A/N: I hadn't intended to update this quickly, but I thought "hey, why not?", especially as I've just finished writing the final chapter, chapter 12. As far as this chapter and the next go, I apologize if there are inconsistencies between them and the other chapters. Try to recall that large periods of time have gone in between bits and pieces of this story. And if the timeline in the story seems off anywhere, well, that's why. As far as the story goes, I'm perfectly content to let it end with Chapter 12, however, if you want an epilogue, I could probably manage one. Tell me your opinion on the matter. I leave it up to you, my readers! This chapter is, like the last one, unbeta'd and unedited. I don't mean to seem lazy, but I just want the parts out. As it is, there's probably a few typos that I'd change if edited, but that's about it. Read on, my fair audience!

Disclaimer: If it hasn't been made clear the last ten times that I don't own this, then I don't know what to say to you. Because really, I don't own this. That's Jo Rowling and her publishers and whatnot. And considering what happened in the books, do you think she'd appreciate my version of events? Yeah, probably not.

Annabel moved in with Regulus not long after Peter's funeral. The boys treated her well enough as she expanded and grew more and more moody. Despite the death of their friend, however, the Marauders weren't ones for moping and grieving. Instead, they played practical jokes in his honor, or reused some of Peter's favorites.

"We need a fourth," Sirius muttered as he, Remus, and James sat at the kitchen table in the flat. Annabel was sewing and Regulus was slinking around in his cat form, still rather impressed with himself. The three remaining Marauders all were all hunched over an old diagram.

"Someone small," James added. "This one really did center around Peter's abilities."

"I think I know what we can do," Remus replied. Annabel had noticed him watching Regulus carefully. She wondered if the wolf in him felt predatorily towards the cat-animagus.

"Care to share, love?" Sirius asked, watching Remus with amusement.

"Well, he's not nearly so small," Remus said slowly.

"But he is good at sneaking around," James replied, catching on.

"Nah, I'd say it's more of a slinking," Sirius corrected. "But he's definitely made for this."

"Full circle then, I'd say," James stated. Annabel was confused.

"He only needs a nickname," Sirius said, obviously understanding James. And then Annabel realized they were talking about her Regulus. It was full circle because Peter had started out good and went to the bad, and Regulus had started on the bad and ended up good.

"Whiskers?" Remus suggested.

"If we can think of nothing else," Sirius said. "Something with two syllables would fit the order best."

"Moony, Whiskers, Padfoot and Prongs," James listed. "I think it works."

"It's likely the best we can do," Sirius replied mournfully. "It's such a waste of my amazing intellect. We were so good at this five years ago."

"Five years is a long time," Remus replied simply.

"Regulus, I swear to Merlin I will hex you if you try to play with my thread one more time," Annabel warned.

"Be lucky he's not chewing your shoes," Remus said disdainfully, aiming a pointed look at his own boyfriend.

"But they're so tasty!" Sirius cried defensively. "And Prongs'll eat anything."

"That's goats, Padfoot," James said angrily.

"Well you're just a glorified goat," Sirius replied haughtily. "I, on the other hand, am a beautiful canine. None can resist my charm!"

"MEOW!" Cat-Regulus said loudly. He looked rather annoyed with it all.

"We don't understand cat, Reggie," Sirius taunted. "If you'd like to talk, perhaps acting human would help."

Regulus returned to his human form, but said nothing.

"Whiskers," James snickered. "That's hilarious."

"You're not calling me that, are you?"

"Little slow to the draw there, Reggie," Sirius smirked.

"Which is to say, yes, we are," James added.

"Welcome to the Marauders, our band of furred rogues!" Sirius cried jovially.

"We'll have to teach you the Code of Honor and other such rot," James explained. "But it should be fun."

"And you shan't be referred to as a 'founding' or 'original' member," Sirius pointed out. "Because that wouldn't be truthful."

"Really, above all else, Marauders are truthful," James agreed. Remus snorted. "Right, well, we're truthful when it's convenient."

"Which is to say almost never." Remus rolled his eyes.

