Author's Note:

Hope you liked that little surprise of finding a Horcrux early on. But I have my ideas and plans locked away — so just you wait. Right now it is safe with Dumbledore who no, has no idea what it is he is in possession of.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the lyrics to the song, that once again belongs to The Beatles.

Reviews and Comments: To Claire Fraser: Thank you for saying I took Kreacher's tale and seamlessly weaved it into Sirius and Dumbledore's conversation. No, Dumbledore does not know what the locket is yet and as for Snape and Sirius, did you really expect them to be friends? LOL.

Thank you for your continued support and thank you very much for reading; please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you!

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE:

The One With Blackbird

Sirius appeared back at Grimmauld Place and Kreacher immediately hurried into the room, beaming at him with such a friendly smile on his ugly face that Sirius was taken aback. He couldn't remember the last time that Kreacher had ever looked even remotely happy to see him.

"Master Sirius is home! Should I prepare dinner?"

Sirius looked at the elf in surprise and he shook his head. "No, Kreacher. I just came to tell you that the locket is being taken care of. That you don't have to worry about it any more."

Kreacher nodded in relief, his shoulders visibly relaxed. "Thank you, Master Sirius."

"Kreacher," Sirius began, kneeling down to look the elf in the eyes. "I don't live here anymore. I don't plan on coming back to live here anymore."

Kreacher looked crestfallen. "But how will Kreacher serve the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black if the young master is not here for Kreacher to serve?"

Sirius smiled a little. He had forgotten how nice Kreacher could be when he wasn't disappointing his dear mother, who Kreacher quite literally had worshipped the ground that she had walked on. "I don't know what I am going to do with this house, Kreacher. But I do not want to live here. I am living at Black Cottage in Devon with my godson, Harry Potter. I will stay there because I like it better."

"Would Master Sirius like Kreacher to come there and serve him and young Master Harry?"

Sirius shook his head. "No, thank you. Harry and I are doing quite all right on our own. But I would like you to take care of this house for me. Keep it clean. Keep it habitable. Make sure it is safe which means no dark curses and no dark objects of any kind. Do you understand?"

Kreacher nodded. "Yes, Master Sirius."

"I'll come check up on you once a week. If I need you for anything else, I'll call for you. You can check in when you'd like as well and as often as you like, but I don't need you to take care of Black Cottage."

Kreacher nodded eagerly. "Yes, Master Sirius."

He watched the elf hurry off and he let out a deep breath. He was slightly relieved that Kreacher seemed to have forgiven him enough to obey him without disdain, but he still didn't want the elf to be serving him on a daily basis. It was better that he stay here and take care of the house.

He Disapparated to Remus' and found his friend tucking Harry into bed. He glanced at his watch in surprise, he hadn't realized that it was so late.

"Uncle Padfoot!" Harry exclaimed, jumping on his bed.

Remus turned to smile at Sirius. "I was beginning to think that we weren't going to see you."

Sirius kissed Harry goodnight and they both tucked him in. Sirius put the usual fairy lights on the ceiling and Harry sighed in contentment, snuggling with Marauder in his bed. Sirius closed the door halfway before he headed into Remus' kitchen, opening the cupboard and taking down a bottle of Firewhiskey. He poured two fingers into a glass and downed it before he poured himself a second one.

Remus merely raised an eyebrow at him.

"Trust me, I needed that," Sirius told him, closing the bottle and putting it back into the cupboard. "Do you have any food?"

Remus nodded and gestured to the plate on the counter. "It has a warming charm on it for you."

"Thanks," Sirius said gratefully as he dug into the pasta Remus had made for dinner. He hadn't realized how hungry he was either.

Remus walked over to the counter and put on the kettle, taking his time as he made himself a cup of tea. Sirius wolfed down the pasta with enthusiasm, cleaning his plate and putting it in the sink as he downed the rest of his whiskey.

Remus silently poured him a cup of tea as well. Sirius accepted the cup from his friend and with it in his hand he headed into the living room. He muttered 'muffliato' under his breath so that Harry wouldn't be able to make out any of the words he and Remus were saying before he took a seat.

Remus sat down next to him. "So, what's going on?"

"How was Harry when I left?" Sirius asked, taking a small sip of hot tea.

