Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.

I'm sorry, this author's note is going to be long and this is super late, but I had exams and things were crazy over here in France what with last month's events and I just didn't have the time to work on this. Thankfully, though, I have planned a lot (I have like nine chapters planned) and I only have two exams in the next month, so I hope I can update faster from now on. I also have a pretty good idea of how this will end. Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and special thanks to the people who reviewed the last chapter: everlastingtrueromance, chibi-Clar, Mystery of the Night and a lovely guest. :)

Chapter 15

-o-O-o-

Regulus was thoughtful at dinner that night.

He could see Severus observing him from a corner of his eye, but he didn't care. So as long as he was the only one who noticed that his thoughts were off. He stared at the Gryffindor table, at no one in particular, although three people bothered him there.

First, there was Peter Pettigrew. Regulus knew for a fact that he was close to some of the Death Eaters here at Hogwarts, especially with Alecto Carrow. He had seen the two talking to each other in the corridors of the train before he bumped into Hermione the day before, and they hadn't seemed to be arguing. No, they were whispering hurriedly, Alecto seeming more excited than angry. Peter Pettigrew was definitely one fishy individual. He was either dating the madwoman or on his way to receiving the Dark Mark, which scared the Black heir.

He was scared because that would endanger his brother, the second Gryffindor that bothered him, although not in a bad way; he was more concerned whenever his only sibling was mentioned now. Since the train ride, he had started to refer to Sirius as his brother again, for now only did he truly realise that, despite all that had pulled apart from each other, they were still the same two boys who had shared a house for fifteen year. Only now did he understand that, trapped by what was expected of them, Sirius had preferred to flee; he would have done the same thing had he realised where he allegiance truly lied earlier. He didn't serve the Dark Lord; nor did he go against him.

The Dark Lord's quest would have been a noble one had it been conducted a thousand years ago, when Muggles oppressed wizards with all their might. Of course it would have been better to fight against them then; but now, what was the use? Muggles didn't hurt wizards anymore and it seemed stupid to bother them when they were getting along just fine on their own. Only since he had decided to forgive Sirius had Regulus realised that Muggles needed to be forgiven too. Everyone makes mistakes and it was useless to bring back painful memories where wizards were hunted down when it had no longer been the case for hundreds of years. Besides, most blood-purists now blamed the Muggles for all their problems, and Regulus had decided to just assume the responsibilities of the stains on his House; once he became the new Lord Black, he would reinstate his brother and his cousin Andromeda.

It would be hard to explain to his mother that he just wanted peace, but he would deal with her later. The world had been torn apart by war far too many times and he wasn't going to be a part of it anymore. He didn't want to fight for anyone. Yet the pulsing Dark Mark on his forearm told him otherwise; he would be forced to fight. But, at that table, Regulus swore to never kill a human being. Not even if it was required of him by his master. He would rather die himself.

The last Gryffindor that worried him, funnily enough, was Marlene McKinnon. She, much like Pettigrew, liked to spend time with a certain Slytherin of the opposite sex: Severus Snape. Regulus knew this relationship had nothing romantic, for nothing could ever persuade the older student to move on from his failed attempt with Lily Evans, who was clearly over her friendship with him ever since it had ended over a year ago. Marlene wouldn't desire anything romantic from Severus either; after all, she was hitched with the wizard who had been elected 'most eligible underage student' last year. They couldn't be friends either; he didn't really see Severus being a great friend to anyone, not even himself.

Severus was, however, an amazing mentor. Maybe that was what Marlene wanted from him; she wanted to learn about the Dark Arts, much like Regulus had, and she therefore had sought out his help. If Marlene knew even a tenth of what Severus had taught Regulus, she was a very powerful witch for her age. She didn't seem like the kind to join the Dark Lord, however, so maybe there was hope for her yet.

Just as his thought drifted from the blond Gryffindor to his master, he saw a scene unfold in the corner of his eye that drew his attention back to reality. His brother was pulling his girlfriend, who had a hungry look in her eye and a haughty smile curling her lip, but something was off; he didn't have his usual crooked side smile that indicated he was about to score.

At first, Regulus didn't think too much of it, and just turned his attention back to his dinner. He was having soup, but it was cold by then. Besides, he wasn't feeling too hungry. All these Gryffindors had made him queasy, so he just sat back in his chair and pushed his plate away.

