DISCLAIMER. None of the characters used are a creation of mine. They belong solely to JK Rowling.

Reggie's tiny legs dangled over the tree branch, his head tilted backwards, his rosy skin basking in the setting sun. A warm smile lit up his face as he heard the birds chirping about him, their golden plumule glittering in the orange sky.

'It's a wonderful day,' Reggie muttered under his breath, his voice hushed.

'A shame we were stuck inside all day with Mother,' Sirius complained, his eight year old mind agitated even by the thought of the haughty woman as his fingers carved gracefully into a tiny piece of wood.

Reggie sighed, pulling his feet up to his chin, never once afraid of falling down. He eyed the daunting house behind him, away from the rolling waves of the English channel. 'I don't want to go back,' he murmured, tears glistening in his eyes.

Sirius frowned, halting in his little job and pocketing the piece of wood. He got up from his place on the shore and climbed up the tree his brother sat on, his feet scurrying up the footfalls in the bark. He nudged him aside, his hands tender and careful of their precarious position.

'It may not be exactly happy in there,' Sirius said, 'but it is what it is, Reggie. We just have to make the best of it.'

'A holiday is supposed to be fun.'

'I know, champ. One day,' Sirius grinned, 'when we're all grown up and handsome young men, I will take you on a real holiday. We'll be a proper family then, I'm sure.'

'Away from Mother and her ways?'

Sirius smiled sadly. 'Far, far away in a world where we have no names.'

Reggie shrugged. 'That's not possible. Everyone has to have a name.'

Sirius broke out in a ruckus laughter. 'We don't always have to follow the rules.' He held up his palm absently against the dying sun, closing his eyes and breathing in softly. He sighed contentedly as he called onto the wind and it answered in a shy glance that ruffled through Reggie's hair, showering onto him tiny drops of water it carried from the mighty seas.

Reggie laughed, his eyes dancing merrily. 'I wish I could do magic too. How much longer, Sirius?'

'All in good time, kid brother,' Sirius said sagely.

'Will I ever be as good as you? Not even the kids at Hogwarts could do what you just did.'

Sirius looked at him the way most older siblings do, with an air of importance and significance that spoke of how they know a lot many things they're not supposed to. 'Oh, you know how magic is vastly unrestrained when you're without a wand. The moment you begin your training it begins to accumulate into this tiny little ball kind of a thing.'

Reggie smiled wide, clapping his hands with enthusiasm, his eyes alight with childlike glee. 'I want to be a great wizard someday. Just like you, Sirius. I want to call the wind and play with fire. I want to be worthy of stories spun by an ageless bard so they remember me long after I'm gone.'

Sirius chuckled, putting an arm around Reggie's shoulders. 'That's not a worry for anytime soon.'

As the wind picked up and the sun hid behind the horizons, lulling the world into violet hues, Reggie jumped down the tree, cupping his hands and calling for Sirius to do the same.

The two skipped hand in hand, their feet sending sand spiralling up as they ran, a blur of limbs and dark hair.

Sirius stooped down to run his hands through the cold water as the jewel blue waves rose and fell, dancing inwards towards the tiny pebbles lining the shore, the cold caress of the breeze whipping around his hair.

Reggie, too, sat down to feel the water lapping at his bare feet, clumps of seaweed washing up the shore occasionally. He leaned his head against Sirius, looking upwards as the nightsky began to slowly come alive, the millions of stars lighting up like fireworks. 'Tell me again how even the stars bent to our will and took on after our names?'

Sirius smiled lightly, his heart touched by the innocence his little brother still held onto so tightly. It was inctedible, really. Every word he said was a gospel of truth written in stone for Reggie. Such was his faith in him.

'Well, the really great constellation of the Lion, right there,' he pointed out with his fingers, 'thought it would name its finest and the mightiest warrior after the King of our own little Dreamland. Thus it was that Leo decided his most trusted general would come to be known as Regulus.'

Reggie threw his hands into the air, whooping in joy. 'Tell me about your star! Come on, Sirius!'

'Yours is the only one that matters,' Sirius shrugged nonchalantly.

