AN: I'm not too sure about this chapter, I wanted to do the Horcruxes a little differently, but I used a little from the HBP in the cave scene but changed it a lot, so it's not exactly the same, hopefully, it's good, warning, there is fighting, weapons used, and bad language in this chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Chapter 52: A Shocking Discovery In A Cave
Remus Lupin could smell the salt water when his feet touched the ground. A chili breeze ruffled his light brown hair as he unhooked the hicking rope from around his waist. Next to him, Bucky landed and did the same, then Steve, then Clint Barton; they had just climbed down a towering cliff, and the giant rock they now stood on looked to have once broken off it; below the rock was the sea, Remus could hear the sounds of the waves splashing against the bottom of the rock as light snow began to fall. As the other three men untied themselves, Remus turned around and frowned as he looked out to the other side of the sea, where a second rocky cliff stood. At the bottom of that cliff was a cave, which is where they needed to go.
"Not exactly what I'd call child-friendly," Bucky said. He was now standing by Remus. He was wearing camouflage cargo trousers, with a black top, and a green army jacket, along with combat boots and a pair of leather gloves; on Bucky's back was an army green backpack that Remus had enchanted to hold anything and everything he also had his large gun slung over his shoulder, two large knives hooked to each side, and no doubt his many pockets held various other weapons. It was likely that Bucky had a box of extra bullets somewhere on his person, along with the silver bullets Sirius had made him.
"The village nearby is where the orphanage would bring the children on day trips. Not the cliffs," Remus explained, "but according to Loki's research, Voldemort once brought two other children here during one of these day trips, and whatever he did frightened them both so bad they were sent away."
"Sent away where?" Steve asked. He was standing on the other side of Bucky, dressed in more traditional hiking clothes, complete with hiking boots and his Captain America shield hung on his back; Clint wore the same as he always does, except he now wore a hoodie over his sleeveless top and of course, his quiver hung on his back, with his bow and arrows in them, and a handgun was on his side; Remus himself wore similar hiking clothes as Steve, but the only weapon he had on his person was his wand. They had scouted out this area a couple of days ago and got no further than the top of the cliff, and from that, they decided on what they might need. The weapons were for in case they ran into Death Eaters or magical creatures. After what happened in Little Hangleton, they decided it was a good idea to be prepared for anything.
"Either another orphanage or an asylum," Remus replied, "the old records Loki somehow was able to dig up didn't say, just they had to be sent away."
"So, how do we get over there?" Clint asked, and Remus looked down over the side of the rock. There was a series of jagged niches made footholds leading down to boulders that lay half-submerged in water and closer to the cliff. Remus pointed down at them.
"We'll have to climb down and swim across," Remus said.
"You do realize that water is probably ice cold, right?" Clint demanded.
"I can use a spell to dry us once we get across. We only have to suffer while still in the lake," Remus replied.
"No, I have a better way to get us across," Bucky said as he took his backpack off, got down on the ground, and started going through it until he pulled out four headbands with lights attached to the front, along with an inflatable boat.
"What all do you have in that bag?" Clint said as Bucky handed him one of the headbands.
"Anything and everything," Bucky answered, handing one of the headbands to Steve. He then zipped up the bag and stood, put it on his back, picked up his gun and slung it over his shoulder, and handed one of the remaining headbands to Remus, who put it on his head; he was sure Bucky had anything you'd need in an emergency in that bag, about a week ago, Natasha, Bucky, and Tony had taken a shopping trip to a sports equipment store. They bought back what looked like the whole store. Remus had no idea what happened at said store, but Natasha had vowed to Remus that she was never going anywhere with just them two again and that she now knew what Clint meant when he said Tony and Bucky together were worse than unsupervised toddlers loose in a toy store. There was a reason Steve wouldn't allow Tony and Bucky to go anywhere in public alone without someone to watch them; the two had already managed to get themselves thrown out of at least three stores and one restaurant for goofing off and disturbing the other patrons.
