Chapter six: Silence and Soulmates

Harry could feel Lupin's hold slack in shock and curiosity, and he took his chance to run towards the two new arrivals- going around the archway and sinking to his knees next to Sirius. His godfather looked back at him, his eyes wide and haunted as though it had been longer for him than the half second he'd gone through. His breathing was ragged and Harry could guess that it was leftover from Bellatrix's curse.

"James."

Harry looked over at the other man who'd come through, someone he'd never seen before but looked somewhat familiar. He looked like... Sirius. He was looking at Harry with a strange, startled expression.

"You're not James."

"Regulus?" It was Lupin, frozen at the sight of the other man.

Harry knew that name. That was what Sirius said his brother's name was. And, he looked like a piece in the tapestry room. But Sirius' brother was dead, and this man didn't look a day over nineteen. Sirius tried to sit up, groaning.

"Remus?" The man called Regulus asked, looking at Lupin curiously. "Remus Lupin? You look so... old."

"Reg," Sirius called, pulling himself to his feet and swaying on them. The man steadied him, looking concerned.

"S-Sirius?"

"Mr. Black," Dumbledore said. "I believe you and I need to have a chat, but you all must take Harry and leave. The Aurors shall be arriving soon and so too, I expect, will Voldemort."

The man flinched at the name, looking around uncertainly with a sense of suspicion. "Why are we in the Ministry?"

Dumbledore waved his question off. "All will be explained, but you must leave. I do not think it best that you or Sirius be here when our guests arrive. Remus, take them to Hogwarts hospital wing. No one goes in that isn't in the Order."

"Sir, Draco-"

"Has already been taken care of. You must leave now."

Lupin lead the three of them out a door Harry hadn't noticed to a fireplace. He shoved everyone into the fireplace and pulled Floo Powder from his pocket.

"HOGWARTS!"

They came out in Umbridge's office, that seemed blown apart and Harry thought it felt like years since they were here. Years since they left for the Ministry. Regulus was looking at him in awe.

"Are you- no you couldn't be- but you must be-"

"That's Harry," Sirius said hoarsely, leaning on Lupin. "He's James and Lily's son."

"Yes," Regulus said.

The last thing he remembered was shouting for Kreacher to leave him in the cave. And the Inferi grabbed him and pulled him under the water. If he closed his eyes he could feel the cold and their hands grasping at him. It felt like that had happened only moments ago, but if this was Potter's boy... it had been much longer than that.

"I died," he said with a sense of wonder at the realization. "I-I'm supposed to be dead."

"Die again later," Sirius said gruffly, "we should get to the hospital wing. Harry needs to be checked."

"Me?"

Regulus felt perfect, aside from being incredibly confused. It wasn't even like waking up, the way he'd always thought coming back from the dead would feel like. It was literally as though he'd only left his house an hour ago to go to the cave. But here was James and Lily's son looking, what, fourteen? And Sirius and Remus both looking much older than twenty, the age he knew them both to be.

They walked through the school, that was at the same time no different- and much different. The hospital wing was full, with young students in every bed. There was one bed in the back of the wing that was surrounded by curtains with voices behind it. A woman's voice and a man's.

Madame Pomfrey came bustling around the corner, rushing to Lupin and Sirius' side to ease the latter onto another bed. Then she stopped dead at the sight of Regulus. He stopped too, though mostly because she and Dumbledore were the only people he'd seen so far that didn't look any different.

"You... you're here. But, we heard you were dead. How-"

"Poppy," Remus interrupted. "Sirius and Harry. We can explain later."

There was a sharp scream from behind the curtain and Harry, Regulus had to remind himself it wasn't James, looked up and ran forward. A voice Regulus knew very well called out, "Poppy! I need a blood replenisher!"

The woman looked torn, looking at Sirius and back to the curtain where the boy was now. "He should be okay to wait for a moment," she told Remus. "If you need them, there are pain relievers in that cabinet. I'm afraid Miss Granger's in a bad way."

A tall man came from around the curtain, his hands covered in blood. He'd aged, but Regulus remembered the closest thing he'd ever had to a best friend. And apparently so did he, stopping with an even paler face.

