A/N: Oh, gosh. You guys rock. Tayler – LOL. I'm glad you love Regulus. He is my most recent passion. And good call on angry!Sirius. He definitely shows up this chapter. JennytheSpam – Thank you! Oh, I love desperate!Sirius. He is so adorable. I hope you enjoy this chapter, sugar. Captain Oz – LOL, well thank you. I'm glad you can sympathize with Regulus. I'm hoping to make him come across less bad guy more reluctant martyr in this fic. DQOP – Oh, thank you! I've never really done a suspenseful story like this before, since I mostly write romance. And I'm glad my 'Regulus isn't really evil' campaign is working. :) KawaiiMegami86 – Ooh, yes, Regulus is quite the enigma, isn't he? LOL. Well, as far as whether he is RAB…you'll have to decide that for yourself. And of course I know what you mean! Who doesn't love Remus and Sirius in love? ;) Katrina – Yeah, the WB boards have been really acting up lately. But thanks for reviewing, sugar! Michal – Oh! Thanks, hun. I'm so glad you're enjoying it. AngelsAndLies – Two reviews at once! Thank you so much. Just so you know, your capitalizing of random words makes me ridiculously happy. LOL. Theodore-Bonante– I already replied to your comments in an email, because I read them really early in the morning and forgot that this is a chaptered fic and that I put the replies in the fic itself. LOL. -is a complete spaz-
Disclaimer: NOT MINE! -cries-
Warning: This fic is still SLASH. You know, just like it was the first two chapters.
Rating: T – for very bad language and some violence
I will try to NEVER be so long with a chapter again. My life has just been INSANE.
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Chapter Three: Redemption
Sirius woke up to a pounding inside of his skull. He groaned loudly, trying to sink further into his sheets and to will himself back to sleep. After a few minutes, his brain finally woke up and he realized that the pounding wasn't a symptom of his massive hangover, but was actually coming from the door to his flat.
Oh, right, James was going to come over, he remembered as he reluctantly pushed himself out of bed and towards the door.
"Cut it out already, Prongs!" He shouted hoarsely. "I'm coming."
When he finally opened the door, however, it was not James who was waiting for him on the other side. It was actually quite possibly the last person he would have expected to be on his doorstep.
He simply stared at his brother for a moment, trying to recall the last time he'd seen him. Had it been six months? More? With the dull ache of the night before still clouding his mind, he couldn't seem to remember. But even hungover, he knew that it was an odd day when Regulus was showing up at his flat.
"Don't you have a hug for your little brother?" Regulus asked sarcastically, eyebrow raised.
Sirius scowled. He wanted to shout at him, asking why he hadn't returned any of his letters, or where the hell he'd been for the past year, but he couldn't find the energy.
"It's too early for this." He settled for mumbling, but he stepped aside nonetheless to allow Regulus into the front room of the flat.
He shut the door a bit too hard, wincing at the sound it made. Regulus noticed.
"Rough night?" He asked, eyebrow still raised in that infuriating smirk.
Sirius didn't answer, instead moving to the kitchen and rooting around in the refrigerator for the bottle of hangover potion he knew Remus kept somewhere. Finally he found it, noticing that there was only a single shot left. Hadn't it been full last week? He wondered. Had he really been drinking that much?
He downed the potion and turned back to his brother, his mind remarkably clearer, yet still slightly unfocused. Glancing at the clock, he realized he had only managed about three hours of sleep.
"No offense, little brother." He said, leaning back against the counter with a sigh. "But you don't return my letters, I haven't seen you in over a year, and then suddenly you turn up here at the worst of all possible times… I'm sorry, but whatever you want from me, I've got my own shit to worry about. James is coming over any minute and we've got important work to take care of."
"This won't take long." Regulus informed him dryly.
Sirius shook his head.
"I don't know what you've gotten yourself into, but I'm telling you, I can't do anything right now. I've got James coming over. So whatever it is..."
"Let me guess, you and Potter are going to be working on the Lupin case?" Regulus cut in. He couldn't help rolling his eyes a bit and the startled look Sirius gave him. "Yes, I know he's missing. So, maybe you could do yourself a favor and hear what I have to tell you."
"You know something about Remus?" Sirius whispered. His hand gripped the edge of the counter so fiercely that his knuckles began to turn white.
"I have a message from him." Regulus answered, refusing to turn away from Sirius's stare.
"How?" Sirius asked, deathly quiet. "You've seen him? You know where he is?"
