Safe & Sound

James apparates in front of the opening of the cave when he sees fresh blood smeared over the wall. The opening is still open so he slips through. He’s about to grab his wand for a bit of light but there’s already a wand lit on the island in the middle of the cave. James hears a strangled yell and water splashing. He gets to the island as fast as he can to pull the person out of the water. With a few spells, he throws the strange looking creatures off of the person. James pulls him out of the water. 

It’s Regulus.

Regulus.

James is frozen in place as he looks at the younger boy laying on his lap. He can’t think or do anything. He even stopped breathing for a while. He let out a shuddered breath as he came back to his senses. It hit him that Regulus wasn’t breathing. He sprung to life and tried everything to get Regulus breathing again.

Regulus spluttered out a bit of water as he coughed, James let out a sigh of relief which made Regulus look at him. “Potter?” Regulus asks, shakily. “I thought you’d be happier to see me to be honest.” James smiles. Regulus punches him softly against the shoulder as they laugh. Regulus lays back down, catching his breath. “What were you doing here?” James breaks the silence. “I am retrieving something.” 

“And what might that be?” James asks curiously. Regulus glances up at him, looking sceptical. “And why would I tell you?” James lets out a chuckle at this but Regulus can see a flicker of sadness in his eyes. James must have experience with hiding feelings like that because he has Regulus questioning if there is even an ounce of sadness in James’ body. 

“I can’t trust you yet, I don’t even know if you’re actually James.” Regulus decides to not tell him just yet. “How can I prove myself to you?” James’ voice sounds sincere. “Start by showing your wrists, so I at least know you are not a Deatheater.” Regulus starts. He knows that even through the strongest Polyjuice potion, you can still see the dark mark. Voldemort had made absolutely sure that no one would be able to cover it in any way whatsoever. 

James rolls up his sleeves and proves that he is not part of the Deatheaters or one of them under Polyjuice potion. Now, he will need to find out if he is someone else under polyjuice potion, if he is under the imperius curse or he just wants to screw over Regulus’ plan. He decides on testing James with Veritaserum back at his tent. 

“That’s enough for now, I still can’t trust you fully.” Regulus says as he sits back up, regaining his energy to get the hell out of this cave. He grabs the locket off of a stone and secures it in his bag. The boat is still near the island so he pulls it just a bit closer and steps in it. James is standing at the edge of the island, dumbfounded. “Well, come on then.” Regulus waves him over. James steps into the boat and starts the way to the entrance of the cave. When they exit the cave, Regulus casts a drying spell on himself and he breathes in the fresh air. 

Just moments ago, he had thought that before he entered the cave, it would be the last time he saw any daylight. The clouds had cleared and the sun was shining. If Regulus’ calculations are correct, it is February 18th. Regulus extends his arm towards James to grab before they apparate. Regulus feels his body mix and rearrange while he focuses on his destination. He pictures his tent in his mind, hoping that he will take James and him there safely. Regulus feels a solid ground under himself and opens his eyes to be met by the tent he’s been staying in. 

“Sit down right there and don’t even think about touching anything.” Regulus said sternly to James as he pointed to a chair. He walked over to his suitcase with potions, looked through it and pulled out a bottle of veritaserum. “I assume you’re going to test me while under truth serum?” James asks as he’s watching every move the boy in front of him makes. James cannot believe that Regulus is actually alive. He never wants to take his eyes off of him as if he’ll slip away. James is scared that all this is just a dream. That he will wake up, back at home, thinking that Regulus is dead. He lets his eyes wander over the black curly hair that has grown so much since he’s last seen him. He diverts his attention to Regulus’ face, still as pretty as always. He matured a bit and he looks a bit slender, he must not have a lot of food. 

