AN: No warnings in this chapter, expect a small time jump of two weeks, and it switches to Voldemort, and what he's planning towards the end of the chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own HP or Marvel
Chapter 54: Meeting Regulus and Evil Plans.
"I can't remember the last time I saw Grimmauld Place decorated for Christmas," Andromeda said as she helped Loki put lights around a Christmas tree they were putting up in the polar; it was the evening of the first day of winter break, tomorrow, Loki, Sirius, Harry, Tonks, and Andromeda will be going to St. Mungo's to visit Regulus, they had given Harry a day to rest from his train ride home the day before, he could have teleported home with Sirius and Loki, but had wanted to ride the train with his friends, and Cho.
It had been a total shock to Loki when Sirius contacted her on his pocket watch to let Loki know Remus wasn't hurt, but they had found his brother Regulus alive and in bad shape. It was even more shocking when Loki found out how and why Regulus had gotten trapped in a cave for almost two decades, and though Loki loved seeing Sirius so happy to have his brother back, he also couldn't help being a bit wary of Sirius getting so close to him, after all, last time Sirius saw Regulus, he had been a Death Eater and believed all their parent's pure-blood nonsense, but Loki will keep his worries to himself and see how it goes between them, and how Regulus acts once he's well. For the last two weeks, Sirius has visited Regulus in the hospital every day, he leaves Hogwarts right after class ends for the day and doesn't return until dinner time, so they are obviously getting along, at least for now.
"There, I think that does it," Loki said and stepped back to have a look; he was dressed in black jeans and a green jumper, with no shoes on his feet since he had no plans of going anywhere. It was evening, after dinner, and they had decided to go to the polar to hang out, and Andromeda, Tonks, and Loki decided to decorate the room for Christmas, so, Andromeda searched the bottom floor for Christmas decorations and found a good amount, tonight they decided to put up the tree, tomorrow evening they'll decorate the rest of the room.
"The ornaments are in these boxes here," Andromeda said, kneeling by a box and opening it, "I found them in the storage room downstairs."
Tonks sat down beside Andromeda and started pulling out ornaments and handing them to Loki, who hung them on the tree; the only ones at Grimmauld Place at the moment were Loki, Tonks, Harry, Andromeda, and Sirius, the Avengers, had gone back to the States for the holidays, to take a little break from Horcrux hunting, Tony wanted to spend Christmas with Pepper Potts, Clint said he was visiting family, Bruce just wanted to go back to New York for a while. Steve went to report back to Nick Furry, and Bucky accompanied him; Natasha and Remus went to visit Alexei Shostakov but are supposed to be back before Christmas and Ted Tonks wasn't here because he was working the night shift at St. Mungo's.
"Walburga might have been a grouchy old bitch, but she had some of the prettiest Christmas decorations," Andromeda said, hanging a sparkly ornament of a fairy on the tree. "Her parties would put you to sleep though."
"Let me guess, these so-called parties were nothing but a bunch of pure-blood snobs, sitting around drinking wine and bragging about their family status," Tonks asked.
"Basically, yeah," Andromeda answered, "Though before Sirius got banned from them, he at least provided some good entertainment with his tricks and pranks."
"Sirius got banned from Walburga's parties?" Loki asked, glancing over at Sirius, who was on the other side of the room, lying across two bean bag chairs; he had one arm over his eyes, the other across his stomach, his legs were stretched out, with one crossed over the other, he hadn't moved in so long Loki wondered if he had fallen asleep.
"He did," Andromeda said, "Though I don't know what caused it, his tricks or his very vocal thoughts about their pure-blood ideology."
"Probably the latter," Loki said.
"I saw Sirius' old dress robes in the storage room; I remember he laughed about Walburga taking them after banning him like she thought that was a punishment. Sirius hated those robes; they were outdated and old fashioned, he said, with no personality," Andromeda said.
