1979

Regulus spluttered as the last of the potion ran down his throat, dread and desperation filling every one of his senses. It slid down painfully and dried out his throat. He tore off his outer robes as it seemed to suffocate him. Flashes of everything he regretted and the horrible things he had seen blurred into his vision.

His parents shouting at each other, Sirius holding him protectively. Never once telling his brother he loved him when they had argued. Sirius' anger, not being able to explain to him the book of dark magic he had been reading so he knew how to protect himself. His hands trembled when he was too cowardly to defend Sirius and the views he was starting to believe himself. Letting himself fall into the views his parents pushed onto him. His father died and the lack of remorse Regulus had. The dark mark snaking onto his arm the first time. Watching the Dark Lord torture and kill an innocent muggle. The Dark Lord torturing him. Sirius' cries of anger when he found the mark upon his arm, the threat of a hex that would send him to hell. Sirius leaving him alone after making his disgust and hate clear only for his mother's praise of the evil thing on his arm. Finding out about the Horcruxes. The night he had seen Kreacher come back in pain and telling him his tale of misfortune and near death.

His vision cleared and he slumped against the hard ground, the locket tight in his grasp. His mouth and throat screaming at him for water, any sort of liquid that would ease the ache.

"Master Regulus," Kreacher's voice rang in his ears.

"Take it," he ordered weakly, shoving the locket towards the elf who obeyed immediately. He forced his body to move as he looked towards the basin, knowing the false locket was in its place, just as he had planned.

Regulus muscles tensed when he dragged himself forward towards the lake as the Inferi began to surface the edge of the water. Too weak to use his wand to try and get himself out of the situation. He didn't have anywhere to go, and he knew he was good as dead as soon as he stepped into the cave.

"Master Regulus!-"

Kreacher could only watch the Inferi sprout their attack, bursting forth from the water. Two of them grabbing a hold of the weakening Regulus' legs, who shouted in shock. Unable to fight back he turned his eyes towards his house-elf, his expression of calm. Accepting the situation and knowing he was going to die.

"Kreacher," he croaked his words gritting against his throat, his body jerking as Inferi emerged from the water trying to grab a hold of him. He remembered a request he hadn't told the elf, knowing it was a huge possibility that the elf would refuse. He had already told him to keep the information from his mum and destroy the locket. "Krea-Kreacher, please, te, tell Sirius I'm sorry. N, now go home!"

Kreacher hesitated to give into either request as he watched Regulus be pulled towards his death. He remembered the way the dead creatures of the lake had retreated at his flicker of fire when he had been left alone in the cave by the Dark Lord. The dark had enveloped him as the Inferi were trying to pull him in and he had flicked his finger to give himself light only to have the Inferi shrieking in fear as they retreated away from him.

Banging his head against the floor in punishment he made a fast decision and lit his master's forgotten robe and sent it flying at the Inferi pulling him. They shrieked and retreated away in fear, momentarily letting go of Regulus. He rushed forward, the locket gripped tightly in one hand while the other grabbed a hold of his master.

He knew that Master Regulus would refuse to go back home to Mistress. He had defied the Dark Lord and would surely be taken from Kreacher if he didn't find a place to hide him and keep him safe. He couldn't let Master Regulus get taken.

There was only one person Kreacher knew who could possibly hide Regulus from the Dark Lord.

Sirius Black was a brave and spiteful man, though you would never catch him admitting those things, ever. He had done many spiteful things in his life, but he thought life couldn't get any better for him. He had found solace in the Potters and was welcomed like a lost member of the family. He had been brave enough to stand up to his family and had escaped the place he had been raised and finally found himself a home. Now he was more content in his life than he had ever been. Though something nagged at the back of his mind that he refused to acknowledge, Regulus.

His younger brother that he had been trying to turn away from the wrong views their parents had, only to find the bloke had gone and joined the Death Eaters. He had regarded him as bad as Snivellus in his mind despite the ache of hurt and left it like that. He ignored the memory of both of them saying goodbye the first time. When he had begged Regulus to go with him and he had begged Sirius to stay. The way they both denied the possibilities of each other's request. The second goodbye had been violent and he had sent many hateful words at Regulus before storming off, not letting Regulus get any sort of explanation out.

He had more pressing matters in his life than worrying about the brother he hated. It had been an inherently stressful day as he, Peter and James relaxed after fighting back against the Death Eaters. The only reason Regulus had been on his mind was the fear that he would find he was battling his brother and hesitate. This would have opened a world of pain if he let vulnerability in on the battlefield.

Remus and Lily had stayed back, both ready for injured members that didn't need St Mungos. Remus was not a skilled dueller. Lily would never usually miss a chance at weakening the Death Eaters but she had recently found out she was pregnant and she was more at risk than she had ever been. She decided that fewer battles with her in it was better than the risk she was putting on her unborn child.

