Chapter 23

This chapter is just Sirius having a meltdown – enjoy!

sln1987 - You are totally right! In the aftermath of countless all-nighters and unbearable headache that faithfully kept me company as I wrote Chapter 22, I got my dates mixed up.

Tonks was born in 1973 but Regulus died in 1979. I've gone back and changed that date so for the sake of this story, let's pretend Tonks was born in 1979 but this is now set in Harry's 6th year, Easter to be precise, so the year is 1997. So, Dora would have been 18 but can we please ignore that and pretend she's 24. Sorry for the confusion, I don't know where my head was, I'm usually not this sloppy.

Chapter 23

Tonks' Residence

Hermione sat on the rocky beach in front of Tonks' house. Andromeda got Harry and Ron to help her clean the attic thus effectively stopping them from sneaking off and shattering their masterplan of going to Gringotts to bribe Goblins into joining the Order's side.

Harry and Ron took it upon themselves to look through Andy's old things, especially stuff she took from their family home with her. Harry with slightly more enthusiastic than Ron, who remained consistently sceptical of the idea that an important clue might be hidden within a pile of rubbish.

Hermione, on the other hand was strongly encouraged to take a walk along the beach. Here is why…

She told Andy about her time travel. She didn't plan to but Andromeda was too perceptive. Hearing about Regulus' last days, made Hermione feel regretful, making her feelings resurface and display themselves on her face.

Had she not been so stubborn, had she practiced more, maybe she might have saved him.

Ron and Harry, as oblivious as boys are to any girl's feelings, noticed Hermione's change of mood right away. After white a whispered exchange, the boys approached their friend with good intensions.

Sadly, good intentions were not enough to keep stupid from coming out of their mouths, and specifically Ron's.

"Hey, how are you holding up? Harry was worried about you."

Hermione turned to see Ron and Harry coming to sit next to her.

"I'm okay Ron, there is no need to worry." She gave him a small smile and turned to Harry. "It's just that Andromeda's stories reminded me of him and it made me miss him a little bit."

"Did you have feelings for him?" Harry asked suddenly, making Hermione look at him with her big eyes, unsure how to answer.

"I'm not sure what you mean." She replied, trying to sound as natural as possible, even though she felt her heart beat speed up.

"Harry and I talked, and we think you fell for Regulus." Ron explained, looking down at his feet.

"And how did Harry and you come to this conclusion?" Hermione asked carefully.

"You never dated anyone but, surely you must have had crushes. But us three have been friends for years and we never saw you with any blokes. Ever." Hermione began to wonder how did she manage to never get caught hanging around with Draco. She spent a lot of time with him over the years… She hoped he was well, wherever he was…

"Well, except for the Yule Ball. And we're always together so it's not like we could have missed it if you had a boyfriend." Finished Harry.

"But we were thinking that, being away from home could have made you all confused and if you only had Regulus around, and you spent a lot of time with him, in the library and he was trying to help you return home, then I guess you could have started to like him." Added Ron.

"But even if you did like him, we will forgive you, so don't worry you can tell us."

"What Ron is trying to say is that we don't want to see you sad and we want to help you forget him."

"And how do you want to do that? It's not like I can just wipe him out of my memories." Hermione sighted. It's not like she even wanted to forget him. With time, his face in her memories became blurry, and she found herself looking at her very few photos of him often.

"We think you should try and think hard about your memories of him and think of his bad qualities." Suggested Harry.

"Like, he was a death eater and you're a muggleborn so it's not like you two could have ever been together. Whatever you felt for him, he definitely didn't feel the same way." Claimed Ron.

"How can you know it was one sided?" She asked, beginning to question her own sanity.

"Think about it, if he really did like you then why did he help you go back to your time? Wouldn't he want to keep you there if he really liked you?"

"If I stayed in the past, I would have most likely died. It's not like I could have stayed if I wanted to."

"But even so, don't take this the wrong way but it's not like you will ever see him again. It makes more sense to forget him and move on."

"And it's been 2 years since you came back. Over time we sometimes remember things differently to how they actually were and-"

"You're unbelievable…" She sighted. That total pumpkin head… "It's not that easy. I know it's been years and I know he's dead and I know that I will never see him again, but how can you be so nasty about it and say-!"

