#regulus is the one why harry running around with a knife

[hasturlover]

Hc: James is the one who did parenting stuff the most between him, Lily, and Regulus.

Lily overspoiling harry and James fucking knows what's the consequences of granting every wish to the only child (james definitely didnt want harry to be like him in his teenage years and what i mean is being an arrogant who picks figts with everyone he dislikes).

Meanwhile, Regulus who got raised by Sirius and other Black cousins has no clue of danger or not so Regulus always ended up giving Harry the knife or let him too close to the stove. Harry 3yo would ask if he could take a sharp scissors and regulus just shrugs, of course you can sweetie (and that's why reg is his favorite in circumstances, and by circumstances i mean dangerous stuff)

[angelicamerlinbarnes]

On the topic of “mass murderer” Sirius Black...

Sirius is a serial killer. The Marauders all knew this. Sometimes they talked him down. Sometimes they helped. So really, he probably would have ended up in Azkaban eventually… but James, Lily, and Peter? He didn’t kill them.

James finds out first. They’re having a sleepover when they’re eleven and James wakes up to go the bathroom when he realizes Sirius isn’t beside him. He wanders around the house trying to find him and eventually ends up outside in the rain, where Sirius is dragging a dead man across the yard. He looks up at James and grins, running over to hug him. James looks down at Sirius’ blood-soaked hands, swallows, and asks if he needs help with the burial. Sirius just beams and sets the body on fire, laughing with glee as it burns. James is fucking terrified, but he never tells, and he doesn’t think it will happen again. (James could never give up his brother, so he doesn’t tell.)

Regulus finds out second. One night Sirius and their parents are having another fight, and Sirius is getting more and more agitated. What pushes him over the edge is when Orion says that Regulus will be a good son and take the Dark Mark. Sirius screams, “Over my dead body!” and shoots two stunning spells, their parents bound before him. Smiling down at them sickeningly, Sirius approaches with a knife and slits their throats. The blood still on his hands, he looks up at Regulus, destroys the knife with magic, and smiles. “Ready to go home, Reg?” He asks, holding out a hand, and a speechless Regulus takes it and follows without a word. (This proved that Sirius would never hurt Regulus, so they don’t tell.)

Peter finds out third. One night James and Sirius disappear from the dorm. It’s before they become Animagi and it’s a full moon, so Remus is down at the Shrieking Shack alone. Peter uses the Map to find Sirius and James in the woods, James watching as Sirius uses magic to dig a hole for the body next to him. There’s a Slytherin tie hanging off the body though the face is unrecognizable. Sirius is grinning and James is smiling, albeit a bit worriedly, as he watches him. Peter sneaks back into bed and doesn’t mention what he saw, but the next morning, they are all called to an assembly about a missing Slytherin student who was last seen hexing some first years yesterday. Peter glances over at Sirius, sees he’s smiling, and swallows, his hands tightening in his lap. (Peter’s scared for his life, so he doesn’t tell.)

Remus finds out fourth. Some Slytherins find out about Remus’ lycanthropy when they see him limping out of the Shrieking Shack in the morning, bleeding from the few new scars Sirius couldn’t fix. They start to poke fun at him, asking him what he’ll do when they tell everyone and he gets expelled, and Remus cowers under James’ arm and squeezes Peter’s hand as he readies a retort. Before he can say anything, however, the three Slytherins are twitching on the ground and Sirius is hissing threats at them as he turns each of them to ash. He then conjures a wind to blow the ashes away, and turns back to the others with a grin. James looks tired, Peter looks sick, and Remus looks terrified. Sirius’ smile falters and he starts to apologize when Remus stumbles forward into his arms, pushing his face into Sirius’ chest and breathing him in. Sirius folds his arms around his boyfriend and kisses his head. (Remus loves Sirius too much, so he doesn’t tell.)

Dumbledore finds out fifth. Sixth year rolls around and after the Prank, the remaining three Marauders confide in Dumbledore about Sirius’... habit. Obviously he doesn’t believe it, but it alarms him enough to start watching. One day he follows Sirius out of Hogwarts and into Hogsmeade, where Sirius starts a violent fight against three anti-werewolf Ravenclaws. One of them runs away (that’s the real Ravenclaw, being smart), but Sirius offers the other two no mercy. He slits their wrists and watches them bleed into the snow for a few minutes before sighing and casting a spell that freezes their lungs. He stares at their bodies for a little while before using magic to summon acid that eats their bodies. He then wanders back to Hogsmeade, leaving Dumbledore to stare at the decaying corpses of two of his students. (Dumbledore knows that killers are useful in war, so he doesn’t tell.)

Severus finds out sixth. Sirius targets him one night. Severus is walking the halls doing rounds when Sirius corners him and presses his wand to his throat with a manic look in his eyes. Severus regards him calmly, having already guessed at Sirius’ unstable mentality, but this only serves to agitate Sirius more. Still, Severus can see how his hand is trembling. He tells Sirius he doesn’t want to be murderer. Sirius scoffs, answering cavalierly, “You think you’re the first person I’ve killed?” Severus smirks. “No. But I think I’d be the first one you regretted.” That gives Sirius pause. He hesitates for a moment, then pulls back entirely and lets Severus return to bed. They never speak of it again. (Severus knows there are far worse men than Sirius Black to be killers, so he doesn’t tell.)

Mcgonogall finds out seventh. Sirius arrives to detention late and drenched in blood. The other Marauders are quiet, not rushing to his side like they would normally, though they all watch him nervously. Mcgonogall, alarmed, started fussing over him and asking why he would come here instead of going straight to Madame Pomfrey. Sirius just grins, and with twinkling eyes says, “It’s not my blood, ma’am.” Mcgonogall steps back, alarmed, and asks whose it is then. Sirius tilts his head to the side, his crazed grin widening. He answers, “That visiting Ministry official. The one who harassed you. You remember.” Mcgonogall swallows and nods, then points him to where Remus is with a shaky finger, instructing him to help the others and telling him they will talk about this later. Sirius’ eyes flicker and his smile drops off his face as he whispers, “Please don’t be mad at me, Minnie. I can’t… I can’t help it.” Mcgonogall doesn’t answer. Sirius walks dejectedly over to the others, where Remus embraces him and starts frantically whispering in his ear as James’ hands flit over his body and Peter sneaks nervous glances at Mcgonogall. (Mcgonogall cannot take yet another good thing from Remus Lupin, so she doesn’t tell.)

Lily finds out eighth. After Hogwarts, settled into a comfortable marriage with James and Severus, Lily is worried about some recent murders. Harry isn’t even a year old, and the murderer seems to be targeting suspected Death Eaters (which Regulus and Severus are, as they’re spies for the Order who have the Dark Mark). But James assures her they’re safe, though he won’t explain why. When Sirius shows up in the Floo after a mission, Lily pulls him aside and relays her worries to him. She asks him to talk some sense into James, and Sirius just cocks his head with a smile and says, “I would never kill your husband or my sibling. Or you or your son.” Lily goes white with understanding, backing away from Sirius as he watches her with sad eyes. James and Severus come back in and talk her down, telling her everything. But Lily won’t touch Sirius anymore. (Lily wants to know that her son has the best protection possible, so she doesn’t tell.)

Even after Sirius is locked up in Azkaban, the others know he isn’t responsible. As somewhat of a reassurance, Sirius insisted to each person who found out his secret that they make an Unbreakable Vow. They were to promise absolutely nothing to him, but he swore he would never hurt them. When he completed Lily’s, he also swore never to hurt Harry or any of their children. So when Harry’s third year rolled around, Sirius was at large, and everyone was saying he was to kill Harry… Severus and Remus knew better.

And above all, no one told Harry about Sirius’ habit. Only those eight people ever know. Sirius dies, to the public, an innocent man.

[peanut-in-the-goal]

Ouch OUCH that hurt Ya know what would put my heart back together...a part 2 where Coops work it out and end up even more in love than ever before If you have time🥰

@kielemarie @candy--floss--kid here’s part 2, part one can be found here

The wonderful world of Sweater Weather is by @lumosinlove

This isn’t what you asked for sorry but in my defense you did ask an angst writer for fluff

-----------

Remus is tired of all the stolen looks, the awkward glances they share with each other. He hates the tension that’s separating them, pushing each other away when all he’s looking for is some kind of string that will pull Sirius back to him.

He loves him, of course, he loves him. The further apart they grew it felt like his feelings were getting stronger as if that was even possible. He wanted nothing more than to run back to him, to be wrapped in Sirius’ arms again and feel safe.

But he can’t. He’s not allowed to do that anymore, not allowed that comfort Sirius once brought him. It hurts, aches deep in his chest. He thought the pain would have subsided at least a little, faded as time went on. It had been almost a month since the breakup, but apparently, a broken heart doesn’t mend like broken bones do.

Sometimes time can’t fix certain wounds. It can’t fix that empty feeling that you’re left with after something so normal evaporates with nothing to show as if it was ever there. The one thing you were so sure of, and then it’s just… gone. Taken, and he isn’t really sure if it was real, to begin with.

He thinks of the fight, every time he closes his eyes he can see it. 

Every shouted word, Sirius’ cold eyes, not the ones full of love he was so used to seeing. The stony expression that he had when he was staring down Riddle on the ice. He hated the look whenever it crossed Sirius’ face, but when it was aimed at him was surreal.

He wonders if he’s ever felt a pain like this, but then again he’s never loved anyone like this before. 

It probably won’t be this easy to love again.

