Regulus was woken up by someone shaking him. "Good morning," Sirius said cheerfully as he started to stir.

Regulus decided even before opening his eyes that it most certainly was not. The reaction was almost Pavlovian; anything that put Sirius into an extremely good mood initially usually spelled trouble later on. "The sun had better be up," he mumbled.

"Yes, the sun is up," Sirius said in an exaggeratedly patient tone of voice. "If the sun wasn't up, I wouldn't be up."

"I remember now what's actually nice about traveling alone," Regulus muttered. "Waking up in your own time's one of those things." But he knew Sirius was hardly going to let him go back to sleep, so he gave up the fight, opened his eyes, and sat up.

Sirius was grinning like a maniac and watching him from the safety of several feet away.

"This is the first time you've said 'good morning,'" Regulus observed dryly. When Sirius did not reply, he continued. "Usually you go about waking me up with no patience, and only yesterday you threw pine cones at me. What's going on to make you so cheerful?"

Sirius shrugged. "We ought to be at Hogwarts sometime this evening."

"And this changes our present circumstances . . . how?" Regulus asked. "We will still be camping in the middle of the woods and spending most of the day as a fox and a dog. There are no doubt exceedingly dangerous creatures in the Forbidden Forest, or at least there were when we were students. Not that it ever mattered to you."

"The four of us were always the most dangerous thing in that forest," Sirius announced.

"I don't doubt it. You, Potter, and a full-grown werewolf. . . ." Regulus shuddered. "I tailed you twice, but I always kept to the trees."

Sirius shook his head. "I know better than to ask why."

"Because you four were behaving like idiots! What if Lupin had given you the slip, eh? What would you have done, then?" Regulus demanded.

"What would you have done if he had?" Sirius countered coolly.

"I never let myself think that far ahead. Otherwise I'd have lost my nerve entirely," Regulus told him quietly. He shook his head and decided that they had better get off of this particular tangent. He didn't like that line anyway— Sirius was right, after all; he probably wouldn't have had the nerve to do anything. "I still fail to see why a familiar landscape should make you so cheerful when you've done nothing but gripe at your own brother for two weeks."

"Landscapes are not annoying," Sirius pointed out. "You on the other hand. . . ." He grinned. "I forgive you." Regulus had enough time to roll his eyes theatrically before Sirius actually answered the question. He pulled one of the old newspaper headlines from a robe pocket and handed it to his brother. "That's last Sunday's. Today's—"

"—September first. I know. So we won't be the only people arriving at Hogwarts. You can't seriously mean to give Pettigrew a 'welcome back' surprise."

Sirius shook his head and shoved the clipping back into his pocket. By now both of them were carrying four or five newspaper articles for one reason or another— most of them were from the Daily Prophet, a few from local Muggle newspapers. "No, but it'll give me a good idea of how likely I am to get close."

Regulus shrugged. "Well, if you want to get there by the time the train appears, we'd best get going."

"Yeah. Are you going to try to ride on me like I'm a horse again?"

"You've been going for speed, Sirius," his little brother reminded him sensibly. "And that apparently means going at a pace that my stubby little fox legs can't handle. If you're going to run, I'm going to hop aboard."

"Then you might as well just get on my back, then," Sirius answered just before he transformed.

"You realize I'm about to take you at your word?" Regulus asked. "Gray foxes really weren't built to move like that."

The glaring dog in front of him nodded, and Regulus transformed and hopped onto the curve of Sirius's spine. The black dog grunted and took off.

For Sirius, the pace was in fact quite easy, but to a much smaller animal it was far too fast. With Regulus perched on Sirius's back most of the way, they made better time, since they no longer had to stop after five minutes' running for the little fox to catch his breath.

It was a generally dreary day, which seemed odd against Sirius's excellent mood. Regulus watched the sky apprehensively, expecting the rain to start pouring down any minute. Twice Sirius nearly knocked him off his back because Regulus was paying more attention to the sky than to his brother.

In the late afternoon, it finally did start. Regulus leapt off his brother's back, becoming human as he did so, and glared upwards at what little of the sky was visible through the canopy of branches.

Sirius transformed as well, looking slightly nervous about doing so. "Reggie. . . ."

Regulus shook his head and took off his jacket. "Here," he said, handing it to his brother, "you're not wearing much more'n rags, and with our luck you'll catch pneumonia."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "When did you turn into my mum? Or someone's mum, at any rate. I should be glad you're not acting like ours. And you're only wearing a t-shirt now yourself."

"You're not healthy; it's cold, and it's raining," Regulus pointed out. "Refusing to take it only prolongs an argument I will inevitably win."

Sirius grumbled, but he took the jacket. In doing so, he spotted the last thing Regulus wanted him to see. "What's that on your arm?"

Regulus yanked his arm back into his chest before Sirius could get a good look. "Just a scar," he muttered, rubbing it absently. It hadn't been clear in years and he could probably have let his brother look, but he wasn't taking any chances.

"It looks ugly," Sirius observed.

"A lot can happen in thirteen years," Regulus retorted. "Especially in the realms of injury and accident." he shook his head. "Now, I am short and my rump is sore from sitting on your spine all day. I'm not turning back into the fox until this rain lets up, and since you're the one that keeps insisting we keep going. . . ."

Sirius scowled. "I want to get at Peter," he growled.

