Family Reunion
The draw to Regulus that morning was too much to bear, and James Potter called in sick to work for the first time in years.
He had recieved a very colorful patronus in return, telling him that the Minister was not happy with the rescheduling of their meeting, but James didn't give it a second thought. After the dream the night before, his nerves felt frayed and raw.
To him, it felt as though they were back in the war. Whether that be exclusively because of the dream or because of he and Regulus were chasing Bellatrix, he couldn't be certain. All James knew, in that moment, was that he needed to feel Regulus. Remind himself that he was alive. That they both were alive.
But his plans were quickly thwarted as he breezed into Regulus's private quarters, running directly into one of the infamous Black brother showdowns.
"Why are you questioning me, Brother? I'm fine."
"Baby Prongs is worried about you, Reg. And you look as if you've seen a dementor. So don't give me that tosh."
James quickly noted that Regulus was unnaturally pale, even for a Black family member. The bags beneath his eyes were reminiscent of the times during the war, and James's heart clenched.
"-I found a way to track Bellatrix."
"-Are you having dreams, too?"
Regulus and James both spoke at the same time.
"You can find Bellatrix?"
"You're having dreams?"
"You first!" James demanded with a scoff.
Regulus sighed deeply and sank into the sofa of his living quarters, picking at the toast in front of him next to his tea. "I can find her. It just requires...a bit of devotion."
"Devotion?" James asked.
But Sirius crossed his arms in front of himself, sighing. "This is something especially dark, isn't it? I know our family as well as you, Reg. The only way that they'd be able to be found is..."
Sirius allowed his sentence to trail off before flicking his eyes across Regulus again. "Blood magic."
Regulus sighed once more. "Blood magic."
"Not exactly the legal variety of magic," James said, raising an eyebrow before sinking into the sofa next to him and letting his leg brush Reg's.
"Which is precisely why I didn't tell you of all people, Potter."
But the noticeable bite was gone from the sentence, and Regulus remained mostly quiet.
"How much?" Sirius finally asked. "How much blood?"
"...Nine pints for one attempt."
James's eyes bulged, his jaw smacking open in shock. "Nine pints? That's basically all you have!"
But Sirius did not chastize his brother. In fact, he said nothing at all. It was almost eerie how calm Padfoot seemed to be. Instead of yelling, he simply shrugged off his outer robes and began to roll the sleeve of is grey oxford to his elbow.
"Alright then."
"What are you doing?" Regulus asked.
"You need Black family blood. You're not the only Black left this time, Little Brother."
"I can do this on my own, Sirius."
"You can," Sirius nodded. "But you don't have to."
Sirius blinked quickly before his spine straightened. "Hold on. Actually, I have an idea. I'll be right back."
Stepping through the floo with no further words spoken, Sirius was whisked away in a plethora of green flames.
James couldn't help but sigh happily, "Padfoot. Always with the dramatics."
Regulus snorted out a laugh before taking a drink of his tea, which was almost cold.
After a pause, Reg heistantly said, "You said something about dreams?"
With just those words, the gnawing feeling in the pit of James's stomach returned.
James let out a breath as he sank carefully into the couch next to Regulus, allowing their legs to brush from hip to ankle. His arm went to the back of the couch behind Regulus's head.
"That night," James clarified. "At Malfoy Manor."
"Ah."
"Ah, indeed."
"It felt...real. Didn't it?" Regulus hesitantly asked. "Like you were back there, living it all over again."
James's brow furrowed. "How did you know?"
"I had one last night as well. The locket. The-" Regulus took a deep breath. "The cave. The very first time."
At this, James was concerned. "The very first time? As in before you time traveled?"
Reg nodded, "The original timeline. I don't think there's reason to worry just yet, given that your dream was from this timeline. But if anything changes, you need to let me know. That'll tell us if Bella has done anything to the past for definite."
At this, James grew quiet. His arm began to migrate from the back of the couch to Regulus's shoulder, his thumb rubbing a soothing pattern where it landed. He could feel Reg begin to relax, his head lolling slightly towards James. With a lazy wave of his hand, Regulus lowered the lights in the room.
"Would you change anything if you could?" James asked lowly, leaning his head closer to Regulus's.
