Regulus felt the dementors creeping along the walls and focused on the happiest thoughts he had, seeing his nephew for the first time, Sirius accepting him, finding his way home. He itched for his wand, wanting to cast a patronus at the first feelings of the dredging cold but it would be stupid to reveal their position now, they would have to obliviate people and there was always a risk. "Come on Siri, let's get out of here," Reg started dragging his brother towards the exit. He followed at first, not expecting to tug before stopping and turning around and dragging him back into the prison, it seemed he was not finished after all.
"There is someone else I want to kill, a couple of people actually, they turned themselves into Azkaban two months ago in the hope my ire would not be turned on them. I suppose they were hoping for a reduced sentence or figured Azkaban was better than what I had in store for them. I have a personal vendetta against them though, so this will not save them."
"Who?"
"The Carrows."
"The Carrows? Why? You've never even mentioned them before and I thought you only killed people you truly hate. You don't hate them, do you?"
"Nevertheless, they deserve to die, they are beyond redemption. They tortured house elves while they were at Hogwarts, like Malfoy did to Dobby, I still don't know if he is doing much better with just Narcissa and their little blond brat for a mistress and young master. Maybe I will pay them a visit in a couple of days. They also bullied Arthur at school and that is an unforgiveable." Oh yes, Sirius had something about Arthur, admiration, brotherly love and a protective drive, it had changed from a hobby to something of an obsession over time. "There is also a groups of people I do not think belong here or can be redeemed, I'm getting them out of here."
That was a surprise, they had been putting people into Akzaban during their revolution, Regulus never thought they'd be breaking someone out. "Now?"
"Well I don't really want to come back here, I don't know about you..." he paused. "Listen little brother, I don't always plan things to perfection, sometimes I rush into things headlong, I can't help myself, I'm a Griffindor."
Regulus shook his head, "no, you do not have enough attributes anymore, people change. You are a Slythindor now, like me."
"Slythindor," Sirius said slowly, seeing how it sounded on his tongue and he smiled, "I like it, yes I do believe I am."
"You had this planned to perfection like everything else."
"Not so, I was not going to kill the Carrows until a minute ago."
"How are you going to get us all off the island, on that note, how many people do you think there are going to be?"
"Damned if I know, to both questions."
"Sirius! What are you going to think of?"
Sirius shrugged, "something," he answered. It took a couple of minutes for them to reach where the Carrowes were and something struck Regulus.
"You just lied to me; you did plan all of this. You have only been in Azkaban once and you were in isolation, yet you know where everyone is being kept."
"I didn't plan it."
"I don't believe you."
"Fine, don't believe me." He drew out a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket, "I swiped this from the guard's office on our way in." It was the layout of the prison; it showed the cells, the stairs, the floors and who was in each cell.
"How do I know you didn't write that during your planning phase or swiped it when you first escaped Azkaban those few years ago?"
"You don't," Sirius shrugged, "but there is something that most brothers have between each other called trust."
"What the bloody hell is going on!"
Both brothers jumped having forgotten that they were standing mere metres from the Carrowes. "Oh yes," Sirius said, remembering himself, "I came to kill you," he said casually.
The man's face drained of colour, "what? Who are you and how the hell are you here, I'm in Azkaban, isn't that enough?"
"No, and I am hurt you do not remember me Amycus."
His eyes narrowed, "Sirius Black?"
"He does have a brain."
"Regulus Black? But you died!"
"I came back."
"That's impossible."
"Improbable," he corrected immediately on instinct, "I would not be here otherwise."
"Look," Sirius said, "I think we are diverging from the purpose of our visit here," he said, pushing his brother behind him with one arm as if to protect him, not that there was anything dangerous he needed to protect him from. He did not need to shield him from witnessing murder, he'd seen enough of it in his time, and two from his own older brother in the space of half an hour. He had already placed a shield around him to keep the dementors away and the guards, few and far between as they were could not catch them. Regulus however, still clutching his hand from the mere chills the prison gave him did not make protest, he never did, not since that day Sirius almost died because of his foolhardiness.
"You have done me a great insult in the past, and once you anger a Black you can expect repercussions," he said in a tone one might use to state the weather. "I know you have contacts and while they have not been able to get out of here you have evidently been allowed to stay together and maintained contact with the outside world and have been given newspapers and the like. You know the name I have carved for myself and what I have been doing to the likes of you so do not play coy and ignorant. Your minds are not that far gone and I do not care to spell things out for you, I am here to serve you your just desserts, no less."
