Chapter Five

He looked around the room, cataloguing all the faces he could see, and all the figures whose cloaks, shawls, or masks made doing so impossible. He didn't know why he was looking for them. There was almost no possibility that they would venture out into Diagon Alley, and even if they had reason to, the possibility of them making their presence known to him was even slimer – well Sirius would have wanted to, but Lyra would have held him back. Despite this, something in the far reaches of his mind, a hook that he couldn't shake off, whispered that they could be here. They could be in this room right now, watching him, observing him, wondering where it had all gone wrong.

Another quick sweep of the bar, the tables, the entrances, reminded him just how absurd he was being. They weren't there. The only people here who had any relevance to him was the one he sat across from, and the one who was crossing the room towards them, three glasses filled with amber liquid hovering alongside them.

Regulus blinked away his distracting thoughts as Lucius Malfoy slid into the opposite seat, using his wand to direct the glasses to their consumers. Regulus didn't know if he wanted to gulp the liquid all at once, or if he was feeling too sick to drink it at all. He opted not to pick up the glass, instead watching as Lucius pocketed his wand and took a short sip from his own glass. Regulus was trying to avoid looking at the third occupant at the table, who sat beside Lucius, and who had been glaring at him ever since he arrived.

After a moment it was clear that it was Regulus who was expected to speak first. Mouth dry, he asked the one thing he'd most wanted an answer to for the past three days.

'Is he mad?'

A single pale eyebrow on Malfoy's pointed face rose. 'He is displeased.'

Inwardly, Regulus flinched, translating the words to mean, he's pissed. Not exactly the first impression he had wanted to make. He wanted to try and make them see that what happened was completely out of his control. He wouldn't have been able to stop Sirius leaving the house, and the world would truly have had to end for him to leave Lyra behind. Trying to keep his face as impassive as he could, Regulus fought to supress the image of his bloodied and broken sister on Sirius' bed. He wasn't going to try and convince the two sitting across from him of his faultlessness, and he most definitely was never going to admit to anyone that there was some part of him that was glad Sirius took her. His biggest hope now was that she was recovering.

Well that and staying in the favour of the Dark Lord.

'It's going to be harder for you now. You know that, don't you,' came the teasing voice he had hoped not to hear tonight.

No longer able to ignore her presence, Regulus looked towards his cousin. Her dark lidded eyes narrowed as she took him in, her top lip hooked in an almost permanent sneer.

'If you thought your place among us was assured, that it was going to be easy, then it just got considerably more difficult,' she said, ignoring Lucius' warning hiss as he cast a quick glance around the Leaky Cauldron. No one had even turned their head in the trio's direction, thanks in no small part to the privacy charms Bellatrix had cast when she'd arrived. Obviously having faith in her own magic, Bellatrix ignored the Malfoy heir entirely. 'You must be prepared to prove yourself.'

The weight of her words sunk into him as he finally took a sip from his glass, barely feeling the way the liquid burned his throat slightly as he swallowed it. He needed to prove that he was still a Black, now heir to an ancient and noble house, a family of the Sacred 28. He needed to prove that he would not stray like his brother and that he would never have the desire to do so. He needed to prove that he was incorruptible, unlike his sister who had always blindly followed her twin even to the point of damnation.

A hunger welled up in him, coating his tongue and mouth, to do all this and more before the face of the Dark Lord. He would prove to the world that not all the Blacks were quitters, that some remained strong, pure, true.

Placing the glass back on the table, Regulus gave a firm nod. 'I'm ready.'

Bellatrix scoffed and went to speak but Lucius was quicker.

'That isn't for you to decide.' Knocking back the rest of his drink, Lucius stood. 'We'll be in touch,' was all he said before stepping back and allowing his sister-in-law to slide out of the booth.

Regulus looked straight ahead as they left, trying to ignore the way in which Bellatrix's eyes had followed every move he'd made, the way her top lip pulled up ever so slightly higher as she shot him one last glare before she turned on her heel and strutted away from him. He'd heard rumours that she was being personally trained by the Dark Lord himself. That news sent a shiver through him that was part jealousy, part admiration and part horror. Whatever they asked him to do, he'd do it, if for nothing else, just to keep on her good side.

