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It was a miserable Saturday, pissing down rain. The sound of water drumming the windows was loud throughout the castle. The only students crazy enough to be out in the rain were the Quidditch teams that had already scheduled practice and weren't willing to lose a day of it.
That made it the perfect weather to be alone outside.
Remus checked the map and shoved it into his pocket, casting a water repelling spell on his jacket - partly for the map's safety and partly for his own comfort - before wrapping a scarf around his neck and heading out.
Thankfully it wasn't terribly windy. The umbrella spell kept him more or less dry. His trousers were sopping wet, of course, but that was to be expected.
He made his way to the far side of an old oak, whose leaves and branches offered some protection from the rain. He sat down next to the younger wizard who was already there. Sometimes he let himself imagine the boy came to places like this so Remus could speak to him, he never showed a sign of surprise when Remus showed up, but knew that was unlikely.
"Must be important, to be out here in this weather," Regulus said, finally closing his book and looking at Remus with a raised eyebrow.
"Do you know what happened with Snape?" he asked quietly, not sure how much Dumbledore could make the boy actually keep his mouth shut.
"No," Regulus said simply, "From his demeanor I could tell something happened, and it was on the night of the full moon - so I hope it didn't involve you ."
"It did," Remus said quietly, still watching the rain. He had stopped being surprised about people figuring out his 'furry little secret' by now.
"What happened?"
"Sirius."
A hiss of breath through teeth, "He's an idiot."
"Yeah," he agreed, looking down, "Dumbledore’s using it to make me go on missions for the Order - that was the cost of hushing up that I'd tried to attack a student."
They were both silent for a moment and he laughed hoarsely, "I haven't even taken OWLs yet."
"You haven't told your friends."
"He forbade me from telling them," he smirked slightly and looked over at Regulus for the first time. His black hair was still dry under the umbrella charm, his alabaster face stoic as always, an expression that had been trained into him from birth.
"But not me," he supplied with a small smile, "Always looking for the loophole, Lupin?"
"Sometimes they're all I have," he said with a small huff of a laugh.
Regulus nodded, his own grey eyes turning out to watch the rain now, " He wants me to join him next year. After I turn 16. I think father is pushing for it after Sirius's…" he waved a hand, "They'll try to mark Sirius this summer, though."
Remus just snorted at the thought.
"He'll run," Regulus continued with a sigh.
"You won't go with him?"
Regulus shook his head, "I'm not like him - I don't have anyone else. I couldn't even go back to the Slytherin common room, too many of them are death eaters. All of my friends are going to join his side, my brother has barely been able to look at me for four years, I can't bear to be his tag along."
"Have you asked Dumbledore if he'd help?"
"Of course," he said with a dark laugh, "He wants me to take the mark and be a spy for the Order. Came close to saying I had no value to him if I didn't."
"Bastard," Remus sighed, shaking his head.
"Have you considered the other side? You know he's quite after your kind." His voice was guarded in a way Remus wasn't used to.
"You think I should?"
"No," he replied quietly, his lips tight and his hands gripping the book in his lap tightly, "All of his promises to werewolves are lies - please don't."
"I figured."
Regulus nodded and relaxed again. "I won't be a spy for Dumbledore, I don't trust him."
"I don't think I trust anyone anymore."
"Are you going to forgive Sirius?"
Remus shrugged, "I don't know, but I'll go back to how things were before. James is on my side - but he can't stand to keep Sirius at arm's length. Give myself a few more days… then," he shrugged again, "Got bigger things to worry about now."
They settle into silence again. Regulus opens his book again. Remus pretends not to read it over his shoulder, pretends it isn't a muggle book that he'd given him - that Regulus was not supposed to have.
"Does it bother you to know, if we meet on the battlefield I'll have to try and kill you?" Regulus asks eventually, not looking up from the book.
"There's an honesty in it," Remus said with a bitter laugh, "Does it bother you?"
"No, but I've accepted most of the people in my life would kill me if I do the wrong thing."
"I'm a werewolf," he said flatly.
"Ah, so you've had the same experience," he closed the book again and looked at him with a fond smile, "You'll keep speaking to me, then?"
"Until we have to kill each other," Remus agreed, "It's the neighborly thing to do."