“Well, aren’t you just the smartest?” Regulus meets James’ eyes with a sarcastic look. James chuckles shortly. Regulus grabs a small glass with another liquid in it to dilute the veritaserum. “Bottoms up,” Regulus says as he sets down the cup in front of James with a thud. “Wait, what makes you think that I trust you? Maybe you’re poisoning me.” James suggests, feeling smug as he gets a reaction out of the boy in front of him. “You obviously trust me, you saved me from drowning, you went with me to my tent without any explanation. Now, drink that or you won’t see the daylight ever again.”

James chuckles again as if he wasn’t threatened a second ago and lifts the cup to his lips, drinking it all in one go. He sets the cup back down on the table and gestures to Regulus to start asking questions. “Just so you know, I’m going to take full advantage of this.” Regulus smirks. His mind is racing with questions to ask James to embarrass him. “Oh yeah, I wasn’t expecting anything else.” James smiles back. 

☆☀︎︎☆☀︎︎

Yesterday

Sirius is standing outside of the meeting room of Headquarters. He hears Dumbledore’s voice mixed with James’ inside. Dumbledore is planning a solo mission for James and Sirius knows it. Dumbledore already took Remus from him, and now James as well? The talking inside the room stopped and the door opened. James steps out with a determined look on his face. Sirius stands back up straight from the wall he was just leaning on. “Everything alright, mate?” Sirius asks James. “Yeah, fine. I’ve got to go on a mission tomorrow.” James reacts as they walk towards the fireplace in headquarters. 

“I thought so,” Sirius nods, stepping into the fireplace and grabbing a handful of floo powder. He threw down the powder and found himself in their living room. James followed him quickly, also arriving just behind him. 

The house is quiet without Remus. Sirius can’t bear the silence sometimes. It reminds him of Grimmauld Place way too much. Years he spent, only being yelled at by his parents or hushed whispers with his brother in the night are catching up on him. Even in his sleep, he hears his mother and father screaming at him. He can’t even find comfort in the memories with Regulus because he messed that up. Don’t even get him started about Regulus. He stopped talking to Regulus because he got sorted into Slytherin, which is so childish. 

Sirius shouldn’t have let his little brother down like that. Sirius wishes he could turn back time and be with Regulus again. He would do anything for even just one conversation. Sirius asked Dumbledore if he could go and find Regulus but Dumbledore said that he would send a group out to find him. Only because Sirius was needed for missions, he couldn’t go find his little brother. After twenty days, the team came back and he was announced dead. 

Sirius felt empty. His brother died before he could tell him that he loves him and that he’s sorry. The last words that he said to Regulus were that he was like their family. He now realises that Regulus is nothing like their family and he wishes to take it back. Regulus died thinking that Sirius hates him and he despises himself for it. 

Right now, Sirius and James are sitting at the dinner table. The silence is thick with dread. James doesn’t want to leave and Sirius doesn’t want him to leave. The house is quiet enough. Sure, he has Peter and the girls. But they’re not the same. They’re not as brightening as James. “Do you know how long you’ll be gone?” Sirius’ voice fills the room. “Pads, you know I can’t tell you anything.” James answers, face filled with emotion. Sirius nods and pushes back his chair to clean up their plates from dinner. 

He sets the plates in the sink and turns on the tap. He doesn’t want James to leave. He can’t risk losing anyone else, he can’t. “Sirius, you’ll be okay, Remus will be back in a few days.” James follows Sirius to the kitchen. “I know that, but you know how I feel when Remus is away, I don’t know how it will be for me when you’re gone as well!” Sirius’ voice raises. “Sirius, I know that I’ll be back soon and you’ll be okay.” James’ voice remains calm, he’s dealt with Sirius in situations like this before. 

He’ll push everyone away so ‘it will hurt less when they leave him’. It’s bullshit if you ask James. Everyone has hard times that they have to get through. But they need to do that together. 

Sirius is scrubbing the plates a little too aggressive so James moves behind him, snakes his arms around his waist and hugs him. When James lays his head on Sirius’ shoulder, he feels the tension leave Sirius slightly. His hands slow down as he is grounded by James’ grasp. James really knows Sirius too well. He knows him like he knows his own mind. 

