Ten years ago, Regulus Black and Marlene McKinnon fled the wizarding world and were presumed dead. Now they've returned in time for their adopted son, Harry Potter, to start at Hogwarts. The potion left by Voldemort in the cave had long lasting consequences, however, and Regulus begins to teach at Hogwarts while Severus Snape works on a cure. Can they save him in time, while also hunting down horcruxes and destroying them before Voldemort can return?
Marlene had grabbed for the boys before she'd had another thought, but Archer, recalling Remus from before, rushed over before she'd managed a grip on him, and she cursed Remus Lupin to hell and back again as he and his unwelcome guest strode to their table.
"Professor. Remus." Her voice was cold, and Remus flinched back from her before catching sight of Harry and Leo seated next to each other. His mouth tightened into a thin line, and she knew what he was recalling - James and Sirius when they were young, before the war destroyed their lives. Marlene had often looked at them and thought the same, for though Leo was definitely Regulus's son, he resembled his uncle closely. "Remus." He brought his attention back to Marlene. "You swore you'd come alone."
"I persuaded him to allow me to come with you," Dumbledore said serenely, his attempt at muggle attire causing several stares. He merely met each look with an upraised eyebrow, and one by one the muggles looked away. Marlene saw a wand slip back into his sleeve, and she grimaced.
"We are surrounded by muggles."
"And not one of them saw a thing." Again, Marlene cursed Remus as Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, interlacing his fingers and eyeing her. "I was amazed to hear of your survival, Marlene. I gave the eulogy at your funeral, you know." Marlene withheld a scoff, and Dumbledore's piercing blue eyes met hers.
"Harry, you and Remus may go sit at a different table so you can talk privately. Leo, Archer, go play." They dispersed, and Marlene leaned forward, her gaze never wavering. "Keep in mind, Headmaster, that I do not trust you. I don't know what Remus has told you, but he should have kept his mouth shut. You are not to come to my home or speak to my husband, are we understood?"
"Alas, I might have a job opportunity for him." The statement took Marlene off guard. "My muggle studies professor, Quirinus Quirrell, took last year off on a sabbatical, and upon his return, has requested the Defence Against the Dark Arts position. I'm inclined to give it to him. However, the woman that took his place for that year doesn't wish to stay."
"You want Regulus to teach muggle studies. At Hogwarts."
"I do. I think he'd be wonderful at it, in fact. I'm under the impression you've lived as muggles for ten years?"
"Yes and no. We are intermingled with them. Magic is only discussed at home or in the wizarding cities, and we don't hide it from the boys, but we don't throw it around, either." She clamped her mouth shut before continuing. Dumbledore had always held people under his gaze, getting them to say more than they intended to, and she would not, could not, trust him. Ever. He'd turned them away, and nearly left wizarding Britain to Voldemort's hands. Instead, she asked, "Why do you want Regulus? It isn't because we've lived as muggles. I'm not an idiot."
"I didn't say you were."
Marlene broke his gaze to look for the boys. Harry and Remus were talking in a booth two tables down, grins on both their faces, and Leo and Archer were running around the play area, yelling at each other over something.
"Headmaster. I've already had a very trying day, and I have to get the boys and their father home before it's too late,"
"Yes, but Regulus isn't exactly Harry's father, now is he? The words made Marlene's blood run as cold as the look the headmaster of Hogwarts was now giving her. "In fact, Harry isn't technically in your custody."
"In the muggle world-"
"Oh yes, perhaps in the muggle world." He leveled his gaze at her. "I'm curious, Marlene. Did you think I wouldn't find out you'd erased the Dursleys' memories?"
"I'd hoped." She tried to keep her voice steady, but failed. Something flickered in Dumbledore's eyes, and he looked at her thoughtfully.
