"So, you're alive again."

A quiet snort escaped from behind Remus. He ignored it in favour of staring at the person? Ghost? Thing? Being? Being in front of him. He had been confused when Sirius had come crashing through his floo babbling about ghosts, Harry and his brother of all things. He hadn't believed him once he had calmed down enough to explain, dismissing it as a joke. It hadn't been until he had come to the Potter household and seen the not-dead Regulus that he had believed Sirius was telling the truth and not playing a prank. In the time it had taken Sirius to bring Remus, Harry had fallen into an exhausted sleep, half from the strain of pulling Regulus into reality half from the anxiety of what it meant. They had just handed him off to an elf to be put to rest with his siblings when they had arrived.

"I am not alive perse, only partially." Regulus replied from where he was half sat, half sunken into the armchair. His focus was not on the werewolf opposite to him but on his current semi-solid state. He could sit in the chair and interact with the physical entities around him relatively. His finger would half sink into the cotton of the chair. It was a very weird experience, to say the least.

"You said that you were here because of Harry?" James, the ever-protective father asked from where he was standing near the doorway. Whether it was to prevent his kids from entering the room or to stop Regulus from going after his kids in case he turned out to be evil, he wasn't sure.

This was the reason why Regulus had had a crush on him. It wasn't the quidditch star, prankster extraordinaire, and head boy persona, but what he had seen beneath that.

Regulus had always been equal parts fascinated and disgusted by James. The golden boy who had stolen his brother. While he had been attracted to him, he never would have admitted it, even to himself, until that day. He had seen him defend a group of first-year Hufflepuffs and Slytherins from a group of older students. The older students (death eaters) had been tormenting the first years, the Hufflepuffs for being idiots and the Slytherins for daring to make friends outside of the house. Regulus had stumbled upon the incident accidentally and had been about to turn around and leave when James arrived.

James had been glorious. Transfigurations flowed like a ballad from his wand, changing the shapes of the bullies' hands and legs and tying them up completely. He had checked in with the kids, made sure they were okay, jokes pulling laughter from the kids with practised ease before he had sent them on their way. Yet, that was not the incident that had made him admit that the racing heart and the sweaty palms were not due to his hatred of James Potter but rather his attraction to the Gryffindor. It was what had happened after the kids had left that had sealed his attraction. Hazel which had been warm till then, turned completely cold. His warm inviting facade morphing into cruel harshness. "So, you thought that was fun, was it? Let's see if you enjoy this then."

Regulus had not seen nor heard what James had done, he had been too out of the way, but what he had known was that those students had steered clear of James for the rest of their last year. Their faces turned pale if they saw James within even a 20 feet distance from them.

Regulus was a Black. And Blacks had always been attracted to power. Especially power that no one knew existed? That, that thought was intoxicating. He had finally understood why Sirius chose James all the time, and he couldn't even fault him for it. While he had been attracted to him, he had always known it was fruitless. Anyone with eyes could see that James Potter belonged to only Lily Evans and vice versa. It had been beautiful, watching them come together. Bitterly beautiful. The entire school had watched bathed in excitement on the day that Lily Evans had finally agreed to go out with James Potter. They had known they were watching something extraordinary, two souls so complementary that could not help but gravitate towards each other. A moment in history if you will.

That was also the day that Regulus had let go of his adoration of James. He had never loved James, he had known that much. He had never even liked James much, but rather he had liked the atmosphere around him, the power around James, not just magical, but his own, the way he effortlessly charmed the masses, the way he made arrogance seem attractive. It hadn't been that hard to let go of it either, especially when he knew he would die. And then he had died.

And now he was not dead and was being interrogated as to what he was and why he was here when he himself didn't know the answer to that question.

"Your son is draped in Death. It is slowly growing, melding with him. He has a connection with Death which has been passed down through blood and then sealed in magic, I presume the night the Dark Lord attacked your family. He has been aware of my presence for a while now I think, haven't you noticed?"

James startled at that, his eyes meeting Sirius's in realisation. They had both noticed Harry staring at seemingly empty spaces with a thoughtful look sometimes, but they had not paid it much mind. Could they have stopped this connection if they had noticed it before? If they had only thought to ask Harry what he was looking at?

