no way out
Barty and Evan rushed through the entrance of Grimmauld place as though there wasn’t even a front door in the first place, immediately spotting him and wrapping him in a bone crushing hug.
“Yes, yes I’m happy to see you too,” he smiled tightly before smacking Barty on the arm to let him go before he passed out from lack of air.
Barty pulled back and when Regulus got a proper look at him he couldn’t stop his jaw from literally dropping down to the ground.
Barty looked at him oddly before understanding and he proudly stuck both arms out, “Like em?”
Regulus grasped his left wrist and slowly turned his arm around, “How did you? When did you even get all of these?”
“He’s had a lot of free time lately,” Evan shook his head, also eyeing his arm despite having literally been there for its creation. Regulus could see a couple dotting his hands and arm as well but it was nothing compared to Barty.
Barty had what seemed like dozens of new tattoos on both his arms. He had a serpent twisting up one forearm, a stamp on his wrist, a random patchwork assortment of signs and symbols on his biceps. He had a large rose tattooed on the inside of one arm with Evan’s name under it. He even had Regulus’ birthday and star on the other and there were probably a lot more under his t-shirt.
“It’s your fault really for getting me the machine and in Potions, Sluggy doesn’t notice if a couple of ingredients go missing so I can make myself healing salves meaning they completely heal in like a day or two and then I can immediately get my next one,” he cheerfully said before grabbing the back of the sofa and clearing it to lay on it instead of taking the necessary three steps to round it.
“Are we going to acknowledge how weird it is to be here without having to worry about like…anything at all?” Evan finally spoke up, a sneaking smile curling up his lips as he looked around. Then he shouted, “We’re free to do whatever we want!”
Barty suddenly jumped up from the sofa and proceeded to step onto the coffee table before leaping to a nearby chair, tipping it over and sending himself tumbling into the drapes.
A mad sort of laugh escaped him, seeing his friends run through rooms, open and close various cupboards and drawers, ride the bannister down the stairs instead of primly walking down each step. They weren’t really wreaking havoc or creating a mess- they were merely acting like children, a privilege they never got to experience in their actual youth.
He had lost track of Evan and Barty at some point when he laid face down on the carpet, his only indication they were still there in their raucous laughter that bounced off the walls and the thundering of footsteps above him.
When he looked down at the ground from his vantage point, he expected a mess of dust and footprints but he realised there was none to be found- or at least it was far less than the stuck on mess from before.
He sat up and pulled his wand from his sleeve and this time when he cast the charm, the magic worked, sufficiently cleaning all the dust from the floor in the room he was in. He couldn’t help the surprised smile that quirked his lips up at the corners. He reached a hand out and touched it to the ridged wooden floors, worn from years of walking, and for once, it was warm- as if content.
____________
“I’ve synced my coin with Reg’s and Remus’ with yours so we’ll know if either of you get hurt,” James said seriously as he handed Sirius his golden Order-issued coin.
Sirius looked up at him once before handing the coin back, shaking his head, “If Reg gets into trouble, I’ll help him the best I can and vice versa. You can’t be worrying about us while you’re out there facing him- we all need to be focused on the mission.”
James’ breath caught in his throat- the mere idea of having to be so far away while Regulus and Sirius would be trapped in that horrible cave was almost too much to bear. He tried to force the coin back in his hand as it would be his only connection to him but again, he refused both of them.
“Pads,” he couldn’t help the way his voice had gone weak.
“I got him,” he said assuredly. He had the same look of determination on his face before they went on to execute a particularly complicated prank- anticipation, worry, even a bit of hysteria as his mind worked in overdrive. He remembered laughing at that face so many times in school, assuring Sirius that everything would be fine , but he couldn’t quite bring himself to have that same reaction now.
“Oh stop it,” he frowned and pulled Sirius into his arms tight , “Don’t make it sound as if I care about you less because I-,” his voice broke now and he felt the backs of his eyes burn with emotion, “I won’t lose either of you.”
Sirius, who had been stiff, slowly melted in his arms, burying his head in the crook of James’ shoulder, “You won’t.” Despite his words, his voice wavered. Then he pulled back and pressed a hand to James’ cheek, “Don’t you dare do anything I wouldn’t- hell Reggie wouldn’t do okay? I don’t care what’s happened but you and Moony need to get the hell out of there if something goes wrong okay? If- If the horcruxes don’t do anything or he starts pulling out some dark shite, I don’t care .”
“I won’t,” he nodded solemnly then looked out the windows.
“Are you going to see them?” Sirius murmured, “I already went out at dawn.”
James nodded then headed out the back door towards his parents’ graves to have what might be his last chat until he saw them again. The thought of passing away, of being able to see them again, hold them in his arms and truly never have to let go, was almost appealing- enough to ease the weight of his soul. But he didn’t think it was his time…not just yet.
____________
“How long do we keep our cover, I mean do we just break immediately or-,” Evan questioned, his leg bouncing aggressively under the table.
“No,” Regulus shook his head, “There’s no telling what’ll happen so it’s better to play it safe,” he spoke. “Stay out of the fighting as much as possible- send awry curses- things like that.”
