Hacker
12:45 P.M. 16th October 2022
“It was just so strange.” Remus pouted a bit as he took long sips from his coffee, still in his pajamas. He had only been woken up minutes before by Lily who had a key and manually dragged him out of bed.
She wiggled her body to sit criss-crossed. “How did you upset him again?”
“I don’t know.” Remus leaned his head side to side. “I just suggested-” He wasn’t able to finish his sentence because he was interrupted by a harsh knock. “It’s open!” He yelled.
Sauntering shyly, was James Potter, with his hands in his pockets. “Heyy.”
Lily blinked profusely. “Hi.”
James stood behind the couch, cautiously. “I wanted to see if you found Sirius yet. He… uh never picked up, and he wasn’t at his usual spots.”
Remus shook his head, tempted to lie. “No, I…”
“Anything? Have you heard from him at all?” He looked desperate.
“I…” The back of his neck burned. “I saw him go into his apartment last night.”
“He’s home?!” James' mouth ripping open in shock.
“Yes?”
He brought his hands to his face, before plopping himself on the couch next to Lily as if they’ve all known each other their whole life. “That fucking daft little shit!”
“I…” Remus didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t know James.
“Did he look angry? Overwhelmed?”
He bored his eyes into the ceiling with shame. “Well…”
Lily rolled her eyes, most likely annoyed at the pace of the conversation. “Your friend was getting railed on his front door while watching Remus.”
James peeled his hands from his face. “What?”
“That’s an exaggeration.” Remus explained.
“In what way?”
“... okay, that’s exactly what happened.”
“Jesus.” James cursed under his breath. “Then he should have been at the bar yesterday.”
Lily turned to face him with a curious furrow in her brows. “What bar does he go to?”
“Jake’s down on 57th.”
Remus nodded. “Yeah, I like that place.”
“They always put two olives instead of one.” She squinted her eyes in satisfaction.
“And the music is always good.”
Lily frowned. “Really? They always play too much Dua Lipa for my taste.”
James scoffed loudly. “There is no such thing as ‘too much Dua Lipa.’”
“Trust me there is.”
Remus lifted his feet to sit criss crossed as well. “I thought you liked their music.”
“When they play reggaeton, yeah.”
“Guys we gotta focus.” James agitatedly shifted the conversation. “Sorry… I do like when they play Bad Bunny, but what fuck was Sirius doing? Did you get a good look at the guy? Was he tall, short, chubby, skinny?”
Remus shrugged helplessly. “I wasn’t paying too much attention to the other guy.”
“God, you two are helpless.” He gave a pitiful smile.
“I don’t fancy him!”
“And I’m a magical wizard!” James’ smile grew bright and wide.
He huffed and reluctantly gave in. “The guy was tall with red hair. Bright red like Lily’s.”
“Fuck.”
“Fuck?”
“The Prewetts… they used to be a thing. Their parents hate each other. Whenever they’re t-together, it’s not good news.”
Prewett… what the fuck is a Prewett? Remus thought bitterly. He didn't know why the thought brought so much fire into his beating pulse, but it did. And he didn’t like it.
“But his parents died so… shouldn’t there not be any issue anymore?” Lily questioned.
James swallowed deeply in thought. “Uh… no it’s more of uh- rebellion- I really shouldn’t be talking about this.”
There was a long silence before Remus decided to break it. “Can I ask? What’s the deal between Sirius and his parents? I don’t want to get murdered not knowing what I getting myself into.”
“He changes his mind so much, let’s see if still wants to investigate today.” He answered quickly. “But um… him and his parents just didn’t get on.”
“Yeah, but why is he here then? Why is he investigating it? Why’s he hooking up with red-heads?”
“Hey!” Lily pointed an accusatory finger at him.
“You know what I mean.”
James clapped his hands on his thighs as he raised himself from the couch. “I don’t- I don’t think I should be the one to talk about it. I need to go find Sirius.”
He was gone in the next moment. With a hanging sword over their heads, Lily and Remus stared at each other in disbelief. Not wanting to make the next move.
“James is really cute.”
1:19 P.M.
“Sirius! Open up.” James banged relentlessly on his front door. “I know you’re in there, because god knows Prewett isn’t taking you to breakfast.”
“You don’t have to be so mean.”
“Ah!” He jumped to find Lily standing next him with her sweet smile and scrunched nose. “Scared the shit out of me.”
She leaned against the wall nonchalantly. “Still mean.”
“When he answers the door we can talk about mean.” James huffed.
“It’s nice that you worry about him.”
“I’d do anything for him. Blindly.”
Her smile sweetened more if that was even possible. “Maybe don’t tell that to the police.”
He laughed naturally. “No- I- No, that would sound bad.” James watched his feet swing as he tried to contain himself.
“Yeah it would.” Lily pushed herself off the wall. “I know it’s bad timing with everything, but do you wanna go on a second date?”
“Yes! I mean yeah.”
“Okay.” She laughed back at him. “I’ll text you.”