---

Sirius lays in bed at night, staring at the ceiling. His head is swimming with thoughts and what ifs. 

They shouldn’t have fought, he shouldn’t have left. He wouldn’t, he said he wouldn’t after the first time. What hurt the most was that when he left, the last thing he heard Remus say was, “You promised.”

It was a whisper, quiet, and broken before the sobs came. Like he didn’t want Sirius to hear but he did, and it took everything in him to not turn around and go back to him. To collapse on the ground next to where Remus was left kneeling with his hands over his face. To hold him, and apologize, and beg for forgiveness.

But he had too much pride for that. 

So he left. He turned his back on the one person that ever loved him and left. He drove, considered driving away, just disappearing without saying anything. He almost did as he came to a traffic light. He could turn left, get out of town for at least the night, or, he could go straight. 

Going straight would lead him back to his house, where the walls had pictures of him and Remus, and James and Logan, the team. 

He built a new life here, one away from the snakes, his parents, his family. He got away from all the people who treated him poorly, with their over the top expectations and Toujours Pur.

He built a life here. And he just threw it all away. God, why was he such an idiot?

---

Regulus watches the world around him fall apart. 

The Snakes… Fuck the Snakes. They made him pretend to be someone he wasn’t, trying to mold him to be their puppet. He had to say things about his brother, agree with his parents and their stupid beliefs. He was stuck, trapped, there was no way out. 

He didn’t see a way out, lost hope a long time ago that someone would help him. He couldn’t do it on his own.

Then, he got picked for All Stars. More time to spend with Snape. Oh joy, how fun.

He wasn’t looking forward to it. 

Sirius was playing. He was picked, of course, he got picked, best in the league and all. But Regulus couldn’t wait to see his big brother. Whether Sirius hated him or not, he didn’t know. He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know. Either way, he’d take what he could get.

His heart clenched painfully when he saw his brother. His shoulders were tense, eyes steely and cold. Sirius reminded him of Orion, someone he tried so hard to get away from.

It felt like someone stabbed him in the heart, twisting the knife at the hilt when that glare was directed at him. His brother thought he was no better, no better than Snape, or Riddle. 

He was wrong. He had to be, Regulus, he wasn’t like them… Was he? 

That was then, about a year or two ago. It’s been a year since he was free from the Snakes, from his family. He should have gotten out sooner, should have followed Sirius to Gryffindor. When they were younger, before the NHL, they’d talked about staying together. Never be separated by anyone.

He broke that promise, and now he wanted to make things right. Now that he could. 

Remus and Sirius were fighting. Regulus could sense it even if he wasn’t there during it. Remus stopped coming over, every smile and laugh that came from his brother seemed less genuine. More forced like he was trying to cover something but didn’t want to shut down completely.

In some ways, this was worse.  Seeing his brother overwork himself with hockey, his boyfriend, and his social life. Trying to maintain this fake face, and mask all the time was draining him quickly.

Regulus found a life here, his own found family, well Sirius’s found family, but they used to share everything, this was no different. He was accepted here, and while he still felt somewhat like an intruder, he was so much more comfortable than he ever was with the Snakes. 

And if his brother wrecks this with letting the one thing that mattered the most to him slip through his fingers… He’d be damned if he allowed that to happen.

---

Regulus sighed, cornering Sirius in the kitchen. James had gone home once Harry started getting fussy, promising to be back later. Sirius had finally emerged from the rink, in the search of food.

He looked dead on his feet, the bags under his eyes only got darker as the days went on.

“How’s Remus?” Regulus winced at his own insistence, way to be subtle, he thought. Sirius seemed to hesitate for a moment, his eyes going wide from where he was leaning against the counter, a large portion of his sandwich still shoved into his mouth. 

Sirius looked at the former Snake skeptically, chewing slowly to stall for time.

Regulus shifted uneasily on his feet as Sirius finally swallowed.

“He’s fine.”

“Bullshit.” He learned years ago that the only way to get Sirius to talk was to push, and keep pushing until he broke, and the words tumbled out like a damn breaking.

“I said he's fine, kid.” Sirius’s voice was sharp, leaving no room for arguing. Although Regulus had a thing for being where he wasn’t wanted didn’t he?

“Okay, I call bullshit on that.” Regulus kept his voice composed, strong, even though he wanted to shrink away from his brother’s stare. 

God, it reminded him so much of their father.

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you kid, or what you want to hear, but he’s fine.” Sirius took another bite of his sandwich.

“I don’t know, maybe the fucking truth Sirius?”

“That is the truth.”

“Fine.” Regulus pushed himself off the counter, taking a step closer to him. “How are you then?”

“I’m fine Regulus, spectacular even.” Sirius dropped the face, opting to shut down rather than fighting back with his fake stupid mask. 

“Tout est putain de fantastique et super ma putain de vie est parfaite,” Sirius rambled off, sighing and putting his sandwich down again. “I’m fine.”

“Sure you are.” Regulus drawled.

“I’m fine,” Sirius said again. His voice wavered, like he was trying to convince himself more than Regulus.

“Sirius…” Regulus took another step forward, and Sirius broke. The words tumbling out of his mouth faster than he could register.

“We broke up. Me and Remus broke up. We fought, it’s over, I fucked it up, I fucked it up. It’s my fault, my fault. He was the best thing to ever happen and I fucked up, I left again. I promised I wouldn’t and I did, I’m such an idiot. Merde, je suis tellemente stupide.” 

“Sirius.” Regulus held his hands up for a moment, trying to get the word vomit to stop for just a moment. They broke up? When, how, why? 

Regulus always thought that they were perfect for each other, the way his brother looked at Remus made that clear. He’d never looked so fondly at someone before, like he’d cross oceans for them, or move mountains just to make them happy.

And somehow that connection, that bond, was broken. 

“I told him I hated him mon étoile.” Sirius’ words shook him back, out of his thoughts. Sirius was probably looking for more answers than he was.

---

Regulus left when James showed up. The two had been better brothers these past few years than Regulus and Sirius had.

Sirius was grateful to see James, but it didn’t make it any easier. Harry wasn’t here this time, Lily had kept him home to let Sirius and James talk by themselves. Harry was a good buffer sometimes, but they didn’t need one right now. They just need them, two brothers to talk.

He was happy for that, as much as he wanted to see a mini version of his best friend, he didn’t want Harry’s uncle Padfoot to break down in front of him. The kid was too young to have to think about everything wrong in the world. He didn’t want to take Harry’s childhood from him like his was taken.

He was feeling somewhat better, the pain was still there. The emptiness engulfed him and made him feel alone, back to step one. He didn’t want to have to start over again, with a new team, in a new place.

He didn’t want to start over with anything or anyone. He wanted Remus, not someone who would be second best. He’d fight, he’ll fight for him. He can’t lose this easily, he won’t give up.

---

Remus has been crying all morning. He’s been staying at the Potters in their guest bedroom. He knows he should leave, he’s imposing on their family. 

But he just can’t find it in him to go back to his apartment. Usually, he’d stay at Sirius’s but lately, he’s found himself here. It’s silent when he walks around. When he curls up on the sofa under the heavy wool blanket he loves so much, it still feels like something is missing.

As much as he tries to pretend everything is normal, it isn’t. It hasn’t been for a while now, and it’s so annoying because he just wants to fix it. But they don’t teach you how to mend a broken heart when they teach you how to heal a broken bone. 

He wants to go back to the apartment, but he just… can’t. He didn’t even want to be there in the first place. It held too many memories.   

In the kitchen, his first real phone call with Sirius. When he was making dinner, Sirius called him, and they talked. Really talked.

His room. Where they woke up together and fell asleep together. They made memories there, the way he laughed when Sirius was trying to brush his teeth and take his shirt off at the same time.

They also made memories doing…  other things there.

Of course, there was also the spot that he called his parents, coming out to them and Sirius held his hand the whole time. Hell, even the porch, the front door, and the entry room meant so much to him. When Sirius came to him after the holiday, he stayed with Remus instead of going back to his house or James’s of Dumo’s. 

Because he trusted him, he loved him. And Remus lost him.

They officially called it off yesterday. Remus told him from the beginning that he wasn’t going to wait forever. And he didn’t. If Sirius wasn’t going to come around and instead try to distance himself without telling Remus, what he did wrong, he wasn’t going to wait. 

He’s waited enough.

---

Remus steps out of the guest room. He didn’t leave very much, opting to curl up on the bed and wallow rather than leave. He came out for meals, normally skipping breakfast. He’s thanked James and Lily numerous times and apologized for staying for so long. They brushed him off with a “stay as long as you want, we care about you, Remus.”

Lily was sitting on the couch in the main room, TV playing some kids show for Harry who was playing with blocks on the ground in front of her.  

“Hey, Re.” Her smile is gentle like Remus is fragile. And if she makes any sudden movements he’ll break. He hates that they see him as breakable, then again he did spend the last few days crying in their guest bedroom, so it was only fair.

“Hi Lils,” he puts up a smile. A fake one, but it’s the best he can muster. “I just wanted to say thanks for, you know, letting me stay.” He gestures vaguely with his hands.

“Of course Re! I’m your best friend.”

Remus’s smile is a little more genuine this time. He loves Lily, not like he loves Sirius but she’s up there.

“Yeah, you are. Um, I just wanted to tell you that I was going to go stay with my parents for a bit.” It came out as a question, his voice going slightly higher at the end.

“Oh.” Remus winced. Lily looked... surprised, but also like she wanted to hug him and not let him leave. “Are you sure? I mean you could stay here, we don’t mind, really.”

