For theheartofleo

[rlupin]

It started as a murmur throughout the pack. Remus still wasn't entirely trusted by the werewolves he was attempting to assimilate with but the news was too big to be contained. When he overheard it, Remus knew he had to verify it. He laid low for several hours, not wanting to arouse suspicion in case it was some sort of trap. As soon as he could reasonably get away and back to headquarters, he did.

It was an old house, tucked away in the woods. It had probably belonged to some British aristocrat at some moment in history, but it had obviously been neglected, probably too much of a tax burden. The interior had been magically restored, while the exterior retained the look of complete abandonment in addition to the many complicated charms and spells protecting it.

Remus let himself in the secret entrance. It had been many months since he'd been back from his deep cover assignment, and he searched the rooms for Dumbledore without luck. He wondered if it had all been some ruse to expose him to the rest of the pack, but then he spotted Regulus, walking unsteadily towards his room.

"Hello. Um... I heard... an insane rumour earlier. I came as quickly as I could," he said, approaching him. His relationship with Sirius' brother was still tentative, particularly in light of his unfortunate estrangement from Sirius himself. "Have you heard anything about..."

Comments

[theheartofleo]

Regulus hated the safe house. With it's decaying exterior and restored interior, it's old fashioned furnishing and fixtures. It reminded him of Grimmauld Place but... not. The safe house lacked the feel of history, of importance, of being cared for that the Black Family home had.

And yet he was still here.

The war was over now, The Dark Lord was defeated, and all the captured bad guys were getting sent off to Azkaban.

He wasn't nearly as thrilled as he should be.

He had a cane he was meant to use to help him around the safe house but the walk from his room to the kitchen wasn't a particularly long one. Now, it felt like it took hours. While he was mostly healed, the cursed wounds were still stubborn and painful. The carving on his arm still bled regularly and Greyback's 'love bites' still ached and bled as well. The one on his thigh was being particularly painful at the moment.

He braced himself with one hand against the wall, the other holding onto the bottle of wine he had fetched from the kitchen when he heard footsteps. He almost dropped the bottle of wine when he saw Lupin, surprised at seeing someone else in the deserted house.

"Why are you here?" Regulus asked, perhaps more bluntly than needed. He hadn't heard much about the man since he had been here, nothing other than him going undercover. He had assumed he had gone home, like everyone else. "What rumors?"

[rlupin]

Remus didn't think Regulus was really meant to be out of bed, after he'd heard about all of his injuries, particularly when no one else seemed to be around. He wasn't expecting the abrupt question, and he put him off a little.

"I heard... um. That You-Know-Who was killed," he said, frowning slightly. "I wasn't sure if it was some sort of test or if they were trying to trick me into leading them back here, so I couldn't get away this morning." He couldn't read Regulus very well, perhaps because he was probably in pain. Pain was one of those scents that drowned out all the others.

"Is Dumbledore here?" he asked, looking around. Someone had to know something.

[theheartofleo]

"Oh," Regulus said softly, leaning back against the wall. His leg was starting to throb but he wanted a few drinks before he took another painkilling potion.

"That's... that's not a rumor," Regulus glanced down at the bottle in his hand. "He was defeated, from what I understood of it. Not killed but as good as. It happened last night. Dumbledore left shortly after we got the news."

[rlupin]

"That's fantastic!" Remus said, beaming. If Voldemort was defeated, that meant the war was well and truly over. "How..." He noticed the way Regulus had sagged a little. "Do you need to sit down? You look a little pale and unsteady. Should you be out of bed already?" he asked.

He nodded towards the room Regulus seemed to have been heading towards. "Don't let me stop you. Do you know more about it? How was he defeated?" he asked, intending to follow Regulus for whatever bit of news he could glean.

[theheartofleo]

Regulus felt a ball of dread twist in his stomach. So Lupin had only heard part of it... and he was the only one around to tell him.

"No, I probably shouldn't be up," Regulus admitted instead, glancing toward the small room. After hesitating a moment, started limping toward the room, one hand on the wall to hold himself steady. "I... I guess you better come and sit down. There's something you... you need to know."

Damn it, why did he have to be the only one here?

[rlupin]

Something in the tone of Regulus' voice didn't bode well. The one brief moment of elation, the self-deluded dream that Voldemort was dead and everyone else was perfectly okay was starting to sputter out quickly. There was obviously more to the story, and Regulus didn't seem particularly excited about telling it.