"Well, the dynamics have changed quite a bit, you know," James informed. "I mean, when we started this little group, it was four eleven-year-old boys."

"One was an unloved werewolf, one was the much-less-liked firstborn son of a ridiculously old-fashioned pureblood family, one was a bit unsure of himself, and one was the most driven preteen ever," Sirius listed.

"And now?" Remus asked, seeming to be interested in the answer.

"One's a gay werewolf, one's a the devilishly handsome and well-spoken boyfriend of said gay werewolf, one's a dead Death Eater, one's the father of a burgeoning polygamist family, and one is a snotty spy and future father." Sirius beamed, proud of himself.

"Why am I snotty?" Regulus asked at the same time James cried, "It's not polygamist yet!" Remus just shook his head, wondering why he'd asked.

"You're the youngest," Sirius chose to answer his brother first. Then he turned to James, "and you and the Lilster and Ickle Sevie-poo have the ceremony set up for next month. I'm excited, by the way. I get a second best man's speech." Sirius smiled evilly. No one had the heart to inform him it was technically only bigamy. "And I'm sure Sevie-kins will ask young Regulus to be his maid-of-honor."

"Oh hell no," Regulus replied. "I'm nobody's maid."

"Reggie, be a dear and pick up my sewing for me," Annabel said after dropping it on the floor. Regulus did as asked. She patted him on the head. "You're a good maid. I ought to give you a raise… or better quarters."

"I like this one, Reg." Sirius chuckled.

"Come on, Bell," Regulus said, taking her hand. "We have some houses to look at."

"What?" Annabel was shocked.

"You couldn't possibly be planning to raise your child in a flat with that?" James asked, pointing at Sirius. "I still can't believe he conned me into naming him Harry's godfather."

"Who else would you have chosen? I'm your best mate!" Sirius cried.

"Remus."

"No, no, silly! He's the godmother!" Sirius cried as if it was obvious. Sirius cowered at the glower from Remus that followed. "Whoopsies! I forgot it's his time of the month."

"If you make one more allusion to my supposed-femininity, Sirius Black, I will seriously maim you." Remus was glaring. Sirius was cowering. Annabel, James and Regulus were giggling.

"Well, I've got to go back to domestic bliss," James announced.

"And we've got house hunting to do," Regulus added, taking Annabel by the hand. All three left the two lovebirds to their fight.

Annabel didn't know where she was, mostly because the pregnancy had left her subject to the whims of those who could side-along apparate her. What she saw was a lovely walk up to a picturesque cottage, complete with shrubbery in the front and a path to what she assumed was a lovely garden and a back yard.

"So, what do you think?" Regulus asked her.

"I think I'm in love, and I haven't even seen the inside yet," Annabel replied.

"Then we'll go inside," Regulus said simply, pulling her along.

In the house was just as lovely and cute as the outside. The living room was spacious enough for a small family, and there was a large fireplace, obviously to accommodate the needs of a wizarding family. The kitchen was cozy and had a lovely look onto the back yard. There was a stove and various other muggle appliances, as well as a cauldron and potions station for the average housewife. Regulus led her down the hall to the bedrooms. There were three, as well as a study. Annabel was impressed.

"Can we afford this?" She asked Regulus.

"You forget, love, that I come from old money," he replied. She did often forget this fact and so didn't say anything. "This is definitely a much better place to raise a child than the old family home," he added.

"What will your mum say when you take the money out to buy a house?" Annabel asked.

"Technically, I've got more right to the money than her, being a Black by blood," he replied. "Though Sirius is the heir. When Father died, I'm pretty sure the account transferred over to his name. Honestly, though, I don't think Mum would mind too terribly. You might have to meet her." Regulus looked ponderous. Annabel didn't like the stories she'd heard about Mrs. Black. She didn't think she could tolerate meeting the woman.

"Perhaps we should look at something more modestly priced. A two-bedroom flat, or something," Annabel said quietly. "Something we could pay the rent on jointly."

"Why? We can afford a house," Regulus asked simply. "I'll work it out," he insisted. "If I have it my way, you won't have to meet Mum anyways. I don't think she'd take too well to someone taking her precious Regulus away from her anyways."