Remus shook his head before she even finished talking. 

“It’s okay Lils, I already called. I’m flying out tonight at 8:00. I just wanted to say thank you for letting me stay so long. I’ll be back before the season starts again.”

“Of course, do you need any help packing or anything?” She shifted, moving to stand up. Again, Remus shook his head. He gestured to the small duffle bag he was holding, everything he had with him at the Potters stuffed inside. 

“I’m good I think. I have stuff there.” 

Lily gave him a sad smile, moving forward to hug him. 

“Okay,” she mumbled. “Be safe.”

Remus smiled, wrapping her arms around her. “I will be. I think… I think I’m going to go back to my place before I do.” He bit his lip hard against the rising emotion that was bubbling up. 

Lily looked at him one more time, her eyes flitting over his face, searching for something. “If you’re sure…”

“I am Lils,” Remus sighed, “I have to go back sometime right?” He tried for a laugh, but it didn’t work.

Lily nodded slowly before sighing again. “I’ll walk you out.”

Remus heard Harry asking “Where unc’e moony going?” as the door swung shut behind him with a soft click.

---

The drive home was silent, empty. His heart ached and couldn’t help the tiny bit of hope that Sirius would be there when he got home. He wanted to go back, see what he did wrong and fix things. 

He wanted that security he got when Sirius was there with them. When it was just them, there, together in the moment, without a care in the world. The way how when Sirius smiled like that and the laughter that they shared echoed off the walls 

He wanted the memories to mean something. Not be thrown away because of an argument. They were adults, they could hopefully work past this. He was willing to try.

But he also wanted fresh air. He wanted to be away for a while. Hopefully, he could stay home with his family, catch up with his little brother. He wasn’t looking forward to answering questions from the media when he got back.

His breath caught when he thought about it. This was supposed to be break. Their break to spend together. They should be doing things together like the movies, going on trips, hell they should be at Sid’s getting pizza. And Sirius should be making fun of the way he gets pineapple on it but instead, Remus is alone, again.

He’s tired of putting his heart out there just for someone else to take it and stomp all over it.

---

“How is he?” Sirius asks, his eyes are flitting over James’ face to make sure he doesn’t lie. 

Sirius knows Remus is at the Potters. He’s known since he got the call from James saying that Remus turned up, crying and a mess.

“He’s… He’s not doing so good, can’t be in much better shape than you are.” James winces.

“I’m fine,” his words are harsh. 

“Mhm, and I’m a cactus.” Sirius furrowed his brows, starting to feel annoyed by his chosen brother. “Oh sorry, I thought we were saying things that aren’t true.”

Sirius huffs. “Je vais Bien.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” James leaned forward from where he was sitting, elbows resting on his knees as he fixed Sirius with a hard look.

“Did you want to break up with him?”

“Wow, way to be blunt Potter.” Sirius scoffed, looking away from James. He didn’t want to meet James’ eyes and let him see that he was slowly breaking inside. 

“Answer the question.” His tone was the same, harsh.

“What does it matter? It doesn’t make a difference. Ce n'est plus comme s'il m'aimait plus.” Sirius whispered the last part, James wouldn’t understand anyway.

“I don’t speak French asshole.”

“I’m aware.”

“Rude.”

“Fuck off. And answer the question, because it makes a difference.”

Damn, Sirius was actually starting to feel a little better. The banter was normal between them, an odd thing that made him feel safe. He doesn’t understand why, but there’s a lot of things he doesn’t understand. Like why his parents are the way they are, why Grayback just had to tear apart Remus’ shoulder… Remus…

“No.” He whispered. “Non, I didn’t want to break up with him.” The dam broke.

James was there in a second, tugging Sirius’ hands from his face from where he curled in on himself.

“Then why did you?”

“He wasn’t happy. I had to let him go.” His voice broke, he refused to let the tears fall.

“Were you happy?” James’ voice took a new gentle tone.

“I had him. I had no reason to not be happy.”

James made a sad noise, gripping Sirius’ hand tighter.

“Then fight for him, go after him. Show him how much you love him, Sirius.”

“But what if he doesn’t want me anymore?” Sirius sounded so sad, and yet still refused to look James in the eye.

“Look at me Pads.”  Sirius took a minute to comply. “He still loves you — don’t roll your eyes at me — he does. But you can’t expect him to do all the work.”

“I’m not! I want to fight, I want to put in the work. I just want Remus back.”

“Look.” James sighs and runs a hand through his already untamable hair. “He’s at my house, if you really want to fix it come home with me, go talk to him. Okay?”

Sirius is nodding before he finishes talking, “Oui, yes, I want to see him, please.”

James nods. “Okay.”

---

They were too late.

He remembers Lily opening the door with a sad smile on her face. 

They were too late. Remus already left. His plane would leave in half an hour. He won’t make it in time. He missed his chance.

That doesn’t mean he won’t try.

He was out the door before he could think twice about it. James’ keys in his hand as the engine roared. Everything was a blur, the lights on the cars merging together as he sped by. 

He hovered over the speed limit the entire time, swerving in and out of cars a bit recklessly. It didn’t matter to him, not if it meant he got to Remus on time. 

He parked somewhere by the airport, he doesn’t remember where, it’s not important.

He practically runs into the airport, buying the first ticket he sees and throwing money at the cashier. He doesn’t wait for the change. 

He curses at the long line in security, praying to whatever higher gods out there that he’ll make it in time.

He checks his watch. 19 minutes. He wasn’t going to make it.

Shit shit shit

12 minutes. He’s hardly moved. 

8 minutes, he’s made progress.

3 minutes. He’s not going to make it.

0 minutes. He missed it.

Sirius stares at his watch, no.  He missed his flight, Remus was gone. It was over.

He considers turning around, leaving, and giving up. He’ll go home and train. Shot after shot, trick after trick. He’ll play until he can’t anymore, shoot until the stick is falling out of his numb hands. He’ll—

“Sirius?”

And suddenly time stops. He looks up at the familiar voice, trying to find his face in this crowd full of people.

“Re?” And Remus nearly sobs. He hasn’t heard that voice directed at him in so long. He finds those stormy grey eyes from across the huge lobby and suddenly nothing matters but him. 

He allows himself to hope, hope that Sirius still wants him. 

Sirius spots him, a wide grin stretching over his face, and before he knows it Sirius is trying to get out of line, and he’s running towards Remus, running towards him and doing his best not to run into people but honestly who cares?

Why would he care when Remus is right here and he’s back. He hasn’t left yet. Why hasn’t he left yet?

Sirius finally made it out of the stupid queue line and ran. He ran as fast as he could, almost slamming into Remus when he went to give him a hug.

“Baby, I’m sorry.”

“Mon Loup, I love you.”

They both laughed, their faces close enough to feel each other’s breath. Remus’ little puffs of breaths as he laughed nearly melted Sirius’ heart.

“I love you too,” Remus whispered, his chin tilted up to look at Sirius.

And Sirius could have sobbed in relief, attacking Remus’ face in small bursts of kisses while cupping his face in his hands. It didn’t matter who was around, not when he had Remus.

Things were far from perfect, but they could work through it.

“I thought I missed your flight,” Sirius whispered. Remus smiled a little timidly, pressing a kiss to the tip of his nose.

“It got delayed.” Sirius smiled so wide his cheeks hurt.

“It looks like the universe is on my side today then.” Remus laughed, shaking his head.

“You and your crazy superstitions I swear.”

Sirius only pulled him closer.

---

Things were a lot better. It had been a few weeks since they met at the airport. Sirius couldn’t express how happy he was that his flight happened to get delayed that day.

He couldn’t express how happy he was that Remus let him back in. That he didn’t give up on Sirius when Sirius was giving on on himself.

They had talked since then, both apologizing profusely the entire time. They stuck close by each other, not wanting to be pushed apart again. 

They have to send James and Lily a thank you card now don’t they?

---

Remus is falling harder than he did before. He values all the little cute things Sirius does so much more now that he’s lost them once. The way he fidgets with his fingers when nervous, or cuddles up closer to Remus when he thinks he’s asleep. 

He loves the small flecks of brown and blue in Sirius’ eyes. He loves the way Sirius hugs him after a win, holding on as tight as he can whispering, I love you, we did it, in his ear.

He’s definitely falling hard, and he’s okay with that. He doesn’t think he could love Sirius more than he does right now. 

But then again, when he wakes up every day he’s proven wrong isn’t he?

[ourloveisforthelovely]

This or That. Part 9

Harry Potter Marauders Era 

Link to Part 8

Pairings: Regulus Black x Reader 

Rating: M- mature themes

________

“You are no longer in this family. You are an embarrassment to your mother and I.”

Orion’s chilling voice thundered as he sent another “crucio” Regulus’ way. He didn’t care that his youngest son was writhing on the floor in pain. Orion Black stood firmly yelling any insane comment that entered his mind.

“Dad, please stop! I’m still your son...I can’t help that I love her..”

Regulus gasped. Orion growled.

“You can help who you love. You chose to fall in love with a half-blood who is a blood traitor just like Sirius.”

“Just give her a chance! Please. Y/n makes me happy. Doesn’t that matter at all? I’m your son. You are supposed to want me to be happy.”

Regulus had no idea why he was pleading with his father. Orion didn’t care how clinically depressed his youngest son was. To Orion, depression was some crutch that Regulus started using after Sirius left.

“What is best for this family is my concern. When you date a blood traitor that brings shame on this family, my concern will always be our family's reputation. Now get up and screw your fucking head on right and I may consider letting you back in.”

