The Order of the Morally Grey

"So, let me get this straight. You just survived almost getting dragged into the ocean by a bunch of Inferis a few days ago, and now you want to make a group to defeat the Dark Lord without joining the Order of the Flaming Chicken?" Evan recapped Regulus' explanation while taking a puff of the muggle cigarette he smuggled into his pocket, Regulus rolling his eyes at the parody name, Barty laughed at the joke and took Evan's cig and took a puff himself.

"Essentially, yes. I've already found a possible place we can use as a base, I just need the comfirmation that we are allowed to use it, anything else can be thought about later on." Regulus said with a huff, as he sat back in his seat of the Hogwarts Express, arms folded across his chest.

"You forgot one thing Reg, what about your asshole parents?" Dorcas points out, Regulus had hoped the topic wouldn't came up, but alas, it is inevitable.

"Well...I have a plan, but it will be put in motion after graduation. For now, we don't have to worry about them, I'll say I'm persuading other purebloods to join so I can stay at Hogwarts during holidays." Regulus explained, it's not a perfect plan, but it will do for now.

"Alright then, how about we talk more later? We're almost at Hogwarts, and put that out, Evan!" Pandora pointed out, yelling at Evan to put out the cigarette, Evan complied because he doesn't want to face an angry Pandora.

Hogwarts has become a safe haven of sorts to Regulus, it's a place where his parents' cruel punishments and strict rules can't reach him, a place where he can freely talk to his friends, and a place where he can read muggle novels and not be punished because of it, a place he could almost call home. Sitting through the sorting, hearing the usual speech of the old sot that is the headmaster, and chatting with his friends while stuffing treacle tarts in his face. Once he's gone back to the common room, after saying goodbye to Pandora as she walks to the Ravenclaw tower, he walks into the dorm that he shares with Evan and Barty and flip through a couple pages of the transfiguration book while Evan and Barty throw pillows at each other, he stops midway as he caught a glimpse of one of the topics of the book, animagus. Regulus ponders a bit, he had known about his brother ad his friends' little secret, as if their nick names to each other aren't obvious enough, that also means Regulus knows about Lupin's little secret, he never tells because he's not that much of a dick, and also because it's not really his business to do so. 

Then comes his next order of business, how the hell will he stay hidden? He needs to somehow become invisible in a crowd, there's not really any invisibility spells or potions, and as far as he knows the Fidelius charm only works on objects and/or places, not a human. He then glances back down at the open book in his lap, specifically the page that it's open on, and an idea popped in his head. What if, instead of staying hidden, why not hide in plain sight? as an animal. Is it mad? maybe, is he considering it? Yes, yes he is. He read on further and found the steps of becoming an animagus, he looks up at his two friends that are currently eating chocolate frogs and sighed, they'll want to be one too, they wouldn't like for him to be the only one. So, he clears his throat, gaining the attention of his two friends, and look them in the eyes.

"I have an idea, it's a bit mad, but you need to trust me. We'll talk about it tomorrow with the girls, they wouldn't want to be left out of this."

"Okay, but first-Reg, your arms are bleeding!" Pandora exclaimed as she jumped from her seat and went over to Regulus and pull up the sleeves of his uniform.

Indeed, the scratches didn't seem to heal from the various potions Kreacher had fed him, and it's just now that Regulus noticed that his fingertips are...numb. He can't feel anything, he can't feel his hands touching the cushion, he can't even feel his own fingertips touching Pandora's hands. He looks up at Pandora's distressed face as she stares at the claw marks on his arm, Dorcas is already scrambling to grab her bag and find some bandages of some sort or any potions, Barty and Evan are looking around, seemingly looking for something they can tear as a makeshift bandage.

"Panda, I can't-"

"Can't what, Reg?"

"I c-can't feel you, I can't feel my fingers touching you, I can't feel them touching anything! I can't-" Regulus started hyperventilating, scared that none of this is real and the reason he can't feel her is because he's really dead, a corpse, lying under that horrid water.

"Shh Reg, it's okay, it's okay. You can see me, okay? You can hear me, you can still feel me with your face, yeah? You feel that? That's me touching your face, Reggie." Pandora said softly as she cupped Regulus's face in her hand, Regulus instinctively nuzzled his face into her palms, making sure that it was real and that he was here, and not dead.