"You cannot, sir, take from me what any thing that I will more willing part withal," Annabel quoted in a silly voice. Regulus just raised an eyebrow. "Hamlet," she replied as way of explanation. Regulus looked confused. "Don't you know who William Shakespeare is?" She was shocked. "Hamlet was one of his most famous plays!"

"Was he a muggle?" Regulus asked simply.

"I suppose so," Annabel replied. "Though I've never met someone who hadn't even heard of the playwright!"

"He's that famous then?" Regulus asked.

"Ask Remus about him," Annabel replied. "Or Lily. I'm sure they could give you an earful."

Harry crawled over to Sirius and pulled at the hem of his robes. Sirius looked down at him curiously. "Yes?" he asked. Harry giggled at being addressed directly.

"I think he wants you to turn into a dog," James explained, not looking up from the Daily Prophet crossword.

"Why would he want such a thing?" Remus asked to no one in particular. "He's even more of a nuisance as a dog than he is as a human."

"Hey, what the boy wants, the boy gets. He's Baby Harry, after all." Sirius shrugged, turning into a dog before Remus could make the argument that he was spoiling the boy.

The great black dog licked Harry's face, and he giggled. As the two played across the living room, Lily entered.

"What in Merlin's name is Black doing with my son?" she asked sternly. "Doesn't he know how dangerous that is?"

"Let it alone, Lily," James said, still not looking up. "All little boys should get hurt now and again. Besides, it'll make him think twice of playing with Snuffles again." The dog paused his romp to growl at James. "Not my fault. Lily's mad."

"Mummy's here, Harry!" Lily cried, scooping the boy up. He reached for Sirius, who was wagging his tail and giving Lily the puppy eyes.

"I do believe the boy was having fun," Remus pointed out. Lily scowled, but set Harry on Sirius' back and held him there.

"Come along, Padfoot," Lily cooed. Harry giggled happily as Sirius started walking.

"Is this the scene you imagined as you pursued Lily, James?" Remus asked. James looked up from the paper.

"Vaguely. I must admit, though, I really didn't see you and Padfoot together for most of the time."

"Who did?" Lily asked. Padfoot barked.

"Sirius often claims that he always knew I was his one true love, but he had to get his kicks in first. He's not James, after all." Remus shook his head.

"Did you know?" Lily asked Remus. She usually didn't ask about the more personal details of Sirius and Remus' pairing, but as long as Sirius was rendered incapable of human speech she was slightly more willing.

"Not exactly," Remus replied. "Things were always different with him though. I just chalked it up to our similar canine natures."

Lily picked Harry up, deeming it nap time, and Sirius changed back. "I knew," he stated.

"So all those cries of 'I was drunk!' after you snogged Mathew Bodes were entirely coincidental?" Remus asked, a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"I was repressing," Sirius insisted. "But deep down, in the core of my being, I knew that Moony was the only one for me. I mean, he's so dreamy!" No one was quite sure if Sirius was kidding or not, but that was an everyday occurrence when it came to the dog animagus.

"Sirius, don't you have to-" Remus started.

"Be getting off to work? Shit," Sirius muttered looking worried about being late. "I'm going to be late!"

"I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date," Remus recited.

"No time to say hello. Goodbye! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!" Lily finished as she reentered the living room. James and Sirius stopped to stare at them.

"Muggle movie," Remus replied. Sirius then apparated out.

"I wish he wouldn't do that," Lily muttered. "It's utterly disturbing."

"Most civilized wizards go to the coatroom," James admitted.

"Well there you go," Remus replied. "Our Sirius isn't civilized."

"Our?" James asked with a chuckled. "I hate to tell you, mate, but he's all yours."

"Fan-bloody-tastic," Remus muttered. "After living with him for seven years yourself, I figured you'd have a bit of sympathy for me."

"No luck there, apparently," Lily said. "Where is Severus?"

"His lab," James replied. "And he's got a meeting with Dumbledore at six, so I wouldn't expect him home in time for dinner."