"Yes." Regulus replied evenly.
"Where?" Sirius demanded, voice rising. "Where is he?"
"I can't tell you." Regulus said, finally turning away.
As Sirius watched him, the reality of the situation began to sink in.
"No." He muttered, as if saying it would make it not true. "Not you. You did this? You're a part of this? God, Regulus. After everything I… How could you… Why? Why are you doing this?"
"I don't have a choice." Regulus told him, his voice low.
"Bullshit." Sirius shot back. "Everyone has a choice. You could've come here. You could've trained with me once you got out of school. We would've taken you in."
"'We', meaning you and Lupin." Regulus spat bitterly. "Do you know what mum would say if she knew what you were doing with that half-breed?"
"Since when do you care what mum says about anything?" Sirius returned, trying to remind himself that he wouldn't be able to get any information out of his brother if he killed him. "Or was that around the same time you decided to throw your life away and join Voldemort?"
"You don't know what it was like!" Regulus shouted suddenly. "While you were out here living the dream – sodomizing your little werewolf, or whatever the hell you've been doing for the past two years – I was back at Hogwarts. It's not like it was when you were there. Things have changed. He's got a hold now, a strong one."
"Are you seriously trying to justify yourself to me?" Sirius asked incredulously.
He grabbed the front of Regulus's robes and slammed him back against the counter.
"Where is Remus?" he demanded, losing patience for his brother's lengthy narrative.
"I only have one shot." Regulus told Sirius urgently, his voice taking on a desperate edge. "Don't you see? Some things are more important than Lupin or you or even me. I can't risk blowing this now – not when I'm so close. I have to destroy it. It's the only way to end this."
Sirius's brow furrowed in confusion. He had no idea what Regulus was talking about, but the scared, helpless look in his eye caused him to loosen his hold nonetheless.
"He wanted me to give you a message." Regulus reminded him softly, instead of backing out of his older brother's grasp while he had the chance.
"What?" Sirius croaked out finally, still trying to process what exactly was going on in his kitchen.
"He said to tell you that some things are worth dying for." Regulus whispered, looking away. "But that there are more things worth living for."
Sirius grip tightened on his brother's robes once again, but this time it wasn't out of anger.
"No." He breathed raggedly, his face twisting with emotion. "There isn't anything else. Doesn't he know that? Doesn't he know that?"
Regulus finally turned back to look at Sirius. Their faces were only inches apart and Sirius was still clutching at his robes, his eyes filled with a reckless desperation that Regulus had only seen once before.
"Even if I told you, it's a suicide mission." He said softly, his resolve breaking.
"I don't care." Sirius told him, finally letting go of Regulus completely.
Regulus sighed.
"There's a warehouse on the corner of Pine and Spruce." He said. "It's got heavy anti-detection spells, though. I'm talking advanced magic here. And even if you manage to get through, there are guards everywhere. He's in the far Northeast corner. You'll never get to him."
Sirius just closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Regulus knew he would try anyway.
"I have to go." Regulus muttered after a minute. "I've stayed too long already."
As he turned to leave however, he felt strong arms wrap around him, pulling him into such a fierce hug that it hurt.
"I never wanted this for you," he felt a hot breath whisper in his ear just before they pulled apart.
"I know." He returned softly. Then, with a final glance, he turned and left the apartment.
And as Sirius watched his little brother go, he couldn't ignore the nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach that it was the last time he would ever see him.
& & &
James paused outside of Sirius's door, coffee in hand, not looking forward to the task of rousing his very probably severely hungover friend. When he reluctantly knocked however, he was surprised to have the door flung open almost instantly.
Sirius barely nodded to him in acknowledgement before he was bustling about the flat again, gathering together an odd assortment of items and throwing them haphazardly into a bag that lay open on the couch.
James moved into the apartment, shutting the door behind him and gazing with bewilderment at all of the books and papers that had been strewn over the kitchen table.
"What is all of this?" He asked, setting down the coffee and picking up the closest book. It was entitled, "Advanced Concealment Charms for the Discerning Wizard".
Sirius stopped his frantic movement for a moment, seeming to finally register that there was someone else in the apartment.
"I know where he is." he told James, his voice coming out in almost a whisper.
"How?" James exclaimed, his mind reeling.
"It doesn't matter." Sirius answered, after a moment of hesitation. "But we need to move now."
"Okay," James said slowly, running a hand through his hair without thinking, "okay, we'll floo the order immediately and get a team together…"
"No." Sirius interjected softly.