Loki grinned, amused; the storage room Andromeda was referring to was down the hall you see when you first enter the house, the hall that up until now, no one had bothered to venture down, except for when Sirius had removed all the family portraits from the wall. Loki discovered there were more rooms than he thought going down that Hall, two bedrooms, one that was Orion's old bedroom, the other Walburga's they were directly across from each other, then there was an office, the storage room Andromeda found the Christmas decorations in, and a washroom. Grimmauld Place was even bigger than Loki first thought, which was a good thing, with how many usually stayed here. Plus, Sirius and Loki have decided they would live here for the remainder of the war; it was safer to have Harry here when not in school, and Regulus will likely want to come here after he is released from the hospital.
"Why don't you throw a party this year?" The portrait of Alphard Black said, "I remember the parties from back in the day, always celebrating something."
"Can't throw a party when the house is under the Fidelius Charm," Andromeda said.
"We can invite the Weasleys," Tonks suggested, handing Loki another ornament. "Maybe not a party, but we can have a dinner with all of us."
"I wouldn't mind the Weasleys coming over," Harry said; he was sitting near Alphard's portrait, playing a game of chess with him.
"This is your O.W.L. year, isn't it, lad?" Alphard asked Harry while he watched another one of his pieces getting dragged off the board.
"Yes," Harry said, glancing up at the portrait.
"Well, I hope you're better at your schoolwork than you are at chess," Alphard said. Harry gave him an offended look that Alphard chuckled at.
"My son is not stupid, Alphard," Loki said, glaring at the portrait.
"Of course he's not, he's a Black," Alphard said, "There has never been a stupid Black; we've been evil, we can be unpleasant, and we are some of the craziest sons of bitches, you'll ever meet, but never have we been stupid."
Loki shook his head; he still didn't know what he thought of the man in the portrait who had taken a liken to Harry because he was Sirius' son. Even after being blasted off the family tree for favoring the "blood-traitors" and not agreeing with most of his family's politics, he was still very much a Black, and proud of being one, and one of the scared twenty-eight, he was neutral in the first war before his death, Sirius said he had been an odd one, siding a little with both sides, but never had anything against Muggle-borns, or pure-bloods marrying them, it was Muggles Alphard had a problem with wizards marrying, he thought it was fine if half-bloods and Muggle-borns kept in touch with Muggle relatives, but he was fully behind banning wizards and witches from marrying them. Sirius said he believed Alphard saw Muggles as a danger to the wizarding world; he had this weird belief that if they kept allowing wizards to marry Muggles, they would eventually become extinct. But the most important thing to Alphard was family, and no matter how they treated him or what bad things they did, everyone with Black blood running in their veins could always count on him being there for them.
"As long as Harry does his best, Sirius and I will be happy with his O.W.L. results," Loki said, and it was true; as long as Harry tried hard enough for good grades, Loki and Sirius would be proud of what O.W.L.s he earns.
"If he inherited his father's brains, he'll do well," Alphard said, "After all, Sirius did very well; he got four Os, one in Defense against the Dark Arts, one in Transfigurations, Astrology, and Runes, he received Es in everything else but Potions and History of Magic, which were As, but he got all passing grades."
"I doubt I'll get any Os." Harry frowned, causing Loki to frown as he put a dragon ornament on the tree; Harry should have more confidence than that.
"I got one O in defense," Tonks said, "but the rest of my grades were all Es and A's with a P in History; I never could stay awake in Binns' class."
"My Os were in Charms and Transfigurations; the rest of my grades were Es with a P in History," Andromeda said, "You're right Binns was an awful professor."
"I remember Regulus did well in all his subjects." Aphard said, "He got an O in Potions, Defense Against The Dark Arts, Astrology, and Arthmancy, with Es in everything else, yes, including History of Magic, Binns being a lousy teacher was no excuse for a bad History grade when you could have just done what Regulus did, and studied the subject."
"What was your History grade, Uncle Alphard?" Andromeda asked, turning to look at the portrait with a stern look.
"Never you mind," Alphard said, "we are not talking about me."
"I thought so," Andromeda said, returning to the tree. Loki gave her a wink; the more time he spent with Sirius' cousin, the more he liked her; really, Andromeda's attitude was the best. She could be snarky and sarcastic, while still somehow sounding sophisticated.
"Damn," Harry swore as he lost another piece, "I should probably just quit, I'm never going to beat you."