"What? Nasty? I was just trying to help! What is it with you and falling for our enemies anyway?" Ron cut her off.

"Enemies?! Regulus lost his life getting the locket and you've heard what Andromeda said! He saved their lives!"

"Only because she's his family! Purebloods look after their own, and none of this changes the fact that he was a death eater! One of his people!" Ron hissed. At this point Harry only kept looking between the two trying to get a word in but the argument got too heated.

"Well, Ron, you know what they say! You can't choose who you fall in love with! It's not my fault I have feelings for a dead man! I can't forget him, I tried! I tried so hard!"

"Then let me help you! I can help you get over him!"

"How?"

"Go out with me."

"That's ridiculous!"

"Why? Go out with me so you can forget about him."

"Wonderful idea Ron, have you told Lavender yet?"

"I-I.. Well, I want t…I tried to break up with her but she wouldn't let me. But it doesn't matter I will end it as soon as we get back to Hogwarts after Easter."

The argument went on until Andromeda came up and demanded to know what was the matter. She took Hermione downstairs and outside for a walk along the beach.

Andy was initially quite shocked when Hermione revealed to her that she time travelled and met Regulus, and that her late younger cousin has helped her return to her time… But her shock soon turned into astonishment and pity.

Hermione explained Regulus and her became quite close and she couldn't help but miss him, but Harry and Ron thoughtlessly have tried to interfere with her feelings and thoughts…

After talking to Andy, Hermione felt much better but some things the boys have said couldn't leave Hermione's mind.

Was their friendship real? Was it even a friendship? Some would call it love… But was is love? Or did she just imagine it? Maybe they had a point, maybe it was one sided…

But the kiss and… Regulus opened up to her and they spent a lot of time together. If he didn't like her then he wouldn't do that surely… Even with all his interest in Druids and the time travel…

Regulus knew almost everything about her and she knew almost everything about him… It couldn't have been fake, could it?

Grimmauld Place

The tension is the room was very present.

Sirius and Regulus have just been split from having their second row and were now sat across from each other like two naughty children.

Remus sat on Sirius' right side and Claudius sat on Regulus' right side. As if they were nannies or guards, in place to keep them from jumping to each other's throats.

The reunion was quite a show indeed. It began with pure shock on Sirius' part, that then melted into joy that suddenly turned into mistrust and before anyone knew, the two brothers instead of crying in each other's arms happily reunited, were throwing curses and exchanging insults.

Molly and Arthur sat on the sofa quietly, staying out of it. Molly kept sending hurt glances at Regulus. She never met him but heard terrible things about him during the First Wizarding War.

Regulus Black had a bit of a reputation back then. He was one of the most dangerous Death Eaters, one of his inner circle. He used to hang around the nastiest Death Eaters, and he was there when Molly's brothers were killed.

Looking at him, she wondered if the rumours were true. If this boy was truly as deadly as the rumours claimed.

Dressed in the bright muggle clothes, he looked no different than her sons. Just a boy.

But after the Black brother's second fight, they made a mess that could not have been fixed easily, even with magic… so they ended up having to change their clothes.

Regulus went to change into some of his old wizarding robes. With his long wavy hair messed up from the fight and the dark look on his face, he looked more the part. A pureblood death eater.

This look suited him well. He was still the same boy, but the youthful look and boyish innocence were now gone from his image, leaving only coldness behind.

Moody and Kingsley were standing near the fire place, observing the newcomer. Moody kept his eye on Regulus due to the major security concerns, since the boy was a death eater who just came back from the dead.

Moody gave up trying to convince the others to let him take Regulus and hand him over to the Aurors, but his mistrust towards the boy kept him no further than few meters away, with his wand ready to be in use at the earliest opportunity.

Kingsley however, was more curious about the boy rather than anything else. After everything that has been said and revealed about the said boy, seeing him in flesh, sitting and interacting with his older brother was fascinating. It was clear that Claudius openly trusted the boy, and Kingsley trusted Claudius, so it only made sense to push the suspicions back in favour of the new opportunity that emerged with Regulus Black's return.

Klaus on the other hand, was sitting on the sofa next to Arthur, watching the exchange with the biggest grin and commenting on the 'show' to the head of the Weasley clan.

Normally he would be looking for a bottle right about now, but Regulus' skilful spellwork kept that part of his mind under a lock.