Dorcas digs out a roll of bandages and a bottle of Wound-Cleaning potion and rushes to his aid, Barty handed her a handkerchief and Dorcas began cleaning his wound, though no matter how many times she did, the claw marks keeps bleeding. Regulus's gears began to turn, Inferis are reanimated corpses by dark magic, the scars must have been cursed too, cursed so that it cannot heal. The numbness of his fingertips might have something to do with it as well, either by the curse, or by how much pain and trauma his arm was taking that the nerves in his fingertips are damaged.

"It can't heal. I'm guessing since Inferis are products of dark magic, the scars must have some effect as well. I'm guessing the effects are that their scars don't heal, just disinfected." Regulus voiced his thoughts.

"Well then, I guess I'll just wrap it with 100 layers of bandages then." Dorcas said, as she began unraveling the roll of bandage and wrapping Regulus's left arm, Pandora doing his right. Barty and Evan just looks at him concerned, they're practically brothers to him, even though he and Barty did have a short fling in 5th year, but they're the people who were present with him since Sirius left him alone. The only good thing that came out of his scars was the disappearance of his Dark Mark, clawed off alongside some of his skin that stuck to the Inferis claws.

"Hey Reg, have you noticed the grey streaks in your hair?" Barty asked while squinting at something on Regulus's head.

"What?" Regulus asked, Barty then digs out a small mirror from his bag and showed it to Regulus.

Indeed, there's a visible pale grey streak in Regulus's hair, near the front of his head. It's very visible, Regulus didn't even know how he'd missed it, but it's there. His mind then went back to the basin of potion he had to drink, which he found out was the Emerald Potion or the Drink of Despair. Studies did show that intense trauma and stress can cause hair to lose pigment, and probably because of the potion putting his head and body through so much stress and strain, his hair showed the damage.

"I'm guessing it has something to do with the potion in the basin I drank to get to the locket itself-"

"Pause, you didn't mention anything about a potion, Reg" Evan butted in.

"Will you let me finish, Ev? Merlin's sake, as I was saying, the Horcrux was not only protected by Inferis, but it's also protected by a potion. The Emerald Potion, also known as the Drink of Despair, was covering the locket, and I had to order Kreacher to force it down my throat until the basin is empty, then I told him to switch the locket with a fake I made." Regulus explained, as he played with the grey streak of hair, twirling it between his fingers.

He could feel their eyes on him, the silent pause drowned out the busy noises of the Hogwarts Express, it was maddening. Regulus shifted his gaze to his now bandaged forearms, he could see the bloodstains on his sleeves that he could just cover up with his school robes,by now he's begging for someone to say something. Thankfully, Dorcas did just that.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Reg." She exclaims as she drags her hands down her face.

"It's done already, I already did it, can we please move on?" Regulus said, begging for the subject to change.

"Pfff-fine, what were you saying before? Before Pandora noticed your arm thing?" Dorcas said, you can hear the tiredness in her voice.

"Right, so I was thinking, you all probably know by now that the gang of mischief are all illegal Animagus?"

"It's literally in their nicknames for each other, I'm surprised no one else has noticed." Dorcas said with a witty snark in her tone, which is understandable.

"Well, I was thinking, if I'm an Animagus I could just hide in plain sight. Especially since the Wizarding world mostly consists of forests and woods, I could blend in just fine." Regulus voiced his idea.

"You know, you're not that different from your brother, you know that?" Evan said with a grin.

"I will hex you Evan." Regulus glared at Evan, who just immaturely stuck out his tongue.

"I like it, I've been interested in them for a while myself!" Pandora exclaimed.

"Fine, but we're all becoming one. You're not alone in this anymore Reg, you have us, we're going down with you." Barty said as he stares at Regulus, he had always been the protective one of the group, not hesitating to throw punches at anyone who even dares to insult any of them.

"Guys, we're here. Hurry up!" Evan said as he got up to get his bags, followed by the rest of them.