"Regulus?"

"Severus. I've been told it's been a long time."

"You're dead," he said flatly. His voice had deepened even more.

"That's what they've been saying."

There was a shaking voice from the curtain, the boy. "Professor?! What's happening to her?"

Severus turned back. "Reg, come on. You can help. Dolohov hit her with his damned curse."

Regulus followed Severus to the curtain where he could hear what it seemed that the girl was seizing, but he stopped dead when he turned the corner. There lay a girl with brown hair fanned around her, that on anyone else might look like a halo, but on her looked something like a bird nest. There were freckles on her face, which was bunched in pain.

He'd forgotten all about that potion. He'd forgotten that he'd brewed and taken it. He'd forgotten what color it was. But he turned, and knew nothing about the girl except that she shone with the brightest silvery blue. Like a star.

"Regulus!" Severus shouted. "Grab her and hold her down before her bones liquefy, damn it!"

Regulus shot forward and did as he was told, watching Severus coax a potion down her throat. When his hands touched her, she stilled, calming, and Severus shot him a questioning look.

"Is she okay?" The boy asked.

Severus looked up at him and snarled. "If you leave us be to work! Go bother someone else, Potter. Perhaps Miss Greengrass is awake."

Somewhere else in the wing a girl's voice called, "Don't talk to Harry like that!"

Severus hung his head for a moment, before casting spells on the girl. The girl. He didn't even know her name and Regulus was tied to her. After nearly an hour, Severus sagged, the colors from his spells fading and color seeming to come back to her face- making it a fresh pink. He watched her eyelids move as she dreamed.

"She'll be fine," his friend said in relief. "She just needs her bandages changed. Poppy can do that later."

Regulus couldn't look away from the girl. "Who is she?"

Severus wasn't fooled. Reg could never fool him. "Hermione Granger, one of Potter's friends."

"She-she was hit by Dolohov?" Reg heard himself ask. Severus confirmed it. "And, did Dolohov survive the particular skirmish that resulted in this?"

"As I heard, Lucius Malfoy's son killed him in vengeance."

Yes, Narcissa's son. Regulus had been there when he was born. Severus lead them away from her and Regulus was forced to look away. "It's good to see you, Reg."

"Wish I could say the same, Severus," he grinned, "but I'm sorry to say old age doesn't suit you. You've got wrinkles and everything."

He shuddered and Severus rolled his eyes. "You don't look any different than the last time I saw you." His face turned serious. "What happened? How are you here right now?"

"I don't know. I was fighting off Inferi, then next thing I know I'm in the Ministry with Lupin, Sirius, and James Potter's spawn."

"There's a lot you've missed."

"Why did you do it, Reg?"

Sirius could very clearly remember where he was when he was told of his little brother's death. He had been staying at James and Lily's place in Godric's Hollow to help them with newborn Harry, and Remus had just gotten back from one of Dumbledore's seemingly countless missions. When he'd heard the telltale sounds of Remus' heavy boots, James and Lily had finally been convinced to take advantage of the lull and sleep with Sirius kept Harry in good spirits. He remember it was raining hard that night, and he should have known then what was in store- the weather serving as the universe's harbinger of news.

"Who is that," he had asked the baby, rocking him in the bassinet. "Is that Moony?"

He wasn't sure what it was about infants that made one speak in that false cheerfulness as though the child could answer back, but he strangely found himself susceptible to it.

The door swung open with a sound that was louder than the thunder, and Sirius was afraid for a moment that it might have woken James or Lily. Or perhaps have broken the spell it seemed he had been able to cast on Harry.

"Blimey, Moony," Sirius scolded quietly, checking to be sure Harry was still laying peacefully.

He was, looking around with large eyes that Sirius hoped he would grow into and reaching up with tiny, curious hands. He was about to pick him up when he caught sight of his friend standing in the doorway, ragged and tired. Sirius didn't know what it was Dumbledore had him doing, but he always came back from it even more fragile looking than when he left. Such as when Sirius looked up and saw Remus standing only by holding himself up with the wall.

"Remus!" Sirius had never stood up from the floor so fast, running to help him.

