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When Sirius woke up this cold winter morning, he wasn’t expecting to see his dead brother before the day would be over. Frankly, he wasn’t expecting anything at all.
See, Sirius knew one of these mornings would be the one that the mission would end. Their target could only run for so long, now alone, presumably insane without his partner. The partner that died months ago. The partner that’s also Sirius’s little brother. The thing is, Sirius didn’t want this to end, he needed it by now. He hadn’t been home in weeks, wildly running after some elusive crazy guy with James, only because Dumbledore told him to. ‘The war needs to end, and he is the key to it all.’ What exactly this man could have that no one else has, preferably someone easier to catch, was a mystery to both James and Sirius. He simply missed his boyfriend, a warm bed and consistently warm food.
Then there’s the other thing. James. James not only had to worry about his own wife, he also had a young child waiting for him back home. Sirius could see it was killing him to miss so much of Harry’s early months, leaving him alone with Lily whilst James himself was running around Europe sleeping in tents in the freezing cold.
All in all, by now they were over it. And even though this morning was just as cold, maybe colder than the others, and Sirius had greasy hair and they hadn’t eaten nicely in days, this morning was different than the past few. They had finally gotten a hint as to where their target may be.
‘What if he’s not alone anymore’
Sirius sighed. ‘James, everything points to him being alone. Who could he even be with at this point, running around like a crazy man? His uh’ Sirius paused. ‘His partner is dead, his little death eater friends are murdering people back home, his family is dead.’ ‘I guess so, but still. This could be dangerous, he is dangerous. What if he hides and catches us instead? What if he instantly kills us? We aren’t allowed to do that, he doesn’t care anymore. What if-’
‘James please shut up now, the more you say the more you stress me out too. We’ll be just fine, the longer we wait the longer he has to gain power and possibly a new partner. Now we need to go, so hurry.’
They returned to clearing up their campsite in silence. After thoroughly cleaning and removing any leftover and removing all of the protection charms, leaving was the only thing left to do. Just before apparating James looked at Sirius. ‘Please don’t do anything reckless today. We work together, so we come and leave together. This mission isn’t worth losing everything over, so promise me you won’t be stupid.’ Sirius sensed that this wasn’t something to joke about, James ment this. ‘I promise. Let’s go’
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It took Sirius’s eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness surrounding them. A forest, and a dense one at that. ‘How are we ever going to find him when I can barely see where the tree starts and the bush ends.’ James sounded exasperated. Sirius sighed. ‘Let’s just start walking.’
After a few hours of walking almost non stop, the forest still seemed endless around them. It had certainly gotten a little less dense, making it a little easier to see, but it was far from easy to navigate. Just as Sirius was about to start about taking a break, James paused, holding a finger in front of his mouth. They immediately stood still, listening to the quiet. ‘Listen.’ He mouthed.
And though it took a little straining for Sirius to hear it, it was there. Talking, and rather loudly at that. They looked at each other, James signalling for them to start walking again, quietly, to get closer and confirm what they both suspected. And thus, they started shuffling slowly, almost squatting so they wouldn’t be spotted. Luckily, it seemed the noise was coming towards them, and in less than half an hour they could clearly hear their target.
‘Oh honestly Regulus, what are you all whispery about. No one’s going to find us here, or ever for that matter. You’re acting crazy’
James carefully looked at Sirius at the mention of his brother. ‘Yeah, he’s definitely gone crazy, talking to himself like this.’ ‘What should we do, just run at him? I doubt a simple binding charm will finish him off.’ ‘Shh, he’s getting close.’
‘You are so paranoid lately Reg, it’s getting to be a problem. If Evan was here, he would be laughing his ass off at your behavior.’ It was quiet for a second. ‘Alright, I'll find you later today. You know the signal if anything is wrong.’
That was their cue. Looking at each other, they quickly formed a plan to come at him from 2 sides at once, both going their own way. After a little shuffling, which honestly took way longer than needed because of noise, they looked at eachother with their prey in the middle. As soon as James gave the sign, both jumped out of the bushes, firing spells at Barty.
‘Expelliarmus!’ ‘Incarcerous!’
It was futile. As soon as he heard even the slightest of noise, he started running away, leaving before both of them had even properly gotten up. Luckily, after years of being friends and, more importantly, working together, they needed no encouragement or communication to go after him.
Weaving through trees, they chased Barty for a few minutes. Though, after years of quidditch, James was fast, and could run for long. So, they were gaining on Barty, nearing the ending of this stupid mission by catching the crazed boy.