"Hey, Moony, is there a spell to inflate this thing?" Bucky asked, "I have a pump, but that'll take too long."
"Of course," Remus said, smiling slightly at the use of his old nickname as he pulled out his wand and waved it over the boat; it began to inflate instantly, and once done, Steve and Bucky picked it up and tossed it over the side of the rock, it landed in the sea below, moving in the waves. Remus was glad Bucky thought of bringing it. He wasn't keen on swimming to the cave in ice-cold water, no more than Clint was.
"We probably should climb down one at a time," Bucky said, "I'll go first."
Bucky walked to the edge of the cliff and began to climb down. Clint stepped over to the edge and looked down. He must have thought Bucky was climbing too slow because he decided to yell at him.
"For a super soldier, you sure are slow," Clint called, "come on, man, we don't have all day."
"Shut up, stupid," Bucky said; Clint laughed. Lately, Bucky had gotten into the habit of calling people stupid and or telling them to shut up or both, and Remus wondered who he learned it from, Tony or Loki. "Fine, if you want me to go faster, how's this."
Bucky bent his knees up and pushed his body out more, then he let go of the cliff and did a flip, landing in the sea, causing the inflatable boat to move a little because he caused the water to have little ripples. When Bucky's head broke the surface, he was smiling but swearing.
"Holy shit, this water is cold," Bucky yelled. He grabbed the side of the boat and pulled himself up into it, and it was a good thing Bucky's backpack was waterproof.
"It's December, what did you expect, warm water?" Clint called down to him, and Bucky flipped him off, a bad habit Remus knew he had learned from Tony.
"Guys, come on, we have to stay focused," Steve said.
Remus decided to climb down next. He didn't go too fast but didn't go slowly either. It was surprisingly easy to climb down the side of the large rocky cliff, and Remus wondered if it had anything to do with being a werewolf. As his feet touched the rocks below, he carefully turned and climbed into the boat, pulled out his wand, and offered to use a spell to dry Bucky, who happily accepted. As Steve descended from the cliff, Remus waved his wand and dried the water Bucky had dripped all over the boat. He sat down next to Steve while Clint climbed into the boat; once he sat next to Bucky, Remus tapped the boat with his wand, mumbled a spell, and it began to move, pulling them towards the cave. Soon, they entered a tunnel leading deep into the cave. After about ten minutes, the boat finally stopped beside a set of stairs. They all climbed out and went up the steps.
"Fuck, it's even colder in here," Bucky said. He paused and frowned as the steps had just led to a wall.
"Buck, do you have to swear like that?" Steve asked. Bucky just shrugged while grinning; calling people stupid and telling them to shut up wasn't the only habit Bucky had picked up. After spending a lot of time around Sirius this past summer, he'd gotten a bit of a foul mouth, something Sirius was famous for, but it annoyed Steve greatly.
"I'm certain we have to get past this wall," Remus said, stopping the two from bickering, something they were known to sometimes do. Bucky and Steve reminded him a little of James and Sirius; Bucky, like Sirius, was more of the wild one with a temper. James, like Steve, was more of the calmer one, not so quick to anger. Though he did go along with a lot of Sirius or, in Steve's case, Bucky's crazy ideas, he helped to keep things from getting too out of hand, which did cause bickering between Sirius and James sometimes also, and the only difference between the two sets of friends, Steve and Bucky didn't bully people. That was a side of Remus' two old friends he never liked, and he was happy when they finally stopped in their seventh year.
"We could see if Bucky wants to punch his way through." Clint joked; Remus smiled as he continued waving his wand and mumbling, then frowned.
"Of course, he'd be so crude,"
"Is something wrong?" Steve asked.
"No, we can get through. We have to give the wall a payment," Remus said, stepping back. "The ward is set up this way, and it's a strong one. Would take me days to break if I was even able to."
"You have to give the wall a payment?" Steve asked, a little confused. He doubted Remus meant money.