"How are you alive?" Sirius asked his younger brother, who now looked much more like his brother, all dressed in his usual fancy robes. They emphasised his character very nicely.

"I could go into details but we would sit here all week, and even then, you would have not been able to comprehend the complex ways and interworkings of the grand magic. But, putting it in a very simple way, that you can understand with your average intelligence; My soul and body were pulled from the moment before my death, resulting in instant travel across the time frame to the future." He replied in 'as a matter of fact' tone.

"How have you done that?"

"With great skill."

"No, no no, that's impossible!" Remus dismissed shaking his head in disbelief.

"Yet here I am." Regulus leaned back into his chair.

"To time travel to the future you would have had to at some point exist in the said future, meaning you would first, have to time travel to the past and move through the minutes, hours and days, unnoticed by your past self until you returned to the exact same time and place you left from to complete the time travel cycle." Remus explained his reasoning, as he stood up from his chair he occupied next to Sirius, and paced next to the table.

"Just because something is uncommon, doesn't mean it's impossible." Regulus made a point and turned to look at Claudius who instantly agreed.

"Never mind how he got here! The question is why is he here?" Moody moved to stand at the end of the table, leaning on its edge threateningly. "Did Voldemort send you?" He asked looking Regulus in the eyes, but the boy only sighted.

"Did he? Hmm, let me think… did his darkness send me to the future before or after I stole a locket that contained a piece of his soul, with every intention of destroying it?"

"Fine, so you just appeared here! Out of thin air! With absolutely no purpose or plans or anything." Sirius bumped his fist on the table, making Molly jump.

"Am I supposed to accept that my younger brother rose from the dead so conveniently when he's been involved in almost every major and minor conversation the Order has had since December? This is suspicious is every way that matters and seeing you just sitting here all calm and collected as if it's the most normal thing in the world is driving me crazy!"

"I never expected a warm welcome, especially not from you Sirius, but considering everything you found out about me recently, from what I heard from Klaus, this interrogation is getting quite frustrating." Regulus hissed.

"Can you blame me? In the light of all those enlightening pieces of information about you that we came across, it's only a common sense to trust you, isn't it? Except it isn't! All this makes you even more suspicious. Hearing about your secret accomplishments, and being told that you're not the evil brat I believed you were, was quite a lot to take in. But seeing you in person like this, not only alive but also dressed in muggle clothes and driving cars? My brother would have never… he wouldn't… he-he was… This is insane!" Sirius fell back in his chair. He was incredibly stressed out and it showed. His old heart couldn't take all this trauma…

Seeing his brother so out of his depth, made him feel a little sympathetic. Regulus took a deep breath in and looked at his poor brother calmly.

"Look, I'm not going to apologise for my past beliefs or actions, but I want you to know that I'm not who you think I was. Yes, I have the dark mark on my arm and yes I did many terrible things since I got it.

I killed and tortured, and I can't promise you that I won't do those terrible things again. But what I can promise you is that I won't do them to those who don't deserve it. I can promise you that I am on your side and I will fight to win this war, whether you want me at your side or not."

"But you will do it your way."

"My way is the best way. Besides, I wouldn't trust you with a house elf, not to mention a whole plan and wizards' lives at stake." Regulus' lips curled up stiffly, making Remus blink hard through the curtain of reality.

The devil incarnate was back.

"How come he is just as I remember him? A patronising bundle of pure arrogance and vanity wrapped in an unbelievable dosage of self-importance." He said to Sirius and himself.

"I must have made quite an impression on you Remus. Did you miss me?" Regulus asked with a straight face.

"Not at all."

"I heard you taught defence at Hogwarts a few years ago. Quite comical don't you think? The idea of you teaching Hermione." Regulus sniggered in amusement.

"What do you care about Hermione?" Sirius asked annoyed and wary of his brother's intentions towards the smartest witch of her age.

"Well, she's the one I've been looking forward to seeing again the most." Regulus smiled.

"Because you are… friends?" Remus asked with furrowed brows.

"Friends?" Regulus repeated amused. "Is that what she told you?" Regulus smirked and looked at his brother.

"I want to make her your sister in law, if Lord Greenfell approves." The boy turned to Hermione's grandfather with a gentle look on his face that turned into a very pleased look due to Claudius' energetic reaction.