A surge of high-pitched laughter forced him out of his reverie. He followed the sound to a group of girls, a little younger than himself, walking through the pub on the way to Diagon Alley. Frowning, he remembered that he'd be returning to Hogwarts tomorrow. He'd be going back to Platform 9 ¾ and it was the thought of who else would be there that was now making his stomach turn.

Looking away from the girls, he gulped down the rest of the whiskey and left.

ooOOoo

She stood still amongst the chaos, head down, eyes closed, heavy hooded cloak rapped around her. She was surrounded by noise and smoke and an excited energy that made the very air sizzle and pulse. The world had become a muffled chorus of deafening confusion. A whistle blew again and even though it had been ringing out frequently for the past ten minutes, it still made her flinch.

She knew that any sign of discomfort on her part would make Mr and Mrs Potter worry more than already were. Be that as it may, she just couldn't get her shoulders to relax, they had tensed to the point of becoming painful, her fists gripped so tight that she wouldn't be surprised if her nails had torn through flesh.

And she knew it wasn't her normal level of discomfort from being here, on this platform, around so many people, the promise of returning to Hogwarts standing before them in all it's gleaming scarlet glory. There were more layers to it this time. Perhaps it was the fact that this was the last time she'd be here, boarding the train from this end – although that thought did send a rush of relief, dare she say it, elation through her rather than discomfort. Perhaps it was the fact that she hadn't completely healed yet – a fact that that still irritated her.

She'd finally forced herself to look in the Potter's guest bathroom mirror yesterday. She was met with a sight that made her pale in horror and anger, and that made the mirror give a horrified shriek, which had only soured her mood further. While Mrs Potter was beside herself over her rapid recovery, Lyra herself was somewhat less than impressed that she still wasn't back to normal.

No, perhaps the reason for her current anxiety were the three sets of eyes currently burning holes in her back. Without even looking she knew exactly where they stood. The intensity of their glares made the side of her neck itch.

She wished the others would hurry up.

The Potter's were still behind her, playing out their roles of a happy family. Mrs Potter was attempting to flatten James' hair – a task she had long recognised as being an entirely futile one. Sirius was standing next to his friend in throws of laughter, either ignoring or oblivious to his family's presence across the platform. The ease at which he accomplished either of those made Lyra's fists tighten further.

Feeling claustrophobic as it was, she stilled entirely when someone moved to stand close by her side. That was until she felt fingers reach out and brush gently against her own. As soon as she felt the calloused skin, her shoulders relaxed ever so slightly.

After a moment the steam engine let out one last long, blaring whistle.

Lyra opened her eyes slowly and looked across to find Remus already watching her.

He raised his eyebrows. Ready?

Lyra breathed deeply, turned back to the train and nodded once. Ready.

She never looked behind her to see her parent's hard faces as Remus stepped onto the train first, looking behind him to wave briefly to Mr and Mrs Potter.

They probably thought Lyra rude for not extending the same courtesy, but she couldn't. If she looked back and caught sight of them, she didn't know what she'd do. It was tempting though, the urge to turn as she ascended the train steps grew like quickly rising lava through her veins. Just as the molten river was threatening to drown her whole, she felt a hand on her back.

And just like that the river receded, the lava disintegrated. Cool, cleansing water flooded through her and for a moment she felt like she could take in a lungful of much needed air. She didn't need to turn around to thank Sirius, no doubt he'd just wave her away.

When she was standing in the train corridor, the hand left her. Sirius, James and Remus stood with her for a second as the train lurched into motion, they waved out the closest window to Mr and Mrs Potter. After the elderly couple disappeared from view, the boys turned and started down the corridor to the compartment they'd put their trunks in earlier. When they noticed that Lyra wasn't following them, they stopped, turning to throw her questioning looks.

'I'm going to find the others,' she said. 'I'll be back soon.'

