Regulus fell out of thin air, landed right on top Remus Lupin, and was quickly surrounded by about 11 other werewolves, all of them looking quite dangerous as he unintentionally elbowed their Commander in the face while screaming murderously.

"GODAMNIT FAE, DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!" he yelled, scrambling off of Remus and whipping around wildly.

"What th- REGULUS?"

Ah, he was in the living room at her house. He darted for the front door, meaning to make his way back to his two traitorous best friends immediately, damn them. "BITCH! FUCKING LIA-"

"STAND DOWN!" Remus yelled before his wolves could rip into him, interrupting and casting a Leg-Lock jinx on Regulus.

Regulus fell, arched up, and started struggling out of his binding while inching forward on his knees. "I'M GOING TO KILL HER! THOSE TWO ARE SO DEAD WHEN I GET MY HANDS-"

Remus growled, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, hauled him up, and spun him around to yell in his face. "DON'T YOU TOUCH HER! WHERE IS SHE?!"

Regulus spat on him. It wasn't his best moment, but he was pissed and he'd never liked Remus. Well, sort of. Remus as a person was cool. As a commander, he was pretty badass. Remus as the guy who hurt his best friend was a fucking dick. "Shut up loverboy, she's perfectly fine, she and her gap-toothed bestie are just traipsing off to fucking America! Without me! They get to go get the venom and meet the Scamanders while I'm stuck here with you and-"

"Regulus?"

Suddenly the bindings on Regulus were gone and both he and Remus whipped their heads to stare at the owner of that broken, emotional voice. "Sirius," he said, blinking.

Absolute joy stretched across his face and his older brother was across the room in seconds, throwing his arms around him and burning his face in his shoulder, holding him so tight he felt his ribs creak. "You're alive! I knew it, I knew she wouldn't kill you! Thank Merlin, my baby brother, you're alive!"

Regulus couldn't help laughing helplessly, patting Sirius on the back as best as he could with Sirius' arms wrapped around him at the elbows. Wow, he was taller than Sirius now. It was strange to see him again, but as him and not Kent. "Are you crying? You fucking sap!"

"TELL ME RIGHT NOW! WHERE IS FAE!"

Stupid fucking Lupin was yanking him back again and Regulus was getting really sick of being yeeted around like a ragdoll. He glared and said, "I'm not telling you shit with that piss poor attitude."

"I'LL KILL YOU."

"Woah! Moony!" Sirius cried, jumping between them and pushing at Remus' shoulders to keep him from advancing on Regulus. "CHRISTIAN, CHRISTIAN A LITTLE HELP HERE!"

Two of the werewolves stepped forward, tossing a firm arm around Remus' shoulders and pulling him back, the blonde one saying something calm in his ear while keeping a wary, sharp eye on Regulus. Regulus childishly, because what the fuck, stuck his tongue out.

"Okay, okay enough. Everybody calm down! This is my brother, Regulus! He's safe! Everything is okay!" Sirius told everybody.

"Hmph, says you," Regulus said, frowning and crossing his arms. Everything was most certainly not okay, this was not the plan. He wasn't supposed to be here until October at the earliest. He was supposed to be with Fae and Romilly, going to America. But nooooo, stupid Pettigrew had to get himself killed and Fae had to choose now of all times to get spooked.

Sirius looked at him searchingly. "Regulus?"

"What are you doing here, Death Eater?" Remus snapped.

"What do you think?" Regulus said dryly, holding up the tape in his hand labelled 'watch me :)'.

That shut him, and everyone, up real fast. It was a blink of an eye before they were crowded around the tv- him, Sirius, Remus, and four others. The rest had been ordered off by the tall, ripped, dark-haired werewolf. Remus demanded Regulus be tied up somehow and Sirius responded by throwing both of his arms around him securely and calling it good. Fae appeared on the screen, smiling sheepishly at them. Regulus didn't recognize the room behind her, she must've taken this video when she'd killed Greyback and recorded the others as well.

There was a sharp intake of breath from Remus and he fell to his knees in front of the tv, nearly glued to the thing. His expression was a pathetic mix of euphoric, longing, and heartbroken. No matter what Regulus felt about Remus, just seeing that pure look made his heart lurch. He'd almost forgotten how bad they both had it for each other. Then again, absence makes the heart grow fonder so he was probably at his lowest and most desperate.

"Hey everyone! It's me again. Still alive and raising hell. I hope my package got to you guys in one piece, more or less," she said with a cheeky grin and a wink.

Regulus cheerfully flipped off her image on screen while Sirius grinned at him and ruffled his hair.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to do the annoying thing and ask for another favor from you guys. Look after Regulus. No, scratch that. Put him on house arrest," she demanded. "Tommy absolutely cannot know he's alive under any circumstances. I'm sure most of you understand by now that although Regulus was a Death Eater, he switched sides. Like, way early on. And you should all know that it's thanks to him that we know how to defeat Tom, so go easy on him okay?"

Regulus scoffed and rolled his eyes. Go easy on him, she says. They were going to eat him alive, especially Remus.

Fae smiled and continued her explanation. "That's what we've been doing for the past few months. Well, to be honest, for the past few years. I trust Regulus to explain the details to whoever he thinks should know," she said.

All of this he already knew and had planned for. Already pretty much knew who he'd be telling too. What he wanted to know is why the hell she had sent him here so early. She was worried about him, sure, but he would've been perfectly safe with her in America. This was such bullshit. Sometimes he really hated how bullheaded and headstrong Fae got.

"Right then. Listen up, guys, and listen good. If Regulus is with you, then that means we're almost done. It's almost time for the final stand. Well, my final stand, at least. I'm going to kill Tom Riddle and if I've made it this far, then that means I have not just the means to do it, but the perfect opportunity," she said.

"I'm going to draw him into a trap. Don't worry how, just know with absolute certainty that he will show up, most likely with the majority of his forces if I've made him as mad as I think I have by the time you guys are watching this. And with that being said, all that's left is to make him even more mad and then to make your choice."

At that, she paused and took a deep breath. Faced the camera with a fierce, determined look. All the fire and charisma that rose and felled armies. "I ask you to stand and fight with me. Fight with me and help me finish this," she said.

