Sirius sat idly on the other couch with his head in his hands. They had gotten several cups of water down Regulus' throat. Kreacher had insisted that one was not enough, though refused to explain why it wasn't enough. Lily had taken control of the injury on his leg, banishing the coffee table saying they could always get another one. They all agreed, not wanting to think about the bloody chunks of wood forming together if they had used reparo on it.

Kreacher stood next to the couch, keeping everyone away from Regulus except Lily and Sirius. Though he had uttered mudblood towards her far too many times than any of them would have liked.

Regulus had stayed unconscious throughout the whole experience, only reacting when he was feeling pain but the pain-relieving potion left him unresponsive. Lily had slipped in a dreamless sleep as well, knowing whatever Regulus had just gone through had to have been traumatic in some way. She didn't want him waking up screaming from a nightmare.

None of them had any sort of idea what had happened to him and Kreacher wasn't helping them. He seemed to be having an internal battle of some sort as if he was sworn to secrecy. Which wouldn't have surprised Sirius.

"Should we get Dumbledore?" James asked his arm around Lily who was leaning sleepily against him.

"I believe we should, but perhaps we should take this to the kitchen," Remus suggested, eyeing Kreacher who was staring at them with a glare.

"Good idea," Lily yawned, stretching and pulling herself up. James and Remus followed her but Sirius stayed where he was.

"Come on, Padfoot," James urged.

A hand grabbed his shoulder for a brief moment, and he looked up to see Remus giving him an understanding smile.

"Just a minute," he stated, watching Remus usher the other two towards the kitchen. He let out a breath of relief, leaning back against the cushions. He just wanted a minute or two of silence before they all decided what they were going to do with his brother. They weren't going to just throw him to the Aurors, Sirius forbid it. He wanted a full story before condemning Regulus to Azkaban. If it was necessary that is.

"Master Regulus says he is sorry," Kreacher muttered from where he was as if the words were bitter in his mouth.

Sirius snapped his head up, eyes flashing dangerously. "What?"

"Master Regulus told Kreacher to tells the Blood traitor he is sorry," the elf repeated, giving him an irritated look, "tolds me to tell you indeed."

"For what?" he demanded, though he already knew deep down.

Kreacher only stared at him, mouth tapered into a thin line before he said, "Kreacher don't says more to Blood traitor. Master Regulus forbid it. Kreacher can only asks Blood traitor to protect Master Regulus."

Sirius stood up angrily, stalking off and into the kitchen. He waved his wand and put a ward around Regulus that would tell him if he woke up. He let his anger burn away the tears that were welling up in his eyes. He imagined Regulus would be able to tell him anything, but he shouldn't have expected that now after the fall out that had happened between them.

"What should we do? I know Professor Dumbledore would let him tell his story."

He joined the conversation with a slight scoff, causing the three to look over at him. "Wake him up," he spat with malice, "make him tell us what he did and then haul him off to Azkaban where he belongs."

"Sirius!" Lily cried with shrill, "he's your brother."

"He hasn't done anything for me his whole life, I don't care."

"We should consult Professor Dumbledore," Remus reasoned, "he'll have the best course of action, Regulus is weak and isn't a threat to us. Whatever he did almost killed him."

"I bet he killed someone," Sirius argued, "didn't do it right so his Lord tortured him for incompetence."

"Remus is right," James put in, seeing his mates vulnerable and hurt state, "contacting Dumbledore is the best option, we could get information from Regulus."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Sirius...you know he's a Death Eater," Lily started gently, "and he's also your brother, I am sure you don't want other Aurors getting a hold of him."

Sirius didn't reply, knowing she was right. She took his hand, squeezing it and he gave her a squeeze back.

"How long will he be out?" Remus asked her, "I saw you slip him some dreamless sleep."

"Till morning at the most," she admitted sheepishly, "I don't want him to wake up screaming and panicking."

The three agreed nonverbally, knowing how unpleasant that would be.

"I'm sure you are both going to stay," James said, bringing the conversation back, "you can stay in the guest room, or I should say Padfoot's room. It's practically yours."

"Yeah," Sirius chuckled a bit, "my flat is lonely, I'll take the couch. Moony, you should take the guest room."

"Are you sure?" Remus asked, hesitant, "I can keep a perfect eye on Regulus."

"Yeah, I'm sure," he replied, "I am not going to hex him if he wakes up, Kreacher wouldn't let me anyways."

"Alright…what should we say to Professor Dumbledore?"

Sirius sagged against the couch, his blanket strewn haphazardly across him. His emotions were high strung and he felt like crying and screaming at the same time. He had been living good and happy for a while now, why did Regulus just have to come back and disrupt everything?

