ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴏᴜʀᴛʜ ᴡᴀʟʟ | ᴍᴀʀᴀᴜᴅᴇʀꜱ ᴇʀᴀ

xli. brave

"End the Dark Lord."

"Regulus—"

"Please, Evan. Listen to me." He swallowed, searching for the next words. He wanted to make them believe that they were wrong about the Dark Lord, but he didn't know what to tell them. "That girl Dorcas and Pandora saw, she's my girlfriend. And she's a muggle-born—"

"Regulus-"

"Let me finish, Barty. Yes, I despised muggles because that's what is taught to me. That's what I believed. But Callie, she...." Oh, how would he even begin? "Her blood doesn't define who she is. If anything she's better than us Pure Bloods. And I love her. And I won't let the Dark Lord or anyone harm her. It's a lot to explain but the Dark Lord mustn't be trusted.

"I know I asked you to join me and be his follower too—"

"Regulus—"

"Not now, Dorcas. Save the lecture after this. I asked that because I was scared. Now, I ask the both of you to step back, do not follow him as you planned and keep yourselves safe."

"Do not follow him?" Evan repeated.

Regulus nodded. He looked at both his friend, expecting an agreement. And he got it when Barty nodded.

"But step back? Aside? No can do, Black." Barty grinned. "We're coming with you."

He didn't know which one is worse. Regulus wanted to slap himself but he knew that would do nothing.

"No," he disagreed firmly.

"You know you can't stop us, right?" said Pandora, taking her wand and gripping it. No matter which side he was on, Regulus would receive help from all of them, especially on the side of peace.

"It's dangerous!"

"And?" Dorcas asked.

"You're mad."

"Like you're the one to talk. You're the one who's in the plans of killing You-Know-Who. Which one of us is mad?"

Regulus rolled his eyes.

Sirius leaned to him for a whisper. "We can't waste time. We have to get there before them."

His brother nodded and faced his friends. He raised a forefinger at them. "Don't do anything stupid. You're not coming with me. You're staying in the Common Room, finishing your homework."

Regulus didn't wait for their disapproval. The Black Brothers ran to the Chamber of Secrets to get Basilisk fangs. And the four watched.

"So?" Pandora asked, waiting for their plan to be laid out.

"Get change, find that girl or Black's friends, and go with them," Evan said as the four of them watched the brothers disappear from their eye shots.

"Which Black?" Dorcas asked, earning a glare from Evan and a snicker from the two.

°°°

The rotting smell of the basilisk, flying to the Lestrange Manor in secret, and getting in wasn't the hardest part of the Black Brothers' mission.

Sirius just had to keep himself together not to throw up with the smell of the dead basilisk. They already had the broom and both were experts in flying, especially Regulus. Being in Slytherin's Quidditch Team Seeker had lots of its perks.

"Show off," said Sirius playfully when his brother evaded an obstacle.

And finally, the getting in. As if really Regulus was meant to be a Death Eater to help them. He knew there was a hole that Bellatrix blasted in one of her fit episodes. They hadn't fixed it. Thanks to that knowledge, the brothers were able to get in, undetected.