Disclaimer: JK's concept distorted for my own sick pleasure.

Author's notes: Meant to have this up last week, but...uh...:blush: I forgot. I admit it. Anyway, I'll try to remember next time too. LoL. Enjoy.


'It must be kept a secret, until we know all the character's players,' Talaywa had warned.

Bianca and Regulus had agreed. Of course, it somehow fell on Regulus' shoulders to send around the note with stuff only players would know, and asking them to sign it. No one had the complete list. Maybe Sirius did.

Steely blue eyes stared at a rapidly growing fuzzy book, eyelids fluttered gently, finally sealing the eyes beneath them. "I thought we agreed to stop meeting like this…" a soft feminine voice chortled.

"We did…?" Regulus pulled him out of his light nap to stare at the girl beside him.

"Cassie."

"Oh. I'm sorry…I don't know what anyone's made-up looks like…let alone the originals."

"You're a lot thinner than I imagined."

"I never meant for him to be fat…just pudgy. Like a child."

Cassie reached forward and pinched one of his cheeks. "It's positively adorable."

Regulus rubbed his cheek. "You're not freaking out?"

"I freaked out when I woke up, and when I showered, and when I ate, and when I…" she counted off on her fingers, blue eyes staring upwards.

"Oh," Regulus interrupted. "I have to write this note thing…to see whose here and stuff." A motion was made with the feathered end of the quill in his right hand towards the paper.

"I thought you made Regulus left-handed."

"I did. But I'm a righty."

"Hm." She reached forward, snatching the parchment from under his quill. "You know, you have awful handwriting."

"It's these damn quills. I keep crushing them when I try to write." A motion was made with his hand towards a small pile of three or four quills, bent, broken and mangled in several ways.

Cassie stared at the pile. "That's disturbing."

"What?" Regulus asked, looking taken aback.

"Be gentle with your utensil, kid, don't kill it." Eyes skipped back to the parchment.

"Kid! Hmph. I'm probably older than you!"

"Really now?"

"I'm eighteen."

"You're twelve and you are delusional," came a growl from behind Regulus. He jerked up, glancing behind him. "Keep it down, Arty…Everyone can hear you…" Talaywa growled. "I found Aida and herselves."

"Her-what-its-now?"

"Herselves. The other characters she plays. I have one of them standing outside the library, and the other searching for more players."

"So…is everyone here?"

"No. I think the people who just play regularly."

"Explains why I was the first one up…" Regulus grumbled, sighing heavily.

"Um…Arty?"

Regulus shifted his gaze back to Cassie. "Yeah?"

"I heard you were a girl in real life…"

"Yeah…"

"Um…" She blushed lightly, getting an amused smirk on her lips. "Um…Well…Have you had to use the 'loo yet?"

"Ugh." Both Talaywa and Cassie cackled delightedly at the response, to Regulus' obvious embarrassment. "Let's not discuss bathroom matters here. How about we get to working on finding out whose here and what needs to be done to go home."

"You want to go home, Arty?" Talaywa asked.

"You don't?"

"Well, not right away," she shrugged thoughtfully. "Why do you want to leave so bad?"

"The thing is…I don't." Regulus plucked his quill back from Cassie and immediately set to trying to write with the damnable instrument.

"So why are you acting like you do?" Cassie continued Talaywa's questioning.

"Because I…" Regulus started.

"You don't want to be male?" Talaywa answered, questioningly.

"Because I…" Regulus started again.

"You don't want to be stuck in the seventies?" Cassie asked.

"Because you don't want to be Regulus?" Talaywa queried.

"Because I don't want to die," Regulus finished.

"Oh…He does, doesn't he?" Cassie murmured wonderingly.

"And from what I've seen, not only are we following the plotlines we made up on the site, but we're also following the plotline of J.K.'s imaginings," Regulus growled in a soft breath as a student passed their table.

"How many people have you talked to Regulus?" Talaywa wrinkled her nose wonderingly.

"ARTY! MY NAME IS ARTY! Or Chao, or Maha…don't call me Regulus…" The Regulus-girl fell forward, sobbing into her arms. His. That's right she was a boy now. Two hands fell to his shoulders, one was soft and offering solace, the other, a moment later, was not quite so gentle, pulling him from the niche of his arms.

"Young man! We will keep our tones to a respectable tone in the library, do you understand?" Madame Pince growled.

The bleary eyed Regulus stared, nodding and snuffling. "I-I-I'm sorry, Madame…"

The librarian seemed quite taken aback that a boy was not only crying, but, as a Slytherin, apologizing. Seeming quite flustered, she backed off quickly, searching for more rule breaking students.

"Maybe we can change it…"

"Change what?" Regulus' thick voice came.

"The original plotline. So you don't die. And then, we could stay here…"

"Not everyone's going to want to stay, Shiny," Regulus grumbled, lowering his chin to his forearms and staring blankly down a row of shelves.

"Why not? I mean…its wonderful here. It's like starting all over again and…"

"How many years do you suppose I have? How long before I'm no more than a memory and my real self is completely forgotten as only the 'girl-who-played-Regulus'. But no…no, I'm not a girl anymore, am I? No, I'm a boy. I'm Regulus Black, second son of the Black family. Second bloody son…"

Talaywa struck a sharp resounding blow to the side of Regulus' face, a look of pure horror crossing her face. "We really are following the plotlines…Arty, stay with us. Nothing bad is going to happen."

"What do you mean? 'We really are following the plotlines?'" Cassie asked quietly.

"B-before, when we were ourselves, Arty sent me a private message telling me how she didn't like Regulus very much…that she had a plotline worked out for him. It includes him losing his mind," Talaywa murmured, staring at Regulus, who was returning said stare, almost blankly.