Severus walked to Bella's apartment. She lived nearby, and hopefully she would be there. She spent a lot of her time at the flats of her beaus. There were too many to count. Some of them were as low class as she, but many were quite rich, usually married and she was their dirty little secret.

He went inside her building. It wasn't the kind with any sort of security system, and if he remembered correctly, the locks on her door were broken. He tested the door, and he was right. He stepped inside.

"Bella?"

A head poked from around a corner. "Sev? What are you doing here?"

He closed the door. "Regulus and I had a fight."

Bella stepped from the corner and pulled him into a hug. She was wearing a naughty looking black slip under a dirty pink robe. She still hadn't brushed her hair. "Come on in. Sit down, I'll make us tea."

Bella's apartment was only slightly better than his own. She had a nice looking flat with expensive looking furniture, all of them gifts from her many suitors.

She pulled out her cracked wand and tapped a teapot and it steamed. She poured the water into chipped mugs. She added tea bags and shoved a mug at him. She sat down.

"Tell me, Sev. What's going on?"

"You remember when I said I was creating a superdrug?" He played with his mug.

She nodded, lighting a cigarette.

"I wasn't being sarcastic. I'm trying to create a line of magical elixirs to put into the Muggle society, but not so they're obvious, not like the drugs we have now. They'd be amazing, and you know the addicts out there, if it's a good trip, they'll pay top dollar."

"You didn't test it on yourself, did you?" Bella asked.

Severus nodded. "It didn't work."

"Damn." She sipped her tea.

"It made me remember spending the night with Regulus and Sirius."

Bella cringed. "Regulus is a loser, but Sirius is a dickhead. He's always been a dickhead, and he'll always be a dickhead."

"Well, that night wasn't an exception. Regulus turned out just as bad when he was around him. If I hadn't known him better, I probably would have left him then, but I knew it was just Sirius' influence."

Bella brushed hair away from her face. "Do you want my honest opinion?"

"Of course."

"You should have left him. You know he's only holding you back, Severus. You have a lot more to you than waiting for your next high."

"I love him, Bella."

"I know you do. Your drugs are good idea, and you're going to be a very rich man. My advice? When you do, drop him."

"I couldn't do that!"

She sighed. "You can do better. You know you can do better, but you're letting love blind you."

"And should I live like you do?" Severus asked. "Spend every night with a different shagboy? Catch a hundred different diseases; chain smoke until I clutch my chest and die?"

Bella chewed on the inside of her cheeks. Unfazed by his comments, she lit a new cigarette with the old, and squashed the dout in her ashtray. "I wouldn't recommend it, but if you want, I can give you some sound advice."

Despite himself, Severus snorted a laugh. "I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't mean any of it."

"Of course you did, but it's all right." She sighed again. "I'm not much of a role model, and I'm not one to tell you how to live your life. But you didn't come here just to get away, did you?"

"I suppose not. I hate it when other people are right."

She let the comments go. "So, Sev, tell me more about these drugs."

"If all goes well, Elixir will eliminate acid. It has enough magic in it so, to a certain degree, you can control what you see in your trips. You can go into your fondest memories, imaginary worlds that you created, anything. So far the only side effects are that you can't control it, you go into horrible memories, and it's worse than any bad trip because it's more real than when it happened the first time through."

"Sounds promising."

"Yes, it sounds good, but anything can sound good."

Bella smirked. "And you can make anything sound horrible and depressing."

"I should go back home. I just walked out on Regulus."

"If there's hash there, he won't be missing you."

Severus stiffened. "Bella, when you said earlier about Regulus snorting, were you referring to one instance, or many?"

"A few, at least that I know of." She shrugged. "But I wouldn't doubt that Regulus does a bit of everything, mattering on his mood. I've seen him drop acid, snort lines, shot heroin... Severus, I know you don't want to hear this, and I wouldn't be saying this if I didn't know the consequences. And there's no use confronting Regulus, you know, he'll come up with some excuse, or reason, or he'll simply deny it."

"I know."

Bella stood and hugged Severus around the neck, holding his cigarette out away from them. "You know, Sev," she said, not letting him go, "you've been more like a cousin to me than either of them. You're been more like a brother to me than my sisters were sisters. I don't want to see you hurt and I don't want to see you end up like me. You're better than all of us."

"What happened to your sisters?" Severus had never met them, he was curious.

Bella settled back into her seat. "Cissy married rich, had a snot-nosed son, and whenever I see her, she insists she's the happiest person on Earth while her face is covered in bruises. I haven't seen Andie since she graduated. She married a Muggle-born man and that's the last I heard of her. She doesn't have much to say to her whore of a sister. That's what she called me the last time we spoke."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, I'm not. What they do with their lives, and how they see me, is their own thing. You don't see me that way, do you, Sev?"

"From time to time. But for the most part, you're the only friend I have who doesn't try to fuck me or sell me drugs."

She grinned. "Well, I don't always think that highly of you either."

"I need to go." Severus stood. "Thank you, Bella."

"No problem, Sev. Just think about what I said. Regulus isn't saving you, you're just a meal ticket, and if you leave, he won't be heart broken, he'll simply find another one."

"I'll keep it in mind." He waved and left the apartment. He walked for a long time before he made his way back home.

He entered the flat. "Regulus?"

"Shit!"

Severus felt his stomach turn to ice. He knew this wasn't a good sign. "Regulus?"

"Coming, Sev!" Regulus stumbled out of the bedroom, struggling into a pair of pants. He grinned. "What's goin' on? I didn't think you'd be back so soon. You seemed awful mad."

"I went to Bella's," Severus replied.

"Did you fuck her? You fucked her didn't you?"

"What?"

"You love her, don't you? You like her better than me. You think we're fucked up because we guys, right? You're just going to dump me for her, aren't you? Aren't you?"

"What the hell are you on?"

"Nothing," Regulus started laughing. "I just ran out of weed so I had to call my man."

"Mo's here?" Severus asked.

"Fuck Mo. I can't afford his fucking shit. I went down to the corner, got in the booth, put in a dime, and called the Potter himself."

"James?"

Regulus grinned. "And his lady wife."

Lily walked out of the bathroom, wiping her nose. She was naked, her breasts only covered by her extremely long hair. She smiled. "Hey, Severus. What's happenin'?"

"I don't know," Severus replied. "You tell me."

"Reg called us, he was out a hash, so here we are. Jimmy brought the coke, I set up some lines in the bathroom, if you're interested. I left a few. Jimmy'll take 'em, but if you want, we have more where that came from."

"Don't call me Jimmy!" shouted a voice from the bedroom.

Lily waved a hand in his direction. "So, anyway, Severus, how have you been?"

"Better," Severus replied.

"Really? Look, Sev, you just need a good high and you'll be right as rain." Lily winked. "Well, I have a husband to attend to. Reg, will you be joining us?"

"No," Regulus said. "You go."

"So they brought drugs and you fuck them both?" Severus guessed.

Regulus snorted. "Well, you were off fucking my cousin."

"I didn't touch her, and it doesn't matter."

"Oh, come on, Sev." Regulus wrapped his arms around Severus' neck. "You're not mad, are you, baby?"

"Regulus, you're shaking."

"I just... too much weed and sex. Don't be jealous, they don't mean anything. It's just what you have to do to get what you need."

"And all you needed was a supply of weed - are you sure you're all right? Regulus-"

"I'm fine... just fine."

Regulus passed out in his arms.