"Yeah," Remus said, then turned to Bucky. "Hey, Bucky, can I borrow your knife?" Bucky didn't answer. He just pulled his knife off his side, flipped it, and pointed the handle toward Remus, who took it and held his hand up.
"What are you-" Steve's question was stopped by Remus running the blade across his palm, causing a small cut to open up, and blood dripped from it. "Why did you do that?"
"The payment is blood," Remus said. He wiped the knife off on his trousers, then handed it to Bucky. Remus then raised his palm to the wall, and a few drops of blood dripped on it; then he stood back, and the ground shook slightly as the wall opened to reveal total darkness. The only light was coming from their headbands, showing them what looked like a never-ending tunnel.
"That was dramatic," Bucky sarcastically said, as Remus used his wand to heal his hand; sarcasm, another habit Bucky had picked up from either Loki or Tony; both individuals could be snarky, out of everyone around them. Bucky seemed to pick up the habits of the worse three; though it might annoy Steve a little, Remus found it amusing. He'll take the friendly, foul-mouth, snarky version of Bucky over the grumpy, quiet, depressed version any day.
Remus motioned them all to walk forward into the dark tunnel. The only lights were coming from the headbands on their heads, the tunnel was dark and gloomy, and Remus could smell mold and dampness; there must be parts of the tunnel that leaked or something, but that wasn't the smell Remus was worried about, it was the spell of decay he didn't like.
"How do we even know we are going the right way?" Clint asked, "What if a Horcrux isn't even down here? We could be roaming this tunnel for hours or even days and not find anything."
"We aren't going to be down here for days," Steve said, "If we don't find anything in a few hours, we'll leave and come back another day."
"And how will we know we aren't looking in the same place?" Clint asked as they approached two turn offs, heading in two different directions. Remus pulled his wand out of his pocket, waved it in an X shape, and said a spell, and a glowing X appeared on the tunnel wall to the left.
"I'll mark the way we go," Remus replied, then headed down the left tunnel, where they walked a long time before they came upon another turn like before. Remus marked the wall on the right tunnel this time, and the four of them entered it and kept going. The tunnel turned left and they stepped right into a gold mist, and the four of them were suddenly hanging in the air upside down.
"What the fuck?" Bucky cried as his gun slipped from his shoulder and fell to the floor; Remus' wand did the same as it fell from his pocket.
"Must be a trap," Remus said as he pulled his leg until he pulled himself free from the gold mist and fell to the floor.
"Ouch," Clint mumbled as he copied Remus and fell into his back, then sat up, rubbed the back of his neck, and immediately checked to make sure his bow and arrows didn't break. Steve and Bucky soon pulled themselves from the mist and fell to the ground. They sat up, and the four sat there a moment before they all stood, making sure each other was okay, then continued.
It seemed like they walked down the tunnel for hours, with Remus marking their way; whenever they took a turn, they barely spoke, all on edge, waiting for something to happen. They turned right, and Remus stopped and threw out his arm.
"Hang on, I hear something," Remus said. He sniffed and could smell blood as he heard the scuffling of feet, but before he could voice anything, they were getting attacked by small humanoid figures wearing red caps. They jumped on them, clawing them with sharp, pointy fingernails.
Remus grabbed one and tossed it to the wall, then grabbed another and threw it, and more just kept climbing on him, same with Bucky, Clint, and Steve. Remus tried to reach for the wand in his pocket, only to get sharp nails dug into his hand. Bucky kicked one that tried to bite his ankle, and it went flying down the tunnel and out of sight.
Clint tossed one down and tried to step on it. Steve was doing the same while getting clawed by the creatures, and then suddenly, a loud bang echoed down the tunnel. Bucky had pulled out a handgun, pointed it down the tunnel, and fired. Half the creatures took off running, and then Bucky fired again, and the rest fled down the tunnel following them.
"What the hell were those things?" Clint demanded, rubbing his neck, which was bleeding a little from a deep scratch.