"Not a thing," he immediately answered. "I saved you and Evans from Voldemort. Saved Draco from Lucius. Saved Harry. And Narcissa. I lived, even if I missed a couple years along the road."
Regulus paused before letting out a breath of a laugh. "I guess beginning to fancy you was a bonus, as well."
Regulus opened one eye to peer up at James, who raised an eyebrow in jest. "Is Regulus Black admitting that he fancies me?"
"Regulus Black admits to nothing, Potter."
Regulus leaned fully into James, letting James take his full weight on top of him as they kissed.
Kissing Regulus felt a whole lot like coming home to James Potter, if you were to ask him. His skin felt alive in the areas where they brushed against Regulus, and James found himself threading his hand through the hair on the back of Reg's head to pull him impossibly closer.
Kissing James felt a whole lot like setting himself on fire to Regulus Black, if you were to ask him. It was a scorching feeling that raced through his blood as James tugged on his hair, eliciting a groan to spill from the back to Reg's throat.
It felt, to both of them, that there was no future where they weren't allowed to touch one another. James hurridly tugged the robes off Regulus's shoulders, leaving Reg in the familiar oxford and trousers that he always wore when teaching. Regulus had filled out nicely over the years, James couldn't help but think, after untucking and sliding his hands underneath the hem of Regulus's shirt.
The floo roared to life behind them as James reached for the button on Regulus's trousers, the noise barely registering with either wizard.
"Oh!"
The demure voice of a woman exclaimed almost happily as Regulus wretched his body away from James. His hair stood almost as messily as Potter's.
"Cissa?"
***
Somehow, Severus Snape's flat in Brazil looked just as Lily imagined within her mind.
Void of anything of the personal variety, the flat was furnished with the bare minimum. The only exception to this, of course, was the myriad number of books that seem to burst from every inch of the flat. The bookshelves themselves were overflowing, with stacks beginning on the floor that almost reached Lily's waist.
It seems that even through war, some things never changed.
"Why are you in Brazil, Severus?" was the first thing Lily asked as she sank precariously into a chair at Snape's kitchen table.
Snape didn't answer right away, choosing instead to turn away from Lily and busy himself with the kettle.
Severus Snape was famously known for being wrong. Choosing the wrong friends in school, saying the wrong words at the wrong time, it was a trait that seemed to follow him no matter how far he fled.
When the kettle was ready, Severus had no other choice but to turn to Lily and answer.
"Most Deatheaters fled to Brazil right after the war."
Lily's face darkened as she scoffed, "I should've known."
The color drained from Snape's face as his eyes widened, "N-no! That's not what I meant. You saw me change sides at the last battle; I know you did."
"Excuse me if I cannot trust a thing you do or say, Severus. You've killed countless of my friends."
"Just.....just listen. Please? I can explain it all."
Lily looked skeptical as she let her eyes roam across the man that had once been her best friend. There was no basis to make her believe he was trustworthy other than the intense look that he continued to shoot at her.
"You have three minutes."
Nodding quickly and sitting his tea down, Severus Snape launched into the tale of his last ten years.
Guilt consumed him from the moment he apparated away from Lily on that field, leaving her behind to fight a war that he had helped create. There had been small murmurings about taking Brazil next, with some deatheaters sent ahead to begin to lay the foundations of their plan. Severus was unsure if he had been seen by anyone of consequence, but he knew that it gone on for too long. Had gone too far.
He had never believed in the premise of blood supremacy. It simply made no sense. He had grown up alongside of Lily Evans of all people, top of her class in transfiguration and charms and a very close second in potions, only behind himself. On top of that, he had witnessed the ineptitude of people like Walden Macnair and Anton Avery. With marks barely scraping by, their blood quantum had nothing to do with the fact that they were stupid.
But it would be remiss of Severus to not admit that he was at fault. He had slaughtered and connived his way up the ranks of the deatheaters until he was almost to the top, at the expense of everyone but himself.
So at the end of the war, he followed them to Brazil. Watching. Waiting.
As he told this to Lily, he flicked his hand towards the living area of his flat. The floorboards beneath a pile of books began to rattle and shake as they pulled themselves loose, a thick manilla envelope and several vials floating slowly to the table between them.
"This is an extensive file on every deatheater left. Where they live, what they've done since the war, it's all there."
