Secrets
The next morning, Remus was up way too early, having heard something fall down in the hallway. He wasn't eager to go investigate but he was awake for sure.
Regulus, in turn, woke up from Remus stirring, and pulled him closer.
“What ‘appended?” he asked, sleep heavy in his voice and his French accent showing.
"Someone knocked something over in the hallway, it's okay sweetheart" Remus kissed Regulus' forehead
"It's still early, go back to sleep, my love. I'll see what it was and come back"
“Mkay, be careful, mon amour.” Regulus said back already falling back asleep. He hadn’t been able to sleep this easy in a long time.
“Don’t be gone too long.” he added before stuffing his face into Remus’ pillow. He didn’t want to let Remus go, so the pillow would do.
Evan was picking up a stack of books when Remus stepped out into the hallway. He looked as if Remus had spotted him doing something illegal
"Oh...hey Evan...where are you going?" Remus mumbled sleepily
"Uh- the town. Meeting with some non human people. There is this guy, he is bloody brilliant. Very understanding of what I try to tell him about."
Remus knew that the pack was doing a lot for a union between non humans and more acceptance of them in the human society, all under the lead of Scabior. Regulus and Remus just never had been sent anywhere yet, although it sounded incredibly interesting.
Barty poked his head out of Evan’s room, like he had been in there for a while.
“Heyyyy Remus, good morning.”
Barty looked like he had also just been caught doing something illegal, so he looked at Evan with question in his eyes. To anyone that wasn’t Barty or Evan, they would have no idea what they were thinking.
They appeared to be having a silent conversation, going back and forth with different expressions before Barty sighed.
“I’m going to help Evan with his books, you should go back to sleep with your lover boy. Reg is probably getting needy.”
"You know...this would have had the most miniscule amount of substance if you hadn't just come out of Evan's room"
Remus rolled his eyes and went back to their room. The urge to punch Barty in the face was growing stronger and stronger by the day.
Barty grimaced and whispered something angrily to Evan as Remus walked away, but it was inaudible to anyone else.
Regulus peeked his left eye open as the door creaked shut again, so he moved the blanket and Remus’ pillow to where Remus could easily slide into bed once more.
Remus seemed to be annoyed by something with the way he huffed and slightly stomped into the room.
“What’s wrong?” Regulus asked, becoming more awake.
Remus cuddled up to Regulus. "Nothing, Evan dropped some books and just... Barty being Barty. I mean....come on the closet is literally glass with those two"
Remus chuckled a little "Evan's on his way to another peace meeting"
Regulus groaned and hid his face in Remus’ hair.
“Literally everyone knows they’re together or something, they’re not as sneaky as they think they are. Evan is gone a lot. What kind of peace meeting is he doing? Evan is charismatic and ambitious, but not that charismatic.” Regulus pondered out loud.
"He sat the guy he is meeting is brilliant " Remus shrugged "Maybe some influential guy that has taken a liking to him? We could ask Scabior"
He was silent for a second "Speaking of Scabior, want to make breakfast to surprise them for once?"
“Absolutely I do.” Regulus said, getting up.
“I sadly don’t know how to cook much but I can figure it out.” He walked to the door and held out his hand for Remus to take of he wished.
"I can cook, don't worry you can just cut stuff if you want"
He smiled, walking downstairs and having the shock of his life by seeing Laslow and Xeno out the corner of his eye, sitting on the ground.
"Morning you two" he tilted his head "Laslow isn't looking too great, he okay?" Remus asked Xeno, knowing that from the looks of it, Laslow was in no condition to communicate.
Xeno shook his head, “We need Sybill, she’s been on her mission and since we’re all bonded, and Sybill is part vampire, Las can sense she’s hungry. I’ve been doing my best to help, but he tried to sneak out last night.” Regulus frowned at Laslow in concern, he really didn’t look good.
Sybill was part vampire? That was new.
Remus frowned and sat down with them.
"I'm glad you're safe" he mumbled and Laslow nodded absent-mindedly.
Sybill had maybe been gone for three days, had it gone bad so fast?
"What about you?" He looked at Xeno "Are you holding up alright?"
In the entire pack, Xeno and Laslow were the most like actual siblings to him. Specifically big brothers, the ones Remus never had.