"Well it's not as if anyone's coming over," Lily replied.

"Because most of us are busy tonight," Remus informed. "I don't know about your sister," he added, "but Mrs. Black got it into her head that dinner with her two sons was a brilliant idea, never mind the fact that she disowned one of them five years ago."

"Padfoot did always say she was batty," James said by way of reply. He didn't look too sympathetic. "I think she just doesn't get out as much as she'd like, so she needs to bring people into her home to curse and complain about."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Remus muttered. "I must admit, though, that I don't know if it's going to be the safest of environments. I mean, there's Sirius, the queer blood traitor, me, the gay werewolf, perfect little Reggie-kins, and Annabel, pregnant out of wedlock with the beloved son's child."

"That definitely is not going to go over well," Lily replied. "I don't envy you, that's certain."

"I don't blame you," Remus replied, a scowl on his face. "I've only ever met Mrs. Black once when we were getting off of the Hogwarts express. She was-" Remus couldn't think of the word he wanted.

"Foul," James suggested, having met her on a similar occasion.

"Ill-tempered?" Lily guessed.

"Repugnant," Remus decided.

"That's a good one," Lily agreed. "A very acceptable adjective for someone who has had Sirius' rather colorful vocabulary describe her often enough."

"Indeed," James agreed.

"Oh dear Merlin, Moony. I think I'm going to faint dead away," Sirius said, leaning heavily on the werewolf.

"You'll be fine," Remus said, pushing him into a more upright position.

"And if I get piss drunk tonight?" Sirius asked.

"There will be no congratulatory sex," Remus replied simply.

"Wait, you never said there was going to be sex at the end of the night," Sirius turned to face the werewolf accusingly.

"Well, if you get through tonight with as little conflict as possible, there's the possibility." Remus smiled suggestively.

"You dog, you!" Sirius cried, then immediately knocked on the door, a wide grin on his face. Remus was proud that he was able to so easily manipulate Sirius into a good mood. Well, good for visiting his mother, that is.

"Oh, you're here," Mrs. Black said, not sounding enthused. "I half-expected you wouldn't come."

"I replied in the affirmative to your letter," Sirius said, a frown on his face. "And Moony-excuse me, Remus- never passes up an opportunity to watch me make a right fool of myself."

"I daresay you do a lot of that," Mrs. Black replied, showing them in.

"He does," Remus agreed, shooting a mischievous grin at his boyfriend.

"Regulus and that tart should be here soon," Mrs. Black informed them. "Why don't you wait in the sitting room? I'm sure you remember where it is." She shot a cold glare at her eldest son.

"And what will you be doing?" Sirius asked. "Molesting the portrait of Father you keep in your bedroom?"

"Hardly," Mrs. Black replied icily. "I will be checking up on the house elves, to make sure dinner is in order." The bell then rang. "Go on," she snapped. Sirius smirked before grabbing Remus' hand and dragging him off in the direction of the sitting room.

"She's an absolute terror," Sirius said gleefully. "Nothing's changed."

"What, you were worried she had?" Remus asked.

"She invited me to dinner," Sirius said as if that obviously meant something was incredibly wrong with his mother.

"Merlin, Mum!" they heard Regulus cry. "The place is dingier than I remember! Would it kill you to have the house elves actually clean properly?"

"Only he could get away with that," Sirius muttered, hearing his mother's tones turn doting and sweet.

"He must remind her of your father," Remus replied, sounding logical.

"Ha! I'm more like Father than Reg!" Sirius cried. "After all, I'm never around here!"

"And when you are, are you like your father?" Remus asked, an eyebrow raised pointedly.

"Neither of us is like him in personality," Sirius said. "He was terrible."

"Evil," Regulus added, sitting down. "We are talking about Father, right?"

"The one and only," Sirius said.

"Man, he made the way Mr. Potter treated me look like a warm welcome," Regulus muttered.

"Yeah, Mr. Potter's a pretty skeptical bloke. He watched me and James like a hawk. Like we were trying to get in trouble!" Sirius let out a guffaw. He was met with blank stares. "What?"