"Red Caps," Remus said, looking his hand over. He could see scratches going across the top that was bleeding. "They usually live in old battlefields or where blood was split; they attack those who stumble into their territory."
After taking a moment to catch their breaths and calm down, Remus and the three Avengers continued. They walked for about twenty minutes when they made a turn and paused once again as they saw at the end a figure that looked like it had one leg and was made of smoke. It was holding a lantern in its hand.
"Is that a ghost?" Bucky asked.
"No, ghosts look different. That's a Hinkypunk," Remus said just as it raised its lantern and shot a fireball at them. The four ducked, and it fired again. Remus reached his wand this time and pointed it at the Hinkypunk.
"Flipendo"
The Knockpack jinx hit the Hinkypunk and sent it flying down the tunnel and out of sight.
"We must be getting close." Steve said, "Since we keep running into traps."
"Yeah, stay alert; they can only get worse," Remus replied. He led them down the tunnel when dozens of Inferi came stumbling out of a side tunnel and attacked Remus, Bucky, Steve, and Clint, pulling on their hair and clothes and trying to pull them into the tunnel.
"What the hell?" Clint shouted as he pulled out one of his arrows, stabbed one up through its chin, shoved it back, then turned to the one grabbing him from behind, flipped it over his shoulder, and stumped its head. It was so old and decayed that it just splattered everywhere.
Bucky quickly disposed of the ones attacking him and grabbed one Inferius, grabbing hold of Steve and pulling its head off. The body fell to the ground, still moving and flopping around. Remus knocked one down, put his fist through another, and tossed one down the tunnel where it came from. As more kept coming towards them, Remus grabbed Clint's arm and jerked him behind him, almost lifting him off his feet.
"Steve shield," Remus called; Steve quickly grabbed his shield, pulled Bucky behind him, and covered them with his shield while Remus pointed his wand down the tunnel.
"Incendio,"
A jet of blue flames shot out of the end of Remus' wand and lit up the tunnel, going around Steve's shield and knocking some Inferi back, catching some on fire but also sending them stumbling the other way, the three Avengers and one wizard ran down the tunnel in the opposite direction to put as much distance between them as they could. After about ten minutes, they all paused to catch their breaths, and Bucky pulled a bottle of water out of his backpack and shared it with the others.
"Am I losing it, or was that fucking zombies," Bucky demanded, handing the bottle to Steve.
"Inferi," Remus replied, then nodded thanks to Steve when he handed the bottle to him and took a drink.
"What?"
"Inferi," Remus repeated, handing the water to Clint. "Dead bodies enchanted to do a wizard's bidding."
"So, zombies," Bucky said as Clint returned the water to him.
"I guess in a way they are," Remus replied, "Same concept, just a bit different; Inferi don't bite you and turn you into one. It's a curse; I'm not sure how it works. It's dark magic; Sirius could explain it better."
"So magical zombies," Bucky said, not giving up on the whole zombie thing. Remus chuckled, and then the ground under their feet began to rumble and suddenly clasped out from under them, causing the four heroes to go crashing through, landing hard on the ground below, as debris fell on top of them.
"Everyone alright?" Steve's voice asked as Remus knocked stuff off himself, trying to stand.
"I'm alright," Clint said, "Can't say the same for my bow, damn it."
"Bucky."
"Yeah, I'm good," Bucky replied. Remus heard a scoffing and things being moved and tossed and assumed it was Bucky and Steve getting to their feet.
"Anyone see my shield?" Steve asked, looking around. Bucky started helping him look for it, and Remus walked over to Clint, who was looking at his broken bow and pointed his wand at it.
"Reparo,"
Clint's bow repaired itself, and he smiled at Remus. "Thanks, man."
"You're welcome," Remus replied. His smile fell when an eerie feeling came over him, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on their ends.
"Is it me, or did it just get colder?" Clint demanded.
"Guys, I think maybe we should -"
Remus was interrupted when Bucky screamed; Remus turned towards him to see Bucky on his knees, holding his ears while two dementors hovered over him.
