Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series or anything associated with it. The Harry Potter series is the property of J.K. Rowling. This fanfiction is a writing done out of love for the author's work and for creative pleasure. No disrespect or infringement is intended, and no profit is being made.
Author's Note: Reviews are welcome and appreciated, but please be considerate and keep all criticism polite and constructive.
Chapter Six: Regulus Arcturus Black/p
A man steps out from the shadows of Malfoy Manor, his wand pointed at Peter Pettigrew. Ron and Draco look extremely confused. Lucius is clearly intrigued, despite attempting to look indifferent. Harry, on the other hand, is quite peaved.
"Sirius?! I thought I told you to stay at the house!" Harry shouts.
Pettigrew reacts most violently to hearing the name "Sirius". His eyes go wider than seems possible or healthy for the human eye to go. His expression is that of a dear caught in the headlights of a car. He bolts toward the door, desperate to escape Malfoy Manor. Luckily, Ron had the sense to place a spell preventing him from transforming into his Animagus form of a rat. Harry looks at his best friend with a raised eyebrow. He hadn't known such a spell existed. It appears to be a modified version of the spell Remus and Sirius used to reveal Pettigrew was an Animagus so many years ago. Draco, however, does not waste time questioning Ron's actions. He quickly binds and gags Pettigrew, keeping his wand pointed at the former Marauder. Harry and Ron quickly follow suit in pointing their wands at Pettigrew./p
Harry can't let it go though. Not taking his eyes of Pettigrew, Harry asks Ron, "Where did you learn that spell?"
Ron laughs and Harry imagines his best mate is grinning and shaking his head at him. "Hermione. There are definite perks to being married to the brightest witch of her age."
Harry doesn't pursue the matter any further and gets back to the task at hand. He turns his attention back to "Sirius", only to realize on closer inspection that the man who Stunned Pettigrew is not his godfather at all. He most certainly resembles Sirius a great deal, albeit a little younger and clean shaven in the face. Realization dawns on Harry as he finally identifies who he is looking at, and he can see that Ron has figured it out too. The man is Regulus Arcturus Black. Sirius's long deceased younger brother, who was once a Death Eater before betraying Lord Voldemort and dying in the act of trying to destroy one of the Dark Lord's Horcuxes./p
Harry greets the man, "Good evening, Mr. Black."/p
Regulus tilts his head in confusion, "James Potter? What are you doing here?"
Harry responds, "I am Harry Potter. You will need to be questioned before we can address any of your inquiries. Please place your wand on the ground and your hands in the air where we can see them. Cooperate and no harm will come to you."
Harry is just about to send Ron to go find out what's taking Kingsley and their backup so bloody long, when he hears the distinct sounds of Apparation from outside. Sure enough, Kingsley and six Ministry Aurors enter Malfoy Manor. The Aurors quickly spilt into groups of three and take custody of Pettigrew and Regulus. Ron goes to help the Aurors going to secure Pettigrew. Harry and Kingsley make efficient work of interrogating Pettigrew and Regulus with Veritaserum. Since Pettigrew is already known to be a criminal, as Dumbledore had managed after Sirius's death, to get Sirius cleared of the crimes Pettigrew had committed and framed him for, the Aurors quickly take him into custody to be shipped to Azkaban. Regulus is left to Harry and Ron, just as the others Resurrected have been. Kingsley and the Aurors take their leave, taking Pettigrew with them.
Regulus asks, in a rather sarcastic, Sirius-esque tone of voice, "Is anyone going to explain to me what's going on?"
Harry and Ron spend the next hour or so catching Regulus up on current events. They make sure to thank him for trying to help destroy the Horcruxes. Regulus is understandably incredulous hearing that. He had known he was going to die trying to destroy Slytherin's Locket, but at the time had acknowledged that his actions would like not contribute meaningfully to Lord Voldemort's defeat. An act of defiance, but nothing else. Regulus nonetheless eagerly agrees to accompany Harry, Ron, and Draco back to the old Black Family home.
Before they go, Ron does a quick charm and any damage done to Malfoy during the fight with Pettigrew is repaired. Improved self-confidence had done wonders for Ron over the years, who now felt comfortable using his potential to the fullest. Harry and Hermione had been pleasantly surprised to discover that Ron had an adept mind for law and politics, leading to Ron going into Magical Law Enforcement. Harry and Hermione quite enjoyed the change. With a fond smile on his face, Harry, along Ron, Draco, and Regulus, Disapparated and reappeared at 12 Grimmauld Place.
Harry instructed Regulus to remain just inside the front door, while he, Ron, and Draco briefed the others on what had occurred. The three men enter the living area, where the others have remained waiting for them. Ginny, Hermione, and Astoria are the first to greet them.
"Did you find anything at Malfoy Manor?" Hermione, having never lost her curiosity and eagerness to learn, asks them.
Harry nods in affirmation, "We did and unfortunately we have a bit of unpleasant news, so we ask that you allow us to just get it out of the way. Peter Pettrigrew is back. He was taken into Auror custody and transported to Azkaban, where he will spend the rest of his days."