Remus shrugged, putting his arm across the back of the couch and turning so that he could look at his friend. "A little withdrawn and kind of clingy at the same time to be honest. He sat on my lap the entire night and made me read him stories. He didn't say much except that Healer Thea made him drink gross potions and then she gave him an orange lolly. When we ate dinner, he wanted to be right next to me the whole time. Every time I got up to grab something, he would follow me, his hand touching my arm or my hip, as if he needed the contact."

"Did he say what happened?"

Remus shook his head. "No. He just said that he missed his mummy and daddy. I held him and I kissed him and I told him how much they loved him. Is he okay, Sirius? Did something happen to him today?"

Sirius sighed and dragged his fingers through his hair. "After his appointment, I had some errands to run in Diagon Alley, then we went to my mother's house. I figured it's less than a fifteen minute ride on the tube from there so I had no excuse to avoid going. You've been bugging me to go and I finally decided that today was the day. Anyway, it looked the same, dark and depressing, but I saw this locket in the boiler room where Kreacher sleeps and when I got close to it… Harry started saying that his scar hurt."

"His scar?" Remus exclaimed, his eyes widening. "What does that mean? Has this happened before?"

"No, never," he told him. "It's never bothered him, even when I found him in his cot with his head bleeding, the cut didn't bother him. Thea said that she sensed a little magic from it on the diagnostic scan, but it was a cursed scar from dark magic, so she expected that. But it doesn't hurt him. It's unique to Harry."

Sirius quickly explained what had happened in Grimmauld Place, what Kreacher had told him, and how he had then brought the locket to Dumbledore, who called for Snape. He explained how Snape apparently had secretly been working as a spy for Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix, giving information on Voldemort and his Death Eaters for two years before Voldemort's downfall.

Remus simply stared at him. "That is a lot to take in. How are you holding up?" he asked, reaching out to squeeze his friend's arm. "I know you still blame yourself for Regulus."

"I don't blame myself, blame myself," Sirius said carefully. "I just wish that I had done more to get him out of there. When Mum kicked me out, I should have taken him with me to James'. Fee and Monty would have taken him in without question."

"He wouldn't have gone with you, Padfoot," Remus said carefully.

"You don't know that," Sirius insisted, glaring at his friend. "He was only fourteen and… I could have kept him safe."

Remus slid across the couch and wrapped an arm around his friend. "You did what you could for him. You made yourself available at school and he chose to shut you out. He chose to stay with your parents. You tried, Sirius."

"Maybe I didn't try hard enough," he said as tears welled up in his eyes. "He was a hero, Moony. I've been thinking all these years that he… that he was killed by Voldemort's inner circle for being a coward or for failing to do something that was asked of him, but he knew something about Voldemort. He knew something important and he tried to do something about it; he tried to do the right thing — and he died for it."

Remus hugged his friend close. "He was a hero and I know that it doesn't change the fact that he's dead, but it does change how you remember him, Sirius. He was your little brother and in the end, he realized that you were right. He realized that he had made a mistake and don't think for one moment that what he was doing wasn't for you. He idolized you. When you walked out of that house the first thing you did was make sure that he knew you didn't leave him behind."

Sirius hugged Remus close as tears poured down his cheeks. As he grieved for the little brother that he had lost so many years ago, who he had tried to save, but who had pushed him away.

Sirius stood on the street corner of Claremont Square across from Number Twelve, his hands shoved in his pockets as he waited for his little brother to step outside. Every Thursday at three o'clock, without fail, Regulus would head out and walk to the underground station and take the tube to Diagon Alley. Walburga and Orion had no idea that he used the Muggle transportation system as they would be beyond furious if they ever found out.

But Regulus had always been fascinated by it.

Sirius had shown him how to use it after his first year at Hogwarts and he loved putting the coins in the slot and just travelling around on the underground. It was how Sirius knew he would be heading out that Thursday afternoon, Regulus was anything if not predictable.

He only waited fifteen minutes before he saw his brother's skinny frame slip out the front door. He waited until he was almost in front of him before he spoke, making the boy jump in alarm.

"Reg."

Regulus turned, his eyes wide. "Siri, what are you doing here? If Mum or Dad see you —"

"They won't. They never look out into the street," he said, dragging his fingers through his hair. "I just… I wanted to make sure that you were okay."

Regulus shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. "They're not angry with me."

Sirius nodded and gestured for his brother to keep walking as they spoke. "Did Mum really blast my name off of the family tree?"

"Yep. There's a big burn mark on the wall and the tapestry."

Sirius nodded as he draped an arm around his brother's shoulders. "Probably looks more evened out now, you know the burn marks more spread out now that it's me and Andy who have both been properly disowned."