"This," He handed her over three phials, "Is the veritaserum I've been brewing. It takes an extremely long time, but I'm working on more. We both know that the Ministry can't be trusted to take care of this, Lily. So I've been...watching them. I always intervene if things get too dark."
Lily sat there, shocked. This was vital information that could possibly lead them directly to Bellatrix Lestrange.
"And what of Bel-"
"NO!"
Snape lunged at ther then, clamping his hand over her mouth before she could get out the rest of her name.
"The name is cursed in Brazil. A failsafe in case anyone from back home found her. She was here, but I have yet to be able to locate her completely."
Severus slowly removed his hand and Lily willed her erratically beating heart to slow.
"And her daughter?" Lily had to ask. "What of her?"
At this, Snape shook his head sadly. "I'm unsure. I know they aren't together, but she's even more difficult to locate than her mother."
And for a while, they were simply two friends having tea and a social visit.
"How's...How's your son? Harry, is it?"
At this, Lily smiled softly. "It is. He's exceptional, Severus. A Gryffindor this year. His first."
"Of course he's a Gryffindor," Snape drawled, trying to hide the way the corners of his lips were turning up in a smile. "I do hope he inherited his mother's brains."
Lily laughed, "Of course. It seems that he's excelling in potions as well as Defense Against the Dark Arts. Remus and Regulus seem to agree with me."
"Regulus?" Snape asked. "He's...teaching?"
"Oh, yes. And apparently quite good at it. Harry wrote home about how interesting he finds the man. It helps that James is besotted with Regulus as well, I'd assume."
At this, Snape looked shocked. "Those two? After all this time?"
"Seems to me that they were always meant to find one another," Lily halfheartedly shrugged.
Severus began to fiddle nervously will the mug in front of him. "And you? Did you...find someone?"
"I did. A muggle, even after everything. His name is Xander. We've been married for a while now."
Severus looked morose as he stared back at Lily, noting how happy she was since the war. In the end, it was the only thing he truly desired.
"There's one more thing."
At this, Severus rose from the table and gestured for Lily to follow. Once they were in what Lily would consider his bedroom, Severus marched straight for the back wall. Facing away from her, he tapped his wand smartly on the wooden boards of the wall. She watched as they shimmered for a moment before going transparent and Severus walked through.
She was hesitant to follow, but did so nonetheless. Behind the secret door was Severus's brewing room, dimly lit and hazy. Within it held three large cauldrons, all of which were under stasis charms.
"I've been working on something for a while now, but I have no idea if it will be any use..."
Severus wrung his hands together in front of himself, nervously. He refused to meet Lily's eyes.
"Out with it, Sev. I haven't got all day," She admonished gently.
"McKinnon. She's still in Mungo's?"
Even hearing the name of her friend hurt.
"She is. They don't believe she'll ever regain her mind. It's been ten years and she doesn't even know that Dorcas is-"
The words caught in her throat, the end of her sentence coming out as a frustrated and depressing sound as the tears sprung to her eyes.
Clearing her throat, she finished. "I try to visit. At least once a week, once a month if it's a busy time."
"I think I can fix her," Snape blurted.
"What?"
"I've been working on a potion for her. To...to fix her mind. I'm unsure if it'll work, given that I have had no one to test it, but it feels like it should. The properties are all there. It's all been brewed perfectly. Here."
He handed her a large bottle of the swirling, silver potion.
"But...what is it? I didn't think the Wizarding world had answers for mind healing."
Snape shrugged, as if it wasn't a big deal, "They don't. I made this myself."
Lily blinked. "You invented this?"
"As I have said, I am unsure if it works."
"But it's a chance," Lily breathed, suddenly feeling empowered in a way she hadn't in years. "She might wake up."
"She might. Will you..." He was almost scared to ask. "Will you let me know? If it works?"
"Of course, Severus," She gripped the potion bottle tightly. "This could change the world."
Lily turned to flee the brewing room, stepping back through the secret doorway and already beginning to head for the door when it happened.
It was just a flash, but it took her over completely. The yell of her name echoed through her mind, followed by a flash of green. Blinking quickly, Lily was in Godric's Hollow.
She could hear her own voice echoing back to her.
"Harry, Mumma loves you. Dada loves you. You are so strong, my son."
"No! Not Harry! You can't have him!"
Another flash of green and she could feel her body go limp before connecting with a wooden floor.