"Oh you know you have my blessing my dear boy! I trust you can take care of her well." Claudius chuckled happily.

"Of course. I just wanted to make sure nothing has changed. It has been many years since we've had this conversation. Also, before Klaus and I left the manor, I took the liberty of responding to some of your correspondence. It was becoming quite a pile."

"You did? You always are such great help to me indeed, I wish my grandson was half as helpful as you are." Claudius shot a look at his grandson across the room.

"Come now, it's not like he did it with no vested interest." Klaus replied amused.

"I figured now that I'm back, you no longer need to look for other suitors. I admit curiosity got to the better of me and wanting to see who I was up against, I familiarised myself with my rivals. I was quite happy to find out, none of the candidates for Hermione's hand have as much to offer as I do. To be frank, despite their fancy titles, they are no match for me." Regulus admitted quite happily to the astonishment of the rest of the room.

"No, they are not. A bunch of bumbling fools. Every single one of them would have many more benefits out of this match than our family." Claudius engaged, forgetting the rest of the room was largely unaware of their family's customs. Having Regulus back put him in such good mood.

"Yes, I could tell from your notes." Said Regulus with mirth in his voice.

"Sister in law? Hermione and you? Married?" Sirius must have only just registered what his younger brother said. "Mr Greenfell, don't let my custom driven brother persuade you with his polished-up words, don't fall into the trap of propriety and protocol. He might seem polite and chivalrous but he's just another ambitious snake with his own wicked motives and despicable aims."

"Do I seem so heartless to you?" Asked Regulus, half amused and half offended. "I'm not the villain here, Sirius."

"Mr Greenfell you cannot be seriously considering thi-" Sirius smashed him palm on the table.

"Why ever not? Do you have a better proposition?" Claudius cut him off.

"But, my brother? He appeared out of nowhere and you would agree to have Hermione marry him? He's a death eater, wizards like him kill people like you. Besides, shouldn't Hermione have something to say about this? Arranged marriages are cruel and unfair, and Hermione deserves better than that."

"You're awfully hostile about this, for someone from our kind of family." Regulus folded his arms, looking at Sirius curiously. He tilted his head and asked; "Is something the matter?"

"Isn't Hermione a bit too young to get married? Not to mention an arranged marriage?" Molly asked with concern apparent in her voice. It was good to know that Hermione had someone to stand up for her, however some could suspect Molly had her own interests at heart…

"I'm grateful for the care you all show for my granddaughter, but trust me when I say I would never force her into a marriage she would be unhappy with. I must ask you to drop this subject as I wish to keep our family matters private and out of the Order's attention." Claudius decided. Hermione's marriage had nothing to do with the order.

"Speaking about Hermione, where is she?"

In front of 12 Grimmauld Place

"Did something happen?" Tonks asked breaking up the silence between the trio. Hermione was clearly doing her best to not even look in Ron's direction, whereas the red haired kept shooting not-so-discreet glances at her, while pouting like a hurt puppy.

Harry in all this tried to act as if everything was fine but the awkwardness hung in the air and Tonks could no longer ignore it.

"Everything is fine, nothing to worry about. Isn't that, right? Hermione? Ron?" Harry looked at his friends pointedly, but Hermione was not moved.

"Just fine." Hermione forced a smile that just about turned back into the frown she wore this whole time since they departed from Andromeda's house.

"Hermione is upset with me because I asked her to go out with me so she can sort her feelings out." Ron said to Tonks quietly, but it was loud enough for Hermione to hear.

"You are being ridiculous Ronald! I can't go out with you." She insisted.

"No, you would rather go out with a death eater who's been dead for the past 18 years!" He glared.

"Stop it Ron! Regulus was the only friend I could trust in the past; I miss him equally as much as I would miss you or Harry. My feelings for him, whatever they might be, have nothing to do with the fact that you and I are just friends and I can't go out with you. How can you even ask me this when you have a girlfriend!"

"Of course you can't, you only have a thing for the dark types, like Krum and Black."

"Don't forget me." Chipped in Harry.

"Yeah, I thought she had a thing for the famous types, according to Rita Skeeter." Tonks added, trying to help Harry divert the argument.