They all spent the evening together, passing around drinks and toasting a successful battle. They didn't have as many of those as they would like to. The festivities soon died off when Peter had sudden urgent business to attend to. He didn't explain much and fled the home with good wishes and a dark look to his expression. It had definitely brought the mood down.

Sirius sat on the couch, swirling fire whiskey in a glass. Remus sat next to him, content with his cup of tea. James and Lily had given each other a look and excused themselves to the kitchen.

"Do you think it has something to do with his mum?" Remus asked quietly, staring at his tea thoughtfully.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully, sipping the contents of the cup, "I hope she's alright if it is."

"Me too."

The two sat in comfortable silence waiting for James and Lily's return before the air seemed to fizzle around them.

"What-," Sirius started looking at Remus with wide eyes.

A loud pop sounded in their ears and a figure materialized out of thin air. They seemed to sway a moment before heavily crashing into the coffee table. The table gave away under the crash and splinters of wood and glass flew out around them. They didn't see the house-elf at first.

"Sirius, did you really break the coffee table-?!" Lily's voice broke through the silence as she rushed back into the room, expecting a drunk Sirius to be sprawled out on the broken coffee table. Instead, she saw Sirius and Remus with their wands out pointing at a groaning man who had broken the coffee table in his descent.

Sirius was frozen as he caught sight of the elf, knowing exactly who was the intruder. He paled a considerable amount when a dry and broken voice started to cough out a soft Kreacher.

"Master Regulus," Kreacher said as he tried to rush over but Sirius' wand pressed against his nose. James had barely peeked over his wife's shoulder to see what the commotion was when he spotted Regulus and Kreacher.

"What the hell?" he demanded, pulling out his own wand.

"Kreacher," Regulus croaked out, his vision spinning and hardly able to hear anything with the way his heart was beating in his ears. He started to grow angry at the elf's disobedience, what was he supposed to do now? He was a dead man breathing! He could have died by his own terms, but now he was going to be hunted by the Dark Lord.

"Kreacher, why? I, I was su, supposed to die there!" he cried painfully as he tried to move only to find something lodged into his leg. Where had Kreacher taken him?

"Master Regulus needs some water," the elf begged, a panicked look on his face, "Kreacher must get Master Regulus water or he will die."

"I'll get it," Lily said, not willing to let someone die in her home even if they were a Death Eater.

"Kreacher needs to get the water!" Kreacher tried to argue but stopped when the wand pressed painfully against his nose. He could only watch as Lily rushed out of the room.

"Kreacher," Regulus cried softly, his throat burning, "Kreacher, water. Please, I need water."

"Kreacher will be getting Master Regulus his water," he assured, "Kreacher will be making Master Regulus all better."

"Don't even think about it," Sirius growled.

"Sirius," Remus warned, "let him give him water, please."

"No!"

"He's right, Padfoot," James cut in as he neared them, "he isn't going to do anything to him. He's obviously loyal."

Lily rushed back into the room, a cup of water in her hands. James stopped her before she could get any closer to the wounded man.

"Go get the water," Remus gently urged the house-elf as Sirius pulled his wand away. Kreacher didn't need to be told twice and he hurried over snatching the water from her. Going over to Regulus, he tried to turn him into a better position to drink but he gave a cry of pain.

"Some, something," he choked out, the leg that had a chunk of wood embedded in it spasming uncontrollably. He was trying to make sense of his surroundings and the other voices in the room but everything began to spin. He just wanted some water. He blacked out.

"I'll go," Lily said again as she hurried off to find medical supplies.

Sirius swallowed at the sight of his brother's leg, his protective instincts settling in. His heart was aching at a sentence that Regulus had said earlier, but he ignored it for now. He could focus later on what he meant by he was supposed to die there when he was more conscious. Putting his wand between his teeth as he neared Regulus.

"Let me move him," he mumbled out with some difficulty when the elf began to protest, "I won't hurt him."

"Kreacher can't trust the likes of you," the elf spat but knew Sirius wouldn't harm his own brother.

"Trust me this once," he whispered softly as he picked up Regulus, who groaned in pain. He carefully settled him down on the couch and brushing off the bits of coffee table on him. Kreacher perching on the side of the couch, eyeing Sirius' every move. He realised it was probably going to be a really long night for them, and when he looked at the others they seemed to be sensing the same thing.

This is a fanfic I am going to be updating when I want a slight break from typing out Wormwood and Asphodel. the chapters probably won't be as long, but I hope you enjoy otherwise. So it could be updated every few days to one in the next week, no complete schedule. If you're reading from my other fanfic, hello! I'll update soon. Tell me what you think of this kindly. (: