Chapter Text
Regulus was beginning to think his life was a cosmic joke, apparateing to Lily Evan’s house of all people to guide her to the Black’s preferred funeral places, to stop his stupid brother and even stupider ex-boyfriend from whatever plans his marvellous family had this time.
It was safe to say Regulus was tired, Harry had finally stopped turning into random colours, now he only instinctively changed to look like whoever was holding him, and even better, Harry was sleeping, quietly.
A fucking miracle, really, his son seemed to have the same sleeping habits as Regulus had while being a Death Eater.
Now in his animagus form Regulus could only roll his eyes as he covered himself from the air that hit his small form. Lily Evans drove like living was optional, it unfortunately reminded Regulus of Barty, which was not a compliment.
“Uh Lils, not that I’m not grateful but… how did you find us?” James asked and Regulus, still in his cat form, wanted to bite him so he would shut up.
Look, Evans probably didn’t even understand that to get in any place owned by the Blacks you needed to be a Black. Or be accompanied by one, which was why Pandora had practically kicked him out and sent him as help.
“I got some help from a friend” Lily arched an eyebrow, her face revealing nothing “And I should be the one asking questions too. What the fuck is wrong with you two? Placing yourselves in danger! Have you two been hit in the head so much you forgot we are at war?!”
James gulps, Sirius has been doing his best to avoid looking in Evans’ general direction for a while. Regulus is a bit grateful Evans is redirecting their attention towards a topic that places his identity in less danger.
“I- Lily” James’ voice is quiet, he trembles a bit with his words “The funeral, it was Regulus’”
He doesn’t know how that changes anything but Regulus watches as Lily’s face turns understanding. Regulus wonders if they’re dating yet, last time they had, or at least the rumour mill thought so.
“It was still stupid, but… I guess we are Gryffindors” Lily concedes, her tone soft.
“Reckless and stupid” James nods, his smile cocky, Regulus feels as if he’s echoing his own words.
The first time he described Gryffindors like that James had puffed in distaste, now he was using those same words with a smile on his face.
“Indubitably!” Sirius echoed, his smile too big to be sincere, Regulus could tell “But that doesn’t explain how you got in though”
Regulus now wanted to chew off his brother’s fingers, why did Sirius always have to make things more complicated? Couldn’t he just play stupid?
“I rode a motorbike Black, How else?” Lily was rolling her eyes, which Sirius couldn’t see but Regulus absolutely could, clearly liking Lily Evans more than his brother right now he meowed in agreement.
Sirius lets out a frustrated sound, sounding uncannily similar to a dog, Regulus snorts. He doesn't know how but Sirius hears him, squinting his eyes in his direction.
“Evans, I think your cat hates me” He says, completely serious, James tilts his head to see better and Regulus can only freeze.
Not great, he wants to go home now, he hasn’t slept enough to deal with James of all people. James, who he doesn’t even know how to feel about, for him it has been two years since he last saw him somewhere besides the battlefield.
For James it has only been months, Regulus knows James is loyal to the core, even when he began dating Lily at the end of the year it was obvious a part of him felt guilty.
Regulus hadn’t blamed him then, James moving on and forgetting him had been the plan after all. Regulus Arcturus Black had been born on the longest day of the year, summer solstice, yet he was still born at night, away from the sun.
Maybe some people were just not fated to enjoy the warmth it brought.
“Most cats hate you” Lily’s teasing remarks pull Regulus out of his thoughts “They are quite smart after all”
Sirius pouts but doesn’t deny it, James turns to the east and looks up to the sky, a mournful look adorns his face.
“Oh” James tone is bittersweet “Regulus has begun to show in the sky”
It is late August already, Regulus realises, it felt as if time was slipping through his fingers, soon his friends will have to return to Hogwarts, Regulus doesn’t feel ready to say goodbye yet.
“Ah! The little shit is shining quite brightly” Sirius laughs, tears appearing in the corner of his eyes that couldn’t be blamed on the wind “Ah… Really, what a shit timing”
Regulus meows, almost in comfort as they begin to see civilization, Lily arches an eyebrow at him questioning but slows down.
Not wasting time he jumps down, he looks at Lily with a grateful expression he hopes she understands before turning to James and Sirius.
James is watching him with curiosity while Sirius… he almost looks at him as if he recognised him.
Regulus looks at them a bit longer, taking in their features, immortalizing them in his memory before turning around and running off to a dark alley.
They don’t follow him, he doesn’t expect them to. He morphs back into himself, his heartbeat racing with adrenaline and something he can’t name.
Not for the first time he thanks the trace is automatically erased from wixen when they hit seventeen. With nothing else to do he apparates back home, after all, his son is waiting for him.
Not long after James Potter walks into the dark alley, looking for the cat without knowing why. He doesn’t find him and he can’t help but feel like he lost something important.
Regulus had managed to get Harry to not use his abilities for a whole hour when he decided that some glamours and some notice-me-nots should be enough to be able to visit Meera and Arjun.
And if it wasn’t enough, then Regulus would bullshit his way out, he wasn’t a Slytherin for nothing.
“Leo, laal, sit, you look tired” Meera, as sweet as usual, made him rest on the sofa as soon as he saw him, her tone left no room for arguments.
“Hullo” Regulus greeted, a bit awkward “Sorry, we had quite the busy weeks”
Arjun and Meera wore matching understanding expressions, clearly Asha had also given them their fair share of trouble when she was a baby.
“Rough weeks sleeping?” Arjun joked, Regulus grunted.
Harry in his arms babbled, a funny smile in his lips as he grabbed Regulus’ robes with so much strength they wrinkled.
Meera cooed at Harry, who immediately changed his eyes to match hers, Meera didn’t react Regulus could only hope she hadn’t noticed. The notice-me-nots and glamours did their work as long as one didn’t try to pass them, unfortunately Meera had probably been raised around magic even if she couldn’t use it.
He knew he would have to give some explanations at some point but he hoped to win some time for a while.
Asha ran to hug him, having just woken up, Regulus smiled softly.
Regulus happily ate Arjun's food with a smile on his face, he had missed this, Harry happily drank milk Regulus had heated up for him and Asha made faces trying to make him laugh.
It was good, yet Regulus knew, he was running out of time.
The contact information scribbled on a piece of parchment weighs heavy on his pocket, he doesn’t like the fact that he knows it might be the only option.
When he returns home Pandora gives him a sweet smile as she takes Harry from his tired arms, the little menace, who had taken more hair from Arjun’s head than age ever would, slept peacefully, drooling on them.
“You have decided” Pandora wasn’t asking, Regulus looked away.
“We don’t have many options” Regulus admitted begrudgingly “They might be useful”
Pandora gives him a knowing look, Harry chews on her clothes as he sleeps, Regulus takes it as his son defending him.
“There are always other options” The colour in Pandora’s eyes twirls “The questions is if you’re ready to face them”
He isn’t, not yet, and Regulus apparates to his shop, maybe it’s time he tries being brave again.
He writes a letter to both twins, is short, nothing special, a date and a place. He signs not with a dog paw but a cats, for some reason he finds it hilarious.
The crow he has chosen to use looks at him with curiosity, Regulus doesn’t know if he’s even making the right choice.
It takes less than an hour to hear the apparition sounds, with not much else to do, Regulus opens the door with a flick of his wrist.
“Mr Rosier?” Gideon Prewett greets in confusion, Fabians follows close behind.
“Heirs Prewett” He greets back with fake confidence “I heard you wanted to join?”
The face both of them make is enough to make Regulus laugh, well, he guesses it is unexpected for a main branch Rosier to be so involved in the war.
He has also presented himself as a normal shop owner most of the time, or he tried.
