'where we are now' remus lupin & regulus black

How soon is now?

He sighs, not meeting my eyes. I can tell he's deep in thought, working out connections. I believe all of the people closest to me are too smart for their own good. "It's your brother," he mutters. "Is he okay?"

"I can't talk about it," I remind him. "I should've known you'd figure it out though,"

I move away, beginning to zip up my suitcase.

He frowns in dissatisfaction.

"Can you tell me how long you'll be gone?"

"I don't even know the answer to that."

He sighs loudly and turns to face the window. "Is she uh—" Remus clears his throat, "Is she okay?" There's a desperation I only hear when we talk about her in his voice. A sadnesses that sounds incurable. Intolerable.

I pull my suitcase off the bed and it hits the floor with a thud, "Merlin, Remus. She's fine, she's worried about her boyfriend." I snap, turing towards the door dragging the luggage behind me.

I close my eyes and apparate to the Slytherin dorms. 

☽☽☽

I have Maxwell pinned against the wall with my wand pointed at his neck, I grin—a victorious grin—"I have a feeling my friend has already asked you this," He looks down at my wand and back up to me, "but I guess she's just not as direct as me...where is Regulus?" I all but spit in his face.

I've made successfully made it to the Slytherin common room, and with a stoke of luck (a few threats and demands later) Maxwell Nott has appeared and we have the whole room to ourselves. How brilliant and beautiful.

"I. Don't. Know." He snaps. "and even if I did I wouldn't tell you,"

I press the wand deeper. "I will put you in a coma for three hundred years Nott," I whisper. "I will curse your son or daughter to die on their sixteenth birthday like a muggle tale. I quite literally have nothing to lose. I can tell you're scared of Regulus...you should be terrified of me,"

"I promised," he mutters back, contemplation all over his face.

I'm hit with a wave of guilt I've only felt once before. A guilt that starts in my chest and sinks to my stomach. The guilt squirms and writhes there, making me nauseous. Sometime during my time at Hogwarts the worlds Slytherin and Untrustworthy became synonymous. In my head they were incapable of forming any type of bonds. Even between each other. I'd always imagined Regulus as something like desolate island. Maybe I wanted him to be.

Now, standing before Nott, I know just how wrong I was.

"This could be life or death for him, Maxwell," I take a step away from him in good faith. In the name of a shared cause. We're both only trying to protect our brother . "I respect your loyalty...but, trust me, sometimes a betrayal can be—uh, necessary. For the greater good, "

I think for a moment. If I had never kissed Remus, would Cordelia still have taken a liking to my brother? What would be his fate if not?

Do we even have the power to change that fate?

"I really don't know," he says and I raise my wand again instantly, ready to commit to my threats. "But he did tell me he had been writing someone recently, that he had a plan ..." Maxwell chuckles.