Regulus once again was in Manchester running an errand for the Dark Lord only this time it was a more serious one than any he had done before. Him, Barty and Rowle were trailing a member of the order of the phoenix, Regulus wasn't sure what his name was and he figured it didn't matter, the man would be dead soon enough. The trio had been sitting in an alleyway opposite his flat for several hours. They had been drinking polyjuice potion, changing their appearances every few hours to prevent suspicion arising. This had resulted in some awkward situations; at one point just after sunset Barty had pressed Rowle (who had taken on the appearance of an attractive young woman) against a wall in a rather intimate looking way when some neighbours were passing by. This had resulted in Regulus teasing them both mercilessly for several hours before Rowle threatened to hex his ears off.

Just before the sun rose Regulus looked over at the middle aged woman who was Barty after drinking Polyjuice potion. He stared unceasingly at the flat which housed the member of the order of the phoenix "He's gotta come out eventually and when he does I am going to get him." Barty whispered to himself.

Regulus gulped loudly. He was nervous. This was the most serious mission the Dark Lord had sent him on and he lacked Barty's enthusiasm. Yes he was desperate to serve the Dark Lord but he wasn't keen on killing anyone. Regulus had only finished Hogwarts a few weeks earlier and got a good job at the Daily Prophet, he had the rest of his life ahead of him and Azkaban was not part of that.

Of course he wasn't likely to voice his concerns to his companions who would label him a coward. It had been almost two years since he joined the death eaters and he was legally an adult in the wizarding world. It was about time he served the dark lord in this way, or at least that's what his aunt Bellatrix had told him the day before.

Regulus, who currently looked like a short balding middle aged man, leaned back against the wall of the alleyway and tried to think of something else. His first thoughts were of his recent article at work and the praise the deputy editor had given him. Regulus had been thrilled with the article and other people's reaction to it, it had surprised him somewhat to be praised so early on. His thoughts drifted to the date he had been on the day before with a woman from work. She was a few years older, and was confident and intimidating. The date had gone well by most people's standards, Barty had been enthusiastic about her ("she's pure blood, at least as far as I know") but Regulus wasn't sure, Rita wasn't really his type. He preferred brunettes who were good natured rather than blondes with a sharp tongue. Thinking of brunettes his mind wandered to his secret ex-girlfriend. This had been the first time he had been to Manchester since they dated. He surprised himself by thinking about her as it was something he rarely did. For a few months after they had broken up he had mopped in a way which would have rivalled Thomas, but since then he had gotten more involved with the deatheaters and now he regarded the feeling he had thought he had for her as foolish.

As the sun rose Regulus reached up and felt his head and hoped he would never go bald. Rowle was behind him leaning against a wall sleeping while Barty was still staring and muttering. It was for that reason that as soon as the Order of the Phoenix member stepped out of their front door there was a flash of green from Barty's wand and they landed dead on the foot path.

Regulus and Barty rushed over to the dead body. Barty was triumphant, Regulus was panicked and Rowle was still sleeping against the wall. Regulus stared down at the body, not sure of what to do. He looked at the man's expressionless eyes and felt something entirely unexpect. It wasn't the pride that Bellatrix had talked of, or victorious as the expression on Barty's face suggested. No Regulus was surprised to say he felt wrong. The sort of feeling he had gotten when he was nine and being unable to control his magic had killed the cat. Only this time the feeling was a million times worse. Regulus was brought back to earth when Barty started yelling at him. He realised what he was meant to be doing, took his wand out of his back pocket and levitated the body back into the building and up to the man's flat, finding they key in the dead man's pocket. He was levitated onto the bed where he lay as if asleep while Regulus and Barty searched for information.

Barty searched the kitchen but only found fire whiskey which he promptly poured himself a glass of and leaned back proudly enjoying in conquest. Regulus continued to search and under the floorbeds in the bedroom he found a black notebook not unlike a diary. He opened it to find it contained details of the movements of certain deatheaters, further on there was a page with the address of the Longbottoms (members of the order of a phoenix) and another page had a photo of his older brother outside his home. More surprisingly Regulus found information on something called a horcrux mixed in amongst it.

Regulus looked down at the second dead body he had ever seen. The first had been his father, just under a year ago when the illness he got the Christmas before had eventually killed him. Regulus stared at the dead man, and felt guilt overcome him, he fought back unexpected tears, knowing it could not be something Barty or Rowle could see. He had not been the one to wave his wand and end this guys life but he had been as much behind it. He was the reason this man was dead. He heard Bella's voice in his head tell him that the man deserved to die for defying the Dark Lord, his mother's voice claimed the man was a blood traitor, a monster. But looking down Regulus saw that the voices in his head were lying to him. For the first time since Regulus had dated Hannah he doubted that pure blood was superior, that Voldemort was right and that magic was might. And so he inexplicably found himself doing something that could get him in a lot of trouble and stuffed the information he found inside his cloak and with one last look at his victim wandered into the kitchen and turned to Barty, shook his head and said "nothing."