No one took notice of his actions, so he just looked around the table. Alecto and her brother Amycus were chatting excitedly about the new curses they had tried out in the summer to Crabbe, and he was encouraging them so they would be able to join the Dark Lord during their next holidays. Since they didn't come from an influential family like the Blacks, they weren't allowed to join until they were of age, which infuriated them. They would be even madder if they knew he had been branded at only sixteen.

He heard a sigh and turned his head. Severus was glaring at the door from which his brother had just exited. "What's wrong?" Regulus asked, not really caring about the answer.

Severus turned, his scowl still in place, but Regulus could tell it wasn't really directed at him. "Black is going to break up with McKinnon." he said, disdain clear in his voice.

He did his best to sound disinterested as he asked: "Really? How would you know?" To be honest, he really did want to know how he had figured it out and, if possible, how he was right.

The greasy-faired boy just crossed his arms in one fluid motion to mimic his house-mate's posture. "Why else would he be taking her someplace private looking worried?" he scoffed.

Regulus shrugged. "Maybe she wants to do stuff with him." he suggested weakly, not really believing his own theory.

A look if disgust appeared on the older boy's face as he imagined his worst enemy having sex, but he seemingly ignored his own feeling. "It was him pulling her hand. Not the other way around. No." he turned back to glare at the door. "He finally got tired of her and he's planning on breaking up with her right now." It seemed odd that he was angry over something so stupid.

Regulus sighed. "Even if what you say is true," he acknowledged. "I fail to understand why you should care."

Severus' mouth twisted downwards; he obviously didn't want to answer this question truthfully. "I just think it's disgusting how he use girls to satisfy his needs." he spat out.

The Black boy raised an eyebrow at this comment. "Needs?" he pointed out.

Severus closed his eyes and exhaled in annoyance. "Wants." he rectified. He stayed like this for a few seconds, before he turned his head to Regulus and opened his eyes again, seemingly annoyed at him now. "Fine." he hissed. "I have an ulterior motif. What about it? What are you going to do about it?"

Regulus pretended not to care about the other boy's outburst. "You don't like her." he said. "You like the redhead best."

Snape froze. "Lily." he corrected his younger not-exactly-friend. "Her name is Lily."

Regulus felt pity overwhelm him as he heard Severus' tone of voice. He was trying his best to sound frosty and uncaring, but the underlying despair made him want to give the man a sympathetic pat on the back. He hadn't even bothered to deny that he liked her, possibly even loved her. "What is it that you're hiding about McKinnon?" he asked.

He had softened his voice, trying to sound less nonchalant and more compassionate; after all, empathy was always the way to go if one wanted something from someone else. Snape seemed to hesitate, so Regulus tried to persuade him again.

"It's not as if you were the one responsible for whatever is going to happen." he tried.

Severus sighed. "You know about my… involvement in the Dark Lord' cause." he said.

Regulus nodded. He knew, from his cousin in law Lucius, that Severus had joined the movement a mere week before he did. "I do." he admitted.

Severus spoke the rest as softly as he could. "When I was just an aspiring Death Eater," he started. "I wanted to learn as much as I could about Dark Magic so that the Dark Lord would pick me to become one of his most trusted followers. Slughorn took quite an interest in me when he noticed my relative aptitude with Potions and he lets me go to the Restricted Section of the library. There, I learnt a couple spells and I took some notes. Then, one day, someone found these notes."

Regulus nodded in understanding. "Marlene McKinnon." he whispered back.

"Precisely." Snape said, sounding a little urgent in his words. "She said she'd tell on me if I didn't… If I didn't lend her my books. If I didn't teach her. She wants to learn Dark Magic."

Regulus stiffened. "How well does she fare?" he asked, fearing the answer.

"Well enough that the Dark Lord might want to see her if he ever found out about her." Severus admitted, his face sinking. "She cannot outdo me, and probably not you, not with the library you have at your house, but she knows enough to possible hurt that Black boy."

"Why does she want that?" Regulus asked.

Severus shrugged. "You know how it is Regulus. We all want power. She's found our path to power and I'm afraid no one can dispel her from it now."

Regulus sighed. "It can't be that bad." he reasoned, partly for himself. "What's the worse spell she knows? Nothing more than a cutting hex I suppose? You didn't show her the worst you could do, could you?" Severus looked away, ashamed. Regulus' eyes widened. "What did you do?" he hissed angrily.

Severus glared at him. "Don't look at me like it was all my fault." he spat back. "She wanted to know how she could hurt, how she could cause pain. You of all people should know that I would sympathise. I just never knew whether or not she'd use it."

"Do you reckon she'd use it now?" the younger boy asked.