Regulus was still trying to catch his breath. He had reached up to the cut that Walburga inflicted during her initial torture. He winced feeling his blood oozing out of the cut before rolling over to look at Walburga.

She sat on the couch watching her husband what was supposed to be her “favorite” son with an expression of scorn.

“Mother, doesn’t it matter that I’m happy at all? You know how I…”

Walburga cleared her throat as she met Orion’s eyes. They gave each other a nod as if saying, “We worry about our reputation only. He needs to grow up.”

“Regulus, it's time to man up. Your father has spoken. If you choose the girl then you will leave this house.”

Regulus pressed his head against the hard wooden floors.

“I choose Y/n. Neither of you will understand because love is an alien-like emotion around here.”

Walburga was on her feet within a second screeching “crucio.” She was going to make sure that Regulus suffered as much as she did…”

Regulus sat up in a cold sweat. Looking around the room, he instantly felt better seeing that he was in your room. You lay snuggled against your pillow, sleeping peacefully. Regulus ran a hand through his bed ravaged hair. How you hadn’t woken up from all of the noise that he was making was beyond him.

Taking a breath, Regulus tried to get a grip on the depressed feelings that were surging through his brain. He no longer had a family. The realization that his parents didn't care for his happiness made Regulus hurt all the more.

Regulus’ vision landed on a knife that was sitting on your desk. He quickly looked away ignoring that urge to run the blade over his skin. One cut would be so nice...one cut would relieve so much pressure.

You wouldn’t be happy though. Regulus didn’t want to see that look of worry in your eyes. Had it been up to him, you would have never figured out that he cut to begin with anyway. It would forever be the “little secret” that Regulus would always keep to himself.

“I don’t see that.”

Regulus muttered using his right hand to pinch the skin of his left forearm as hard as possible. He closed his eyes hoping for that same feeling of euphoria to wash over him as cutting brought. When it didn’t Regulus quickly started opening and closing his hands.

“There is no knife over there. I don’t see it. Y/n will be upset. She loves me and wants me to be happy...everything is fine...everything is….”

Regulus waited a whole two seconds before quickly getting out of bed and picking the knife up. His eyes flickered to you for any sign that you were awake. When you only yawned and snuggled deeper in your pillow, Regulus sighed.

“I’m sorry, love.”

He whispered before sneaking out of your bedroom without making a noise.

The next morning you were awoken by a knock on your door. You shoved your messy hair away from your face before glancing at the alarm clock.

“Yeah?”

You called with a yawn as Regulus put a hand over his face. Remus’ voice came from the other side of the door.

“Regulus’ uncle is here.”

Regulus lowered his hand and stared at the ceiling. You knew without Regulus saying it, he didn’t want to face Alphard. From everything, Sirius had told you Alphard was a nice guy (unlike his siblings). Maybe Regulus didn’t want to be dependent on someone else? You didn’t want to think about Regulus still thinking as his mother did. What thoughts did Walburga shove her youngest son’s head with against his uncle?

“We’ll be right out.”

You replied. Hearing Remus walk away, you turned your attention back to Regulus.

“Reggie.”

You said his name softly before laying back down to snuggle against his side. Sitting up enough, you gently kissed his jawline. You were relieved when Regulus gave a small smile.

“I see you smiling.”

You giggled, stretching your arm to fall down his left arm. Holding his hand seemed like the next best thing to do. Conning Regulus into making love quickly didn’t seem like the best idea. Facing another member of the Black family with a red face and bed ravaged curls didn’t seem like the best way to make the first introduction.

Regulus groaned and yanked his arm away. You frowned and quickly yanked the sheet back. Regulus couldn't meet your eyes as you looked at the freshly made cut.

“Regulus…”

“Well, what did you expect was going to happen, Y/n?”

He snapped before getting out of bed and looking for a pair of pants to put on. You followed his lead and went to your closet for clean clothes too.

“When?”

You questioned, keeping your voice as gentle as possible.

“Last night. Look, I know that you are mad....”

Regulus stopped talking when you turned and looked at him with tear-filled eyes.

“I’m not mad at you, Regulus. I’m scared for you. I’m scared that you are going to hurt yourself. You promised me that when you felt like you were going to need to do that again...you would talk to me.”

Regulus shrugged.

“You were asleep.”

“You could have woken me up.”

Regulus was almost confused at how calm you were acting. He expected you to get angry with him. Why were you not yelling the way that Walburga did when she saw fresh cuts on Regulus’ arms?

“I’m not the best about talking about this kind of stuff, Y/n. You know that talking about emotions is not my strongest characteristic.”

You put a hand over your mouth to try to stop the sobs that were wanting to come out. After giving yourself a few moments, you took a breath.

“I guess you expect me to sit back and watch you seriously hurt yourself. It's harder than you think.”

You replied before turning and walking from the room. Regulus didn’t reply for a moment. His grey eyes had instead turned to another area of your bedroom.

“I’ll just leave you to it.”

You said before turning and walking from the room.

The whole way downstairs, you mentally gave yourself a pep talk about straightening up. You did not want to face your parents, your brother, Sirius, or Alphard with tear-streaked cheeks. Taking a deep breath, you stepped into the living room where your mother and father sat across from a man that had to be Alphard Black.

There was no denying who he was. He was as good looking as Sirius and Regulus was. He smiled when you stepped in. Sirius, who you had just noticed sat on his right, motioned to you.

“This is Y/n.”

“So you are the girl that stole my nephew’s heart.”

You blushed before sinking down into the chair beside Remus.

“That would be me.”

You shyly replied. Alphard nodded.

“I should thank you. I have always worried about Regulus’ well being when it came to being in the same house as my sister and brother-in-law. They aren’t the nicest of people, as I am sure that you are aware.”

You nodded, meeting Sirius’ gaze. He gave you a wide smile that left you shaking your head. You had known about Walburga and Orion’s character flaws long before you ever got with Regulus. Seeing the hell that they put Sirius through told you everything that you needed to know about either parent.

“Yes, sir. I’ve heard a lot of not so nice things about them.

Alphard nodded, taking a sip of the tea that your mother had given him.

“Try growing up with them. Oh, Regulus, there you are.”

You turned as Regulus stepped into the room. Meeting his gaze briefly, you quickly turned back to look at Sirius. The older brother had quickly put it together that there was something simmering between the two of you. He gave you a frown and mouthed “what’s wrong?” You shook your head and replied, “later.”

What you didn’t see was Regulus glaring between the two of you. While he knew that you were devoted to him, he still worried about Sirius. Sirius didn’t have all of the emotional garbage that Regulus had going on. He didn’t leave you worried over cuts all over his arms or his dark and distant looks.

“Hello, uncle.”

Regulus replied before taking his seat beside you. His hand slipped onto your thigh trying to get some affection back. Your hand wrapped around his giving Regulus some comfort as Alphard began to speak.

“Sirius told me what happened with your mother. While Walburga is my sister, I do not support how she has raised my nephews. Neither of you have deserved half of the hell that you have been put through. That's why I am offering to keep both of you financially secure.”

Regulus finally met his uncle’s gaze.

“Mother isn’t going to be happy.”

Alphard smirked.

“I don’t care what my sister likes nor doesn’t like. Besides, it's our family's money and it is my pleasure to spend it. Regulus you can come back home with me or you can stay here with Y/n and her family. Mr. and Mrs. Lupin are fine with you remaining with their daughter as Mr. and Mrs. Potter has already made a claim on keeping your brother.”

Regulus took in his uncle’s words before deciding to speak

“So you are fine with me dating a half-blood girl from Gryffindor?”

Alphard nodded.

“I am. I think a Gryffindor girl that almost went to Hufflepuff is just fine. She seems like a perfect match for you. The two of you can even each other out. Now, I have to be going. I’ll be sending both Sirius and yourself money each month. Should your mother or father reach out to you, for whatever reason, do have them write to me. I would love to give them my opinion on the matter.”

Regulus nodded and stood to walk his uncle out. You remained in the room with Sirius and Remus when your parents too left.

“What’s going on?”

Sirius asked. You shook your head.

“Nothing.”

Sirius and Remus exchanged looks. Remus leaned down to you.

“And I was born yesterday.”

You stood up. The last thing that you really wanted to do was tell either Remus or Sirius what was really bothering you. You couldn’t imagine telling Sirius “oh, your brother is just slicing his arms open and I am worried about my mind. Don't worry about it. I hope to have him well soon.”

“Guys, I don’t want to talk about it. Tell Regulus, when he comes back, that I went to take a shower.”

______

@iamashlynmarie

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[halothenthehorns]

All in the Family

Chapter 2

The Boy Who Lived

Lily stooped down, and picked the book up slowly, gazing hard at the year before slowly looking around at the others. Then she marched back down to the dungeons.

"Evans, what are you doing!" James protested as he followed her. "We should stay together, we have no clue what's going on-"

"As if he's ever needed a reason to be around her," Peter muttered to Remus as the whole group followed, Sirius and Regulus trialing at the back reluctantly.

They entered to find Lily already fast at work, with James still talking at her more than anything and Peter and Remus hovering uneasily behind him and still looking anxiously around like they were expecting an attack. Alice and Frank were shifting anxiously in place just as uneasily behind Lily with absolutely no clue how they'd gotten involved in this but deeply regretting whatever this was.

Sirius just perched on a stool as far from everyone as he could while Regulus slumped against the wall even further away, feeling even more out of place than the couple.