"Bucky!" Steve yelled. He stepped towards him, but Remus grabbed his arm and held him back, then pointed his wand towards the dementor.
"Expecto Patronum,"
A silvery wolf shot out of the end of Remus' wand and charged at the dementor, making it flee. Steve ran toward Bucky and more floated into the room. Remus had a hard time continuously casting his patronus as howls of werewolves filled his ears as they tried to relive every painful transformation that he had over and over again. Then, the sound of shots nearly drained the howls out as Bucky repeatedly fired his gun at the dementors. Over to the side, Clint was backing up while trying to hook an arrow into his bow; Remus pointed his wand his way and chased the dementor away with his patronus.
"What the hell are these things?" Steve yelled he had hidden behind his shield, which surprisedly was doing a good job keeping the dementos; when Bucky got overwhelmed again, Steve threw his shield at the dementor, knocking it away from him, then when it came back to him, he ran over and covered Bucky, blocking the dementors from him, and Remus went on keeping them away with his Patronus.
"Dementors," Remus replied, sending a Patronus at another dementor.
"How do we kill them?" Clint asked. He was back on his feet and now standing behind Remus, who glanced back at him before turning back to what he was doing.
"Nothing, you can only keep….no, wait, Loki has killed them by freezing them." Remus thought a moment, and then, instead of a patronus charm, he cast a freeze spell; it hit a dementor and froze it in place, and Steve quickly threw his shield at it and sliced it into two.
"Cover me," Clint said, then ran over and snatched up Bucky's dropped backpack, ran back to Remus, dropped to his knees, and dug through it, "Yes, Bucky, I love you, man!"
Remus turned to Clint to see him holding a muggle fire extinguisher. He and Remus nodded at one another, and then, simultaneously, Clint used the fire extinguisher while Remus cast a freeze spell. At once, the dementors froze in place, and then Steve threw his shield and took them all out.
"Bucky," Steve asked, bending down to help Bucky, but he shoved Steve away and jumped up on his own.
"Let's go find that damn Horcrux so we can get the hell out of here," Bucky said. He walked over, snatched his backpack up, and kept walking without a word.
"Bucky,"
"I'm not talking about it, Steven." Bucky snapped, and Remus couldn't blame him for the mood he was suddenly in. He couldn't imagine the quilt Bucky must be feeling for being forced to murder numerous people, then to be forced to hear it all again.
"Guess we follow Bucky now," Clint said, tossing the empty fire extinguisher to the side, and following after Bucky, Steve and Remus did the same; they followed Bucky, turning left, then right, then left or going straight, while Remus marked their way, then after what seemed like an hour, Bucky suddenly stopped and held out his arm, causing them all to stop.
"What is it?" Steve asked. Bucky pointed down; Remus looked and saw only darkness. The tunnel had led out onto a cavern that had ceilings so tall they were out of sight; they were standing on a cliff that had a drop so far that you could see nothing but darkness going down; across from them was another cliff that had a cave that was blocked with a round metal door, that had a bronze snake on the front.
"Do you think that's where the Horcrux is," Bucky asked, nodding towards the other cliff.
"I'm positive it is," Remus replied, "We need to get through that door."
"How are we going to get across?" Clint asked.
"We walk," Remus replied, pointing at a wooden bridge held in the air by copper chains.
"That doesn't look safe," Steve said, being cautious.
"We have no other choice," Remus said, "We'll just have to be very careful."
"Let's go then; I agree with Bucky, I want out of this damn place," Clint said. He stepped onto the bridge and began walking forward, Remus right behind him, but Bucky turned to Steve and motioned him to go first.
"Age before beauty," Bucky said.
"You're a year older than I am," Steve said.
"Yeah, but you look older," Bucky replied, grinning. He seemed to be back to his old self, except for the haunted look in his eyes.
