The Quartets Query

Remus POV

Holidays were supposed to either be a nice break from school or an entire week deticating to immersing oneself in studies for finals. 

I was doing neither this Easter, instead fretting over how Regulus’s Holiday was going in terms of acquiring a certain Cup from his cousin. 

James, Sirius, and I were currently lounging in Prongs’ room, flipping through his records and tossing them on his bed. 

“I can’t believe Mum’s making throw out half my records!” James moaned, slipping from his bed to fall dramatically in the floor. “They’re my babies.”

“Too bad,” I said, tossing a pile of broken records into a trash bin. 

I strangled, choking, gasping sounded from the corner of the room Sirius was occupying. I turned to see him clutching an album titled Vivaldi’s Greatest Songs for Piano.  

“You okay, Padfoot?” James asked, sitting up. 

“This…this used to be Reggie favorite,” Sirius whispered. “He used to play it all the time on the piano in the Morning Room. It was one of the only things that comforted him when Mother and Father were…” He trailed off but neither James nor I needed him to finish. 

“It comforted me too,” Sirius admitted this fact like it was a precious secret. 

He looked up and locked eyes with me. 

“This is my last chance,” he muttered. He tucked the album under his jacket and promptly exited the room. 

James looked at me. “What—?”

“Grab some coin,” I ordered, snatching up my jumper that lay over James’s truck. “We’re going to need to call the night bus.”

Regulus’s POV

I was already waiting at the front door when it rang the Wednesday of Easter Break at noon. We had chosen this time because evenings were reserved for Death Eater meetings and Wednesdays were the day my Mother had her three hour hair appointment in town. My Father was working, of course. 

I took Cissy’s black fur coat as she waltzed in the door, looking the picture of royalty. Half of her white blonde hair was pulled back in an elegant twist and the rest fell in gentle waves around her shoulders.

Her black dress was elegant and her black boots added a slight edge to the look. Her engagement ring sparkled magnificently on her slender finger, daring anyone to ignore it. Not a hair was out of place, as was demanded. 

“Cissy,” I greeted, depositing her coat to Kreature, our house elf, who stood at my side like some sort of absurd welcome party, and leaning in to phantom kiss her cheek. I had once actually kissed her cheek as my Mother had commanded, and Cissy had scolded that I was ruining her makeup. It hadn’t happened again. 

“Cousin,” she answered, her mouth in a prim line but her eyes sparkling. “It’s been so long,” she added, pouring slightly. 

“Indeed,” I agreed, suppressing a smirk. 

I led her into the sitting room where she took her usual place in the high backed chair by the window. Her eyes strayed to Kreature who was now hovering in the doorway. She hated house elves like everyone else in my family but tolerated Kreature for my sake. 

“You don’t mind if he stays, do you?” I asked her. 

Her brows rose slightly. “You trust a house elf in this matter?” she countered, as if he wasn’t standing right there. 

“I do. He has sworn an oath of loyalty to me as well as an unbreakable vow to put me and any mission I assign to him above the rest of the family and the Dark Lord. This is one of those missions and he already knows every detail. It does not conflict with his vow to the House of Black because I remain a member of said house. I assure you, he is trustworthy,” I finished with authority. 

Cissy pursed her lips but only said, “Very well.” 

Then she reached into her black purse and pulled out Helga Hufflepuff’s cup. My breath caught. 

“Thank you, Cissy,” I said honestly, reaching for the cup. Her grip on it tightened and I looked up into her pale eyes. 

“Thank you,” she said, emotion coloring her voice. My throat closed up a bit thinking about the reunion happening in spite of distance and discord. 

“Bella?” I asked, switching back to the subject at hand. The important subject. 

“Doesn’t suspect a thing,” she assured. She must have sensed my skepticism because she asked, “You doubt me, Regulus? Others have made that mistake before but I thought you knew better,” she tutted. 

“She is your sister,” I reasoned. 

“Exactly,” Cissy countered. “I would know if she had known. It worked like a dream. Into the vault, fawning over the ring…I’m a fantastic fawner, you know,” she added. 

I rolled my eyes. “I know.” 

“A little sleight of hand, and no one is the wiser. You’re too clever for your own good, cousin.” 

“It wasn’t just my idea,” I muttered. She ignored me. “And you have no qualms whatsoever about the fact that the Dark Lord commanded Bella to guard this with her life?” I asked, my eyes boring into hers. I had to know exactly where her loyalties lay. 

As if reading my mind, Cissy said, “My loyalty is to my family Regulus. Present and future,” she added, toying with her ring. Her tone was steely, but her face softened slightly. 

“Bella is family,” I pointed out. 

