Written together with Madamkitten!
Enjoy and please leave a review behind :-D
Love Kalilje
Chapter 3
Regulus was tired, really tired. He had been bouncing back and forth between the dragon and the cave. He was exhausted. More than anything he wished for death right now, just an end to it all. His body was just starting to adjust to the Dragon, when he was pulled again. He couldn't do it anymore. If a cat would catch him at Hogwarts, he would happily let the cat eat him; he wouldn't even fight it. Again he landed in the cave, he almost tumbled in the water, but he got his hold at the last minute. He was thirsty and hungry, but wouldn't go near the water. So he walked over to his safe place. After so many years in the cave's darkness, he knew just where to put his foot down, which rocks were slippery and how to avoid the water. He found his little "home" if one could call it that. Regulus sat down, trying to get his limbs to stop hurting. The pain was always the worst after being a dragon, it never quite felt like his bones resettled correctly.
Regulus conjured a small flame, and put it in front of him. After all those years of being kept here, he had eventually managed some wandless magic. The first time he had succeeded in using it, he was so happy. He never counted on being able to use wandless magic, but after Voldemort took his wand away, he practiced every chance he got. Especially when he was in the cave. The darkness reminded him too much of Voldemort, so he conjured his small flame and just looked at it. Regulus tried to heal some of his recent wounds, but with no luck. He had never been able to heal himself, no matter how much he tried. His wandless magic never seemed capable of any healing magic. It had amazed him that his little witch had been able to do it last year.
His witch…
Just thinking about Hermione made Regulus smile. He loved to be near her and wanted nothing more than to be back at Hogwarts with her. And if his calculation was correct, the next term would be starting soon. He knew it only was a matter of time before he could be back with her. He missed her. More than Regulus thought was possible. Even though he knew it was fruitless, he wished more than anything that he could sleep beside her again. He wanted to let her touch him again, and heal him. Oh, how he wished she would heal him again. The last time he had been in the cave the inferi had managed to break his right leg. After that with all the shifting, his leg just wouldn't heal properly. He was limping around, and knew he most likely would do that forever if he didn't get the bone reset soon. Regulus looked down at his faded mark on his arm, how stupid he was to get that! He looked over at the flame, while he tried to get it bigger. It almost happened last time. He had managed to get it to briefly light up the whole cave, but it only lasted seconds.
"God damn it!" Regulus hissed as the flame died again. He was a bit hoarse, not having used his voice in a long time. Why should he? There was no one around he could talk to.
"Incendio'' Regulus whispered.
He could feel his magic building in his fingertips, making a small flame appear. He held the flame in his hand, letting it float just over his palm. The fire did sooth his limbs and the warmth was nice, when one was stuck inside a cave filled with moisture and water… He closed his eyes, thinking of Hermione, and tried to push the flame to be bigger. Regulus had found that thinking about his witch made him more relaxed and he was therefore able to produce the flame and use more magic than usual. Regulus set the fire down and took a small stone in his hand.
"Wingardium Leviosa" he whispered and the small stone floated from his hand. Regulus grinned, it was a victory, and every victory counted.
"Reducto!" he hissed and channeled all his magic towards the stone, watching as it shattered to tiny pieces.
"Not bad…" Regulus said to himself. He made a fire again and tried to find a comfortable position to get some sleep.
The last thing on his mind was Hermione…
He was back at Hogwarts! He could barely believe it, but he was back. Regulus was happy that he was back, it meant a lot to him to be here. But something felt different. Regulus was currently climbing the wall so that he could look out of the window. He almost fell down when he saw the dementors outside. Dementors? What in Salazar Slytherin's name were the guards of Azkaban doing here? What had happened?
Regulus hated the dementors. They took away all happy memories, leaving only pain and misery behind. He needed to get out of here. He couldn't be anywhere near them. He ran alongside the wall and he suddenly saw Lupin! Remus Lupin, had been one of Sirius's best friends! How on earth did they manage to get a werewolf to teach? Regulus knew all about Remus being a werewolf; Fenrir Greyback loved to tell the tale back in the days. He loved to brag about how he had bitten the young boy and cursed him to become a werewolf every full moon. He stopped for a bit, suddenly missing his older brother. Oh how he wanted to talk with him again, tell him everything that had been going on.
Regulus didn't want to dwell too much on it, he just wanted to see his witch again. More than anything, he wanted to be near Hermione again. As quickly as he could, he ran towards Gryffindor Tower. He needed to be with her, to feel her close. He needed to have her hands pet him, just once more. His body craved the kindness only she had shown him.
