When Stars Fall

Morgana and Regulus planned to spend their train ride to Hogsmeade station the same way they always did. Without the watchful eyes of their mothers, they were free to discuss and read whatever they wished. It was the one time when they weren't under constant supervision besides late night rendezvous in abandoned classrooms. In their dorms there were roommates who would snitch on any one for a reward as far as they knew and at home of course there were their mothers. Their peers were not nearly as unnerving or as connected to the dark side of the wizarding world, but you never knew who you could trust.

To the young witch and wizard, life was a battlefield where the only two people they could trust fully were each other. So, the train ride was their time to enjoy freedom almost fully. They would close the door to a compartment and often close the blinds too. When the trolley lady came by, they would purchase sweets and snacks and retreat back to their little world. Occasionally a fellow student would walk in to say hello, but it was easy to hide a book or change the conversation before they fully walked in. 

Yes, Morgana and Regulus liked the train and for the first hour of it they read and quipped back and forth, letting out well connected theories about their muggle novels and long, creative strings of cuss words whenever they disagreed. It was lighthearted and the least stressed either of them had been in a while. That is until people started to pay visits.

There was a light knock on the door and a slight pause before none other than Remus Lupin slowly opened the train door.

"Hey," his voice was smooth like honey just the way Ana remembered it being, and a new cut was healing across his nose. He stepped in and closed the door but stood instead of sitting. The trio stared at each other, unsure how to begin this interaction... there was so much to be said.

"Hello, Lupin..." Morgana cleared her throat, "Pleasant summer?"

He cleared his throat too before answering, "Uhm yeah... you know just... ummm... yeah, yourselves?"

He trailed off, clearly unsure how to answer that question. Lupin had never had any particular grudge against Regulus or Morgana, and neither did they for him, but they hardly ever interacted. He was the most tolerable of the "Marauders" but he was still off limits as a person and for him, they were similar. They were his best friend's/secret boyfriend's little brother and childhood best friend... but beyond that he hardly knew them besides reputation and what he had seen from them in 5 minutes that summer which contradicted all reputation, it was very confusing.

"Oh yeah, it was... good," Regulus responded, making brief eye contact with Morgana who nodded to Remus.

"Right, er... well I wanted to come by today..." Remus stumbled on, "to thank you for what you did..."

There was a long silence before Remus spoke again.

"I know that wasn't easy... and it probably hasn't been easy since, but err... I just want you guys to know that we're all grateful..."

"Oh... right," Regulus said.

Morgana finally seemed to turn her brain on and managed to speak for both of them. "Walburga has always had a temper... We're used to fixing Sirius after her 'bouts of madness. It just wasn't safe for him anymore. We're just thankful you all were there to take him in..."

"Not that we approve of you lot," Regulus added swiftly. 

Everyone nodded and there was a small chorus of "of course of course" and "yes, right," followed by another awkward silence. 

It was then that Remus noticed a book peeking out from under Regulus's robes and slowly lifted a finger to point. "Is that... Lord of the Rings?"

Regulus swiftly tucked the book into total concealment and blushed bright red. He wasn't sure what had gotten into him. Normally both him and Ana were so composed and perfectly articulate, but this was the most awkward and out of character moment for both of them ever. "No!"

Remus quickly dropped his hand and a small smile skirted across his lips before going back to his odd form of composure. "Oh..."

Morgana found her anxiety levels rising and tried to fix it, "Is that all, Lupin?"

"Err, I suppose it is. Sorry..." He moved to go out the door but then quickly turned around pulling two small parcels out of his pockets. "I almost forgot... these are for you... from Sirius..."

Morgana and Regulus gingerly accepted the gifts and before either could mutter a thank you, Remus had exited the compartment, closing the door behind him. They sat there for a moment, bewildered at the strange interaction before Morgana jumped up and locked the compartment door.

"What the fuck!?" she finally exclaimed.

"Fuck if I know! I've never spoken more than two sentences to him in my life!"

"Then what was that?"