James and Remus gave shallow nods, hesitating but accepting her reasoning. Sirius paused for a moment longer, studying her. At her raised eyebrow, a silent demand for him to speak or leave, he finally relented and gave his own stiff nod, following the others down the corridor.

Normally, once Lyra was on board the Hogwarts Express, she'd find a compartment in a quiet part of the train and wait there, letting her friends come to her. And if she hadn't just spent the better part of a week living under the same roof as the three boys she'd just left, she would have followed them. But the need to see some other familiar faces outweighed her discomfort of travelling through the train while so many people weaved in and out of compartments, ran up and down corridors, squealing with excitement and holding too-loud conversations.

It took the next five minutes of her attempting to ignore the movement of the train – it's vibrations and jolts travelling straight to the wounds on her stomach – for her to locate the compartment which housed her friends. She slid open the door to reveal three girls, all of whom screamed in delight when they saw her in the doorway.

Mary McDonald, Marlene McKinnon and Lily Evans leapt to their feet, instantly moving towards their dormmate. Lyra couldn't help but wince at the thought of being tackled by her friends. The look on her face must have reminded them that she was still healing, because they stopped and one-by-one, gave her a gentle hug before allowing her to take a seat.

'How did you know?' Lyra said, frowning lightly as she quickly glanced around the compartment.

Lily gave a sheepish smile. 'James wrote me,' she admitted. 'He was really worried about you and Sirius. I thought it best to tell Mary and Marlene.'

Lyra nodded. She couldn't hold it against James for telling his girlfriend something that was troubling him, actually it gave her hope over his ever-growing emotional maturity – a feat she gave Lily complete credit for.

And Lily's decision to tell the others wasn't something Lyra could hold against her either. Their knowing would no doubt make her life easier. The pummelling of well-meaning bodies she'd just avoided being a prime example.

'How-how are you?' Mary asked in her soft voice.

Lyra forced a closed-lip smile onto her face. 'I'm okay.'

'Really?' Marlene asked, pessimism colouring her tone.

'Yes, really. Mrs Potter gave me some supplies, and a schedule of potions I have to keep up for the next week or two, but I really am okay.'

She could tell that they weren't convinced. But they didn't say anything else.

This show of concerned affection left Lyra somewhat embarrassed. Save for Marlene, she'd never been particularly close to her dormmates. They'd hold conversations and share in the odd joke, of course, but they'd always kept the topics of their discussions light, often school-related, never delving too deep. She supposed she'd bonded more with Marlene over the other two due to their similar personalities. But while Lyra knew that while she could come off as somewhat cold, Marlene always seemed to put the people around her at ease, she was always ready for a quick-witted joke or comment. It was a quality that Lyra too found comfort in.

Lyra cleared her throat as she felt an awkward silence settling amongst them. 'I was coming to find you all to take you back to the boy's compartment.'

The mention of the boys prompted different reactions from each of the girls. Lily smiled automatically, no doubt remembering that the group in question included her boyfriend whom she hadn't seen since before Christmas. She stood, taking her trunk down from the overhead compartment before taking down Mary's as well, who had gone a little misty eyed – a common occurrence whenever Sirius was brought into the gravity of any conversation, a fact that Lyra tried to ignore.

Marlene, however, smirked as she retrieved her own trunk. 'Spent a few days with them and you're already sick of them?'

Lyra met her smirk with a roll of the eyes. 'You have no idea,' she muttered as they left the compartment.

True to the nature of their friendship, the girls kept the walk back to the boy's compartment full of politely innocent conversation; Mary regaled them with stories from her time spent in Denmark, visiting her grandmother for Christmas, Marlene listed off the presents she'd received from her multitude of brothers – including a new watch that whistled her the time every hour – and Lily gave her side of the story regarding the dinner where she'd introduced James to her sister. To say that the redhead was still hurt over the incident would have been an understatement.

Never once did they enquire further about Lyra's experiences over the Christmas break.

They'd almost made it to the compartment – Lily and Mary significantly further along, as Marlene had slowed to walk beside Lyra who was walking at a considerably slower pace – when the sound of Lyra's name being called made them stop.