Lily ignored them all, running back to the still empty cauldron. She dropped the book back in it and turned to the student supply cupboards and began pulling ingredients out.

"Lily, what are you doing?" Alice decided to try since Potter was being so thoroughly ignored.

"Reversing this," she said flatly.

"You're insane," Frank pleasantly informed her, he knew fellow Ravenclaws who wouldn't dare try such a stunt as reversing this problem without a teacher present.  His claim was backed up by Pettigrew.

"He's right, we have no clue what got us here. You're good Evans, but even you're not good enough to create the counter potion for something that more than likely was just invented!"

"Well I'm certainly going to bloody try rather than standing around here doing nothing," she hissed as she began cutting up some roots.

James snatched the book out of the cauldron before she could dump anything on it, and huffed, "well fine, you do whatever you like then. I'm going to see what all of this is about," and he began the iconic first line of the series. The moment he had, the next appeared. "The book's called Harry Potter, and it starts with something as lame as Muggles," James pouted as he again checked the front cover.

"You think anything not about you is lame," Remus rolled his eyes at how this was starting.

"What are you doing anyways?" Alice decided to ignore the boys commentary on how boring this muggle life sounded in favor of asking Evans, who seemed the only one keen on getting them out of this.

"Retro Diebus," she answered without looking up from the spiel she was carefully inserting into a fruit Alice couldn't identify. Then again, she'd never been as good at Potions, or Herbology for that matter, a great disappointment to her head of house she was sure. She would be quite glad to drop both classes if not for her Auror training. It was a good thing she'd found Frank to tutor her, and well...

"I have no clue what that means," she confessed aloud before she could get lost in thought.

"It's going to reverse what Lupin did," she said with utter confidence.

"Are you still blaming this on me?" Lupin couldn't help but yip in protest. "It's not my fault you didn't banish your potion like everyone always does. You're as conceited as you accuse us of being, always keeping samples of your own work to try and improve upon them."

Lily flashed him a look that lesser men would have shrank away from, but James was still ignoring them all and continuing, as well as he really didn't want to see this fight progress. Lily's work thankfully kept her attention as she began stirring ingredients in her very precise method and so didn't take the opportunity to shoot back at Lupin.

She was being diligent as always in this class, even Potter reading about all these mysterious happenings revolving his name or whatever mess was going on. Admittedly she did look up with the same hope the rest of the room felt at the mention of You-Know-Who being gone, but then she dismissed this as whatever insanity was going on with the rest of this castle. Things would make sense if she just finished her work.

However, her hand slipped on her knife she was using to chop up a Nether Wart, and she sliced her finger deeply at the mention of Petunia, and a sister.

"Evans, you okay?" Frank asked in concern as she sucked in a breath and waved her hand frantically to rid the burning pain.

James had instantly dropped the book and rushed to her side, genuine concern in his eyes, but she snapped at all of them, "don't mind me, it's just a cut."

She pulled her wand and prodded the angry flesh, which sewed itself up nicely thanks to her advanced charms work, but then she made a guttural noise of frustration at seeing her brew ruined, smatterings of blood turning what was once a bright white potion now pink.

"You sure you're alright?" Alice insisted after Lily banished her wasted attempt and kept using other curses that weren't magically related.

"I said I'm fine," she snapped, causing Alice to raise her hands in surrender and back off and Frank to scowl heavily at her.

"Hey, don't snap at her just because she's trying to help. No one needs Snape in here."

Lily fearlessly matched his scowl and looked ready to go for her wand again at what she deemed as an insult to her friend. She couldn't understand why Frank would say such a thing, but then to her shock Potter came to her defense first.

"Lets everyone just cool it, we're in an odd situation here." He spoke first to Frank, but then turned to Lily and offered her more roots to begin again. "Here Evans."

She took them carefully, as if fearing they'd take off her fingers next. "I don't need your help, or defense," she snapped at once. Then, she glanced again at Frank who was heavily rolling his eyes, and honestly just to prove him wrong about her and her best friend, as an awkward form of an apology she didn't seem able to spit out, she finally explained herself instead, "err, that was my sister's name. I just, wasn't expecting it to show up-" she stopped herself abruptly and returned to her cutting table, only pausing to say to Frank and Alice, "sorry," before starting her work again.

James simply looked elated at having learned something new about Evans, that she had a sister. He found the idea fascinating, and exchanged a happy look with his mates, but then he remembered why Sirius wasn't quite meeting his eyes and quickly kept going through the awkward silence.

"Knew there was something about that cat," Peter interjected, even if they had already figured this out for themselves. "Not sure why McGonagall of all people is hanging around though."

"If Dumbledore's there, I'm sure we'll get answers to everything," Remus said a little wistfully, wishing their headmaster was here now so they could be getting that sooner.

James read eagerly through the rumors and oddity surrounding his son, Harry. He quite liked that name, he decided, though he wasn't keen on all this talk about what some possible kid of his could have to do with Voldemort. He skipped right over Dumbledore saying the name and ignored everyone else flinching around him like they always did, he found it ludicrous to be so afraid of something like a name, even if he'd yet found anyone to agree with him. Even his best mate, rebellious in all the same ways as him, had it far to ingrained from his parents and still twitched uneasily, though James still refused to look at him now just to mock him like usual.

All of this news was trumped though, when McGonagall said a very simply sentence that meant the world to him.

"Prongs, you okay," Remus prodded him when he just stood there, frozen. "I know this is probably more words than you've read in a lifetime-"

"He's probably overloaded himself," Peter snickered indulgently.

Still there was no reaction, and so Remus once again took it away and easily read up to the part James had stopped, then he too couldn't seem to spit it out with a comically torn expression in place. "Well, err, I'm confident we now have proof these have no bearing on our life."

"What's this?" Peter asked eagerly.

Remus shrugged and tried to read the passage, but James snatched it back and declared as if saying his vows, James and Lily Potter.

Remus gave him a pitying look though, ignoring Lily's splutter of protest and Sirius falling off of his stool from laughing so hard, and asked him, "did you read the rest of that?"

"Eh?" He said in confusion, before finally finishing the sentence and under other circumstances the juxtaposition of his expression would have been hilarious.

"Okay stop, just," Evans raised her hands up as if the motion alone would do this, and it was clearly working. "You've done many insane things man, but claiming us to be married and dead in the same sentence is a new one for you."

"He's not making this up," Lupin defended, while Black was still laughing and Pettigrew looked just as gobsmacked as Potter to be doing anything.

Lily just kept staring at them like she was waiting for a punchline, until Regulus spoke up.

"I can see it."

"Excuse you?" She spluttered.

Regulus shrugged without remorse as he tried to address her, though he was looking just slightly to the side of her, likely from the awkwardness of going from never having spoke to someone to explaining why he'd believe a love story. "I just, I can see you finally caving into someone like Potter, you two are quite the same."

He gave a sideways look at Sirius and didn't elaborate. Sirius' humor had dried up some and he gave his little brother a loaded look right back, he felt there was something off in Regulus' delivery.

Evans just looked scandalized now. "Well I'm so bloody glad you approve!" She missed the look on his face that starkly said something otherwise as she turned back to shouting at Potter. "I however am going to get us out of this insanity and stop fantasizing about Potter knocking me up!"

James honestly looked a bit hurt she wasn't giving this a second of consideration, and turned back to the book miserably. All he could hope now was someone popping up and explaining this mess better than whatever Dumbledore's next tosh was about no one ever knowing.

The only good thing left was Hagrid's arrival and mentioning Sirius, on a motorcycle of all things but that was the least surprising bit he'd heard of lately. He was honestly just happy to even hear of one of his friends in this mess of a story considering everything else that was going on.

James finished the final sentence just as Lily was moving to dump the final ingredients into her cauldron. The pot sizzled for a second, then this time there was a bright flash of light, and all eight of them felt an extraordinary tug upon their very soul and were flashing through nothing, and everything.

HPHPHPHP

So yeah, hope you guys liked! Hope I established everything alright? Any questions you have ask away and I'll likely answer them so long as I feel they're not spoilery for future plot points of this. Can't wait to keep going with this!

As a fun game, I'd love it if you all predicted where the next chapter was going to be, it would greatly amuse me!

[allthebooksandcrannies]

Bora Bora: Chapter 2

Here’s the next chapter of my fanfic of murkybluematter’s Rigel Black Chronicles fanfic series. I highly recommend checking her work out on fanfiction.net if you enjoy either the Harry Potter or Alana the Lioness books, but you really don’t need to have read either to understand what’s going on in her fic. That said this is the third installment of my fic.

Murkybluematter’s Pureblood Pretense

Read other parts here: Prologue, Chapter 1

Or, Read on AO3

Chapter 2: We Will Not Go Quietly

Pansy couldn’t help the small smile that appeared when Rigel stopped and quite obviously stifled what was sure to have been an incredibly dramatic sigh the moment she came around the corner. His situational awareness really had improved these last few years. The little first year she had caught gaping at the Great Hall’s enchanted ceiling would likely have allowed her to get close enough to touch without noticing her approach when worked into this kind of state.

The smile fell, however, when he turned around and she saw his expression.  Rigel was an expert at putting on a mask, so to see him look so raw was incredibly disconcerting. She was suddenly very glad she had come in Draco’s place.

“Pan, I’m really not in the mood for another lecture on not crossing Riddle.”

“I know,” she said as she linked their arms together. “I’m here to help you do it.” And if she derived a thrum of satisfaction from leaving her best friend absolutely gobsmacked, well, that was no one’s business as her own.