“You- did Grim send you?” Fabian asks, his frown deepening.
Regulus walks out of the counter, accioing three chairs and transfigurating a table. He could, of course, invite them to the upper rooms, which are perfectly fine for conversations, he doesn’t trust them enough for that yet though.
“In any case it would be Grim sending you two to me, not the other way around” Regulus scoffs, Gideon seems to take it as an enough answer, taking a seat in front of him, Fabian follows after, far less convinced “But first, we should start with what is that you two expect”
Fabian and Gideon share a look Regulus knows too well, when he and Sirius were kids, and their small existences didn’t know anything other than the dark halls of Grimmauld Place, they used to do the same.
“We want to stop the war before it takes more lives” Gideon begins, his tone turning serious, Fabian’s eyes darken.
“We don’t support the Dark Lord but joining Dumbledore… we would only do it as a last resort” Fabian admits reluctantly, it reminds Regulus why he never asked the headmaster for help, Dumbledore is a powerful man, but being powerful doesn't equate to good.
Regulus has seen the headmaster play favourites, twist his words, turn children into soldiers loyal to a cause they don’t fully understand.
He has seen Dumbledore refuse ancient traditions, attempt to erase them with the excuse of equality with muggleborns, deepening the divide between the two.
Then like a fool he preached about the prohibitions on Dark Magic, as if magic could be classified under something as simple as Dark and Light.
After all wixen go putting flowery names to their spell, giving them an alliance ‘oh that's Dark Magic’ ‘oh that's Light Magic’, they seem to forget all magic comes from the same place.
“I understand” Regulus says, he tries his best to not sound cold “But that's not what I’m asking. What I’m trying to say is, what do you expect to do in the war?”
Fabian and Gideon don’t look caught off guard, Regulus hides a pleased smile. Those two, they might act like fools but they didn’t come empty handed.
“Well, we are quite good creating spells” Fabian and Gideon are wearing matching grins “Honestly we wanted to support Grim and help him whenever we could by sharing inside information”
“We work as Aurors, we have quite the access to certain classified files” Guiden shrugs, as if he wasn’t confessing to offering to commit a crime or two “If that's what it takes to stop this madness we are more than ready to do so”
Regulus feels a pang of guilt about the fact that all he needed them to do was cover for him at the shop. Seeing their abilities it feels like an insult.
He rubs his temples in frustration, how much can he safely reveal? How much does he have to hide?
“I understand” He finally says, letting out a tired sigh “We are dealing with The Dark Lord so I will need to ask for a vow of silence, what I am to share should not leave this room, regardless if you decide to work for me or not after hearing it”
The Prewetts must have already considered this for Fabian pulls out a ceremonial blade without blinking.
Regulus watches as they both make a sharp cut on their palms, vowing on Lady Magic, when their wounds heal and the hair smells like copper Regulus nods.
“Then, follow me” He gets up, returning the table to its original form and waiting until they get up to place the chair back.
The three of them walk inside one of the rooms, there is a round table, it’s decorated with stars and constellations carved in wood, it also has runes carved, filled with gold.
Evan carved the runes in his free time, Barty bought the table and Pandora designed the stars. It wasn’t a birthday gift, not exactly as it was given to him when Harry was born, but maybe that was how they made up for only giving him baby things on his birthday.
Not that he complained, the cat themed clothes made Harry look so cute Regulus didn’t want to stop holding him for hours.
Regulus couldn’t help but pass his hands through the Aquila constellation, landing in Altair with a fond smile, maybe he should buy Harry another toy?
He was quite fond of the black cat plush toy Barty had bought one day as a joke, complaining that as an unofficial godfather he had the right to pamper his favourite non official godson.
As the three of them sat at the table Regulus bit his inner cheek, this was it, he really was telling the Prewett twins.