Pandora had joined them now, biting the edge of her nail as she listened. She fumbled with a pair of rocks in her other hand, one emerald coloured and the other a dull violet, making little clinked sounds as they collided.
“What are you going to do to them? The death eaters,” she asked without looking up.
“I’d like to take down as many as I can,” Barty grinned, leaning his chair back as it hung precariously off the floor.
Regulus watched Pandora’s face shift, her lips thinning as her forehead wrinkled and quickly added, “We’re going to apprehend as many as we can. We’re not just killing people Barty ,” he eyed him, raising his brows for emphasis. He sheepishly nodded as his chair hit the floor with a thud.
“If you have to…it’s okay,” Pandora nodded seriously, looking up at each of them. Regulus knew she was talking specifically about her brothers as they were both likely to be at this meeting. Both were ardent death eaters, marked and proud of it, and while they were horrible- they were still her brothers. He imagined she felt similar to how he continued to feel about his mother- she was horrible, but she still birthed him. “I just want you all to be safe,” she murmured.
“You have any helpful visions about how this’ll turn out?” Barty smiled, nudging her elbow.
She solemnly shook her head no.
They all sat in silence, occupying less half of the long dining table they found themselves on. They weren’t much for fluffy words and empty rallyings of hope. They simply needed each other’s presence, knowing that they would all be facing tonight together. Pandora grasped Regulus’ hand in her left hand, Barty’s in her right, who interlinked his fingers with Evan’s and they all shared a single look.
Tonight could go awry, someone could get injured, could potentially die , or tonight could go exactly as planned and they’d all finally be free from the dark marks that burned into their forearms every single day.
It was a gamble he was willing to take.
____________
Regulus arrived home at half past noon and caught sight of James out by the large tree round the back of the house near where his parents had been buried.
He busied himself by making tea for the two of them. He opened the cupboard, pulled out a tin of black currant flavoured tea, and set a teapot out, adding water and waiting for it all to boil. Usually tea was a quick affair, a flick of the kettle and dump of a tea bag in a mug and it was done but something about the slightly longer methodical process soothed him as he glanced out the window above the sink.
James turned, caught sight of him, and stood, slowly making his way over. Regulus watched him as he always did, tongue in cheek, heart stuttering, as he ambled through the tall grass, his hands brushing past trees and bushes near his path. The sun, hanging bright and heavy above them, cast shadows across his face and set his chestnut hair alight.
He gave him a toothy smile when he tripped on a loose stone and Regulus was about to smile too when he heard the sizzle of water on heat behind him and saw that the teapot had overflowed and spilled everywhere.
How James continued to make him act like a complete and utter dolt escaped him.
They spent the day wrapped in each other's arms, lazing about on the sofa, heading to the Library and reading, taking a lazy nap after a simple lunch of sandwiches and crisps, and when they woke up- it was somehow already time to go. It was as if they waited for the day to simply pass them by so they could wake up when it was all over and be at peace but nothing was ever that simple.
“I wish I could go with you,” James whispered brokenly.
Regulus gently shook his head, “I’ll have Sirius, I don’t want you to worry about either of us when you’re out there.”
“That’s like asking me not to breathe,” he urged, his hand twining up to his hair, his palm resting against his cheek, “If the spell is too much- if the Fiendfyre gets out of control-.”
“James, what’s meant to happen will happen,” he spoke simply. “I won’t try anything but if something goes wrong then-.”
James’ face screwed up, his lovely features contorting, “Don’t say that.”
“Don’t do anything stupid or- or reckless. You get out whenever you can and you stay safe. I know you can be rash and impulsive and I can’t have that. You live your life however you can and be happy,” Regulus urged as if his death was a fact. He needed James to hear this- to know that he simply wasn’t allowed to go off the deep end as he had tried before. Last time he went in the cave, he hadn’t written James a letter because he didn’t know what to say and he didn’t want to miss that opportunity again.
He would rather be dead and have given everyone a chance at peace than live in this miserable purgatory under the dark Lord any longer.
James didn’t reply, only shook his head against the soft pillow though Regulus knew he at least heard him this time instead of ignoring him entirely.
“Just know one of us will come back to you- I’ll make sure of it,” he added and before James could protest he pulled back and stood up, turning away and using the moment to gather himself and reign in his own emotions.
Neither of them spoke as they rose from the bed and got dressed together. James buttoned up Regulus’ black shirt as he wound James’ soft worn leather belt through his trousers. When he couldn’t find his own socks, Regulus passed him a pair of his own while James picked out which cufflinks he should wear- a simple emerald pair. When they finished, Regulus wiped his glasses clean with the cloak James’ secured around his neck.
Once they were both ready, James pulled him into his arms, his lips searing as he kissed him like it was the last time- as it very well might have been.
“I’m yours,” he murmured.
“I’m yours,” Regulus echoed, nodding, squeezing James’ hands with both his own.
“And we will find our way to each other in this world and the next.”
Regulus whimpered as he kissed him again, marvelling in the love and life that was James.
If this was to be his last memory with him, then he was grateful for a life well lived.