"I admire the fact you were able to keep him safe, Marlene, but he was supposed to stay with family. The blood protection around his home would have been enough to-"
"Did you know I found him in a cupboard under the stairs, sitting on a mattress, covered in his own filth?" It was Marlene's turn to level a gaze at the headmaster, and to her utter astonishment, he flinched back from her words. "We left America as soon as we heard about Lily and James. Leo was only three months old, and I had to leave him with a virtual stranger for a week in order to get things squared away in England. Harry'd been in the Dursley's home for two nights when we got there, headmaster, and by the looks of things, he'd just been thrown in the cupboard upon arrival and not been looked at since. It was so easy to grab him, anyone could have done it. Petunia, when she found out I'm his godmother, practically begged me to take him, and when I told her I could make her forget that she had a nephew, a sister, or even that magic existed, she jumped at the chance. She's happier now, and so is Harry. Look at him."
They both turned in time to see the boy in question laugh loudly at something Remus had told him, and Dumbledore heaved a sigh. "Marlene, at the time, I thought the Dursleys were the best solution. Perhaps I did not think it through all the way, but Sirius was in prison and we thought you were dead. There wasn't anyone else I could have really entrusted with the boy, was there?" After a lengthy pause, during which Marlene didn't offer up any names, he continued. "I want Regulus because I think we could help each other. I've recently come across a suspicious object, and something he told me years ago has led me to believe-"
"We destroyed the item he found, headmaster, if that's what you're thinking of," Marlene interrupted.
"I wanted to discuss it further. Recent events have led me to believe that Voldemort isn't completely gone, and perhaps that - item- that your husband found isn't the only one of its kind."
Marlene paled.
The item they were discussing was called a horcrux, an awful thing that contained part of the soul of the person that created it. It essentially allowed them to become invincible, unable to be stopped by even death until the horcrux was destroyed. They'd spent months on it, trying to destroy it, before finally Regulus had the idea of using the deadliest venom they could find - a basilisk fang. Even still, it had taken another full month to track one down due to their rarity.
They'd managed to destroy it eventually. Regulus had heard Voldemort speak parseltongue on several occasions, and imitated enough sounds until the locket had opened, and Marlene stabbed it. Horcruxes, they learned, didn't go quietly. By the next morning, she'd gone into labor and Regulus had gone into cardiac arrest from the poison that, unbeknownst to them at thr time, still lingered on in his system. At least once a week she dreamed of that awful day, the memories still as fresh nearly ten years later.
"Please tell me this is a horrible, off taste joke?" Marlene asked, but the grave look on the headmaster's face told her otherwise. Marlene took a second to look around her, surprised that the world around her was still going. McDonalds, she mused, was a strange place to be discussing all that they were, even with the privacy spell Dumbledore had used. "I think that this conversation would be better off continued at my home, headmaster," she said finally, rising from her seat and calling the three boys to her. Remus joined with Harry, and together, they made the short trek back to the office buildings that housed a magical healing center with the muggle ones, nicely concealed as a warehouse shoved in between the other buildings.
She left Remus and Dumbledore outside, and took the boys in with her. She regretted this decision nearly immediately upon seeing Healer Wainwright come out of the back, her lips pursed tightly together. "Mrs. Black. Can you leave the boys in the lobby? Alaina can look after them." She nodded towards the redheaded receptionist, who smiled at the boys.
Marlene looked at her sons. "Leo, go tell Mr. Remus and the headmaster it's going to be a little while, and invite them in to sit with you." The boy went, and Marlene looked back at her husband's healer. "We have a little unexpected company today," she explained, as Leo reentered, Remus and Dumbledore in tow.
"I can take the boys home if you'd prefer," Remus said. She knew he was recalling their conversation in her kitchen, when she'd told him about the experimental treatments, and judging by the concern in his eyes, he'd rightly guessed today was one of those days.
She ran an unsure hand through her hair. "I don't think so," she said. "You should both go. We can visit another day-"
"Mrs. Black." Healer Wainwright cut her off. "If your friend can take the boys home, maybe that would be best. This could take awhile."