"However, I understand completely if you don't. I get it. I get that I've thrown you all into a crazy cluster-fuck that nobody was ready for and that I've done a lot of nasty things that most of you probably don't condone," she said, then smiled kindly and bittersweetly. "So it's okay if you choose not to fight with me. It's my sincere hope that I, and my actions, will be enough to stop him. And if not, then I'll go down swinging, knowing that I've done my part in the war. That I've done my best, my worst, and everything in between."

She grinned brightly, fae-like and strong. "And Regulus? You know what you need to do now and I have every bit of faith in you that you'll do just fine. Better than. You're a rockstar, sweetheart, and I couldn't have done this without you. So thank you. For everything. Let's end this and give them hell. Just.. don't let anyone rope you into anything too crazy. And by anyone, I mean you, Sirius."

Both of the Black brothers laughed at that.

"Well, that's about it then. I love you all and miss you all so much. I'll be seeing you soon. Stay safe," she said, blowing them a kiss and waving goodbye as the screen went black.

There was a moment of silence and then Regulus stood, eyeing the inhabitants of the room. "Well, you heard her. Basically I'm here to rally your forces and plan accordingly. Join us, or don't. You're choice. Battle's happening sometime in October, we'll know when it gets closer."

Remus didn't even hesitate. "I'm fighting."

The few werewolves that had joined them were right behind their leader. "Then, as are we. You have the support of the Werewolf Brigade."

"Shocker," Regulus drawled. Of course the one's Fae had personally trained for war would follow her. Then he sighed deeply and headed toward the kitchen. "Okay, fuck this shit, you guys got any wine?"

Remus glared and stormed off while Sirius just beamed and eagerly followed him to the kitchen.

A few hours, a few beers, a coffee cake, and a million stories swapped with his overexcited puppy-like older brother later, and Regulus got to do the whole thing again, but with a few select higher-up members of the Order that they could trust not to reveal Regulus was alive.

"So who's in then?" he asked, slightly drunk.

"Well it's kind of hard to agree to a full-scale battle without knowing what she's up to, innit?"

Remus looked more offended than anybody and growled at the red-haired woman. "What? It's Fae! She's single-handedly made more progress in this war than any o-

Regulus clapped to interrupt him. "Shove it, Remus, not everybody is as in love with her as you are. They deserve to know what they're getting themselves into and I suppose you lot are as good as any," he said.

The people in this room were Sirius, Remus, Christian, Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Molly Weasley, Dorcas Meadows, and Albus Dumbledore, who he suspected knew everything already anyways.

Sighing, Regulus spelled himself sober and squared his shoulders. "Gather round the campfire kids, this is a long story."

Regulus started from the beginning, how he'd always been close with Fae, but dutiful to his bullshit family. He told them about how he and Fae had chosen their sides and gone separate ways in 7th year, but she'd offered him an out for whenever he needed it, because Fae just knew everything somehow.

He'd had doubts from the very beginning, hated his existence as Death Eater, and took the out 9 months later after Riddle had nearly killed his house elf whilst hiding a Horcrux and it occurred to Regulus that he was a) batshit crazy, b) immortal with the chance to be made mortal once more, and c) willing to sacrifice anyone and anything for his own agenda. Regulus crossed paths with Fae in that battle and got in touch with her soon after. Fae, being equally batshit crazy, welcomed him back with open arms.

For the next year and a half, Regulus worked as a spy in Riddle's ranks. He reported to Fae on everything from member logistics to supporters and resources to all other Horcruxes. Thanks to the prophecy, Riddle had been spooked into hiding his other trinkets and Regulus, with his background, had been the obvious choice for safeguarding them with curses. Once their lists were as good as they were going to get and Fae had prepared the tools she needed, all they needed was a reason for Riddle to turn his attentions on Fae.

After the Fidelius was cast, Fae took off, met up with Romilly, and faked Regulus' death so they could systematically cut down Riddle's forces while secretly gathering up his Horcruxes and figuring out how to destroy them in the background. They left it to Remus and the Werewolf Brigade to take out their own chunk of the list, provided by the late and noble Peter, and raise enough hell so Riddle was too distracted by putting out fires to notice their true goal.

Regulus grinned smugly and counted their hard-won triumphs off. "He has no werewolves. He has no giants. Sure as hell never had any goblins. His Death Eaters have dwindled down by at least half. His supporters cut down by an ever larger margin. His reputation is in shreds and despite his best efforts, I can tell the fear factor is wonderfully lacking since the Order and the general public have only been getting stronger."

"And you've gathered all the Horcruxes?" Moody asked.

He nodded. "As far as we know and as far as he doesn't, hence why I need to stay dead. Fae and Romilly, those dumbasses, are currently in America, chasing down the last thing we need - a means to destroy them," he said.

Then Regulus stood up and addressed them all fiercely, channeling Fae's strength and Romilly's resting bitch face. "And that's the plan - bait Voldemort to the final battlefield where we destroy them all in one go and then kill him while he's weak from the side effects of parts of his soul being broke. Take out whatever support he has there and I'll bet you that the rest, who were too scared to come, will take care of themselves and fuck off."

There was a moment of silence as they all considered it. Then Shacklebolt asked, "What if he has more Horcruxes?"

"Then we're fucked," he answered honestly, shrugging. Sirius smacked his arm.

"That's not exactly encouraging."

"Yeah, tell me about it," he agreed. "But we spent years looking at them from every angle and every possible pattern or habit. Hunted down dozens of other potential objects he could've used. We've done our absolute best and I want to say we're 93% sure that there are not any more."

At least, Regulus was 93% sure. Romilly was less, but Fae seemed to be 100% and she had that knack of hers.

"I see," Moody said, looking thoughtful.

"Riddle is at the weakest he's ever been. He's vulnerable where it counts without even realizing it and as long as I stay dead, it won't even occur to him to try and make more Horcruxes until it's too late. This is as good of a shot as we're going to get," Regulus said. "But I suppose if we fail and die, then you're free to continue where we left off and keep looking for more."