When she had gone, and he stood alone in the hallway once again, James muttered to himself. “She’s gonna text me.” With a grin fighting on his lips.
It took James a while to remember why he was there in the first place. He rolled his head around his neck and dug in his pockets for his key to Sirius’ apartment.
When the door swung open, he heard a creaking sound. Turning to see the source, he spotted Regulus crawling out of a picture frame from the other end of the apartment. “You have to be kidding me.”
Regulus froze, fingers still wrapped around the edges of the frame.
“Your brother is upset because Remus fucking figured out there has to be tunnels in this building and you’re- you’re… fuck.”
“Whose Remus?” He coldly ran his eyes over James, not moving from the inside of the passageway.
“Sirius’ new crush.”
Regulus furrowed his eyebrows. “You mean you two aren’t a thing?”
“Get out of there already.” James stalked his way towards him. “What are you doing here anyway?”
Looking him dead on, Regulus folded his hands together. “Answer the question.”
“Your brother and me are many things, but together is not one of them, no” He laughed again.
“Then why did you keep it a secret?”
Realizing that he wasn’t going to move, James took a seat next to him in the tunnel, using the couch to jump in. “I moved here because of him. Keep an eye on him and such. Would have been pointless if Walburga and Orion knew… but they did.”
“Huh?”
“Your parents knew… that’s why they were trying to evict me.”
“I thought it was because you were poor.” Regulus added without a second thought, but regretted it instantly. His red cheeks made it evident. “Sorry.”
“No, it’s okay.” He waved off. “I am a teacher and all.”
“History.”
“And football coach.”
Regulus picked at fingernails. “You make sense now.”
Before the smile could reach him, James shook his head. “So why are you here?”
“You.” He slumped back his shoulders and leaned on the decaying tunnel walls. “I obviously didn’t check on Sirius enough if I didn’t know about you.”
“I heard you guys used to use these everyday. I thought I would’ve bumped into you at least once.”
“Stopped using these a while ago.”
Resting his head on the wall next to him, James sighed dramatically. “So what is it that you need?”
“I heard you’re good with computers.”
“Wha- Where did you hear about that?”
Police officers had been patrolling the building since the incident. Nothing being released to the public besides the fact that they’re ‘working diligently’ to solve the case. They weren’t letting out anything.
Regulus begged Barty to let him know if he received any more information, but he hadn’t heard anything from him since he left his apartment yesterday. When he also claimed that he was okay to sleep in his own bed. But that wasn't true.
Grimmauld Place had become an avoidance for him.
However, in a murder trial, all sanity is thrown out the window. Regulus had to pick his head up and force himself through the back door. Rummaging his way through the walls, like he was a little girl all over again.
Now James was typing nonsense into his computer trying to delete the footage of him yelling at his parents hours before their... incident.
“I don’t understand, wouldn’t the police also see that you were standing outside of their apartment during the murder, therefor proving your innocence.” James mumbled.
“Planned, hired, faulty timed cameras. They can come up with anything.”
“Okay…” He nodded. “I’m also going to delete some random times in random hallways for…”
“For lack of suspicion.” Regulus finished.
“Right.
The old wooden door that led to the bedroom creaked open, with Sirius on the other side. He was only wearing boxers, revealing a map of hickeys that led underneath the fabric. “Fabian, leave already.” Sirius groaned as he stumbled into the tiny living room, covering his eyes with his hair.
“Not Fabian, it’s me and your darling brother instead.” James chuckled.
Pulling his long hair back immediately, Sirius’ face dropped. “Hello Reg.”
Regulus shifted uncomfortably on the couch, which caused James to let out an honest laugh. Bending down to throw a shirt at Sirius that had been sitting there, probably for weeks now.
“Thanks.” He mumbled during the process of pushing his arms through the holes. “What uh… what are you guys doing?”
“He’s hacking into the security cameras.” Regulus stated finely.
James exhaled sappily. “For the last time, it’s not hacking if you gave me the username and password.”
“He’s logging into the security cameras then."
“Okay.” Sirius registered slowly, taking a seat on his battered up carpet. “Why?”
“He got into a fight with your parents before the murder, and he doesn’t want the police noticing.” James nodded.
Sirius bit his lip as he always did when he was nervous. “What did you… what did you fight about?”
“Nothing.” Regulus picked at his nails.
Later when the footage was deleted and Regulus thanked him with a purse of the lips and a mumbled ‘thanks’, James stood in Sirius’ living room, watching him try to dissect moldy takeout in the refrigerator light.
“Fabian Prewett, really?”
He squeezed his eyes shut and contorted his face. “I know.”
“I thought you liked Remus, now you're back to sleeping with Prewett?!” James balked.
“I do not like Remus. Okay? He is an attractive man that I sometimes purposely bump into, and now investigate my parents murder with. Or used to.”
“That was a mouthful.”
Sirius sighed, setting his rice and chopsticks down on the counter. “And you’re a dick.”
