Outside, a bright light enveloped Gawain. "What's going on?" Harry looked at Regulus, who had followed him out.

"I haven't got a clue. Let's try to get him to the top of the hill. I'm not quite as badly injured as he is… though now he's also unconscious, so that will make our job a bit more difficult." Harry and Regulus managed to get Gawain up the hill. While they waited for Sirius and Severus to come out, they got acquainted.

"So, who are you again?" Harry knew Regulus was obviously related to Sirius, and thus to him, but he still wanted to know more about the man.

"Regulus Arcturus Black, youngest brother of Sirius Black, Liliana McGonagall Black-Malfoy, and, as I recently found out through some research, Severus Snape. I believe that makes me your uncle, because only Lily's son could have those eyes. I've only ever seen pictures of you, baby pictures, that Sirius showed me when he stopped at Grimmauld Place just before my Seventh Year to officially let Mum know he never wanted to see her again. I suppose Lily asked him to show me…she was always my favorite sibling, even if she was a Gryffindor."

"I'm a Gryffindor. I almost made it into Slytherin, though. The hat wanted to put me there but…I talked it out of that."

"I wasn't aware that you could do that." Regulus got a far away look in his eyes. "Just before that infamous Halloween, I got wind of what Voldemort wanted to do, and tried to back out of the Death Eaters. I knew then, though I hadn't listened to Sirius and Lily before, that I didn't care what my family believed about Muggles, I wasn't going to follow the man who killed my sister just because she wouldn't let him kill her child. I've been in Ireland and France since then. I had just come back to England when I was abducted by Pettigrew. Gawain was already here when they brought me."

"Have you got someplace to live? If you prove to be trustworthy, you could probably live with us. We've got a huge house and there's only…" Harry stopped to count on his fingers, "about eight people living there. "

"That would be nice." Regulus turned toward the Shack. "I wonder what's keeping them?"

"I doubt Pettigrew could have over powered them. Both of them are pretty powerful and if they're together, nothing can stop them."

"I know that. Both of them, Lily too, had some of the top marks in their year. If I remember correctly, Lily was first, followed by Sirius, James Potter, Severus, Remus Lupin, and your father. Of course, except for Lily, Severus, Lupin, they focused more on pranks than homework."Regulus looked at Gawain, whom he and Harry were still holding upright."I don't think he's going to wake on his own. Do you think we should try an enervate spell?"

"Sounds good to me." As soon as Regulus said the spell, Severus and Sirius came up the hill.

"He might be out for a bit, actually. We can apparate him." Severus turned to Sirius. "You can take the rat to the Parisian authorities. Look for Samuel Marten, he'll know who you are. I'll take Harry, Regulus and Gawain home. But first…Regulus, do you mind if I take a look at your memories to ensure your trustworthiness?"

"Go ahead, Severus. I have nothing to hide." Harry watched with interest as Severus looked into Gawain's eyes. Harry knew some of the memories must have been painful for Severus to watch, because tears poured down his face by the end.

"Welcome to the family, Regulus."

Once they arrived home, Severus and Minerva began checking Regulus and Gawain over for any major injuries. Severus could easily fix Gawain's broken leg and all Regulus had were a few nasty bruises.

"Are you going to explain why Dad suddenly passed out now, or do we have to wait until Uncle Sirius gets back?" Harry raised an eyebrow at Severus.

"You look like Severus when you do that," Regulus noted.

"That isn't the first time we've heard that. Get used to it, sir. Harry does that all of the time." Ginny rolled her eyes.

"You'll get your explanation now. We broke the Marauder Code with Pettigrew. This means, that since we all shared power with the Marauder Code, he's significantly weaker, Squib –like, and the three remaining Marauders, along with all living descendants and close relatives of living and deceased Marauders, are now significantly more powerful. Since you, Harry, are effectively, because of our blood bond, the magical heir or related to James, Sirius, Lily, Gawain, Remus, and I, that means that your magically levels may increase six-fold. I don't know. I would be very careful doing even simple spells without an adult around until we figure this all out."
"I a bit intrigued, Severus Aurelius Tobias Black Snape, how you did this in the first place." Minerva gave him a look that managed to make him feel like he was in school again.

"We did it outside. Lily, Remus, and I came up with the spell, which is exceedingly complex, considering we were only third years at the time. It is a blood-based spell. The power boost was significant, though the spells Dumbledore put on us later dampened much of the power. I know that when Lily and James died, and more recently when Remus did, I felt a significant power boost. It took me a few days to notice back then, and I'm not sure if the others did."

"So what happened to the little rat then?" Ginny asked out of morbid curiosity more than anything else.

"He's near death. It was quite painful, I suppose, getting ripped from your magic. Still," Severus said much more composed than anyone would imagine, "he deserved it."

"He did, if anyone deserves such a fate. That man caused so much death he lost himself. It's a bit sad really," Regulus sighed. "He definitely should not have been a Gryffindor."
Suddenly, just as Sirius arrived, he, Harry, Hermione, and Sirius looked at each other, with sad smiles on their faces and shouted indignantly, "I can't believe I let him sleep in my bed!" Everyone else looked at them.

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"You all know that Ron actually had Pettigrew as a pet during our first three years, right?" Everyone except Regulus nodded. "That was what he said when he found out who Pettigrew was and what he did. He was so grossed out by it."

They burst out laughing. It was a way to relieve all of the crazy emotions that had been building up over the past few days.