"You probably were," Remus pointed out.

"But he didn't know that!" Sirius cried.

"Pads, James is his son," Remus reminded Sirius.

"Oh, right."

"Don't be an imbecile, Sirius," he mother chided, walking in.

"You didn't hear the conversation," Sirius countered, glaring. Remus gave him a warning look.

Dinner was served soon, and Mrs. Black continually made underhanded insults to Annabel, who was ignoring them with grace. Sirius was goading his mother, who was rising to his bait, Regulus was trying to ignore it all, and Remus was feeling embarrassed by all that was going on.

"You, werewolf," Mrs. Black turned to address him. Sirius snickered. "You haven't turned Sirius into a beast like you, have you." This made Sirius howl with laughter.

"No ma'am," Remus said quietly.

"Sirius, stop laughing," Mrs. Black snapped. "Honestly, I don't see what's funny."

"It's because Remus is one of the most reserved people we know, Mum," Regulus explained while Sirius fought to control himself.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she snapped at him. It surprised everyone else that she had snapped at her favorite son.

"You called him a beast," Regulus explained slowly. "But Remus doesn't act like a beast at all. In fact, Sirius acts more like a beast than Remus."

"You're being utterly ridiculous, Regulus. Have these boys been poisoning your brain? Obviously they've poisoned Annabel's. I mean, how disgraceful." Remus and Sirius noticed that Regulus was getting a little fed up with his mother.

"They haven't poisoned anyone." Regulus scowled at Mrs. Black.

"I enrich lives," Sirius added. "People meet me and say 'I want to be friends with that Sirius Black. He's a fun bloke.'"

"You still go by my surname?" Mrs. Black asked, surprised.

"No, I go by father's surname, which is also my surname," Sirius explained slowly. "You're only a Black by marriage. Besides, if I didn't go by the family name, how could I leave an impression about us on people? Mum, I don't think you think these things through."

As Sirius was shaking his head at his mother, Remus muttered under his breath, "you don't think." Sirius nudged him angrily under the table.

"Well, I suppose that's best. I'm sure Annabel still goes by her father's surname. What a state your mother must be in." Mrs. Black's dark eyes glittered tauntingly as she gave Annabel a disapproving look.

"Merlin, Mum! Would you stop that! I love Annabel, dammit, and you keep insulting her! If you don't stop then I'm going to have to cut you off from father's money," Regulus threatened.

"You can't do that! The money's in Sirius' name," Mrs. Black replied haughtily.

"But I like Regulus more than I like you," Sirius replied. "You would have to make an airtight argument to make me side with you… and I'd have to be in a good mood, so you'd have to make sure Moony and I were, you know, happy." Sirius wagged his eyebrows suggestively.

"Yes, well, that Annabel-"

"That's IT!" Regulus shouted, grabbed Annabel by the hand and stormed out of the dining room.

"That was always me," Sirius sighed wistfully. "Well, I think I'll be taking my leave. I wouldn't want Regulus to start the flat on fire while we're out. Thank you for the lovely dinner, Mum." Sirius smiled and walked out.

"I'm so very sorry, Mrs. Black," Remus apologized. "He's so very rude. Dinner was delicious, and the conversation was… interesting."

"I would greatly appreciate it if you got out of my house, werewolf," Mrs. Black snapped. Remus rolled his eyes, but left nonetheless.

After apparating back to the flat, Remus found Sirius giggling at the kitchen table while Regulus stormed and Annabel was lying on the couch looking tired.

"That-that fucking harpy," Regulus raged.

"She-she addressed Moony as 'werewolf'! As if that was his real name!" Sirius rocked back on the chair as he laughed.

"I'm never going back there again!" Regulus roared.

"HAHAHAHA!"

"Would you both shut up?" Annabel snapped. "I'm tired."

"Ahahaha, I can't stop!" Sirius chuckled, clutching his side. "I have haven't had a night like that in years!"

"Sirius, go to the bedroom," Remus ordered. While his tone was all business, Remus' face read amusement.