“Pads, it will be okay. You’ll be okay.” James assures as he still holds his best friend tightly. “I wish I could believe you, Prongs.” Sirius replies, sighing. 

“I just have a terrible feeling about all of this.” 

☾☆☾☆

Two days before the full moon

Remus feels the full moon get closer. Every hour, everyone gets crankier. Their feelings are mixed with aching of their bones and being hungry all the time. It doesn’t help that they are in a literal cave with no warmth at all. The pain in Remus’ hip is now worse than it has ever felt. He should’ve listened to Sirius and asked Madam Pomfrey for advice when they were still at Hogwarts.

Sirius.

Remus’ body fills up with warmth at the thought of that name. That warmth is immediately replaced with an ache. He misses Sirius so much. He misses the touch of their hands against each other, his voice, his eyes and how their bodies press against each other’s. He even misses his hair that gets everywhere, he misses the sound of him putting on his eyeliner in the morning and destroying the whole bathroom in the process. He misses the loud noises from the kitchen as Sirius tries to be sweet for once and make them breakfast. 

He just misses Sirius and everything about him. The days have been passing so slow, Remus hasn’t seen the daylight in so long, it is about to drive him crazy. Or maybe not seeing Sirius is making him go crazy. He keeps counting the days in his mind, hoping that they will pass faster. 

It's not that Remus doesn't like it with all the other werewolves, but he wants to go home immediately. There is a different kind of understanding and acceptance among these people. Remus has been talking to a girl of his age for a while. Her name is Evelyn. She's really kind and grew up just like Remus, not knowing that it's normal to have lycanthropy, not having people who understood their problems for a long time of their childhood. But eventually, she met someone. She met a girl when she started school. Her name is Robin. They had a rocky start, hating each other. But after a few years, they realised they were just being dumb and that they liked each other. 

Unfortunately, Evelyn was taken from her and Robin's home by the werewolves. It took her months to get out and go back to Robin. But when she showed up to their home, Robin wasn't there. She was attacked, as she was a muggleborn. Evelyn had no one to go home to. No one she could talk to. No one she could love and no one that could love her. Or, so she thought. She felt like she wasn't worthy of any love other than Robin's. So she decided to go back to the werewolves as a last resort. 

When she ‘crawled’ back to the werewolves, she was nearly rejected from the pack. It got to the point that she begged on her knees because she had nowhere else to go. Greyback decided that they needed someone to clean the caves so he was the one who accepted her back. Once Evelyn was being treated like garbage, as usual, and Remus saw. He’s lucky he’s a higher rank in the pack than the guys who were picking on her otherwise he would’ve been in trouble. Ever since then, Evelyn and Remus have stuck together and kept each other the company they both need. 

“I can’t wait to go home,” Remus grunts as he lays face-down on his rock hard mattress. Evelyn chuckles and Remus throws a pillow her way. It hits her straight in her face and she immediately throws it back. “I’m going to miss you so much.” She sighs. Remus sits up as an idea pops up into his head. “What if you came with me? I’m not going to be here the next full moon and I don’t know you would survive that long without me.” He grins at her.

“I can survive just fine, thanks. You need to tell me how you got such a high rank in the pack, I need to know!” She laughs as she pushes her own pillow onto her face. Remus bursts out laughing at this, “You really do not want to know.”

“Fine, don’t tell me. You’re just scared that I will catch up with you and hurt your fragile ego.” Evelyn smiles at him, knowing what sets him off. “As if,” Remus scoffs. 

They’re interrupted as someone bangs the bars in front of their beds. “Food is done.” 

Remus’ face scrunches up as he realises what is about to come. He hates dinner time here. Everyone thinks that it’s a competition of who can eat the most and the fastest, which leaves almost nothing for the people just wanting to eat in peace. 

Remus and Evelyn groan in unison as they get up from their beds. Everything aches. “Two more days and we’re out of here.” Evelyn reminds Remus. 

“Yeah, just two more.”