James frowned to keep his laugh from spilling out. He decided on shifting the focus to a more important matter. “Have the police talked to you about anything?”
“Nope… but um I… I need to have a meeting with the people that live here. About the whole change of ownership.”
“Are you the owner now?”
“Unpredictably and unfortunately.”
7:19 P.M.
When he finished sending the meeting information through his parents' email address to everyone in Grimmauld, Sirius grabbed a bottle of vodka and set out for the picture frame. It should have been a dead give away that it led to something. It was the only thing in the whole apartment that felt like it belonged in Grimmauld. It was shiny and gold, grandly holding a renaissance replica painting inside. Sirius pushed in a circle on each corner, then ran his fingers down the side waiting to feel the latch. Clicking it opened to crawl inside.
He knew the pathway like the back of his hand. Following the trail of cobwebs until he reached a slab of steel they called an elevator. It was truly an oversized, rundown dumbwaiter, but it held its purpose.
Pulling the lever tiredly, Sirius finally reached the highest floor. The fiftieth floor. He could already hear the police swarming the area. Although it was more than that. There was shouting and banging, but he couldn’t make out what was actually being said.
Sirius crept through the walls, scaving the perimeter of his parents' apartment. Pushing books and shelves to the side, he watched the police through peep holes. The evidence markers, the tape, and walkie talkies.
“We still can’t find anything that would point to this being a premeditated murder.” A woman muttered to her co-worker.
“When they get the study unlocked we’ll be able to put this case to rest.”
“It’s got to be more complicated than that.”
Swallowing down hard, Sirius picked up his pace. He knew better than anyone what was in that study, and none of it was going to look good for Regulus. They were always so hard on him. The way parents could be hard on little girls. Any pressure Sirius ever felt, he beared it in his blood and bones. What to wear, what to eat, what to say.
Sure the police could find the failed attempts that Walburga and Orion made to send Sirius to conversion camps or boarding schools. But for each one of those instinsances, they could also see Regulus’ strict diets and workout plans. The hospital visits when he first cut his hair. His botched top surgery in Panama. His overdoses.
The police wouldn’t get that Regulus still loved his parents. They wouldn’t understand his blind faith in them. No one would understand that he would never intentionally hurt them.
Sirius squeezed past the bottom shelf and emerged into the study. He pulled a black trash bag from his back pocket and began stuffing it anything he could find. Stealing all their documents. Unlocking every hidden cabinet and unloading all its contents.
No one would find a thing.
With a full trash bag, he left the way he entered. Struggling to balance the bag and lower the lever, Sirius slowly traveled down. Stopping at the Twenty-seventh floor.
He kicked the bag to the rotten floor and stilled, trying to listen for Remus. Sirius knew it was wrong, but it couldn’t be helped. What he was up to since their fight the night before was a question playing over and over again in his head.
The apartment was quiet and unmoving. Maybe he wasn’t home.
Slipping through the walls, he cautiously peeked into his living room finding his lanky figure.
Remus was sitting on his couch staring at… what’s he staring at?
The whiteboard was pushed to the side and the couch was moved back to where originally sat, and Sirius couldn’t help the sinking in his heart. How he was so quickly tossed to the side. He went to take a step back, but tripped over a fallen folder. Landing right on his ass with a thud.
He heard Remus standing abruptly. He heard him following the sound. He heard his confusion.
Willing himself to breathe normally, Sirius took a swig from his bottle of vodka he’d been keeping under his arm. Because Remus was still there on the other side of the wall waiting for something to reveal itself. He could feel his beautifully hazel eyes searching.
His fingertips met the wall, gliding over the slight scrapes until it formed a large square. Remus’ knees hit the floor, pushing the area with two hands.
Sirius knew that click all too well and scrambled to get away, how he should've been doing early. But it was too late.
“Sirius!”
Dropping the bottle, and ducking through the walls, Sirius hurriedly picked all the papers and files and stuffed them in his shirt as he moved.
Remus was quick to follow, matching every turn. “Sirius!”
His head hit a stray slab of wood and he hissed in pain. Slowly turning to stubbornly meet Remus’ eye he smiled weakly. “Hi.”
“Hi?”
“Hey?” He tried.
“Sirius what the fuck- You-you-” Remus spluttered with his eyes wide. “I was right!” He finally managed.
Sirius shook his head vigorously. “NO! No- you weren’t- you aren’t.”
“The fuck is this then!”
Worriedly biting his lip, he looked around helplessly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”
Remus shut his mouth, his eyebrows scarily high. “... Are you gonna murder me?”
“What?!”
“I don’t know! I don’t even know who you are and you’re scaring me!” He yelled, with all of his breath.
“I not going to murder you!” Sirius shot back.
“Then…” Remus frantically gestured to everything. “I need an explanation. I need it now.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“Sirius!”
“Fine!” His teeth picked at his scabbed lips. “My brother killed my parents and I need to cover it up before the police figure it out.” It all came out in a rush.
Remus blinked repeatedly before yelling again. “ What? ”