"I never killed anyone Black," the female Carrow said hopefully. I took part in raids and I did nothing to stop the dark lord but I never killed anyone."
"I do not have mercy Alecto, much like you do not have it. Besides, I am not here to avenge the muggles and muggle borns you hurt, or to prevent you doing any more harm seeming as you are never getting out of here. I am here to avenge Arthur Weasley."
"Weasley, that is a bloody long time ago, it was just light hearted bullying, all kids do it."
"If it was light hearted I have no idea what heavy hearted means to you, I was the chief prankster back then, I know what they are, and you were not children, none of us were. I told you then Carrow that I would make you pay for it and you laughed in my face," he reminded them, a smile Regulus had been taught invoked fear crept onto his face. It was the smile he wore in Azkaban, the smile he wore just before he killed someone. "Of course you did, why would you fear me, the disgraced son of the house Black by being a Griffindor, well I'm not so much of one now, more of a Slyhthindor, as my dear brother puts it." He raised his hand and waved it, a wordless wave of green light shot from his hand; the Carrows did not even have time to scream.
Regulus forced himself not to shiver, "where now?" He asked, but Sirius was already striding away from him and he hurried up to grab his hand.
"Time to move onto the rescue plan of the operation, so are you ready Reg?" He grinned, the recent killings obviously not affecting him at all. While he closed up to everyone else, to Reg he wore his emotions on his sleeve, or maybe being his brother meant that he could read him better than most. The Carrows, Bellatrix Lestrange and Peter Pettigrew were going to die the moment he decided it would be so. The moment he was arrested he was plotting to escape and he knew that one day he was going to kill those people. Sirius planned and plotted, and he did not care if he had to wait a couple of years, as long as he enacted his revenge and they died by his hand one way or another, he made sure to serve you your just desserts.
He had had time to prepare himself mentally and physically, and in that time the want to kill them grew so he did not have a moment where he got to them and then just couldn't do it. He had to praise his brother for that. He had the Slytherin slyness and practical mindset to do what he set out to do, no matter how dark those ideals may seem, he deemed it necessary for the greater good as well. He also had the Griffindor courage and as he was so powerful it really could not be called foolhardiness, to delve straight into the heart of Azkaban to do it. A true Slythindor. Regulus stuck close to his brother's back as he led him to other layers of Azkaban, it was hard to believe that Sirius was not the only mistake the ministry had made.
He loved him so much, that love almost killed them both but ended up changing him for the better. He was so confident, so sure, so powerful, and the world was lucky he was a good guy. The world was lucky to have him in it. Then there was his darkness, Regulus never said anything, but there was a certain shadow behind his blue grey eyes, a certain grace to his step, a certain curl to his smile. There was nothing in particular and alone the changed to his characteristics meant very little, it was hard to explain, but Regulus could tell, somehow. There was a certain touch of darkness there; he did not have that before he was arrested, not even with becoming an auror with the fight against someone so dark himself. He didn't gain it when the brother he loved so dearly and protected became a death eater, his enemy.
He didn't gain it when his family finally disowned him, nor when an abusive mother tormented him. It was not formed by the bullies at school, although he did his fair share of that when he was a student too. Even when he was arrested, apparently, Sirius said it was only when he was breaking and broke out of Azkaban that the dark passenger fully took hold over him. His pack, small as it was abandoned him; he hurt and threatened Remus and Hagrid, so he had to make it up once more out of Harry, Himself, Kreacher, and only recently Remus and Severus, he was still wary about Dumbledore. That darkness bubbled beneath the surface, and that was why, when he was bringing justice to all those death eaters, the expression he wore was one of joy.
The only reason he noticed when they stopped was because Sirius was holding his hand and that yanked him to a standstill. "We're here," he mentioned, his voice sounded a lot more grave than usual, he'd seen something he did not like, was the person he came to break out dead? Indeed, once people gave up it was not long before the light of life faded. Regulus looked up and gasped audibly at the scene before him. He was standing outside a large cell which housed 10-12 people; they were all huddled together for warmth and had about five beds to share between them which were no more than dirty mattresses with holey blankets. They were pale and skinny, coughing with illnesses brought on by the dank conditions. The older, bigger ones were cuddling the younger, smaller ones, transmitting body heat and comfort.