"What part of fuck if I know do you not understand, Ana?"

"Sorry, sorry..." she looked down at the small, carefully wrapped package in her hand. "Should we open them?"

Regulus looked down at his gift as well. "I suppose we ought to, shouldn't we?"

Morgana sat back down, moving slowly, still bewildered. "You first?"

"Why should I have to go first?"

"I don't know! He's your brother isn't he?"

"Lupin isn't any blood of mine!"

"But they're from Sirius!"

"It could be a prank-"

"-or a trap."

"Best not then."

"I agree."

"Safer..."

"Right..."

They sunk back into silence, glancing between the parcels and each other.

"Merlin, this is killing me." 

"We should just open them."

"We know more magic, we can fix whatever it does."

"Exactly..."

There was another silence...

"It would be rude not to open them-"

"-incredibly rude."

"We should just get it over with."

"Ladies first."

"I don't want to go first! It's your brother!"

"And you had a crush on Lupin in our third year! I therefore-"

"-you promised to never speak of that again-"

"-have the high ground and you should go first."

"How is Lupin even relevant to this!?"

"He was the messenger!"

"But it's not from him!"

"SO!?"

"So you should open yours first!!"

"I don't want to!"

"Oh and you think I want to!?"

"Together then!"

"Fine!!"

"One-"

"-Two-"

"-Three!"

Neither of them moved to open the parcels.

"You chicken!"

"You didn't open yours either!"

"I don't see how that's relevant since you-"

Their bickering was cut off by a knock on the compartment door. "Reggie, Ana, are you in there?"

The two didn't move for a beat before making eye contact and scrambling to put everything away. Books were thrown into trunks haphazardly and closed before the intruder could shout alohomora. Parcels were in pockets and the teens separated themselves onto alternate benches as Margaret Parkinson walked in.

"Hello cousin. Hello, Ana," she said in her sing-song voice. Margaret Parkinson shared a dorm with Morgana and three other girls and since rooming together, had established quite a relationship with the you Travers girl. They weren't particularly close by any means, neither girl had the freedom to allow such a thing, but she was Morgana's closest female friend. Plus, she was Regulus's cousin by marriage so she'd been a small part of their lives for a long time.

They each offered a greeting as she, not so gracefully, plopped down next to her cousin. "I hate the train, don't you?"

Morgana and Regulus murmured in agreement, too caught up in their thoughts to offer much acknowledgement.

The feast was nothing noteworthy this year. The Sorting Hat's song was rather depressing, warning children about dark forces and how we needed to come together like the founders of the school had to defeat such evil. Most of the older children rolled their eyes, knowing that the world was far too divided for the song to have an impact, while the younger children, especially the new muggleborns, sat back in fear. Did the wizarding world bring a new kind of doom into their poor innocent lives? Why must they pay for the bigotry of their elders? It didn't matter though because within a year or so, most of them would accept their fate as pawns in the wizarding world for greater witches and wizards to play with.

Morgana and Regulus, however, paid no mind to the Sorting Hat's song, or the dismissal from the upperclassmen, or the fear from the underclassmen... they were buzzing as the could still each feel the weight of the parcels in their pockets. The mystery parcels from Sirius Orion Black. From a brother, an outlaw, a shining example of what not to do, but also from the one person that got out. Regulus and Morgana both wanted nothing more than to be free from all of this and so although outwardly no one would think they paid the Gryffindors any mind, they secretly kept glancing over to the free man that they missed. The boy who hadn't forgotten about them but had gotten far enough away from the cycle of abuse that thinking of them, left behind, hurt too much. Maybe it was the joint they had smoked in the carriage on their way up to Hogwarts to ease their nerves, but they finally seemed to understand Sirius.

The pair scarfed down food and kept their outward nonchalant attitude for the remainder of the feast. One thing they always were able to pride themselves on was restraint and calculated risks. It was something they had learned through years of high standards and abuse on their side of the wizarding world. They made polite conversation and kept the attention away from themselves, flawlessly, and once they'd acquired the new password to the dorm, Être pur, they snuck away from the crowds, flawlessly, and into the dark corridors of abandoned classrooms they knew by heart. By the end of their second year, they knew when and where they wouldn't get caught based off of the patrol schedules and teacher preferences.

