His eyes opened to Remus leaning over him. "What?" he asked, without moving.
"Regulus is gone."
"Gone?"
"He left with his stash this morning."
Severus sat up. "The entire thing? All of it?"
Remus nodded. "I'm concerned. The other day, when he said that he would leave when he made profit... you don't think he really meant it, do you? He wouldn't leave you, would he?"
"I'm not sure," Severus said, getting out of bed. "He's only had the kits for a week now, how much profit could he have made?"
"I don't know."
"We have to find him. We need to bring him back. He didn't... seem that angry afterwards."
"No," Remus agreed carefully. "But we do need to find him. His leaving, his leaving without you, it seems suspicious."
Severus glared at his old friend. "Suspicious of what?"
"That something is going wrong with his... new job."
Refusing to look at Remus, he got dressed as quickly as possible. He hurried into the living room. "Do you have any idea where he went?"
"He wouldn't have told me," Remus replied, still in the hall. He stopped in the entrance of the hallway and leaned against his new cane. "And I don't think you should be blaming me for the problems with Regulus. He has a mind of his own."
"I'm not-" Severus started, but then he paused. "I won't."
"Thank you."
Severus put on his shoes, but before he could reach his coat, there was a banging at the door. He and Remus exchanged a look.
"Bellatrix?" Remus suggested.
"She never knocks, she just walks right in," Severus replied. "Regulus has a key."
The banging continued.
"We should answer it."
"I have a bad feeling about this," Remus said.
"Me too," Severus agreed.
The door began to crack and splinter.
"We can't let them break down the door!" Severus said, suddenly angry. He ran over to the door and opened it. "What do you-"
He stopped with a gasp. His eyes narrowed and he growled, "What do you want?"
Sirius, his face pale and sickly looking, walked through the door. He didn't seem to register Severus, but set his bloodshot eyes on Remus. "Baby, Remus, where'd you go?"
"I left a horrible man," Remus said. "And I'm not wanting to come back."
"Remuuuuuuus," Sirius said, falling onto his knees in front of Remus. "Baby, I need you. Baby, baby, please."
"Get out of here."
"Remus, I lost it all. It's all gone."
Remus' expression changed from pure hatred for the first time. "What?"
"The money, I lost it all. Mother won't give me anymore. I'm lost without you, Remus. I'm lost. You kept me here."
"And you kept me lost. You deserve what you've got. And bringing me back into your life isn't going to change anything. Why don't you try living on the streets for a while, Sirius Black? Perhaps then you could understand what's it's truly like to be without."
"Remus!" Sirius moaned.
"Get out of here. You're not welcome here."
Sirius looked around, suddenly noticed Severus. His eyes widened. "Snape? You're with motherfucking Severus Snape? The asswipe my brother was with?"
"No," Remus said. "I'm not with Severus. Your brother still is. And I think I can say without the need to ask, that anyone is an improvement from you."
"Look at me!" Sirius cried. "Look! I haven't had a fix in days. I don't have any money! I've got nothing!"
"Then you truly have what you are!" Remus roared. His hands were shaking. "Now, get out of this place. You're not welcome here."
Sirius didn't even bother to stand. He simply crawled from the apartment.
Remus hobbled to the door. "And for your information, Sirius, Severus is more of a man than you could ever imagine being. So you should think twice before you insult him. Particularly in my presence."
He turned back into the apartment. "We need to find Regulus. If I know Sirius, which, sadly, I do, he'll look for the next way out. If he knows that Regulus is with you, then he knows that Regulus is around here."
Severus got his coat from the closet. "Let's go, then."
Three hours later, they found themselves back at the apartment, without Regulus.
"So," Severus said, "what do we do?"
Remus shook his head and sat down at the kitchen table. He propped his leg up on next chair and rubbed it, his face contorting painfully. "I don't know, Severus. I'm not sure where else to look. Neither of us are as knowledgeable of the underground as Regulus is."
"I was once, but, times have changed," Severus said. "I don't know where to go next."
The door clicked open and Severus jumped to his feet. "Regulus? Is that you?"
"Yes... it is."
Regulus walked into the kitchen in the arms of another man. The man was holding a gun to Regulus' head.
Severus' breath was caught in his throat. "Regulus- what? Who? I-"
"Shut up!" shouted the gun-wielding man.