Xeno shrugged, “It doesn’t impact me as hard as it does Laslow, but I’m definitely feeling her absence. We aren’t usually apart this long. Thank you for worrying about us, Remus.”
Regulus stood awkwardly behind Remus both feeling sorry for the three of them, and not knowing how to react. Xeno looked up with that dreaminess he always had, though it was heavier, and stared at Regulus.
“It’s okay, Regulus. You don’t have to say anything. I can sense your unease, and we know you care.”
Remus got up, putting an arm around Regulus. "We're making breakfast now, just so you know"
He started grabbing some ingredients and utensils and explaining to Regukus what to do.
Regulus nodded along, doing exactly what he was supposed to do. They got some good progress before Fenrir and Scabior were heard coming into the other room.
They could probably smell the food.
About the same time, Sybill came back, immediatly kneeling down next to Laslow and Xeno "I came as soon as you contacted me, Sunshine" she sounded out of breath as she spoke but kissed the top of Xeno's head and immediatly put a finger to his lips.
"Ah, not a word, it was getting boring anyways and I missed you. It was fully my fault that I wasn't prepared when I left." She turned to Laslow, kissing his face several times, gently.
"Don't scare us like that again, Moonshine, you hear me? I'll always find my way back to you, I promised, remember? You don't need to go search for me, silly"
She helped him up and when she turned around she stared directly into Scabior's and Fenrir's faces
"Report will be done by noon in your office but if you excuse me, I have two airheads to take care of" she told Scabior as she walked past him.
Fenrir looked at them fondly, happy that they were together again. He had helped the three of them with their addiction problems five years ago, and he’s so proud of them. They were better about controlling their withdrawal.
It did smell like food however, and Fenrir’s stomach was growling. He didn’t know who was cooking.
“Scabior, do you know who’s cooking?” He asked his mate.
"We are!" Remus yelled from the kitchen, sounding like a proud child that managed to tie his shoes for the first time.
Scabior chuckled "They are" he parroted as he walked into the kitchen.
Fenrir followed Scabior into the kitchen and laughed at the sight of Remus and Regulus in aprons. He knew Regulus had never cooked a day in his life and he looked so out of his element.
“It smells good, but what’s the occasion?” Fenrir asked.
Remus furrowed his brows "We were awake, you weren't. Woke up because Evan dropped a bunch of books on his way to a meeting"
Remus turned back to the three pans over the flames he was watching "By the way, Evan and Barty, they are definitely dating, right? Like...the closet is made of glass- no one here is straight! What do they think they are hiding?"
Scabior didn't answer, but at the mention of Evan going to a meeting, he looked at Fenrir, confused and with a bit of suspicion.
Fenrir looked back at Scabior with the same amount of confusion.
“Kid, we haven’t sent Evan to a meeting. Did he say who he was meeting with?” Fenrir asked.
Remus turned around faster than he had ever in his life "What do you mean you haven't- why did he lie then? He said he was going to meet with some guy in town who seemed open to what he had to say?"
“It’s okay, Remus.” Fenrir said warmly. “It’s not your fault.”
Fenrir turned to Scabior, “I’ll go see if Barty is here and bring him down if he is.”
Scabior nodded with a frown, sitting down on a chair, thinking
Remus went back to paying attention to the food so it wouldn't burn and he could get his mind off of it.
Regulus was worried about Evan but for now he rubbed Remus’ back and the back of his neck, not talking about it since Remus didn’t want to.
Fenrir came back with a sheepish Barty, and they sat down just as food was done.
Remus kept some food on the stove to stay hot for Sybill, Xeno and Laslow and put the rest on the table. Everyone else was still asleep and would probably make their own food.
Scabior was the one to break the silence. "So? Care to explain why Evan and you are going around lying now?"
Barty hissed, “Fanculo,”
He took a breath, “I told Evan to just tell you but he’s as stubborn as a mule. I’m tired of keeping his secret, but I also don’t want to betray him either. So I’m saying this for his safety; on one of our trips to the town we came across a library and Evan loves this library, and the guy who owns it is someone Evan admires. I thought the guy was sketchy, but I stayed with Evan because obviously I didn’t want him to be alone.”
Barty paused, “This has been going on for a few weeks. since nothing happened to Evan the first few times I let him go by himself. But then he started sneaking out and I caught him. I don’t know what they talk about. Okay, yeah that’s a lie. The man’s name is something stupid I don’t even remember what. Albuk Dumderdore? I don’t remember, Evan stopped saying his name after a while.”