____________
He and Sirius landed at the base of the cave, stumbling, the ocean crashing loudly at their backs. Instantly his heart raced at the familiar roiling sound of it, ever angry, forming and breaking at the shore. His breaths picked up but he felt a warm hand slip into his and he looked to Sirius and felt, at least a little bit, better.
“So this is it?” he asked, looking forward but not letting go of him.
“This is it,” he nodded, breathing in the salt-kissed air. The pack of horcruxes was heavy on his back, pulling him down as he leaned back to look at the sky above. It was as if it was perpetually dreary here, all dull grey clouds and petrichor, even more ominous in the dark. When Sirius stepped forward, his feet refused to move.
“You okay Reggie?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, finally believing it.
“Me too,” Sirius replied with a ghost of a smile before taking another step forward, this time Regulus following him in.
Regulus remembered every detail about the narrow corridor into the cave while Sirius navigated it much like he had the first time, all cautious steps and wary glances around but Regulus stalked forward, not bothering to check his surroundings for he was entirely uninterested this time around.
“What is that?” Sirius asked in the darkness, his Lumos barely sufficing.
Regulus had to swallow before he answered, “The Inferi.”
Their death song shook the walls and Regulus was upset that the Cave was not bereft of them after James’ stunt. He supposed what was dead couldn’t be killed… again .
The narrow corridor spit them out on the other side of the cavernous space. The walls were slick with recent rain but the putrid stink of dark magic clung to every available surface with vigour. It was pitch black making the noise of the Inferi even more terrifying.
Sirius pulled his wand and muttered some incantation he couldn’t hear but glowing white orbs shot from his wand and hung around the cave, evenly spaced apart and bobbing up and down. The darkness ate up much of the light but it was better than before and when Regulus looked at the water, he felt nothing but dread.
Finally, the anticipation from before, the faux calm, was all culminating to this point and fear was starting to kick in.
However, they had no need to cross the water to reach the basin in the centre, no need to cross the treacherous waters, so Regulus and Sirius walked the perimeter of the lake so they were opposite the entrance they had walked in through.
Sirius was unnervingly quiet when he usually tended to ramble in situations like this but it seemed even he couldn’t come up with anything. Regulus turned to look at him though, at his sharp and shadowed jaw, his strong nose, and furrowed brows. His long hair that draped down nearly past his shoulders and his hands tucked behind his back, his knuckles white as they gripped his wand.
His each step was measured and while he made an effort to keep his steely eyes narrowed, they jumped around every once in a while.
“What are you thinking?” Regulus asked, wanting to know as if trying to gather every scrap of Sirius to keep with him should things not go their way.
“I’m thinking,” he took a rattling breath, “that I can’t believe you came here alone. That you’re braver than I ever could be. That…I’m glad you’re alive.”
Regulus offered him a thin smile, unable to muster any more than that but the words struck him, piercing his already broken heart in a pain that was bittersweet.
They finally finished their half lap around the lake and Regulus stopped first, taking great care to stay away from the shore and the Inferi visibly roiling beneath the water.
He dropped the pack of horcruxes from his back and pulled the top open. Then, methodically and carefully, he pulled out each one and laid them out in a line. First, Helga Hufflepuff’s cup, then Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem, Salazar Slytherin’s locket, Tom Riddle’s diary, and finally, the Gaunt family Ring.
There was more combined power lying on the ground in front of him than what was probably in the entire cave. They were unmoving on the ground but he could hear them, heard whispers and high pitched ringing as if they knew what was coming for them and were begging him to reconsider.
Sirius looked nervously down at them like the dark Lord was about to pop out of them. Regulus only felt hate when he stared at them before speaking, “This is it then.”
Regulus straightened and turned to Sirius, stared into a face so like his own, “If this goes bad- you get out, okay?”
Sirius shook his head and rested a heavy hand on his shoulder, grounding him and he said in a voice like broken glass, “I’m not leaving you again. No matter what happens…we face it together- as brothers .”
Regulus, so overwhelmed with emotion, could only nod once before turning back.
He stared down at the horcruxes before him, at the Inferi in the Lake, at the dark sky watching them before pointing his wand down at the floor and with magic already running through his arm, he spoke the incantation,
“Pestis Incendium!”
The world as he knew it was gone as magic was leached from his arm, taking all of his effort, and flames brighter and hotter than any star burst forth from his wand. He could feel the flames sucking off of his own life force like a parasite as the flames spread across the floor, eating up invisible petrol, slithering across the ground like a mound of serpents.
Regulus shut his eyes against the torrent but he had the distant awareness that he was shouting against the force of the curse. The heat singed his face, his hair, his clothes felt like it had holes in them, and when he turned back for a daring second, he found the horcruxes weren’t even visible under the deep orange of the flames.
He broke the spell, slashing his wand in the air to end the original zigzag motion of the spell and he watched in horror as the flames took on solid shapes- snakes and lions battled each other for space, phoenixes rose from the ground, small wasps zipped through the air like shooting stars.
All the while the horcruxes screamed. Black smoke erupted from the space where they had been. He could barely make any sense of it before a picture formed- James looked down at him with an expression he’d never seen before- absolute hatred and disgust. He was ten feet tall, a giant, staring down his nose at him before turning around, his arm looping around the back of a figure that must have been Sirius who smirked before leaving as well. He had the feeling that if he let them go, he’d never see them again.