“So is Andy,” she answered, her voice wavering slightly. Her name hadn’t been spoken in this house  since she ran off with that muggleborn and it rang around the room. “Bella will be fine,” she said stiffly. “Bella is always fine.” 

“You may be underestimating the Dark Lord,” I told her. 

“Are you sure you aren’t projecting, dear?” she asked, her eyes flashing and she leaned forward to look me in the eyes. “Tread lightly, cousin. From here on out you’re on your own. I can’t get you out of this, do you understand?”

“I understand, cousin, and I would never ask you to. You’ve held up your end of the bargain,” I told her. “But I’m not alone.” 

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Tread lightly,” she repeated. I nodded, and we both rose in unison. 

“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you,” she chimed as returned her coat. 

“Likewise,” I answered. She was already down the front stoop and moments away from apparating away when I called out to her. 

“Oh, and Cissy?” I called. “Do stay in touch,” I said, a sheepish, semi-hopeful look on my face. 

Her face softened. “I’d love to.” Then she was gone. I turned to Kreature who was hovering in the doorway, at the ready. 

“Come on,” I told him. “Let’s see what all the fuss is about.” We traipsed up the wooden stairs to my room and I didn’t bother to soften my footsteps as mother preferred. It was only when the house was completely empty, save for Kreature and I, that I was able to marginally relax. 

I plopped down on my bed and Kreature sat cross legged on the ground in front of me. I held the cup up in front of us, examining it from all angles. 

“Horrid house,” Kreature grumbled. “But an intricate artifact,” he added. House elves weren’t supposed to speak unless spoken to but long ago I had ordered Kreature to speak his mind and had been paying the price ever since. I didn’t actually mind because it felt like having a friend. A crotchety, disgruntled, pain in my butt friend. 

“It grows on you,” I told him, smiling slightly. Kreature was the only member of the House of Black I smiled in front of beside Cissy. 

He shot me a look. “Master is much altered since the fall.”

“Altered?” I asked, my tone teasing. “Altered how?”

“Master rebels and smiles and spends more time on his grooming,” Kreature said keenly. 

“Shut up,” I told him, grinning. 

“Kreature lives to serve the Noble House of Black,” he answered automatically, then promptly fell silent. I rolled my eyes and tried to suppress my smile, standing up to stretch and pacing to my window. 

As I glanced dispassionately out of the window, my gaze caught on a figure on the pavement. I froze. He was pacing in the front stoop, his hands shoved in his jacket pockets and he looked nearly identical to me.

Remus POV

I hadn’t been to a park since I was four. My parents had taken me every Saturday for a while, pushing me on the swings and sitting on the opposite end of the seesaw. Then I got bitten and being outside became a lot less common. 

So I was feeling a little awkward as I sat next to James on a bench in the playground outside the hidden No. 12 Grimmauld Place. He was noisily opening a gronola bar, kicking his feet back and forth. 

“They’re going to reconcile,” he said, finally managing to peel back the wrapping. He broke off a chunk of the bar and handed it to me. “I know it.”

I nodded my head, accepting the crumpling piece of granola. When James said he knew something then he knew it, and it would undoubtedly come true. Peter had joked he was secretly a seer, but I disagreed. 

James was simply so honest, so true and pure that he could tell when other things were as well. He could also tell when things need something honest, true, and pure. Maybe that’s why he was such a good friend to Sirius and I. 

James stretched out his limbs, mouth full. 

“I ‘an’t believe we’re gradua’ing ‘oon.” He said, crumbs spitting out of his mouth. 

“I know right,” I agreed, picking chocolate chips out of the gronola and popping them into my mouth. 

“Say,” James swallowed. “I’ve been think of this for a while. There’s the little forest near my parents house, one with a lake and waterfall and cabin and stuff.” He brushed his pants clean. 

“After graduation we should, you know? Spend a couple weeks camping, bring the girlfriends. A true Marauders summer. What do you say?” He looked at me hopefully. 

“That sounds winderful,” I said truthfully. “It’ll be a blast. We can have s’mores, swim, hike…”

“…canoe, capture the flag, racing,” James sighed, content. “It’s perfect. I’ll propose to Lily.”

I sat up straight. “What?”

James grinned at me, blushing and sheepish. “Yeah…I-I love her. Always have, always will. That won’t change.”

I beamed at him as he continued. 

“We’ve dated for over a year and it’s not like will marry right away anyways, but,” he reached into his pocket as he spoke. “I talked to may parents over Winter Holiday, and Mum gave me her ring.”

Out of his jeans he pulled a small, shiny black box. He crack open the lid revealing a diamond studded band with a small emerald nestled in the center. 

“This she’ll like it?” James sounded nervous and uncertain. 

