Mastermind

Sacred

Warnings: referenced death

That's the only warning, if it's even necessary at all.
I gave you so much Angst, you'll get some humour now. (At least the first part of this chapter is humour the rest... not that much.)
Anyway, we have Radically Honest Regulus now... he's fun.

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I'm still awake for you
We won't make it together
We can't hide the truth
I'm giving up for you now
My final wish will guide you out
Before the ocean breaks apart
Underneath me
- Sacred by Tokio Hotel

The next day Sirius takes Regulus downstairs to the living room. It is a very cosy home, though it is big enough to house all of these different people. Regulus imagines, the Potters only used half of this house before giving it over to the Order – or maybe, they only added the other half after offering it up. The half of the house that seems "used" is filled with memories, trinkets, and family pictures displaying James in all stages of life. He sees James and his mother with her side of the family all dressed in traditional Indian clothing, the colours bright and light against his skin. He sees baby James blinking and waving at him while sitting next to a giant sandcastle.
Regulus doesn't look at the real James when he sits down on the couch. Sirius sits between them.

Regulus casts one long look around the room. There is Dumbledore, some more of his teachers. Slughorn is sitting in front of him. There are people he doesn't know and people he knows of, like Moody the auror. There are James' friends: Marlene, Alice, Frank, Mary, and Lily. Remus isn't there. He blinks at Pandora, a Ravenclaw girl from his year. What is she doing here? She is too young for this.

Dumbledore gently asks him to tell them why he is here. Regulus thinks it is a weirdly worded question, but he doesn't mention this.

"I'm here because I want to kill the dark Lord. I've worked towards that under his nose for half a year. I didn't know whether I would survive getting the locket on my own, so I asked Sirius and James for help. They brought me here. So, I guess, now I'm going to try to kill him from here. - If I ever get my wand back."

"Why would we ever trust you? You're a death eater." – it's McKinnon saying this.

Regulus frowns at her. He just almost died trying to help them defeat Voldemort – what else does he need to do?

"Why did you take the Mark?" Mary asks. "You can't deny you've been involved with you-know-who."

"I'm not denying it. This may come as a shock, but I was never asked whether I wanted any of this. Mother invited him for dinner and said, I would make a good addition to his people. They didn't ask whether I wanted to, they didn't ask me whether I wanted to study Dark Arts, they didn't ask whether I wanted the mark – that's not how this works. Besides, even if they asked, at some point you've seen too much to say no and come out alive."

"We've been over this," Sirius jumps to his defence. "He defected. He betrayed Voldemort and told us about the attack at the wedding. And he almost died trying to get that locket for us."

McKinnon rolls her eyes. "So? You still haven't told us what that thing is or what it does. It's scarcely a weapon."

"No," Regulus says calmly, "It isn't a weapon. It's better than that. It's Voldemort's secret."

He hears quiet gasps and sharp intakes of air when he speaks his name. It's just a name. He rolls his eyes.

"You-know-who's secret what?"

"It's a Horcrux. Voldemort ripped his soul apart and hid parts of it in objects like this one. You won't be able to defeat him. You cannot kill him, as long as these exist. Any weapon is useless against him with these lying around somewhere."