Chapter Text
Dorcas Meadowes
10th January, 1979.
So apparently everyone knows about horcruxes? Is that common knowledge?
"You... You're going to kill him? By yourself?" Pandora asks Regulus, after he'd made a very courageous comment about how he plans on destroying these horcruxes and killing Voldemort by himself. Very, very bold. Dorcas approves. She thinks Marlene would, too.
"Yeah, that's.. Maybe you should tell someone? Ask for help? Maybe the ministry--" Barty interrupts Evan quickly.
"Are you kidding? You better be kidding!" Barty shoves Evan away softly, and Evan doesn't protest. "This is the most legendary thing anyone could ever do! Why the fuck would he want to ask the ministry for help? Besides, Regulus, if you want help, we're here! And in my totally, 100 percent humble opinion, we're the smartest, strongest, most powerful bunch at Hogwarts! We're much more reliable than the ministry, either way." There's venom in the way Barty says this. No one mentions it.
Regulus ponders this for a moment. Dorcas wants to know what goes on inside Regulus' head. He always seems to know what to do, and he never, ever messes up.
"Alright." Regulus tosses Evan the locket. "That needs to be destroyed. I've tried every spell in the book. Spells, potions, brute force... Nothing works. You wanna help? Figure out how to destroy that."
Everyone turns to look at the locket for a moment. Dorcas wonders what she's getting herself into. But if it's to help her friends—her family—, nothing can go wrong. Right?
Evan is the first to speak. "Uh, alright. Anything else?"
Regulus hesitates.
"You know, if you're going to let us help, you should probably start trusting us a bit more." Barty offers. Regulus glares at him.
"I'm following a lead. There's this shack with large traces of dark magic similar to the locket's. I need to look into it. I have some other leads, too. You guys can take a look at those..." Regulus looks a bit unsure. Dorcas suspects he's not used to the prospect of letting others help him.
But they're not just anyone, they're his family. This small group of five right here is a family in itself.
And then it hits Dorcas.
"Wait, a shack? Does this shack happen to be in Little Hangertown? Or something similar?"
Regulus is very obviously taken aback. He drops his mask for a second, and then goes back to looking calm and composed.
"Little Hangleton. Yes, how'd you know?" Regulus tries to keep his voice calm, Dorcas can tell. He succeeds for the most part.
The others look at her expectantly. Dorcas hesitates to tell them. Marlene shared this secret with her. Only her. She can't just go around sharing it with everyone.
"Dorcas." Regulus warns when it takes her too long to respond.
"It's a long story. What's important is that there's no horcrux there. Not anymore."
Regulus raises his brow right as the bell rings, signalling the start of class.
Dorcas leaves the classroom as quickly as she'd arrived. She can hear Regulus and Evan following. Pandora and Barty have different classes, so they've gone in the opposite direction.
Dorcas arrives at the charms classroom just in time for the lesson. She takes her seat next to a girl, whose name she thinks is Chloe or Sam or Sophia or something. They're in the seat at the very back, which Dorcas is not fond of, but it allows her to go by unnoticed. She could mess up a spell, and no one would bother to look. She can do her own thing this way. No one cares enough to help her, and that leads to her helping herself. Fixing her mistakes, bettering herself. Dorcas prefers it this way.
Flitwick begins the lesson and starts to say something, but she's distracted by Regulus as he quietly says something to the girl next to her. Dorcas watches as the girl leaves her seat to go sit next to an annoyed Evan Rosier.
"Reg, what--"
Regulus interrupts her, taking the now-unoccupied seat next to her. "You were saying something earlier? Please continue. How did you come to know about horcruxes?"
"Uh, I know someone who knows about them."
"Are they also searching for them; trying to destroy them? Like I--" He paused. "Like we are?"
Dorcas held back a smile. "Yeah. They are."
"Will you tell me who?"
"I should ask them first. They wouldn't want me to--" Regulus interrupts her again.
"Is it Marlene?" He says calmly. Dorcas does not feel calm, because what? How does he know?
Dorcas thinks about lying, but reconsiders when she realizes it's Regulus she's talking to. No one lies to Regulus and gets away with it.
"Yes, it's Marlene."