In the five years since Regulus had been transferred to this facility and put under her care, she'd never once suggested the boys leave and go home, and a new sense of concern filled Marlene. "Um. Yes. I suppose. Remus, please just take them straight home. If you have to leave for any reason, Mrs. Figg next door keeps an eye on them every now and then. If you just tell her Regulus is in the hospital, she'll know what to expect, and I'll be home as soon as I can be. If she can't watch the boys, I..." she trailed off, unsure.
"I'll stay with them." Remus's tone was reassuring, and she merely looked at him. "As long as it takes. Marauder's promise." Marlene snorted.
"Fine. Boys. I expect you to behave for Mr. Remus. Do everything he tells you, okay?" They agreed, and left. Marlene turned to Dumbledore. "Headmaster, I'll be in touch." With that, she turned and followed the healer into the back rooms.
Regulus was laying on a bed in one of the exam rooms, an empty bucket overturned on the floor beside him. A quick scourgify took care of the mess, and she walked up next to him, smiling into his wan face. He was trembling even under the blanket someone had put over him, and she squeezed his hand. He squeezed back, his grip so light she could barely even feel the movement. "You look worse than last time."
"Trust me, I feel worse," he croaked. He blinked over at his healer, who had seated herself on a stool, scanning a clipboard in her hands. "Tell us."
"Your magic isn't responding to this treatment anymore," Healer Wainwright said bluntly, and Reg sighed softly, his hand dropping back from hers to rest next to his side. "It's continuing to attack your body, and it doesn't seem to be slowing."
"What's the next step, then?"
"I don't know." The words hung in the air, and Marlene felt dizzy as the world continued to spin around her. "Whatever poison he was given, as we know, affected his magical core, and still resides problem is, his magic sees the poison as the enemy it is, and continues to try to attack it, injuring itself in the process. Every experiment we've attempted has failed, and I will be honest with you, Mr and Mrs Black, we've run out of ideas. All we can continue to do now is keep trying to heal the damage being done to his magical core, and hope we find a solution soon."
It was two hours before Regulus stopped trembling, and it took another for the pain to subside long enough for Marlene to get him home. Charles Edgar, one of Reg's other healers, accompanied them. Regulus was nearly too weak to walk, and had to be supported through the floo. Leo and Harry were sitting by the fire when they came through, and leapt up from the carpet. Very rarely did Regulus allow anyone to support him in front of the boys, wanting to show them strength, and it was four very solemn eyes that followed the three of them down the hall.
"Today's treatment affected him very badly," Charles told her, after Regulus had been given a sleeping draft and nodded off. "You know the drill by now. Expect the tremors for the next few days, as well as tiredness, vomiting, dizziness, loss of appetite-"
"I know, Charles." He gave her a small smile, and she attempted to smile back. Instead, a tear slipped down her face, and she angrily brushed it away. "Sorry."
"You know how to reach us if you need anything, Mrs Black," Charles said, and made to leave. He turned back at the door. "If your friend could stay for a couple of days this time, it might be for the best. You may need more help." With another short nod, he was gone. The crack from his disapparation didn't even make Regulus budge, and with another look at her sleeping husband, Marlene joined the boys in the living room.
Remus was sitting in the armchair, and jumped up upon seeing her. "The boys told me you'd gotten home." His eyes flickering to the bedroom door was the only sign she had that her sons had told him everything, and she closed her own eyes, taking just a second to brace herself.
"Regulus might need a stronger pair of hands. It was... suggested to me that you might stay for a couple of days?" Her question hung in the air, making her realize how absurd it sounded. "You know what, never mind. That's ridiculous. You knew Regulus and I over a decade ago, and you have no reason to-"
"I'll stay, you just have to tell me what to do and how to help. And I'll have to leave by next weekend. It's the full moon." He looked uncomfortable making the last statement, but all Marlene could focus on was the fact he had agreed.
The next several days had Marlene feeling like she was living in a fog. In the end, Mrs. Figg took all three boys to her place for two days, so that both she and Remus could focus solely on Regulus.