The other man groaned, allowing Sirius to lead him to the sofa where he collapsed onto it with an oomph!- leaving Sirius standing there with rust colored blood covering his hands. He could remember staring at them in dumb horror before turning his wide eyes to Remus.

"You-you're bleeding," he'd said, his voice shaking and sounding afraid even to his own ears. "T-that's a lot of blood."

"It's not mine," Remus croaked. There was a fuss from Harry's bassinet, that quickly turned into crying again, but Sirius made no move to stop it. Remus' sorrowful gaze was pinning him in place- and he didn't dare move.

"If it isn't yours," Sirius began as calmly as he could, though it came out very strained, "then whose is it and why are you soaked in it?"

There were steps on the stairs and Lily and James were there, looking much better than they had previously.

"Remus?" Lily had asked in her soft way. "What's happened? Are you alright?"

James, who now had the still screaming Harry in his arms, came over as well and caught sight of Sirius' shaking hands. "Is that blood?"

Remus finally panted out, "One of his new recruits. He died in my arms, but he told me- that is , I heard-"

"Get on with it, Moony, you loquacious bastard!"

Seaweed green eyes hesitantly met aegean. "It's your brother, Sirius. Voldemort- he- I was told Reg betrayed him. And-"

"And what?" Sirius asked harshly.

"Sirius, mate, calm-"

Sirius ripped away from James' comforting hand on his shoulder. "No. Tell me."

"He's dead."

Sirius' mind came back to the present, to Regulus washing his face in the sink of a private part of the hospital wing where they were confined. He watched his brother, the person he'd sworn his whole life to love and protect. The person he'd spent years thinking he'd failed.

"Why did you do it, Reg?"

Regulus hated questions that began with that word. Why. Why did there always need to be a reason? Unfortunately, sometimes people did things without reason. There was no reason to the stars. There was no real reason to evil, or good, or love.

"Why does anyone do anything, Sirius?" He replied tiredly, hanging his head so he wouldn't have to look in the mirror. "What are you on about?"

"What am I-" Sirius grabbed Regulus' left arm harshly and shook it at him. "Why did you do this?"

He jerked the sleeve down to expose the Dark Mark, writhing in itself and mocking Regulus by its mere existence. Sirius seemed to be searching his face for some sort fo reaction, but Regulus contained his cool expression that he'd had plenty of practice with his brother to perfect. This only served in angering his brother further.

"Why, if you'd already chosen a coward's life, would you back out knowing it meant your death?"

Regulus tore his arm away, bristling at being called that word, and snarled in such a way he'd learned from Severus. "And what would you have had me do, brother mine? If I recall, you'd denounced our family. Left to shack it up with Potter and your gang."

"Damn it, Reggie, you were my little brother! I left them. I left our sorry excuse for parents, not you. Bloody hell, Regulus, you could have come to me! No matter my feelings about them, I'd have gotten you out!"

"And what would I have said, Sirius? I'm sorry I was never as brave as you were. I tried, really, I did. But I'm not you! When the Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Gryffindor, I begged it for Slytherin. But while I supported you after you went into Gryffindor, you couldn't return that. I went into Slytherin, you turned your back on me!"

"Boys!" Madame Pomfrey shouted at them in an offended way that suggested she'd been trying to get their attention. "I have patients, and you are not supposed to be seen. I'm sure the whole school can hear you. Cast a Silencing charm before I hex you both!"

Regulus glared at Sirius' staggered expression.

"No need," he said darkly, "we're done here."

And he left, pettily knocking Sirius aside with his shoulder on his way passed.

Regulus spent a great deal of time, since he couldn't leave anyway, at Hermione's bedside while she slept. He'd been told about her, had forced Severus to tell him everything. She was a Gryffindor, but Regulus was hardly surprised. The Sorting Hat itself had told Regulus long ago that he belonged in the House of the brave, but it was wrong. As he'd told his brother, Reg wasn't brave enough to follow in Sirius' footsteps. So he'd taken the easy route, the coward's way, and tried to be as cunning as the best of them.