"Stop dragging Regulus into this!" Hermione said to Ron, totally ignoring Harry and Tonks.

"He was a death eater! And he's dead! It's been years since you saw him but you're thinking about him still!"

"I am done arguing with you!" She shouted at him and turned to open the door, for them to walk inside.

"We're back!" Tonks shouted as they took their coats off. It was nearly the evening, so the Order meeting would have probably finished by now.

Someone walked down the stairs but the darkness of the corridor prevented them from seeing their face.

"Ah Sirius! Sorry we've been gone for so long. Has the meeting finished yet?" Harry asked the figure who stopped at the end of the staircase.

"No, everyone is still here. We had a lot to talk about you see." A voice replied but it wasn't Sirius.

"Who are you?" Harry demanded as he pulled out his wand.

"Not Sirius, obviously." A short chuckle escaped the lips of the shaded figure, who slowly moved towards them.

"Stop right there!" Tonks pulled out her wand and stood in front of Harry. "State your name."

"Shouldn't this be my line? You're in my house after all." The figure replied.

"Since when is this your house?" Came Sirius' voice from the other end of the corridor. They could hear the steps coming towards them and soon they saw Sirius materialised before them with a light beaming off the top of his wand he was holding up.

"Since you got disowned. That's why I felt the wards alert when they arrived. I'm the head of the house now." The figure argued. There was something awfully familiar about that voice but Hermione couldn't quite place it.

"We will discuss this later. Now, why don't you come and say hi?" Sirius said in assertive tone to the figure and turned to look at the four arrivals.

"Where have you been all day? Firstly, what did we eat for breakfast this morning?" Sirius asked Tonks who still had her wand up.

"The same thing you always eat, jam on toast bread. What did I say to you when I first met you?" Tonks asked for the sake of asking the security question. Only real Sirius would have asked about food to check them.

"That my name is ironic and that Blacks have a terrible sense of humour when it comes to naming their children." Sirius replied fondly.

"Who is she Sirius? Have you had a daughter you've not yet told me about? Marlene McKinnon, wasn't it her name? The witch who was so besotted with you." The voice got closer.

"Wrong. And don't talk about her. Her entire family was wiped out during the first war. This is Nymphadora Tonks, Andromeda's daughter." Sirius introduced his niece.

"Don't call me that!" Tonks glared at her mother's younger cousin.

"She has grown since the last time I saw her." Replied the mysterious figure. The four arrivals could tell it was a young man as he came closer and stood just behind Sirius, far enough for the light from Sirius' wand to not quite reach his face.

"Last time you saw her? Weren't you dead when she was born?" Asked confused Sirius.

"Not at all, I even had the misfortune of having to deliver her birth." The figure stepped into the light and a sharp gasp escaped Hermione's lips, making Harry and Ron look at her curiously, but the figure turned to Tonks instead.

"And for the record, Andromeda had a list of truly tedious names written up for you darling, Nymphadora was the best option, trust me."

"Sirius, who is this?" Hermione asked in a shaky voice as she came forward to stand only about a meter away from the mysterious boy. Harry and Ron saw the strange boy look at their Hermione lovingly. They looked at each other for answers, hoping the other would know but neither had any idea…

"This, is my younger brother who just came back from the dead when no one asked him too." Sirius replied sending a glare at the boy next to him, who looked slightly older than them. Ron looked at Harry terrified, while Tonks just stood there, amazed.

The boy in question took a step towards Hermione so there was only a couple of centimetres between them, and locked eyes with her. A small smirk gracing his lips.

"You're even more beautiful than the last time I saw you." He said, making her gulp.

"No… It can't be… How?" Hermione looked between Regulus and Sirius.

"That's what we've been trying to work out but he doesn't want to tell us what really happened." Sirius explained slightly irritated.

"I already told you, brother." The no-so-mysterious figure replied calmly, not looking away from Hermione who was still assessing his entire being with her big, disbelieving eyes.

"Yes, but it doesn't make sense!" Sirius folded his arms.

"Well it would if you were smarter."

"Regulus!" Escaped Hermione's lips, surprising the girl herself and everyone present in the corridor.

"What? Even Klaus gets it, and he's very hangover and crazy."

"That's exactly why he gets it! Nobody in their right mind would ever accept your claims as true!" Sirius began to raise his voice.