Snape nodded. "Definitely. If he's there to break her heart when we all know she's been pining after him for months, it might get ugly."

"How ugly?" Regulus asked.

Snape turned his head and stared at Regulus in the eye. Silver met black and a conflict emerged between the dark and still orbs and the light swirling pools of molten metal. Finally, one gave in. "Ugly enough," Snape admitted. "That I would, for the first time in my life, be horrified at the pain Sirius Black would be feeling."

Regulus' blood froze. Abruptly, surprising everyone around him, and especially Severus, he stood up, his chair making a screeching noise as he did so, but he couldn't care less. He stormed out of the Great Hall, half the eyes of the entire school following him as he did so. Once he was outside, however, he realised that he didn't know where the pair had wandered off to. He swore loudly, earning himself the disapproving stares of a couple students before reaching in his pocket and pulling out his wand. "Point me." he muttered.

His wand spun around in his palm before pointing to a spot on his right. He looked and was surprised to find a wall, but he guessed his brother must have taken the corridor that lead to Dumbledore's office, which was sort of stupid because people were close and Marlene would probably not appreciate the attention. He tried to walk fast, panic welling up as he imagined what she was capable of doing to his brother.

She probably knows dangerous spells, if Severus is the one who taught her, he thought. She probably knows cutting hexes, dark shoving spells, torture spells… Illegal curses perhaps… Maybe even Unforgivables… Oh, God, Sirius, please don't be dead.

He almost ran down the corridor, which was partially busy so he took the time to look at faces to check if he recognised either his brother or Marlene. He also tried to look in adjoining corridors to see if he could tell them apart, but most were dark and disused. He began to despair as the population flowing through the corridors thinned and, soon enough, he found himself the only person roaming these large halls. But still, he marched forward, and just a couple minutes before he would have reached the Headmaster's office, he heard a dull thumping sound. His head immediately twisting right, he noticed a corridor he had passed mere seconds ago.

He walked back to the corridor and looked in, but couldn't see anything. He could, however, hear a faint voice. "-can't believe that I fell for all your lies. I bet you had fun laughing at me behind my back, haven't you?" It sounded angry and feminine. Severus was right then, Sirius had decided to dump his girlfriend and she was now irate.

The next voice was one that was familiar and unknown at the same time. "No," he heard his brother say. But his voice didn't sound as self-assured and confident as usual. No. Sirius Black was something that he had possibly never been before.

He was afraid.

And to Regulus, it felt strange. His elder brother, who had promised to look out for him like all elder siblings did, Gryffindor to the bone, was now scared. If he was scared, then what could Regulus, poor little Regulus, do? He was no hero. He needed to save his skin. He needed to run. But then something incredible happened.

Out of their own accord, his legs walked towards the voice, his heart rate sped up and a strange heat welled up in his chest. His magic, usually only waking up when he was angry, now flared through him, and he pulled out his wand. He was terrified, yet he marched on, contradicting his every instinct that yelled at him to flee from the danger lurking in the shadows.

The further he walked, the lighter the corridor became, and the fast he walked. He heard Marlene's voice again, this time controlled, which made it all the scarier. "You hurt me Sirius. You hurt me very much. I think it's only fair that I hurt you back." A shiver went down Regulus' spine.

"Don't do this." he heard Sirius moan. He walked on faster and soon could distinguish the outlines of the two characters; one, tall and towering and the other, crumpled and wounded like the fallen Hector before Achilles' final blow.

He saw Marlene, whose bright golden hair he could down distinguish, wave her wand in an unfamiliar pattern. But, judging from what she had said and what Severus had told him, it wasn't going to be a harmless spell. She waved it as if she was drawing an arrow going from the ceiling to the floor and said: "Ponos." Regulus having studied Ancient Greek, knew that this was the word for pain, and he felt the blood drain from his face.

He stopped abruptly, and, for a split second, wondered if maybe now should be the time to finally make a run for it. But, as a cyan curse left Marlene's wand and darted towards Sirius, his magic roared and a spell popped up in his mind, one which he had only read about, and he wasn't sure if now was the time to try it out. Still, he tried out the wand movement and desperately yelled out the spell: "Prostacia!" At first, he didn't think it had worked, but then his magic obeyed and spun out, overtaking the curse and spinning a web of intricate magic between the walls of the corridor. Soon, a thick golden shield protected his brother from the harmful spell, which crashed into it, dissolving in the numerous strands of Regulus' magic, which he had to keep his wand up to maintain. It wasn't until all of the curse was absorbed that he finally felt his magic retreat and realised something very important.