"I do not," Steve mumbled. Remus was laughing when Steve stepped onto the bridge; over the last few weeks, Remus had grown fond of the Avengers. They all had their own unique attitude and personalities; even if Bucky was picking bad habits up from the others, and Remus almost felt like he was part of the Marauders again, they, too, loved to pick on and tease one another.
When that reached the other side, Remus pulled out his wand, went right to the door, and tapped it, mumbling words, then stepped back and tried a few spells, but nothing worked; Remus stepped forward and examined the door.
"Need help?" Bucky asked, stepping towards the door and pushing on the door.
"I'm not sure what we can do to open it; I'm pretty sure you have to use parseltounge to get in there," Remus said as Bucky still pushed on the door.
"We could contact Loki and see if he'll come to open it," Steve suggested, though he didn't sound very fond of the idea. Remus knew the Avengers still didn't like or trust Loki, and though things had gotten better between Remus and Loki, he could understand where the Avengers stood because Remus didn't fully trust Loki either.
"Well, I don't know any magic that'll bypass Parsletounge," Remus said.
"Why use magic?" Bucky asked, "Why not open it the muggle way?"
"Muggle way?" Remus asked, glancing at Bucky, and he nodded, grinning. Bucky hit the door hard with his shoulder and knocked it off its hinges, and it slammed down on the floor with a loud bang that shook the ground a little.
"The Muggle way," Bucky said, stepping over the door and entering a temple-looking room that was light up and mostly empty, with large pillars and some carvings on the wall. In the middle of the room was a statute of Salzar Slytherin; he had a wand in one hand, and the other held out as if it once held something. And sitting on Slytherin's head was a diadem, sliver, with an eagle-shaped in front with a sapphire dangling from it.
"What is that smell?" Clint demanded. The room smelled terrible, like an uncleaned restroom, causing Remus and the others to breathe through their mouths and to try and block out the smell.
"Think the crown is the Horcrux?" Steve asked, with a disgusted look on his face.
"Has to be," Remus said, stepping over to the bust. He kept his wand in his hand in case they came across more traps or jinxes; he stepped over a gold goblet and wondered if that was what used to be in Slytherin's hand, but Remus stayed alert for traps or jinkes, but there was none, which didn't sit right with Remus, especially since there was no curses or jinxes around the diadem.
"Is that statue supposed to be Voldemort?" Bucky asked. "I thought he was bold and snake-looking; that's what Harry told me."
"It's Salzar Slytherin," Remus said, reaching out and touching the diadem.
"Who?" Bucky demanded.
"One of the founders of Hogwarts," Remus replied. "He's an Ancestor of Voldemort's, something he's proud of."
Remus slowly lifted the diadem off Slytherin's head, then waited momentarily. Nothing happened, so Remus had Bucky turn around and put it in his bag.
"Let's get the hell out of here," Clint said, "Before something happens."
"Or I vomit," Bucky said, crinkling his nose.
There was a noise behind them, and the four turned around, raising their weapons; what Remus took for an Inferi at first stumbled out in front of them, and as it stopped and looked at them, Remus realized it wasn't an Inferius, but a man, a man that was in bad shape. He had obviously been trapped in this room for a long time; he had the look of a once-handsome man, but the lack of food and weight loss stole his looks from him; a shaggy bread hung from his face, which was so thin, you could see the outline of his once chiseled cheekbones, his dark grey eyes had large bags under them, and his greasy black hair was waist length, matted, and full of dirt and grime, the man hadn't seen sunlight in so long; his skin was extremely pale almost paper white, and his once expensive wizard robes were now ripped, and filthy, and hung off of bony shoulders, it was a miracle that this man was even alive.
"Umm….should I shoot it?" Clint asked Remus, raising his hand to say wait a minute when the not Inferius dropped to his knees and let out a bark of laughter that reminded Remus of Sirius.
"It's alive," Bucky said, lowering his gun and staring at the laughing man, who looked close to hysterics.