“The guy is a phoenix, and Evan thought that was fascinating. The man has lived for literal millenium, I have to admit I was pretty curious too. Evan started reading books the man recommended, and he feels comfortable with him.”
“The problem is, I wanted to come with Evan the other day and that Abluth guy told me no and kicked me out of the library. Evan said he talked to him about it, but since the man doesn’t want me there Evan has been more tight lipped and I’m worried. I’ve expressed my concerns to him, and he doesn’t seem to care much. So I gave up on begging him to stay. It’s been a fight since, but I’m still here for him.”
“That’s what you caught this morning, Remus. He was trying to leave, and I was in his room arguing with him about it again. He dropped his books because he was in a hurry, and I got pissed off. Understandably so, he’s different after talking to that Dumblewhore guy. I don’t trust him, I didn’t even bother to memorize his name. But Evan does, and I’m not going to let him put himself in harms way anymore. The guy is off.”
Scabior seemed pale - even more so than usual - and he was silent for a long time.
"I know him...Dumbledore...he used to be close to my father..."
Fenrir reached out to hold Scabior’s back for physical support. “We need to talk to Evan as soon as he gets back, then. What are you wanting to do?”
Barty frowned at that information being revealed, “Are you saying Evan could be being manipulated by someone that was friends with Gellert Grindlewald? Yeah, I’ve read history books.” he said when some of them looked shocked at him saying the name.
"You can read?" Moony muttered with a look at Barty. He sneered at Moony but really wanted to laugh.
Scabior sighed.
"Dumbledore used to be...incredibly close to my father but he is also the reason that he is - or at least was, I am not so sure of anything anymore - locked away for a long time. Then he vanished...him reappearing now that Tom is presumably dead and his followers try to kill us is....a weird coincidence to say the least"
Regulus finally spoke up, “Tom was acting like he had a plan. There’s no way this is all a coincidence, from the sounds of it this has been in the motions for centuries. Sirius and I aren’t the only royal children he’s turned after all. He’d been doing it for far longer. There was a lot he wasn’t able to tell me, so you definitely know more.” Regulus didn’t look happy, in fact he looked rather pissed.
Moony took Regulus' hand under the table, trying to show him that he was there.
"We'll talk to Evan- I will. Moony, Fenrir, you're out until the full moon is over, am I clear? We can't have you exhaust yourself today and go through the transformation tomorrow as well" Scabior instructed
Moony scoffed "Well that's not fair! What do you expect me to do then? Sit around all day?!"
Scabior nodded, still calm "exactly"
Regulus lifted his and Moony’s interlocked hands and placed a kiss on Moony’s.
“It’s okay, ma lune. We can figure something out.”
Moony growled very quietly but didn't talk back anymore, just sat there.
"We have to wait for Evan anyways. And Regulus, don't forget that I want to see you, Marlene and Sirius in my office later, okay?"
Regulus nodded, “I know, I’ll remind them too.”
---------
Regulus went to grab Marlene and then Sirius, and Sirius was playing with Ellio in the floor. They had bought some small toys for Ellio in the past few weeks.
Ellio looked at Sirius with so much admiration that it took Regulus back to when he was little, and it made him uncomfortable and envious. He wished he could go back to when he and Sirius were that close.
Regulus cleared his throat, “Bonjour Ellio. Sirius, it’s time for our lesson with Scabior.”
Sirius turned around and nodded "Alright, kid you stay here, I'll be back in like an hour. We can play more then" He sighed "No pouting, I can't do anything against it, it's lessons"
Ellio pouted anyways but let Sirius go, who joined Regulus "Excited?"
Regulus shrugged, “I am but I’m also worried about it.”
He looked over to Marlene instead, he couldn’t bring himself to look at his brother right now. It almost hurt to. They were so close to each other right now, but the gap between them felt ever larger. It was more like a gaping chasm than healing, and Regulus couldn’t help but feel like that was his fault.
The three of them got to Scabior's office and he was already waiting. Faint music was playing and he seemed a bit tense. "Ah, good, right on time"
Regulus furrowed his eyebrows, “Are you okay?” he asked Scabior.
“You seem more tense than usual.”
