The fourteenth installment of this fic is upon us, dedicated to my dedicated reviewers: creelluka and HT188.
xXRosexScorpiusXx thanks for your lovely review (as you may have guessed, Regulus is also my favourite character!), and you shall have to see what happens to them in the coming chapters ;) erinthewanderer thanks for reviewing too, I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter!

I appreciate all the favourites and follows, and hope you enjoy the rest of the story just as much!

'Last rounds of the school year,' Regulus said, getting up and stretching. 'Merlin, but this train ride is long. Are you ready?'

Emma grunted in reply, rubbing her eyes. Alecto had decided that they needed to celebrate the end of the OWLs with lots of firewhisky the night before, and she was still getting over the sleepless night. Around four in the morning, Alecto had burst into tears about William the Muggle, and Emma had to comfort her in the stone cold corridor for a couple of hours. Lucinda and Helen didn't know: Alecto had sworn Rabastan and Regulus to secrecy and Amycus was too ashamed of his sister's transgression to tell anyone.

Rabastan put it down to the "follies of youth" though he was the same age as them. Rodolphus was inducted into the Dark Lord's inner circle, so he had been acting rather superior of late. Though he had finally resolved the mystery of how Lord Voldemort rewarded his most loyal followers: with a tattoo of his symbol branded on their forearm. One need only press their wand to the mark to show they were in danger and the others would be able to apparate to him or her on the spot.

'He's planning a coup this summer,' he said over-conversationally as they patrolled the length of the train. 'Bellatrix told me. She wants me to join her mission.'

'Which is?' asked Emma, trying not to look too concerned. She confiscated a Fanged Frisbee from a second-year appartment.

'Rallying the powerful wizards who haven't made choices yet. "Persuading" them if necessary. People are too blinded by fear of change at the moment, but she thinks that if they have something else to fear it might change their minds.'

Regulus paused before entering the next compartment, waiting to hear what she thought of such extreme measures.

'Isn't that coercing people, rather than persuading them?' Emma frowned.

'Yeah but don't you think it's worth it? And if I'm there, maybe I can try to tame Bellatrix a bit,' he replied.

'Be careful then,' Emma warned, not only uneasy about Regulus's cousin. 'There are some people who want to see all pure-bloods dead with all of the chaos going around.'

'Don't worry. Rabastan will be there too.'

Small comfort, she thought, but it was true that he wasn't bad at duelling. I just hope he takes it seriously enough.

'And she scores!' Emma cheered as she got the Quaffle past James.

'You know I'm not Keeper material Ems,' he huffed, touching down to the ground. 'Anyway, we beat you in the Quidditch cup this year.'

'That's because running around like a dog all the time has given Sirius serious arm muscles.'

James laughed at the pun. 'That was pretty bad.'

'Still made you laugh,' Emma pointed out.

They lay in the middle of the lawn, catching their breath. Godric's Hollow was the best place to be in August, in Emma's opinion. A small community of magic-users, they didn't have to worry about whether their Quaffle would land in somebody else's back yard. Their own back yard was just about big enough to place a Quidditch post in, though their mother had insisted on keeping warding spells on the patio after an unfortunate accident when they were nine - including but not restricted to the Quaffle being melted on the barbecue and several broken windows.

'I hope I'm made Quidditch captain,' James said, and Emma could hear the hope in his voice.

'Me too.'

'You're already a Prefect Ems!' he exclaimed, rolling over to look at her.

'A true Slytherin has many ambitions,' Emma said knowledgeably. 'But I love Quidditch. I also want to beat you.'

'Not if I beat you first!'

'And how do you plan on doing that?' Emma asked sceptically. 'Everyone knows I got the brains of the family.'

James, who had received seven "Outstanding" in his OWLs, along with three "Exceeds Expectations", scoffed. 'Take that back! You failed Herbology!'

'Who needs plants anyway?' Emma asked, grinning. The Bowtruckle near the fence around the side of the house was her only plant-friend. 'You can't even do a Tickling Charm properly.'

'That's because I don't need it,' James tackled his sister to the ground, where they mock-wrestled/tickled until Natalie Potter arrived, standing behind the French doors (just in case they were still playing and a throw went wild).

'James! Emma! Dinner's ready!' she called.

'Coming Mum!' They raced back to the house, pushing and shoving each other to the table.

'What are we having? I'm starving!' James complained dramatically as soon as they sat down, grabbing a slice of garlic bread from the bowl and stuffing it in his mouth.

'Where's Dad?' Emma asked, noting that only three plates had been set out.

Natalie Potter didn't reply at once as she disappeared behind the bar, but from her facial expression the twins instantly quietened down.

'Your father's running late,' their mother said worriedly as she served the pasta. 'Apparently Barty Crouch called him into the Ministry.'

'But Dad's been retired for ages now,' James said, stopping his food rampage. 'What did the Head Auror want with him?'