“The Dark Lord is as of right now, inmortal” Regulus could see Fabian’s and Gideon's pupils tremble, he was sure they were holding their breath “I’m working to fix that”
“With potions…?” Fabian asks, sounding unsure, Regulus shakes his head.
“No, the potions shop is just to collect information, what I’m doing is destroying horcruxes” Regulus doesn’t believe they have heard of horcruxes before, even if the Prewetts have never shied away from the so-called dark arts.
Gideon blinks twice before looking him in the eyes.
“You keep saying I, not we” Gideon sends him a questioning look and Regulus nods.
“Contrary to what you two think, I don’t work for Grim” He begins, Fabian frowns but Gideon looks calm, he has probably reached the right conclusion “I’m Grim”
Fabian looks at him, the surprise written all over his face while Gideon simply nods.
“I suspected it, after all Ivy acted too comfortable with you to be the first time you met” Gideon reasons calmly, Fabian is staring at his brother gaping.
“Yes, Ivy recognised me, how I can not guess” Regulus squeezed the bridge of his nose, he really didn’t want to think about how many people could possibly recognise him “Regardless, I’m guessing you two need an explanation on what a horcrux is”
They both nodded at the same time, mirroring each other, Regulus took it as permission to begin explaining.
As he continued talking he could see the horror appearing on both their faces, when he mentioned he wanted to make six horcruxes, seven soul pieces Fabian looked close to puking.
“This is… I have no words” Gideon pitched the bridge of his nose “Going against the laws of Magic so easily… It’s worse than we feared”
Fabian stops his hands from trembling, taking deep breaths to relax.
“What do you need us to do?” Fabian looks at Regulus with a determined expression that makes him flinch, there is a fire on Fabian’s eyes that isn’t seen very often.
“The reason why I’m not capable of doing much myself right now is, as you guessed, that I gave birth not long ago” Regulus tries his best to act unbothered but he can feel his voice being a higher pitch than usual.
Both Prewetts look at him before Fabian gasps in surprise.
“You were going to the raids while pregnant!” Fabian sounds horrified, much like his friends were, Regulus rubs the back of his head in embarrassment.
“In my defense, the original plan was to just observe” He tries, getting equally disbelieving looks from both of them “One of the Death Eaters attacked a child… I might have reacted in the heat of the moment”
Fabian grimaces instinctively at the mention of children, probably thinking of Ivy, Gideon just gives him an understanding smile.
“Trust me my family has already made their opinion clear on this” Regulus says, letting out a tired sigh “Now, I might need someone to cover for me at the shop and gather the usual information Death Eaters leave around, make a comment or two about not trusting Dumbledore and they will not shut up”
The Prewett twins begin to show matching grins, clearly this is the type of job they enjoy.
“How do we know who is a Death Eater?” Gideon asks, his eyes hold a glint of madness all ancient families have in a way or another “Some are obvious, like Bellatrix Black, sorry Lestrange, but others make it harder to distinguish if they are just sympathisers"
With a smirk Regulus pulls out a blank parchment, tapping on it with his wand, slowly several names begging to be shown with dates and information details.
He had written this before leaving Grimmauld Place, next to all the information he had about horcruxes, there were dates too, raid dates, reasons…
All he knew about the Death Eaters and The Dark Lord, classified meticulously.
He offers the parchment to Gideon and Fabian and waits as their faces turn ghostly pale.
“How do you know all this?” Fabian questions and Regulus can only lie.
“I have someone inside, their identity is private but they can be trusted” The person in question was his past self, but Regulus couldn’t say that “Some of the information might be outdated, as I have made a dent on his plans his behavior might change. So, are you two in?”
Gideon and Fabian share a single moment of silence where they look at each other, they’re both grinning.
“Well, the ministry does owe us a small vacation”
Regulus grins, his smile for a moment resembles his brothers almost uncannily.
Regulus kisses Harry’s cheek as he watches Gideon and Fabian deal with the clients, fortunately Harry has decided to simply look like Regulus in his disguised form as long as he’s being held by Regulus.