"We couldn't have stopped it, James." Lily said, her hand coming to hold his, guessing what her husband was thinking.

James looked into his wife's eyes, the one person whom he trusted above anyone else, especially when it came to something like this. Lily, Lily had known what was going on with Harry. His brilliant, beautiful, smart Lily flower had figured it out, yet for the first time he wished she was wrong. It felt terrible. It was terrible. He hadn't been able to save his son, his firstborn, his Harry again. First from Voldemort and now from Death itself he seemed. What a wonderful father he was.

"The Peverell family legacy is something I was aware of, but until now I dismissed it as a story." James stated pushing aside his thoughts for now. Now he needed to find out how to help his son first, he could ruminate over his failures later.

The others nodded at his words waiting for him to continue. "The world only knew the Peverells as the greatest necromancers and they were, but that is not all they were. They created something, something with the power of death, the grimoire doesn't state what, yet due to this, Death was pleased with them, their worship of them and so gifted them three items of extreme power, a wand, a stone and a cloak. The very same cloak we used in school." A bitter smile curved his chapped lips, Merlin he had been so carefree in Hogwarts.

"A wand, a stone and a cloak…" Sirius whispered with a hazy look in his eyes. He knew he had heard of it somewhere.

"The Deathly Hallows are real?" Remus's shock and disbelief were apparent in every word of his statement. James winced in discomfort. His whole life he had been told repeatedly that he could not tell this to anyone outside of the family. He hadn't even told Sirius, the first person he had shared this with was Lily.

"Yes. It is a family secret. The stone passed through the Gaunts before it was lost and the wand has been lost for ages. Though the legend of the Master of Death is false. A Gaunt a few decades back managed to find the wand and steal the cloak, yet it did nothing. Luckily he had been caught by Aurors when he went on a rampage and killed a whole village and we managed to get the cloak back, but the wand was again lost."

Lily placed a supportive hand on his shoulder, a gentle smile on her face when he looked back up at her. "Nevertheless, the same grimoire stated that Death could choose to bestow a part of their powers on anyone of the bloodline who they feel has pleased them, or someone they favour. One of the powers that Ignotus described he had developed is similar to what Harry did. But he had been the only one to be able to communicate with the shade, yet somehow we all can see you. That is the part I do not understand."

As Lily talked, Remus noted that her smell became extremely anxious. He could empathise with her. The kids were their whole lives. To find out that after the horror that was Halloween of 1981, it had left such a terrible mark on Harry? It made his blood boil and bile crawl up his throat. He couldn't even imagine how terrible the two young parents were feeling.

"Does this mean that Harry is going to keep pulling people back into life? That cannot be healthy for him, he was practically dead on his feet! And the backlash! I do not even want to know how much of a bigger target he would turn into after this!" Sirius paced as plans and ideas tumbled in his brain, wondering how to help and protect his godson.

"If I may," The soft tone of his brother cut through the tension. "I do not think he can do this with every person who has passed on. He had been unable to see the others who were around. I believe it is only if there is a strong enough bond with a living person around and if he wants others to see them that he can pull them through. My existence…was quite accidental with time as long as he concentrates and practices it should be fine." While his explanation made sense, Lily wondered if he was leaving something out. It didn't matter anyway, all that mattered was what she could do to protect her child.

"That's a relief at least." James said. "Now all we need to figure out is what to do about you." The same familiar harshness that had caused Regulus's heart to race in the past entered into James.

Sirius stiffened at that even though he didn't want to, he knew why James was cautious, why he had said that, yet, yet this was Reggie.

His little brother. The one he had missed so so much before, the one he regretted leaving behind every second since he had run away. This was Reggie, the shy, quiet, sarcastic kid whom he had protected in his childhood, the little boy who had snuck into his room so many times after another fight, another lecture, after another 'pleasant' afternoon spent with his dear family.

This wasn't Regulus Black, the caustic, cold, hard Slytherin his brother had turned into after, after everything, after he had left after he had abandoned him.

"He'll stay with me." He didn't know why he had uttered that. He and Reggie had been on terrible terms before his death, the last time they had spoken caustic, harsh words dripping like venom.