Suddenly, all three of them broke to the treeline, stumbling into a large grassfield. Barty stumbled, steadied his footing, shot some kind of flare into the sky, and finally looked at his stalkers. Sirius suddenly felt his breath catch looking at him. Barty looked ragged, hair crazed, eyebags huge, dirty from head to toe, and most of all, his eyes had a certain kind of crazy to them.
‘So, are you going to catch me yet? Took you long enough to show up.’ Barty drawled.
‘Depends, do we have to call it catching or will you just come like someone who has nothing to hide?’ ‘Oh, big black, I have plenty to hide, don’t worry about that. Though I do worry about you two. How’s your little boyfriend doing, has he joined the werewolves yet?’
James felt Sirius grow angry. It was one thing to be friends with his estranged, and probably dead, brother, but to insult Remus? It always made him mad in ways very few topics could.
‘How dare you insult him when you are the one talking to the air, stumbling around some random forest hiding from us like a coward. Where is your boyfriend again Barty? Oh, he’s already dead by your enemies. Regulus, gone. Who do you have?’
‘See, those last things are exactly what brought me here. What do I have to lose? Why should I come with you, when I gain nothing from it? You two have families, friends, children to look out for. I have myself, and you two are the ones causing trouble here. Don’t believe for a second I’ll come with you like a fucking dog.’
James was about to open his mouth when he saw Sirius fire a spell, officially opening the fight. Barty, of course, fought back nail and tooth, living up to his last statement.
Still, it was two trained fighters against one, and all were rather tired, so the heat of the fight died rather quickly. Less than 10 minutes, and Barty looked murderous whilst his arms were tied behind his back.
By now it was starting to get late. ‘Should we set up camp here, or get out of the area first?’ Sirius asked. ‘FUCK Y-‘ Barty got cut of by a silencing charm. ‘I think we should leave this place, I don’t like this forest at all. Plus, you never know what’s in there, and night is always more dangerous.’
Suddenly Sirius whipped his head around, staring intently at the dark treeline. ‘Are you okay?’ ‘Yeah I just- I thought I saw something. Must just’ve been my imagination or something.’ Both of them stared at the forest for another few seconds before turning back to Barty and getting ready to leave. Both were to busy to notice that Barty, still looking, had a badly hidden grin on his face.
A crack, and they were gone.
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Regulus was honestly fuming. This wasn’t supposed to happen, they were supposed to be untraceable. He turned around for a second and when coming back Barty was gone, the only sign of him a red flare in the sky. He took off running towards it.
By the time he got close the flare had disappeared, though by the sound of it the fight was still going strong. Creeping towards the treeline he suddenly froze at the quiet, seeing that the duel had ended, and Barty was the losing party. Though this wasn’t what made him pause.
Sirius. His brother. And his best friend.
No. No, no, no no no no no no. This wasn’t supposed to happen. It was supposed to be some random member of the order tailing them, not his brother. This couldn’t be, what if Sirius found out he was alive this way, then his whole hunt for the horcruxes would be revealed and he would be caught and Voldemort would get him and then he-
Sirius turned around, looking in the direction Regulus was standing. He suddenly felt himself come back again, immediately ducking into a bush to hide from their sight. This could be fixed. This could still go right. The trio apparated, and Regulus saw a chance. He followed right after them.
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The night was coming, and it was coming quickly. Regulus looked at the little tent from a distance, quietly hearing the two of them talk. No, forget that, forget them. Barty is the goal here, the other two are just hurdles in the way of his goal. He needed a plan, before it would get too dark.
He decided to wait a little. When James and Sirius would go to bed, Regulus would sneak in and strike. First, search for Barty, second, get his wand. Then get out of there as quickly as possible, hopefully without his brother seeing him. This could work. This has to work. Regulus isn’t sure if he can go on without Barty to help him. Since the ‘drowning’ he was scared to go into any cave or unknown location alone, needing a backup plan at any time. Without Barty this would be impossible.
For now, Regulus sat back. This would take time.
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‘What do you even have for us that makes you run this hard?’ ‘I’d bet you’d like to know that, wouldn’t you Jamie? Always running around like Dumbledore can do no wrong, whilst knowing just about nothing of his goals. Why are you after me? You don’t even know yourself. I’d reflect on my life choices for a moment, if I were you that is.’
Barty had been taunting them for the past hour an a half, since the second they removed the silencing charm. James had looked at Sirius and muttered ‘We are no better than them if we treat him like this.’. Sirius wasn’t stupid though, and after a bit of a back and forth they decided on just removing the silencing charm.
