Sirius's efforts to retrieve the map over the next several nights were most valiant.
Twice, Peeves got him busted, even though he'd declared that he was up to no good, simply by getting over excited and making too much racket for Sirius to make it all the way to Filch's office without attracting the attention of Mrs. Norris and Mr. Filch himself. Once, Sirius purposely landed himself there and attempted to open the drawer by magical means once Filch had left the office, chasing after Peeves who'd made up for his earlier transgressions by causing a distraction, but the lock that Filch used on the drawer was one he'd been given by the Bloody Baron and was quite impossible to undo without the key - even the alohamora didn't work. And when Sirius got aggravated and attempted a reducto on the drawer, it simply reflected and burnt his hand so that he ended up having to go to see Madam Pomfrey for some ointment.
It was with a heavy spirit that Sirius took out his mirror one night, sitting alone on the couch in the common room after Remus and Peter had gone to sleep and stared into it. "Oi, Prongs. Prooo-oooongs, Jamesiekins. Ickle Jamesssss. Hey Potter. Potter. Potter. Hey Potter. Hey..."
"Gods alive, Sirius," James's face suddenly swam in the mirror's reflection and Sirius grinned as he watched his mate lean over and get his glasses and shove them up his nose, "What the hell do you want? It's two in the bleedin' mornin'!"
"We need to talk," Sirius said.
"Can't we talk when it's daylight?"
"Why? Are you busy right now?"
"Yeah -- sleeping!"
"Lily keep you up late?" Sirius grinned.
"Did you wake me up to be an arsehole, because I swear to you, I'll go out back and chuck this ruddy mirror in the werewolf hole if you did."
Sirius snickered. "There werewolf hole! That makes it sound much more exciting than an old bomb shelter, doesn't it?"
James stared at Sirius.
"Alright mate, alright," Sirius drew a deep breath, "Let me just come out and say it. I've... I've done something terrible, and I need your brilliant mind to help me figure out what to do before Moony finds out."
James raised an eyebrow. "What'd you do?" his voice was low, afraid, already accusing.
Sirius bit his lip. "I've lost our map."
"What???" James sat up straighter.
"To Filch."
"Well knick it back, of course, you barmy idiot, what've you got to wake me up at two in the morning to tell you that for?" James rolled his eyes.
"Ferfucksakes, Prongs, do you not think I've tried at that already?" Sirius rolled his right back, even more exaggerated than James's had been. "OBVIOUSLY, I tried that already. It was the first thing I tried. Tried all week. I finally got in the office and I've been trying to break in the drawer he's stowed it in, but I swear on Merlin's left tit, Prongs, he's got the thing locked up like it's the crown jewels he's got in there."
"Worth a bit more than the crown jewels, that map, isn't it?" James said. "Did you try alohamora?"
"AM I A FIRST YEAR, POTTER? Of course I tried alohamora. Gods."
"Sorry, I dunno what you have and haven't done."
"Done a reducto too --"
"You just love that one on things that can't be broken, don't you?" James teased, remembering how many times they'd had to tell him to stop using the reducto on the locket. James paused -- The bleeding locket. I forgot the locket! "Oi, have you seen Regulus about?"
Sirius shook his head in surprise, "Sorry, what?"
"Regulus," James repeated, "Your brother."
"Oh that toerag, yeah I've seen him about. He got me into this mess to begin with, him and his blasted fanged frisbee -- very delinquent, he is. You ought to report him to Dumbledore, tell him to rethink his appointment of prefects."
"I forgot to get the locket back from him."
Sirius froze. "Fucking fantastic," he said after a long moment. "I'm sure Voldemort will thank you most profusely for your part in assisting him win the world."
"Shut it, I'm sure it's fine, but I'm worried about Reg himself," James said, "I mean, the effect it had on all of us in just a few hours or a day... He's had it a good deal longer, hasn't he? I hope he's alright."
"I'm sure the buggers fine. Listen," Sirius switched back, "What do I do about the map?"
James shrugged, "Dunno, Pads."
"You're so casual about it," Sirius said, "All our hard work, all that mapping. It's our MASTERPIECE. It's our LEGACY."
"Yeah, but what're we really going to do with it after this year, anyway?"
"Spy on everyone."
"Sirius."
"I dunno, sell it, auction it off, all the things we dreamed of doing when we were making it." Sirius was quiet a moment, watching James's face, the features sort of sad, but not in a desperate way, like Sirius was feeling. "You really have grown up, haven't you?" he asked suddenly.
"It isn't that," James said, "It's just... maybe the map belongs in someone else's hands now anyway, you know? Maybe... maybe it served it's time for us and this is the way of the fates saying well done you lot to us and sending the Map on in it's journey through time..."
Sirius snorted, "What rubbish. You call me dramatic."
"You ARE dramatic."
"Alright, but did you hear yourself just now? You incredible wanker."
"Good night Sirius," James said and he started to put down the mirror.
"Hang on!" Sirius cried. James lifted it back up. Sirius asked, "Have you and Evans had a good holiday so far?"
"Yeah, brilliant. We went ice skating and had dinner together. Her mum taught me how to make chocolate chip cookies - the muggle way. Blimey, it's a lot harder than you'd think to cook the muggle way. Took forever before we had those damned cookies!"