"Umm, sir, are you alright?" Steve asked. He didn't reply but did stop laughing and rubbed his jaw as if laughing hurt it. He then leaked his thin lips, which were cheapened and bleeding, and he gripped his wand in his skeleton-looking hand tightly and stared at them before speaking one word.
"Water?"
Bucky immediately got in his backpack, pulled out a water bottle, opened it, and handed it to the man, who took it with a shaky hand, turned it up, and drank half in one drink, then lowered it, still looking at them.
"Are all Muggles that strong?" He demanded, nodding his head towards the door. His voice sounded horse as if he hadn't used it in years.
"Nah, Stevie and I are just special," Bucky replied; the guy snorted and took another drink, then said.
"Stevie? What kind of ridiculous Muggle name is that?"
"Hey," Bucky said, stepping forward, but Steve pulled him back, not caring about the insult, since the man didn't seem to be in his right mind, as he laughed again, then immediately stopped, and drunk more water.
"Did you get trapped in here trying to get the Horcrux?" Steve asked; the man lowered the water bottle and nodded, then turned it back up and drank more.
"How long have you been in here?" Clint asked. He shrugged with a frown as he ran his hand through his hair, getting it caught in a tangle.
"I don't know…I have no idea how long," he mumbled. "It was 1998 when I got stuck in here."
"Jesus Christ," Bucky swore, and the guy looked at him. "It's 2015, almost 2016."
"I've been in here for almost eighteen years." He whispered. He looked away from them, tears forming in his eyes; the man might seem alert, but he was in bad shape, probably needs to see a healer, how could he not after being in here for so long?
"It's okay," Steve said, "you can finally leave this place and contact your family and let them know you're okay."
"More than once, I thought of killing myself," he whispered, "so it'd all end, but I was too chicken."
"Hey, man, it takes more bravery to keep yourself alive in this kind of situation instead of going the easy route and opting out," Bucky said, seemingly over the insult to Steve's name, now feeling bad for the man. The guy looked at Bucky for a long moment, and then a small smile formed on his face before it fell, and he grimaced like the moment hurt his face.
"Once we get out of here, you probably should be checked over by a doctor," Steve said. "You look to be in bad shape."
"A doctor?"
"He means healer," Remus explained. The wizard ran his hand through his hair again, looking deep in thought.
"I don't need a healer…I just want out of here," he said; he shook his head and glanced back at Remus. He narrowed his eyes as if he looked familiar to him and couldn't figure out why, but then his eyes widened in recognition.
"Lupin?" he asked. Remus looked at him in shock; the others raised their weapons again, ready to defend Remus if need be.
"How do you know his name?" Bucky demanded, holding his gun up in a threatening matter, but Remus was taking a good look at the man; he didn't know whether to be more shocked that this man knew who he was or that he was almost in worse shape than Sirius was when he escaped Azkaban. Then, with the thought of Sirius, Remus realized who the man was.
"Regulus?"
Regulus robbed his face as he laughed; he had the same habit of laughing when his emotions were all over the place like Sirius tended to do. He glanced at Remus, happy to see someone he knew, even if it was the werewolf friend of the brother he didn't get along with.
"I'm getting rescued by three filthy Muggles and a half-breed," Regulus said, "Mother will have a Kneazle."
AN How Regulus is alive and the cave having a different Horcrux will be explained later, maybe next chapter if I can write it in a good way, it'll likely be back to Loki and the others, and hopefully the explanation will make sense has to how Regukus is alive, at first I was just going to have them find his body to give Sirius little closures and then figure why not ease some of the guilt Sirius has by having Regulus alive.
The Red Caps and Hinkypunk were described the way I found online, and used them, Dementors and Infri because well, that's all I could find that would make sense in the cave, and I wanted them to have to get by obstacles, before finding the Horcrux.
Sorry the fights weren't very long and this chapter is shorter than usual, best I was able to do, I had a little trouble with it, and kept having to rewrite it, and I know Bucky might be a little OOC, but I figured that might be how he'd act if he had a group of friends he really liked and was always around.