Chapter 30 – The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black

20th August 1977

Regulus knew he wasn't supposed to be downstairs, but he was in the middle of packing his trunk for his return to Hogwarts in September, and with Kreacher's help he had looked everywhere he could think of and hadn't been able to find the new books he'd bought in Diagon Alley.

He suspected they might be in the drawing room along with the peacock feather quills his father had bought, and seeing as his family were gathered in the dining room, he was confident that he could get the books without drawing the attention of his family.

He crept down the stairs easily enough, almost slipped on the freshly polished floor of the hallway, and was just walking past the door to the dining room when his attention was caught by a name that up until now he'd only heard at school.

"Don't call him that, Bella," his mother scolded his cousin, and Regulus inched closer to the door, hovering with his ear pressed against the wood to try and hear the conversation.

"He wishes to be called it," Bellatrix argued. "Tom is a name as plain as any man but Voldemort? Voldemort is the name of someone who goes beyond the ordinary."

Curious, he leant forward, his hand pressing against the door – which opened a few inches, the old hinges giving a loud creak.

"Kreacher!" his mother's voice snapped, and Regulus stepped backwards automatically. The footfalls of high heels against the wooden floorboards approached him and the door was wrenched open. His mother frowned down at him. "Oh, Regulus. I told you very clearly not to come down here, did I not?"

"Yes mother, I'm sorry – I was just looking for my school books to pack. I'll go back upstairs, sorry."

"Wait." Bellatrix joined Mrs Black at the door, looking at Regulus contemplatively. "It's about time he heard this; he isn't like his brother, after all."

Mrs Black didn't look convinced, but Regulus hurriedly said, "She's right, mother. You'd be surprised how many people at school are supporters of" – he hesitated, glancing at Bellatrix – "Voldemort."

Bellatrix nodded approvingly. "See, Walburga, at least one of your sons is smart enough to know which way the tide is turning." She turned to Regulus. "Come in, cousin, we have much to discuss."

"Very well," Mrs Black relented, stepping aside to let Regulus pass. "I suppose it's only a matter of time."

11th September 1977

Sirius' seventh year potions classes turned out to be quite fun. It wasn't the potions themselves that were particularly entertaining, but it was the absence of the Slytherins and the misfortune of his friend that Sirius enjoyed most of all. Remus was, overall, good at potions – he just wasn't as good as he tended to be in other subjects, often adding his ingredients too soon, or forgetting to stir his cauldron halfway through a brew.

Sirius wasn't really paying attention to him when it happened – instead talking to Mary and Lily at the table next to theirs – but an alarmed cough and a puff of blue smoke later and Sirius turned to find a Remus who was red in the face and had positively bright green hair.

"Moony," he said, trying his hardest to keep a straight face as his friend pulled down a strand of his own hair and inspected it in growing horror, "what exactly did you do?"

"I don't know!" Remus replied, panicked, "I just put the powder in the potion and it made a weird cloud and now – " he gestured to himself helplessly.

"Yeah," Sirius said, taking the bottle Remus had added to his cauldron. "I hate to break it to you mate, but this isn't even the right powder, Merlin knows what concoction you've made."

Remus snatched the bottle out of his hand with a frown. "How did… What if it won't come out?!"

Sirius smirked and pushed Remus' hands down from where they were still buried in his mossy coloured hair. "It's really quite fetching," he said, trying not to laugh, "right girls?" He added, and Mary and Lily nodded while trying to stifle their own giggles.

"Oh har-har, you're all evil," Remus replied, glancing at his watch. Thankfully it was almost the end of the lesson and Slughorn might not even notice the mess he'd made, since the potions were supposed to be brewing overnight anyway. He could just fix it tomorrow and make up the extra time after class.

"It's really adorable," Sirius continued, starting to pack away his own things. "You look just like a forest pixie or, you know, a tree."

"I am a dark creature," Remus muttered, lowering his voice. "I am neither adorable nor pixie-like. A tree, maybe…"

"An adorable tree," Sirius grinned, and Slughorn called out that they could all leave before Remus could argue any further.

The corridors around the dungeons were really quite cold when they stepped out of the classroom, summer well and truly left behind now that September was fading into October and the leaves on the trees were turning orange and crisp.

Remus turned to Sirius as they left and said morosely, "I'm going to Madame Pomfrey after dinner, do you think she'll be able to fix it?"

"I'm sure she will, mate." Sirius replied, resisting the urge to tease him anymore. It really wasn't all that bad, almost suited him, and Sirius wasn't entirely sure what all the fuss was about.