"Nothing to do with your talent, Harry, I am just better at chess than you," Alphard said, "I was just teasing you before. You're good, you've even gotten some of my pieces, you just need practice, with enough playing, you could be as good as your father one day."
Loki frowned at that; as good as Sirius? Since when was Sirius good at chess? Since when did Sirius even play chess?
"What? You mean, Sirius?" Harry asked, looking towards Sirius, who hadn't moved from his spot; Loki still wasn't sure if his lover was awake or asleep.
"Oh, yes, Sirius is rather good, and so is Regulus; Orion taught them both at a very young age," Alphard explained. "Just as our father taught us, it's all a part of the Black family tradition; Sirius has always been quite the strategist; he was a natural. The only person in the family to ever beat me."
"I didn't know that," Loki said, "Sirius has always refused to play a game with me."
"You don't have to like something to be good at it." Sirius said, answering the question of whether or not he was asleep. "I can play, but I don't like to. Chess was Orion's way of showing me and Reggie that the Black Family owns the wizarding world and everyone in it was our pawns."
"Nonsense," Alphard said, waving his hand, while Harry frowned down at his chess set that had been a birthday gift from Loki; ever since Alphard had helped Harry beat Ron that one day, Harry had gotten a little more interested in the game, Remus loved to play, Loki loved to play, even Thor liked the game, but now, after hearing Sirius' reason for refusing to play, Harry didn't know if he wanted to continue to enjoy the game.
"Dad." Harry said, "You've been quiet. Are you…okay?" Loki turned to look at Sirius while Harry waited for an answer. He had started calling Sirius and Loki Dad and mum ever since that day he stopped Loki from killing Umbridge.
"Of course I am, kiddo," Sirius said; he uncovered his eyes and set up, then smiled at Harry. He hadn't been here when they had dinner; he had been at St. Mungo's with Regulus and had returned an hour ago, walked into the room, ruffled Harry's hair, kissed Loki, greeted the others, and laid across the bean bag chairs and hasn't moved until now.
"Would you like to help decorate the tree, love?" Loki asked. Sirius gave him his infamous cocky grin and waved his hand, and five Christmas tree bulbs raised out of a box, and with another wave of his hand, the bulbs put themselves on the tree.
"You are so lazy." Loki accused, and Sirius laughed as he stood and then walked over to Loki, leaned in, and whispered in his ear.
"You do have magic, you know." Sirius kissed his cheek, then walked toward the door.
"Where are you going?" Loki asked.
"To get something to drink," Sirius paused at the doorway, and looked toward Loki. "I'll be right back."
"Would you bring me a Butterbeer?" Harry asked. "Please, Dad."
"Sure, kiddo," Sirius answered as he left the room, he returned five minutes later with a Butterbeer for Harry, and a Muggle beer for himself.
"Thanks," Harry said, accepting the Butterbeer, while he took a drink Sirius stood next to him, holding his beer, and looked down at the chess game, then titled his head like he was studying it. Alphard gave him a suspicious look.
"What are you up to?" Alphard demanded.
Sirius didn't give him an answer instead he took a drink of his beer, eyes still on the board, then he leaned down, whispered something in Harry's ear, who looked at him, and Sirius gave a nod, and Harry turned back to the game and ordered a piece to make a move, that led it right to Alphard's Queen.
"Cheek mate, " Harry cried, giving Alphard a cocky grin that resembled the one Sirius now wore, as he took another drink of his beer, Harry and Sirius laughed as Alphard started mumbling about cheaters, and demanded a rematch. Harry granted him one, and Sirius conjured a chair and sat next to Harry whispering to him the best moves to make, which helped Harry beat the portrait again.
"Cheaters, the whole family are just cheaters," Alphard said while Sirius roared with laughter Loki was a little surprised at the fact he never knew Sirius was good at chess, and made a note to get Sirius to play a game with him. Alphard had declined a rematch, and an hour later the tree was finished, and they all called it a night, and went to bed.