"Yes Moony!" Sirius cheered happily.

"Regulus, perhaps you should calm down for Annabel's sake," Remus suggested. "I'm going to distract Sirius so that you can de-stress."

"Thank you, Remus," Annabel said quietly. "Regulus, dear, help me up and to the bedroom."

"Of course," he said, moving quickly to her side. Remus didn't stick around to watch where it went, as he had an energetic Sirius to deal with.

The moment Remus made it into the bedroom he shared with Sirius, a pair of lips were forced onto his own. They clumsily closed the door and stumbled to the bed, where Sirius fell on Remus. As Sirius moved down his neck, Remus struggled to keep his mind.

"P-pads," Remus stuttered as hands crept under his shirt.

"Mmm?" Sirius hummed against Remus' collarbone.

"We need to Silence the room so that we don't disturb Annabel and Regulus," Remus insisted. It was a fight to remember why he was resisting. Sirius growled.

"Fine," he said, whipping out his wand and preforming the necessary charms. As soon as that was done, Remus stopped resisting, and, if Sirius' actions were anything to go by, it was appreciated.

"Sirius, it's too early to have your tongue in my ear," Remus muttered, trying to swat the person to whom the offending tongue was attached.

"Moony tastes yummy," Sirius mumbled sleepily and pulled the werewolf closer.

"Don't you have to get up for work," Remus asked, knowing full well that the word 'work' would wake Sirius right up.

"Traded my shift," Sirius replied. "I knew that after dinner with my mum I wouldn't be up to work."

"You thought you'd be nursing a massive hangover," Remus clarified.

"Either way, I get to sleep in with my darling Moony," Sirius smiled into the nape of Remus' neck.

"Well, either way, I don't like to wake up with you licking my ear." Remus rolled so that he was facing Sirius.

"I wouldn't mind waking up to you licking my ear," Sirius grinned suggestively. Remus rolled his eyes, quite used to such declarations.

"That's because you've never woken up to a tongue in your ear," Remus replied dryly. "Now are you going to suggest something lewd or am I going to have to initiate things?"

"Wait, you like my lewd suggestions?" Sirius looked excited.

"I've grown far more used to them than I like," Remus corrected. "And when in private, I'd go so far as to like them. When anyone else is around, however, they're utterly embarrassing and entirely inappropriate."

"Yes Moony," Sirius replied as if he was dealing with a moralizing parent. "Can I have my kiss now?" Remus decided to answer that with action rather than words.

When the knock rang through the door, the two had their tongues tangled together. Sirius groaned, but rolled off of Remus.

"Come in!" the werewolf called.

"Merlin," Regulus said holding his hand up so that he couldn't see the two canines. "You could have warned me you weren't decent."

"Define decent," Sirius said at the same time that Remus said, "Sirius has not once, in his whole life, been decent."

"Could you not talk at the same time," Regulus added. "I haven't had the kind of practice Lily's had in understanding it."

"Moony can understand three, sometimes four conversations at once and read a book." Sirius looked proud. "But he has had loads more experience than Lily. What was it that you wanted."

Regulus was at once astounded by his brother's short attention span and his ability to ignore things he didn't want to hear. "Anabell and I found a place, and I just put in an offer," he explained. "I'm hoping to be out of here within a month and stop sponging off you lot."

"Where'd you get the money?" Sirius asked, looking confused.

"Father left me a vault of my own, you know. One he'd set aside as soon has he found out he was going to have a second son."

"Lovely," Sirius replied. "And he never gave up on giving me the proper inheritance?"

"No. Much as he despised your choices in life, I think Father admired the fact that you had the courage to defy him. After all, he wasn't much used to not getting his way." Regulus shrugged. "Besides, he probably wanted to spite that shrew of a woman that is our mother."

"Ah Mum," Sirius said, a smirk on his face. "I had forgotten how much I loved to watch her shout ridiculously prejudiced statements. I mean really, what has she got in her head, black racist slime?"

"You take far too much pleasure in other people's pain," Remus remarked, his head sinking to his hand in shame.