There were a few looks of horror and he smirked. Fae would've thought he was funny, even if it was absolutely, horrifically true. As far as Regulus was concerned, he'd have been dead long ago if it hadn't been for Fae, if not in body then in spirit. Probably both. So it was not even a question of whether he would follow her into the final battle, even if it was just the three of them against all of Riddle's Death Eaters.

"Anyways. Take your time deciding," he said snarkily, still feeling bitter. "I'm here earlier than scheduled so you've got a bit before I need to know final numbers on either side and begin strategizing for the finale."

The Potter house was overrun with werewolves so Regulus ended up bunking with Sirius. He didn't mind terribly, he was so used to sleeping beside Fae and Romilly that he probably wouldn't be able to sleep without someone beside him for a while anyways. It was strange that it was Sirius, they hadn't done this since they were maybe 3 and 4? When their mother had declared them too big for such weak habits. Sirius had tried relentlessly to sneak into Regulus' room anyways and that was the first time Regulus could remember their mother getting violent with them instead of just verbally abusive.

As it was, he still couldn't sleep.

Apparently, neither could Sirius. Around 3 am, his older brother flopped over onto his shoulder and mumbled, "Whatcha thinking about?"

Regulus shrugged the shoulder under Sirius' cheek. "Oh, the usual. Just how much fun Fae and Romilly are having without me, running around New York without a care in the world," he said, honestly still hurt and pouting. And pathetic. He missed them and Sirius' hair was too curly, even if his weight against his side and the way stray strands tickled his chin was comforting.

"Fun? With those two and without you to reign them in? I weep for New York City."

"Heh."

Unable to resist the instinct, Regulus wiggled his arm under Sirius' shoulders and let his forearm loop up so his fingers could dance in his hair. Still too curly, but he didn't seem to mind so Regulus didn't mind. At least, it kind of reminded him of Romilly's hair from back at Hogwarts.

Then Sirius said, "But there's something else, yeah?"

Regulus sighed deeply. "There's a lot of things. We are in a war," he said, voice monotone.

Suddenly Sirius' human body was gone and replaced with a great, big, wiggly black dog whose cold nose was digging into every open piece of skin on Regulus' neck and face, snuffling and making him laugh and push the dog away.

"Alright, fine then, you whinging tosser," he said, chuckling. Then took a deep breath. "I'm just worried. I was the only one who could keep track of whether Death Eaters got too close or not. Sure she can smell the marks, but that's just the Death Eaters and then sometimes she gets distracted too easily. You know Fae."

Sirius changed back. "Keep track? How'd you do that?"

Regulus explained easily about the prank they'd pulled back in fifth year and how they'd elaborated it into a little tracker for all Death Eaters and Supporters present at the last meeting Regulus had been to. He couldn't help smiling a bit as Sirius beamed and said, "Wow. That's.. Brilliant."

"Mm," Regulus hummed, and then continued ranting. "And she's going to be walking a very dangerous line when she gets back here and starts provoking them again to get Riddle pissed off for the finale. We won't know how many he'll have on his side at that point."

"Well, we'll do our best to keep track here," Sirius said, interrupting him with his usual boundless cheerfulness. "And besides, as I understand it, you're in charge of logistics for the most part so me and Moony and the Order will just report numbers to you. And Fae's senses are far superior to any werewolf that ever lived. She'll see any enemy coming a kilometer way. There, problem solved."

"Ha. Ever the optimist."

"It is indeed one of my best qualities," Sirius said. Then headbutted Regulus chin playfully. "Now what else is bothering you?"

And sometimes, Regulus wasn't mad at Sirius at all for leaving him alone in the House of Black. When he acted like this, it reminded him so much of Fae that he couldn't help thinking that Sirius had been fated to become her brother all along. Still made him jealous, but he always appreciated their easy affection.

"Well…."

"Spill."

So he spilled. "Fae and Romilly are so sure that Basilisk Venom will destroy the Horcruxes."

"But?"

"But I don't think it's enough," Regulus said, thinking out loud. "There are five, very dark, very powerful items." And thanks to Fae sending him away, he wouldn't even get to test the Basilisk Venom. That just wasn't fair.

Sirius hummed thoughtfully. "You think you will need something more?"

"I'm almost sure we do and I know what we can use. It's just that we need a better way to amplify and control it, so it doesn't go wild and attack allies or siphon off too much magic," Regulus answered. They had tried damn near everything and Fiendfyre had the best results by far. It was irritating that not one of them was strong enough to use it in a large enough capacity and still retain control.

Suddenly Sirius arched up and grinned down at him. "Well why didn't you just say so?"

Regulus blinked up at him. "Explain."

Fae would definitely not have approved of how risky it was, even disguised as Kent Acosta. On the other hand, everybody knew that Sirius had an uncanny knack for making the wildest of plots go off without a hitch, so in that way, Regulus could argue it was foolproof. To put it simply, they used a convoluted series of spells and tricks to break into the House of Black undetected and then corralled, scared off, and forced Walburga Black into a temporary stasis. Stuck in a portrait, screaming, until the war was over and she couldn't go ratting out her disgusting, traitorous, ex-sons to Riddle while they ransacked the house for any objects, antiquities, spells, curses, hexes, cookware, furniture, or potions they could use.

There were so many options, they didn't know where to start, although Kreacher was thrilled to see him again and all too happy to assist. In fact, they weren't seen by anybody else for six days as they picked through their findings, beady-eyed and grinning and cackling mischievously. And to be fair, they spent a lot of time fucking around as well, testing things out with each other, tossing the most expensive and important items around the house that their mother would've Crucio'd them for even looking at. For a little while, Regulus was grateful to come back early. To spend this time with his brother and feel like he was 6 years old again, when it was just them trying to get by in this stuffy old house.

The Black Brothers arrived back at the Potter House on the seventh day. Regulus had emerged successfully with just the thing he needed. Meanwhile, Sirius was skipping and humming as he spread out all his new toys and imagined all the fun ways they could use them to decapitate, maim, and otherwise devastatingly wreck their enemies.

"This is perfect. Fae and Romilly are going to be thrilled," he said, grinning.

