Part 16
The Great Hall was busy as usual and Regulus was in the middle of damage control. Barty, protective as ever, had his wand drawn to another student in Slytherin that had dared to insult Evan and Remus, for some reason even though he could easily deal with it himself, during the previous lesson. It was quite as show but Regulus couldn’t understand how somebody could be so stupid to insult not only Evan, a person tied to Barty Crouch Jr of all people, but also Remus, a Gryffindor who is not only a year older than them but also known for sending most of the school to the Infirmary. The courage it must have taken for that student to talk shit about those two was insane to him. Who could be so dumb?
It wasn’t his place to join in but it was certainly fun to watch. It was quite interesting to watch Barty insult someone. He would always hit them where it would hurt them, pinpointing what could get them to shut up quickly. It wasn’t something he saw often from him so it took everything in him to stop the thing because of the anticipation of where the argument would go. The student sat silently with a wand practically stabbing him in the neck. He had learned to stay quiet after Barty had told him that every word would be used against him in the future and he didn’t want to risk saying the wrong thing just in case.
Regulus could spot James and his friends staring at the whole thing, just as intrigued as Regulus himself. Remus seemed to enjoy the show as he knew exactly why the whole thing was going on. He seemed to be staring at Barty with a look in his eyes that Regulus couldn’t exactly place he had seen him do it to Sirius but he couldn’t remember why for some reason. Fucking hell.
Barty had taken some time to calm down, sitting next to Evan and resting his head on his shoulder. He seemed to be back to his normal self, well for now at least who knows what will happen next today. Regulus looked back to the, possibly traumatised, student. He was still in the frozen position, on high alert in case anybody threw a hex at him. Good. he had learned his lesson.
Most of the announcements from the teachers were pointless and about safety around the castle and Hogsmeade. The only interesting piece of information was that one of Regulus’s least favourite teachers was finally leaving and, honestly, thank fuck for that. He couldn’t last another lesson with him without losing his shit. He couldn’t even teach properly. It was obvious that none of them wanted to be there which reflected a lot in the average grades of the class. It wasn’t hard to be top of the class there.
The meal seemed to end quicker than normal but he couldn’t even leave his table without Lily running up to him with Pandora and Dorcas grinning behind her.
“What now, Evans?” Barty looked up from his spot.
“Wow. Still in a huffy mood from that little argument?” Lily laughed before turning to Regulus, “We came here to talk to you about that little meeting soon.”
“You know that ‘mystery family’ that was invited?” Pandora tried to contain her laughter but she was failing miserably. Regulus simply nodded, “Well Lily thinks she might know who it could be.”
“Who?” Regulus was now curious. All they knew was that the family didn’t agree with the standard sacred family views. He had his own suspicions but he was wondering who Lily predicted it would be.
“I think it might be the Potters.” Lily laughed, “I was in the common room when James walked in waving a letter from Monty and Effie stating that he had been invited to it. He wasn’t very happy but he was insistent that he would try to talk to you whenever he could.”
“Dumbass. He really doesn’t know the rules, does he?” Regulus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He wasn’t even surprised that the family would be the Potters as they were one of his suspected families.
“You’re not even shocked that your own boyfriend is going to be there? How are you two going to manage not being able to interact for the whole meeting other than a few glances?” Dorcas asked, making sure to make her voice as annoying as possible.
“Fuck you Cas.”
“Language.” Pandora reminded him, tapping at the book in her hands.
“Don’t care. Well he won’t get to talk to me as I will most likely be stuck in Grimmauld the whole summer. That evil creature that people call my mother will most likely be taking a hold of Sirius as well.”
“Have you seen Sirius yet?”
“No. He has managed to hide from the map, so what makes you think that I, of all people, will be able to find him?” He knew he wasn't good at lying but he had to try. He had met up with Sirius a few times, especially to tell him that he was invited to the meeting. Sirius was in a rough shape and it hurt to see him this way. His brother looked like a vague outline of a human being but he was so skinny and pale that he could have passed as a skeleton. He had bags that looked like bruises under his eyes, like he hadn’t slept since that night in the dorms. The room had tried to give him food but it was obvious that Sirius had simply ignored it.