He wanted to run forward and he had made it a step before a hand pulled him back and he turned to the real Sirius, staring stricken at the image before saying something. Regulus couldn’t hear him over the roar of the flames but he mouthed something along the lines of ‘it’s not real . ’
Sirius fumbled with the card he had pulled from his pocket with shaking hands, whispering something before throwing it up. It pinched into a thin line and disappeared in mid-air and he and Sirius were left to stare at the cave, the air becoming scarce as it was rapidly replaced with ash and smoke.
He peered down and saw that the horcruxes, the items he had betted his life on, were reduced to mere ash, and he only had half a second to appreciate the feat before he looked up and saw that the animals were closing in on them. The entrance in which they had come in was gone, replaced by a wall of flames from which more flying creatures emerged. The groans of the Inferi were gone and replaced by the screeching cries of phoenixes as they multiplied. One swooped in low above them, nearly getting both him and Sirius.
Their panic rose as they stared into each other’s eyes. Neither of them seemed to have expected that this was possible, that the Fiendyre would destroy the horcruxes- that Voldemort was mortal once more, but now that it had happened, they were at a loss.
They were stuck in here with no way out.
____________
James measured his breaths “In for 3, out for 5” he repeated to himself- over and over, as he knelt in the thorny underbrush on the outskirts of Lestrange mansion. He turned over his shoulder and watched as three Unspeakables worked on the wards outside the house. They likely would’ve been able to do it themselves but they couldn’t possibly risk triggering any of the wards or making any other possible mistakes. They worked as one, their hands moving back and forth with their wands, their faces obscured with a black mask making verbal communication impossible. He was overcome by curiosity, as he always had been by Unspeakables, but reigned it in for today.
He turned to his other side and saw Lily, staring determinedly up at the wall as though she could see through it to the house within. She felt his eyes on him and looked back, her green eyes blazing like emeralds. She nodded at him once.
The meeting should be in full swing by now as James checked his pocket watch for the umpteenth time. They already watched guests whisk by, entering the wards and getting past the large brick wall circling the perimeter of the house by strolling right through the ancient gates. They wouldn’t have such luck.
After painstakingly waiting for thirty minutes, the Unspeakables turned to Moody at once and gave the signal that the wards were down- they were permitted entry. They were designed to reset in three hours time but they would already be on the other side of them by then.
Their group on the north side of the house advanced, their twin group on the opposite side doing the same. He, Lily, Mary, Moody, and Dorcas comprised one group; Remus, Alice, Frank, and Dumbledore, made up the other though he wasn’t planned to come until the very end of it all. Unspeakables and Aurors swelled each of their numbers, providing extra backup and strength.
They waited in the shadows for an additional few minutes to ensure none of the wards had gone awry, each of them under disillusionment and silencing charms. Their work was made easier by Voldemort’s, and the death eater’s, sheer arrogance. They believed themselves infallible, and in that they would meet their downfall.
James tried his best to focus on the mission but his thoughts kept straying back to the Cave and what was happening there- whether they had managed to make it in, if the horcruxes had been destroyed, if Regulus and Sirius were okay . It was driving him mad, his fingertips tingling, sweat beading on his brow, his heart rushing a mad beat- though that could also be due to the evil dictator waiting just beyond those walls.
“Kreacher,” James murmured audibly.
The elf appeared at his beckoning, courtesy of Regulus ordering him to. He frowned at James as they were eye-level though his countenance was less caused by him and more directed at what he was to do tonight.
James reached the inside of his cloak and carefully grabbed the vial, passing it to the elf who grasped it tightly.
“The entire vial okay?” he clarified.
Kreacher nodded once before snapping his fingers and disappearing. Kreacher was unlike other elves in that he was not skittish nor was he unused to dark wizards. He understood their ways and how an elf was to conduct themselves. He was bred into the Black family and was a model elf to others. Opal or any other elf would’ve likely imploded from stress but Kreacher was skilled and ready to take revenge on what had happened to Regulus- they were one in the same on that front.
He couldn’t see her normally, but he saw an outline in the air and indents in the ground a few paces away and knew Dorcas was there, as she was supposed to be. He wondered how she must feel now, knowing Barty and Evan were inside- her own friends. They had proven themselves to be against Voldemort but that didn’t guarantee anything, especially when their lives could be on the line and under the masks, there was no telling what could be done.
Suddenly he heard the sound of a bird chittering in the trees and his heart skipped a beat. He had to put a hand down on the wet earth beside him to brace himself because that call only meant one thing- Sirius and Regulus had destroyed the horcruxes.
As one, their group began to advance on the house.
____________
“It’s not going to hold,” Regulus shouted as he strained to keep a hold on the protective bubble he cast around them. It was dark magic, blood magic to be exact, as he had to use his blood to cast the bubble but even then, it wouldn’t hold for much longer against the flames. At their level the flames were an angry red and orange inferno but the tips of the flames high above them were white-hot, licking up the cave walls. They hadn’t yet breached the skylight but it looked like it was heading that way- an additional issue they needed to fix.