'No! I shine brighter in my own little knot of stars. But you, brother,' he wrapped his arms around Sirius from behind him, climbing onto his back, 'are the brightest in the whole wide sky. I bet even the Gods will envy the glory that you will bask in the day you have bested the monsters that hide underneath. You took from them their abode, their heaven and decided to be the fairest of all.'

Sirius laughed, shaking his head fondly. 'You would have us feasting on ambrosia like the Gods, Reggie?'

Reggie pulled back, spreading his arms apart in a grand gesture. 'We are the children of the Cosmos!'

'Luminous beings,' Sirius chorused. 'Two pieces of a whole tethered together across the Universe!'

The two brothers whiled away the time laughing and singing into the silence, both of them suddenly a million miles away from the madness that clung close to the older Blacks inside the grand cottage a few yards behind.

'The world where we will have no names?' Reggie prompted.

'Yeah?'

'Will we finally get to find where the rainbow ends?'

Sirius grinned at the memory of when they had spent the afternoon chasing the tail of a rainbow. 'The end of the rainbow where the gold amasses. We will fight rebels and pirates and bring about peace in Dreamland after we reclaim our throne.'

'How long, Sirius?' Reggie asked, his eyes dropping to the red gash across his forearm.

Sirius' jaw tightened. He took his brother's hand in his, his touch gentle. He fished around his pockets and brought out the piece of wood he had been working on. He dropped it carefully in Reggie's tiny fist.

Reggie cocked his head to the side as his eyes gazed at the tiny letters Sirius had engraved onto the rich wood. S and R. Two letters beautiful canvassed by glimmering stars on the sides.

Sirius picked the trinket up and fingered the leather hand that had the little piece dangling onto its middle. He tied it round Reggie's back, his fingers slow and careful.

'Until the day we find our own little dimension,' Sirius whispered.

'Until the day we find the door to our Dreamland,' Reggie confirmed.

'Until the day they need songs to remember us.' Sirius touched the two letters with love in his eyes. 'Unending like the moonlight.'

Reggie offered his pink fingers to Sirius who latched onto them without a second of doubt, holding the firm and bold. 'We will never be alone.'

Sirius nodded. 'Not when we have each other.'

A sharp screeching broke the magic that hung around the two boys, splintering the tranquil quiet. 'Sirius! Regulus! Inside, this instant!'

Reggie groaned softly, his brows scrunched in fear and anxiety.

Sirius felt his heartstrings tug. He helped Reggie get up on his feet, pulling him along to where their mother stood proud and tall, her wand pointing menacingly at them.

Sirius' feet carried him of their own accord such that his body hid that of his little brother's behind him. 'I am going to take care of you, okay? That's my job, Reggie.'

Harry let out a faint gasp as his eyes settled upon the imposing figure that Regulus made. He looked just like his brother did with the same pale, long fingers that were currently fiddling with something held around his neck. His hair was the same luminous black as that of Sirius but whereas Sirius'current hair was short Regulus' was styled upto his shoulders. Harry idly wondered if perhaps Sirius had grown his hair out in remembrance of his little brother.

He noticed how most different of all were Regulus' eyes. They were stormier and icier than Sirius', more mature and more tired.

Rab placed a hand on Reggie's shoulder, alerting him to Harry's presence.

Reggie startled, his hands dropping whatever he had been holding so reverently a moment ago. His eyes sought Harry's, his face momentarily stunned at the uncanny semblance the raven haired man bore to his brother's best friend.

'Henry Oakswood,' Harry held out his hand, his voice just the tiniest amount of shaky at seeing the man who had originally set the wheels in motion for Voldemort's demise. 'You may call me Harry.'

Reggie nodded, a courtesy smile playing on his lips. 'Pleased to make your acquaintance, Harry. I am Regulus of the House of Black.'

Harry turned to look at Rab, his mind still replaying the events from the previous night, worry for Hermione apparent in his gaze. 'Where's Mione? I thought she would be back by now.'

Rab sighed. 'She is upstairs washing up. She will be here shortly, I imagine. Perhaps in the meantime we should..'

Whatever Rab was about suggest was swallowed up by the jubilant cry of glee Harry let out at seeing Hermione safe and sound. Hermione flung herself into his arms, her hand reaching out to touch the base of his neck, checking for his injuries.