"Love you too, Moony!" Sirius cried happily.

"I'll just leave you two to whatever you were up to before I knocked," Regulus said, backing up slowly and carefully.

Once out of their bedroom, Regulus returned to the kitchen where Annabel was eating a small breakfast and reading the Prophet. "Post," she said, holding up a letter for him.

"Who's it from?" Regulus asked.

"Doesn't say." Annabel said, taking a sip of coffee.

Regulus took the envelope from her, and looked at it. He didn't recognize the handwriting, but then, he didn't really care. He ripped it open, and found a single piece of parchment with just two sentences on it. I know your secret, it read. You're dead.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was from a Death Eater, or the Dark Lord himself, even, but Regulus doubted the latter. He was fairly certain that the Dark Lord had writing more like a Healer's and less like a woman's. But then, one could never be particularly sure.

"Well fuck," he muttered. He had been looking forward to being a father. And now, there was a less than zero percent chance he would live to see the child born, let alone raise the thing.

"What is it?" Annabel looked concerned. Of course, she didn't look too curious. After dating a different Death Eater, Regulus figured she'd probably grown used to not asking.

"Nothing, love," he replied. "It's nothing." He smiled kindly, and she nodded.

"Madame Cassandra wants me in to see some sketches, and to help her with the register while she does fittings. I'd better go." She kissed Regulus on the cheek and left.

Regulus let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. If Sirius and Remus hadn't declared their flat a smoke-free zone, Regulus would have lit up. As it was, he was contemplating whether or not he would be safe to walk down and smoke outside, or to shimmy out to the fire escape and smoke there.

Regulus was trying to remember which window exactly led out to the fire escape when Sirius wandered into the kitchen.

"What's up, little brother?" he asked, with a stretch. He then yawned in a very canine manner that got Regulus feeling even more skittish.

"This," Regulus handed his brother the letter he'd received.

"Does Annabel know?" Sirius asked, eyebrows up. It was a complete shock to him that his brother could be caught.

"No. What am I supposed to tell the pregnant mother of my unborn child?" Regulus snapped. "Oh, my letter's just a death threat, love. Could you pass the marmalade?"

"Better than leaving the poor girl in the dark," Sirius replied. "We've only just lost Peter, after all."

"Which is exactly why I can't tell her," Regulus sighed. "And things were starting to look up."

"Have you done anything that would cause you to get caught?" Sirius just asked simply, accepting this fact.

"Not that I know," Regulus replied. After all, there were very few places when he was honest about his position. The Potter house, and Dumbledore's office were the only places he could think of. Of course, in the flat, they all talked about it in vague terms. But there was no one suspect in the flat.

Well, not right now anyway, he mentally amended. Then it hit him. Bellatrix or either of the Lestrange brothers could have placed a listening charm when they were in the flat.

"Shit," Regulus muttered.

"Bellatrix, right?" Sirius nodded knowingly. Regulus just nodded. They both pulled out their wands and did a sweep of the room.

Regulus found it first. It was placed on photo near the hall. A listening charm, very active, and reeking of Bellatrix's magical signature. Regulus hated that he knew that, but it was necessary, otherwise you'd have no idea which of your masked companions was which.

"How do you turn these things off?" Sirius asked. Regulus waved his wand wordlessly, and the spell dissipated. "I suppose you would know." Sirius smirked at his brother.

"Yes, I would," Regulus replied. "It is, after all, my trade."

"Listening," Sirius nodded. "Which reminds me. I've got a job interview today."

"What? Don't you already have a job?" Regulus looked at his brother oddly. "And shouldn't you be there right now?"

"I took today off work," Sirius replied. "And this is the interview. I finally figured out what I want to do with my life. But don't tell Moony. I don't want him to know until I get it."

"All right," Regulus didn't quite understand why, but he agreed. With his older brother, most of the time, you didn't want to ask. Of course, Remus could probably hear them anyway. There wasn't much in the flat that the werewolf couldn't hear. But then Regulus heard the shower running. That would make it near impossible to hear.

Regulus decided to head off for a confrontation of epic proportions.