Filch patrolled all night, as did his hellish cat Mrs.Norris. He knew the school like the back of his hand and so knew every nook and cranny for hiding... or so he thought. There were approximately 15 rooms that Filch never checked and that was due to locks and tapestries. See, Filch knew which doors should be locked and when so rarely did he actually check behind doors that were locked when he knew they should be so. Even so out of those 15 rooms, 12 had connected offices, and out of those 12, 5 were sealed with magic, not meant for Filch to open, and 6 were behind tapestries that he often forgot they were there. In a pinch they could use the rooms without the connected offices, but rarely did they choose to do so as they like the extra level of security. They were mostly for ducking into when running from teachers in the middle of the night. The other 12 were good for use so long as you sealed everything as it should be right behind you. Now choosing which of the 12 to use was harder because you had to remember what patrol schedule you were on.

On Mondays and Thursdays, Filch liked to start in the east wing, go up the north towers, through the great hall, to the green houses, through the west wing, to the dungeons, and finally ending in the southern docks where first years arrived via boats. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays, he would do the same thing in reverse. On Saturdays he was too busy chasing kids around inside the castle to even worry about places like the Quidditch Pitch and the Astronomy tower and on Thursdays and Fridays it was often too random to tell. The pair weren't even sure that Filch knew that he was following such a routine, but it was easy to pick up on the predictability of that old hag. However, other teachers made it more difficult.

Slughorn hated his patrol nights and so if he caught a Slytherin or one of his favorites from the Slug Club (or potential members) he would often let you go with a warning to get back into bed. He really wasn't a threat. Flitwick patrolled almost every night but stuck mostly to the East wing where the Ravenclaw's tower was, he didn't like to travel very far. Madam Hooch had patrol once a month, often on the 12th or 18th for some reason, and she did her sweep swiftly and thoroughly so that she could return to bed. The other teachers also stuck to their respective areas of the school where their classrooms resided, keeping an eye out for wandering students about once every other week. 

McGonagall was who you had to watch out for. She stayed up late nearly every night even when she didn't have patrol to grade papers or do various other paperwork for the school. She had the ears and eye of a hawk and was always a threat. However, if you got to your location between the hours of 8 pm and 8:30 pm, you would most likely be safe from her wrath as that's when she had her nightly tea in her quarters and would not be disturbed by anyone or anything. Returning was trickier as she was often the first to be woken up by a fellow teacher in the night if there was trouble. However, she went to bed around 3 am every night so as long as you avoided other teachers that late, most went to bed anyways, you would be fine.

All that being said, the feast and holidays were special times as most of the teachers liked to celebrate in the staff room with a little too much sherry, even Filch and McGonagall indulged, so they often had a free night on these occasions. There was one teacher though, that always posed a threat at the beginning of the year: The Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher.

Every year the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher changed, there was some weird curse on the position. Most years they were able to diagnose the teacher within the allotted time for the feast, but this year, there was something off about this one. Dumbledore introduced him as Professor Moody. When he had done so, there had been a murmur through the students. He was famous, even at his young age. It was said that he was putting death eaters in prison left and right and had the intuition and temperment of a dung bomb. He had thin sandy hair that Morgana could tell was already greying. A chunk of his nose was missing and fresh scars riddled his face and hands. They were not clean swipes like what Remus Lupin had, but rather jagged and sunken indicating they were curse scars. But the most notable feature about Moody, was the electric blue eye strapped to his right eye socket that moved freely, scanning the room and making both children feel very exposed when it settled on them.

They knew instinctively that he was going to be a problem for them this year, they were good at identifying problems, but decided to brush him off for now as they'd seen him drinking at dinner: three fingers of whiskey, neat. He'd have fun with Hagrid, they joked. So by the time they'd reached their planned classroom for the evening, they'd pushed Professor Moody out of their minds and back to Sirius and his parcels.