Looking closer he could see they were young too, very young, not just twenties young, but some of them could not have been a day over sixteen, he though Azkaban did not imprison minors. It was an awful sight, and finally he saw emotion on Sirius' face. "Give me your wand," he said and Reg handed it over immediately, his brother was the only one he trusted with it. Though his core was more or less unlocked now, he was not as fluent with it as Sirius was and preferred to have the instrument on him. He banged it between the bars making a loud noise, waking up the few who had fallen into a fitful sleep, and gaining the attention of the others. Once all fearful, wide eyes were on him, he handed the wand back to its rightful master.
"Alright you miserable lot," he growled, "let's have attention, gather round." He spoke loudly and in a cutting tone. To Reg, it was obvious he felt nothing but care for these people, and a little sorrow, but he needed them obeying him, not mopping up tears, not yet, that could wait until they were out of here. "Ok, this is how things are going to work, I am going to give you some simple instructions and you are going to do exactly what I say, exactly when I say it. You are not going to ask questions, you will not speak unless spoken to, you will not stray from me and you will not disobey. On my part, I'll get you all out of here alive and in one piece, agreed?"
He got no response. "Consider this me speaking to you, therefore giving you permission to make a noise, I require a verbalised answer, I said AGREED?"
This time one brave young lad came over and stuck his hand through the bars, "you going to take us back home mister?" He asked timidly in a quiet, raspy voice.
Sirius shook the child's skinny hand and gave it a shake, "you have nothing to fear while I am your protector, I am going to help you all."
"Then I agree." Slowly all the others started to make their way over and stuck their hands through the bars, shaking his hand, then Regulus'. They also whispered their names and ages, although it was hard to remember them all as there were twelve of them. Conner, 18. William, 22. Daniel, 17. Simone, 19. Luke, 15. Sasha, 15. Moira, 19. Antony, 16. Mark, 16. Dexter, 16. Toby, 17. Edward, 20. There were only two girls, Simone and Moira; they were easiest to remember for that reason. Simone and Moira, the girls, were obviously twins, as were Luke and Sasha, the youngest of the bunch, a couple of wide eyed boys who spent most of their time in the arms of William and Conner, the biggest of the bunch, though it had been Sasha who made his way over to him. He was a very brave lad, and trusting.
Sirius took off his rucksack and brought out the food he'd taken with him, fine breads, fruit, milk, cheese, all plain enough for people who'd lived on grey porridge and hard bread for the past couple of months to stomach without eating it again. Seeming as they were starved, though not as much as he had been as they did not have someone like Gate Master torturing them, their stomachs were smaller than usual, so it was enough for everyone to have a decent sized meal before the task ahead. He gestured for Regulus to do the same, and he suddenly remembered the small bag he had been wearing but had shrunk and put into his pocket. He returned it and its contents to natural size, inside were cloths for everyone, because they had not been expecting them to be quite so young, they were a bit big, but far better than tattered prison robes.
"I thought Azkaban did not imprison minors," Regulus said, thoughtfully, "but send them to a juvenile camp or something."
"Apparently Azkaban does not imprison innocent men either," Sirius said with no expression in his voice as he looked at the children before him. "My name is Sirius Black," he gestured to the man beside him, "that is my brother, Regulus Black, we're going to get you out of here. But first," he locked eyes with William, the oldest of the group, "I want you to tell me what you are in here for, leave nothing out, I promise you I will know if you do."
William swallowed one last gulp of milk before doing as he was bid. "We were stealing for a long time, nothing big, just little things, food, and money, potions, to live off and sell, we only stole from people who would not know either way mind too. The ministry caught us a few times but we always managed to get away until a few months ago when they found our hideout, a couple of back to back houses left to me and my brother, Dex and..." he broke off with a downward gaze.
"Did any of you attend school?"
The 15, 16 and 17 year olds raised their hands. "We were caught during Christmas break," Sasha said softly, tears in his eyes.
"We were going to stay at school where we could eat and stuff but-" he cut off abruptly.
"It's my fault," Simone said softly with a choke, "I asked them to come home, if I had not, at least the young ones would be alright."
"You're still young yourself," William said, "we all are."