Hermione recoils in disgust. James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, and Percy snap to attention on hearing Pettigrew's name. James and Sirius have pure hatred and rage in their eyes, while Lily looks deeply upset. For these three, Pettigrew's betrayal had brought pain and suffering they would not have wished on their worst of enemies. James and Lily had been killed as a direct result of Pettigrew betraying them to Lord Voldemort. Sirius had spent twelve years looked in prison tortured by Dementors because of Pettigrew, and then had to spend the rest of life running and hiding once he'd escaped. It was not an understatement to say that Pettigrew had a direct hand in ruining their lives.
For Remus and Percy, Pettigrew's name brings back terrible guilt. Remus had never forgiven himself for believing Sirius was the one who betrayed James and Lily, while Sirius was unjustly suffering in Azkaban. Percy had never gotten over the fact that he'd given Pettigrew direct access to Harry and Ron while Pettigrew was disguised as the rat Scabbers, unintentionally putting his younger brother in danger. Remus hangs his head, while Percy looks away and tightly clenches his fist. Tonks, Severus, and Arthur try to comfort Remus, Lily, and Percy, while Molly places a calming hand on the shoulders of a seething James and Sirius. Harry and Ron are not at all surprised by these strong reactions, but nonetheless proceed to provide a detailed summary of what happened at Malfoy Manor.
Ron says in a sympathetic tone, "Believe me, we were no happier to find out he is back than you are." The sixthborn Weasley son speaks the truth. Pettigrew was the reason Harry had been an orphan. He'd put Harry, Ron, and Hermione in terrible danger in their third year at Hogwarts. They have no love for him. However, it is time to move past Pettigrew and reunite Sirius with his younger brother./p
p class="BodyA" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;" /p
p class="BodyA" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Harry starts, "Pettigrew wasn't the only person we found at Malfoy Manor. There was someone else there, who helped us capture Pettigrew. Someone who, despite what you may have known of him in the past, is definitely not our enemy now."
Harry nods to Draco. Draco walks out of the room and back down the entrance hallway. He gestures for an uneasy Regulus to follow him. Before his death, Regulus had not had the been on the best of terms with his elder brother. While part of him always loved Sirius, the other part was fully entrenched in the views of hatred and pure-blood supremacy that his parents imparted to him. Regulus had realized his mistake too late, leaving him without the chance to repair his relationship with his brother before he died. He genuinely has no idea how Sirius will react to seeing him again. Regulus stops at the end of the hallway as Harry makes the announcement.
"I'd like to introduce Mr. Regulus Arcturus Black."
Regulus steps into the room. Sirius has shot up from his seat at his godson's words, his eyes wide in shock. Never in Sirius's wildest of dreams had he ever expected that he would get to see his younger brother again. When Regulus had chosen to follow their parents's wishes and become a Death Eater, Sirius had given up on his cherished baby brother, though it pained him to do so. His heart had grieved first for the loss of the love that had once existed between them, and then grieved again later for Regulus himself when he'd died. James, Remus, and, before his betrayal, Peter had become his brothers, and they'd helped to heal the wound left in Sirius's heart. Now, Sirius has a second chance with his baby brother, and he doesn't intend to waste it.
Regulus makes his approach toward Sirius in a slow and wary manner. As soon as Regulus is within the reach of Sirius's arms, Sirius seizes him and pulls him into a tight embrace. It is now Regulus's turn to be wide-eyed and shocked. He had hoped Sirius might be happy to see him on some level, but he wasn't foolish enough to expect this reunion to go smoothly. There was too much baggage hanging between the two of them for that. To have Sirius actually embrace him, Regulus is more inclined to believe he is dreaming than to believe this is really happening. If that is true, is he is dreaming, Regulus sincerely hopes to never wake up.
The two brothers do not know how long remain like that. For those present who know Regulus, they are stunned. The last thing that Narcissa and Andromeda were expecting would be to see their cousin again. James and Remus both blink in surprise. Being Sirius's closest of friends, the two Marauders of course knew who Regulus was. However, Regulus had always been a sore subject with Sirius and was thus very seldom mentioned. For Kreacher, who was Regulus's most faithful of House Elfs, he is overjoyed at seeing his Master Regulus again.
"Master Regulus? Is it truly Kreacher's Master Regulus?"
Regulus disengages from Sirius and smiles in delight at seeing Kreacher. "Hello, Kreacher! I've missed you, old friend!"
Kreacher's reaction is joyful and exuberant and Regulus must calm the elderly House Elf before he does himself harm. Regulus gently commands Kreacher to sit down and have himself a cup of water. Even though Kreacher doesn't technically belong to Regulus anymore, Kreacher obeys Regulus's command without question or protest. With Kreacher settled, Regulus returns to his brother. A smirk on his face, Regulus reaches beneath the collar of his shirt and pulls a square locket over his head. He puts it in Sirius's hand.
"It's good to be back with you, Padfoot." Regulus then walks away toward Narcissa and Andromeda. A stunned Sirius looks down at the locket only to find it's design a perfect likeness of his Amimagus form. He opens the locket to find a picture of himself and Regulus as children before they grew apart. Regulus had known about the Marauders. Seeing the shocked expressions on James's, Sirius's, and Remus's faces, Molly decides it is quite time for everyone to retire for the night.