'You're okay,' she mumbled, relieved.

Harry grinned. 'So are you.'

She chuckled and let go of him almost unwittingly. She moved to stand beside Reggie, squeezing his hands to reassure him.

Reggie smiled at her gratefully. 'I am glad to see you fared well. Rab tells me Sirius knows of your.. predicament.'

'He does. It remains to be seen what he does with the knowledge.'

'At least you can reach out to him now whenever you want,' he said. 'There is no reason for him to shun you anymore.'

'I would not mind if you decided to pluck a leaf out of his book and keep him at an arm's length' Rab muttered darkly. 'The prat doesn't deserve your kindness. He turned you away in a time you needed him most.'

Hermione shrugged tiredly and went to sit beside Harry on the divan. 'It doesn't matter. We're here for something far more important, I believe.' She looked at Reggie expectantly.

Reggie heaved a deep sigh, rubbing his hand against his beard. He looked timidly at Harry, a little ounce of suspicion in his gaze.

'Don't worry. He's one of us,' Rab claimed. 'He's the best of us.'

'It's alright,' Harry muttered. 'I understand why you would hesitate. I head the Resistance and have been working against Voldemort closely with Hermione for a lot many years now.'

Reggie cast another wary glance at him. He exhaled heavily. 'I have had my doubts for sometime now. I have suspected Voldemort to have gone to extreme lengths so as to ascertain his dominance on the world. He aims for immortality. It took me a long time but I finally figured it out. He's created a horcrux which now rests in a cave in an unplottable location.'

'You are correct in your assumptions,' Harry nodded. 'He has a total of five horcruxes at the moment, three of which have already been acquired by myself and Hermione.'

Reggie gasped in surprise and looked at Hermione with raised brows. 'You knew all this time?'

Hermione sighed. 'Yes, I did. I have known for quite some time now. Salazar's locket will be our fourth after which only Riddle's diary remains.'

Reggie gathered his wits about himself. He sat down tiredly into an armchair, his hands resting in his lap, coiled together. 'The bastard took my house elf, Kreacher, with him and left him there to die after he had served his purpose.'

Hermione rubbed her hands against his back, kneading the knots of tension he harboured. 'When did this happen, Reggie? Has he been given the requisite treatment?'

'All of this occured a fortnight ago,' Reggie answered. 'He's fine at the moment but terrified. There was a potion Voldemort forced him to take which left him crippled with pain.

Rab shook his head disparagingly. 'How in the world could the poor elf have ever escaped?'

Hermione chuckled darkly. 'Voldemort never ceases to question the abilities of those he considers lesser beings than him. It will always be his downfall. He failed to account for elvish magic.'

Reggie frowned. 'That was an intelligent guess.'

Hermione shrugged. She turned to Harry. 'When do we go collect it?'

'I suppose there's no need to wait,' Harry snorted. 'When have our plans ever worked out?'

Rab made an odd noise at the back of his throat. 'You cannot just go in wands blazing and expecting the worst.'

Hermione smiled timidly. 'In our case weeks of plotting have only ever led to messups.'

Reggie cleared his throat. 'Nobody is going anywhere. I started this mess. I willingly obliged him with an house elf the moment he asked. This is on me. I shall be the one to acquire the horcrux and destroy it.'

'You can't just put it on fire,' Harry said.

'And that is why I have to make the impossible journey back so I can destroy it using basilisk venom or perhaps Fiendfyre.'

'Hold on,' Hermione said. 'You're getting ahead of yourself, Reggie. You are not going to that cave. We are.'

Rab yelled, 'No! Not again! You can't keep risking your lives.'

'Well, forgive me but we're at war.'

'Let me go. I am the oldest here.'

'With no prior knowledge,' Harry said. Before Reggie too could launch into a tirade Harry raised his arms to placate the surrounding party. 'Are you aware, Regulus, that the potion will render you weak and immobile of your faculties in a matter of less than five minutes or are you willing to put your house elf to similar torture yet again?'

Reggie shut his mouth. 'Of course not. Kreacher will help me take there and then I will ask him to leave.'