Sirius cursed as he leaned against the wall, his right leg completely burnt from his mid-thigh to his calf after a snake leapt from the flames and wrapped around him before squeezing and bursting into flames and disappearing. It was a miracle his leg was still in one piece but it was a gruesome sight- his skin a mottled mess, falling apart or melting into his clothes. The only reason his brother was still standing was because of the pain relief potion he had brought with him as if he knew this was going to happen.
The fire was never ending and Regulus was starting to doubt the viability of this plan but he knew that if he died- the flames would too. As he looked to Sirius, he was starting to realise that that may be the only solution.
He looked through the red-tinged bubble, at his world as he knew it, and spoke again, “Sirius, you have to go.” Thankfully the bubble helped drown out the noise slightly so he could hear Sirius but he wished that he didn’t have to hear his protestations.
“What? No, Regulus, you have to come with me- we won’t make it-,” he began rattling as he leant against the wall, the red of the flames reflecting onto his pale face. He was losing too much blood.
“There’s no stopping it Sirius, you have to lea-,” he couldn’t finish his sentence, the pain in his chest tightening and squeezing at having to hold the spell. His body couldn’t handle the magical tax that these spells were taking on him and he’d never felt so helpless before- death might’ve been a mercy. He was bent over but he didn’t dare lower his wand for Sirius’ sake. He realised distantly that he had begun crying, his vision blurring and not just because of the pain.
“We have to contain it,” Sirius spoke in a voice like steel, sounding so much stronger than he now felt.
“We can’t,” he cried breathlessly as he shook his head, helplessly looking out beyond at the mess they had created.
“Oxygen feeds fire- we need to seal the chamber- no air in or out. No fuel for the flames- if we can contain it, it will have nothing to feed on,” he said, the idea lighting up his eyes as he was slowly coming to terms with it- like his mouth had been moving faster than his mind.
He was right enough, and it wasn’t like they had any other options so, “Leave and I’ll do it,” he nodded, stepping towards him and wrapping his arms around him tight, “Go Sirius.”
“I told you we would do this as brothers- now are we in this together or not?” His voice brokered no space for questions or refusal as he knew it too- this was a suicide mission. Regulus was helpless to stop him and rather than spend their final moments bickering, he was forced to accept.
He nodded before dropping the bubble, the blazing heat rushing in to greet him once more.
It had taken him a moment too long to be brought back to the present and a cluster of wasps got him on the face, slashing deep across his cheek and neck before smashing into the wall and falling in thick embers to the ground. Regulus cried out as he brought a hand up to his cheek and it came away bloody.
Sirius looked at him in horror before yelling, “We have to do it now.”
As one they both raised their arms and commanded to the air, “Aeris sigillum!”
The world went silent. What was once roaring flames and shrieking animals was now complete and utter silence. There was only a loud whooshing sound before it had gone and this silence was almost more oppressive than the inferno.
Regulus watched as the shimmering seal reached the top, the flames that were just broaching the skylight now flattening as they hit an invisible wall. The seal had even gotten past the flames at the entrance as the flames that were previously concave to the walls now went flat as they fought against their spell.
This spell was no easier to cast than the last few but their combined effort helped strengthen it though their backs were to the walls and the flames still fought.
As Regulus looked out he noticed that the Lake had gone completely dry and in their wake, was thousands of still corpses in a deep pit. It was a macabre sight of death and decay all piled atop one another and he wanted to know which inferi one had taken his leg, which he had fought off as it lunged for his face.
The flames ate up their bodies, their decaying skin and bones serving as fuel for a greater agent of death.
He and Sirius’ time was running out as well as they were rapidly running out of air to breath. They likely only had minutes and they knew it as their breaths started coming in and out quicker, the temperature rising impossibly higher. He felt like he had burned all the hair off his face and body before but now it was truly scorching his insides and his face continued to melt at whatever injury the wasps had caused.
Sirius gripped his hand in a death-like vice and all Regulus could do was hold on.
____________
Out his wand shot a grappling hook that latched onto the lip of the grey brick wall looming above him. Most ancient mansions had walls and gates like this to keep the house secure but Bellatrix’s were next level- he wouldn’t have been surprised if there was a moat full of alligators here as well.
He heard matching zings of rope down the length of the wall on either side of him and he began climbing, adrenaline slowly flooding his veins. He felt like all his senses were sharpening- his ears quirked for every noise, his eyes constantly scanning and catching the most minute details, his hands tight on the rope as he pulled himself up and over, his arms straining with the effort.
The night was cool but he felt like he was overheating in the thick black cloak he was wearing. He then flipped over so he was facing the wall and carefully braced himself, leaning back in the air, as he walked down the wall before jumping off and vanishing the rope.
Looking up at the manor, James had to take a second to soak it in with its regal high grey walls and dark scaffolding. The garden was lush and expansive with bushes being trimmed into intricate shapes to mimic statues though he couldn’t quite make sense of them with just the moonlight. The windows inside were light and while they seemed to be covered with some sort of privacy layer, he could still make out vague human shapes milling around downstairs. It should be just past dinner time now.