"Padfoot."

Ah, there was Remus's 'don't rush into things Padfoot, stop and think' voice. He didn't turn to look at him, all he could see was his brother and the sudden realisation that he had a second chance now, he could save his brother now, it didn't matter that he wasn't fully alive, he would take any part of Reggie that he could get.

"Padfoot, he was a death eater before, how do you know he won't hurt you, or us or Merlin forbid the kids?" He had forgotten how harsh James could be at times, especially when defending his loved ones. He didn't want to think his brother was actually capable of killing anyone.

"He's my brother Prongs." He didn't need to say anything else, he knew James could read all that he had not said in his eyes. He could see a little reluctance bleed into his being.

"If it helps, I wasn't a very good death eater, I didn't even kill anyone ever." Regulus interrupted the silence. By Merlin, it had made him so uncomfortable. He never would have popped into a conversation that way before, but death it seemed, was a great way to let loose.

"Oh yes, that helps so much." Remus muttered.

"Regulus is there any way you can prove that you aren't a death eater or have any of their sympathies because there is no way you are going to be around us if you are." Lily asked him tired of the conversation which seemed to go nowhere. She wants to be done here. Done with this so she could go and spend time with her kids.

"I do. I know how to defeat the Dark Lord." That caught the attention of the whole room.

"You do?" James's voice was coloured with surprise, disbelief and the tinniest splashes of hope. Regulus nodded his head, even as he avoided looking at James.

"Are any of you familiar with the concept of Horcruxes?" He didn't expect them to be, but he hoped they were, it would certainly make it easier, he didn't like talking about them.

"Horcruxes revolve around the concept of immortality, one of the most brutal forms of it. Unlike immortality through the Philosopher's Stone, which binds the soul tightly to the body while increasing the durability of the body such that it doesn't go through the normal ageing process, but they can still be killed if their body is hurt and it doesn't protect them from diseases. So, if someone using a Philosopher's Stone gets a life-threatening disease, the disease will remain even if they elongate their lives. Horcruxes on the other hand, work around the premise of living even if the body is damaged. To do this, one splits the soul into an anchor. Even if the body is killed, the soul will remain on the earth, not as a ghost but in flux, until they can again build a new body. This is just a rudimentary understanding of it, the actual process and description of it are much more terrible." Regulus's voice was matter of fact, stressing on the important parts, explaining the exact parts which he knew would cause problems for them.

He should have been a professor. Lily's subconscious remarked even as the active part of her brain processed his words.

"So Voldemort made a horcrux?" Remus asked in disgust. As much as he didn't like to think about it, being a werewolf gave him an innate understanding of soul and magic and just how closely they were entwined. To think of someone who had desecrated their soul, their magic in such a way was terrible.

"Yes, and I know where it is."

"Are you serious?" Lily's heart soared. They could finish it. They could end it permanently. Her kids wouldn't need to be a part of this ugliness, it could be left in the past, a shadow that will never touch her children.

"Wait, wait wait, We are skipping over a very important part." Sirius interrupted. "How do you know this Regulus? Why do you know this?" Inscrutable grey eyes looked into their twin.

"How did you even die?" Sirius had a bad feeling, a premonition he hoped he was wrong about. The inexplicable death of his brother, the whispers of his desertion and subsequent murder, they had never seemed right, yet the surety with which Regulus was describing one of the worst desecrations of magic, and his conviction that he had one of them made by the worst Dark Lord to ever exist, they were leading him down a path he didn't want to do.

His brother's gaze conveyed what Sirius staunchly refused to believe, his body radiating understanding, sadness and resignation. Bile rose in Sirius's throat. He knew. He knew what he was going to say. He knew how he had lost his brother, he knew before Reggie even opened his mouth what he was going to say. The world was spinning and spinning and spinning. It didn't make sense. It did not make sense. It should not. He had been- Reggie had been 17. Seventeen. A child. Barely an adult. He should have stayed. He should have taken Regulus, he should have forced his brother out of that godforsaken house. Thoughts, regrets, useless useless hopes swam around in his mind.

"Because it cost my life to steal it."

And the world crashed down.