He quickly scanned the common room but it was currently empty, the student must have gone to bed already. He ran across the room, when a discarded Daily Prophet suddenly captured his eyes. He stopped running and looked. There, on the front page, was his brother's picture. He would recognize him anywhere. Regulus suddenly felt bad, he had a feeling in his stomach he couldn't quite recognize. More than once, he had thought about his brother, he missed him dearly. Regulus would have never in his life guessed that Sirius had snitched on his best friend, and to Voldemort. That didn't make any sense. Regulus knew that Sirius hated Voldemort, he would never have betrayed his friends like that. He was a part of the order for fucks sake! This couldn't be right.
The picture was moving, and if Regulus didn't know Sirius like he did, he would have thought him mad. He was screaming, trying to break free. How on earth did he manage to get out? No one had ever escaped Azkaban before, he couldn't believe that Sirius managed that. He looked one last time at his brother, letting one of his small paws touch the man's face. He hadn't seen his brother in so many years. Regulus looked, feeling a bit guilty. He knew that Sirius would have thought him dead by now. Everyone did. No one knew that Regulus was still alive. A small tear escaped his eye, falling down, landing on the moving picture. Regulus did miss his brother, more than he had realized. He wanted to hug him, telling him he was sorry. Tell him what he'd done, how he had switched sides.
Now Regulus needed to be with Hermione even more. He quickly ran towards the stairs and towards the third year dorm. Crawling under the door, he stood face to face with a big orange cat! Why the fuck did he not sniff before going in? This is it, I am dead now, he thought. But the cat didn't even try and eat him. It was sniffing him, okay, this is weird. Regulus stood his ground, not daring to move when he heard movement from one of the beds.
"Crookshanks, where are you? Oh Crooks, don't eat him! He's a friend!" Hermione cried as she almost tripped, getting down from the bed towards him.
Crookshanks? What a weird name, but the cat didn't do anything to him. Hermione took the cat in her arms and put it on her bed, before she put her hand down towards Regulus.
"I thought you were dead! After last year and the snake, I was so scared that it had eaten you, but here you are! My little Black!" Hermione smiled and kissed his head. Regulus sighed, he was in heaven again and never wanted to leave. He was kind of happy to be called Black, it was almost like he was human again.
"This is Crookshanks, he is my familiar, and he won't eat you, will you Crooks?" Hermione said as she climbed under the covers, setting Regulus down next to the cat.
Oh fuck, I am getting eaten now! Regulus thought as the cat put one of its extremely large paws on his body and dragged him closer. He was sure he would be eaten. But instead of pain from the cat's teeth, he felt a rough tongue being dragged along his head. Why on earth is that cat using its damned tongue on me? Regulus tried getting away, but the cat wouldn't let him.
Oh I see, he wants to play with me before he eats me, great, just great! Regulus thought this was it, he would surely die in the witch's bed tonight.
"Oh Crooks, I am so happy that you like him!" Hermione whispered as she pulled both the cat and the rat towards her, snuggling in under the plush bedspread. Regulus was almost crushed into the side of the cat, but he had to admit that it kind of felt nice being so close to the cat. It was very very soft and warm. Hermione closed her eyes, smiling as the cat, Crookshanks, put his head down, nestled in close to Regulus.
This had to be the weirdest thing he had ever encountered. They certainly made an odd trio!
Okay this was beyond crazy, maybe the craziest thing Regulus had ever encountered. He was currently sitting on Crookshanks back! Regulus got up early and headed outside, needing to get some air when he had been chased by a big black dog. How the fuck did such a big, stupid, ugly, smelly dog get into Hogwarts? He knew Hagrid was fond of dogs, but he had never seen this big black wolfdog. It was ugly! And it could use a bath. Certainly Hagrid knew how to bathe his pets; this couldn't possibly be one of his wretched beasts. But, thankfully Crookshanks had ran towards Regulus hissing at the dog, and then the cat had actually scared the dog off! Regulus was happy that he was on Crookshanks good side, this could come in handy one day. He had seen how Crookshanks had chased off that stupid gingers grey rat. Regulus hadn't gotten very close to the grey rat, but he knew there was something off about it. He had seen how Crookshanks had bitten the gingerboy as well. The way the boy ran from the dorm yelling and shouting, and for what? A small bite?He should consider himself lucky that he hadn't been in the cave with the inferi, or the dragon. If he cried because of a tiny cat bite, one that hadn't even drawn blood, by the way. The poor fool would surely die from the pain Regulus was used to.
What a wimp! Regulus thought as he chuckled at the memory.
As they came near the dorm, Regulus could hear Hermione crying again. Crookshanks heard it too, and started to run up the stairs towards her dorm. They jumped on the bed, where Hermione was curled into a ball, crying and sobbing. Regulus hated when she cried, and he couldn't do a damn thing about it. He wanted to hurt those idiots who had made her cry. She was his witch, no one should do her harm or make her cry. Regulus was pushing and trying to climb inside her hand and he licked her face.