"If mum and dad hadn't left tat house to us when they died we would not all be together now," Dexter said, "we're all we have."
"When did they die?"
"Four years ago, William was 18 so he could look after me, if it had happened two years previous I'd have gone into care."
"Do you know who killed them?"
"Death eaters," he whispered, frightened.
Sirius turned to the rest of them, "is that the same for the rest of you?" There was a round of nods and 'yes sirs' all round. "And you found each other, on the streets and came together?" He was answered with another round of affirmatives. "I do not know if you know this, but it is against the law to arrest minors, and the rest of you do not deserve this, the ministry abandoned you. They probably published that you committed murder or something. But do not worry; I am causing a revolution to help people like you." His eyes half closed as he concentrated and then he grabbed hold of the bars and pulled so they widened enough for people to walk through sideways. One by one they filed out, in silence and gathered round him just as they had been bidden. Unfortunately, that was the easy part.
Sirius touched each child and young person on the shoulder, creating a patronus shield to be cast around them. He wondered whether or not to bother with invisibility, while he would not have to worry so much about the guards, they were few and far between. He would rather be able to keep an eye on everyone in his group. He would take care of six and Reg would take care of six, that would make it easier. Instead he cast Moody's favourite charm and watched as each child's image faded into that of dark grey walls as they matched the colouring of their background. Having gone through auror training with none other than Moody as his mentor, he could notice people adorning such a charm with far more ease than most.
"The wards are weakest nearest the edge of the island," he informed his group, "I will lead you there and apparate you one at a time to my home and we'll take things from there." He started off, "follow and stay close. If you see a guard which I have not noticed then press yourself against the wall so you melt into the shadows. If you fear you cannot see me or Regulus here then reach out, if you cannot feel anybody nearby then make a noise, it does not matter what; I will find you and obliviate anyone I have to. That being said, do not feel alarmed if you feel someone touch you, it is probably part of this group, staying quiet is the best strategy to go on."
In the end they did reach the edge of the island with no trouble and they all stood huddled together by the water. The children held each other to protect themselves from the freezing spray of the ocean before them. Sirius took the disillusionment charm off of them and suddenly noticing how cold they were, cast a bubble of heat around them and asked Regulus to hold it as he was going to be apparating a lot. He took William first; he and Kreacher could look after the younger ones when he took them to his manor. Harry was most likely asleep by now, although he always found it harder when he knew both his dad and his uncle were not in the building. After that, the order was not important, but he would take them one by one to be on the safe side.
Oh he was powerful enough to apparate them all at once if they could all touch him at the same time but he was in hiding. As they were apparating somewhere with wards very strong wards up which only recognised his, Reg and Harry's blood and he did not want to end such a successful night by splinching either himself or his charges. He opened his arms and turned to the eldest boy, "William, hold onto me." William obediently grabbed onto his left forearm, it would seem he was very used to side along apparition. Sirius shook his head, "you need to be more secure than that, where we are going has very strong wards up that only admit the select few and we don't want you to be splinched now, step into my arms boy."
With a slight red hue, either from embarrassment at the slight rebuke, or the mere fact he was stepping into a near embrace hold by a stranger, Sirius would never know, William complied. Sirius felt him stiffen once he wrapped his arms around the eldest of the children securely. It was definitely the latter reason; he knew he looked imposing with his toned body, his tall figure and dark, bottomless eyes. It was only highlighted by his impressive power, his unlocked core, his confidence and his success, he made it look easy, and it was, for him, for him there was very little he could not do with ease. "Close your eyes," ordered, after such an ordeal in Azkaban and a nice meal after so long of being starved, he did want the children to be sick. He tightened his arms around the boy just because and with a pop they disappeared.
"You can let go now," he told the boy who was still clinging onto him for dear life when they had been standing in his lounge for a good three minutes. He was not going to deny the children the chance to compose themselves after all they had been through. He had practically howled with relief once he had escaped, soaring through the air on the broom of a man he had just killed for torturing him during his stay in prison. After a little while he decided to unwind the boy's arms from his neck himself and found the child in a frozen state, overwhelmed by all that had happened to him. He could compensate with that, he had not had a driving force to escape besides the fact he was not guilty, all those he loved were huddled beside him.