"I'm aware of that. But it's not going to kill us to have an actual conversation that lasts more'n about five minutes while we wait for the rain to let up so I'll let you go on as the dog. It's been nearly fourteen years since we've had one, after all."

Sirius grumbled something under his breath. "And what do you want to talk about?"

"Anything, practically," Regulus answered with a shrug. "I'd just kinda like to have a conversation with my brother."

"Okay." Sirius glanced up at the clouds and shrugged. "How'd you fall in with the Death Eaters?" he asked, in a bad attempt to sound offhand. It was obvious he was trying to dissuade Regulus from insisting on a conversation by asking.

"Do you want me asking questions about Azkaban?"

"Not really, no."

"Then lay off that subject," Regulus snapped. "And if you're going to say a word about the weather, tell me now and I'll save you the trouble by just throttling you this instant."

Sirius shook his head and groped around blindly for a few comments, and then suddenly they were reminding each other of all the horror stories they could tell about their cousin Bellatrix. It was hardly what Regulus would have chosen as a conversation topic, but it was still a welcome break from Sirius's alternating brooding about Pettigrew or his eagerness to get to Hogwarts.

The rain only lasted about an hour, and by the time it stopped falling it had gotten dark. Sirius looked up in surprise when he realized it had stopped, shook his head, and handed Regulus back his coat. "If we're more than a mile off by now, I've lost the sense of direction I once had."

Regulus decided not to comment on this statement. It was probably wisest he didn't, because he would have had to live with Sirius teasing him for a few days if he had— a moment later they both saw smoke from the train. "I'll go look," Regulus announced.

Sirius rolled his eyes and they both transformed. In fox form, Regulus was hard pressed to argue as the huge black dog joined him at the crest of the hill to look down on the Hogwarts Express.

Cold washed over him, or at least it seemed to, and from there he could faintly smell rotting flesh. It was a moment before the sight of a black cloak told him what was going on. He glanced back at Sirius, who had started to shake and was backing slowly away from the train and out of their sphere of influence. Regulus followed, and they changed back into humans.

"I can't believe they sent them to a school," Sirius muttered, shivering.

Regulus glanced back towards the train. He frankly found it a little difficult to believe himself, but there was always an explanation. "Sirius, how old is that photo with Pettigrew in it?"

Sirius shrugged. "I dunno . . . month and a half, two months, I guess. Why?"

Regulus shook his head. "Has anyone ever mentioned that when something's on your mind, you have a tendency to mutter in your sleep?"

"Er . . . no actually."

"Well, you do," Regulus muttered. "You went to Surrey to see Harry, and then you pretty much planned to go straight to Hogwarts from there, right?"

"Ye-es."

"Then it's conceivable that you were talking about it in your sleep." Regulus shrugged. "The only times I heard you doing it, it either wasn't worth mentioning or I already knew about what you'd been muttering about."

Sirius hesitated, then nodded. "I s'pose. But dementors don't talk."

Regulus raised an eyebrow. "You're not thinking clearly, as usual," he told his brother. "They wouldn't be working at Azkaban if they had no way to communicate with wizards. And if you had muttered something in your sleep about Hogwarts, it only seems natural that . . . whoever the Minister of Magic is—"

"Cornelius Fudge," Sirius informed him. "He was part of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I think, the last time you were in Britain."

"All right, that Fudge would want protections around the school. And Dumbledore certainly can't argue if they think the students are in danger."

Sirius shrugged. "Oh, I dunno. If I remember right, Dumbledore can argue with a hell of a lot. But if I was muttering about Hogwarts . . . damn. They probably think I'm after Harry."

"And if anyone has any idea you headed to Surrey first thing, that hasn't improved the situation much," Regulus added.

"Shut up, Reggie."

Regulus shook his head but changed the subject, which Sirius clearly wanted more than he wanted Regulus to actually can it. "When was the last time you used my given name?"

"Er . . . the night you scared me half to death in Surrey, I think."

"I meant actually addressed me with it."

"I only actually called you Regulus when we fought," Sirius pointed out. "So I s'pose when you as good as told me you were a Death Eater and I said I never wanted to see you again."

Regulus rolled his eyes. "You and Meda were the only ones that ever called me Reggie," he mumbled. "I guess that's why Bella and Cissy and Mum never used it. Anyway, shall we make our way to the Forbidden Forest since its getting rather dark out here? Or do we intend to camp outside the train station?"

"Might as well head into the forest rather than standing here half in the open," Sirius answered with a shrug. He glanced back towards the Hogwarts Express one last time and shuddered again.

"Look," Regulus whispered, "if all else fails I'll go nab Pettigrew."

"As if you could explain your presence any better than I could mine." Sirius snorted. "And anyway, how would you get into Gryffindor Tower?"

At least I wouldn't be the one they were handing back to the dementors for them to kiss, Regulus thought. "I was going to ask you the same thing about the tower. Not as if you know the password, is it?"

"I'll think of something," Sirius retorted. He turned into the dog so Regulus wouldn't question him further and bounded off.

Regulus followed him, shaking his head.

Author's Note: Finally, a little bit of tension between those two . . . after all, they've been through a lot since they parted ways, and neither are exactly eager to talk about it. Anyway, thank you to Daydreaming Git, Gabwr, and Marauder3Moony for reviews! (See, I told you I would update weekly). Cheers! --- Loki