They were nearing the staircase back up to the main entrance when Sirius felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see someone he really didn't expect to be trying to get his attention.

"What?" he asked, stepping away instinctively when his brother didn't let go of him.

"Sirius," Regulus replied, looking around anxiously as the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws of the class scuttled up the stairs. "Can I… have a word?"

"What?" Sirius said again, glaring at his brother in the low light of the dungeons. Regulus looked just as uncomfortable as he felt, and Sirius couldn't imagine them having anything at all worth discussing.

"I want to talk to you," Regulus said then, his dark eyes taking on the pleading edge that Sirius still associated with a seven year old hoping to get his way.

"Sirius?" Remus called from half way up the stairs, clearing only just realizing that his friend hadn't followed him.

Sirius turned back to him, saw the barely concealed concern in his eyes and shook his head minutely. "I'll be up in a minute," he said to Remus. "Go and have dinner."

"Thank you," Regulus said, stepping to one side before walking a little way back along the corridor Sirius had just come down, looking behind him twice to make sure his brother hadn't disappeared.

"This had better be good," Sirius muttered, and followed him.

They ended up in an abandoned classroom a few doors down from the one Sirius had just left, and it was only when Regulus closed the door and lit some of the candles closest to them that Sirius noticed how tired and thin in the face his brother looked.

"Hiding in abandoned classrooms," Sirius said, averting his gaze and slumping against the wall by the door, "aren't you supposed to be a prefect now?"

"Look," Regulus said, completely ignoring the sarcastic comment and perching on the edge of a table. "I know we haven't spoken properly since you left –

"I seem to remember quite the quality bonding session in the quidditch shop last summer."

"But I thought you should know – things are happening, moving more quickly than I'd thought, and I'm a part of it now." He tugged uncomfortably at the sleeves of his robe, not meeting his brother's eye.

"What are you going on about?" Sirius said eventually, not understanding, and not feeling in the most patient of moods.

"Just before we came back to school," Regulus said, taking a deep breath, "there were people around the house – important people. Loads of the family were there and a few others – people who know Voldemort – talking about him and what he wants. I don't think I was supposed to hear it but Bella told me to come in and –"

"If you didn't want to hear it," Sirius snapped, standing up straighter, "you could have just left. I didn't know you were following orders from dear old Bellatrix now."

He felt irrationally angry. Voldemort had only been talked about in whispers around the school – the rumours about the Greengrass family, snippets of conversation they'd caught from the Potters in summer and a name amongst some purebloods that was spoken as a whisper in tight knit circles. Sirius didn't belong at Grimmauld Place any more – he never had, really – but he still felt a swell of anger that people who believed such bollocks had been welcomed into a place he once called home.

"Sirius, just listen," Regulus sighed, "it isn't about that, okay? They were talking about stuff and I don't know how serious they are or what they're going to do, but there was a lot of talk about Dumbledore – apparently he has people that Voldemort is worried about. You know how it is and Dumbledore's a great wizard, we don't want a fight but –

"We?"

"Look," Regulus replied, raising his voice, "I'm trying to tell you - help you" -

"You don't want a fight? Are you part of his little gang now, Reg?"

Sirius was no longer leaning casually against the wall, but had approached his brother and was standing over him while Regulus remained sat on the table, unmoving other than the twitch of his fingers against his hand, and looking unnaturally, infuriatingly, calm.

"Why aren't you answering me?"

"Because you're over reacting."

"Ha!" Sirius yelped, "do you remember when my friend Mary was attacked last year by people you hang around with, Reg? Remember how you were there? I carried her to the hospital wing myself, blood all over me. Do you know I found my best mate's girlfriend almost in tears after she heard about a first year who was hexed just for being muggleborn? How my muggle studies professor has barely covered a week's worth of material yet this year because she spends most of class trying to answer people's questions about why things like that keep happening? I don't think I'm over reacting." He paused, an icy silence descending between the two of them. "But it's nice to know where you stand."

"Sirius –

"I'm done with this conversation."

"Fine." Regulus spat, folding his arms across his chest. He looked angry and, if Sirius had allowed himself to notice it for even a second, just a little bit sad in the involuntary wobble of his lip. His eyes were full of disappointment and a hint of fear, but all Sirius could see was the fury he mirrored back as he stomped across the classroom and out of the door.

"I won't try again," Regulus called, "if you walk away now I –

Sirius slammed the door behind him.