With a quick chittering again, James could make out aurors slowly drifting off from the group to station themselves along the walls and around the garden to secure the perimeter.
They moved like a well-oiled machine after having gone through the plan multiple times over. At the time it seemed tedious but now, he was grateful for it.
He wasn’t sure the magnitude of what they were really doing had even sunk in until now that they were faced with their future. The horcruxes were well and truly gone, hopefully, and tonight was their chance to rid their world of the disease that was the man inside.
They just needed to get through each of his defences and ultimately…face him.
Quickly dropping their disillusionment, he was able to spot Remus who nodded at him once before recasting it meaning everything had gone well on their end as well.
A pack of Unspeakables swarmed the house and sealed all of the entry and exit points except one door on each side of the house that they would enter from. Regulus had given them a blueprint of the house ahead of time which was incredibly helpful considering that they had multiple ballrooms, lounges, aquariums, and various other indoor rooms that were truly unnecessary in a home of any size.
One Unspeakable who went by the alias Ocelot removed whatever had frozen over the glass allowing them to see inside. He could see that for the most part, the DE’s were all packed in the first floor between the dining room, entry room, and the corridor connecting them all. They all looked uniform in their masks and robes making detection impossible but they conversed as if it were normal.
He couldn’t see Voldemort but he saw the tail of a snake disappear into a room and wherever the snake was- so was he.
Right before breaching the side door, he sent a prayer up to whichever of the gods was listening that Sirius and Regulus would be okay before shutting the pathway between his brain and heart down because he couldn’t afford any distractions now- this was it.
____________
As the last of the air was wrenched from Regulus’ lungs, as Sirius clawed at his neck, as the world continued spinning in its’ godsawfuled silence- Regulus shut his eyes, losing consciousness so abruptly he didn’t even feel his body when he collapsed to the ground.
It was when he opened his eyes again that true confusion struck him.
There were endless miles of…nothing on either side. It was as if he was trapped in a bright white room where the walls had been knocked down only, there was no other end in sight. He could only compare it to being lost in space only instead of stars; it was just white nothingness.
A sound behind him jolted him and it was his mother, sitting idly on a stone bench. Slowly an image formed in his periphery and he watched as the white room shifted to an outdoor scene. Green grass and foliage sprouted up around him, his heavy black cloak and trousers shifted to linen trousers and a casual green shirt. A clear blue sky hung above him and his mum was sitting on a bench, absently doing needlework on a circular piece of cloth. Her hair was open, her face free from makeup and more serene than he had ever seen it. When she looked up at him, she, for once, wasn’t angry, she only tilted her head and turned her gaze upon the empty space beside her.
The thick three above the bench rustled in the warm breeze that rushed forth. In the distance, he could make out a small cottage but he couldn’t focus on it because having his mum in front of him, so seemingly real, was harrowing.
He sat down and openly gaped at her. She finished one last stitch before setting it down in her lap with a contented sigh. Her silver eyes finally turned up to his and she breathed, “Regulus.”
All he could force out was a watery, “Mum?”
“Are you sleeping well? You look tired,” she frowned, bringing her hand up to his cheek. He flinched and she stopped, her hand still held in midair before she dropped it back down, tucking it underneath her skirts.
“Is this real?” he whispered.
He felt like he was in the garden of Eden- a muggle concept he’d read in one of the books he kept tucked hidden in the bookshelf in his room. It was God’s oasis in which Adam and Eve resided before they had been cast down to Earth. It was described as idyllic and beautiful, defined by contentment and enjoyment, free from pain and suffering, shame and humility- it was a space in which one could just exist.
“I’m not sure,” she frowned slightly. She ran a hand through her hair and Regulus hadn’t realised it was so long with it always being tied back. It flowed in onyx waves down to her waist and her thin fingers raked through it almost methodically as she considered his question. “I appeared here as you did.”
“But you were doing needlework…?” he asked, looking down to see she was sewing the exact tree they were under despite never having looked up.
He realised he was trying to make sense of the insensible. He might have also been trying to avoid truly speaking to his mother, if he really had ended up dead and this was his afterlife, then he needed to move on.
She instead said, “You and Sirius look so much older. So handsome you’ve both become,” and this time when she raised her hand, he didn’t flinch or pull back, but allowed her warm hand to rest on his cheek.
Instantly he became emotional and he didn’t feel like an adult anymore, no, he felt like he was five years old again, watching Evan’s mom coddle him and wondering why his own mum couldn’t bear to look at him.
He thought he was done with her but now, seeing her here and seeing how she might have turned out in another life, he had to ask, “Why? Why didn’t you love us?” He could have asked any variation of the question- why hadn’t she treated him and Sirius well, why had she never taken an interest in them- but it all came back to the question of love and whether it was ever there.
Her face, beautiful and broken, twisted as her hand fell away and instead began picking at loose threads on her sleeve, “I loved you boys more than anything else. But I was bitter and angry and I never learned how to show love. I had hoped raising you both to be good would be enough to make up for my absence in your life. My life…the decisions I made, were for my family, and I realise now, watching you and Sirius, that I was wrong .”