"Well you're not exactly in your right mind, are you, old man?"

"Shut your filthy death eater mouth before I send you back to where you came from!"

"Like you would ever be able to…"

"Hey! Break it up you two!" Remus appeared.

"Stay out of this Remus!" Said both brothers at the exact same time, while glaring daggers at each other.

The drawing room

"How reassuring to know that the time has changed absolutely nothing, you two are still constantly at each other's throats." Remus commented, tired from trying to break up the arguments between the two brothers.

"Yes, Sirius always was and always will be immature and hot headed, and that's just something that we all have to live with." Regulus said calmly, but with a dark look gracing his handsome facial features. Harry and Ron couldn't help but notice that Sirius' brother was in fact incredibly handsome. He had a beautifully structured face, his hair was sexy, his posture was immaculate and he was tall. Slightly shorter than Sirius, but taller than Ron.

"Talking about 'living' coming from your mouth sounds a bit dead." Sirius said with fighting passion in his eyes. He was ready for another row, but his younger brother wasn't buying into it anymore.

"You always were all bark and no bite." He said, making Sirius angry.

"Better that than staying silent when it matters most to speak up! And bite? Ha, ha! Yes, you've outdone yourself brother!" Sirius pushed his sleeve up and made a show of twisting his arm around.

"It was necessary and you know it!" Defended Regulus.

"Of course I know it but it doesn't make it any better! Does it? You could have come with me Regulus! We could have found another way!"

"There was no other way! We're just been through this, so get over your self-righteous guilt and stop living in the past!"

"I can't!"

"Why not!" At this point the conversation that Regulus tried his best to keep at a civilised volume turned into a shouting match that the rest of the room watched with various reactions.

At first, Harry and Ron wanted to jump to Sirius' defence but they were stopped by the adults who have been subjected to witnessing the Black brother's reunion for the past couple of hours. Hermione just sat there unmoving, as if paralyzed. Watching, with a blank expression on her face. Unsure of whether what she was seeing was real.

"Because you died doing something that I should have done! It should have been me! I should have died, not you!"

"Has it escaped your notice that I'm very much alive and well?"

"And just how have you managed that? Huh?! After all these years! Your Dark lord must have taught you well, I dread thinking of what sort of dark magic you dug up to pull this off."

"Merlin, Sirius grow up! We're not kids anymore!"

"So you admit it!"

"Admit what?"

"That it was dark magic that brought you here?"

"No, it was the Standard Book of Spells Grade 1 - of course it was Dark magic! I was seconds away from drowning Sirius, do you think your kind of magic could have saved me?" Regulus looked around the room and laughed bitterly.

"Look at you lot, you're all so vacant, is it nice not being me? It must be so relaxing. If you think your pathetic magic can give you any real chance of survival in a fight against His Darkness, then you have another thing coming."

First of all, thank you all for waiting.

I rewrote this chapter about 5 times because I wasn't happy with it and it felt like my whole character development went down the drain.

I had to completely take out a section because it was turning into a dramatic love triangle story and that's not what I wanted from this chapter or from the characters, so instead I shifted the focus onto the brothers' relationship.

Perhaps a bit too much, but I think it came out pretty fun to read.

AND THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! You're all amazing and I don't deserve you. I was so happy with how many reviews I got for the last chapter, it was a new record! Honestly, I'm so grateful. I hope you will continue to read and I will try my best to make the chapters fun and enjoyable!

It feels a bit awkward writing Regulus and Hermione's first interactions. I guess Hermione is going through a major shock, suddenly seeing the person whom she believed to be permanently lost forever, materialise before her. As for Regulus…

I think he's always been a bit distant and proper with his feelings for Hermione and in my head, they've been apart for a few years and both have changed and grew and Regulus would have been around death eaters and Voldemort a lot more, and that would have affected him in some way. His adoration for Hermione is still going strong, it just needs a bit of warming up first :)

I'll do the kiss scene in the next chapter when Hermione gets over the initial shock.

There is a quote in there from Sherlock, which I absolutely loooooove! Brownie point if you can spot it!

Anyways, I hope you liked it!

Thank you for reading and let me know what you think in the reviews section down below!

Merlin... I'm starting to sound like youtube. (smh emoji)

Lots of Love,

Livxoxo