'That's what he's gone to find out.'

They ate in silence for a while, chewing slowly or pushing the food around their plates until Charles Potter burst in through the door. Immediately they all clamoured for answers. Their mother waved another plate to the table and piled it high with food.

'Hold on, let me take my coat off first,' he said tiredly, easing himself into his chair with a groan. 'One at a time.'

'What happened?' asked James, which pretty much summed up all of their questions.

'Crouch wants to legalise using Unforgivable Curses on Death Eaters. They've tried to take the Ministry and failed - barely. The Minister for Magic has now declared it an open war and Crouch thinks the Aurors are losing the battles because they won't use as extreme methods as Voldemort's followers.'

'What?' Emma gasped, thinking of Regulus and Rabastan.

'I know Emma, it's shocking. But if we don't quell this rebellion now, then we might have another Gellert Grindelwald on our hands. Torturing Muggles has become a sport for these people, a way to show who's in control.'

Mr and Mrs Potter shared a look. Emma was frowning into her plate. Torturing Muggles? He must have it wrong...

'I can't believe it!' James said loudly, clattering his fork down. 'Some loon wants power and people are going along with it? How can they do such atrocious things?'

'People fight for what they believe in, James,' their mother said wisely.

Later that evening James was pacing back and forth in Emma's room as she watched him from her bed.

'I wish I could do something about this,' he fumed. 'Lily said Snivellus was practicing Dark magic with Avery and Rosier, is that true?' Before Emma could reply, his face went white. 'Merlin, Lily lives near the slimy git! What if he tries something? What if he tries to kill her?'

'James, relax. Snape's only sixteen, I doubt he'd be ready to sacrifice his life just to kill Evans. Besides, didn't he still want to be friends with her?' his sister tried to be reasonable.

'I don't know Ems, people do strange things when they get emotional,' James shook his head and grimaced. 'I wish I could help. I wish I could be an Auror, protect those innocent people.'

'I don't think they're that innocent James,' his twin muttered, but seeing him frown she hurriedly continued. 'But would you be ready to do that? Risk your life for some Muggles?'

'Like Mum said Ems, people fight for what they believe in. If you only let the evil people do so, then you're as bad as them.'

'They don't think they're evil though,' Emma pointed out. 'They think that they're making things right.'

That night Emma asked to borrow James's owl. He nodded with a wave of his hand, absorbed in a discussion with Sirius in the two-way mirrors they had invented. Back in her room, she penned out three quick letters.

Dear Regulus,

Have you heard about Barty Crouch's new policy? I hope you and Rabastan are okay, and that the mission with Bellatrix went well. It's odd to have something that James and I can't talk about. Other than that the summer's been fun: James and I have been trying to practice new Chaser moves, but with only two of us it's practically impossible! How did your OWLs go? I got an O in Charms (of course), Transfiguration (thanks to James) and Potions, E's in Astronomy, Arithmancy and DADA and As in Muggle Studies and Study of Ancient Runes (why do we even take this class? What is the point of it? Oh yeah, curse-breaker). Considering the Mandrake died as I pulled it out and I still have no idea why, you have probably safely guessed that I received a T in Herbology.

Looking forward to seeing you in three weeks,

Emma.

Dear Alecto,

Guess what? 8 OWLs and my parents declared it "passable". My Dad barely got 5, but of course when you have a genius brother, this seems paltry in comparison. You're lucky your family is easy to please: get a respectable pure-blood marriage by the time you're twenty five. Easy enough with your looks. Too bad you scare the boys away with your sparkling personality. (Get it? Because whenever you get angry with someone your wand sends out sparks?) Congratulate Amycus on making it "in" for me. I can't believe he's still mad that it took him an extra year because of me. What was I supposed to do, lie there and die? Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. But still... I hope he isn't. Mad, that is. He can be scary when he wants to.

How are you doing, anyway? Does Lucinda still have a crush on Sirius Black? I'm so jealous that you all get to spend the summer together, but I guess that's what you get from living somewhere as remote as Godric's Hollow. I know. Even the name of my village is ironic.

We should meet up in Diagon Alley to get our books (and maybe ice-cream?) together. Owl me as soon as you get this!

Emma

Dear Narcissa,

Sorry I haven't been really keeping in touch lately, but yes I will definitely want to be one of your bridesmaids! How could you think I'd refuse? You and Lucius are like the perfect couple. Speaking of which, I have a favour to ask you. Lucius is in the Ministry now, isn't he? What exactly is going on with Barty Crouch? Does he even know that his son tags along behind Rabastan and Regulus like some kind of lost puppy? More importantly, is there anything I can do to help?

Tell me if you need anything,

Emma.

As she was tying the last of the parchments to the owl's leg, she heard a loud crash outside, followed by urgent knocking on the door. She went out onto the landing to see what was going on, but James crashed down the stairs like an elephant, flinging open the front door.