Chapter 12
Remus booked the soonest flight he could, and they all crowded around Regulus as Sirius helped him through the airport. The airplane had Regulus still half lucid, murmuring softly, but not making much sense to anyone who didn't speak French. Sirius swore he never spoke so much in his native language since he left Regulus, and even then, he did not think he had ever spoke so much. Gods, just hearing Regulus speak this much is insane. Sirius thought to himself as they waited for the cab after the long, and draining, airplane ride. He was always so silent, so quiet, and he barely ever spoke anything. Just a quiet little thing. A part of Sirius wanted to be secure in the knowledge that it was his presence that lend Regulus the comfort and the strength to speak so much. This had been the case when they were children as well, but now? It was insane. For those idiots to dare....Sirius felt his fingers tremble as he carded them through Regulus' hair in the back of the cab. James, Peter, and Remus would be meeting him in his flat. He was grateful for his friends, and even more so for his boyfriend. After all the revelations of the day, he did not think that he could handle this without them.
Keeping a firm hold on his newly found brother, Sirius pulled him into his apartment. Sirius hadn't really spent much time here, preferring Remus' over his own for a good half a year now. The lease wasn't up yet, though, and so Sirius just waited it out until the lease ended. He wondered if he would do that now, or if Remus would be okay with letting his brother stay with them, there was no way in hell he was allowing Regulus to go back to Crouch and Rosier, and their creepy, weird relationship...whatever it was. Not knowing what he knew now. It disgusted him, really, how much they were willing to just shove Regulus to the side for no good reason. Regulus was a victim, and he knew his whole group was uncomfortable with what Crouch had done. Yes, Regulus was an asset, and a good one, but at the end of the day, he was still a victim. A rather large one at that.
The bell rung, and Sirius reluctantly let go of his brother to answer the door. Huffing softly, he let his friends and boyfriend in easily, closing it immediately behind him. Sure, he may be a bit paranoid, but he was going up against the director, and he needed to figure out if Regulus was truly a member of the Witness protection. He was having his own doubts. If he truly had been in Protection, his name should've been changed, and even more so, his hair, dyed, his eyes, contacts, just anything and everything they could do to avoid detection for him, and yet they had allowed him to come on a high-profile case, with lots of news coverage, and didn't bother to do any of that.
"So," Peter hesitated once Sirius returned from his bedroom after putting Regulus down. He had felt...untethered, leaving his brother alone. He wanted to have eyes on him at all times, but even he knew that was excessive. "What in the hell is going on?" Sirius dropped into the nearest couch and sighed heavily. He had to figure out how to express this, and his english was sort of failing him at the moment considering how much he had been speaking in French. It was annoying, but something Sirius had figured was a risk of happening. It had been necessary, though, because Regulus' english had totally failed him entirely in the moment, and probably would not return for another day or so. Maybe.
"Reggie," Sirius inhaled sharply, trying to force his tongue around the english syllables without making a total fool of himself. "That is Reggie." Sirius felt tears begin to sting his eyes as he thought about everything, they were told had happened to him. He wanted to think it was just a coincidence, but he knew full well that it was not. Regulus would probably feel pissed that he had let so much out, and likely regret it, but Sirius could not bring himself to regret the fact that he found his brother.
"I thought you said you saw his body."
"I did," Sirius whispered, his eyes wide and fingers trembling as they wiped the water from them. "I don't understand it, I really don't. Reggie will probably be livid he let it slip, and whoever the fuck was on that phone...I think...I think it was the leader." Remus' eyes turned sharp as he said that.
"Go on, love, give us more details." Sirius took another steadying breath trying to sort his thoughts out. It was difficult, made all the more difficult by Regulus being in the back room.
"It was not our mother, not our father, nobody from our family, I would know and recognize it. Which means it someone that I haven't met. Once Walburga and Orion started getting into that cultish thing they wanted me to be a part of before I ran away...I had met almost everyone. Except for one person. One. The leader. I was supposed to get to know him after Regulus died, or not died, or the fake death..." Sirius shook his head to get back on track. "I ran away before I could. It has to be him. Plus the way he was speaking? That was definitely not some underling."
"What did he say?" Sirius growled lowly, his nails cutting into the jeans he wore.
"He wanted Regulus to be good, play the game well, and that he was highly entertained and amused by him but it won't change anything, he will get to him one way or another." Sirius grit his teeth angrily. "I just don't get it. I saw Regulus' body, I saw him die, I heard his screams. And yet..." Trying to calm his racing heart Sirius blinked the tears away. "It doesn't really matter though, does it. I have some other reservations." The group seemed to perk up at that. They were, after all, detectives first.
"And? What is it?" James asked, his eyes especially eager.
"I don't think Reggie is really in Witness Protection. I think Crouch and Rosier were lying to us about that, lying to us, and lying to him. I know we all thoroughly read the documents that we were given to sign, and it seemed standard WP forms, but just because we signed them doesn't mean Regulus is really in it."
"I did think that was rather odd. Crouch shouldn't have taken someone that was supposedly so high profile on such a public case. I can see virtual meetings, or phone calls, but it just seems weird that he would parade the boy around, especially when his mental state was so tentative in the first place. It just did not feel right." James hummed softly, as if trying to make some sense of it. "And then there is their clear relationship. WP has some clear boundaries. Crouch crossed so many of them without even thinking. I don't know if it is because he felt he could get away with it, or what, but it was just odd."
"We have to wait for more information, but I can look into the witness protection thing." Peter said gently, his eyes wide. "You have a laptop?" The question was directed at Sirius, who eagerly snatched it and gave it to their mousey friend. "Don't sign in." Peter warned, and Sirius paused on the keys, before just flipping it over and turning it to him.