They got on the carriages that had become a routine by now, but now Regulus saw what was pulling those carriages, Thestrals. He guesses almost dying is the same thing as seeing death, seeing as he was close to Death's door. The sorting was boring, to say the least, it was not an unusual sight as it was back when they were kids and they've gotten used to the chattering over the years. Regulus searches the Gryffindor table for Sirius out of habit, and shook himself once he remembers he had graduated, he didn't really have an appetite anyway, so he took a few bites of food before excusing himself to go to his dorm early.

Once he was safely in his dorm, he digs for his Transfiguration book and read through the chapter about Animagis, he was a few paragraphs in when his door slammed open and walks in Evan and Barty.

"What'cha reading Reg?" Barty said as he plops down on Regulus's bed, putting his head on Regulus's lap.

"Animagus, obviously. But there's not much information in the Transfiguration books, I'd have to look through the library tomorrow." Regulus said, not even acknowledging the weight on his lap, or the other weight on him as Evan plops down on his other side and puts his head on Regulus's shoulder.

"Yep, tomorrow, Reg. Right now, you need to sleep more than anything." Evan said as he snatched the book from Reg's hand.

"But-"

"Shh, sleep, baby Reggie." Barty said as he pushes a finger to Regulus's lips.

Regulus sighed and laid back until his head hit the pillow, Barty and Evan got off of him and turned off the lights and got into their own beds. Regulus closed his eyes, hoping for a dreamless sleep.

The next day

A dreamless sleep, he did not get.

What he did get was nightmares, a nightmare recalling the events of the cave.

So Regulus Black woke up with a gasp and a panic attack, he'd somehow managed to calm down without waking up his friends. 

Eventually, he shook his two friends awake for breakfast, they found Dorcas and Pandora on the way to the great hall and started grabbing plates, Regulus himself grabbing a plate with french toast and a cup of tea. He lazily ate his breakfast while Barty and Evan inhaled their food, he finished his breakfast and dragged the boys back to the common room while the girls get ready on their own, but not before giving Regulus more bandages for him to change his old ones.

They got ready for classes and walked to each class, avoiding Mulciber and his goons as much as they could. They managed to do it, somehow.

They all met up at the library and immediately raided the Animagus section of the library, some of them even began taking notes. Pandora ended up sitting on the floor, her Ravenclaw tie used as a hair tie and her wand between her teeth as she reads through books, Regulus himself has his hair in a small pony tail thanks to Dorcas.

"So, a wizard's Animagus form may reflect their corporeal Patronuses, so have any of us casted a Patronus?" Dorcas asked.

Only Pandora raised a hand, a Patronus charm had never crossed their minds, considering most of them came from dark families, as a Patronus charm is a well known light magic spell. 

"Patronuses aside, what's the first step to the ritual?" Barty said, changing the subject.

"Um, when is the full moon?" Pandora asked no one in particular

"Literally tomorrow, why?" Evan said, taming his hair.

"Well, the first step is "Carry a single Mandrake leaf in your mouth for an entire month – from full moon to full moon to be precise". So we can start tomorrow, we could just each snag a Mandrake leaf later in Herbology." Pandora said.

So, they did just that. They snagged some Mandrake leafs while Professor Sprout was distracted, they all met up after classes and put the Mandrake leaf in their mouths. Regulus has the genius idea of using a sticking charm and sticking the leaf under their tongues.

A month passed and the next full moon was coming closer, Regulus has been brewing the Animagus Potion for that full month, the night of the clear full moon they all spat out their leafs into phials within range of the moon's pure rays. They finished the last few steps of the potion and kept the potion, undisturbed, inside one of the dusty drawers in the Astronomy Tower, while they waited for the electrical storm. As they waited for the storm, they chanted the incantation "Amato Animo Animato Animagus" every sundown and sunrise, with the tips of their wands to their heart.

On the day of the storm, at sundown, all of them gathered near the Forbidden Forest and recite the incantation one last time and chugged the potion down their throats, watching to see their if all of their hard work had succeeded.

They felt their heartbeats double, and they closed their eyes and focused, Regulus felt his limbs shifts and transformed into paws and his body shrinking. Regulus opened his eyes and realized that he can see in the dark, he went to a nearby puddle and looked the reflection, he was a black cat.