Sirius shook his head, "Why would anyone cook the muggle way on purpose for? I mean, muggles obviously since they don't have a choice, but for a witch to do it..."
"Mrs. Evans is a muggle Sirius," James reminded him.
"Right, I forgot," Sirius answered.
"How has yours and Moony's been? How's Peter?"
Sirius shrugged, "He's about somewhere." James was about to ask a question about that response, when Sirius added, "Oh, you'll never guess what. Remus and I have set a new mattress sledding time - four minutes and forty-five seconds."
"Bullocks," James said, "Impossible."
"It's positively true."
And the boys started talking rubbish, James forgetting about the fact that he'd never gotten a straight answer out of Sirius about Peter.
The truth was that the locket was driving Regulus Black a bit mad. He tossed and turned at night, the locket tucked beneath his night shirt securely, feeling ready to be sick as the rasping hissing sound seemed to crawl all around him, words he couldn't understand but knew were being spoken chilling him to the bone so that he woke up in a cold sweat more than once, sitting up in bed and panting, dizzy.
He'd tried to get to James before he'd left, but there hadn't been a really good time to go and seek him out, and the early holiday had clearly meant that James had forgotten to come and collect the necklace so that now Regulus was stuck even longer with that bloody hissing locket until Merlin knew when.
Not that he would ever admit the weakness he felt with it near him.
If only Sirius would listen to him, he thought, he could go to Sirius and tell him what was happening, ask him to remind James about it, and James would be able to offer a solution. James would have a solution - Regulus knew as much. James Potter always had the answers. He was the most brilliant person that Regulus had ever known and he wished so much that it was him, rather than Sirius, that had gotten to be best mates with James. Sirius, he felt, was the luckiest person in all of the world because Sirius had gotten all these fantastic friends and Regulus had --- well.
He looked around the room at the others asleep in their beds, and felt a bit sick.
Regulus had Kreacher.
Kreacher!
Regulus got up, clutching the locket to his chest, and snuck out of the room, down the stairs to the common room, and out into the corridor. There wasn't another soul awake and he passed no one as he moved through the hall to the prefects' toilet, and quietly slipped inside.
It was an ornate bathroom, everything done in a dark green tile. There was a bath like a small swimming pool sunk into the floor with low glowing lights inside. One entire wall was bare, however. He'd asked one of the others once about that wall and they'd told him that it had once had a full wall mirror that had been shattered by some stupid Gryffindors years ago.
Regulus leaned against the sink basin and whispered, "Kreacher."
Pop!
Kreacher stood before Regulus and bowed deeply so that his big ears flapped and touched the floor before looking up at Regulus. "Kreacher is here to serve my master."
"Thanks for coming, Kreacher," Regulus said, and he knelt down to hug the elf, who was looking even older and more weathered than Regulus remembered him. He had deep lines of age going through his face and a curve to his spine that seemed run-down. There were tufts of hairs in his ears and his eyes were tired. A twist went through Regulus's stomach as he realized that Kreacher was starting to look like the stuffed heads on the walls of Number 12. Soon, Walburga would say it was time that he joined them, and the thought made Regulus sick. He shoved the thought out as he pulled back from their hug.
"Kreacher always comes when Master Regulus calls," Kreacher said, "Day or night."
"You're a good elf, Kreacher," Regulus said, and he hesitated, feeling bad for what he was about to do, but not sure what else there was to do...
"Kreacher, I need you to do something for me."
"Anything, Master, Kreacher will do it."
Regulus removed the locket from around his neck and held it up.
Kreacher stared at it, his wide, bulbous eyes glowing as the locket spun on it's chain before him. His ears went flat and he clutched his fingers together in front of him, staring up at it.
"I need you to take this locket and keep it safe," Regulus commanded.
Kreacher nodded, and he held out his hand to receive it.
"Don't let anyone take it away from you. Hide it somewhere, alright?"
"Yes, Master Regulus."
"Don't give it to mother."
"Yes, Master Regulus."
Satisfied, Regulus dropped the locket into Kreacher's hand. The hissing seemed to immediately stop as Kreacher's fingers closed around it and Regulus felt immensely relieved. He let out a long breath that he felt as though he'd been holding for a very long time, and he suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion come over him, so complete that he felt as though he couldn't keep his eyes open for even another moment. The weight of the world seemed to have come off his shoulders.
"Thank you, Kreacher," he said. "Now go, and get some sleep, alright?"
"Yes, Master Regulus. Good night, Master Regulus." And with a pop, the house elf was gone.
Regulus stumbled back to the Slytherin common room, back up the stairs and into his dormitory, feeling so much ligher and better than he had since he'd first started hearing the hissing of the locket back at the start of term. He fell into his bed and pulled the covers up and stretched out on the mattress, sinking into his pillows, and fell into a deep and dreamless sleep
Next morning at breakfast, Remus received an owl back.
Dearest Remus,
Congratulations on your sponsorship and acceptance to University. I am extremely proud of you. You are truly a remarkable young man, and it is my pleasure to see you grow and succeed as I know that you deserve to do. One day, I know that you will be an incredible teacher, and that you will touch the hearts of many, as you have done mine.
The Kneazle says hello, and he misses you - though not nearly as much as I do, brother.
Ned.