'But that is not where it ends, Reggie,' Hermione whispered. 'You will have only taken a couple of sips and you will be begging to stop already. You will therefore have to make Kreacher force you to finish the potion. And then when you're done you will feel a thirst that will threaten to explode you if not quenched immediately but there will be no water. You will rush to the lake to help yourself and that is when the biggest of the threats will be revealed to you.' She looked at him sharply. 'Voldemort's Inferi.'

Rab gasped. 'You're certain? How is this.. No, even Voldemort can't go to such lengths.'

Harry cleared his throat. 'You make a mistake when you think of him as a man. He's nothing short of a monster and for somebody as vile and cruel like Voldemort, the Inferi won't be the worst thing that could happen.'

'But how could you possibly know that?' Reggie asked.

'It's a long story and there's hardly any time for it now,' Hermione sighed.

Rab plopped down against the wall, the goblet of wine in his hands falling onto the floor, the red liquid drenching the carpet whole. 'When somebody you love is out there doing God knows what.. a night that could potentially end with their death.. it feels like you cannot.. I.. Mi, I cannot breathe when you make such outgambles with your life. It hurts every time I see you walk out that door. It hurts every damn day.'

Hermione's eyes dropped in shame. She kneeled in front of her brother, threading her fingers with his. 'I have done this before, you know? It will be alright.' She smiled wryly, 'Harry and I will make it out alive.'

'I never said I wasn't going,' Reggie pointed out. He chuckled, 'Or are you willing to let me be the collateral damage?'

Harry tugged at his hair in frustration. 'It will be the most dangerous thing you will ever do.'

'Then I am ready for it,' Reggie declared.

'We will need Kreacher to Apparate us inside,' Harry said. 'The boat carries only a single wizard of age and it is phsyically impossible for us to Apparate inside the cave ourselves given the extremely complex enchantments Voldemort has placed around the hideout.'

'That shouldn't be a problem,' Reggie said. 'Kreacher!'

Reggie's call was answered immediately as a familiar elf materialised, his bloodshed eyes quivering with fear still and his stout nose hidden by the many folds of his skin.

Kreacher bowed low. 'Master Regulus?' His voice held a strange tremor which Harry had never before heard. It was possibly the effects of the horcrux the elf was still reeling from.

Reggie's face looked pained, his skin paler than usual. He bent down to look Kreacher in the eyes, his hands resting reassuringly over his shoulders. 'Kreacher, I know it must trouble you incredibly but I must ask you to take me to the cave the Dark Lord has been using to hide the locket. Will you help my and my friends?'

Kreacher's tiny body trembled in fear, a ghost of a grimace apparent on his face. 'Master is to.. to be pleased. Kreacher is helping Master no matter what,' he murmured.

Reggie looked past Kreacher's eyes to look at Harry and Hermione standing side by aide. He nodded almost imperceptibly at the pair and stood up.

Hermione summoned two waterskins from the kitchen, hoping they would last.

Kreacher held out a fumbling hand to Regulus and another to Harry.

Hermione hugged Rab, murmuring softly into his ears, unable to look into his pained eyes, 'I will come back. We will come back.'

She spared him a parting glance, her own eyes tearing up at seeing the grief in his, before latching onto Harry's hand.

'You lot take care of each other,' Rab called out, his voice firm. 'I want each one of you back under my roof all safe and sound, you hear me?'

Harry smiled at him as Reggie waved his hand in farewell. He squeezed Hermione's fingers as he felt the familiar pull of being whisked away into the abysmal darkness.

He felt an uncomfortable tinge in his back, fear prickling against his mind at the smeff of the tangy sea. The faint aroma of the waves was unlike the one that was meant to cleanse one's soul. The smell emanating in the cave filled him with dread and ignited in him a need to run away, memories from distant past tearing their head in.

He could see the faint outlines of several dead bodies lying the still water of the lake, a tiny boat reeled in over at the far end on the opposite side.

Reggie stepped closer to the crystal white basin in the stark middle of the outrock they stood on, a greenish glow making the dead lake glow in the darkness.

Harry startled as he heard Hermione yelp. 'What is it?'

Hermione cursed softly. 'The waterskins will be no help.' She tipped them to reveal the water had evaporated the moment they had arrived.