“You’re joking, right?” I laughed, joy bubbling in my stomach and filling my body with warmth. “She’ll love it.”

“Yeah?” James beamed. 

“Yeah,” I threw my arm around his neck, pulling his head downward and rubbing my knuckling in his hair. James shouted and shoved me off, giggling. He punched his fists in the hair in victory. 

“Yes!” He cried, laughing again. “The world is ours, Moony.”

I chuckled, elbowing him gently in the ribs. 

“Right you are, Prongs. The world is ours.”

Regulus POV 

My heart stopped. What was he doing here? Since the day he slammed the door behind him, he hadn’t stepped foot over the threshold once. So why was he now pacing on the sidewalk in front of Grimmauld Place? 

My blood ran cold as I realized it must be an emergency and stormed down the stairs, throwing open the front door and running out into the front stoop. Sirius, midstep, spun to face me looking shocked, as if he wasn’t the one at my door. 

“Who is it? Iris? Lyla? Mel? What happened?” I cried, my voice cracking on the last word. 

“What?” Sirius spluttered. 

“The girls, are they okay?” I realized I was gripping Sirius’s leather jacket sleeve in my panic, but I didn’t care. He looked taken aback. 

“Yes, they’re fine. I swear,” he said. “Merlin, I should have realized that’s what you would think.” He shook his head. “This is already going terribly.”

I let go of him, releif washing over me, which was cooly replaced by wariness. I took a step back. 

“Then why are you here?” I asked him, my voice coming out cold. I wasn’t sure if I had meant it to sound like that or if it just was just my default tone. 

His gazed skipped across the street to the soggy park that we used to sneak out to on summer nights and I followed it. Two figures were sitting on a damp bench trying to look inconspicuous. 

“Did you bring your whole house for this? Whatever this is?” I asked, rolling my eyes. 

My brother cleared his throat and glanced behin to to where the front door was still hanging wide open. “Could we, erm, go inside?” 

I fixed him with a cold stare and now it was his turn to roll his eyes exaggeratedly. “Unless you want an audience?” he asked. 

“Fine,” I bit out, spinning on my heel and not looking behind me. We passed that stupid portrait mother was having commissioned of herself, set up on an easle in the sitting room, and Sirius raised a silent brow but said nothing. Once we got to the dining room, Sirius pulled out an ebony chair, a stricken look on his face, and sat, assuming I would join him. I stayed standing. 

“What do you want?” I asked him. 

He reached deep into an inside pocket of his coat and pulled out a record wrapped in brown paper. As he pulled it out, I caught the inscription on the side and my breath caught. “It’s was your favorite song to play on piano, remember?” 

The silence stretched taught between us. My first reaction was the shatter the record on the table. He didn’t get to make me feel this. But I couldn’t, I just couldn’t. Maybe that made me weak. 

“Of course I remember, but how do you?” I get out, praying for my voice to stay steady.

“I rememeber everything Reggie,” he said softly, looking up at me. 

I swallowed. And then that question that I had asked him a thousand times in my dreams, or nightmares, slipped out, so slippery I didn’t have time to shove it back down. “Why didn’t you take me with you?” I whispered. A plea. 

Sirius’s face crumpled. “Would you have come?”

Another silence. I didn’t know how to answer. Or what my answer was. So instead I said, “You should have asked me.” I hated how my voice wavered. “Even if it would have ruined your perfect friend group’s fun, even if Potter family dinners would have been a little more awkward, you should have asked me.” 

Sirius shot to his feet. “That’s not why! I would have asked if I would have thought you would come. If I had know for sure that you wouldn’t have told Mother and Father-“ 

“I wouldn’t have!” I cried. 

“-If I hadn’t thought you might try to convince me to stay,” he said, his eyes pleading for understanding.

I opened my mouth to protest again but nothing came out. 

Instead I said again, “You should have taken me with you,” but my heart wasn’t in it this time. I was horrified to find a few tears leaking out against my will, blurring my vision. “You should have taken me with you.” It sounded like defeat. 

Sirius was around the table to two seconds and all of a sudden I was enveloped in a leather scented hug. “You would have asked me to stay,” he choked out, the sound muffled into my button down. 

“I know,” I croaked, my arms coming around him of their own volition. It felt like the most natural thing in the world. It felt like home. “I know.” 

After what felt like an eternity, but still not nearly long enough, we pulled apart. 

“Come with me?” he asked. 

I stood there, rooted to the spot, blinking at him. 

“Yes,” I said. Sirius smiled, and I thought, for a moment, that it was the happiest I had seen him since before he had turned eleven. 

“Come on,” he said, still grinning, and somehow crying. “I think you’re really going to like the Potters.”

Miraculously, and first the first time in ages, I believed my brother.