James stopped mid-sentence as though it had been screamed.
"What?" He asked, his eyes glinting dangerously.
"We can't tell the order or the ministry. We have to do this ourselves." Sirius said, the calm in his voice making James's hair stand on end.
"Sirius," he said, trying to think of how he could get through to his friend when he had so clearly already made up his mind, "listen, we can't do this by ourselves, okay? We need…"
"I'm not asking you to come." Sirius interrupted him once again.
"Damnit, Sirius!" James shouted, finally losing it. "You're talking like a crazy person. You can not do this by yourself! The two of us couldn't even pull this off! We need to go to Moody or Dumbledore… or someone!"
"We can't do that." Sirius insisted.
"Why?" James demanded hotly. "Why the bloody hell can't we?"
"Because it just isn't that simple." Sirius answered with a sigh, taking a step towards his friend and grasping his shoulders. "Look, James, you are my best mate in the whole world and I love you like a brother. I have fucked up pretty seriously over the years and you have always had my back no matter what. I know I have no right to ask this of you now, but I'm going to anyway. I'm sorry I can't explain this to you the way you need me to. To be honest, I don't know if I ever will."
"What…" James tried to ask, but Sirius cut him off again.
"Please, James. Just this once, I need you to trust me." The grip on James's shoulders became just a little bit tighter, "Please, just trust me."
James's thoughts drifted back to everything he and Sirius had been through in the years that they'd known each other, the good and the bad. Then he thought about his girlfriend waiting for him at home. He had promised her that he'd be home for dinner. He hoped to God that he wasn't about to break that promise.
"Alright, Padfoot." He said, nodding slowly. "Let's go."
& & &
Remus slumped back against the wall, exhausted from the effort of straining against his chains to catch a glimpse of the night sky through his impossibly small window. From what little he could see, he judged that the full moon was less than three days away.
He wasn't exactly sure what they planned to do with him when that night came. Surely the chains currently wrapped around his ankles would still hold him, should they want to keep him locked in this room, but Remus doubted that was their intention. No, what he feared was that they would simply let him loose – to show him what he had been missing, so to speak. The thought made his blood run cold.
But he'd already resolved not to let it come to that. His last request of Regulus, besides his message for Sirius, had been for something silver. He could still feel the small letter opener that Regulus had reluctantly given him pressed against the inside of his shirt pocket.
He could feel his heart racing as he thought about what he was about to do. He wished, more than anything, that he could see Sirius one last time, but he knew that it was impossible. He would just have to hold on to the hope that Regulus would find a way to get his message to Sirius and that Sirius would be able to forgive him.
He reached down and tore a strip of fabric off the bottom of his shirt, carefully wrapping it around the palm of his hand before reaching into his pocket and grasping the letter opener.
He withdrew it slowly and carefully positioned it at chest level, his hand unsteady. He felt a tear slide down his cheek and he resisted the urge to brush it away.
If the death eater's weren't going to end this game, then he would end it for them.
& & &
This is it, Regulus thought as he watched the hooded figures approach him, yet somehow he didn't feel any fear. It was almost surreal – as if he were watching it happen to someone else. Or, rather, as if he were living someone else's life.
"We know you went to see Sirius Black," the first man informed him as he approached.
Regulus recognized the voice as Miles Avery, someone he had considered his best friend all through his years at Hogwarts. He understood instinctively that this must be Miles's one chance to prove he no longer associated himself with Regulus, that he was free of his crimes.
Even so, Regulus couldn't even find the strength to muster up any feelings of betrayal. He knew he would have done the same thing.
"Sirius Black is an auror," the other man added gruffly, as if this needed to be stated.
He couldn't place the other man's voice, but he was obviously older, probably there to make sure that Miles didn't screw up. He felt his stomach twist slightly as he realized how unimportant he really was: neither of his would-be assailants was even inner-circle.
"So, the question remains," Miles continued, "what would you want to see an auror for?"
"He's my brother," Regulus answered, corking an eyebrow, "I just went over for a chat – you know, brother stuff."
"Sirius Black is a traitor," the older man spat. "He has no family."
Regulus didn't expect to be able to talk his way out of anything. He knew the questioning was only a pretense anyway; as soon as he had stepped into his brother's flat he had sealed his fate.
But as he thought back to the earlier events of the evening, a small smile lit his features, distinctly out of place in such a grim setting. It didn't matter, really, what they did to him now. Voldemort would get what was coming to him eventually.