Harry shut his eyes in exasperation. 'The odds are never in our favour, are they?'

He could hear Kreacher doubled over somewhere behind him, his tiny hands covering his bulbous eyes.

Reggie sighed before he stepped carefully around the rocks jutting out of the ground, making his way even closer to the basin.

Hermione placed her arm out, effectively stopping Reggie in his tracks. 'No. You wished to accompany us and so you did but this is where your part ends.'

Reggie's brows furrowed. 'I can do this, Harry. Let me.'

'No, let me,' Harry whispered. Before either of the other two could even get to him, Harry sidestepped them, his skin shivering in the cold as his hands wrapped around a tiny cold goblet he conjured out of thin air. He braced himself one last time before he put his lips to the goblet, the greenish liquid burning down his gullet as his brain screamed at him to let go.

He gulped down three full goblets before she felt the pain make him teeter onto the edges of his sanity. He already felt weakened and out of sorts, the aches he felt rising in his mouth gaining control of every thought.

He could vaguely make out the hushed whispers that Hermione and Reggie were talking in, their voices tremulous.

A feminine scream shrieked inside his head, the memory of the pained voice of his mother sending him over the edge. He felt his lungs give out as he gulped down the vile liquid for the sixth time, his head becoming dizzy. He dropped the goblet down, his feet kicking at it and sending it far away.

Must.. end. The pain.. must.. end..

He felt Hermione's hands wrap around his head, her nimble fingers thrusting the cold goblet at him. 'Just a couple more, Harry. I promise. It will be over soon, okay? I promise you.'

His lips spluttered, the liquid wetting the front of his robes. He hated this. He hated his life. He hated himself.

What good was life? What good was this second chance? There was only pain. Nothing but pain.

His mind conceded to the torment as the pain climbed up his abdomen, his breaths becoming shallow. 'Please.. no.. don't make me.. Mione..'

She cooed into his ears. 'Just one more. Come now, Harry. All this struggle for naught? Just one more, come on.'

'Please.. let me go.. I need my .. need my Mum.. don't want this.. please..'

'Hey, mate, we need to finish this,' Reggie whispered. 'We must finish him.' He took the goblet from Hermione's hands, tilting Harry's head back and putting the liquid at his mouth. 'There you go, mate. There you go, yes, right there.'

Ron. Draco. Ginny.

The delirious agony crippled him.

I am a walking graveyard.

Ron. Draco. Ginny. Sirius. Fred. George. Remus. Tonks. Molly. Arthur. Luna. Neville.

How many more? When would his time come? When would Death welcome him?

His body twisted and turned, curling into a primveal position. One last sip and oh, but the pain still remained, his blood an acid, destroying him from inside out.

He could see Hermione grip at the locket, the cold radiating from it to his mind.

Reggie tugged at him, pulling him ahead towards where Kreacher stood.

'Wah.. wah, water.. please..,' Harry begged. 'I need water.. I need.. water..'

'We're almost there. Hold on.'

A searing hot crust of pain lashed across his chest. He groaned out into the briny air. It was funny how the mind worked. In his moment of acute paranoia all Harry could do was remember some forgotten, ancient lines of poetry.

'There will be rest and sure stars shining.'

But he had already had more than his fair share of sorrow.

'A reign of rest and serene forgetting.'

But the blissful oblivion remained ever evasive.

Hermione, he saw, was already clutching onto the hands of Kreacher, her arm beckoning him forward. Reggie pulled him ahead but Harry felt his legs turn into lead, every step another crushing ache. He stumbled and fell, his knees grazing against the crystals poking out of the rockbed, his feet just shy of the Lake of the Dead.

Harry felt his eyesight blur, his mind floating through a thick static of being and not being, his pounding loudly against his ribcage. He feel Reggie's fingers plucking at his robes, trying to pick him up but all in vain for Harry's mind finally gave in as his feet faltered once again and he felt himself tip away and into the water.

'HARRY!' Hermione cried out, her scream splitting the air with her grief and her sorrow, her soul perishing into the silence.

'Take Hermione and leave!' Harry heard Reggie yell. 'Come back for Harry and I immediately after!'