"You've grown up so much," Sirius said.

Regulus looked at him, found him looking back fondly and uncharacteristically pensively. "What are you going on about?"

Sirius smiled sadly and patted him on the cheek. "Just.. I remember when Fae first started hanging out with you and.. I was nervous about it. Well you know how she is. Told me to stick my prejudices where the sun don't shine and told me that after so many years of me pushing away my heritage, I didn't really know you, my own little brother, anymore."

"Let me guess, she was right?"

"She always is," he said, laughing. Then stroked his cheek and brushed back his hair a bit.

"I'm sorry, Regulus. I'm so….. glad that Fae was there for you and helped you get out. And I'm so sorry that it wasn't me, that I wasn't there for you," Sirius said, slow as he got the words out sincerely.

Regulus smiled and patted the hand on his cheek, giving it a squeeze. "It's okay, I forgive you. I understand now, why you wanted out so badly. Turns out being Toujours Pur means jack shit."

They shared a laugh. "Thank you," he said, and then leaned in to push their foreheads together. "And Reg?"

"Yeah?" he asked, happy because Sirius hadn't called him that in more than a decade.

"I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you." Regulus flushed with pleasure and smiled before pulling away and turning back to his map of Petersfield shyly. Then he chuckled lightly.

"Hey Si'us?" he asked, testing out his brothers' old nickname.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to help me plan the final battle?"

"Really? Me?"

Regulus grinned sharply, all teeth, Fae-like. "Well, you and the Marauders. I just figured that between you, James, Remus, me, and that nice big open battlefield, we could come up with a few little somethings."

Sirius mirrored his expression, scooted in closer to look at the map. "Now you're talking."

However, before they could launch into planning with the Marauders and booby-trapping the battlefield to the seventh layer of hell, Regulus had one more thing to do. He'd been here for a while now and had come to terms with doing this long before that. It was time to get it over with. For Fae.

"Hey. You," he said.

Remus frowned at him and paused in his path to the back door. "What."

Regulus tossed the moonstone and seashell bracelet, the twin to the one on Remus' own wrist, at him. "Let's talk," he said.

Remus frowned at him, but nodded and followed him into the kitchen. By then, thankfully, they'd procured wine so Regulus poured them both hefty glasses and they sat, opposite ends, staring at each other, measuring each other up.

Eventually, Regulus started. "You broke my best friend's heart."

The tawny-haired man flinched and frowned. "I know," he said, solemnly, regretfully.

Regulus snorted. "No, Remus, I don't think you do," he said, sitting up and addressing him aggressively. "You don't understand. Fae may come off as an open book, but you and I both know that she has more secrets than Egypt's Pyramids, The Lost City of Atlantis, and the Mona Lisa combined."

Which was irritatingly true. Fae was very open about her surface-level, every day feelings. So open and willing to talk about feelings in general. But the second you went a little below the surface, you'd hit titanium and she'd close off. Disappear and return only when you were ready to agree that it never happened. Sometimes, hints would sprout up like geysers of oil, you just had to be very careful to catch them for what they were.

"Yeah," Remus said bitterly. "Obviously."

He rolled his eyes. This little bitch, acting like he was the only one personally affected by Fae's many unfortunate characteristics. "She doesn't open up easily. She doesn't love easy either," Regulus said, glaring. "She loves hard and truly, completely trusts very few. You betrayed her and now she's terrified of ever trying again."

Ah, now Remus was looking appropriately depressed, guilty, and apprehensive. Time to hit him where it hurts. Regulus bared his teeth in a cheshire smile. "So terrified that she kept up a fake boyfriend for a year and a half so you would back off with your indecisive affections and she'd be able to breathe around you."

Remus blinked. Then he almost flipped the table. The sheer enraged magical surge made all the cabinets shake. "How did you kn- You motherfucker! You're-"

"Still her best friend and never once her actual lover. Get over it," Regulus snapped. Honestly. Fae had been so clearly not in love with Kent.

"Do you hear what I'm telling you? She's so scared to love you again, love you openly and fully, that she put up with a fake boyfriend for more than a year. It was hurting her, being close to you and having you act like a besotted moron without being honest and committing to her. You scare her," he snarled.

Which was a world-fearing concept, Fae afraid of something. But Regulus had put together the pieces over the years, speculated with Romilly plenty of times. All the little hints and things she'd said to him in the past, or to Severus, or to Sirius. Fae had come from an abusive household in which she was not always the victim of the abuse, but the witness to it. She'd grown up watching and listening to constant verbal abuse, probably between her parents if he had to guess, which is what made her so terrified of true, committed, reach-for-forever, love. She basically promised it to everybody she cared about, wanted happily ever after for everyone, but flinched away from it like it was poison when it came to her own heart. Too scared of it going badly down the road. And that had been before Remus shattered her.

Remus gaped. "Me? But she's-"

Regulus waved him off. "Equally terrifying to you and incidentally, also terrifying to everybody else. If you look up 'monster' in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of her smiling and I mean that in both the most loving and the most nasty way possible," he said, snickering and taking a sip of his wine. Mmm, Romilly would like this with white chocolate covered pretzels.

"… It doesn't matter," Remus said, after a long pause.

He arched an eyebrow. "Say that again?"

Remus took a deep breath and then stood angrily, slamming his palms against the table and making Regulus flinch, just a little bit. "I said it doesn't matter!" he declared.

"She scares me, I apparently scare her, I broke her heart when I dated Lorelei, she broke mine when she dated and almost married you, we haven't seen each other in months, and we're in the middle of a war that might kill one or both of us, but it doesn't matter. None of that matters because I'm in love with her. I am deeply, madly, completely in love with her. I-"

"So what?" Regulus asked, laughing harshly. "Sometimes love is not enough. If love were enough, you guys would've been together years ago."

"I know that!" Remus yelled, then rifled a hand through his hair frustratedly. "Merlin, I swear everybody and their mother and my mother teamed up to make sure I knew it ever since Fae left, as if it never occurred to me that my cowardice, my insecurities, and my complacency are the reasons we're not happy together and already married!"