Evan seems quite thankful of getting a break, making Regulus feel slightly guilty even after being reassured it was no problem at all.
Harry babbles something no one really understands and Evan pokes his cheek, Harry immediately tries grabbing Evan’s finger to no avail.
“He’s cute” Evan says, poking Harry in the forehead this time, Harry immediately pouts “He has your personality”
Regulus rests his weight against Evan, relaxing in the presence of his friend, he’s glad the clients can’t see them from their position.
“It would suck if after putting on all the work not only did he look like James, he also behaved like him” Regulus admits, Evan arches an eyebrow at him.
“I still can’t believe you’ve got yourself knocked up” He admits, not looking away from Harry “At first I was pissed that you were going to throw your future away and have a child but… Seeing this, seeing how happy you are… I think I’m grateful”
Regulus doesn’t know what to say, he hadn’t been thinking about his future, after all he had chosen to give it up a long time ago. He hadn’t realised how it might look to his friends, who still believed they could escape the war.
“Thank you Ev” Regulus whispers, holding Harry close to his chest “For everything”
Evan huffs, pretending to not care, but he kisses Regulus’ forehead anyway.
“You have nothing to thank, adelphós”
Regulus was about to answer when the doorbell rang, another client walking in, he hadn’t expected it to be Fleamont Potter.
He came in alone, which wasn’t unusual but he also hadn’t visited much during summer, only once or twice.
Regulus looked around the shop and seeing the last client before Fleamont leaving he decided to get up to greet the man.
Fleamont's face lit up the moment he saw Regulus, walking over to greet him when he caught sight of Harry in Regulus' arms.
“Oh who is this cutie?” Fleamont immediately gave a big grin to Harry, making Regulus soften “Hullo Leo, I’m happy to see everything went alright”
Regulus smiled, Evan behind him shrugged and went to talk with the Prewett twins, giving them directions and explaining the certain potions in more detail.
“Good day Fleamont, I see you’ve been doing good too” Regulus mentions, the man looked younger somehow, revitalized if anything.
“Ah yes, I decided to follow your advice and went to visit St. Mungo, turns out if we had gone any later it could have turned deadly” The man kept talking as if it wasn’t anything important, making Regulus freeze “Honestly, thank you, you might have saved our lives”
Regulus stared at the man in shock, his embrace tightening around Harry, who immediately bit him in retaliation, he was lucky babies this young didn’t have teeth.
“I didn’t do anything, I’m just glad it seem to have been solved easily”
Fleamont laughs, freely, almost easily.
“Dragon Pox is quite damaging yes but nothing an early intervention can’t fix, we were lucky” Fleamont easily brushes Regulus’ concerns off, clearly much more interested in Harry “Now, who is this little guy?”
Regulus smiles easily, is a bit embarrassing how proud he is of Harry so easily.
It makes him wonder how Walburga even managed to hurt Sirius and him when they were kids, how she even thought of it.
“This is Harry Rosier, Harry, say hi” Regulus’ voice is soft and Harry babbles something incomprehensible at Fleamont, who looks like he has been gifted the world.
“Oh hi Harry laal, aren’t you lovely?” Fleamont looks smitten, and then Harry turns into a mini James, no, not James, a mini Fleamont.
Both Regulus and Fleamont stare at each other in uncomfortable silence as Regulus thinks of all the ways to explain this.
“So… he does that sometimes” Regulus manages to get out awkwardly, Fleamont blinks twice and coos again at Harry.
“A metamorphmagus! How rare, I thought it was a Black family magic” He still sounds a bit out of it, clearly trying his best to not sound as confused as he feels “Tell me Leo, Harry’s father wouldn’t happen to be my son, Sirius, right?”
Regulus chokes on his own spit, ew ew ew, no. His disgusted face must be obvious because Fleamont looks away awkwardly.
