A/N: Thanks for reading, be sure to follow and review, I'm always looking for ways to improve!

Chapter Nine: Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place

The jostle of the train car made Ron feel sick to his stomach. He'd crouched down behind several boxes, trying to make sure his face wasn't still puffy and red before he had to face the others. Lupin was busy checking several of the boxes, yanking out various supplies and stuffing them in a satchel bag. Sirius was over in the corner, at first Ron thought he'd lost it and was murmuring to himself. But it looked like he was speaking into something, like one of those muggle devices Hermione had mentioned to him. Ron's stomach tightened as he thought of her, he had no way of knowing if she were alive or dead …

Which left only James, he was standing at the end of the car, there was a door connecting their car to the next. James had lit his wand and was looking at the door. Ron felt a pang of anger as he watched James. Out of all of them, it seemed like he'd just lost everything. Ron grunted and got to his feet.

"Er, Mr. Potter are you okay?" He asked, James didn't respond. Ron realized that he was looking at a caution sign for the next car.

Please Don't Feed the Animals

The knot in Ron's stomach tightened, he didn't want to see what was beyond that door … but James had already yanked it open. The smell inside was unbearable, and Ron could see several muggles shrink away from the door. A woman in the back started hyperventilating when she realized James had a wand. Ron jumped back, feeling tears sting at his eyes again. He couldn't do this … he didn't want to see this …

"Is there any food packed in?" James asked tonelessly to Lupin. "They're starving."

Lupin ducked back into the crates to check, and passed James several cans of food. More than ever, Ron missed his mother's cooking. He wondered if he'd ever even get to see her again. The food was gone within minutes and James was inside the other car talking to the muggles.

"We're coming up on a river." He shouted back to Ron and Lupin. "We need to jump before we make it to King's Cross." Ron's heart sank, he wasn't a very good swimmer, the last time he'd had to do it was at the second task last year …

Outside he could see the outline of London, deceptively normal save for several massive plumes of smoke lingering over the shimmering lights of the city. It was nearly dawn, Ron could see the pinkish-yellow light of the sun poking over the horizon.

"Thank you, we'll meet you there." Sirius pocketed something, looking over to Lupin. The two embraced, holding tightly as if they never wanted to let go. Sirius looked over to the looming city.

"We'll need to get them out soon," James said, coming back into the car. "I don't think most of them are strong enough to swim, so I'll enchant their clothes, after that … there's not much else we can do for them."

Sirius and Lupin finally let go of each other's hands, Lupin tossed over an itchy wool cloak to Ron. "It's what they had packed," he apologized, "we'll need to keep our faces covered before we get to the safe house."

It was clear that they were following Sirius's lead. Ron remembered him mentioning something about a spy network.

"Why didn't they warn you?" Ron asked, and Sirius looked taken aback. "If you know people who've betrayed you-know-who, why wouldn't they tell you he had—what Harry was doing?" Sirius sighed, looking much older.

"It's likely if they did know they'd be killed for telling us." He said, pulling up the hood to his own cloak. "Our … collaboration is a necessity, not teamwork." He didn't elaborate further. Ron felt something like an egg running over top of his head. He realized Lupin had cast a disillusionment charm on him, a second spell made his clothes feel like they'd been sitting in front of a warm fire. Ahead Ron could see a bridge over the river. The doors to both carts were open.

"Don't think about it," Lupin held out his hand to help Ron jump.

There was a rush as he plummeted to the water below, the late autumn air nipping at his bones. The water was ice cold, like the hands of a dementor closing in around him. But Lupin's spell kept his clothes dry and warm. Ron suspected if they hadn't done so, he'd have gone into shock.

They swam to the river bank, where James was giving directions to one of the muggles who didn't look as worse off. The woman threw her hands around James in a hug before she ran to join the rest of them on the river bank.

Ron wanted to pretend it was just the water still in his ears, and the cold nip of morning that made him feel numb. Sirius led them through spiraling alleys in London, and Ron noticed several wanted posters with each of their faces. Sirius pressed on a stone alleyway, revealing a secret passage. He ushered the rest in before lighting his wand.

They walked in silence for about half a mile. Up ahead Ron could see the gentle twinkle of candlelight, and a record playing. They were standing under the vent of a living room. Overhead Ron could hear a woman humming along to the song. Sirius rapped on the stone wall with his fingers in quick succession. The record immediately stopped; Ron felt his heart beating in his throat before the grate above them opened.

They ascended a ladder into a familiar living room, Ron realized that they'd arrived at Sirius's house in Grimmauld Place. In the living room sat a pretty woman with heavily hooded eyes—

"You—" Ron gasped, and the woman looked at him crossly.