Muggleborn. Despite what he'd always told his brother, he didn't care about blood status. Now that he'd been told Mother was dead, he felt confident in saying that aloud.

"What are you going to do now?" He heard a soft voice ask on the other side of the curtain surrounding Hermione's bed. "Your father will kill you if you go home."

While Sirius and Regulus weren't allowed to leave the hospital, it didn't stop students from getting hurt in the last days of the school year and needing Pomfrey to see to them. Sirius could, and did, transform into his animagus form when someone came into the hospital. Regulus, however, was content to sit at his soulmate's side while she healed and would not easily be moved; hence, the curtain that blocked him from the few of incoming people.

The children who had all been at the Ministry were cleared to leave as they wished, and a few of them came and went, but they all spent their time there anyway. And Dumbledore encouraged it while he sorted things with the Ministry and the press and the school affairs. Regulus hadn't even had the chance to speak to him about the Horcruxes.

"I don't know," a familiar voice said. "Maybe I can convince Dumbledore to let me stay here. Or somewhere else. I rather like living, you know?"

There was a childlike girlish giggle at his attempt in gallows humor. Regulus recognized the voice as Draco, Narcissa's son. He frowned at what he'd overheard and stood to step around the curtain. Draco was sitting on his bed, which was next to Astoria's- whom he'd been able to deduce as his Glow. They both looked at him when he came into view.

"Draco," he said, "I wonder if you and I might have a word."

"Sir?" The boy asked, hesitant and slightly confused.

Regulus only nodded with his head to a corner of the wing that was not occupied. Draco stood and walked behind him. Once there, he motioned for the boy to sit on an abandoned chair while he leaned against the wall. Neither of them said anything for a moment while Regulus thought about how he wanted to proceed.

"She probably never mentioned it," he decided to say, "but Cissa and I were particularly close as children. I suppose, like everyone else she's much older now."

"She did," Draco told him. "She used to tell me about you and your brother both. She told me about the Floo powder."

Regulus chuckled, a sound he hadn't made much in the time he'd been alive again. "Did she? Did she also tell you it was her idea to sneak in the Floo to go get candy in Diagon Alley? Our parents were furious. I'm sure if I squirmed just right, I'd still feel that beating in my backside."

Draco smiled. "She always said it was yours."

"Yes, well, she told our parents that too," he said dryly.

He paused, then, "I heard about you standing up against Lucius, and killing Dolohov to protect the others. I have my own reasons for thanking you for doing that, you've said me the hassle."

Draco nodded. "We've all guessed that you're why Granger didn't find her Glow before. I'm sure you'll be sufficiently threatened by Weasley and Potter both after they wrap their heads around it fully."

"They can try, but when you've been threatened by professionals- all other attempts at intimidation seem to fall a little flat. You have anyone you can stay with aside from your parents'?"

"I do not," the boy told him, his mood waning again.

"I couldn't help but overhear," Regulus said by way of explanation. "Dumbledore won't let you stay here over summer hols. He's never let anyone before, no matter the circumstances. But, I think it would be futile to think you are ignorant of the Order of the Phoenix?"

Draco nodded, having deflated even more.

Regulus picked off a piece of invisible fuzz from the robes he'd borrowed from Severus, his own being a bit overdo for a wash. "Once my return becomes known again, I will by law become the Head of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. I own the headquarters to the Order. And though I'm not much of a politician, I doubt my brother would care either if he retains the title."

"What do you mean?" Draco asked.

"I mean, you are more than welcome to find a home with us. You are family, and while that might not mean much to Lucius, or meant much to any in our family before us, it means something to me. With the current chaos of the Ministry, it shouldn't be terribly difficult to have your guardianship switched over."

The boy seemed to think about it for a few minutes, his elbows on his knees and his head hanging to stare unmoving at his bare feet on the stone.

"Would my name still be Malfoy?"

Regulus had assumed it would, but there was something about the boy's tone when he'd asked. "Is that what you want?"

Draco looked up with a resigned, determined expression. "No. I want nothing to do with the man. If there's a way to cut off anything to do with him, I'll gladly do it."

"Very well," Regulus nodded in acknowledgment. "Draco Black it is.