He never thought he’d see the day where she admitted any sort of wrongdoing or shortcoming, but here she was, open and honest, about it.
“Watching us?”
She nodded, “I’ve never left your side. When I woke up here, I wanted to see you and I did, just not in the way I had expected.”
He remembered then, the vial on her side table, the broken glass, “You killed yourself because I…?”
“I was prepared for everything in life, was bred since birth to be able to handle each hit as it came, but when I saw you were gone on the tapestry because of my hand, because I had begged for you to get the mark, because I had led you down the path I did…I was never taught how to grieve and I hadn’t felt it until I lost you,” she admitted, a tear slipping from her eye that she allowed to slip down the slopes of her cheek before falling. “I did so much wrong in my life but you Regulus…you were the one good thing I did, my one token to give back, my true joy .”
He wrapped his arms around himself and for the first time in his life, his mother hugged him and something inside him broke as he caved in on himself, crying, releasing the years of anguish and grief that had been buried and cemented inside of him. The weight he had been adding to and carrying since he’d gained consciousness and realised that his life wasn’t normal. Every wasted tear and breakdown, every moment of anger and fear, every slap and curse, seemed to pale to the feeling of being held by his mother. Or rather, this version of her that could admit wrong, that was content to sit on a bench under the sun, the woman who might have enjoyed life had she been able to choose one for herself.
“I cannot stay much longer,” she whispered in his ear.
He pulled back, his hands already grappling, “What? No? You just came back, I’m dead- we have time.”
Her hands came to cup his face, “ I’m dead Regulus, you are not.”
“What?” he asked brokenly, looking up into her eyes again.
“It isn’t your time yet nor is it Sirius’,” she nodded. “I know Sirius will never forgive me but I am happy to know you two have forgiven each other, you will need each other for the long lives you both have left to live.”
“But I can’t leave you- not now,” he struggled to reconcile, somehow leaving when he had only just arrived. He wanted to stay in Eden.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she murmured, dropping her hand to his heart, “I’ll be here for as long as you’ll have me, until you wish me gone or we are reconnected again.”
Her image blurred and shimmered and she was gone again.
He gasped as air rushed into his lungs and he sat up quickly. His eyes were still wet but he blinked at his surroundings, trying to reorient himself.
He turned to Sirius who was collapsed at his side and Regulus quickly scooted to him but he was breathing, the rise and fall barely perceptible but definitely there. At his rush of movement, he weakly opened his eyes and hoarsed out, “It worked.”
As if he forgot, he looked around at the cave. Parts of the ceiling had caved in, laying in chunks around him, and what walls were still intact were littered in scorch marks. There was a heavy pile of ash in the centre and it stunk of ozone but there wasn’t a single flame or horcrux left.
“We did it?” he couldn’t ask as emotion rushed up to meet him, squeezing his lungs.
And Sirius, in typical fashion, grinned as wide as we could, “What? You didn’t think so?”
Regulus lunged for Sirius, taking them both down as he did and he suddenly started sobbing at the complete and utter glee of being alivewith Sirius.
Now he only needed James to be okay and he’d be complete.
____________
They had been able to slink through the house undetected but now it was time to attack. The Unspeakables had gone in and navigated the room through some sort of astral projection that James couldn’t understand, like most things they did down in the Department of Mysteries, and they’d confirmed that Voldemort was sitting in the study with an Alecto and Amycus Carrow- a set of demon twins as he liked to call them, and Nagini of course.
He saw Remus down the hall in front of the entrance to the study from his spot outside the dining room and they each looked down at their own groups, nodding, before counting down together.
3…
2…
1…
They burst through, wands immediately drawn and spells firing.
They had the element of surprise and the poisoned vial that caused drowsiness, instantly bringing down those closest to the door, taking them down with body-binds and paralyzation spells but that only lasted for so long. Instantly the other death eaters, he counted about ten others in this room alone, pulled out their wands and they didn’t waste any time in throwing purple and red curses that smelled like sulphur and burned the air around it.
James narrowly dodged one that once it hit the wall behind him, exploded, and tried and failed to take down a faceless Death Eater. Instantly they became locked in a duel, their focus zeroed in on each other, as they danced. Where they cast, James dodged and vice versa, darting to different spots around the room and trying to find each other's weak spot. They weren’t going down and in James’ frustration, he grunted and threw them into the wall. It didn’t bring them down but it did throw their mask askew and he was able to clearly identify Antonin Dolohov, who threw his mask off and shouted as he began layering curse after curse atop each other.
James struggled to throw him off and a body flew into him from his right side and he turned to see a death eater had thrown another to the ground. A flash of blue eyes under slits had him identifying Rosier before he dashed away, pretending to continue fighting against them. He looked back up but Dolohov was gone.
He turned around and saw madness as walls were blown through, furniture was thrown around, and people were shouting as they fought each other. James fought his way through the fray to find Lily fighting against both Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange but when he broke out, he was stopped short.
Barty had foregone the mask, instantly giving himself up, and stepped up to Lily, joining her in her fight.
“You dirty fucking traitor!” Rodolphus shouted.
“Pureblood Scum!” Rabastan echoed.