"I still can't believe I let you drag me here, Albus," Moody muttered to Dumbledore before taking a sip of his drink. The liquor slid down his throat like fire and seemed to burn a hole in his stomach and brain. This was his third one of the evening and he was finally beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol in his system.

Dumbledore chuckled, "Don't you think you've had enough of those, Alastor? You do have first patrol tonight."

"If I'm gonna be held here against my will, then I'm going to drink as much as I please," he finished his glass and directed his normal eye to his friend and colleague while his blue eye roamed the Slytherin table. "Besides, for a school for kids, you've got a very extensive liquor selection."

"How do you think my staff makes it through the year? I doubt Horace would keep returning every year if I didn't supply him with his favorite peanut butter brandy."

"And Minerva would kill you for your bullshit without her 1805 Zuidam..." he knocked his glass on the table twice and magically it filled itself again. "Is that them? Right side 13 students up, boy with the messy black hair and girl with the brown hair?"

Dumbledore sighed, "Yes... Regulus and Morgana, some of the finest students to roam these halls. I see great things for both of their futures."

"If they make it that far..." he mumbled.

"And that's why you're here..."

Moody took another sip of whiskey. He could feel the buzz reaching his head. It helped distract from the aches and pains of so many injuries and joints that acted too old for a 20 something year old. "They look unassuming... I guess that's where I'm wrong."

Dumbledore turned to scan the rest of the hall and Moody did the same. He knew how these children operated, hell he'd been teaching them for 4 years already but before summer, he hadn't paid them any mind. They were just another pair of students with a sickening backstory, good students of course but without any real use for him besides possible future Aurours or threats for his current posse to take care of when the time came. "Check the pockets."

Moody let his regular eye wander the great hall as his magic eye zoomed into the students. He saw through the table and through the fabric into their pockets. It was unsettling to have such a power. If he were a worse person, he could look at the whole hall as if each individual person were naked. But he wasn't like that, thank fucking god. "Little black presents, so what?"

"During the summer, I met with Sirius Black. It took some persuading, but now that the boy is on our side, he is working harder on convincing those two to join us as well."

"She's analyzing me."

"And she will most likely make a correct judgement."

"What's so special about these kids anyways?" 

"Not here. All in good time, Alastor, all in good time."

Regulus and Morgana stared at the parcels that they'd placed between them. No matter how much reasoning they did, they couldn't get themselves to open them. They were like two little poorly wrapped black boxes of doom. No matter what it seemed like there was no positive. If it was a prank then they would suffer the short end of a stick and be made the fools. If it was some sort of letter saying he was doing better would they be jealous of him for getting out or would they just miss him too much since they'd know that he'd never be coming back? If it was a way out of this whole life, would they have the strength to take it? And even if they did, would they regret it? If it was something sentimental would they long for him? Would it eat them up inside and wonder for days that might have happened had things gone just a little bit differently, if they had just a little more courage? They just couldn't do it...

The pair wordlessly hid the two parcels behind a loose stone in the wall where they'd hidden a great many other things with an extension charm. They resealed the stone, quietly muttering the spells, before leaving again, hand in hand to return to the dorms. 

Moody watched them go, keeping his distance before darting into the room that they'd just been in. From the lack of weight in their pockets as they were leaving, he knew the parcels had been either disposed of or hidden. He was willing to bet the latter. He muttered a spell to try and draw out any negative curses and such but nothing but dust moved through the air. There was no evil in this room, the children had made sure of that before they decided to use it. He knew where the parcels were and Dumbledore said to collect them, but it felt wrong.

Mad Eye Moody had picked through people's lives investigating how they lived, their routines, the things most dear to their hearts. He would pick and prod at every single person that came across his desk at the Aurours Department. But with these kids... maybe there was still some soft part of him that wanted to keep kids out of this war.

He walked away from the room to continue his patrols, deciding that today was not the day he'd pull them in. That was for tomorrow...