“Because you have hidden from the map before.” Lily states simply, as if it was an obvious fact.
“How the fuck do you know that?”
“James.”
“Right.” Regulus should have known that James was stalking him on that map.
“Well. How did you do it?” Pandora asked him simply, surprisingly monotone for someone who was normally so excitable.
“Room of Requirements.” Regulus muttered under his breath.
“Excuse me?”
“Room of Requirements.” Regulus repeated himself, louder this time. He had been found and, to be honest, he was glad for that because he really couldn’t keep lying to his friends anymore. It was beginning to get tiring and it was always the same question over and over again from the same people or complete strangers from Gryffindor that he didn’t even know.
“Have you met up with him within the past month?” Lily asked, seemingly impatient and upset that Regulus hadn’t told her about Sirius sooner.
“Yes.” Regulus admitted. If he was going to give up his brother’s hiding spot he might as well give up everything from the past month.
“Then why the fuck did you not tell us sooner?”
“He made me promise that I wouldn’t tell anyone and that is all I know.” Regulus answered truthfully, not necessarily confidently anymore but Lily seemed to be satisfied with the answer he gave her.
“Take us to him right now.” Lily stepped aside, allowing Regulus to get away from the table and lead them in the right direction.
Of course Barty and Evan followed him, they had been just as curious when Sirius had gone missing. Pandora and Dorcas were obviously following too with Lily. He had his whole friend group plus Lily behind him just to see his brother and possibly to yell at the both of them for keeping things like this away from them.
Regulus brought them to the wall, walking three paces back and forth until a wooden door appeared in the bricks that were previously blank. He knocked 3 times in the specific pattern that he had when he was little in the manor with Sirius still with him. The door knob clicked, signalling that it was unlocked and he was allowed to go in. As soon as he opened the door wide enough for Sirius to be in view, a collective gasp came from behind him. They clearly were not expecting to be seeing such a sight.
“Regulus what the fuck are they doing here?” Sirius croaked, just as in shock as the others were.
“Well it was either you were going to die or I was, be grateful.”
“You promised.”
“You're one to talk about promises Sriius. 16 years old and you have already broken two important promises.”
“Shut up.” Sirius buried his face in his hands.
“How about you shut up, your voice is going to die any second now.” Regulus advised only to be met by Sirius flipping him off, “I am trying to look after you Siri.”
“You’re doing a shit job of it aren’t you.”
“Shut up for once I couldn’t care less because we need you to look semi presentable unless you want to be under the Cruciatus again.” Regulus stated, completely unbothered by the fact he had just mentioned the name of an unforgivable so casually which the others couldn’t understand.
“Are you really threatening me with that? Try harder next time but I get your point.”
“Sorry for interrupting this little conversation of yours but how are you talking about the Cruciatus curse so easily.” Lily asked, she had heard a few watered down stories before but she hadn’t realised the extent. Both Black brothers turned towards her, looking like she had just asked them the easiest question on Earth.
“We are Blacks Lils, what did you expect? A fairy tale life full of love and joy? No, we get nothing close to that.” Regulus told her, it may have been a simplified version of what he wanted to say but it would take too much of the effort that he didn’t have.
“Shit sorry. Can we come in?” Lily asked, now regretting asking that question.
“Yeah sure.” Sirius responded, trying to sound confident as his voice smoothed out slightly from the small interaction with his brother. It wasn’t one he had expected to have but he had to take what he could get.
They all stepped into the surprisingly cosy room. It had a small fire lit in the corner with some of Sirius’s favourite records stacked in a corner of the room, untouched. A small table lay in the middle of the room, with some chairs appearing around it, making sure that there was enough for the people in the room. It placed seven chairs around the table and they all seemed to have a specific person assigned to each seat as they had initials etched into the wood of the frame. Of course the initials R.A.B and S.O.B were next to each other. Even the room knows that they are inseparable no matter what.