A/N And here's some new stuff for y'all.

Regulus sat down in his place in the Wizengamot, a cold neutral expression across his face. Sirius was under strict orders to make himself presentable before Regulus got back (though to be fair, Sirius seemed all too happy to comply), and Kreacher had been instructed to help Sirius with anything he needed around the house (neither Sirius nor Kreacher seemed to like the idea, but Regulus had given Sirius a warning glance and Kreacher would obey even if he didn't like it). It was a good thing Bellatrix had insisted on teaching Regulus occlumency, because in addition to the entire Wizengamot several Aurors were in attendance, and without it someone surely would find out. His gratefulness for his cousin's misguided actions only grew as the meeting commenced.

"Thank you all for gathering on such short notice," Minister Fudge said. "As I'm sure you're all keenly aware Death Eater and mass-murderer Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban early this morning."

Almost everyone in the room turned to look at Regulus. He didn't blame them, of course, they all knew Sirius was his brother. Half of them had protested him accepting the Black family seat on the Wizengamot because of that. The allegations that he had also been a death eater didn't help.

"The Auror Office," Minister Fudge continued, "has of course deployed all available forces in search of Black, beginning in northern Scotland. Aurors Harrison and Jones will now present the Auror Office's proposal for continued efforts to find Black.

The Aurors that had come to his door earlier stood up and walked to the center of the room.

"Thank you, Minister Fudge," one of them said. "First I want to assure you all that the Auror Office is taking this threat very seriously. We are working closely with other offices in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, as well as the Dementors of Azkaban by way of the Dementor Liaison Office. Now, our plan to catch black is a simple one. Aurors will continue the search throughout Great Britain. While Black does not have a valid apparation license, he still knows how to apparate, that means he could be anywhere. One of our greatest tools will be getting as many people on the lookout as we can. We believe the best course of action will be to work with the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee to Create a story that can be shared with the muggles, encouraging them to be on the lookout for Black, and to report any sightings using their telephony technology."

"What help could muggles be against Black? He has no qualms about killing them, as I'm sure we're all aware," a witch with stick straight brown hair asked.

"Their help would be in numbers. Even with every witch and wizard in Britain looking for him, it might not be enough, but muggles have always outnumbered wizard-kind. I believe the strength of their numbers will outweigh their weakness."

A few murmurs went around the room, but soon Minister Fudge motioned for the Aurors to continue.

"The second part of our plan is to do our best to predict Black's movements and outsmart him that way," the other Auror said.

Regulus almost could have laughed at that, if he wasn't keenly aware of how dangerous the situation he had let himself get sucked into was. Under normal circumstances he would have thought there was no way they could outsmart Sirius, no one ever could, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized just how far from normal Sirius had been behaving. The might not know it, but they had already accurately predicted his first move. Maybe it was the effects of twelve years surrounded by dementors, maybe it was fear of what Pettigrew could do to Harry Potter, but he wasn't thinking straight.

The idiot was going to get himself caught if he didn't pull himself together.

"Due to testimony from several of Black's guards we believe he's going after Harry Potter with the intent to kill him in order to avenge He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Professor Dumbledore has assured us that he himself put many protective enchantments over Mr Potter's home."

Regulus hated that the Aurors referred to Harry Potter as 'Mr Potter', but Sirius simply as 'Black'. Sirius always hated his connection to the family, he always hated being a Black, but now that's all he was to the entire wizarding world. A world that should have praised him as a hero, that used to see him as the one who broke free of the darkness that was the black family.

The Auror had not stopped talking while Regulus' thoughts ran amok. He needed to pay attention. If he knew what they were planning he could help Sirius avoid them.

The first Auror, the one that wasn't talking, was not so subtly watching him. Staring at him, more accurately. Suddenly Regulus became aware of their presence in his mind. Almost instinctively he pushed against him. It wasn't the smartest move, most people would take that as a sign that had something to hide, but what was important right now was keeping Sirius out of their hands. Besides, he could find some excuse. He forced his attention back to the Auror that was taking.

"Regardless, we believe it would be wise to place extra surveillance in places that Black might go. These places include Godric's Hollow, the Malfoy estate, the home of Andromeda and Edward Tonks, and the Black family home at Grimmauld Place."

Once again Regulus could feel every eye in the room on him, and once again the Auror was probing his mind with Ligillamancy. The second Auror was asking for questions, but Regulus struggled to pay attention. He was too busy trying to think up a valid reason to refuse extra surveillance without casting suspicion on himself, all the while keeping everything safely behind a barrier of occlumency.