The reason it had been so alert and eager to fight was because Sirius was endangered. Because, despite what he let on, Regulus loved his brother, and the last thing he wanted to see was his only sibling die. For the first time in his life, Regulus regretted not having been sorted into Gryffindor, for that was what they were all about, he realised. They were all about love, not pride like he had been led to believe.

Yet, he was pulled out of his reverie when Marlene turned to him and hissed at him, renewing his fear: "You!"

Regulus gulped down and tried, for once in his life, to be brave. "Me." he answered, deciding that wit would be his best ally in this confrontation. Marlene raised her wand, surely with the intention of cursing him too, and he gave her crooked smile, making her halt her actions. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." he said, trying to act like he was the one in control here, when she was clearly the stronger opponent.

She didn't seem to realise that, though, and she let her wand fall to her side, although her eyes never left his face, distrust shining in them. "What do you want?" she asked aggressively.

He tilted his head to the side, intrigued. She wasn't behaving normally. She was being rash, and by rash, he meant more rash than appropriate, even for a Gryffindor. He took a step closer to her to examine her face, his fear fading now that she no longer had her wand trained on him, and he heard her sharp intake of breath echo against the walls. He ignored it and pressed on.

The closer he got, the more he realised that it wasn't that dark here. In fact, it wasn't dark at all, and he could see her eyes blazing with the fire of defiance.

But something was wrong.

There were actually blazing.

A red sheen glinted slightly, as if slipping to and from her eyes, like a flame flickering on the end of a candle. Regulus knew this look. He had read about it in a book. A dangerous book about magical maladies that dated back to the twelfth century. Marlene was showing sign of Tar Illness. It was a disease that showed up in a person when the harmony of their magic was thrown off balance, and the magic started taking over the nerve system and settling between brain cells, in the synapses, altering the way they functionned, causing sleepwalking, moments of absence and often spontaneous actions in moments of stress. Eventually, in the later stages of the disease, the magic took over the body's vital organs and troubled their functioning, leading to heart and lung diseases and ultimately death.

The question now was how advanced Marlene's stage of illness was. "I think there's something wrong with you." he told her.

She glared at him. "There's nothing wrong with me."

He shook his head. "It's your magic." he explained, and she stiffened. "It's taking over you."

"It is not." she spat out as if she had something in her mouth that tasted sour. "I freed it. It is fine."

"It's not fine Marlene." he said, and she looked at him funny for using her first name. "Come back. Your magic is making say those things. You're not like that, you're not that cold or cruel. You love Sirius. You wouldn't hurt him."

"How would you know?" she asked sharply, but her voice wavered and there was slightly less venom in her voice.

He sighed. "I know." he said, and left it at that. He looked at her and he could tell she was arguing with herself. He walked closer to her and she didn't notice, at least until he took hold of her wrist from her right hand, to which she stiffened again, but he wasn't grabbing her harshly. He looked at her, trying to be reassuring, and she stared right back into his eyes. She had bright sky blue eyes, but he forced himself to ignore them as he moved is hand to grab her wand and slipped it out of her hand. Then, shakily, he released a breath he didn't realise he had been holding in.

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, her magic calming down now that it was stuck inside her body. He tucked her wand in his pocket and stepped away, turning to his shield. He raised his wand and cancelled it, before rushing to Sirius' side. He looked strange, and he was blinking about as if he couldn't see anything.

"Are you okay?" Regulus asked, putting his hand on his brother's shoulder. He jumped up, startled, so the younger boy recoiled.

"Regulus?" Sirius asked, his voice slightly croaky. He turned his head towards him, but his eyes seemed vague and every look he gave was futile. "I can't see." he said.

Regulus gulped down, before turning towards Marlene and calling out. "What did you do?" he asked, trying to keep the anger that was welling up controlled. She opened her eyes and looked at him, and instead of glinting with red, they were welled up in grief.

"I'm sorry." she whispered. "I don't know what came over me I… I just got so angry and… Oh, God." She ran towards the pair of them and threw herself at Sirius. "I'm so sorry." she cried, and started sobbing. Regulus felt uncomfortable and, judging by his position, Sirius was too.

He cleared his throat and Marlene looked up. Maybe we should get him to the Hospital Wing." he suggested, trying to be gentle in his speech. She nodded and both of them stood up, Regulus pulling Sirius' arm with him at helping his brother find balance on his feet.