Regulus half-smiled. "You shouldn't joke, Siri."

"I'm sorry."

"Where are you staying?" Regulus asked, looking up at Sirius beneath his long lashes.

"With James. His parents are the best and they told me that I can stay there as long as I want."

Regulus nodded. "Mum cried after she blasted your name off of the tapestry."

Sirius looked at his brother in surprise. "She what?" he asked in shock. He couldn't have imagined his mother had actually been upset to see him go.

"She did. Father told her that angry tears weren't going to stop you from being any more of a disappointment to them then you already were and that if the Black family name was going to live up to its reputation of an Ancient and Noble House that I would have to step up into the role of first son."

Sirius looked sad. "Reg, I'm sorry. I know that by me leaving I just walked away and left you with even more responsibility than you want. But I couldn't stay there — you know that."

Regulus nodded, his eyes on the ground. "I told Mum that it was her fault. That she drove you away."

"Reggie," he said quietly, urging his brother to look up at him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave you behind, you know that, right?"

"Mum said that you did. She said that you only care about your blood traitor friends and the filthy Mudbloods you hang around with. She said that I was the good son, the faithful son, who wouldn't make stupid decisions and stick my cock into Mudbloods and filthy Muggle whores like you do."

Sirius snorted at that. His mother had caught him shagging a neighbouring Muggle girl in his bedroom over the Christmas holidays last year and she had lost her shit. Sirius had had to smuggle her out quickly for her own safety, kissing her goodbye and promising to talk to her later. He had only brought her home with him in the first place to piss off his mother, and, if he was honest; it had been worth it.

"Reg, do you remember what I told you a few summers ago about blood?"

"Everyone bleeds red."

Sirius nodded. "Exactly. Blood is red, Regulus. Every person bleeds red and that blood looks the same. It doesn't matter what our parentage is. I'm not any better than James just because he's what our parents deem a blood traitor despite the fact that he is a pureblood nor is James any better than Remus, the half-blood, nor is Remus any better than Lily or Mary who are Muggleborns. It's about who we are as people, not what our bloodline says. I'm sometimes ashamed that it took me so long to fully grasp that; to understand why our parents are wrong."

Regulus swallowed slowly as they turned down the street and headed towards the subway station. "Mum says that the Dark Lord is going to fix the world; to make it better."

Sirius scowled. "This so-called Dark Lord is not going to make the world better. He wants to rid the world of everyone who isn't a pureblood. He's a genocidal maniac. Look at what's been happening the last few years, nothing good is going to come out of following Voldemort. People are dying."

"Mum said that cousin Bella knows him. That he's generous and kind and that he knows how to make the world better," Regulus continued on as if Sirius hadn't even spoken. "When I asked why we should trust him, Mum used the Cruciatus on me for daring to question her."

Sirius sighed and hugged his brother. "I'm sorry, I wasn't there to stop her."

Regulus pushed him away, his eyes flashing in anger. "No! You weren't there, Sirius! You left and now Mum says that I have to marry Alecto Carrow when I turn seventeen! I have to continue the Black Family line and I have to…" he trailed off, his eyes sad. "I have to follow cousin Bella and listen to what she tells me. That the Dark Lord will reward all those who serve him."

"Reg, I'm so sorry," Sirius said desperately. "You don't have to do what Mum tells you. You can stand up to her."

Regulus rounded on him. "I can stand up to her? What, like you did? I will not be punished by her for disobedience! I will not make YOUR mistakes! I am in Slytherin! I am now the sole heir to the Black Family Estate and I am the RIGHTFUL son! You are the moron who threw all of that away and for what? Your bloody morals?"

Sirius shoved his hands into his pockets. "Aye, I did. And one day, I hope you'll realize that those morals are the most important thing I could have thrown it all away for." He gestured towards the entrance to the tube. "I'll leave you here. But Reggie, I will always be your big brother. If you ever need anything, anything at all, even to just talk, I will always be here for you. Always. Don't forget that."

Regulus simply stared at him and then nodded, turning his back and heading into the station, leaving Sirius alone on the crowded London street, lost in his thoughts.

"He never forgave me, Moony, not really," Sirius admitted. "We spoke very little after that day. It was Rosier who told me that Regulus had joined the Death Eaters."

"I remember," Remus said quietly.