Loki looked around St. Mungo's curiosity; she had never been to the wizard hospital. If Sirius or one of the other Marauders got hurt in a duel, Loki or Remus would tend to the injury, and Lily would proved potions if needed. Loki always thought the wizarding hospital would be similar to the healing rooms on Asgard, but now she realized they were more like a Muggle hospital, just with magic. At the moment they were in a crowded reception area where rows of witches and wizards sat in chairs, some looking perfectly normal and reading out-of-date copies of WitchWeekly, others sporting gruesome disfigurements such as elephant trunks or extra hands sticking out of their chests; many of the patients were making very peculiar noises: a sweaty-faced witch in the center of the front row, was fanning herself with a copy of the Daily Prophet, and kept letting off a high-pitched whistle as steam came pouring out of her mouth; a grumpy-looking wizard in the corner clanged like a bell every time he moved and, with each clang, his head vibrated so much that he had to seize himself by the ears to hold it steady.
"This way, babe," Sirius said, slipping his hand into Loki's and leading her toward a queue waiting for the lift that was just a few feet from a counter where a chubby blonde witch sat that had a sign hanging above her that said Welcome Witch, she was directing people where to go.
"This place is crowded," Harry commented.
"St. Mungo's always is," Tonks replied, "especially the night shift."
"Nights always have been the busiest shifts with people showing up with sketchy injuries, but as of late it's gotten worse, people showing up, that looked to have been attacked, but refuse to say by who or acknowledge they were attacked." Andromeda said.
"It's Death Eaters, isn't it," Harry said, "They are too scared to talk."
"We believe so, but there is no proof," Andromeda said; the lift opened, and a group of people in front of them climbed on, and the doors closed.
"We don't need proof, Annie; we know who it is," Sirius said, and a few people standing around them turned and looked his way; their eyes widened when they recognized him and started pointing and whispering, and then they all turned to Harry, who scowled and stepped behind Loki trying to hide from view.
"The lift is in front of you," Andromeda said, stepping over to stand next to Loki, helping to block Harry. The witches and wizards looked forward in embarrassment, except for one nurse, who kept sending Sirius flirty looks that would make Loki mad if it wasn't for the fact Sirius was ignoring her completely, not even glancing her way. Loki smiled a little at that and squeezed Sirius' hand; he looked at her and winked.
"Next!"
Loki looked at the Welcome Witch and noticed the wall behind her was covered in notices and posters saying things about keeping your cauldron clean and how an antidote is an ant-don't unless approved by a qualified healer as Loki watched a man who was bouncing from foot to foot, and making painful noises stepped forward, he tried to explain to the witch what was wrong with him.
"It's these - ouch - shoes my brother gave me - ow- they're eating my feet- there must be some kind of -ouch…jinx because I can't get them off."
Sirius snorted, almost laughing at the wizard's predicament, and Loki gave him an amused look while Andromeda smacked his arm with the back of her hand.
"Behave," she ordered, which only caused Sirius to want to laugh more.
"The shoes don't prevent you from reading, do they?" said the blonde witch, irritably pointing at a large sign to the left of her desk. "You want Spell Damage, fourth floor. Just like it says on the floor guide."
"Well, she's friendly," Harry mumbled. As the lift opened again and another group stepped on, thankfully, they were next to use the lift; Loki watched as a man holding what looked like a five-year-old girl with bunny ears stepped up to the Welcome Witch's counter.
"My daughter," he said, "she got ahold of my wife's wand and was trying to conjure a bunny and..well," The Welcome Witch didn't reply; she just pointed to the floor sign, and the guy looked at it a moment, then rushed off heading in the same direction as the guy whose feet were being eaten by his shoes, after them, was a mother and her son who looked around nineteen, he had drunk a mystery potion on a dare by his friends and was now sick; again, the Welcome Witch pointed to the sign, and once finding the flour she needed, the witch mumbled something about rude hospital staff as she hurried off with her son.
"Finally," Sirius said, and Loki turned her attention back to Sirius as the lift opened, he let go of her hand to motion for Harry to get on first, then the four of them followed, along with the flirty nurse; the lift doors closed and Sirius pressed what floor he wanted, then asked what floor the nurse needed, she told him with a wink, that Sirius ignored as he pressed the button for her, the lift went up two floors, then stopped and opened, the nurse walked to the doors, then paused and turned to Sirius.