He did not need to call for Kreacher, the house elf was waiting for him in the middle of the lounge like he had asked. Now the house had been cleared up the house elf was not overworked to the point he keeled over every evening. Sirius was not as much of a slob as he used to be and Harry was surprisingly tidy for a young child. As James' family had not owned a house elf Sirius knew how to pull his weight along with all the minor household chores such as washing up, sweeping and dusting, leaving Kreacher to focus on pampering them, cooking, and shopping as they were rather recognisable and for some reason Sirius had still not used all the polyjuice potion in order to go out many places with his Godson.
Coming to think of it, it had never occurred to him, he only went out to go hunting, and the desire to do so had obviously not struck Harry either. That was definitely going to have to change, they had gone out before, but with glamours and it had been short trips. Now that he had the youths with him, or would do very shortly, for an indefinite amount of time too, he could not keep them cooped up here. He did not know how long it would take them to recover, but none of them seemed in particularly bad shape, and going out would do nothing but aid their recovery. They would probably be his charges for at least a month; it took him only a little over that and he'd been in worse shape. Overall, they were in surprisingly good health, physical and mental, but that was mainly because they had not been separated.
Once they were all healed, he would purchase somewhere for them to live before continuing his revolution, during which they would live quietly off his fortune, when he did so, he would clear their names. He ordered Kreacher to make hot cocoa (sweetened) and snacks for about a dozen people, not a meal; they would not be hungry for a meal, but snacks and heaven in a mug. Once William was wrapped in a blanket and sipping cocoa and was not going anywhere, Kreacher watching him, he went to get the others. While it had taken him a while to get back after ferrying William to safety, he ferried the rest of them to his manor within fifteen minutes, Kreacher serving them cocoa and snacks and giving them a blanket as they arrived in the lounge.
At about midnight he sat in front of the fire in his armchair while the youths surrounded him. Dexter was in his big brother's arms in one of the chairs, dropping off in his lap, there was a lack of chairs. The two sets of twins, Simone and Moira, and Luke and Sasha were squished together on the three seated sofa, Daniel and Conner sat on the arms of the sofa, so as to leave one armchair vacant for Regulus who gratefully sat down. Toby, Edward, Mark and Anthony had no qualms about sitting on the floor so sat with their backs to the fire. "I'm not sure where you are going to sleep if I am honest," he mentioned, though it looked as though some of them, well, all of them actually, could not care less.
"I only have a certain number of rooms in my house." In fact there were two spare rooms, the guest bedroom, and his, now that it had finally been restored. Harry been settled in Regulus' room when his brother came back and he moved into what was once the playroom instead and did it up. Why he chose that instead of another bedroom he would never know, but he was not going to begrudge him. Sirius had moved into his parents' old bedroom, the master room, which left his and the guest bedroom free, the second gust bedroom was Kreacher's.
"That is ok," Simone said quietly, "you have already done so much for us and we honestly have no idea how to thank you for it. Besides, we are used to sleeping together..." she trailed off, looking over his shoulder at something before she smiled, "oh, I was unaware you were a father. Hello sweetheart, come on in, it is late for a child as young as you to be up isn't it?"
Sirius turned around startled, "hey cub," he said, "don't be a stranger, come in." Harry strolled in slowly, casting his eyes around nervously, holding his toy stag by one leg, the rest of the animal dragging on the floor. A quick glance around the room showed that the girls had fawned over the child, wide eyes, half glazed over, even Dexter had woken up to shoot the child an encouraging smile. Sirius jerked his head in a summoning motion, opening his arms, inviting the child to climb onto his lap, which he did, "did you have a bad dream?" Harry did not answer for a moment, taking his time to find a comfortable position on his father's lap, snuggling into his torso whilst being able to see everyone in the room, and then he shook his head.
"I heard noise so I came down to see what it was all about."
"Did we wake you cub? I'm sorry."
"S'okay."
"Ok guys, this is my son, Harry James Potter-Black, Harry, these are some new friends of mine, I told you some people might be joining us soon remember?"
Harry nodded his head in the affirmative. He pointed to the two on the armchair, "that is William and Dexter," he pointed to the sofa, "Moira, Simone, Sasha, Luke, Conner and Daniel," he pointed to the space by the fire, "Mark, Anthony, Toby and Edward." Each child nodded to him in greeting and Harry returned it, though it was unclear as his head was still buried into his father's chest. "They'll be with us for a few weeks."