CURSES AND CANDIES - REMUS LUPIN

𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑒.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he whispered under his breath before rapidly opening the thick, yellow page to the Gryffindor common room where he suspected Marlene was.

Marlene Mckinnon was currently sitting in front of the fire; she must have finished packing.

"Coming, Wormy?" he asked, brushing the small amount of dirt off his black uniform pants.

To his surprise, Peter shook his head.

"No, I like watching the water," he said, gesturing to the rippling black surface. "See you in a bit."

Staring at him for a moment and then shrugging, Sirius jogged through the empty corridors deserted corridors because of the beautiful weather to the Fat Lady and climbed through the portrait hole.

Just as he thought, Marlene was sitting in front of the fire with an intense gaze, and Sirius had to clear his throat for her to turn her focused blue eyes towards him.

"Just finished packing," she said to him as he sat down next to her. "I really don't think-"

But she never got to say what she didn't think, because Sirius cut her off bluntly.

"I love you."

Marlene's eyes widened in surprise, but then just smiled at him.

"Took you long enough, you idiot," she giggled, pushing his chest down on the couch jokingly so that his back was flat on the orange cushions.

She looked down at him for a few moments before climbing on top of his chest and grinning mischievously.

"I love you, too."

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Regulus Black was having quite a dilemma for what to do about the way his Dark Mark had suddenly gotten more pigmented than he had ever thought possible and was burning furiously. It was one of the main reasons all of the Dark Lord's followers received the tattoo, to be ready when he summoned them within mere minutes of his call.

Yet there was something holding him back.

He knew Voldemort was not one to care of a murder, having committed many himself. There was a difference, however, when it was not of a muggleborn to invoke fear, but one of his own followers, killed out of spite. If there was one thing Voldemort valued, it was loyalty, and Regulus might lose some of his trust if he did not answer the call and go to the meeting.

But the Rosiers would be there, and they might have somehow gained the knowledge of him killing their son and want to literally murder Regulus on the spot. After the way they had tormented their own daughter over her blood, he knew it wasn't too far of a stretch to assume they would hurt him as a life for a life.

That was just a risk he was going to have to take to keep Voldemort's trust.

Looking down at the tattoo with a frown, he took in a deep breath and shut his eyes.

A whirl of inky black smoke filled Lolchant Forest as he disappeared, and then emerged into a place he had Regulus knew as Malfoy Manor. There was a long, dark wooden table already full of Death Eaters, he was the last to arrive.

"Ah, Regulus," Voldemort said in his raspy voice that made the Black's blood curl. "Thank you for joining us. I was beginning to worry you might not make it."

Regulus felt his knees buckle slightly as he simply inclined his head in acknowledgment and took the only remaining seat between Abraxas Malfoy and Cora Nott.

The table was missing all of the teenage Death Eaters that were still attending Hogwarts, including the ones in his year such as Bellatrix and Roldolphus.

Which means that if Voldemort was expecting me, Regulus thought with deep unease as he adjusted in the high backed chair. Then he somehow knows that I was already away from Hogwarts. Does he know why?

"I have gathered you here today because I am in need of a favor, my humble followers," Voldemort said, holding his hands up as he slowly scanned the occupants of the table. "There is a task very painful I must ask one of you to volunteer for, for the greater good and secureness of our most noble mission."

Many adults already stiffened uncomfortably at this announcement, feeling the pressure building up. Voldemort let the fear of him build up, relishing in it for a few moments before continuing.

"There is an object that I wish to remain hidden, and I have gone to great lengths to try and protect it."

Regulus tried to hide his curiosity by keeping his head bowed, not wanting to give his internal questioning away.

"I will not know if these lengths are far enough if I do not have someone to test them on, however," Voldemort stated. "So, one of you must so bravely sacrifice the pain for the goal of our quest and test these defenses for me."

After his words rang in the silence for a few moments, a great discomfort started to build as no one said anything. Heads were bowed even further as not to be noticed, the fear washing over every person in the room.

"Nobody?" Voldemort asked with a dangerous voice. "How dissa-"

"I volunteer my house elf, Kreacher," Regulus interrupted suddenly. "He'll do it."

All of the nervous gazes previously fixed on the table shot up towards him in shock and thanks for taking the burden of their backs. It was rather clever of him to sacrifice his house elf instead of him, but how he still got the general credit.

None of them knew, however, his true motivations.

Regulus knew good and well that his position as a Death Eater was slipping, and that Voldemort had seen his wavers in loyalty. This was a way to prove that he was still very much a part of the cause, gaining back that trust.

But, by saying that he needed to keep this object hidden, Voldemort had exposed an underbelly whether he knew it or not.

If Regulus could somehow figure out why this thing needed so badly to be guarded, then maybe he could go behind Voldemort's back and destroy it for good.

He just hoped it would be worth it.

eek reggie – trying to stay accurate to the real plot (he did sacrifice kreacher u guys, it says so in the deathly hallows)

sirius is a bottom.

why was this chapter just like the black brothers?

no hollis or remmy, just like developing side charcters before we have like 600000 chapters of rollis lol

1.8k words

what do u wanna see?

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