"Oh Black, why does everyone act like I killed someone? Just because of a stupid broom! They all think I just robbed them of the house cup. I thought this year would be different, but apparently I can't do anything right!" Hermione cried again.
Regulus hated that she cried, he wanted nothing more than to tell her that she was perfect. He would love to worship her. Crookshanks tried to comfort her too, and they were both soon pulled into her arms in a tight embrace.
"Sometimes I feel like you guys are the only ones who truly understand me. I don't know what I would do without the two of you. I love you." Hermione cried, snuggling with them both.
Those words almost made Regulus' heart stop! She would, of course, never have uttered those words if she knew who he was, but it still spread some warmth inside him. He never wanted to leave her side again.
His brother was an animagus! And of course, he was a dog. How on earth did Regulus not realize this sooner. His older brother had been there the whole time! And the red haired boy's rat was a man. This had been a fucked up year.
First the gray rat, which apparently wasn't a rat but was in fact a man, Peter Pettigrew of all people! Regulus thought Pettigrew was dead, actually everyone thought Pettigrew was dead. But no, he was here, very much alive. And definitely uglier than ever before. Apparently Regulus' brother, who also was an animagus, just a black dog, was actually innocent. He had never betrayed the Potters, it had been the rat. He even had a dark mark! No wonder Regulus had despised the grey rat so much.
Oh boy! Regulus had sure missed a lot during his days in captivity. He was sitting still and trying to listen to it all, Hermione had taken to carrying him in her pocket, and they were now in the shrieking shack. They had just attacked Snape, which did look fun in Regulus' eyes. Lupin and Sirius were trying to explain to the young raven haired boy what had happened the night that his parents died. Regulus didn't pay it any attention. He only had eyes on his brother. Oh how he wished he could show him who he was. His brother looked like shit, but then again, he had been in azkaban for twelve long years. Prison changes people. He was thin, and he definitely could use a bath. But then again, Regulus knew that if it had been him, he would surely look the same.
They were trying to determine what they should do, but Regulus didn't pay them any attention. He couldn't, he was so close to his brother that it was almost painful. Suddenly they were all moving, Hermione kept her hand close to him, petting him a couple of times. If Regulus had been a cat, he was sure he had been purring the whole time. Everytime she would touch him, he felt a warmth spreading inside of him. He loved her. Her mind, her body, her soul, everything about her. He wished for nothing more than to bury his hands in her wild brown hair and show her exactly how much he loved her.
Regulus wanted to curse someone. He was beyond pissed. Who on earth would ever think that giving a teenage girl a fucking timeturner was a good idea? Now he was being pulled through time, because his witch and her friend wanted to free his innocent brother. He was happy to know his brother would be saved, but a fucking time turner? This was madness. Didn't the ministry regulate these devices? Absolutely insane.
Lupin had almost eaten them alive. It was the most terrifying thing Regulus had ever seen, and he had seen some scary shite. Snape had tried to protect them, which Regulus had to admit, was very brave of him to do so. Pettigrew the rat had run away, like the coward he was. And now Sirius was kept under lock and key, to be given the kiss in a few short hours. This would surely be a suiside mission. They were currently hiding in the forbidden forest, with a Hippogriff that looked like it would eat them all if given the chance. It kept looking at him, making Regulus curl himself closer to Hermione. Then suddenly they were chased by a werewolf, and then they were on the back of a bloody hippogriff, he couldn't think straight. All the things that had happened in the last couple of hours were crazy. Nothing made sense anymore. Nothing.
They got Sirius out, and Regulus wanted so badly to talk with him, to show him that he was there. Then suddenly they were watching as Sirius flew away on the hippogriff, and Regulus felt pain in his heart. He wanted to talk with his brother again. He wanted to look him in the eye, and tell him he was sorry. He wanted a hug from him again. Sooner than he thought possible, they were back at Hogwarts. Regulus suddenly wished that he was human again, so he could thank Hermione for saving his brother. He vowed that if he ever had the chance he would tell her just how grateful he was. She reached up into her pocket and started petting him, and that was when he felt the pull again.
No, no, no, no not now, he wasn't ready!
He could feel his bones break as he landed in the cave. Luckily for him, he was nowhere near the water. It hurt and he screamed! He had been in the rat form for so long, this was painful. When the shifting was over, he just stayed on the ground. His whole body hurt. Regulus groaned, and tried to get up, but with no luck. He conjured his small flame to light the place up, and started to cry. He couldn't help it. He didn't want this pain anymore. He wanted to live, to be human again, with no fear of being pulled around and shifted into different forms. He wanted to touch Hermione's face, and tell her what she meant to him. He wanted to hug his brother. To use magic. To heal properly. He couldn't do it anymore. He wished now, more than anything for death to come to him.