Regulus blinked owlishly. Married. Wow. This was some good shit. He had not imagined Remus had progressed quite this far, but apparently Regulus had not been the first by a long shot to try and do something about this painfully annoying slow burn. Idly, he wondered who else had yelled at him, and evidently done a really excellent job. Still, Regulus had his fair share of tips too.

"So what are you going to do about it?" he challenged.

"Be brave! Be courageous! Believe that I am enough for her! Be whatever I need to be and tell her how I feel outright and fight for her!"

Welp. He could deal with that. He'd never seen Remus so fired up or passionate in his life. Such a far cry from the quiet, sullen, jealous glares and backhanded compliments through an entire year of Kent. He'd changed.

"Fine," Regulus said, throwing his hands up. Then polished off his wine, refilled the glass, and held it up like a toast to him. "I give up. You win. I'll let you date Fae."

Remus' expressions flitted from surprised to pleased to indignant and finally to amused. "Ha! Let me? It's Fae's choice, you know, whether she'll have me or not."

Regulus winked at him provocatively. "Oh, she'll have you, repeatedly, shamelessly, thoroughly, and vigorously over every available surface and then some." Of that he was sure. After a year and a half of watching these two and watching Fae eye-fuck Remus when he wasn't paying attention and listening to her bitch about how attractive he was, Regulus imagined that once she got ahold of him for good, they wouldn't leave a bedroom for months, unless it was to try a new position or location. And knowing Fae, public places were not off limits, but rather, challenges. Hell, she was probably an exhibitionist and would make one out of Remus, wanting to show off her 'beautiful darling' and make sure people knew good and well that he belonged to her.

The Commander of the Wolf Brigade blushed. He got so flustered and so red so fast, that he stumbled, fell into his chair, and melted onto the table, hiding his burning face in his arms. Ah, okay, Regulus could kind of see it now, why Fae was so crazy about him. He was pretty cute when he got shy and embarrassed like this. It was kind of alluring, kind of empowering, to make such a strong, tough-looking guy look like he might swoon.

Grinning, he continued. "But Romilly and I are Fae's best friends so you are duty bound to get our approval. And now, I must fulfill my best friend's duty of giving you the shovel talk. So if you hurt Fae again, I'll rip apart your body into 72 pieces and scatter them so thoroughly around the world that all your werewolves combined would never be able to find you," he said cheerfully.

Remus nodded solemnly and smiled a little. "If I hurt Fae again, I'll order my werewolves to help you."

"Good man," Regulus said, returning his smile. Then he snickered. "Anyways, good luck with Romilly. I recommend red wine, she likes Cabernet Sauvignon. And fresh seafood. And diamonds and white gold. Woman has good taste and high standards."

For the most part. Romilly had definitely developed a taste for finer things, which he appreciated, but the creature-obsessed, rough and tumble, crudely blunt, simple-living girl who was perfectly happy drinking powdered hot chocolate with cheap marshmallows while talking to house elves in the middle of the night was still there too. He just wouldn't tell Remus how easy it could be, just yet. Like Fae said, Romilly had worked hard and deserved nice things. And it'd be a nice break from Regulus' wallet too.

"You think it'll be that difficult to get her approval?"

Regulus laughed so hard he almost choked. "Yes. Romilly hates you," he said, grinning. "She wasn't a fan of you before you broke Fae's heart, but after?" There was a considerate pause and then his laughter could be heard throughout the woods.

Oh, he couldn't wait to see Romilly rip Remus a new one. They hadn't interacted even once since Fae's heart had been broken. It was going to be brilliant. The stuff of dreams, or nightmares, depending.

"Fuck."

But Remus and Fae were really in love so he wished him luck. It'd be fine, probably. "Let's just say, you better pull off some impressive shit and then get ready to grovel. To both of them. Romilly first."

The Commander sighed deeply and nodded. "So what should I do in the meantime?" Remus asked.

"Make Riddle mad. The madder he is, the more likely he'll take the bait."

"I can do that."

Oh could he. His Werewolf Brigade was legendary. Fae had done a good job. Remus had done a good job. They shared a grin.

"Sure you can. But you know, there's something else you can help with too?"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, me and Sirius found some good shit back home."

"So that's where you two disappeared to." Remus mulled it over and then his eyes took on the shine of the devil. "What kind of shit?"

Fae wildly swung between impossibly excited and impossibly anxious as she and Romilly made their way from Hogwarts to Birmingham to catch their flight. They had a few days to get there and so they took it slow, steady, and stealthily. It was quieter without Regulus to bicker with Romilly and without any Death Eaters to fuck over. In fact, the slow paced traveling just reminded her of Remus which made her more anxious, because how was she going to be able to leave the country and not know what was going on for a few days, or longer?

But she was also crazy excited. She hadn't been on American soil in an indescribable, or was it indeterminable, amount of time. Fae missed America. Missed so much about it, the food, the language, the media, the land and the cities. There wouldn't be enough time to go visit where her first home would've, would be, was, been, but she wasn't really sure if she was ready for that anyways. For now, seeing Times Square and the Statue of Liberty would be enough.

That and meeting Newt Scamander, the Father of Magizoology. She wasn't sure if she was more excited to meet him or to talk with him about werewolf kind. He must know so much and would have so many interesting insights for her. That, and it was a load off her chest to have the Basilisk Venom.

Fae was mostly excitement as they got to the airport and boarded the plane. Romilly was a hilarious wreck and suddenly very hateful of muggle inventions. Fae held her hand and let her hide her face in her hair, giggling and thinking of how Regulus would tease her relentlessly for being able to fly on a dragon's back no problem, but a plane? That was where she drew the line?

Fae took pity on her and knocked her out with a sleeping spell, letting the blonde doze on her shoulder while Fae flipped through her notebooks, caught up on some journaling, did some reading, tried desperately not to think of Remus. It sort of worked, but eight hours was a long flight and she was practically pacing the aisles by the time the flight landed. She'd woken Romilly with her jitteriness and the blonde girl was increasingly cranky and pissed off as Fae dragged her off the plane and through the airport.

"You don't even know where you're going," she whined.