Turning, they saw Rabastan Lestrange making his way towards them, eyeing Marlene with a barely restrained glare.

'I'll meet you in the compartment,' Lyra muttered to Marlene, tracking Rabastan's movements.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Marlene shoot her a wary look. The blonde opened her mouth, no doubt to protest, but Lyra cut her off.

'I'll be fine.'

With a last glance to Lestrange, Marlene pursed her lips, shooting the boy a formidable glare of her own before turning and continuing on to the boy's compartment.

Lyra watched Rabastan approach waited until he was a meter from her before dropping her gaze. She focussed on the foot of a compartment door further along the corridor, knowing that from this angle he wouldn't be able to see much of her eyes.

For a moment, the two stood before each other in silence. She could tell that he was taking her in, no doubt trying to figure out how badly hurt she really was and where the worst of her injuries lie.

Not being able to withstand the tension any longer, and not wanting to linger out in the open, Lyra sighed, shrugging as she said, 'You can't say it wasn't at least a little expected.'

'I would've protected you,' he said quietly.

'I know,' she said quickly. The reminder of an old conversation had her lose a tired breath. 'We've been through this, Bash.'

'I know,' he echoed her words and she could hear the irritation in his voice. 'When you chose –'

'Lyra!'

Rabastan tensed at once, Lyra flicked her eyes up to observe the way his jaw clicked, and she inwardly groaned. She knew that Sirius was liable to storm down the corridor and tear Rabastan away from her by force. That was the last thing any of them needed.

Closing her eyes for a second and willing herself to remain calm, she looked back to Rabastan. 'I need to go,' she said, not giving him a chance to respond before turning and walking away as quickly as she could manage. She grabbed hold of Sirius' wrist as he went to walk straight past her.

Her grip tightened as Sirius opened his mouth, no doubt intending to hurl insults at the Slytherin. 'Let it go,' she growled, pulling him along with her as she made her way past the compartment that held their friends.

She didn't stop until she'd found an empty compartment, pulling Sirius inside.

'Will you stop doing that!' She hissed as the door automatically closed behind Sirius, who had followed her in, expression stormy.

'Doing what?'

'Acting like a child, reacting to everything without thinking!' Sirius' face hardened, but it did nothing to deter her. 'Things have changed, if you hadn't noticed. You can't keep blowing up at everything, at everyone you don't like. It's time you learnt some self-control!'

'You think I don't know that things have changed!' Sirius growled. 'After everything that's happened over the last week?' He scoffed in derision. 'Trust me, Lyra, I know the stakes.'

'Then act like it.'

He stood, watching her through narrowed eyes. He didn't appreciate her trying to give him a wakeup call when he was more than aware of the gravity of their new lives. It was precisely because of that reason that he had become so angry just now.

Here she was, talking to the enemy, and she was worried that he would be the one to land them both in hot water? Her hypocrisy was enough to make him want to yell and rant and rave over the fact that it was time she made a choice, it was time for her to get over herself and choose a side.

But then he noticed the way she was standing, with more of her weight on her right leg instead of her left, the way she held her hands loosely across her middle. And he forced himself to remember that, no matter how she acted, no matter how her eyes eddied, she was still hurt. His frustration, still at dangerous levels, relented enough for logic to seep through. She had made her choice. She'd chosen him.

'Look,' Sirius said, taking a step forward. 'I know we never really finished talking about what happened. But if you ever want to . . .'

'Do you?' She said quickly, her hardened look growing colder still. He held it for a moment before sighing and looking out the window, not really seeing the landscape as it flew past.

They eventually re-joined the others, taking their places amongst them in silence, both twin seemingly intent on ignoring the other, a fact not missed by the rest of the compartment's occupants as the chatter resumed.

ooOOoo

Sirius took a seat across from Remus and Lyra at the Gryffindor table, making sure he was facing the Slytherins. He couldn't help but scowl at Lyra as the Great Hall continued to fill up.