“Dadga no, absolutely no, the Rosiers are simply related to the Blacks even if it's a bit far away, must have met the conditions to appear again” Regulus makes sure his voice is steady as he speaks, all he said is technically the truth after all.
“Ah, thank Myrddin, I hoped Sirius wouldn't do something as stupid as knocking someone up and leaving” Fleamont looked relieved and Regulus could agree, he didn’t want to hear about his brother knocking someone up “I would need to have some words with him, after all I wouldn't let one of my sons behave like that”
Regulus looks away awkwardly, the fact that Fleamont is so protective of him and Harry fills him with warmth.
The problem is that the one that knocked him up is in fact Fleamont's son, the man just got the wrong one.
Harry, clearly bored of the exchange, changes back to look like Leo Rosier, Regulus' disguise and yawns, Fleamont looks at him with so much fondness it could melt even Snape's cold dead heart.
Actually, Regulus is not sure if Snape is capable of having any emotions that aren't negative, the arse was hard to deal with even when technically they were in the same team.
Only thing he and Sirius could agree on, not that Regulus would ever admit it.
“Can I hold him?” Fleamont asks, looking tear eyed, Regulus was beginning to think baby fever was contagious.
“Yes, but be careful with your hair, he will try to eat it”
Regulus carefully passes Harry, who looks unbothered by it all, Fleamont’s eyes are shining, Regulus can almost feel the magic humming just like Pandora can.
Fleamont soon finds out Regulus hadn’t been joking when he warned him about the hair, Harry does in fact manage to get some in his mouth, is tragic.
But Fleamont looks happy, really happy, and Regulus for a moment can almost pretend they’re a normal family, that Fleamont is just visiting his son in law at work because he misses his grandson.
That when he returns home James will laugh and kiss him, they will talk about work and joke about this.
The days after turn slow, Regulus enjoys his time watching his son grow, Evan, Barty and Pandora start their last Hogwarts year and Fabian and Gideon begin to try teach Harry their ways of mischief.
Regulus misses his friends, not just for the support they gave him when taking care of Harry, but he misses them like one would an amputated leg.
Harry is two months old and Imbolc approaches and Regulus knows he has to move, he kisses Harry’s hair and breathes in. His son looks confused, and Regulus can’t help but think Harry knows he’s about to do something really stupid.
Cassius watches him silently, he doesn’t look worried nor has he said anything ominous yet, it doesn’t calm him down.
“I’ll be back by the morning” Regulus says, and it feels more like a prayer, Cassius simply stares.
“You will” He finally concedes and Regulus’ hands tremble slightly, his hands hold into his sun shaped necklace, the one he doesn’t usually wear because of fear; or was it guilty?
He leaves Harry in his cradle and without looking back he apparates as close as he can into Malfoy Manor.
He knows the place, he’s been here before, he was added to the wards when Narcissa got married. He doesn’t believe they took out the name of a dead person.
Narcissa would, if it had been someone else but his favourite cousin, even if she liked to deny it, had always been the softer of her sisters.
He stepped into the house, the wards let him through.
It was almost disappointingly easy to walk around in disguise around Malfoy Manor. Today he had red hair, like a Weasley, he thought it was quite funny to torment Lucius by looking like the man's ex.
Narcissa would find it funny, she did always have a good sense of humour. Unlike a certain peacock obsessed prick.
Was Regulus still mad about fighting a peacock? No, of course not, the blasted thing just acted too much like his owner. It was annoying, Regulus hadn’t been losing when Narcissa came to help him.
Lucius’ house was as annoyingly extravagant as he remembered, the only thing that had changed, which he knew he could thank Narcissa for, was that at least the decorations now at least matched.
He walks silently, knowing Death Eater meetings were around this time he didn’t think he would run into Lucius but one could never be too careful.
He remembers Bellatrix’s words believe yourself to be so special because our Lord trusted you with something small.