"Don't care, I'll go anywhere here!"

Thankfully, Romilly got a little more cheerful with every boutique, bakery, and wine store they hit. It was a surreal feeling and Fae's neck hurt from looking up at all the buildings, nostalgia carrying her in waves. Around midday, the jet lag started to set in and Fae's energy wore down somewhere in Central Park, sighing over her ice-cream cone, watching a live musician strumming to Guns 'N' Roses, beginning to nod off on Romilly's shoulder.

Romilly sighed, wrapped an arm around her, and apparated them to the front steps of a nice apartment complex. Fae did her best to clean up and look alive, but mostly just fulfilled her promise of making them look like a lesbian power couple by wrapping herself around Romilly under her arm and leaning affectionately and comfortably on her as they went up the stairs and knocked on the door.

The woman who answered looked young for being in her 70s, but her eyes had all the wisdom and sharpness to convince Fae otherwise. Porpentina Scamander, although surprised to see them, was already with it after just a few seconds and welcomed them in quickly, casting locking and privacy charms easily as they settled into the living room. It was warm and homey. Instantly familiar and comfortable. It reminded her so much of home and she was so tired and her heart was aching and she just didn't have energy for anything anymore as some of the anxiety, depression, and sleep deprivation caught up.

"Forgive her, she's normally much more direct and energetic and… well, you'll understand when she gets some rest and you can meet her for real," Romilly said, guiding Fae's head down on her lap, removing her gloves, and carding her fingers through Fae's greasy, plane hair.

"It's perfectly alright, I imagine she's going through a lot right now."

"Through heaven, earth, hell, all the way back, and then some to space, I imagine. Silly girl, always pushing herself," Romilly cooed and Fae passed out.

Porpentina Scamander was a frighteningly, and exhilaratingly, competent woman. Once Fae was properly back to herself and awake, they talked over breakfast, Tina grilling her over the war and Fae happy to explain and elaborate. Newt, as predicted, was out of town at the moment. He was down the coast a bit, checking on a colony of Fly-Finned Fire Turtles in Charleston. She'd write to him to come home as soon as possible

Fae, impatient and twitchy and eager to wander, decided to just go and meet him. Romilly was happy to join her, eager to join her grandfather in the field. They took a bus to Charleston which was nearly a full day's ride, a little more with a few stops along the coast. It was amazing, the views were so beautiful, the places so amazing. Remus would've loved it and Fae felt such a burn, such an overwhelming fire to just be done with the war so she could bring him here. And maybe, one day, she'd take him to Kansas City. It wouldn't be the same, not by thirty years, but it would be the same enough and the earth would rock so much beneath her that she'd need him to stay steady.

They got to Charleston, spent about a day looking for Newt, and then called Tina's apartment, only to find out that they had just missed him. Newt had actually arrived home, early for once, and was now waiting for them there. They took a portkey back and Fae finally got to meet Newt Scamander.

He was sprightly and flighty and awkward just like she'd always imagined, but there was also a sureness in his steps that she supposed came with time and age. He met her eyes calmly, shook her hand happily, and went through about eight notebooks and three pots of tea while they ranted at each other for hours about the abilities of werewolves and the mistreatment of lycanthropes. It was amazing and Fae was eternally grateful to Romilly and Tina for breaking up their discussion around 11 o'clock at night to point out that they were here for Basilisk Venom and couldn't stay too long.

"Basilisk Venom? What on earth do you need that for?"

"It's a long story."

And so they talked again, until two a.m. and through four pizzas and another pot of tea. They explained about Tom Riddle and about the Horcruxes and all that mess, Romilly purposefully leaving out the more gruesome details or the nasty shit they'd done to test out other possibilities of destruction on Death Eaters.

In the end, Newt and Tina were all too happy to hand a liter-sized bottle of Basilisk Venom to Romilly, accompanied with lectures about the properties and immense safety-measures and fussing from them both, respectively. It was sweet, seeing how much they cared about their granddaughter. It made Fae miss Fleamont and Euphemia terribly and she fell asleep at the table, listening to Romilly saying, 'Yes, I know, I got it' over and over.

And of fucking course, their flight had been cancelled. Cancelled. And Regulus, Kent Acosta, had the money and the connections and handled all that stuff. Fae knew about flying overseas as a regular human, but nothing about doing it illegally as a wanted woman with charmed disguises, no money, and a huge bottle of highly illegal venom. Fuck.

Newt and Tina, bless them, handled it, but the best they could do was a cruise to some town in Wales in about five days' time, to ensure they would get back completely undetected, posing as vacationers. Apparently, the ministry was looking for Fae now too. They had been since she'd set loose the zines and thrown them under the bus for being inactive and corrupt, but efforts had doubled since rumors had spread about her leaving the country. Policing magical transportation and points in and out of the country was old hat for them. FUck, fuck, fuckity fuck.

She looped Central Park three or four times a day. Fae paced with Newt's Wampuses and Diricawls and Mooncalves in his animal hospital and lab beneath the apartment. She went through every bit of research she had with him and demonstrated as many of her abilities as she could with him. She poured over the newspaper stands, dying for a less generalized headline about the overall state of the war overseas and more specific happenings. And just fucking perfect, she couldn't sleep either. So she started running around the streets at night too. Talking with Newt's nocturnal creatures.

Her nerves were wearing thin, the anxiety wrecking her mental state, and the sleep-deprivation taking her down. Fae had fallen asleep beside the Bowtruckle Tree and nearly cursed Romilly's arm off when the blonde tried moving her in the morning so she and her grandfather could get on with the morning rounds.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Romilly. I'm just so worried. We weren't supposed to be gone this long," Fae said miserably, letting Romilly pick her up and throwing her arms around the taller girl's shoulder so she could sleepily bury her face in her neck.

Romilly settled her in a comfy armchair in the study portion of Newt's menagerie, chair moved to the room division and pointed outward so she could watch while she rested. Fae almost refused to let Romilly go because she always felt better cuddled up with her and the blonde snickered, unhooking her arms and tossing a sandwich at Fae to keep her hands, and mouth, busy for a bit.