 -0

[HpHpHp]

-0

 Rigel didn’t say a word until long after they reached the Room of Requirement. This, however, was not for lack of trying. At first it was just because, contrary to what her friends might like to say, she did, in fact, have enough self-preservation to not start a conversation about opposing one of the most powerful men in the country in the middle of a hallway.  

Then, however, it was because she wasn’t really sure how else to respond to the room Pansy’s pacing had conjured.

Rather than the usual empty room and cushion setup, her friend had summoned several large classroom chalkboards and a single desk and chair right in front of them. Pansy’s hold on her arm was more like a deathgrip now as she practically dragged Rigel over to the chair and pressed her into it. “Pan? Wha-”

“Do sit, Rigel,” she said with a sticking charm and what was definitely her scariest smile. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this right, and that means we are going to plan within an inch of our lives. Understand?”

Rigel nodded because she wasn’t an idiot.  When Pansy went into planning mode, she was a force of nature. It was best to just go along with it. And, if she was being honest with herself, it would be really nice to have her help on this. “So, what do we do first?”

 -0

[HpHpHp]

-0

 Pansy got right down to business, and Rigel was now really, really glad that the other girl was on her side.

“The way I see it, we’re past the point where a decoy engagement is going to cut it. Harry’s already seventeen, so she no longer has her age as an excuse not to follow through. And at this point, no one believes either of you have any intention of acting on your current contract. So, we need to come up with someone for Harry to actually marry, and once that happens she’ll at least be safe on that front. Do you know if she has anyone in mind who would be a good match?”

“She’s close to the Potions Aldermaster’s son. I know that he would agree if she asked him.” It was true.  There was no denying that Leo had been romantically interested in Harry for a long time, and if she was honest with herself, on the rare occasions where she had pictured herself marrying someone it had always been Leo.

“Oh, excellent! Then, we just need to make sure we’re prepared for Riddle’s retaliation. Where’s he most vulnerable?”

Caught off guard, the “excuse me” that slipped out of Rigel’s mouth was completely involuntary, but that didn’t stop Pansy’s raised eyebrow.

“We’re about to knowingly and intentionally interfere with a plan Riddle not only put into place but has been open enough about to allow it to be put in a letter. We may get a little leeway if he’s preoccupied by dealing with these extremists, but he’ll have to retaliate somehow if he wants to save face, and if this boy has any serious weaknesses he won’t hesitate to use them, so we need to make sure we have a plan for them.”

Rigel’s stomach plummeted down to her toes as her hands came up to fist into her close-cropped hair. “Oh, Merlin.”

“That bad?” Pansy leaned across the table in front of her, resting her weight on her elbows.

“He’s the Rogue,” Rigel groaned. “He runs the Court of the Rogues in the Lower Alleys. Manages the businesses, makes sure that his people have what they need to survive as long as they pay their tithe and follow the Court’s rules. It’s not exactly the most legal line of work.”

Pansy hmmd thoughtfully. “And how likely is it, do you think, that Riddle knows about this? How under the radar is this Court?”

“Considering that Leo’s hired Regulus Black for under the table ward work on at least two separate occasions? If Riddle doesn’t know already, he will the second he thinks to ask.”

She sighed. There were so any people who depended on Leo. Rispah, Aled, Krait, Marek, Margo and Clara… These people were her friends, and if Riddle thought it would hurt Harry or one young man who had the nerve to get in his way, he wouldn’t hesitate to twist the knife.

Whether it was a tip to the Auror department or encouraging malcontents like Claw, Riddle would and could topple Leo’s careful house of cards with just a few words, a few promises to the right, or wrong, people. And then where would the Alley folk be?

“Leo loves Harry, but he would never put his people at risk like that.” He was too pragmatic, too used to self-denial but not so insecure as to be unaware of the good he did in those alleys. “And Harry could never put him in the position where he’d have to make that choice.” It was that dual pragmatism that made the two of them such a good pair, but that left Rigel with a weird pit in her gut.

Pansy tentatively reached for her hand, worried Rigel might resist the touch the way she usually did, but Rigel was suddenly too tired to fight. Pansy’s grip was gentle but, when her fingers tightened Rigel’s eyes were drawn to meet her friend’s steady gaze.

“I promise you, Rye,” her face as open as Rigel had ever seen it, “Harry is going to be fine. We have this. We just have to keep thinking and we’ll come up with something we can all live with.”

And with that she pulled away to reach for the middle chalkboard. Rigel told herself to ignore how cold her hand felt all of a sudden. But then Pansy was back, presenting Rigel with a piece of chalk.

“Start making a list. Every unmarried pureblood you or Harry knows, whether you think they’re a good match or not. Then, once we’re sure we aren’t going to accidentally overlook someone, we use process of elimination until we know all our options. Let’s get to work”

And they did.

 -0

[HpHpHp]

-0

 “You’re joking right? Because Crabbe and Goyle are both definitely worse than Theo.”

“You said everyone!”

“The minions are not everyone, Rye.”

“I’ll cross them off because I’m not insane but I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what ‘everyone’ means, Pan.”

 -0

[HpHpHp]

-0

 “What about Millicent?”

“No… her parents just finalized an arrangement with that young Belgian ambassador she had her eye on.  I’m the maid of honour. I’m pretty sure it would be rude to ask her to break an engagement”

“You’re probably right there.”

“Of course I am.”

 -0

[HpHpHp]

-0

 “I thought you liked Neville!”

“Trust me, I’m crossing him off for his own good. There’s no way I’m subjecting that poor boy to a lifetime with your family.”

“I don’t know if I should be proud of you for protecting a Gryffindor or just insulted on my family’s behalf.”

“I’m sorry, I thought you had met the Marauders.  Remember the first day of third year defense?”

“…Okay, yeah, Neville would die.”

 -0

[HpHpHp]

-0

 “What about Weasley?”

“Which one?”

“Any of them?”

“No, their family is too close and Gryffindors besides. Makes them too easy to use against each other, and the oldest sells his services as a cursebreaker in the alleys. I can’t be sure whether or not Riddle knows that.”

“Fair enough. I’ve heard enough rumours about a flying car to be concerned regardless.”

 -0

[HpHpHp]

-0

 “It’s a shame Rosier is already married. I think he’s always been a little bit sweet on you and your cousin.”

“Actually, he did once offer to marry her if she needed the option.”

“That does not surprise me at all.”

 -0

[HpHpHp]

-0

“I thought you liked your cousin.”

“I do! They’re friends, I swear!”

“Putting a pin in that…do you really want your cousin to be murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange?”

“…I hate it when you have a point.”

“No, you don’t.”

Rigel let out a dramatic, full-body sigh that would have made Archie proud, as she let her forehead fall to the desk surface with an audible clunk. “No, I don’t.

“That was the last name, though. Why is everyone I know either harboring a deep prejudice against a member of my family, or shady enough that I have to worry about Uncle James having to arrest them?”

“I don’t know, maybe because you’re rather shady yourself? And I resent the implication” While her tone was joking, Rigel didn’t miss the crease between Pansy’s brows as she glared at the chalkboards full of crossed out names.

“Ugh, at this rate, Harry may have to just marry you, Pan. Unless you’re secretly running an illicit organ smuggling ring you haven’t told me about.” Rigel thought Pansy would laugh, or maybe just ignore her admittedly morbid joke. She was not expecting the way her friend slowly turned her full body to face her, or the intensity of her gaze when she did.

“Repeat that for me?”

Rigel didn’t think she meant the bit about the organ smuggling, which could only mean- “You’re not serious are you?” Pansy didn’t respond and that was telling enough. “You’re completely serious, aren’t you?”

“Think about it!” Pansy’s hand practically burst forward to grip Rigel’s forearm. “You’re always talking about how similar you and Harry are, and we’re best friends! You can’t tell me you don’t think Harry and I would get along, can you?”

“Well, no, but…”

It was surprisingly tempting to just take Pansy up on her offer right away. Hadn’t she claimed when trying to sell the validity of the marriage contract between Harry and Archie that if she had to marry she wanted it to be someone she was comfortable with, someone already accustomed to her priorities and her lifestyle.  

If there was anyone other than Archie for whom that would be true it would be Pansy or Draco. And true her feelings toward the other two Slytherins had always been a deep bond of friendship rather than romantic but they were practically family already. And didn’t people say you should marry your best friend. Draco had made it very clear on multiple occasions that he completely bought into Riddle’s blood superiority, and as much as it hurt to admit, she couldn’t trust Draco with this. It was too important to risk.

But Pansy, she had never spoken out against the Party’s propaganda directly, true, but she had never spoken of Harry or her mother and sister with anything less than complete respect, and she had been open to learning more about the newest research on what affect the newness of blood actually had on one’s magic. For the first time, she really, truly wanted to let someone in on the ruse for more than just the convenience. She wanted Pansy to see her, to really see all of her and that was bloody terrifying.

On the other hand, there was just so much Pansy didn’t know. So much she couldn’t know without putting at risk everything she had ever claimed to want. How could Rigel ask her to jeopardize the social and parental esteem she had worked so hard to maintain. Or ask her to give up the list of marriage prospects she had been so satisfied with earning the last time she spoke of it. It was kind of her to offer, but they were Slytherins and she couldn’t very well ask her friend to give up her ambitions just to help her friend’s cousin. It was too big an ask.

She was honestly surprised Pansy would even suggest something that major, that went against everything she had been raised into unless… well, she could just ask.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember Harry being on your shortlist, Pan. And do you really want to go against Riddle’s wishes so publically?”