She was alone, and it was dark. It was as though her entire world was submerged into nothing, but she was still there and conscious enough to feel panicked and pain. Hermione felt a lot of pain. She felt deep, burning pain in her chest. Then it all seemed to stop. She could hear voices, one she knew and trusted, and another that she didn't but trusted all the same. When she opened her eyes, there was pink light streaming through the windows in the hospital wing.

She tried to sit up, groaning as she looked around in search for her friends. But there was only curtain and an empty chair.

"Harry?" She called. "Ron?"

There was a shuffling sound and Madame Pomfrey came around the corner. "Miss Granger! You slept longer than we expected. There were people getting worried here... oh no, no, no, no. Don't get up yet."

"What's wrong?" She asked. "Why am I numb?"

The mediwitch smoothed the hair out of her face sympathetically. "It's a lot better than if you wasn't, dear. I'm afraid you'll be in pain for a few days, but Professor Snape was able to patch you up good as new."

"If I was good as new, I wouldn't be numb or in pain."

"Now be kind."

"I apologize," Hermione said offhandedly, looking around. "Harry? Ron? Are they okay? Is everyone else..."

"Miss Weasley had a broken ankle, but was released yesterday. Your friends have been harassing me about your health. I've had to threaten to take points before they left. Not to mention Mr. Black."

The doors to the hospital wing opened and Madame Pomfrey looked up and disappeared around the corner. Hermione could hear talking, but could see no one for the curtain in between. That had to go. She could move her arms, and parts of her legs, so she swung them around to get up and move the curtain. Though, when her feet touched the cold stone floor, her knees buckled and hit the floor hard.

"Ugh," she groaned in pain and at the sound of Madame Pomfrey coming back.

"Did you not hear me when I told you that you shouldn't move?"

"Move the curtain," Hermione said. "Please! Then, I promise I'll-"

Standing with Madame Pomfrey was Professor Snape and someone she'd never seen before, but she knew who he was when she saw him. Not by name, perhaps, but in importance. He stood tall, though not as tall as Snape or Remus, with black hair tied at the nape of his neck, clear blue eyes like water, and a magnificent golden Glow surrounding him.

She knew she was staring, but so was he.

All the books she'd read, all the journals and poems always said that the Glow started with a small light that grew, but the gold was sudden and blinding that she almost couldn't look at it. At him. It was pulsing, the edges of it seeming to reach out before pulling back in. Her soulmate, and she'd never seen him before. But she had.

Hermione frowned at the familiarity she felt at seeing his face. He looked like Sirius, the black hair and crystal eyes something of a Black trademark just as platinum hair and silver eyes were a Malfoy sign.

"Hello," he said smoothly. His voice was very proper. Hermione had known Dukes that spoke with less satin in their tone.

"Hello," she echoed.

"Miss Granger," Madame Pomfrey said, awkwardly interrupting their strange encounter, "let's get you back up on the bed. You mustn't rush this. You're very lucky to be alive, very smart to silence Dolohov the way I'm told you did. If he had spoken aloud you wouldn't have made it here to receive treatment."

"That's very reassuring," Hermione said, letting the mediwitch help her up and set her into the bed. "Is everyone okay? I mean... we didn't lose anyone did we?"

Madame Pomfrey shot a glance at the stranger. "No, everyone is perfectly accounted for. We were very lucky. We even gained someone. This is Regulus Black, Sirius' brother."

Hermione looked back at him. "I thought you were dead."

He only smiled a tight smile, as though he'd heard this enough in the last...

"How long has it been?"

"Five days."

"Five days?" She asked, surprised. "I've been asleep for five days?"

The door opened again and someone called for Madame Pomfrey. She promised to be back momentarily and left Hermione with Professor Snape and Regulus Black. Once again Regulus and Hermione stared at each other while Snape glanced back and forth between the two.

"Miss Granger," he said, interrupting them. "What was it that you put in your potion?"

Hermione tore her eyes away and looked to her professor. His expression told her he knew they were soulmates. "I used bluebell petals, crushed bittersweet, a lotus in full-"

"Lotus? Why did you use lotus?"