Sirius remembered the day very strongly. The four of them had been sitting in the clocktower courtyard towards the end of seventh year when Rosier had marched over, sneering. He had insulted Mary McDonald, who Remus had been dating at the time, called her a Mudblood. Sirius had stood up, threatening him and Rosier had simply blurted it out.

"Piss off Black, just because your little brother went and signed up for the right side doesn't mean that I'm going to stop being disgusted by the filth that I see walking around this school!"

Sirius had paled. "What did you just say?"

Rosier sneered. "Ask your little brother where his loyalties lie."

It taken Sirius ten minutes to find his brother and to get the truth out of him. He had punched a hole through their dormitory wall after that and James and Remus had held him down as he cried and screamed at his brother's betrayal; at how it was all his fault that he had chosen to follow Voldemort, how he never should have left home, but had stayed and let his mother keep torturing him to keep Regulus safe — and when Peter had come in after detention and heard about what had happened, he had joined the group hug. He had told Sirius that Regulus was old enough to choose for himself now and that it wasn't his fault.

But Remus knew that his friend had never quite forgiven himself.

"I'm proud of him," Sirius admitted, pulling away from Remus and reaching for his tea. "His heart was in the right place. I just wish that he had come to me first. Maybe I could have helped him… maybe he'd still be alive."

Remus nodded. "I know, Padfoot." He squeezed Sirius' arm in reassurance. "But now that you know the truth, does it make it hurt any less?"

Sirius shook his head. "No, not any less, but I'm fucking proud of him. He was a hero and I'm going to make sure that the world knows that one day."

Remus smiled. "Good." He glanced up at the clock. "It's after one, you might as well just crash here. You're exhausted. The couch is quite comfortable."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "No thanks, I'll sleep with Harry."

Remus smiled, standing up and stretching. "I'll make us a big breakfast tomorrow. Maybe we can —" he stopped talking at the sound of the scream that came from Harry's bedroom.

Remus and Sirius both ran into the room, both rushing to Harry and sitting on either side of the bed, arms wrapped around him instantly as Marauder barked, rubbing his head by Harry's back to comfort him as Sirius and Remus each held him.

Sirius was relieved to find him awake. The last time that Harry had screamed like that in his sleep, Sirius hadn't been able to wake him up and it had terrified him. Now Harry clung to both of them, his little body trembling with whatever fears his nightmare had brought forth to him.

"Shh," Sirius soothed, kissing Harry's head as Remus did the same from the other side of him. "Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony are right here, Prongslet, we're right here."

Harry sobbed into their arms, clinging to them both, his eyes dark with fear. "There was a bad man and he was yelling," he cried, his small hands fisting in their shirts. "A woman was screaming my name and he hurt her and then there was a green light and I was all alone. I'm always all alone in the dark!"

"Shh," Sirius soothed, kissing him again. "You're not alone, Harry. We're right here."

"We're right here, little Prongs," Remus told him as they hugged and rocked the child in reassurance.

Sirius' eyes met Remus' over Harry. He knew that his friend was thinking the same thing. Harry had dreamed about the night Voldemort had killed his parents and he had no idea that his parents' death was what he was dreaming about. Neither one of them planned to inform him of this either. It wouldn't benefit him in any way to know that.

"It was just a bad dream, Harry," Sirius said, rubbing his back. "I'm here and Uncle Moony is here and Marauder is here. We love you and we're right here."

Harry seemed to calm down a little at that and he turned his head towards Sirius, burying his face into Sirius' neck. "Sing to me, Uncle Padfoot."

Remus smiled, pushing Harry fully into Sirius' arms as Sirius began to lightly sing.

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise. Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these sunken eyes and learn to see. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free. Blackbird fly, blackbird fly into the light of the dark black night."

Harry was soothed by the song as he clung to Sirius, Remus gently rubbing his back as the child drifted off to sleep. Marauder had calmed down as well and was curled up on the end of the bed, eyes watching Sirius and Harry calmly.

Remus stood up, kissing Harry's head. "He'll be all right."

Sirius nodded, tucking the child into the bed. "Can I borrow some pyjama pants?"

Remus smiled, returning a few moments later with a pair of striped pyjama bottoms. Sirius stripped off his shirt and jeans and changed into the pants before he climbed into bed with Harry, smiling when Remus climbed into the other side. Marauder only lifted his head at the intrusion before settling himself down again at the end of the bed. Sirius pulled Harry close to him, cradling him over his heart, Remus' hands on the child's back, stroking soothingly, and soon they had both drifted off to sleep with the child in their arms and the dog at their feet.