"You know, Mr. Black or, umm, Sirius, if I may." The nurse said, "If you are ever in need of one, I'll gladly give you a check-up."
"I beg your pardon." Loki snapped, stepping forward, but Sirius held her back. Andromeda stepped in front of Loki, blocking the nurse from her.
"How about we act professionally? You are at wo he nurse's face turned red, and she hurried off the lift; the doors closed, and they headed up. Two minutes later, the lift stopped and the doors opened, and the five of them stepped out into the corridor of the top floor and headed toward the last room on the end.
"This is it," Sirius said, opening the door and entering. Loki had Harry go in before her, then Loki followed. Sirius was already at the bed, greeting his brother.
"About time you get here," Regulus said as Sirius leaned down to give him a quick hug. Regulus was sitting up in bed with a tray pulled over his lap; on the tray was a bowl of grapes and apple slices, along with a pitcher of water, that had a glass next to it, along with a copy of the Daily Prophet. Loki took a good look at him, and even with Regulus severely underweight, she could still see the resemblance between him and Sirius.
"Hey, baby cousin," Andromeda said, placing a small bag on the tray next to the paper. "I brought you some books, in case you get bored."
"Thanks,"
"Hey, Reg." Tonks greeted, and Regulus turned to her.
"Hello, Nymphadora," Regulus said, and Tonks groaned.
"How many times do I have to tell you I go by Tonks," Tonks said, and Regulus rolled his eyes, causing Loki to smile slightly.
"And how often do I have to tell you I am not calling my cousin by her last name?" Regulus said, "That's just weird."
"Ted and I call her Dora," Andromeda said, talking over whatever Tonks was about to say.
"Dora, yeah, okay, I can do that," Regulus said, then his eyes turned to Loki.
"Reggie, this is my partner Regina," Sirius said, motioning for Loki to step closer to the bed.
"Nice to meet you," Loki said, holding her hand out for Regulus to shake; Sirius had explained who Loki was and why she went by Reigna in public. He had a hard time believing Sirius at first, that was until he showed Regulus some of the things he could do now.
"So, you're the one Siri keeps going on about," Regulus said; he accepted Loki's offered hand, but instead of shaking it, he flipped it over and kissed the top. "I can see why my brother is so taken with you."
"Stop that," Sirius ordered, lightly hitting Regulus on the shoulder, "No flirting with Reigny. She's practically your sister-in-law." Regulus laughed at Sirius, and then his eyes fell on Harry.
"You must be Harry," Regulus said. He looked Harry over, then turned to Sirius. "The kid looks just like you, Siri, except for the eyes." he turned to Harry, "Come say hello to your uncle, kid."
Harry opened his mouth to reply, but glanced at Sirius and closed his mouth, then took a couple of steps forward but stayed an arm's length from Regulus, and Loki realized then that Harry had never voiced his thoughts about Regulus being alive, or even expressed an urge to meet him, which was surprising since Harry has always loved the chance to have more family.
"His hair is curlier than yours, though, Siri, " Regulus said, "A bit too long. You need a haircut, kid."
"I like my hair long," Harry said, crossing his arms and glaring at Regulus, who only snorted, amused by Harry's attitude.
"He even sounds like you," Regulus said as he looked towards Sirius. "I have gained ten stones; Ted weighed me last night and said if I keep it up, I'll get to go home soon, though I'll still have to stay on my diet and potions."
"That's great," Sirius said.
"My muscles have gotten a bit stronger, I can walk further down the corridor now, and I stand a little longer before my legs get tired." Regulus said, "Still having trouble with telling night from day though, and when to sleep or when not to. Ted said he might move me to a room with a window and see if getting to see the outside helps."
"I hope it does. You need your rest," Sirius said; Regulus waved away his concern, then sat his hand on the Daily Prophet and scowled.
"You were right, the Daily Prophet is useless rubbish," Regulus said; "no one bloody cares about Wiley Widdershins sailing bitting doorknobs to Muggles when the Dark Lord is out there torturing and killing people."
"Yeah, I mentioned Fudge covering everything up," Sirius said.