Barty took the honour of sending the dark mark into the sky while Regulus wandered back to the alleyway and woke Rowle.

"Please don't tell the Dark Lord I fell asleep, he'd kill me." Rowle pleaded.

"I won't but I cannot speak for Barty."

After saying goodbye they went their separate ways but instead of going back to his flat in London Regulus found himself standing outside the Bakery he had visited almost two years earlier. From the outside it looked much the same as it had then. Regulus told himself off for coming here. What was he hoping to achieve? After a few minutes arguing with himself he wandered over to the door and walked in. The bell rang as he entered. He walked to the counter and looked at the cakes underneath and chose the butterscotch cupcake. He was hopeful that he would see Hannah and fearful that he would see her step mum. Instead he saw a skinny ginger haired girl who looked at him through her glasses.

"Oh. My. God." was all she said in a slow and purposeful way before turning and running back to the kitchen without saying a word to him.

He heard whispering at the other side of the kitchen door but he didn't know what was being said, eventually the door opened and Hannah was shoved out, followed by the ginger girl.

"Hi." She said shyly with her hands behind her back. Her hair was still long, but it was curly now were it had been wavy before, she had put on weight but if anything Regulus thought it made her look prettier.

"Hi" he replied lamely.

Seeing that her friend was getting nowhere the ginger haired girl stepped out of the kitchen and said, "Hey I am Paula! Your Regulus right?"

Paula. That was a school friend if he remembered correctly. "Yes. How did you know?"

"I saw a photo once."

He nodded, wondering if it was the same photo that he had hidden away in the drawer in Grimmauld place, "pleased to meet you Paula." He looked at Hannah. "How are you?"

"I am good thank you. Yourself?"

"Yeah, good. Where's the evil step mum?"

"Her and Dad moved last month. Dad got a job in Paris, so Cara decided to retire and Dad gave me the bakery." As she spoke the pain in his stomach that Regulus had had since he looked down at the dead body earlier that morning was starting to ease.

He looked around and noticed for the first time that every seat was filled. It had been empty almost every time he had been here before. Paula spoke up; "trades increased massively. Everyone is raving about Hannah's food."

Regulus nodded, "I can understand why." Hannah blushed and smiled sweetly.

"Why are you here?"

He wasn't expecting such an abrupt question but it was good to know she hadn't changed so much that she didn't accidentally say what was on her mind. "I was in Manchester working. And I wanted some baked products. Am I in the wrong place?"

"No no." she paused, "what would you like?"

"A butterscotch cupcake and the pleasure of your company,"

"Ok." She beckoned him to come round the back of the counter and grabbed a cupcake from the stand. "Your ok to mind the shop Paula?" When Paula didn't answer but only looked at Hannah reluctantly she said more forcefully; "Aren't you?"

When Paula nodded Hannah led Regulus into the kitchen and closed the door.

She jumped up onto a bench were she sat. he did the same thing on the island just opposite her and took a bite from his cake. "How are your family?"

"Good. My brothers are spending the first half of the summer in Paris. Landon is getting so big now."

"Is he still as cute?"

"I think he is getting cuter. How is yours?"

Regulus hesitated; "Ok. My dad died last year."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I mean, he was sick for a long time before. It hit mum hard of course but she got over it. I moved out. I live in a flat nearby in London."

"Great."

"Yeah."

"How are your friends, Thomas, Barty and Priscilla?"

"Ok." In truth he rarely talked to Thomas anymore, Thomas had eventually won back Maude and with Regulus getting more and more involved with the Dark Lord they had drifted apart and Priscilla was on a mission in Romania for the Dark Lord. "Thomas and Maude are getting married soon. Barty is the same, very focused and Priscilla is working abroad. How long has Paula worked here?"

"Not long. Only since I took over a month ago."

"Great."

"Yeah, what's your job?"

"What?"

"The job, that you are in Manchester doing?"

"Oh. Erm… I am a journalist. I write for a newspaper."

"Wow. Well done."

"Thanks. It's more impressive than it sounds." He looked down, he felt at ease for the first time since that morning's events. They had been wiped from his mind, and he figured it must be down to her presence. There could be no other possible reason for what he uttered next; "Hannah, can I see you again?"

She looked down while she replied; "It took me a long time to get over you Reg and the reasons why we broke up are still reasons."

"Can we at least be friends," he asked in a tone bordering on desperate.

"Ok."

"Ok."

"I have to go down to London tomorrow. I have got some investment to open another bakery down there. I have to stay for a few days."

"Great! Why don't you stay with me? That is if you don't have anything sorted."

"erm." She bit her lip and looked unsure while Regulus started was inwardly pleading with her to say yes. She was good, and he needed goodness in his life after all he had done. "Ok."

Hopefully Regulus and Hannah are a little bit more grown up and you like the slight twist in the story. R&R