Edited 6/13/23: Minor Grammar/Spelling

Okay let's REALLY introduce ourselves to Regulus.

Enjoy my moving/packing/cleaning avoidance!

Saturday, June 13. 1998

At 3 that morning, Gertie appeared in their room. "Masters and Mistress," she said firmly. Hermione and Draco had shot up at the sound of her apparition pop and Theo had grumbled from the other side. "I am being sorry to wake you, but Missy Narcissa said you wanted to know when Lord Black be waking up."

"Thank you, Gertie," Hermione said with a smile. She pushed Theo out of bed and stood to dress, picking out some semi-formal robes. "Glamour or no?" she asked the boys.

"No, I think we'll be alright. He's going to side with the Order," Draco said confidently, "and the Blacks have a natural affinity for Occlumency."

When the three of them were ready, they went down to the Floo Parlour where Ginny was waiting for them. "Took you long enough," she huffed impatiently. They all made their way to the Floo to Headquarters and were ushered upstairs by Kingsley.

Upon entering the room, Hermione was greeted by Narcissa and Andromeda fussing over Regulus, who was sitting up in his bed. Kreacher was weeping at the foot of the bed, just staring at "his wonderful Master," and Remus was standing in the corner, holding a whimpering Teddy.

"You must be my cousin," Regulus said, looking at Draco, "and these must be Hermione and Theo?"

Hermione beamed at him, "We are," she said excitedly, "I read your journal and have to say I was impressed with you. You were quite brave through everything. We destroyed the Horcrux you found, but it was just this Spring."

Draco and Theo were looking at her talk with small smiles on their faces, "I'd wondered what it was, all I knew was it was Dark," Regulus said, thoughtfully.

Draco cleared his throat and introduced himself to his cousin, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Black. I hope you know that House Malfoy counts you as a close ally."

"It's my honour to meet you as well, Draco, House Black is proud to call you one of its sons."

The group devolved into introductions, before Regulus begged off to sleep. The rest of the group dispersed to their rooms, the residents of Mitternacht deciding to stay the night since none of them had anywhere to be in the morning.

When Hermione woke up to the smell of bacon frying, and Theo's arms wrapped around her, she reached out for Draco, but found his side of the bed was cold. "Not yet, love," Theo mumbled in her ear, "I just want to hold you a little longer."

She smiled softly, but obliged him as she settled deeper into his arms. She quickly found herself in that between sleep and awake state that was so comfortable. Her mind began to process all the events that had happened in the past few weeks. A little over a month ago she was on the run with Harry and Ron, breaking into Gringotts and then going to the battle. Here she was, being held again by Theo, her husband, safe with the Order, and plotting the demise of Tom.

Things had been going fast since Gringotts, but these past few days she'd finally felt like she could take a breath. Knowing Draco was downstairs somewhere talking to his Mum, Aunt, and Cousin made her feel a warm bubble of affection. She and Theo were the "last of their lines," but she was glad that after not having familial bonds for so long, Draco was finally getting to build them.

After an unknown amount of time in the dreamworld, she heard the door creak open. She opened one eye to see Draco, leaning against the doorframe, breakfast tray floating behind him. "I see that little eye winking open, Granger," he said with a chuckle. "I figured you two would never wake up if I didn't force it, it's nearly noon."

"Need more sleep," Theo groaned, "but our bed is so cold and lonely without you."

Draco raised an eyebrow and she nodded once. He took off from his place at the door and launched himself at Theo, giving Hermione just enough time to disentangle herself. Draco began peppering kisses all over Theo's face. "I know, but there are people here that want to talk to us. We have battles to plan."

Theo tried to hide his smile at Draco's playful nature, but Hermione knew he wouldn't be able to hold back his laughter for long. Draco was so rarely playful anymore since he was Marked. He'd always been the more serious of her boys, but his competitive nature for Quidditch usually came out in playful ways when she was around.

Sure enough, moments later, Theo was laughing and going in to tickle Draco. Hermione felt the breakfast tray bump against her arm as her husbands attacked each other. She leaned over and pulled her plate into her lap, finding that she wasn't as hungry as she'd thought. She picked at her food for a bit, eventually being joined by Theo who wolfed his down ravenously.

When they'd finished, Hermione slid into the robes she'd worn last night and followed Draco down the stairs, when they reached the bottom, he draped his arm around her shoulders and she wound hers around his waist, reaching out her other hand for Theo.

They entered the makeshift war room to find Regulus and Harry sitting with their heads tilted together, talking. The rest of the highest ranking Order members were spread around having assorted conversations. "Good of you to join us," Kingsley smirked.

Hermione flushed but sat in the chair that Theo pulled out for her. Theo threw his hand over the back of her chair and Draco placed his hand on her thigh. "So bloody possessive," Harry murmured fondly with an eye roll. She stuck her tongue out and he winked.

"Now that we're all here, we can get started," said Kingsley. "This morning I had the honour of reconnecting with an old friend and Slytherin housemate, Regulus Black. We discussed the state of the war and all the things that have happened. Remus and I," he said, looking at the werewolf in question, who was looking quite morose, "talked to Regulus about his brother…"

Remus swallowed heavily, "I'll reiterate that he'd be very proud of you. Probably say some ludicrous pun and laugh."

Hermione chuckled, quietly agreeing with Remus. "Mum, Aunt Andi and I," continued Draco, "discussed our own roles in the war and what might be helpful moving forward."

Regulus sat up straighter, "We've decided that it would be best for me to return to the Dark Lord, I will tell him how I was trapped in a Magical lake that held me in stasis and for some reason on my birthday I was ejected. I was lucky that Kreacher came when I called before I fell into my healing coma. Thankfully, Kreacher has always felt more loyalty to House Black than Harry Potter and called my cousin Draco last night when I woke."

Hermione looked around at everyone nodding, "We're hoping," Narcissa continued, "that this will elevate Draco's status with the Dark Lord and catapult Reggie to Inner Circle, he's much more sane than most of the members, but has the knowledge from the First War."

"As long as we're in majority agreement, we will move forward with this plan," Kingsley continued, "Can I get a show of hands for moving forward?"

"Before we do that," Hermione interrupted, "what will be done if Tom doesn't accept Regulus back?"

"I'll have an Emergency Portkey for real emergencies and a bottle of Draught of the Living Death if I feel like I need to cover my tracks by dying again," Regulus said with a smirk.

Hermione nodded, "What if he doesn't believe Draco?"

"He will, darling," Draco said looking down at her. "It's such an outrageous tale and even if he doesn't believe us right away, Reg was in an enchanted lake and did come out mysteriously on his birthday."

Hermione sunk into her chair, "I'm quite worried about this plan. We're risking our one solid spy for this, but I can't see a better alternative. I also fully recognise that I'm a bit concerned as said spy is also my husband. I can't really be objective."

"I agree with Hermione, I think the two of us have to stand out from this vote, I can't in good conscience send my husband out without being more certain, but we will of course defer to the decision of the group. We'll abstain."

"Thank you," Kingsley said, "all in favour?" Hermione watched as ten of the other eleven people raised their hands, Andromeda was the only vote for "no."

Remus stood, "We will finalise details, then Draco will take Regulus to Malfoy Manor to reintroduce him to Tom."

Hermione felt her gut clench, hoping that things would turn out the way they hoped.

I'm hoping that eventually the Muse will introduce some quality Regulus & Hermione scenes, maybe he'll become a major character, but who would he be paired with? Remus? Someone from Dreomione's year? Some OC that adds to the plot?

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think or if you have any thoughts about what might happen next!