He had nothing. His best chance at avoiding suspicion would be to comply entirely with the investigation and search. The ministry didn't know that Sirius… he stopped himself. Something had changed about how the Auror was listening in his mind. He didn't have time to puzzle it out as Minister Fudge cleared his throat.

"Well, if there's no further questions, then would all in favor of the Auror Office's proposal please raise their hands," Minister Fudge said.

Regulus raised his hand. He could feel the Auror's suspicion in his mind through the legilimetic connection.

"Well, that's the majority. Thank you all for attending. Aurors Harrison and Jones, thank you for your service, and good luck to you all," Minister Fudge said. He closed his book and stood up, effectively dismissing them all.

Regulus tried not to draw attention to himself as he began making his way out of the chamber. Not that he needed to try to draw attention to himself. Everyone was still staring at him, whispering about him. It was the same as when he had first been given Uncle Cygnus' seat on the Wizengamot after he had died. Isn't that Sirius Black's brother? Those whispers had followed him since his first year at hogwarts. They didn't bother him anymore. They hadn't since he'd realized that being Sirius Black's brother wasn't a curse. Since he'd realized he needed to…

The Auror was in his head again. He hated people being in his head.

"Regulus!" Lucius called out to him.

Regulus paused and turned towards Lucius. "Good afternoon, Lucius. How have you been?"

Lucius scoffed. "Well I've just received the news that my family is to be spied upon because of your brother's escape," he said.

"Please… don't call him my brother," Regulus said.

"Of course," Lucius said. He had a look in his eyes that seemed to say that he understood what Regulus meant. That he understood that Regulus was pretending not to have supported the Dark Lord.

That was not what Regulus meant.

Honestly Regulus wasn't sure that he meant it at all.

The Auror was still in his head.

"Why don't you come to my place for dinner. Narcissa would love to have you, and we can take some time to discuss our… unfortunate situation," Lucius said.

Regulus froze. He had to go home. "I'm not sure that's wise. If Sirius does try to come to Grimmauld Place, someone ought to be there to report him," Regulus said.

"Oh come now, the Auror's will be there to catch him."

The Auror seemed to be taking great interest in their conversation.

Sirius paced in his old bedroom. Regulus said he'd be gone for an hour, two at the most. Regulus said he'd be back. But he wasn't. Five hours later and he still wasn't back. Part of Sirius wanted to leave, to go look for Harry, but when he was disowned it was made so he could no longer apparate in or out of the house, and there was an Auror across the road, clearly watching the house. Did they think he wouldn't have noticed? He went through the training, he'd fought in the war. Did they think he wouldn't notice an Auror blatantly watching the house?

He ran his fingers through his now short hair. Kreacher had cut it for him. They both hated every second of it, but Sirius was already pushing his luck just being there, he didn't need Regulus angry at him again. It was a bit shorter than he would have liked, but it would grow.

The front door opened and shut and Sirius bounded down the stairs in dog form. It was Regulus.

"Someone's watching the house," Sirius said. "You were gone for five hours."

"Lucius found me after the meeting and invited me to their house for dinner. I couldn't say no without looking suspicious," Regulus said, sounding as harsh as he usually did. "And yes, I know there's someone watching the house."

"How am I supposed to find Harry if I can't leave the house?" Sirius snapped. Regulus didn't understand, of course he didn't.

"I thought you were looking for Peter," Regulus said dryly. He walked past Sirius into the kitchen. "And don't worry, I've come up with a way to take you out. We'll have to be careful though. Auror Harrison or Jones–I'm not sure which–is suspicious of me. He was Using legilimency on me practically the whole meeting."

"Did he see anything important?" Sirius asked. It would be bad if he did. They could have found out that he's an animagus, or that he's here, or that Peter's alive. But no, it would be good if they found out that. Then they'd track Peter down. But no, Peter would just convince them that he's innocent. But if he had the dark mark then they'd know! But then Reg had the dark mark and they didn't arrest him, so did Lucius for that matter.

"Sirius? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Sirius placed his hands on the table and leaned forward over them, letting his head hang down. "Peter's out there somewhere and he's going to kill Harry."

"We'll figure something out. For now, though, we need a plan," Regulus said. "Have you eaten?"

Sirius shook his head.

"Kreacher."

The house elf appeared with a crack, and Sirius had to stop himself from wincing at his presence. He couldn't make Regulus mad at him again. He couldn't lose him again too.

"Please make Sirius some supper. Well balanced, but no cauliflower," Regulus said. He turned back to Sirius. "Now sit down and let me tell you my plan."

Sirius obeyed.

"I know you won't like it but the only way I can think of to get you out of the house is pretending you're my pet dog."