"Calm down, Ron," Sirius held out a hand to stop him. "This is one of my cousins, Andromeda"

"I—oh—sorry," Ron stuttered, feeling an unfamiliar wave of hunger wash over him.

"I assume you've met my darling sister then," Andromeda said, giving Lupin a hug and a peck on the cheek. "You all look dreadful …"

"I don't suppose you've any firewhiskey, Annie?" James said, his voice shaking as he mounted the ladder. Andromeda's eyes widened when she saw him.

"Good god, James, you look like you've seen a ghost. I, here—" She gestured for all of them to sit in front of the fireplace. Andromeda disappeared into the other room for a moment, returning with several plates of food, three shots of firewhiskey, and a butterbeer for Ron. James downed the whiskey immediately, and slumped over to the bar to fix himself another drink. Andromeda didn't do anything to stop him.

"You might want to slow down there, mate—" Lupin said in warning, but James completely ignored him. He downed a third shot, when from the hallway Ron heard the front door open and close.

"STAIN UPON MY NAME, I SHOULD HAVE FALLEN DOWN THE STAIRS RATHER THAN GIVE BIRTH TO SUCH FILTH," screeched the portrait of Sirius's mother from outside.

"Shut up, mum," a second voice said, and Ron heard the snap of curtains. Mrs. Black continued her tirade, muffled now. Ron saw James's eyes darken at the sound of the voice.

Ron's heart dropped when the Death Eater stepped into the room, he jumped back, his butterbeer fell with a crash. Andromeda must've betrayed them too. The man regarded Ron, and the wand pointed directly at his heart. His dark brown hair was combed back neatly, and he looked like he hadn't slept in days.

"You can put that away, son," the man said. "It won't do you any good."

"Yeah? Try me." Ron's mouth was very dry. He felt another person gently lower his wand arm.

"That's my brother," Sirius said wearily, looking back at the Death Eater. Lupin fixed the mug of butterbeer. "How're you holding up, Regulus?"

"Oh just fine," Regulus said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He took off his jacket and threw it on a hook. "Only saw, what? Twenty-five killed today? That's a new record, even for the Dark Lord—"

James's fist landed directly in Regulus's nose. Regulus spit out a mouthful of blood as James continued, punching and kicking every square inch of his body. James was shouting over and over, "you knew."

"Impedimenta!" Andromeda shouted, blasting the two apart. Regulus staggered to his feet, coughing up blood and teeth. James looked ready to kill him.

"Whadt wad thad fer?" Regulus's eyes were already turning black, James had broken his nose when he punched him. He wheezed again, pulling out his wand to begin healing his face. The blood seemed to soak back into the cut, and Regulus's broken tooth zoomed back into his mouth. His nose straightened out, and the black spots under his eyes began to fade. Regulus winced in pain. Lupin grabbed hold of James to hold him back.

"How long?" James asked, his voice dangerously low. "How long have you known they had him?"

"I don't—oh—OH," Regulus laughed humorlessly as the realization dawned on him. "I had my suspicions for a while now, but I wasn't sure. I just thought Lily Evans tried to bargain for safety another way—" He ducked as James sent a cruciatus curse dangerously close to his head. "But I can see the resemblance now."

Lupin was whispering warnings to James trying to get him to calm down. Ron still felt like at any moment Regulus would pounce. But the Death Eater simply regarded him cooly, looking Ron up and down.

"You've caused quite a stir in the inner circle," Regulus said to him. "The Dark Lord is very interested to learn more about other dimensions, as am I. I work as the head of the Department of Mysteries," he clarified, noticing the confused look on Ron's face. "Sirius I can't believe you didn't call me, I would have tried to find a new way to get him home."

"I didn't want you to get any ideas about test subjects," Sirius said, his eyes flickering between James and Regulus.

"Mhm, fair point," Regulus nodded. "But I'll have you know I've gotten very good at faking deaths, even started running an incinerator so they won't notice the count is off!" He took a bite out of a bit of chicken leg Andromeda brought from the kitchen. "Although first things first, I heard an exciting rumor today, can you guess what it is?"

The three marauders and Ron remained silent.

"I heard, that someone stole the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw from an unmarked room at Hogwarts." Regulus set down a drawing of an ugly bronze tiara on the table.

"Can't say it fancies you," Sirius shrugged, "you're too pale to pull it off."

"It's not for me." Regulus sucked in a breath through his teeth. "The Dark Lord is interested in reclaiming the artifact."

"Why would we give a damn about some old tiara?" James said, his voice still shaking with rage. "How is this supposed to be helpful?" Regulus smiled, folding the piece of parchment back up and shoving it in his pants pocket.

"Well … its quite simple, how would you like to kill the Dark Lord?"