Newt looked at them fondly and smiled. "I've found that worrying just means you suffer twice," he said, and Fae wanted to laugh because she couldn't even count how many times she'd already told herself that in this war. Still, he was right. This was an amazing thing to witness, to watch and orbit around, seeing Romilly in her zone with her grandfather, Newt Fucking Scamander, patiently teaching her everything he knew and learning from her in return as Romilly blossomed and thrived and made her own way.

But fuck that blonde bitch, because she then snickered and decided to rip Fae a new one. "Oh Gramps, she can't help it. The love of her life is on the frontlines, commanding their werewolf army," she teased.

Newt gaped at her a bit. "Your lover is Commander Remus Lupin of the Werewolf Brigade?" he asked.

"The what of the what?!" she asked, because that was fucking badass name, Oh Merlin she was going to tease Remus about that forever. Then she shot Romilly a dirty look. "And he's not my-"

"Yes he is, shut up," Romilly said, flicking some water at her.

"You shut up." Fae resisted the urge to throw mooncalf pellets at her and failed spectacularly, face bright red as she flicked her wand and sent the whole bucket upended over her head. She was swarmed by Mooncalves in seconds and it was adorable. Fucking traitor.

Then she turned back to Newt. "Anyways, what is this about a Werewolf Brigade?" Because she honestly had probably leaned on Regulus and Peter a little too much to keep her updated on the news. How did she not know everything about this?

"Oh, it's all over the news all around the world, how the Order of the Phoenix's Werewolf Brigade is winning the war."

"WHAT."

"Yes, quite amazing. It'll do wonders for the Lycanthropic Community," he said happily.

Romilly, recently escaped, grinned brightly and proudly. "Well you're looking at the mastermind behind that Brigade. Fae trained and gathered a good majority of those werewolves, particularly their leader."

"Really?" he asked, because while he and Fae had covered her abilities like crazy, they hadn't really talked about the war. Romilly seemed to want to keep her family away from it, and Fae didn't blame her.

She flushed and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Oh. Well. Yeah, but Remus really did most of the teaching and training. I just did the initial research and testing, figuring things out and what not."

Remus had always been the better teacher, especially with bigger groups. He had an eye for details and for planning ahead and around everything. He would've been wasted, albeit brilliant, as a mere Hogwarts Professor. Although, if he still ended up there one day and was happy, Fae would support him completely. That went without saying.

"So modest," Romilly said, scoffing and rolling her eyes. "As if you didn't teach that boy everything he knows and then give him the push he needed to become 'The Commander'. He never would've done anything like that if it weren't for you and frankly, I don't think it's fair that he's getting the limelight instead of you."

"He deserves it! Face it, I'm much more brutal and violent than he is. If I'd been in charge of the Brigade, then half of England would be in flames, the world would be hailing me as the next Dark Lord, and people would hate werewolves more than ever," Fae joked, only half serious. Because, well. Yeah. And besides, she wasn't the one applying to colleges and the one who was ambitious about a career. That was all Remus, and she'd make sure he had his fair shot. As Commander on the winning side of the war, it looked like the odds were in his favor. Good.

Assuming he survived.

Which, ugh, she hated those stupid, invasive, dark thoughts popping up in her head out of nowhere like that. Fuck. She couldn't help it though, worrying mindlessly over him getting hurt. Even though, with the way she'd planned it, and the way it was evidently working out, he was completely safe. He was at the heart of operations, doing more planning, correspondence, and strategizing than fighting. That and he spent his days surrounded by werewolves who were strong and loyal and would protect their alpha. And she had no doubts that Remus was the alpha now. When he was challenged, nothing could stop him from rising to it. Nothing. And he'd done it. He was making history around the world. She was so proud of him.

And still so scared. This was tearing her apart. Knowing so many were getting hurt and could get hurt. Dead. Could be killed. Guilt over the past, anxiety for the living, frantic, frenetic, desperation to stay focused and end this, end it, kill him. Kill him. She would kill Tom Riddle. It would come down to them and the final battle. She would kill him or he'd kill her.

The to-do list in her head leading up to that last little bit was still too long and tomorrow's cruise was still too far away. She had to get back into the country, get the Diadem to Petersfield, make contact with Severus, and start catching out Death Eaters and Supporters again. Begin ramping up the tensions one last time before she could even begin to figure out how she was going to call out Riddle for the final battle. It would be tricky this time around too. She had to be very careful without Regulus and the taboo to warn her, not that it would even matter if Voldemort had managed to refill his Death Eater ranks, which she suspected he had. Gotta have meat shields and cannon fodder after all.

"I'm sure you would've made a great leader too," Newt said, knocking her out of her head. "You clearly care very much for those around you and you have a brilliant mind. I'm sure you will end this war and make sure everyone is safe and sound, including your love."

"Yeah. I try."

Which left Romilly.

Romilly was staying here. Fae had decided this. There was just no way she could take Romilly with her - she'd be going head to head with an unknown number of Death Eaters over the next few weeks with no clue as to where they were at any given time or if she was walking into an ambush or any of it. It was too risky.

What Fae hadn't counted on was Romilly deciding the exact opposite and having anticipated Fae's plan enough to have a thorough counter ready. Fucking bitch.

"You're staying here!" Fae yelled.

Romilly snarled at her. "The hell I am. Just because you got scared by Peter dying doesn't mean you can send me away like you sent Regulus away."

"I sent Regulus somewhere he'd be safe, just like you'd be safe here, for good reason!" Fae argued back. Clearly Romilly was more bitter than she'd let on about Regulus being sent away. Still, she wasn't getting it, so Fae got nasty.

"Your job is done, I don't need you anymore," she said coldly.

"Yes you do," Romilly replied easily, not even flinching. FUck!

"No I don't," Fae insisted calmly. "I've got the venom, I can destroy the Horcruxes on my own."

Romilly didn't need to be dragged along to face off with Death Eaters. Didn't need to see the final battlefield. Didn't need to risk her life. Not for Fae.

"Oh sure. You can lead the Death Eaters on a merry chase, pick them off, destroy the Horcruxes, and kill Riddle, easy as. I know you can. You don't need me for that," Romilly said.