Regulus doesn't seem surprised by this, so she asks him, "How did you know?"
"I always know." He replies, his voice cold. He seems to feel bad, because he sighs and says, "She's almost the only person you talk to outside of school. It wasn't too far-fetched a guess. Besides, Marlene has always been... Brave."
Dorcas can tell it hurts Regulus to compliment a Gryffindor, because he visibly grimaces as he says it. He says it anyway, for her. It warms her heart.
"Well?" Dorcas says when Regulus doesn't continue. "What now?"
"Now," he responds, "we ask for help."
⋆.ೃ࿔*:･༊*·˚★☆★☆˗ˏˋ ✮'ˎ˗☆★☆★.ೃ࿐⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
Marlene McKinnon
10th January, 1979.
Of course Marlene was surprised when Dorcas wrote to her saying Regulus Black needed help with horcrux hunting.
Regulus fucking Black.
Marlene has never liked the guy. She doesn't know anything about him and Sirius' relationship, but she knows he hurt Sirius.
She doesn't know how, when, or why, but she doesn't need to.
Once in sixth year, Marlene had mentioned Regulus' name while discussing the upcoming quidditch match, and Sirius had reacted badly.
They completely shut off, immediately excusing themself to seek refuge in their dormitory.
Marlene was confused, and forced James to tell her what she did wrong. He did, although it took him a while to stop blushing and stuttering when Regulus' name was mentioned. Either way, she found out something had happened between the Black brothers.
Sirius had left home to go live with the Potters, and Regulus hadn't. That severed their relationship, which ended up hurting Sirius.
And now, she hates Regulus. Sure, she's never met him, but Sirius has. It didn't end well, and that's enough reasoning for Marlene.
Now that Regulus wants her help to find the last three horcruxes, Marlene is in a dilemma.
Regulus is Dorcas' friend, which means she has to help him, but the others would never agree. They all share a mutual dislike for Regulus.
"Ugh!" Marlene says as she kicks a trash can across the room. Marlene doesn't like dilemmas.
The trash can makes a loud noise as it hits the wall, alerting all those outside to Marlene's temper tantrum.
There's a knock on the door, and James Potter walks in. "Hey, you okay?"
"Uh.." James is one of Marlene's closest friends. They have been the best of friends since they were four, and the friendship still stands. Because of this closeness, Marlene finds it quite easy to confide in James and tell him about her dilemma. So she tells him everything.
"Huh," James says as he finishes reading Dorcas' letter.
Dearest Marlene,
Don't get mad, but I had to tell Regulus about your hunt for the ring. Turns out Regulus has been doing the same, hunting for horcruxes. He's found one, and he's trying to destroy it. He thinks he knows where some of the others are too. Thing is, he can't leave the school to go and look for them. That's why he wants your (and your friends') help to find and destroy them. There's this vault in Gringotts Reg is looking into. He'll have the details by tomorrow. I'll write to you as soon as I can.
I know this is a tough decision, knowing your dislike for Reg, but this is a necessary alliance we must forge. If we succeed in destroying all of the horcruxes, we may stand a chance against you-know-who. So I ask you and your friends to put all anger aside and work with us to put an end to this war, once and for all.
Yours,
Dorcas
"So, what do you say?" Marlene asks him.
"Well, we have to help. Remus is having a hard time tracking the other horcruxes down. If Regulus," James blushes at the mention of his name; again. Marlene thought they were past this, but apparently not. "If he knows where these horcruxes are, then we need his help as much as he does ours."
Marlene nods. She knew this, obviously. The main problem here is Sirius.
"How do we get Sirius to agree?" She asks.
James sighs, taking a seat on Marlene's bed. She joins him.
"I don't know, but we have to try. I'll talk to them. Can you tell the girls?"
"Yeah. Yeah, of course."
They were at the Potter's lakeside cabin, the same place they had celebrated the New Year's party. The girls were supposed to have left a week ago, but they stayed to eavesdrop on the guys and follow them to hunt for the ring. Now, they're all practically living together, trying to locate the other horcruxes and anxiously anticipating the next hunt.
"I'll tell the girls before dinner." Marlene continued.
"Yeah, me too," James sighed again. "Dinner ought to be fun today."