When everyone had settled upstairs in their beds, promising that they would come down and they could take turns watching Regulus but he had yet to see them. Halfway through the night, he had gotten sick of Kreacher and his annoying mutters that he had demanded the elf tell him what had happened. It had only led to hateful comments and arguing. He was glad when Kreacher had popped away, most likely having been summoned by his mother, but he was dreading when the elf would come back. His parting words had been particularly nasty.

"Kreacher will not leave Master Regulus unattended while so weak and vulnerable under the eyes of a blood traitor."

They had all agreed to have Remus send a Patronus to the Headmaster and see what the best course of action would be. They would also send an invitation to allow him to come through the floo if he thought it best to speak to Regulus. They wouldn't floo him out to Dumbledore.

Sirius wouldn't allow Regulus to leave the home, not until all their questions had been answered. He had no idea why Kreacher would just apparate an injured Regulus to him but there had to be a certain reason why. The house-elf could have easily taken him home and nursed him, there had to be something stopping him but he was forbidden to say it. Asking for Sirius to protect Regulus was a whole new level of low for Kreacher, the elf hated talking to him let alone asking for assistance.

The ward he had forgotten he had set up chimed in his ears. He quickly disabled it, finding the chime annoying him. Sitting up, he looked towards Regulus who had shifted his position a bit. He stared at him for a while, wondering if the ward had detected the movement and told him wrong. He wouldn't be surprised, he had cast it in his anger.

"Siri…"

The voice was small and vulnerable, reminding Sirius of a young Regulus who was begging him not to go to Hogwarts and not forget about him. Swallowing back a lump in his throat he settled on trying to control his emotions.

"Reg," he stated calmly, glancing over to check the time. It was almost four in the morning. Remus would likely be down soon, he was never one to let the early morning hours slip away from him. He would most likely apologise for sleeping as long as he had.

The two sat in uncomfortable silence, neither knowing what to say to each other. What could you say to a brother you fell out with years ago? Especially brothers who had been on opposite ends of the war, at least until now.

Sirius stood up, the blanket in his hands. He couldn't find himself able to be snarky and mean. It didn't mean he wasn't angry after everything. He carefully stepped over to his brother and draped it across him. They had given Regulus a blanket, but Sirius didn't want him getting worse than he already was by being too cold.

"Thanks," Regulus mumbled, trying to sit up more. Before he could argue Sirius' hands snaked under his armpits and pulled him into a sitting position. He was grateful for the help, feeling particularly sore at the moment. He fixed the blankets around him, wrapping it around his shoulders making him feel like a child.

He stopped and sat down next to Regulus, staying silent. He wanted to know everything but didn't want to force it out of him. He could force patience, even if he wasn't known for it. Silence followed.

"I," Regulus started after the quiet became unbearable to him, "he almost killed Kreacher."

Sirius looked over at Regulus, taking in the words and figuring out who he meant and said, "he isn't known for any sort of compassion for anyone or anything, let alone a house-elf."

"I, I know," he breathed, his voice gathering tears, "I defied him, I don't know why Kreacher saved me. I am as good as dead, I don't know why I joined him in the first place."

"You just had to be the perfect son, Reg, that's why you joined...I guess I owe the little bugger thanks."

"Pardon?"

"For not letting you die, airhead," Sirius gave him a glare, "he wouldn't fucking tell me what happened to you though, I wanted to strangle him."

"At least he listened to me there," he sighed in relief before asking, "where is he? He didn't show you anything, did he?"

"Mistress called him, I think," Sirius huffed in irritation then he comprehended the last question and turned, demanding, "what? Show me what? What happened?"

"I can't," Regulus said stiffly, looking away, "it would put you in danger. I won't let you get hurt, I was supposed to die with my knowledge."

"Are you fucking kidding me? I am in the Order, I have been in danger the second I joined in my sixth year. I am sure You-Know-Who would love to see me dead."

Regulus gave him a frown, paling involuntarily. He had never really given it a true thought that Sirius would be battling against the Dark Lord so openly.

Sirius continued when he didn't answer, his irritation springing up faster than he could try to control it. "Reg, what have you done that I haven't? Besides the obvious," he ranted, smacking his left forearm in emphasis, "we are getting Albus Dumbledore here, are you sure you want to stay silent until then?"

He might have exaggerated the last part of his sentence, they couldn't be sure if Dumbledore had the time to come by at all. He wanted to know before anyone else did so he had time to comprehend it.

"I'm supposed to believe you would even believe me?" Regulus asked incredulously, realising that he was getting an opportunity to give the light a huge piece of information. He could bargain for his safety easily, the information he held could mean a victory for them if handled correctly.

Sirius bristled in anger at the sentence, standing up and walking away from his brother. He couldn't argue Regulus' logic because he was right, he didn't trust him. His brother had been a Death Eater since he was sixteen, how was he supposed to believe anything he said?

"I think I'll wait until Headmaster Dumbledore is present and put my chances on him."