Then she flicked her wand and Fae was upside down, hanging by her legs, arms bound behind her back, and staring at Romilly holding the venom in her hands. She was about to dump it into one of Newt's more convoluted inventions - a series of pipes and charms leading into a box and then out again into more charmed pipes and a spigot. It was meant to test combinations of potentially dangerous liquids in the chamber, charmed to withhold and record any major reactions or explosions and inform the tester when the combined mix was safe to filter out. Fae didn't have any clue what the Basilisk Venom would be mixed with in that chamber, but it would either destroy it or render it useless, of that she was sure. Romilly didn't bluff.

"Listen to me and listen to me good Fae, I have been with you for this entire ride and I will be there with you when we finish it, no matter how dangerous or risky it is, because friends stick together," Romilly said.

Fae's ribs and eyes stung and burned. "But I can't let you die too!" she screamed, wriggling madly and futilely, trying to get out of her bindings. God damnit, did she seriously use the Swooping Evil?

"You aren't letting jack shit happen," the blonde said, scoffing. "Peter got in over his head and he got himself killed for it. He played it too loose. I'm smarter than that. Harder to kill."

Then Romilly walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead, meeting eyes upside down and stroking her cheek softly. Romilly wasn't wearing gloves. Fae tried to struggle, but her strength was leaving her and her desperation wasn't working hard enough.

"I won't leave you Fae. Don't you remember? I promised you I would never leave you, not when you needed me," Romilly said lovingly. Right before going for the throat. "Whether you want to admit it or not, Fae you are not strong enough to do this on your own. You are breaking down."

"I'm fine!" Fae shouted, completely pissed again. How the fucking hell dare she call her out like that! Who the fuck did she think she was!? Why was she doing this? Why was she so eager to throw her life on the line?!

She chuckled under her breath. "Go ahead and lie to yourself. Lie to yourself and tell yourself that you're fine and that you're strong and that you will get through this, because that's what you do and that's how it works for you. You can lie to yourself so much that it becomes something maybe true. But don't bother trying to lie to me."

"I-"

"You are not invincible and the weight of a war is too much for any one person to bear. It is too much for you," Romilly declared, voice like steel.

"No," Fae argued weakly, hating that she was crying. "I'm-"

"The only one who could and has gotten this far. It's okay, Fae. You've done it. You've done almost everything you said you would. It's okay to-"

"What the fuck are you saying! I can't give up now!"

"I'm not asking you to give up!" Romilly yelled. "I'm asking you to be kind to yourself and stop putting all the weight on your shoulders. I'm asking you to keep me by your side so I can keep you together to the very end. You need me," she said fiercely.

"Fuck you."

But there was no heat in it. Fae's heart had broken and melted. She couldn't fight Romilly, not when she was completely right. Fae needed her so much. Romilly was her rock. Her spiteful, catty, blunt, dependable, loving, unflappable, impossible rock. And Fae didn't want to be alone, no matter how much her brain told her she should be, deserved to be.

Romilly kissed her lips sweetly. "Say it," she said against them, moving onto playful seduction tactics. As if she hadn't already won. "Promise me, Fae. Promise you won't push me away to keep me safe and take even more on your shoulders."

Fae sniffled. "I promise. I won't send you away," she said weakly.

"Okay then."

Romilly smiled and let the bindings go, plucking her out of the air and wrapping her up in her arms. Fae latched onto her desperately, burying her face in her blonde hair, arms around her shoulders, legs around her ribcage.

"I love you, Romilly. I love you so much," she said, sobbing.

Romilly petted her hair and kissed her temple. "I love you too, Fae."

Before they left, Fae thanked Newt and Tina wholeheartedly for all their help, their faith and their words of wisdom and the home they'd shared with her. And she said sorry, that she'd gotten Romilly involved in all of this. Tina just shrugged as Newt gave his wife an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

"There's not much you can talk her out of, when she gets stubborn like that. I think she got it from me," Tina said proudly.

Romilly's grandparents saw them off with big hugs and a few care packages, including one for Fae.

The cruise took a day or two and since Romilly had gotten her way, Fae figured that it was best to just tell her everything. It really would take a load off her shoulders and Romilly would be safer the more she knew. Everything. What Death Eaters she'd be trying to target, where she'd be going, how long that would go on for, as many details of the final battle that she could think of. Save one. And then Romilly, bless her, helped her figure out a good plan to lure Riddle in, to call him out on the day of. She even compromised, allowing Fae to send her to Regulus and the Order a few days in advance, not just for safety, but to get them ready.

Also, because it was Romilly and because it was a cruise, the blonde pushed, poked, and prodded Fae into at least relaxing and having somewhat of a good time, drinking good wine and lounging by the pool with a Muffliato cast as they planned. Romilly looked damn good in her skimpy bikini with a glass of wine in her hand and freshly smug and triumphant from having bullied Fae Potter into submission.

As the cruise docked and they disappeared from the records during the first excursion, Fae felt hopeful. It was mid-September now, so they'd take a few days to get to Petersfield, go through plans one more time, and then take the next four weeks to fuck up Death Eaters in increasing waves, leading to the big call-out in London and the final battle in Petersfield.

And then a good chunk of that plan went right out the window as Fae caught the headline of the day's news.

WEREWOLF BRIGADE SUSTAINS HEAVY LOSSES

Led by Kingsley Shacklebolt and Troy McCollum, fifteen werewolves and ten members of the Order had been caught in a trap, having intended to seize the Lestrange Mansion.

The mansion had been rigged with percussion grenades and sulphur bombs, overwhelming the senses of the wolves before the myriad of dark traps went off, killing seventeen in mere minutes. The eight that managed to get out of the mansion were met by Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, and Brian Nott. Only three were still alive when reinforcements came. The Death Eaters got away.

A/N: Really, I just love Romilly and Regulus so much. When I started writing this story, even when I was planning it all out, I didn't intend for Regulus to be such a big character, or for Romilly to even exist. But now, they are kind of my favorite thing about AFWHI.

Happy New Year everybody!