I usually put these at the end, but since this is a new story and applies to scenes that lay ahead, it's going here. I am over the age of eighteen, and there will be mature scenes in the chapters to come, more than likely. I cannot tell you to not read if you are a minor, just please do not make me uncomfortable by interacting when those scenes are mentioned. Thanks, lovies! Enjoy the chapter :)
"We can't judge him on something he has yet to do, Regulus."
"I'm growing tired of your righteousness, Potter."
James sighed, "Look, it's good that we know what happened. Now that we know, we can work together to make sure it doesn't happen again."
The thought was enough to make James want to break things, and cry, and spew his own sick across the floors. Hearing what lay ahead for he and Lily was the worst thing he had ever heard, and he knew immediately he couldn't subject her to a future that ends with her death.
Yes, he thought, We'll stay apart until there is no more danger. Then I'll just simply woo her again and explain what happened, and only then will we have a future with one another.
But there was only one thing that could heal a broken heart, and it was contained within the crystal bottle sitting in the middle of the table.
"Look," James began, feeling very much like he was back on the quidditch pitch giving a pep-talk, "We all know we don't get along completely. But if we don't learn to work together, people will die. So I say we finish off a bottle or two of firewhiskey tonight and learn to get along."
He looked around to each of them as he spoke, but Regulus knew that he was really speaking directly to him. Regulus was in control now, and he knew it.
But Regulus was tired of fighting, at least for the night. And as uncomfortable as thought was, James was right.
"Alright, Potter. I'll play. But just tonight."
James's wide smile spread slowly across his face, "Brilliant. Moony? Get the supplies."
"Must we play that game now, Prongs? It never ends well."
"Just trying to diffuse the tension a bit. Trust me."
And when James Potter said the words trust me, nothing ever good came from it.
Remus returned with a small potion bottle filled with a clear liquid, along with two more bottles of firewhiskey to accompany the all but empty one that sat in the middle of the table.
Regulus could have left then, stole away back to his tent for the night. And he probably should have. But he didn't. He couldn't quite seem to get his legs to carry him back to the tent, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the alcohol coursing through his system.
It had everything to do with the fact that Regulus had imagined what this would be like. Sitting, with Sirius and the marauders, laughing. Having a good time. Being friends.
Regulus had friends, of course. But friends of convenience, mostly. It was Evan Rosier for a while, then Barty Crouch Jr. But they both found a sadistic pleasure in what they were doing for the Dark Lord, and Regulus quickly lost interest in spending any more time than necessary in their company. His one true friend, no matter the circumstance, was that of Pandora Ariti. She was....odd, to say the least, but Reg found it endearing. She would appear in the most mysterious places, exactly when Regulus needed her. He wished he had spent more time with her then, thinking back on things. Once his Mother and Father restricted his outings outside of Hogwarts, it was all but impossible to see her outside of the castle.
James caught Regulus gazing down at the potion bottle in thought, and smirked, "Played before?"
Regulus shook his head, "No, but I know how it works."
"Brilliant. Youngest goes first. So drink up, Baby Black."
He raised an eyebrow in jest at James, "I'm the oldest, if you'll remember. So, pass."
James's face fell when he realized that not only was Regulus the oldest, but it was James himself that would have to go first.
He sighed dramatically, acting as if it were a great disservice to have to go first, "Alright, then."
James tipped just enough of the veritaserum down his throat to last around an hour, chasing it down with the Ogden's firewhiskey in front of him. The small vial was passed around the room then, ending with Regulus who easily turned it up to drain it.
"Alright," Sirius winced as the firewhiskey burnt the back of his throat on the way down, "Each person gets a question that the whole room has to answer. If you wish to refrain, you take a drink. Pretty simple."
"James goes first," Remus prompted, nodding at him, "Go on then, Prongs."
"Shall we start easy for little Black over here?" James teased, his lips pulling in to a smile that threatened to turn into laughter, "Who was your first proper snog?"
He thought about the question for a moment, thinking back to Hogwarts. It was no secret that Regulus spent most of his time alone, the accompaniment of books being much more familiar than that of a romantic partner. But there had been a few. One that came to mind immediately.
He felt himself wanting to spill the answer, but the veritaserum that they had ingested had been weak enough that he could resist if he had to.
But what was the fun in that?
"It was Rabastan Lestrange."
It was comical to Regulus to watch as each of their eyes widened in shock, Sirius even spitting the liquor that was held in his mouth back into the bottle.
