Word Count: 1,086

Team: Puddlemere United

Position: Seeker

Prompt: Write about a buried Truth being unearthed after decades and its consequences.

Arresto Momentum

Unknown to the fighters down in the Department of Mysteries, a figure dressed entirely in black, the face covered with a well-worn scarf, crept into the Ministry.

The figure sprinted through the Atrium, quickly leaving the well behind and entering the lifts. Before the figure had even fully entered through the doors, the button for the lowest floor was already pressed. During the ride, the figure—a slim man—impatiently played with the wand in his hand.

"Come on, go faster, please," he whispered tensely, but the lift did not react.

The very second the lift had reached the last stop, its sole occupant was already at the door. The man sprinted through the halls with expert knowledge.

It didn't take long until he arrived at the Death Chamber, where the loudest noise was originating from.

The figure paused at the door and surveyed the scene.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" Sirius quipped as he ducked the red beam of light Bellatrix shot at him.

Just in that moment, a second spell hit him exactly in the chest. His eyes widened and the laughter froze on his face.

Potter Junior let go of Longbottom and began to run towards Sirius, clearly intending to stop and/or follow him. Lupin seemed to be frozen in place.

The figure—Regulus Arcturus Black—could not let that happen.

"Arresto Momentum!" he shouted, pointing at Sirius.

He had just loudly announced his arrival, but his brother dying was not an option he was willing to consider.

Not now, when after years and years of hiding in the shadows to destroy the Dark Lord's horcruxes, he was finally ready to reveal himself to the world again.

The fight seemed to have paused for a second; just about everyone was staring at him.

Regulus used the opportunity to quietly send an Avada Kedavra in Bellatrix's direction.

He aimed correctly and she fell to the ground.

For another second or two, everyone's gaze was still focused on him, only interrupted by glances at his cousin's corpse.

"What?" he questioned, shrugging. "The world is better of without her."

"Well said, brother!" Sirius exclaimed, restarting the fight by shooting a hex at Malfoy.

Regulus is lucky he had this much experience fighting. This way he can perform spells and wonder howif Sirius had recognized his voice after all of those years they had spent apart at the same time. It's either that or Sirius simply referred to everyone that way.

Due to the—surprisingly effective—work of the teens and Order members, it didn't take all that long to take care of the other Death Eaters. Admittedly, a large part of what Regulus assumed to be his new side—the question was if they would accept him, not on his wishes.

A great many of them were still aiming to incapacitate, not kill, but since they had strength in numbers, it all worked out.

Still, if—if—he would be accepted by them, Regulus would have to work on that. He knew better than most that Death Eaters aimed to kill, so fighting in any other way would require them to have another huge advantage and, quite frankly, that wasn't worth the effort in the long run.

Roughly ten or fifteen minutes after he arrived, the fight had ended and the Order had won.

Immediately after all of the Death Eaters were all rounded up, tied together, and muffled, the Order members turned to him.

"And who are you?" Shacklebolt inquired. (Somehow, the way he raised his eyebrow managed to be incredibly impressive.)

At this prompting, he removed the scarf that had been obscuring his face the entire time.

It didn't stop Moody and the Aurors from pointing their wands at him, but that

"Regulus Black." He bowed slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"...I thought you were dead," Tonks wondered.

"The reports of my death were greatly exaggerated," he quoted.

Sirius was not the only one to roll his eyes—although Regulus would swear that he saw someone beam out of the corner of his eyes—but he was the only one to quietly wonder when he had gotten into Muggle Literature.

"Shortly after I intended to die," he replied drily.

"What?" Lupin questioned, taken aback.

"Yeah, I never expected to get out of the mess I found myself in alive." Regulus shook his head and chuckled quietly. "Merlin and Morgana know I wouldn't have if not for Kreacher."

"So that elf did do something worthwhile," Sirius muttered. "Who knew?"

"Don't talk badly about Kreacher," he ordered, pointing with a finger of his wand-free hand.

"What have you done in roughly the past two decades then?" Lupin attempted to change the topic before it escalated. He also placed a hand on Sirius' shoulder to hold him back.

"Well, after I recovered from almost drowning, I started to collect and get rid of the Dark Lord's horcruxes."

"What," pretty much everyone deadpanned. Some in horror and some in confusion—thankfully all four of the conscious teens were in the latter group. Though perhaps that was actually a bad thing considering…

Regulus shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Basically little trinkets of his soul that essentially made him immortal until they were destroyed."

Longbottom was by far not the only one to be horrified, but since he almost fell onto the unconscious teens he was guarding, his reaction was the most notable one.

"But you did destroy them all?" Tonks asked. "Assuming you're telling the truth."

Regulus was actually glad that they weren't trusting him immediately. It showed that they had more promise than he had thought at the first glance.

And that was a great thing, considering the role they were playing in the war.

"Most of them," Regulus corrected. "Potter actually destroyed one and there are two left. One being the one leading these guys," he gestured to the Death Eaters, "and the other...requires a more delicate touch."

"Why that?" Potter questioned. The kid had to shove several people aside to get eye-contact with him. Lupin and Sirius weren't the only ones that seemed very protective of this kid. The Weasley girl had a broken ankle and still stood between him and Potter. Even Lovegood looked like threatening him, and she observes the ceiling the whole time!

While the fact that people cared about him certainly was great for Potter, it would not make what Regulus had to do easier at all. He took a deep breath. "Because it is located in your scar."

And then all hell broke loose.