James remembered the fight was personal for him as he remembered Pandora was their younger sister and he had nothing to say when he heard the curses Barty was throwing for they wouldn’t be considered ‘fair play’ in a duel but the viciousness in his face, the way he deflected each spell that flew towards Lily, had James supporting him.
A spell hit his thigh, slicing it open, and he turned to see Yaxley, sneering at him from behind a marble column outside the dining room. His leg stung but he ignored it and turned his wand towards him and he really was a poor dueller as he cast Unforgivables but missed each time and at the last Avada James jumped around, he heard a yelp and thud behind him. James took his distraction as the chance to Petrify him and he turned to see Ocelot, identifiable by her brooch, lifeless on the floor behind him.
He knelt down and removed her black mask to reveal a young woman with mousy brown hair and a kind face. Her eyes were shut serenely as though she was sleeping and James held back tears at how she had simply been caught behind him at the wrong time but he couldn't waste any time. He sent her body to the designated safehouse with the pre prepared portkeys they had made specifically in the event that this happened.
He stood back up and he turned back to make for the corridor but his eyes caught on movement outside the window.
Remus was fighting with Fenrir Greyback. The werewolf roared as Remus bared his teeth and cast spell after spell at him, incapacitating him more and more with each one. He had gotten Greyback on his arse in front of him and Remus stood tall before him, bloody and bruised, but still standing and his mouth was moving and while James couldn’t make out any words, he could see the sheer emotion bleeding out of him.
He turned back to the fight for a moment, and threw a hex at a death eater who was pursuing Mary. She gave him a bloody smile before taking his wand and knocking him out with a punch to the gut- clearly using some muggle techniques to get her hands dirty in this fight.
When he turned back, he saw Greyback lifeless on the grass and Remus, despairingly staring up at the crescent moon.
The fight continued on in a cacophony as death eaters started helping each other out, undoing the work they had done on the ones they took down and James reentered the fight with renewed vigour, taking down death eaters and sending them to the jails they had set aside for them with portkeys. When he had run out, he grabbed one from someone else and they continued methodically like that for a while.
He dashed past Alice who had blood running down the side of her head and Frank who clutched onto an Auror who was helping them out. Behind them, slumped against the wall, covered in her own blood- was Bellatrix.
He caught sight of Dorcas fighting the demon twins, and the snake dashing into the receiving room, and wondered, not for the first time, where Voldemort was .
Once he got past most of the fighting and to the Study, he called upon Dumbledore who was set to end this but his curiosity was burning through him and if he stood still for a moment longer, he’d be forced to think about Sirius and Regulus and he simply couldn’t have that. He grasped the door handle and pushed it open, hiding around the corner as it swung and hit the wall.
When nothing jumped out at him, he peered in and saw Voldemort, sat in the chair behind the desk, his head held low. He was so still he looked already dead. James entered, wand held aloft, with more courage than he felt.
He was so confused he didn’t know what to do but a loud crack of apparition sounded and that, seeming to shock Voldemort out of stupor, had him reanimating, red eyes locked on his. James bounded right out of the room and towards the crack where Dumbledore surely was, running away because he was clearly instructed to not play the hero and he was scared a bit shitless. How the fuck had Regulus been able to stand being in his presence?
When he got outside to the front lawn, Voldemort was already there, wand held up, opposite Dumbledore who had a team of aurors and Unspeakables with him as well.
“You felt it didn’t you Tom?” he asked and Voldemort’s face shifted to pure fury as he stared Dumbledore down.
There was nothing for a long moment before the world seemed to cleave in half as they cast at the same time. Bright light erupted from the epicentre, where green met green in a clash so loud his ears still rang. It was as if all the fighting inside stopped so that everyone could watch them battle each other- two of the greatest wizards to have ever lived, finally facing one another on the battlefield.
They both had to break off the spell to end the standstill they had found themselves in. Voldemort moved first, raising his wand and suddenly the gravel from the driveway flew in their direction, going as fast as knives at them, but Dumbledore barely turned as he crumbled them to dust.
“It’s over Tom, lay down your wand,” he ordered, advancing, but Voldemort didn’t listen, instead shouting as he began throwing wild spells at Dumbledore, each of them somehow as black as night.
But he was no match, not without his horcruxes or men to protect him.
Suddenly, pops could be heard all around them, and James watched as death eaters started fleeing as Dumbledore advanced on a retreating Voldemort. Their side started scrambling to catch as many of them as they could and James turned back to the fight to see Voldemort, held by chains held by a team of eight Unspeakables who struggled to hold him off.
He was still clutching his wand and an Auror, running faster than humanly possible, burst forth in a flash of silver and- James couldn’t turn away- cut his hand off with a machete larger than her own size.
He was forced to his knees and Dumbledore approached him, much like Remus had Greyback, and said in a voice as cold as steel, “Taking you out of that orphanage was the worst mistake I have ever made, and tonight I will correct it… Avada Kedavra!”
And finally, ending the years long war, Dumbledore killed Voldemort who died not as a man, but who disintegrated and scattered in the air, never to be buried or remembered, never to be mourned or brought back, never to rise again.
James’ knees hit the ground as he felt the world right itself on its axis.