The good thing about Lucius was that the bastard was predictable, he always kept his secrets either in his office or his secret compartment inside the library.
So Regulus walked through the empty corridors and carefully deactivated all the detention spells around. There weren’t that many, the Malfoy’s weren’t as paranoid as the Black’s.
Lucius’ office didn’t give off the feeling horcruxes did, Regulus was now sure it wasn’t here. He still looked around, mostly to see if he could find any useful information.
There wasn’t much, mostly deals and cursed artifacts that could get you a life sentence in Azkaban.
Carefully he returned everything to its original position and left without making a sound.
The library wasn’t too far away, Regulus could probably find it with his eyes closed, after all this was the only acceptable place inside Malfoy Manor.
Narcissa’s gardens outside were the only thing acceptable outside and peacock free.
Regulus pulsed his magic through Lucius’ annoyingly good runes, the ones that hid his compartment full of even more illegal shit.
When the bookshelves move to reveal a staircase Regulus could only smirk, Lucius might be good at runes but Regulus was better.
As he walked down the pungent feeling of cursed magic could be felt, Regulus knew he was at the right place.
The object emanating the violent magic was a small book, laid next to other books like if it were just any other. Regulus immediately placed several protective spells before levitating it into his bag.
“Reveal yourself” A cold voice, one Regulus knew too well, called behind him. He almost cursed out loud, the overwhelming magic from the horcrux had numbed his senses.
Regulus turned around slowly, staring into his cousin's eyes with an unnerving calmness.
“You are not Arthur” Narcissa arched an eyebrow, she didn’t sound particularly surprised. She was pointing her wand at him almost lazily “Yet you know my husband's secrets, his habits and… the wards aren't rejecting you, so? Who are you?”
Regulus almost smiled softly at Narcissa, his cousin looked young, younger than he remembered. Even in her confident stance he could see her hesitance, well hidden of course, she was a Black after all.
But it was there, the Narcissa he knew had turned colder, more calculating, she would only doubt in front of people she trusted, and those weren’t a lot.
“I am not Arthur” Regulus looked at his cousin, he didn’t want to fight her.
Narcissa watches him, her wand is against his neck, Regulus knows her next move before she begins.
He twirls, wandlessly casting an expelliarmus, he’s about to run when Narcissa smiles.
“I really thought I was going insane” Narcissa laughs, is so off putting it remind Regulus of Bellatrix “What the fuck are you doing here Reggie?”
Those simple words are enough to make Regulus freeze in place, he feels like a child again, powerless, nervous.
“You think I wouldn’t recognise you?” Narcissa asks, this time softer “You idiot, I would know you even if you turned into a frog”
Regulus feels like crying, he had missed Narcissa, he had missed the cousin that helped him through his Hogwarts years, the cousin that always got his back.
“I’m sorry for not saying anything” He says, his voice comes out broken “I swear I have my reasons”
Narcissa cups his face with her hands, softly, just like she did when they were children.
“I know” And he knows she believes him “I’m angry, because I mourned you, because I cried for hours think about not getting to see you grow but I prefer you alive and away than dead and close”
That feeling is something they both understand, with Andromeda, with Sirius, and now him.
Narcissa walks him to the exit, Regulus transfigurates a coin to act as the horcrux.
He’s going to say something, he’s not sure of what exactly when he hears the floo go off. Narcissa meets his eyes and they both know they don’t have much time.
“Go, I’ll buy you time”
Regulus nods, kissing her cheek.
“Thank you” It comes out a bit rawer than expected “Oh and Cissy? Visit a new potions shop in Knockturn Alley, I heard they have a wonderful new headache relief”
He doesn’t look back as he walks outside of view, outside the wards, he trusts Narcissa to understand.
The horcrux in his charmed bag weighs heavy and like Cassius said he’s home by the morning.
Harry is awake, he isn’t crying but the moment he sees Regulus his smile widens, and honestly? Regulus’ does too.