The numbness in his brain grew dimmer and dimmer as the will to survive revived the fire within, the ends of his nerves frying into consciousness. But whatever wkaing moments of consciousness he found were lost to paranoia.

Ghostly pale fingers grapsed at him, bodies cold beyond frost surrounding him and grabbing him from all sides. He could feel his skin puncture at places more than he could count, his blood seeping out into the black water. He felt a war drum beating against him, his feet paddling up as he forced himself to rise up to the surface. But every action cost him more breaths, his lungs ready to collapse under the pressure, the quiet disconcerting him. His hands splashed against the water but it felt something akin to climbing dangerous terrains of rocks.

He was close to panicking by then, his limbs no longer trying to claw through the cold. He felt hismelf floating along the trill, his mind closed off. He gave in then. Perhaps this was Death answering his calls. Maybe this was his time.

But then.. he couldn't leave Hermione alone. She had followed him into the great abyss and there he was imagining ways to end his life when she had so readily given hers up for his.

Just when he had begun to claw his way out again he felt a warmth spread across his back, a strong arm pulling him up. He breathed in great gulps of air to soothe his patched throat, the freshness of the briny hum distilling away the burning breathlessness.

He looked at Reggie, rleief flooding his face.

Cold arms kept creeping up on him as the Inferi surrounded them, grasping at their clothes and pulling at their feet. Harry fumbled through his robes for his wand, gripping it tight and waving it around, sending flares of light up, making the Inferi scatter away.

'I.. I am going to create some Fiendfyre!' he yelled. 'Keep a lookout.'

Reggie was breathing heavy, his own wand sending out blows against the dead, his eyes distressed at seeing Kreacher trying to fend off the Inferi. He kept inching closer to him, the edge of the rockbed leering ever closer but never scaring him away.

Harry nodded to himself, a snap decision but necessary. At least Hermione was well away from the danger. He felt it as a warm embrace that she was safe.

He cast a great circle about himself, the tip of wand sending great flames of blue and red out into the open, surrounding the cold nimble bodies of the Inferi in a lap of burning warmth. The Inferi screamed of horror, rushing away from the light.

Reggie, too, cast roaring flames that lapped at the creeping bodies, their grotesque feet carrying them away. He had only just pulled Kreacher into the safety net when his robe caught under the outcropping of a crystal, a rabid flame now licking at his bare skin, already singing through the material.

This is it.

He felt tears well up in his eyes as he realised the end had come. He twisted to see Harry still battling through the jumbled limbs, jumping over cracks in the rocks and making his way towards the pair.

A cold arm gripped along his feet, catching hold of the hem of his robes and pulling him over. The flame at the base of his cloak crept higher up, his face feeling the burns clearer than ever.

He felt his weight tip, his feet stumbling over and his feet dangling over the edge.

'Harry..' he cried out.

Harry's eyes bulged out of his sockets at seeing Reggie teetering over the edge of the rockbed. He saw as his feet caved in and his body curved back, his body crashing along the water. He rushed towards him, his arms reaching out for his. He saw as Reggie's stormy eyes bled blue, his fingers fumbling at something around his neck. He felt him place something charred and wooden into his hands.

'For Sirius.. Sirius..,' Reggie whispered, a sad, forlorn smile playing at his lips.

Kreacher yelled in grief, 'Master! MASTER! NO!' He was caught in an uggly middle position, the ghost of his master's last order hanging over his head. He had to protect Harry.

'No, no, no..,' Harry screamed. 'No! Reggie!' His hand almost clutched at Reggie's. He felt his own weight give in as another pale arm circled around Reggie's throat, pulling him deep asunder, the pools of his icy eyes no longer iridescent but left only unstaring.

Kreacher howled somewhere behind him but Harry paid him no mind. His own sorrow was palpating with a life of its own, his heart ripped open for the boy who, once again, had been forsaken by his faith.

Kreacher's tiny, shriveled hand gripped his. His body twisted into nothingness, speeding through space and the stars, the ghost of Reggie's smile still unblinking behind Harry's eyes and his mind devoid of all emotions.

What difference did we ever make?

AN: I know.. I kinda hate myself too..