Sirius has been regretting it ever since.
Regulus’s death had been brought up what felt like hundreds of times, his parents, James’ family, James’ child, their looks, their- honestly just about everything about them. It was tiring by now.
‘You have a lot of talk for someone whose currently bound to some chair after being caught alone in the woods.’
‘Oh you underestimate me Siri, you strongly underestimate me. Don’t expect me to sit here and walk after you, I’ll get out here soon enough.’
‘Stop with these stupid fucking nicknames. Try to sleep and shut up or I’ll charm you quiet again. I’m done with your squabbling.’ Sirius huffed, stomping away.
James walked away after this, getting ready for bed. The night was sure to be cold again, so the expectations of a great sleep were low, but they had to at least try as tomorrow would be a busy day. He walked over to Barty with a blanket carefully draping it around him so he at least wouldn’t be cold at night.
‘You should watch out for your family when I’m done here. Don’t expect me to leave yo-‘
He was cut off by a hard slap across the face. Looking back, frankly shocked, he saw James looking almost as shaken as him. They hadn’t laid a hand on him so far, so apparently James really was done with this. He walked away, leaving a shocked, but not scared, Barty behind.
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It was time to strike. The tent had gone quiet about an hour ago, and the lights had been off for more than half of that time. This was his change, maybe the only one.
Regulus sneaked towards the entrance, quickly casting a disillusionment charm on himself to at least hide a little more. He crept through the opening, looking around a bit before fully walking through. It was rather dark, making him depend on his senses like touch and hearing instead of sight.
He stood still for a bit, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness surrounding him so he could start his search. Looking around showed that the entrance leads to some kind of dining room and kitchen area combined, meaning a lot of cabinets to check for Barty’s wand. After having no luck here Regulus moved on to the back of the tent, pausing when he heard snoring. He looked around the corner to see James lying on a camping cot with two wands on the nightstand.
Regulus crept closer, quietly grabbing the wand he recognised as Barty’s so he could leave.
He assumed that the next room would be either his destination or Sirius’s room. Looking around the corner he cursed internally seeing it was both of these. Barty sat against the wall, a blanket draped over him, slowly dozing off with his hands still tied. This wasn’t the problem though.
Sirius sat in his bed, clearly still awake.
Fuck, no, shit, he should’ve checked for breathing so he could prepare for Sirius being awake.
‘I know you are there. Come out, whoever you are.’ Regulus paused
‘Do you know who I am though? I’d watch out if I were you.’ Sirius stilled at this.
Could that be? No, his brother is dead, has been for months, everyone knew that. There was no way it was him standing there, it must just be someone who sounds like him.
Regulus was suppressing the urge to both hit and hug his brother. It had been years since they had stood in front of each other like this, even if Sirius didn’t know it was him right now. He shouldn’t do this. He should leave, for Barty, it isn’t safe, let’s g-
‘Hi Sirius. Missed me?’
This time Sirius didn’t have any doubt about who was standing in front of him. ‘Don’t you dare tell me you come back to me now, after all these years, simply because your crazy friend is away for a few nights? Where were you the past eight years? You were said to be dead? Why are you doing this?’ Sirius started to choke on his words, tears streaming over his face. If you asked Sirius it would be because of anger, Regulus just saw a sad man.
‘Sirius I can’t do this right now. This is bigger than me, than us both. I have to leave before you get on his list of suspects, before he kills you. I can’t have you dead.’
‘Who Regulus? Who are you so scared of, who are you running from? Come with us. We’ll help you, keep you safe or die trying. Please Reggie.’
Regulus winced at the nickname. ‘If I stop this hunt now, it will be years before this war is over. I have to finish this before you get in too deep.’ He started nudging Barty with his boots. ‘Wake up B, we’re leaving.’ Barty started to wake up. all whilst Sirius was growing restless, suddenly standing up. ‘Please Reg.’ His voice cracked at the name.
‘This has to happen. I’m sorry’
Regulus walked over to Sirius and gave in. One hug, a parting gift one might call it. Maybe there would be another one down the line, maybe not, for now there was this moment, and Sirius relished in finally having his baby brother back in his arm. Regulus let himself feel the joy of it before pushing back. ‘I really am sorry about this you know. I just can’t have you in too much danger when I myself can’t even stay safe. And I need Barty to help me.’
Sirius started to open his mouth, but before he could say anything Regulus cut in.
‘Obliviate’
A crack.
Sirius was alone again.