Pansy’s eyes flashed. “My preferences are apparently no longer of consequence. My father wrote to tell me that Lord Riddle,” here the name was practically hissed through her teeth, “would prefer that I marry Daphne Greengrass.” The other girl took a deep, calming breath, releasing the broken chalk she had clearly forgotten she was holding.

“No, Riddle does not get to come into my life, and ruin years of hard work and then expect me to follow along like a sheep. I’m not going to knowingly sentence myself to a lifetime of misery with Daphne Greengrass when I have other options. I don’t know your cousin well, but I do know you, and I trust your judgement, Rye. If you think that Harry and I would get along and would be able to work together for both our ends, then that sounds like my best option, and I’d ask that you communicate that to Harry for me.” And with a look on her face like she had surprised herself with her own sudden vehemence, Pansy turned the floor back over to Rigel. Once again, it was all on Rigel to decide the path of her future, and she really ought to have been an old hat at that by now, but somehow it was still utterly terrifying to meet Pansy’s eyes and say something she had never thought she would.

“Before I say anything to my cousin, Pan, I think there’s really something you should know…”

 And so, it began.

[icarianfate-blog]

Something that’s very important to me and I don’t budge on is Regulus’s continued attachment to his family and connections in the elitist pureblood society. There’s a few reasons for this, which I’ll go into here.

1. Life is Messy

Did Regulus grow thanks to his exposure to the darkest parts of his community, the reality behind their beliefs and his views become less bigoted over time? Yes. But the fact he no longer views muggleborns as filth doesn’t eradicate a lifetime of indoctrination, a need for human connection, a justified fear of rejection, still loving your family even when they’re awful, or utterly pragmatic needs like business partnerships. He’s not Sirius or Andromeda, for Regulus utterly removing himself from the society they were raised in is not an option. Life is messy and sometimes you’re the liberal-ish gay cousin at christmas dinner trying to fend off war flashbacks because your baby cousin just said the word “lake”. 

Regulus -- like Draco -- became a Death Eater at 16 and in canon died at 18. By the end of the second war Regulus is 36. He saw and did terrible things at an incredibly young age, then had to totally restructure his whole world view alone with no one to really talk to about it and rebuild his entire life-- all while dealing with the physical, psychological and social consequences of his actions. While it doesn’t take him long at all to mellow out, it does take him longer to defrag his ideology and figure out what the hell he does believe now and how to express those new beliefs accurately. Basically the man’s a mess and that’s really to be expected.

2. Portraying the Spectrum

I also feel it’s very important to have people who fall more on the “Bad Side” who are well, not so bad. While on paper these topics are very black and white in reality they’re not always so clean cut. Something I’ve always hated about Harry Potter is that until about the last 2 books there’s basically not a single “Good” Slytherin even mentioned let alone seen. Yes there are people like Severus who are there from the start, but he’s not revealed to be a “Good Slytherin” until the very end, the rest of the time he’s portrayed as one of the worst ones. This always just pissed me off so much, it’s just such an unnecessary and trite demonization of a whole group-- worse, a group of children. Yes it’s the most likely place for the Dracos of the world to end up, but that doesn’t mean every single child who was ever sorted into it is a Death Eater in the making. But we never see those Slytherins and it really, really pisses me off.

Regulus is not a “Good Person” in the sense he was always secretly good and eventually ~~broke free of the evil mind control and is now Pure again~~. I hesitate to even call him a good person honestly, even though his last and only canon acts speak to someone who is unwavering good and self-sacrificing. In his youth he genuinely believed in some truly terrible things but he had his own inherit limits and morals he could not sacrifice even for his family and their beliefs. That’s important, not everyone on that side is a Bellatrix, and while being less awful than Bellatrix doesn’t exactly earn you a medal it does speak to the spectrum. He’s not the best, but he’s definitely not the worst. 

By the time the first war is over Regulus is on a knife’s edge at the near perfect center of the spectrum between acceptance and bigotry. He’s proof that a Slytherin coming from the most stereotypical, toxic pureblood upbringing with all the classic Slytherin traits can still buck a lot of the script and actually manage to not be a complete bastard. 

3. Never Burn Bridges You Could Still Use

In true Slytherin fashion, we come to a manipulative, Game of Thrones-y  reason. This is one of the key reasons for him IC and also one of the things I think can be difficult for people to get or swallow. Where most people likely feel that the only correct option would be to pull a Sirius and disown the family-- that they themselves could never stomach putting up with all the heinous things these pureblood types say and cannot imagine someone who doesn’t believe it doing just that for any reason-- the fact is that’s not always the right move, and that there are people who can do it just fine. 

Regulus isn’t a fool. He’s the well-educated, intelligent son of a rich, prominent pureblood family with lots of connections all over the place in the wizarding community who got sorted into the “win or die trying” house. Publicly renouncing half or more of those connections is frankly a terrible idea for him to do on so many levels. He loses a LOT of power, access and leverage he could actually use to do things that could actually be a boon in the long run. While unlike Severus he wasn’t --and likely doesn’t become a spy ( though that is up for debate )-- those connections could be vital for his continued survival and provide a means of keeping tabs on enemies. 

Why on earth would he run around making enemies of everyone he could still use? How does that help anyone? Especially when he’s already mastered the art of placating and maneuvering these types of people.

4. Love, Sentimentality and Loyalty are just as Powerful Weaknesses as Strengths

Something we actually get from canon is that Regulus is an unquestionably loving, loyal and compassionate person. When he has Kreacher take him to the cave he drinks the potion, he sacrifices himself. This is not something someone who is not at their core compassionate, empathetic and loving does. He saw the effects the potion had on Kreacher, he heard what he had gone through, and when the time came he refused to make the elf go through that again. 

"And he order-- Kreacher to leave-- without him. And he told Kreacher -- to go home-- and never to tell my Mistress-- what he had done-- but to destroy-- the first locket. And he drank-- all the potion-- and Kreacher swapped the lockets-- and watched ... as Master Regulus ... was dragged beneath the water ... and ..."

"[...] that Regulus changed his mind ... but he doesn't seem to have explained that to Kreacher, does he? And I think I know why. Kreacher and Regulus's family were all safest if they kept to the old pure-blood line. Regulus was trying to protect them all." "[...]  I've said all along that wizards would pay for how they treat house-elves. Well, Voldemort did ... and so did Sirius." [...] I do not think Sirius ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a human's ...

This core of kindness and empathy is both what ended up causing him to defect and also what keeps him tied to what family and friends he has left. It’s hard, especially when you are so loyal and loving to cut out people who you’ve known your whole life, who you love and love you back. Bellatrix is a monster she’s easy to cut out but Narcissa? How could he really cut ties with one of his only living relatives, who’s likely his favorite cousin? Who is herself a fiercely loving and loyal woman? It would take a lot for him to finally cut ties with his loved ones still in the purist community and it’s frankly one of his greatest failings. 

5. No One likes a Former Death Eater

The cruel fact of the matter is that regardless of your reformation most people will not accept or acknowledge it and treat you like you are still a monster. Regulus could try -- and does try-- to integrate more with the mainstream, but it’ll always be met with mixed success at best because he was a Death Eater. Unless he moved to a different country, it’d be difficult to really start over again completely with any real solid success. The majority of the wizarding world socially ostracizes him while still engaging with him on a business and political level because of his status. The only people who still want to have a cuppa with him are all in the same boat as him, bigots or purist sympathizers. 

He’s human, and however much he’d like to gripe about people and wanting to be left alone forever to become a hermit he craves interaction, especially since he himself is an intensely social extroverted person. If he cuts these people out of his life he basically has no one to talk to anymore and he’s left totally isolated, which would frankly lead to much worse and dangerous places for him. 

6. Someone here has to be the Voice of Reason

Having literally no one in that community who isn’t a total nightmare is asking for trouble. Not only because it allows the toxicity to stew and intensify unchecked but it also means no one is there to try and help the younger generations break free of the cycle. If he just left like Andromeda and Sirius he’s just making it worse by removing a more moderate voice from the communal discussion. It’s not even about trying to show them the error of their ways, that’s in fact a terrible way to go about things with people like this. It’s about diluting the toxic ideology, providing the less dangerous paths and laying out the framework that can act as the basis for someone else’s journey out of the quagmire. 

For example, when looking at cults and hate groups, the worst way to reach those people is by trying to point out everything wrong and arguing with them, it only entrenches them more. You make more progress by staying close and quietly slipping in the information and tools they need to work things out themselves. Telling someone they’re in a destructive cult will get you nothing, but telling them about this book you read about some terrible cult and all the signs of one you learned from it and isn’t that just wild? These people are bad news huh? Here give it a read yourself-- Is far more effective in the long run. 

By being there he acts as a moderate, neutral adult figure who the children can both model and look to for support. He’s much safer than most of their families and willing to be the sounding board for their own debates and give advice from a place of having literally been right where they are now. He can act as a mid-point between the extremely insular and toxic pureblood community, the mainstream wizarding world, and thanks to his time in hiding, the muggle world for purebloods looking to escape or just broaden themselves.

[straight-outta-hobbiton]

On Sirius Black and the Black Family Dynamics

So, something interesting I just realized.

In Grimmauld Place, Sirius still has a bedroom. Like, canonically, he sleeps in the room that used to be his growing up. It still has his posters all over the walls and everything. On top of that, it has a letter sent from Lily in 1981.