"Who thought it was a good idea to elect that idiot Minister?" Regulus asked, "I meant him a few times at Mother's parties; he seemed like the type that would be afraid of his own shadow."
"Yeah, well, Reigny will beat him in the election," Sirius said, and Regulus looked at Loki, then turned back to Sirius.
"Want to hear something weird?" Regulus asked, "The nurse who brought me my potions and breakfast this morning had a trainee with her; they were talking about a patient who had been brought in last month; he is a werewolf and got attacked during the Full Moon."
"Someone is attacking werewolves?" Harry demanded, and him and Sirius glanced at each other.
"You don't have to worry about Moony, kiddo," Sirius said, though he looked concerned. "Probably just a one-time thing, and Moony always stays hidden during the full moon, besides I'm usually with him."
"But, what can hurt werewolves?" Tonks asked.
"Other werewolves are the only thing I can think of," Sirius said, eyes narrowing, "It's probably Greyback and his bunch, attacking ones refusing to join Voldemort."
"That's what I thought, too," Regulus said.
"I'll call Moony when we get back to Grimmauld Place. " Sirius said, "Warn him to be careful just in case."
"I can't wait to get out of here and go outside," Regulus said, "I was in a cave for a trillion years, only to get out and be stuck inside again."
"I'll talk to Ted, maybe one day during my visit he'll let you go outside for a little bit," Sirius said, "It'd been a good way to see how strong you're muscles have gotten."
"While you're talking to him, can you ask to change my diet a little now?" Regulus asked, "I'm sick of soup, portage, and oats. The fruit isn't too bad though." he took an apple slice from the bowl and stuck it in his mouth.
"I'm sure Ted will let you eat better food once he thinks you can handle it," Andromeda said.
Loki watched as Harry wandered over to a chair by the wall and sat down, looking grumpy. Loki had a feeling Harry didn't like Regulus much, despite just meeting him, and wondered if Harry just didn't trust Regulus like she didn't, or if it was because he was a former Death Eater. Loki knew it wasn't because of having to give up his room, Regulus had told Sirius Harry could keep it and he'd use Walburga's old room. Maybe it had something to do with that old box of Regulus' Sirius had asked for it back, but allowed Harry to keep the stuff that was in it. Still, when Harry handed it to Sirius, it looked as if he had to force himself to let go of it; Sirius had asked for it because Regulus had claimed he had hidden one of Voldemort's Hrocruxes in it, but they couldn't see until Regulus was out of the hospital if it was true, they'll now have found three of them, and only needed two more, unless Voldemort had one they didn't know about.
"Hey, kid, you alright over there?" Regulus asked, breaking Loki out of her thoughts.
"I'm fine," Harry said, and Regulus grinned, turning back to Sirius.
"He inherited your teenage angst." he sounded amused, which caused Harry to scowl.
Sirius laughed and sat down next to Regulus on the edge of the bed, and the two started talking about various topics and Andromeda and Tonks sat in chairs near the bed, joining in the conversation at times. Loki decided to give the small family some time together and walked over and sat near Harry, who didn't say a word the whole time they were there. When it was nearly lunchtime, they decided to leave and go back to Grimmauld Place; Sirius promised Regulus he'd come back to visit him after dinner, which seemed to upset Harry more, and he lifted the room without a word. When they made it outside the hospital, they walked into an empty ally, and they all held hands as Loki teleported them into Grimmauld Place.
Deep In The Forest Of Albania
Voldemort paced the floor while Sinthea watched him; he was getting a bit frustrated with all his Death Eater's failures as of late; the fools, everything he sent them out to do, they had failed to accomplish, none of them had gotten a thing right since Bellatrix and her team destroyed Sokovia, and that cost him the twins, oh well, he didn't need them anyway, and as soon as his Death Eaters found them they would be dead.
