An owl arrived to Hogwarts on the morning of New Years Eve, carrying two envelopes. The tawny feathered bird circled the ceiling of the Great Hall once, twice, descended on the Slytherin table, dropping the first of its cargo, then swept away across the Hall to drop its second over Gryffindor.
Regulus Black stared at the envelope that had landed in his toast. His eyes were dark ringed, his face pale and blotchy about the cheeks, and his motions sluggish as he plucked the envelope up from his plate and shook the butter off it. He glanced left and right down the table to be sure the students at his sides were quite engaged in their conversations so that whatever he had in the envelope would remain private, and tore it open. Inside, a simple notecard had been set, reading:
Meet me at the clearing nearby to the Shrieking Shack at 10p tonight. JP.
Regulus stared at the hand writing for a long moment, dazedly, and slipped the card back into the envelope, hurrying to tuck it into his robes pocket. He looked about the table again, but nobody was paying him any attention at all, aside from the constant watchful stare of Severus Snape, whose eyes Regulus barely counted any longer for how long Severus had stared. Regulus grabbed two pieces of toast, shoving a third into his mouth, and got up, abandoning the job of eating breakfast in the Hall entirely.
As he departed, Regulus's eyes met Sirius's from across the room. Sirius was clutching an envelope and card quite identical to his own and watching Regulus with a curious expression on his face.
He'd known from the JP, of course, that it was James Potter that had sent it, but he couldn't think why Sirius would be staring at him like that for just the same.
Although Walburga had suggested that Regulus stay at Grimmauld Place until after New Year and the Hogwarts term was back underway, he'd insisted on going back to the school as quickly as possible. It was at the school that he was safest, he reckoned. It was only in the walls of Hogwarts that he felt completely out of reach of the Dark Lord, lest it was on his own terms. Being at Number 12, Voldemort could walk through the front door at any time at all, without warning, and demand an update on the status of the locket. Regulus needed some time to think about a way around giving the Dark Lord the locket that would keep him from being killed by Voldemort, but also from letting down his friends and breaking the nefarious contract that had consequences that only Remus Lupin and Emmaline Vance could tell...
He was on his way down the dungeon steps when a hand grabbed his shoulder and dragged him roughly down the opposite way from the Slytherin common room, pushed him into one of the cells, and against the wall. Regulus let out a grunt as his spine hit the rough hewn stone and stared in surprise at his brother.
It was the first time that Regulus noticed that Sirius was a good inch shorter than himself, even in his thick black boots. At some point during the time they'd spent at odds with one another, Regulus's height had caught up and surpassed his brother's so that he was now actually looking down at Sirius. The realization was rather jarring - Regulus wondered when it had happened, and a sadness flooded him for all the differences between himself and Sirius, for all the changes that had gone unseen by the other, all the life they'd missed - all the life they would miss unless something changed between them. And Regulus didn't exactly forsee there being any changes.
Especially not with the suspicious look on Sirius's face now.
Sirius waved his wand and the door on the cell locked.
"Alright, talk," Sirius said, holding up the card James had sent him and slapping it against Regulus's chest.
"I - What?" Regulus stammered, and he took the card as Sirius whirled about and started pacing around the little square of rough stone room, kicking a bit of straw on the ground as he moved. "What're you on about?"
"James says I'm to listen to you," Sirius said, gesturing at the card as Regulus read it over, "So I'm listening. Bloody talk."
Hey Padfoot and Moony... Had an interesting evening with my doe. We got to visit Padfoot's old place in London, and saw your mum and brother, as well as our 6th year DADA Professor and some of his friends. We had fun, but we are both glad to be home after all the excitement. Couldn't have done without your brother. If he's there, say hullo. I'm sure he'd love to tell you all about the great time we had, if you have time to listen. See you sooner, rather than later. Prongs.
Regulus looked up at Sirius.
Sirius raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Well?"
Regulus cleared his throat, "Lily Evans was at Grimmauld Place yesterday. Mum's been trying to find the locket --"
"Of course she is," Sirius cursed and shook his head.
"To destroy it, Sirius," Regulus said.
"Right, not at all to gain favor with You Know Who - not at all. Gods alive, how are you so gulliable?"
"I'm not gulliable. You don't even know what's been going on with Mother, you've barely seen her since you left home years ago, you great idiot."
"Ha!" Sirius snorted, "Right, I haven't. But where did I see her? Oh, right, in various run-ins I've had with Moldy Voldy! She's a Death Eater."
"Was," Regulus corrected.
"Once a death eater always a death eater," Sirius drawled. "Right?" His eyes went to Regulus's left arm.
Regulus grit his teeth and clutched his sleeve closer 'round his wrist. "Why do you have to be so awful? Merlin."
"Me? The awful one?" Sirius said, "My wrist is clean, little brother."
Regulus's fists balled. "Look are you going to listen or are you going to argue with me like a little bitch?"
Sirius waved his hand at Regulus, "Do go on, sire."
Regulus had to count to ten internally to keep from hexing his brother on the spot. Through his gritted teeth, he said, "Mother found out Snape gave Evans the locket and she went to get it from her and she told Lily that she was going to destroy it and Lily told her about me having the locket and she went with Mother to Grimmauld Place. Mother sent Kreacher to get me and the locket, but what Mother didn't know was Voldemort was there. Kreacher told me and I sent Kreacher with the locket to James to tell him about Lily and I went home and dealt with Voldemort. Except James came bursting in and I had to pretend to duel him --"
"Pretend!" Sirius scoffed, though he did look worried.
"Will you bloody shut the fuck up and listen to me?!" Regulus shouted.
Sirius crossed his arms.
"Anyway, they got away," Regulus concluded. "I let them get away."
"James and LIly could've got away without your help, thank you," Sirius said. Then, "They're both alright? You saw to it that they have all their limbs and what not, did you?"
Regulus nodded. "They're both perfectly fine." He paused, then, "I'm alright, too, not that you asked."
"Well I can see you're alright, can't I?" Sirius demanded, "As you're standing here in front of me."
Regulus said, "I s'pose."
"So, there, then," Sirius said. He started toward the door of the cell.
"They're coming tonight," Regulus said, deciding just as Sirius was about to open the door. "I'm to meet him in the field by the Shrieking Shack." He paused as Sirius turned about to face him. Regulus nervously tugged on his jumper. "I was - erm - wondering if maybe you could... you know... help me get out there. Tonight. Around ten."
Sirius stared at his brother. "And why don't you call Kreacher and have that filthy thing take you there?"
Regulus said, "Kreacher is not filthy."
Sirius shrugged.
Regulus sighed, "I think the less that Kreacher knows at this time, the better." He'd decided that now that he'd commanded Kreacher to forget about the locket that keeping it that way was the best thing he could do. Limiting how much Kreacher knew about Regulus's rebellion against the Dark Lord would help add an extra layer of authenticity to his hidden allegiances. He didn't know if Voldemort could use his legilimency to read the minds of House Elves - and was quite sure that even if he could that Voldemort would not deem an elf worthy of the effort even if he could - but just in case, it was one more thing that he could do to protect the secrets.
Sirius sized Regulus up, his eyes moving up and down his bother's tall, stocky frame. He nodded, then said, "You look tired, you ought to take a nap. Particularly if you're going to be trekking all the way out to the Shrieking Shack with me later on. I'll expect you to keep up." Sirius pushed out the door, leaving Regulus alone in the little cell.
"Well," Regulus muttered to himself, "At least he didn't outright say no, I s'pose..." and he rolled his eyes as he stepped into the corridor and headed down the hall to his dormitory, figuring Sirius was probably right. Sleep would certainly do him some good.