Remus accompanied him to his room, and pulled a chair up near the bed. "Do you not still have a healer with you?" he asked. It definitely seemed wrong for someone only recently gravely injured to be rambling around entirely alone.

[theheartofleo]

Regulus sat down on the edge of the bed with a sigh of relief. The cane was where he left it, leaning against the wall. He'd definitely have to use it if he got up again.

"I told the healers I could take care of myself for a day. Just keep drinking the potions," Regulus nodded to the table by the bed where a series of bottles were lined up waiting, "and don't do anything too stupid."

He slid back onto the bed proper and leaned back onto the pillows. The bottle of wine was still in his hand.

He studied Lupin for a moment, trying to decide where to start and how. If he should just come out and say it or stall until someone else came along...

"You know there... there was a spy in the Order." Regulus started, reluctantly.

[rlupin]

Remus took a seat and rested his elbows on his knees, looking down at his shoes. It didn't seem like Regulus was keeping up his part of the healing regimen as promised, but it wasn't his place to criticise. Maybe it was best that he was there to keep an eye on him now, though.

He glanced up at the question, and swallowed hard. "Yes," he answered. "I had heard... that Sirius had suspected me. It was one of the reasons I was keen to go off on assignment. I didn't think I'd have to prove my loyalty to him, but apparently..." It had hurt to hear it, but it explained why they'd drifted apart to some extent.

[theheartofleo]

It was strange, hearing how masterful Sirius was at manipulating. His brother had never been the subtle type... how long had Sirius been playing them all?

Regulus forced those thoughts back for the moment. He can dwell on them when the bottle of wine was opened.

"The spy told the Dark Lord where the Potters were. He attacked them last night." Perhaps it was better to get this over quickly. It would only get worse. "Harry was the only survivor... The Dark Lord tried to kill him but... but the Killing Curse rebounded. You-Know-Who lost his powers and fled."

[rlupin]

Remus felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach. He gaped at Regulus, hoping he hadn't heard him correctly. Hoping that his brain would process the sounds and they would have formed completely different words somehow. For several heartbeats they echoed through his head, unchanging.

"W-what?" he said, feeling his chest grow tight. "No," he said, shaking his head. "No, Sirius loved James. He would never have put him in danger. It can't be. It just can't. How... how did Harry survive? The Killing Curse doesn't just... bounce." He felt light-headed, and he still clung to some small vestige of hope that he'd misunderstood it all. Or that he was hallucinating somehow. "It can't be," he added, voice going slightly hoarse.

[theheartofleo]

Regulus let his words sink in for the moment. He pulled the bottle of wine closer and began forcing the cork out. Sadly, the wine was the strongest alcohol in the house.

"Pettigrew found out what Sirius had done," Regulus continued after a moment. "He tracked him down, they fought and... and Sirius killed him as well. Created an explosion that killed him and 12 muggles who happened to be in the area. The Aurors caught him after that."

He took a deep drink from the wine bottle and, after a moment of consideration, offered it to Lupin.

[rlupin]

Remus gasped. "Bloody Hell," he said, panting a little. He accepted the bottle and tipped it back, taking a deep swig. "How... how is this possible?"

He handed the bottle back and seemed to process everything a little more clearly. "Oh Regulus, I'm so sorry." Remus had lost all of his friends in the last two minutes, but Regulus had discovered his own brother to be a traitor, and a murderer.

"And this all happened... yesterday?" he asked weakly. He was glad that he was sitting down. "Is... is Sirius... did they take him to Azkaban?" he asked. Of course that's where they would take him. He didn't know why he cared, but he just didn't think he could stand to find out that a single other person was dead just then.

[theheartofleo]

Regulus frowned slightly at the apology as he accepted the bottle back. The reason he was even in this bed was because he had been betrayed by the spy in the Order... and Sirius just betrayed everyone else. It wasn't hard to put two and two together.

"Late yesterday, maybe early today..." Regulus took a deep drink from the bottle. "He didn't deny it. Sirius, that is. When the Aurors got there, he just laughed. They're not going to bother with a trial..."