Marlene had only gotten a total of four hours of sleep by the third day, and she was sitting in the kitchen, head resting on the table, when Remus entered, the smell of fresh vomit lingering in the air behind him. "He's going to be ashamed when he feels better," Marlene said before she could stop herself, and Remus turned a curious stare in her direction. "Reggie. He doesn't - He doesn't show pain in front of others. His father taught him that showing pain means showing weakness, and so-"
"Well, his father was an inbred bastard," Remus remarked, and Marlene nearly choked on her tea. "Am I wrong?"
"No, not really," she mused. Silence, then - "It means a lot to me. That you stayed to help. I know you came for Harry-"
"We were friends once, and I'd like to be again. Not just for Harry's sake, but for you and Regulus, too," Remus told her. "I won't be in America much longer. My job is almost finished, and then I'm headed back to England."
Marlene, in all the turmoil, had forgotten Remus had come for a job, and she groaned. "If you need to get back to it-"
"No, no need," Remus said quickly. "I'm needed here, so I'll stay here."
Marlene swirled her tea around the mug without looking up at him. "Dumbledore wants Regulus to teach Muggle Studies."
"Could he? Teach, I mean?"
"I don't see why I couldn't." Marlene hadn't heard Regulus come out of the bedroom, and in her haste to stand up, she nearly knocked her mug off the table. He still looked so, so tired, and he nearly had to drag himself to the kitchen table, but he managed to get there himself, refusing both Remus and Marlene's offers to assist. "If it were muggle studies, magic wouldn't be involved, and I'm sure the headmaster wouldn't object to us staying in Hogsmeade, rather than the school. The stairs wouldn't be very manageable for me."
"Yes, I'd imagine so," Remus mused. "They aren't the best method to get around the castle, that's for sure."
Marlene let out a short laugh, and even Regulus managed a small smile. "I do feel as if the offer is merely an attempt to get Harry at Hogwarts."
Marlene hadn't had a chance to discuss the possibility of another horcrux with her husband in the days since she'd learned of their existence, not wanting to add stress when he was already in a weakened state. She also hadn't wanted to spread the word about the existence of horcruxes in general, and had been reluctant to mention it in front of Remus. But she hadn't taken Harry into account with Dumbledore's offer, and now she too wondered if getting Harry to Hogwarts was part of his plan. She looked over to Remus.
"Did you mention to him that we were sending Harry to Ilvermorny?" When Remus nodded, Marlene groaned, catching Reg's eyes. "I told Dumbledore I'd discuss everything over with you, and you would owl him later with an answer. You have time to think it over."
"I'll let Harry decide," was Reg's answer. And he did.
Later that night, after Marlene had told Regulus everything Dumbledore had did and said, the pair went to their eldest son and asked him which school he'd prefer to go to, Hogwarts or Illvermorny.
Harry ran a hand through his already messed hair. "I want to go to Hogwarts." His voice came out small as he looked up at his parents, uncertainty spread across his face. "I didn't want to disappoint you, since we've lived here all these years and me going to Hogwarts would mean uprooting Leo and Archer too."
"Oh Harry," Marlene whispered, holding her arms out for a hug. Without hesitation, Harry sank into her. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. "All you ever had to do was say something. We've always told you that."
"I know," he said, looking up at her. "But..."
"But what, son?" Regulus asked from his armchair. Harry looked at him.
"I didn't want to change anything when you've been so sick."
A muscle ticked in Reg's jaw before he stood and joined them on the couch, sitting on the other side of Harry. "Son. Look at me." He did. "What have I always told you and your brothers?"
"Not to worry about you because we're kids and you're the adults," he parroted, and Reg nodded, face impassive.
"Exactly. I am an adult, Harry, and I know what I can manage and what I cannot." He sighed, pulling their eldest into an embrace. "It so happens that I've been offered a job at Hogwarts, and I've decided to accept the position. We'll be moving to England, and you'll get to attend Hogwarts yourself."
Harry grinned.