"Rabastan Lestrange? He was your first kiss?"
Regulus's mouth pulled up on one side into a smirk, "No, he was my first proper snog. And many more after that, actually."
"But...He's old," Remus looked confused, while dropping a hand onto Sirius's shoulder as he continued to be outraged.
"He's three years older than Sirius."
"Which is four years older than you!" Sirius guffawed, looking at his little brother, "And he's a Lestrange!"
"They're right well crazy in bed too, trust me."
The firewhiskey had given Regulus a pleasantly warm feeling inside of him, and he had began to feel himself relax in the presence of the marauders. He even seemed to find his brother bearable, despite the tensions that they both knew still existed.
"I can't believe this!" Sirius continued to mutter, "My baby brother and Rabastan Lestrange. I'll kill him for that."
"Quite easy to do, actually," Regulus hummed, his eyes closed.
He found himself not bothering to resist any of the thoughts that wanted to find themselves out into the open air, and he continued.
"He died too, in the end. Didn't have a single thought in that giant head of his that was useful to me."
When Regulus opened his eyes and tilted his head up to look at the others, they were looking at him with a wide-eyed expression. Regulus began to feel his skin crawl with the anxiety of having the attention upon himself.
"What about you, Potter? First kiss."
Sirius let out a bark of a laugh, leaning over to smack the back of his hand against James's chest, "Yes, Prongs. Tell him who you kissed first."
James sighed, rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses before scratching at the hair on the nape of his neck, "It was Moony, as the boys already know. They love to bring it up."
Regulus raised an eyebrow at James, looking over the blush that now tinged James's I cheeks, "I wasn't aware you were into blokes, Prongs."
"What? No- I mean, I'm not, but I mean-" James spluttered, trying to explain.
And the thought raced into Regulus's mind before he could stop it.
He found the rosiness of James's cheeks, coupled with his flustered attitude, to be endearing.
The thought was shrugged off as the Ogden's clouding his mind, and he tuned back in to the conversation.
"I'm kidding, Potter. Don't worry about it."
He turned to look at Peter then, who had remained largely quiet since Regulus's earlier outburst, "What about you, Pettigrew? You snog Remmy here, too?"
Peter accepted the question as a proverbial olive branch, setting aside the animosity form the earlier encounter, and scoffed, "I think I'm the only person in the entire Gryffindor tower that Remus didn't snog."
Regulus let out a small chuckle, "Remus Lupin, what a peng."
"Alright, alright," Remus shrugged off Regulus's comment, "Enough of that. Go on, Regulus. We'll let you go again."
Remus was entertaining the younger Black sibling, noticing how he had lost the stiff posture and the guarded way he held himself as the night drug on. They would need one another, he knew, in the coming months.
Regulus, though, was paying no attention to how engrossed into the throng of people surrounding the table he had grown. At some point in the night, Sirius had migrated over into Remus's lap and James had taken Sirius's seat at the end of the table. He and Regulus now sat face to face, and Reg couldn't help but to look at him.
"What's the worst thing each of you have done in your life?" Regulus mused aloud, curious as to what the answers would be. It seemed, though, that the marauders would have no trouble thinking of something.
"I almost murdered Snape fifth year at Hogwarts," came Remus's truth first.
"I feel like there's a long list of them, Reggie. Telling Snivellus about Moony, leaving you at Grimmauld..." Sirius let his sentence trail off.
"I dunno," Peter mumbled, "I stole some sweets from Honeydukes once maybe?"
James remained tight-lipped, weighing the consequences of what words waited on the tip of his tongue. With a sigh and another pass of his hand through his unruly hair, he spoke.
"I beat the shit out of Snape in seventh year. Never told anyone."
Sirius turned to James with a confused look on his face, "Why? I mean, it's Snivvy, but you didn't tell us about that!"
"That's why, Pads," a tired James Potter sighed, running his hands through his hair, "You know that we tried to lay off him after fifth year, given everything that happened-"
Sirius's eyes broke away from James long enough to dart to Remus, whose face had dropped into a frown.
"It was different that time. Maybe because it was the two of us, I don't know. But I'm not proud of it."
"Why haven't you told any of us?" Peter demanded, looking flummoxed.
"Some things aren't that nice to chat about, Wormtail," James shrugged, holding his hands up in front of him.
"Go on, then," Regulus goaded, leaning forward in interest. "Tell us."
