finale
"Sirius, perhaps you should calm down before you visit Regulus again," Remus said sagely. The person in question glared at him, and Remus just rolled his eyes, far too used to the older black's temperament to take it to heart.
"He just keeps telling me to kill him off that way the contents of the letter will appear." Sirius growled out. "Even has provoked me a few times, and I have to say the little shit is good at it too, because I swear a few times I would have just..." Sirius growled, pulling at his hair in fury. "I just don't get it! How is he so willing to just throw himself to death. He couldn't have possibly thought that he was going to get out of the damn cave alive, and he had apparently ordered Kreacher to leave him there. It is a good thing that I called for him otherwise..." Sirius' voice cracked, unable to continue the line of thought. Just thinking about it was horrible, and the fact that he had seen the state that Regulus was in when he had grabbed him definitely did not make things better.
"Okay, have you thought about, I dunno, just..." James rubbed his eyes sighing. Actually, he too did not have any clue about what to do. He had never really dealt with suicidal people. It was something that he just...never thought to do. Strange, yes, but he could not help but think...
"I am not killing him, no matter what the little shit wants." Sirius grit out folding his arms over his chest.
"Nobody expects you to, darling," Remus calmed. "How about I go in and talk to him?" Sirius huffed but nodded, hoping that maybe his boyfriend could knock some sense into his stupid little brother. Remus gave Sirius a small pat on the shoulder and moved towards the room that they had taken to keeping Regulus in.
Regulus glared at him the moment that he walked through, before groaning and sighing.
"If only it were closer to the full moon I would be able to just irritate you into attacking me." Regulus sighed softly, pulling at the edges of his robes. Remus just stopped, staring at him. He was not aware that Regulus had known his secret, but then again, he was not aware that a lot of people had known his secrets. "Oh, and I would suggest being wary of scurrying little rats, Werewolf, at least I have some integrity." The disgust in Regulus' voice was once more evident as it had been in the hologram. Remus knew, as did they all, what Regulus was suggesting, but until Regulus died, or just gave up the information, they did not want to believe it.
"Why are you begging Sirius to kill you?" Remus got straight to the point, and Regulus raised a brow, not quite expecting that. Remus figured a straight forwards approach was best as it would do exactly that, catch Regulus off guard.
"Does it matter?" Regulus questioned, waving his hand idly. "If he does not, one of the Order members will, if they do not, than the Dark Lord for certain will, and if he does not, he will just send someone to do it."
"And, if you wouldn't mind, why does your master want you dead?"
"He doesn't," Regulus said simply. "At least not yet. Give it a bit." There was a shrug of one shoulder. Just as elegant as normal when it came to Regulus. "And I certainly cannot go back into his presence, after all my occlumency is good, but not that good. I, personally, prefer a quick death over one drawn out."
"And drowning is a quick death?" Remus questioned. Regulus groaned at the words.
"Look, I knew I was not going to make it out the cave, I did not know I was going to drown in it. I assumed slow starvation, poisoning, even trickling blood loss, drowning by comparison is much better." Remus rubbed his temples slowly trying to make sense of what was going on.
"Sirius is not going to kill you, nobody knows you are here, we are protected against Voldermort..." Regulus laughed, a simple but impulsive thing, before he lifted his hand to cover his mouth, eyes glittering in amusement.
"Sorry, but your little rat is still scurrying about here. Suffice it to say your location is more than well known by Voldermort. As is anyone whose come into contact by mistakenly trusting rodents. Give it time, the next time I fail to show up at his precious little meetings, he will ask about me, your little rat, assuming you've informed him, will be more than willing to carry on as much information as he has. If the Dark Lord wants your location, the little coward will willingly give it to save his own neck." Regulus rolled his eyes at his naivety. "I suggest you be a bit more cautious about who you protect and trust..." Regulus sighed.
"You said that before too," Regulus just shrugged again.
"Not my fault if you do not want to believe me." He stated simply. Remus tried to control his frustration, but it seemed Regulus was quite sincere, and since he was begging to die he really had no reason to not be truthful.
"Peter is not aware you are here, he is also not aware of the letter you gave Sirius, or anything regarding that." Regulus raised a brow.
"Dissention in the ranks of the Mauraders already?" Remus shook his head.
"He had left early." Regulus scoffed. "We won't tell Peter if you don't want us to." Regulus narrowed his eyes, sucking his tongue through his teeth idly.
"I want a vow."
"I'm sorry?"
"Unbreakable vow. Sirius wants to know my information so much, so badly, but he annoyingly will not kill me, so as a result I want you, Sirius, and Potter to give me a vow. And unbreakable vow, and then I will give you the information."
Remus left to tell Sirius without even bothering to give Regulus an answer.
Sirius burst through the door immediately agreeing to do it. He had snatched Potter and had Effie as the binder. Regulus rolled his eyes once more at Sirius' customary impulsive behavior, but as the last words faded from their mouths, and the last loops crossed their wrists, Regulus had to admit...he was glad for his brother. Glad that he was not going to have to do this alone, and glad that he had made the right choice.