Regulus instinctively hissed when a high pitched bark startled him, he looked to where Barty was, only to see a sand colored Coyote in his place, beside him where Evan should be, was a fox. Regulus looked to where Pandora stood, finding a beautiful white swan in her place, and where Dorcas stood, perched a black raven on the tree branch.

The coyote yipped excitedly as he ran around the fox, the fox in turn barked at the Coyote playfully and began chasing each other in circles, while Regulus the cat climbed the tree where the raven perched, the swan following suit and sitting under said tree. The raven then flew down and collects everyone's wands in her beak and gave it to the cat, who securely holds it around his tail.

After a while, the five animals head back near the castle and thought about their human bodies, in moments, each animal transformed back into their human counterparts. Regulus handed them their wands back.

"Of course Reggie is a cat, look at him!" Barty said as he slings an arm around Regulus, Regulus glared at him. "Barty, I will turn back and claw your eyes out, don't test me." Regulus hissed back. Barty just smirked at his friend's remark, paying no mind to the threat.

"By the way, we're not gonna call ourselves something ridiculous like the heathens did, are we?" Evan asked, walking up to his twin's side. Regulus rolled his eyes. "Of course not, we're smarter than that."

"We should still have a name though, security and stealth purposes of course. We won't be calling each other's names in the field, that's a one way journey to Voldemort right there." Dorcas pointed out the obvious, Regulus held his chin with his thumb and pointer finger in thought, before sighing. "I suppose you're right."

"May I suggest something?" Pandora chimed in, everyone's eye diverted to her. Regulus nodded, signaling for her to go on. "Our life sounds almost like a Greek Tragedy, doesn't it? Our fates were ruined by the rise of an evil figure, such as Kronos, and our efforts to fight him resulting in a war." Everyone was silent, Pandora proceeds.

"We are the Pantheons, the ones uniting together, disregarding our fates and heritage, and fighting the evil Titan lord head on." Pandora concluded, Regulus smiled at the girl he came to proudly call his best friend.

"That doesn't sound bad at all, I'm in." Dorcas chimed, a satisfied smirk adorning her beautiful dark skin. "All in favor?" Regulus said, raising his hand. Everyone followed the gesture of agreement.

"Very well, then I suppose that also calls for the election of the Olympians as well." Regulus looks around, his eyes landing on Pandora. "Lady Diana, the Roman Goddess of the Moon, countryside and nature, hunters, wildlife, childbirth, crossroads, and the night. the Roman equivalent Artemis." Pandora gave Regulus a big smile.

Regulus turned to Barty. "Lord Ares, the Greek God of war and battle and an instigator of violence, the brute, the winner of wars, and the trump card in the battle field." Barty gave a toothy grin of satisfaction, puffing up his chest in confidence.

"Lady Minerva, the Roman Goddess of Wisdom and battle strategies, but also medicine, poetry, and handicrafts. The Roman equivalent of Athena." Regulus said as he looked at Dorcas, who in return gave him a proud smile while nodding.

"Lord Apollo, god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the Sun and light, poetry, and intelligence. The twin brother of the Moon Goddess Diana." Evan gave a huge grin as he took an exaggerated bow, the others laughing along with him.

"Well, that-" Regulus was cut off by Barty. "Wait wait, what about you?" Ah, Regulus was so focused on his friends that he forgets himself. "You're definitely not Zeus, You could be Poseidon, but I think we all can agree that you should be Lord Hades." 

Regulus raised an eyebrow, Pandora chimed in. "Oh definitely! Hades is often associated with themes of death, darkness, secrets, and the hidden realms. You delve into the realm of secrets and hidden truths as you become involved with the dark side of magic and the Horcruxes. Your actions are driven by a desire to uncover the truth and bring an end to Voldemort's reign, even almost at the cost of your own life. It parallels the mysterious and somber nature often associated with Hades!"

Regulus blinked at her explanation, before chuckling. "Well then, it's settled. I shall be Lord Hades, the Greek God of the dead and the Underworld, as well as the hidden wealth of the earth." 

That was the beginning of the Order of the Morally Gray.

And it all started with the Pantheons.