It didn't matter then that he had just grouped himself within the marauders, simply because the need to know was too strong. It was always Regulus's one crutch, knowledge. He was exceptionally smart, yet he felt the need to know more. Always.
James leaned back in his chair and began to drink directly from the almost empty firewhiskey bottle, the back of his hand wiping across his mouth.
"It was during prefect rounds right before we left Hogwarts. Maybe April, I can't remember. He and Mulciber were talking about Lils when I rounded the corner of the corridor. They didn't see me in time and I heard them talking."
He remembered it perfectly, a memory ingrained into the back of his mind that would remain there for as long as his heart beat.
They had been speaking of the war, about how excited they were to join the ranks of Voldemort and begin to make a difference for his side. The word mudblood was used so casually it was if they didn't even recognize the implication of their words. And it was obvious to James that they didn't when Lily's name was brought up.
They had been dating for a few short weeks by then, James and Lily. He could see the murderous glances that Snape continued to give him, and he couldn't help but to gloat a bit at them. In the end, it was James that had won over her heart.
Not that there was much competition, James would think to himself.
"That mudblood Evans should be the first one you get, Sev," Mulciber snickered, elbowing Snape in the side. "Get her alone, and then you can get on with her."
James saw red then, feeling revolted at how blasé someone could say what Mulciber just had. He was ready to say something to get their attention when Severus began to speak.
"I'll get Potter first," Snape scoffed, looking unimpressed, "She wouldn't make it without those miserable sods around her. No, there will be enough time to get Lily in the end. She'll be mine whether she wants to be or not."
From there, James's memory grows a bit hazy. He doesn't remember much, aside form knowing that his feet carried him straight to Mulciber and Snape, both seeming to be shocked that he had walked straight up to the both of them. Before Mulciber was able to pull his wand, James had stunned him. He grabbed Snape by the collar then, lifting his fist and releasing the full weight of his anger against the side of his face.
Time blurred, along with James's vision, as he felt Snape's face crunch beneath his fists. He was sure that someone would come along at any minute and pull them apart, but no one ever did. So James continued until Snape fell silent, blood pooling in the corridor beneath them.
He was sure that Snape was dead when he stopped. Both of his eyes had already begun to swell, and a few teeth had been spat from his mouth at some point during the fray. Severus coughed lightly, rolling onto his side once James got off him.
The rage was still there, simmering just beneath the surface inside of James, but it was now coupled with a few feeling.
Horror.
He hadn't known that he had such violence within him until that moment, given that he had never really lost control before. And shame. Shame coursed through him like a wildfire, knowing that he had let his anger get the better of him.
The marauders, including Regulus stared silently at James as he finished recanting the memory to them. It was Regulus, surprisingly, that spoke first.
"You did the right thing, Potter."
James scoffed, "I'm not quite sure our morals are exactly aligned, Reggie."
"You just admitted to beating someone half to death, Potter," Reggie said, amused. "Maybe we're not so different after all."
He was kidding, of course. But Regulus's words were enough to turn James's stomach, his face almost seeming to take on a tinge of green.
"Besides," Regulus continued, "He more than deserved it. The only reason he-"
He forcefully stopped himself from talking, still unsure about revealing the entire future to the four men around him. But Remus spurred him on.
"Go on, Regulus. The world's already changed. It doesn't matter."
And he was comforted by that, given that he trusted Remus the most.
"Severus ended up turning spy for Dumbledore in the end, I believe. He told him it was the only way he would save Lily."
The mood soured over those words, with Sirius asking his brother, confused, "Dumbledore bargained with the Potter's lives?"
"Sometimes the line between good and evil can become blurred in war, I think."
That didn't, at all, encapsulate what Regulus Black thought of Albus Dumbledore, but he didn't bother sharing his own personal beliefs that particular subject.
The grandfather clock chimed then, and Regulus began to feel the fatigue weigh on him.
"Alright," he cleared his throat, then continued, "I'm off to bed. We reconvene at first light to begin to make a plan."
"There's an Order meeting tomorrow night," Peter supplied, "I'm sure they'll ask about your plans then."
"Tomorrow, then," Regulus nodded, sweeping from the room easily.
The marauders didn't know how to read Regulus, that was obvious. He was all but a stranger to all of them, his brother included.
"Did he just break through my wards that easily?" Remus suddenly asked.
"Seems that he did, Moons."