He wondered if Sirius was already at the island prison or if they were holding him somewhere. He wondered how Mother was taking this news, that the son she had hated for being a blood traitor was the real Dark wizard while Regulus was... well, still the spare that wasn't as good as the original.

[rlupin]

"What a... fucking mess," he said. There was really no way to even figure it all out. "What's going to happen to Harry?" he asked. "Do you know?" It stung anew that James and Lily and Peter were all dead. Harry was going to grow up an orphan. James' parents were both dead. As far as he knew, Lily's family hated magic, and especially anything to do with James.

He wished again that Dumbledore was there. Or that they had something stronger than wine. "I can't believe they all left you here alone. Is that all there is to drink? I think we need to get good and wrecked. Or I do, anyway."

[theheartofleo]

"Dumbledore took Harry somewhere. He wasn't very forthcoming with where." Regulus shrugged. He hadn't been particularly close to the Potter family but it was hard to avoid hearing about their child.

"And everyone left to go celebrate with their families. I'm not as bad off as I was a few weeks ago."

Regulus looked at the bottle in his hand, tilting it back and forth to hear the liquid inside. "This is about all we've got in terms of alcohol. There were a few more bottles but nothing stronger than this."

[rlupin]

Truthfully, Remus was pretty much a light weight, so he didn't really need anything stronger. "I suspect we might need to see about restocking in the very near future. I know that... well, it's good that the war is over, but the cost is... devastating."

He rubbed at his eyes. "I've basically lost all of my friends. Every one. Three dead, one in prison and responsible for it all." He drew a shuddery breath. He hadn't expected to find Regulus' presence comforting, but in an odd way, it was. He was grateful that the other man had given him the bad news right up front, even if it felt like he'd been run over by a lorry.

He laughed a little, but there was no humour in it. "Imagine I used to worry about them hanging about with me because of... well, you know. Ridiculous..." He shook his head slowly. "I should have just... enjoyed the time we had."

[theheartofleo]

"What's the point in restocking?" Regulus asked, taking a swig and passing it over. "No real reason to come here anymore."

Regulus watched Lupin for a moment. He was well aware of what it was like to lose friends, or people he used to consider friends. When he started to spy for the Order, he had had to decide which friendships mattered more than others... which he would have to betray, which weren't a danger.

How was he any different than Sirius.

"I should have known," Regulus said after a moment. "That it could have been Sirius. I knew how he was, if he found something better."

[rlupin]

"Oh," Remus said, feeling another wave of reality crash over him. "No, I guess there isn't. Where will you go?" he asked. It was a question that could have been put to him, as well. Not that he lived at the headquarters, or had even stayed there overnight, but there was no need to continue what he'd been doing. Now he had to actually make his way in the world, and he had to do with without a single ally.

The comment about Sirius was disturbing. How could he have misjudged someone so completely. "I don't understand it. I... I wasn't very... open to friendship when we met. It took a lot to win me over. I can't believe it was all an act. Why would he bother?"

[theheartofleo]

"I'll probably stay here until I'm more healed up then go back to Grimmauld Place. Father put up a lot more wards and protections on the house before he died." Regulus shrugged. "Once more of the Death Eaters are rounded up, it'll be safer."

Mother might not be too happy with him at the moment but there was rarely anything that made her happy now-a-days.

Regulus was quiet for a moment as he considered the question of Sirius. He took another deep drink before he started to talk.

"Sirius and I were close when we were younger, before Hogwarts. We were the youngest in the family so we didn't really have many other kids to play with. I was... very dependent on him, to say the least." Regulus tried to smile but it came off more as a grimace. "It changed when he went off the Hogwarts. He didn't talk to me as much, started locking his door so I couldn't bother him, he didn't have time for me since he had 'real' friends now."

"Then I got into Slytherin and he all but stopped talking to me... unless it was to try and provoke me. In case you haven't guessed, being the younger brother to the Gryffindor that liked to torment and bully your housemates, it doesn't really win you many friends."

"And yet, I still thought that Sirius would be there if I needed him, that family meant something still." Regulus shook his head and looked down at the wine bottle in his hand and began picking at the label. "Then he just left one night after another fight with mother. Ran away to the Potters and started calling James his brother, the Potters his family, and if I ever tried to talk to him about it, he accused me of being jealous."

Regulus sighed and shook his head. "It's possible he was being genuine when you first met. It's just he found something else he wanted more."