The rest of the train ride was spent in good spirits, everyone – including Sirius and Lyra, themselves – choosing not to bring up the tense silence that had settled between the two. The mood had dropped considerably when they'd filled Peter in on everything that had happened. Of course, they hadn't told him the whole story – he'd hear about the dinner when the boys were alone in their dormitory.

Throughout it all, Lyra never uttered a word of contribution to their 'great escape story' as James had dubbed it, apart from assuring Peter that she was feeling much better.

Her silence only fuelled Sirius' irritation. Part of him knew that her silence was just her being cautious . . . it was dangerous for her not to be. But the part that was still throwing things around in his head knew that she was still mad at him for almost starting a duel with Lestrange. The Slytherins – especially that Slytherin – deserved whatever he dished out to them. It was their fault that they'd landed in this mess in the first place, all their stupid, out-dated philosophies.

Plates of food and pitchers of drink started to appear along the table and without thinking, Sirius started piling his plate. He tried to ignore the raucous laughter erupting from the other side of the hall, focussing instead on what was going on around him. Something he immediately regretted, for he was met with a most unpleasant sight.

'Urgh, do you two have to do that in public? You're making the food go bad.'

James and Lily pulled away from each other, both smirking over at him.

'Oh, are we making you uncomfortable, Sirius?' James asked in mock concern, not sounding genuine in the slightest. He turned to Lily. 'What d'you reckon?' He asked her, 'Should we consider this payback?

Lily snorted. 'I think we'd have to do a lot more than this for us to be even, don't you?'

James and Peter burst out laughing. Sirius added his own sarcastic chuckle to the mix.

But as he sat laughing with James and Peter, he noticed that the two across the table were unusually quiet.

Remus was smirking along but it was clear that his attention was divided.

Lyra – her friends completely ignored by her – was absentmindedly inspecting the table, the silverware, the goblets. Every now and then, her head would turn slightly, as if she was trying to listen to something she couldn't see behind her, before hastily returning her attention back to what lay in front of her.

Sirius scanned the table across the room.

There, laughing along with a group of his housemates, sat Regulus. Sirius scowled, anger licking his insides like flames.

The boy had never once cared for them or anything that happened to them. Sirius had long since come to the conclusion that they were better off without him, along with the rest of their family. Regulus had made his position clear when he'd tried to talk Sirius out of leaving that day.

Good riddance Sirius thought. It was about time they washed their hands of those people. All Sirius and Lyra had ever really needed was each other. Now, if she only chose to stop involving herself with them, he was sure that everything would be okay.

When the feast eventually ended and everyone started to make their way back to their Common Rooms, Sirius watched his brother walk out of the Great Hall. It struck Sirius how Regulus seemed much more like a young boy than he had ever known him to be.

'You coming, Padfoot?'

Sirius looked up at James, forcing himself to forget about his family troubles for the time being, and followed his friends out of the Great Hall.

So focussed was Sirius' attention on his siblings throughout dinner, that he failed to account for three others, whose attentions were all similarly fixed on the Black siblings throughout the night.

Things have changed


What do we think of Regulus so far?

This was another slightly rushed chapter (I'm trying to stick to uploading on the same day every week, but now that university is back, I'm afraid that studying and assignments has taken over a little). While some of these chapters may feel like filler, the story will grow in substance.

I'll be making minor edits to the chapters even after I upload them. I don't have a beta for this story and I sometimes only pick up on typos and things like that when I go back and re-read the chapters.

Thanks so much to x3sunnydaay, AllyCatt12 and YuukiAsuna41 for your reviews and I hope you all like this chapter!

x3sunnydaay – you have no idea how much your review boosted my confidence after last chapter. Because I've done so many rewrites of this story I feel like I've lost a lot of the people who stuck with me for the previous two versions, so it's nice to know that this version (which I'm determined to make the final one) is being well received. Thank you.

YuukiAsuna41 – I feel your worry for Regulus! Remember that this story is going to be quite long, so the character arcs for each character will be stretched as well. So, all I'll say for now is that I hope you find what I'm doing with Regulus' character engaging and not to give up on him, he's still got a lot to work through.

Till next time, stay safe, stay happy.