing just watching it. Shouldn't have gotten in, couldn't've gotten out— alive anyways. I faked my own death."

Remus nodded. "But how?"

Regulus shook his head, brushing his hair back again. "So much for the short version. You think I didn't figure out what you guys were up to in school? 'Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs' that is?"

"Well . . . if anyone figured it out, it would have been you," Remus admitted, obviously thinking back on the younger Regulus, the one that seemed to show up at random knowing exactly what they were doing. "You made a better spy than anything else."

"Exactly. Ever wonder how, especially your last year?"

Remus nodded. "Of course. The knack was uncanny."

Regulus grinned absently at the comment, still trying to figure out an easy way to say it. There was none— but he'd never changed in front of anyone else before. Still, he concentrated, feeling bone grinding bone for a moment. After his body had settled again, a scrappy-looking grey fox sat in place of the man, staring up at Remus and Tonks from bright eyes. Tonks simply stared— Remus went even paler. "You're one, too?"

He changed back, starting to explain in a halting voice. "There were a bunch of people I worried about . . . but I wasn't about to let half of them know I worried about them. . . . Sirius was one of them. It's easier to tail a man as an animal than it is as another human. . . ."

"I can imagine. Did you. . . ?"

"Of course I did!" he exclaimed. "It was the most dangerous thing the four of you ever did!" Remus nodded at Regulus's comments, having the grace to look a little shamefaced about it. "I know far more about your moonlight exploits than any of you ever want known. I'm never going to tell Sirius exactly how much."

A very odd look passed over Remus's face. "Well, continue."

"At least the other three of you knew that Peter, James, and Sirius could transform," Regulus couldn't help but comment with an edge to his voice. "Anyway, after we grew up, when idiot I am I joined Voldemort—"

Tonks shuddered. Remus stared. Regulus nodded grimly. "Yes, I use his name," he answered the unspoken question in Remus's eyes. "Well, I still kept animagus form to myself, and more than one Death Eater would tell you I had a tendency to . . . erm . . . disappear when a scene got too much for me."

"Instead of doing something?" Remus asked softly.

"The great difference between me and my brother. Sirius would have died for them; I slipped off. I'm no Gryffindor, Lupin, I'd frankly rather live." Regulus shrugged hopelessly. "Eventually they got sick of me disappearing and questioning the great and worthy cause." He rolled his eyes. "They ordered Nott to kill me, but at that point I still had a couple of friends. It was Snape, actually, that told me I might want to run for it. I didn't really, just made sure he cornered me in the woods."

"Where a fox wouldn't be much of a sight," Tonks muttered.

"Exactly," Regulus answered. "The curse went wild— Nott's a hopeless dueler; he needs to take someone disarmed, and some of the curses I can stand to use had his aim more than a little worse than usual." He smirked, and for a moment the family resemblance to Sirius was as uncanny as his appearance. "I never knew jelly-legs was that hard on a man. Anyway, he thought he'd hit. Like I said, idiot."

Remus nodded. "I take it he wouldn't know . . . from Snape, the Dark Mark would still burn. . . ."

"If you're speaking of what's happened since a year ago, yes, it does," he admitted, shuddering. "But as for the spell— I think it might burn on dead Death Eaters, that's how strong it was. If that's true, of course he hasn't noticed I'm alive. If he does . . . well, he hasn't found me yet, that's for sure."

"And the other people you 'tailed'?" Remus asked. "What about them?"

"Voldemort got to Angel about a year before he got to me— the one time I almost worked up the nerve to get in the way, but no, I had to stick to being a coward at heart," he admitted regretfully. "Sirius can handle himself; I gave up on Todd, he isn't the man he used to be. Snape, actually, once or twice, as much to keep him from doing something as to make sure nothing happened to him. I think that's it."

Remus nodded, staring thoughtfully into space. Tonks looked from one man to another, apparently trying to piece everything together.

"How's Sirius, anyways?" Regulus broke the silence.

Tonks looked grimly at him but didn't answer. Hesitantly, Remus spoke up. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, Regulus . . . but perhaps you'd rather hear it from me after all. . . . Sirius was killed by Bellatrix."

"He's dead?" Shock erupted, his face went from tanned to dead white and he started to shake. "You're joking, right? Sirius can't be dead. . . ."

"I wouldn't kid you," Remus said softly.

"But . . . but Sirius doesn't die," Regulus whispered. His voice choked, he could feel tears welling up— in a moment or two, they'd start spilling out. "He can't be dead . . . he just can't."

"He only died about three weeks ago," Remus admitted. "I can hardly believe it myself, and I saw him fall through the veil myself."

"What veil?" This was a fact— something he could grasp onto, even through the shock of the knowledge his brother was dead. He wiped the tears away with his wrist, trying to calm down; this was no proper way to act.

"The veil in the Department of Mysteries, in the Death Chamber," Remus admitted softly. "I don't really understand it, but I know he's not coming back." He swallowed, and it occurred to Regulus that he might be choking back tears himself. "He died coming after Harry . . . after he'd fallen into one of Voldemort's traps. It was how he would have wanted to go down."

Regulus nodded. "I know that but . . . but Sirius . . . you'd have thought he was immortal sometimes. . . ." He chuckled hollowly. "He fell off this roof once; he was laughing about it by the time a healer got to him. And every time he went up against Dark Wizards. . . . After Pettigrew beat him, I almost thought he might try to kill himself, but he didn't only live, he escaped. . . . How can he be dead? He had so much life in him. . . ."

Remus nodded. "How can he indeed?"

Finally, however, Regulus managed to regain a grip on himself. "I'm the last in the family," he muttered, and put that information away to sort out and deal with later. "Well . . . um . . . what else is going on? As long as I'm here, if you need any help. . . ."

"First of all, would you care to let us know what brought you back?"

"After fifteen years a man gets a little homesick," Regulus answered. "I came back for a little while when Sirius escaped. He never realized he was being followed until I slipped off again when he got to Hogwarts. I don't like to admit it, but I buried myself in the French countryside when the Dark Mark burned. . . . I finally decided to emerge."

"Why didn't you just go as a Frenchman?" Tonks asked curiously. "You'd be in better shape."

"My accent's horrible," Regulus admitted. "Might as well be wearing a banner saying I'm a foreigner, and to a Frenchman I swear that's a crime. Besides, you make the connection to an Englishman and the Black connection's not too far off— and there's only one Black boy my age. I admitted to being a coward, and Voldemort doesn't just have supports in Britain. Frankly, I value my life."

Remus shook his head. "We all do. But she has her point— and foxes are hunters."

"And I make a very poor fox," Regulus admitted.

Remus shook his head, near laughing at him, and nodded towards the stairs. "You'll probably feel a bit better after a shower and a shave, and I'm sure there's something that'll fit you around here. Care to make yourself comfortable as well as at home?"

"You read my mind, Lupin."

Author's Note: Yay! I got reviews! (Yeah, when I thought realistically I know I was lucky to get any, though I've been kinda spoiled off The Second Time Around. . . .) Any questions you still have, feel free to ask— yes, Mrs.Sniffy, Reg will meet Harry, though I'm afraid I can't answer the challenge on your bio with this— I've other plans for him with the Order, though its not Harry Potter if he doesn't end up in Hogwarts at least once. . . . And because someone is going to ask— I have very good, undisclosed reasons for making Regulus a Reynard, but you will have to wait. Still appreciate any comments and criticism! Cheers! — Loki