"Let me go, Macnair," Regulus said. "I'm not going anywhere. And you're not going to shoot me."
"I might if you piss me off," Macnair growled.
Regulus shook, but his face showed no fear. "Not until I pay up."
Macnair shoved Regulus into Severus' arms. "You owe Voldemort money. This is a warning. Pay, or you're dead."
"I'm shaking in my boots," Regulus snapped.
"You should be." Macnair raised his gun again, but this time, he pointed it at Remus and fired. He turned and fled.
Remus yelped and fell over backwards in his chair.
Regulus was the first to his side. "Remus! Remus, I'm sorry, did he get you? Oh, god, you're bleeding!"
Severus knelt down as well and together, he and Regulus helped Remus up and into another chair.
"I'm fine," Remus said. "He barely got me. Look, he skimmed."
Regulus and Severus helped Remus out of his shirt and Regulus went to the bathroom to look for gauze and peroxide.
Severus held a dish towel against the wound. "Are you all right?"
Remus nodded. "I'm fine, I'm fine."
"What do you think happened?"
"No idea. I think Regulus got himself in the trouble we conceived him to be into."
Severus nodded.
Regulus came back into the room. "We have everything, here." He handed the peroxide to Severus. "Should I get another towel for it?"
"No, this is fine," Severus said, cleaning the wound.
Remus gasped, gritting his teeth. "You'd think I'd be used to pain," he said, forcing a smile.
Severus didn't reply. He simply finished cleaning the wound and wrapped it in gauze. "All done. If it was any worse, we'd probably have to get stitches. You're lucky."
"This is the luckiest day of my life," Remus said dryly.
"Mine too," Severus said, looking to Regulus. "Would you like to tell us what that was about happened? Why Remus just got shot by your... friends, there?"
"Macnair isn't my friend," Regulus said. "He's an asshole."
"I gathered that."
"He works for Voldemort. He goes after the guys who don't give him his cut. I'm a little short. So, Sev, I was thinking, you could give me a loan. I'd pay you back every cent, and you know I would. I wouldn't lie to you..." Regulus trailed off. "Yeah, actually I would. Because I did."
"About what? You... why are you short?" Severus asked.
"I... borrowed one of the kits."
"Borrowed."
"Yes. Those kits, I've sold twenty of them, and my cut, which is good shit, isn't enough to cover it."
Remus pondered this for a moment. "One kit costs more than your entire profit for twenty?"
Regulus glared at him. "No, it doesn't. But the cost of..."
"The cost of what?" Severus snapped. "The cost of what?"
"Heroin, is that what you want to hear? Did you really think, were so deluded, Sev, that you didn't realize that I've been a lying fuck all this time? Did you think that I could stop after one night? After one fucking OD? Remus knew. he's not so fucking blinded." Regulus threw his arms in the air. "I'm not an idiot. And I'm still using. I just got a hell of a lot better at hiding it."
Severus looked as if he'd been slapped. His face was pale, even for his own pallid color. "Heroin."
"And Rahir'n."
"What?"
"Magic drug," Regulus said, his voice just above a whisper. "Voldemort brought it in, and I tried some. It's great shit. I couldn't stop."
"Do you want to stop?" Severus asked. "For real?"
"No," Regulus replied.
"Well, thank you for being honest."
Regulus let out a long sigh. "I don't want to disappoint you anymore, Sev. I have to get out of this. It's only been a week now, and I'm in too deep with Voldemort. He's a scary guy. If I end up dead, you'd be better off, that's for sure."
"It's not true," Severus said. "How much do you owe?"
"A lot." Regulus' eyes lit up. "Sev, your drug, your stuff."
"Elixir? What about it?"
"You get it ready, I give it to Voldemort, we make a thousand Galleons, we get the hell out of here. We can do this. We get into a better life, maybe I'll just quit. In fact, Sev, if you get me out of this, I'll stop everything. I promise, I promise."
"Elixir isn't ready," Severus said. "It's nowhere near ready."
"It's my only hope," Regulus said. "It's the only choice I'm got. I can't afford to pay Voldemort back. I took the kit, I took the Rahir'n. They're all his. Sev, you gotta save me."
Severus paused. After all the lies, he wasn't sure. He sighed. "I will."