He would remember the name Regulus Black.
& & &
"Stupefy!" Sirius shouted, pointing his wand at the man before him. A red light shot out of his wand and hit the other man square in the chest, causing him to slump down onto the floor.
He spun around quickly to help James but found that his attacker was likewise incapacitated.
Thankfully, the warehouse was proving to be much less guarded that Regulus had made it sound. It had taken some intricate spellwork to access the building, but once inside they had only met with six death eaters so far. They seemed to be patrolling the corridors in pairs – an even match for he and James, especially as they had the element of surprise on their side.
Slowly and steadily, they were making their way to the Northeast end of the building. Each door they opened, Sirius prayed that they would find Remus inside, but so far – nothing.
Then, at the end of a particularly long corridor, they came across a door that was not only bolted, but sealed magically as well. Sirius immediately tried every unlocking spell that he knew, while James went to work on a severing spell to destroy the muggle locks. After what seemed like an eternity – though, in reality was less than five minutes – the door finally slid open.
The sight that met their eyes made Sirius's heart stop. Remus lay in the far corner of the room, dirty and covered in blood, his ankles chained to the floor. He was curled up in a ball, sobbing softly, with something metallic and – Sirius gasped – silver clutched tightly in his hand.
"Moony," Sirius called out softly, his voice coming out ragged with emotion.
Remus looked up, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"Sirius?" he asked softly. He sounded both so desperate and so hopeful that it nearly broke Sirius's heart.
"Yeah, it's me," he said, kneeling down beside him. "I'm right here."
James was already behind him, unlocking the heavy chains, but Sirius barely noticed. All he could see was Remus, lying in front of him – very much alive.
He brought the metallic object he was clutching up to his chest and then let it fall to the floor. It was a letter opener.
"I couldn't do it," Remus told him, his eyes filled with pain and regret, "I wanted to end it, to make sure they couldn't use me to hurt anyone else. But I was too fucking scared."
All at once, Sirius realized what Remus had been about to do – what might have happened if they hadn't have gotten there in time.
"We need to get you out of here," Sirius said forcefully, pulling other boy into a sitting position, "right now."
"Can you walk?" James asked, eyeing Remus left leg dubiously.
Remus nodded his head, but as soon as they pulled him to his feet he collapsed onto Sirius.
"It's okay," Sirius said at once, "I'll carry him."
He picked Remus up with ease, noting that the naturally skinny boy had grown even thinner over the past three weeks. Sirius wondered uneasily how often he'd been fed.
"Alright," James said, as they made their way to the door of the cell, "I'll head out first to try to cover you, but if we run into any trouble, you'll have to be able to fight, Sirius."
Sirius nodded, shifting Remus slightly so that he could access his wand.
Cautiously, they stepped back out into the corridor. They went back out the same way they had come in, moving only slightly slower. They had almost made it to the outside door, when Sirius suddenly slumped to the floor, dropping Remus unceremoniously on his already broken leg.
James spun around to see two death eaters moving towards him, wands raised. James blanched. There was no way he could take out both of them before he was hit with something. He wasn't an auror like Sirius; he wasn't trained for this.
Nevertheless, he whipped out his wand and said the first spell that came to his mind, expelliarmus – the disarming spell.
Both wands flew out of their attacker's hands and James quickly fired off another stunning spell, hitting one of the men so forcefully that it knocked him backwards several feet. Unfortunately, the disarming spell hadn't been quite as potent and the other attacker had already retrieved his wand and was pointing it back at James.
In that moment, he saw his life flash before his eyes. Mostly he saw Lily's smiling face and he felt his heart wrench at the thought that he wouldn't be able to give her that big wedding that he'd promised.
But suddenly, a red light shot out at the death eater and he fell to the floor, motionless. James looked back to see Remus, still lying on the floor, holding Sirius's wand out towards the fallen death eater.
"Thanks," he somehow managed, quickly moving to cast the rennervate spell on Sirius.
"No problem," Remus muttered, as Sirius groaned and sat up, pulling them both to their feet, "now we're even."
Without losing any more time, they raced the last couple of yards to the exit, not stopping until they were free of the protection spells and able to apparate back to the safety of St. Mungos.
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So ends chapter three. I know I was very long in updating, and do not deserve nice reviews, but…pwease? The next chapter has some smut, you know!
Next chapter… everyone tries to move forward, and James, for one, decides to do so in a very big way.