"It's alright, I have just been thinking. Take a seat you three"
Scabior began to explain about how and why Vampires were able to perform magic.
Regulus listened intently, Sirius looked bored, and Marlene was nodding along like she had heard it before.
"Sirius, I know you have heard this before but please at least pretend to pay attention" Scabior groaned. He was not cut out to be a teacher by a long way.
"What we'll try first is to channel that energy. I want you to get comfortable and envision a ball in the middle of your palms. A sphere of energy"
Regulus smiled teasingly at Sirius before turning and closing his eyes. He felt ridiculous, but then he realized he wasn’t relaxed or comfortable at all.
He pulled his legs off of the floor and sat in a tailor’s sitting position. He hated having his feet on the ground while sitting anyway.
Once he was comfortable, he focused on creating a ball of energy in his hands. He had no idea what it was supposed to look or feel like, so maybe he was thinking about it too much. He breathed in and out a few times before sensing something change, so he peeked his eyes open.
He had balls of light in his hands!
He looked up at Scabior with a bigger smile than he meant to have.
Scabior was walking between then three of them and smiled proudly when he saw Regukus succeed.
"Great Job! Now, try to change it - what ever that means for you"
Marlene managed small sparks of light but no consistent ball so Scabior went over to her and whispered tips to her .
Sirius was obviously not even trying and seemed to look like he was above it all
Regulus frowned at the light in his hands and looked at Sirius, “You should actually try.” he deadpanned.
Then he saw the light turn into smoky tendrils of a sort, they were still glowing but now they were a dark green with a light hue around it. Like a body of water in the moonlight almost. It swirled slowly around his arms and reminded him of a snake. It was beautiful.
Marlene had got it down as well and when she opened her eyes and saw Regulus, she smiled at him, watching as she worked on keeping her own sphere stable.
"This-" Scabior produces a sphere out of nothing with no effort "-is the basis for all your magic. It is highly condensed energy"
The sphere turned into what looked like raindrops floating up and down
"It will take a different form for all of you and it can change over time, but if you ever struggle to find control, go back to this, just hold the sphere in your hands, feel it, remind yourself of what you are capable with - and what your limitations are"
“Hey, that is really amazing.” Regulus remarked to Marlene. “I like the rain.”
Marlene nodded, still mostly focused on the sphere though. She seemed to have trouble to control it rather than create it.
He looked over to Sirius who still hadn’t done anything.
“What’s wrong?” he asked
"Huh?" Sirius looked up "Oh nothing, I am just waiting for it to get interesting"
“Well it can’t exactly get interesting if you don’t do anything, now can it?” Regulus asked rhetorically.
The swirls on his arms started moving faster the more agitated he got but he didn’t notice. He didn’t know why everything Sirius did today ticked him off, but it was frustrating.
"I already know how to do this so I'm not wanting my energy on baby steps" he mumbled
Scabior shook his head "Again, at least pretend to participate or at least be quiet about it. Marlene and Regulus are doing quite well. Better than I had expected anyone to do in their first lesson"
Regulus rolled his eyes and turned back to Scabior.
“Are we really doing that well? This isn’t too difficult for me at all”
"That's a good sign! But I want you to get comfortable with this regardless, we won't go any further today"
Regulus relaxed and closed his eyes again. The tendrils around his arms slowed down too.
Scabior smiled with a proud smile, just letting them play around for a couple more minutes before telling them to slowly come to an end. He didn't want to overwork them.
Regulus talked excitedly to Marlene as they followed Scabior to the kitchen. “What did yours feel like to you? For me it felt like me, and my fears, I just wasn’t expecting it to look like snakes made out of dark water.”
Marlene shrugged "It didn't feel scary at all to me. More like...flowers? I know that sounds weird..."
“No, no, that doesn’t sound weird at all. It’s really interesting how much it varies between people,” Regulus spoke.
“Hey Scabior, what does your energy feel like?” Regulus asked curiously.
Sirius still hadn’t spoken up.
As they neared the kitchen Regulus got antsy, so he knew his mate was there too. It was instinct at this point.
"It's hard to describe by now. It has changed a lot over time, became a mixture of all my experiences. If I had to describe it... the only word I can find for it is safe Probably because it is a constant in my life, something I can always go back to, something familiar. Does that make sense to you?" Scabior smiled
Regulus nodded, “That does make sense."