That was one worry he could set aside, but another concern Voldemort had was finding out who the hell was killing his Werewolves; last month three of Hydra's werewolves were found dead; they were found torn apart, as if someone waiting until the full moon to hunt down werewolves, and from what Voldemort heard, it wasn't only his wolves either, others had been killed too, and there was a rumor that whoever was doing it was actually after Fenrir Greyback, but who could it be? Most of Dumbledore's orders didn't have the ability or the guts to do something like that. Remus Lupin might, but he'd be a werewolf during the full moon, so Voldemort doubted it was him; Sirius Black was a possibility, the grey wizard could be that ruthless, but does he have the power or strength to? There was also Reigna Ikol, the only witch on Dumbledore's side that was dark, but Voldemort doubted it was her.
Growling in frustration, Voldemort sat down in his chair; his biggest worry was getting his hands on the prophecy, but he had no idea how to lure Harry Potter to the ministry. Severus told him Harry had gone home for the holidays, so now would be the best time to put a plan in action while Harry was away from Dumbledore, but how to do it? Harry needed a reason to go to the Ministry; the only thing Voldemort could think of that would be to capture someone Harry cared about, someone he'd do anything to save, if he understood Potter the way he thinks he does that would be his family, the Muggles that raised him didn't count, Harry never considered them family, and besides, Voldemort had no idea where they were, back in the summer he'd sent Death Eaters to watch their house only to discover they had lost their home on Privet Drive after the uncle's sister died, the family went broke, and the wife left her husband, taking their son with her. There were the Tonkses. Harry was close to them, but they no longer stayed at their home; he'd have to find them, and that might take a bit; the most logical answer would be Harry's parents, but they'd be too hard to capture, and too hard to keep locked up. That left the werewolf Lupin; he might be the best choice. Voldemort just had to think about it for a moment.
"You look troubled, Marvolo," Sinthea said.
"Just thinking dear, sister," Voldemort said; there was a knock on the door, and a second later, Alexander Pierce, followed by Bellatrix, entered. Alexander quickly became one of Voldemort's favorite followers, not once since returning to him, as he failed Voldemort. He's done everything from helping restore him to his body to making Hydra's scientist make his sister super solider serum so that they could take the stuff together, and it has made them more powerful and slightly changed their looks; Voldemort was now little trailer and muscular, and so was Sinthea. Their bodies were also tougher and could take almost any spell or jinx thrown at them unless the caster happened to be as powerful as they are and Voldemort doubted anyone was.
"My Lord," Pierce said, bowing, "I have news from my grandson that might be useful to you."
"Go on."
"Dennis said he overheard Potter mention to his two lackeys that a relative by the name of Arty Tonks was found after he was believed dead for almost eighteen years, and he was in bad shape, and at St. Mungos." Piece said.
"And I can use this information how?" Voldemort demanded, "Why do I care about some relative of a mudblood?"
"The name is a cover-up, my lord," Bellatrix said, "The mudblood has no wizard kin, and our spy at St. Mungo's has told me Sirius Black has been coming to visit someone kept in a room far from everyone else every day for two weeks."
"There are very few nurses and healers who are allowed to go in there," Pierce said.
"I can only think of one person who disappeared and thought dead nearly eighteen years ago." Bellatrix said, "The only person my idiot cousin would visit every day and have the hospital go to great lengths to hide his identity."
"Who?"
"Regulus Black," Bellatrix said, smiling sadistically, "I guess young Regulus didn't die after all. He must have turned on you and gone into hiding, and so many years on the run must have taken a toll on his body."
Voldemort nodded. It made sense, from what he'd learned since coming back, Regulus' body was never found, so this Arty Tonks may very well be Regulus Black. It didn't matter if he was; Sirius Black seemed to care about this person, so likely Harry Potter also does, and a sick wizard in a hospital would be easy to get.
"Are there any order members at St. Mungo's guarding him?"
"None that our spy has seen," Bellatrix replied, and Voldemort nodded, a smile forming on his lipless mouth.
"Perfect."
AN: Hopefully this chapter was right. I hope Sirius is good at chess doesn't seem like it came from out of nowhere, and there is a reason for it, hopefully, I'm able to write my idea for it later.
Harry's problem with Regulus is jealousy, ever since he found out Sirius and Loki were his parents, most of their focus and attention have been on him, and Harry isn't used to having to share that attention with anyone. At the moment he doesn't like having to share Sirius's attention with someone else.