She felt a stab of fear that she'd done something wrong... but she obviously hadn't or she wouldn't see a Glow. "For patience."

He blinked a few time and nodded slowly. He was acting different today, not as harsh as he usually was. "Lotus can represent patience, however, it's most common meaning is rebirth. Regeneration. It's commonly used in youth elixirs and an antidote to many transformative potions. It seems that your potion, with a disturbing combination of your blood at the entryway into our world, brought someone back to us."

Regulus and Severus had had a long discussion of such things, and they'd been told about the girl bleeding on the Veil- a fact that made Regulus sick to his stomach. He'd been told about the fifteen years he'd been dead, but he had yet to have that discussion with Dumbledore that he needed. There was so much he needed to tell him, in hopes of destroying the Dark Lord. The only thing he could hope was that Kreacher still had the locket or had thus been able to destroy it.

"So, I'm the reason he's back?" She asked hesitantly.

Regulus smiled, as charmingly as he could. "Thank you for that."

She pursed her lips and looked away.

"Hermione?" Harry, not James, came in with a fairly decent number of students with him- all students who had been in the hospital wing after the Ministry. Including Draco, who gave Regulus a nod.

She smiled at them and hugged Harry and the redheaded boy tightly. Severus had told him about them, and the close relationship the three of them had, but that didn't mean that Regulus had to like it. He felt a sort of possessiveness and jealousy, but their embrace didn't last long and she was looking at him and Severus.

"We should probably leave you all to it," Regulus said slowly, watching the Glow around her dim slightly.

Hermione watched Regulus and Professor Snape leave, and heard the door to the hospital wing close behind them with a note of finality. Her soulmate. She looked to her friends with a strained smile that she could tell Harry saw straight through.

"Are you alright?" Neville asked, "You went down fast. It was frightening, all that blood..."

He looked pale from the memory and Ginny placed her hand in his to comfort. "I'm fine, Neville. I might be able to leave as soon as this afternoon or tomorrow morning."

This was a lie, as she hadn't been told when she would be able to leave the hospital, but it felt like she needed to add something to the end of telling him she was okay and couldn't think of anything else. She doubted she would be out for another day or two at the least if her knees giving out were any indication of health. Maybe Regulus would come to see her again.

"Did you hear me, Mione?"

"I'm sorry?"

Ron didn't seem to notice there was anything off in her when he repeated the question. "What did Snape and Regulus want?"

"Professor Snape," she corrected automatically. "And they were the ones who put me to rights."

"Did they tell you about Regulus?" Draco asked her with a cynical look. "How he came out of the Veil? No one will tell us anything about how, just that he did. Though, we heard your name mentioned."

Hermione wondered who all knew, or even who in the world knew about Regulus' return. "Nothing," she lied. "Just that he came from the Veil after Sirius fell through it. Are they keeping it secret? That he's alive?"

Daphne handed her a copy of the Daily Prophet. "Dumbledore isn't telling anyone that wasn't there aside from a few in the Order. But Sirius was proved innocent. After we left the Ministry, Fudge came and so did the Dark Lord and someone named Pettigrew. There are rumors that Fudge is resigning as Minister, but it's been confirmed that Umbridge won't be coming back."

"She-she's not dead is she?"

"Unfortunately not."

A/N: What do you think? Yes, a lot of you were able to guess near the end, but king's to alxxman for being the first. I hope you like how I handled it. My husband said that he wasn't sure how he felt about Regulus coming back and being completely okay mentally and physically, but in all honesty, I think it's too cliche that a character comes back scarred and infirm and (in the case of Dean in Supernatural) all angsty about being forced by demons to torture people and now he has demons of his own. That's just icky and I feel like it can hinder on the story if it's over done. I like the idea of Regulus being confused because it feels like only a minute ago he was fighting Inferi and now his friends are old or dead. That's some shit.

I wasn't sure how to handle Regulus and Hermione's first meeting, but I hope you liked it in all it's awkwardness. How do you like Sirius' parts? There will be more between him and Regulus. I promise. Draco? Severus? Please review!

Dasvidanya, Mia.