He wobbled dangerously, so Regulus quickly pulled his arm over his shoulder to stabilise him. "I'll give you a hand." Marlene said, and grabbed his other arm to do so, even though she was a few feet shorter than her ex. The trio walked slowly down the corridor and back to the entrance hall, before starting up the stairs. The silence was long and awkward, before finally Sirius broke it.

"I forgive you." he said clearly. But that was all he said. Regulus wasn't sure who he was talking to, whether he was forgiving Marlene for attacking him or Regulus for being his enemy for the past few years. Whichever, both of them now seemed at peace, as if they had reached some kind of closure which would enable them to move forward from this point on.

They reached the Hospital Wing some time later, after having hoisted Sirius up a fair number of flights of stairs, making all of them exhausted. Marlene knocked on the door and Madam Pomfrey walked out, gasping at the sight of the three students. "What on Earth happened here?" she shrieked, making Sirius wince.

Regulus put on his most polite face as he answered: "Some stray curse hit him and he can't see."

She frowned and grumbled something about 'young people these days' and took them in. Marlene and Regulus helped Sirius onto a hospital bed, both of them scrunching there nose up at the smells of disinfectant and all sorts of healing potions that mingled together in nauseating fumes. The matron bustled over to the eldest boy and pointed her wand at his eyes, shining a light in them. "Well, he seems to respond to stimuli." she said, before extinguishing the light and waving her wand in an intricate pattern, before placing it between his brows. Sirius closed his eyes and hissed, surely from pain, as a thin dark strand was pulled out of his head when Madam Pomfrey pulled her wand away from him.

Her frown deepening, the nurse waved her wand and the string vanished. Sirius opened his eyes and blinked once, before a smile broke out on his face. His eyes moved back and forth between the three people in the room, but never did his smile waver. "It's going to be okay." he said. Marlene and Regulus looked at each other in the eye, sky blue meeting grey, before she gave him a small smile.

Yes, it's going to be okay, he thought, returning the smile.

Madam Pomfrey quickly ushered them out of the room, insisting that Sirius needed to stay the night for the observation. The pair of them stood outside the Hospital Wing in an awkward silence, before Regulus declared: "I'm going to accompany you to the Common Room."

She gave a short laugh. "There's no need for that." she reassured him, starting down the corridor that lead to the staircase to the seventh floor.

He walked briskly to keep up with her pace. "It wasn't a question." he stated. "We need to talk."

She gulped down. "I know I made a mistake," she started. "And I can promise you that it won't happen again."

"That's the problem though," he answered. "You can't. You have Tar Illness."

She stiffened. "How would you know?"

"I just do. And let me tell you that, with all the willpower in the world, you can't contradict your magic when it takes over. You need to stop freeing it." he advised.

"I can't." she said. "It makes me happy. It fascinates me." They started walking up the stairs.

"Fight it Marlene." he said sharply, and her head twisted to him in surprise at the tone of his voice. "Fight it. I don't want to lose you to… To…"

"Insanity?" she proposed. He sighed and nodded. "Alright."

It was his turn to be surprised. He hadn't expected her to agree, much less that freely. They walked in silence until they had almost reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, when he grabbed her forearm and halted. She spun around to face him, her long golden locks flying around her face and framing her pale face, making her scared blue eyes stand out. "If… If you ever need to talk," he tried. "I… I'll be there."

She looked puzzled and somehow afraid. "I don't think-" she started, but he cut her off.

"I honestly doubt there's anyone else you'd want to talk about Dark Magic with." he said, and she gulped down, knowing he was right. "Not even Severus. He doesn't care about your feelings."

"And you do?" she asked, and it was his turn to stress. Did he? Did he care about Marlene's feelings? Why was he even here, bringing her back if he didn't care, especially since she had just almost harmed his brother a lot?

The conclusion was evident. He liked her. He liked a blond, blue eyed Gryffindor. It was so ironic, he almost laughed out loud, but instead, he just let his hand slip down her forearm, lingering on her wrist and tightening again around her hand. She looked down at their joined hands, shocked, then back at his eyes, then to their hands, before pulling away from him coldly. He let his hand fall to his side, dejected, and sighed, before shooting her a coy crooked smile, trying not to let on how broken he was inside.

"Thank you for bringing me back." she said, clutching her hand to her chest, before spinning around and stalking off to the entrance of her Common Room, slipping in and throwing him one lance glance before the portrait shut once again.

Once she was gone, Regulus sighed, closed his eyes and pinched his nostrils. A lot had happened in the past hour, and he could help but feel like everything had changed, not necessarily from what was happening but what should have happened, as if everything was all wrong.

Yet it all felt right.

-o-O-o-

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