While I recognize JKR is shit at keeping timelines, it made me think— for the placement of that letter to work, Sirius must have been either living in the house or stayed over regularly enough that it wouldn’t be unusual for him to leave things like letters from his friends lying around. 

According to Sirius, Walburga was basically an alt-right stand-in, and thanks to the portrait, we have no reason to disbelieve him. But here’s the thing— even after she blasted him off the family tapestry, she left his room alone. Yeah, there were permanent sticking charms on his posters and whatnot, but considering the implied magical ability both she and Orion Black had they probably could have gotten rid of it all anyway, turning the room into another guest room or an office or a torture chamber or whatever. But they didn’t. They left it just as it was.

This, to me, implies that they expected their son to come home, whether it be because he has nowhere else to go or because he learned his lesson and was willing to return on their terms. Since he still became Lord Black after they died, I can’t imagine they legally disowned him/wrote him out of the will, considering they were filthy rich Purebloods with appropriately-thinking family out the ass.

So, Walburga and Orion expect their elder son to come home, and he doesn’t. He moves in with the Potters, then inherits a small fortune from an uncle that basically wipes away any chances of the first scenario happening, leading to the fury and blasting of Alphard Black’s portrait off the family tapestry. Still, they don’t destroy his room. They leave it there.

Then, at some point in 1979, Regulus dies, and so does Orion. Walburga is suddenly completely alone, her husband (to whom she was happily married, according to a couple of different sites) and her perfect, albeit younger son, who did the right thing and joined the Death Eaters. She’s older, she’s sick with grief, and she’s pretty much lost everything that a proper Pureblood lady ever wants in the world.

I theorize that she and Sirius contacted each other again somehow, either Walburga writing to Sirius about the death of his brother and father or Sirius contacting her with condolences, though I think the first is probably more likely, since Regulus ‘disappeared’ rather than just straight up died. So they come back into contact again.

Sirius is a kid who was abused by his parents, at least emotionally, probably physically. You figure he probably spent most of his childhood before running away doing his best to be accepted by his parents, to be loved and understood even though he knew deep down inside that they would never accept him as he was. Still, he tried— he probably got good grades, probably tried to do things he thought might make his father proud or his mother smile in between bouts of rebellious, probably self-destructive anger. And while he’s mostly gotten over the people-pleaser thing— after all, they’ve still got Regulus, the better son, and anyway he’s got his friends and a job and a purpose beyond that sort of stuff— when he gets the news that his brother (who he loved, even if he turned out to be a no-good Death Eater) and his father (who taught him how to fly and cast his first spells but always let his mother have her way when Sirius did something wrong) are dead, he still grieves. Nobody else can understand it, really, so he goes to his mother, the only other person in the world who feels at least a little bit like he does.

His mom’s still a bitch. She’s still mean, and hates his friends and his life and his beliefs and his choices, but she’s older now, worn down by the sudden shock of losing just about everything she cherished within a single year. But she lets him in, lets him sit across the table with a cup of tea with her in silence, lets him ask about her health and if she knows how Regulus died (because even if he’s technically missing, they both know that he’s dead). Eventually, of course, the meeting goes bad, and he slams the door behind him as he goes.

But he comes back.

He starts... visiting. It’s never comfortable, their conversations always on a knife’s edge between superficial small talk and full-blown arguments. He hates that he can’t say anything about his life, about how James and Lily got married and how Remus has a new job, because it’ll just lead to insults about his Mudblood friends. He hates that she’ll just bring up shit he does that she doesn’t agree with and tell him why he’s being stupid by getting involved with Dumbledore, and he just has to sit and take it because God forbid he brings up how well Regulus’ involvement with the Dark Lord went.

She doesn’t seem to mind that he visits, though, and as time passes, she starts getting obviously weaker, physically, magically, and mentally. She starts talking to him like she did when he was a kid in between those angry outbursts, before he proved to be nothing but a bloodtraitor, shaming his good family name by running around with Dumbledore’s lot. And the little kid in Sirius— the one still  desperate for approval from his mother— eats it up, prompting him to visit more, even maybe spend a few nights in the house. It’s not perfect— more often than not, she still seems to hate him— but there’s just enough sweetness on Walburga’s part that makes Sirius think that maybe, maybe he could change her mind, maybe he could get this to work even though it definitely won’t.

She’s pleased when Harry’s born and he’s named godson, even if the brat’s only a halfblood, because an alliance with the Potters is a step in the right direction, even if they aren’t Sacred Twenty-Eight. She lets him show her pictures, and remarks how lucky his godson is to take after his father, and even on one occasion meets him, when a babysitting Sirius pops in to pick up a present for Harry he’d left at Grimmauld. But she’s still getting worse, still getting sicker and crazier and meaner despite all this.

Eventually, of course, Sirius’ visits stop, and Walburga finds out he’s in Azkaban thanks to the Prophet. She gets sicker, and weaker, and eventually dies in 1985, leaving behind only her family name and holdings and a hope that maybe someday, Sirius will be freed, and he’ll do what’s right by the family.

Sirius told Harry he never came back to Grimmauld after he ran away. I think it’s more interesting if he was lying.

[gedwimora-arc]

Reposting this instead of just reblogging this from Regulus’ main bc it’s Very Long and I originally made the choice to not cut it because of its importance, which was fine for his main but on here it’s a bit much imo. So naturally I’ve had to repost in order to cut.

Something that’s very important to me and I don’t budge on is Regulus’s continued attachment to his family and connections in the elitist pureblood society. There’s a few reasons for this, which I’ll go into here.

1. Life is Messy

Did Regulus grow thanks to his exposure to the darkest parts of his community, the reality behind their beliefs and his views become less bigoted over time? Yes. But the fact he no longer views muggleborns as filth doesn’t eradicate a lifetime of indoctrination, a need for human connection, a justified fear of rejection, still loving your family even when they’re awful, or utterly pragmatic needs like business partnerships. He’s not Sirius or Andromeda, for Regulus utterly removing himself from the society they were raised in is not an option. Life is messy and sometimes you’re the liberal-ish gay cousin at christmas dinner trying to fend off war flashbacks because your baby cousin just said the word “lake”.

Regulus – like Draco – became a Death Eater at 16 and in canon died at 18. By the end of the second war Regulus is 36. He saw and did terrible things at an incredibly young age, then had to totally restructure his whole world view alone with no one to really talk to about it and rebuild his entire life– all while dealing with the physical, psychological and social consequences of his actions. While it doesn’t take him long at all to mellow out, it does take him longer to defrag his ideology and figure out what the hell he does believe now and how to express those new beliefs accurately. Basically the man’s a mess and that’s really to be expected.

2. Portraying the Spectrum

I also feel it’s very important to have people who fall more on the “Bad Side” who are well, not so bad. While on paper these topics are very black and white in reality they’re not always so clean cut. Something I’ve always hated about Harry Potter is that until about the last 2 books there’s basically not a single “Good” Slytherin even mentioned let alone seen. Yes there are people like Severus who are there from the start, but he’s not revealed to be a “Good Slytherin” until the very end, the rest of the time he’s portrayed as one of the worst ones. This always just pissed me off so much, it’s just such an unnecessary and trite demonization of a whole group– worse, a group of children. Yes it’s the most likely place for the Dracos of the world to end up, but that doesn’t mean every single child who was ever sorted into it is a Death Eater in the making. But we never see those Slytherins and it really, really pisses me off.

Regulus is not a “Good Person” in the sense he was always secretly good and eventually ~~broke free of the evil mind control and is now Pure again~~. I hesitate to even call him a good person honestly, even though his last and only canon acts speak to someone who is unwavering good and self-sacrificing. In his youth he genuinely believed in some truly terrible things but he had his own inherit limits and morals he could not sacrifice even for his family and their beliefs. That’s important, not everyone on that side is a Bellatrix, and while being less awful than Bellatrix doesn’t exactly earn you a medal it does speak to the spectrum. He’s not the best, but he’s definitely not the worst.

By the time the first war is over Regulus is on a knife’s edge at the near perfect center of the spectrum between acceptance and bigotry. He’s proof that a Slytherin coming from the most stereotypical, toxic pureblood upbringing with all the classic Slytherin traits can still buck a lot of the script and actually manage to not be a complete bastard.

3. Never Burn Bridges You Could Still Use

In true Slytherin fashion, we come to a manipulative, Game of Thrones-y  reason. This is one of the key reasons for him IC and also one of the things I think can be difficult for people to get or swallow. Where most people likely feel that the only correct option would be to pull a Sirius and disown the family– that they themselves could never stomach putting up with all the heinous things these pureblood types say and cannot imagine someone who doesn’t believe it doing just that for any reason– the fact is that’s not always the right move, and that there are people who can do it just fine.

Regulus isn’t a fool. He’s the well-educated, intelligent son of a rich, prominent pureblood family with lots of connections all over the place in the wizarding community who got sorted into the “win or die trying” house. Publicly renouncing half or more of those connections is frankly a terrible idea for him to do on so many levels. He loses a LOT of power, access and leverage he could actually use to do things that could actually be a boon in the long run. While unlike Severus he wasn’t –and likely doesn’t become a spy ( though that is up for debate )– those connections could be vital for his continued survival and provide a means of keeping tabs on enemies.

Why on earth would he run around making enemies of everyone he could still use? How does that help anyone? Especially when he’s already mastered the art of placating and maneuvering these types of people.

4. Love, Sentimentality and Loyalty are just as Powerful Weaknesses as Strengths

Something we actually get from canon is that Regulus is an unquestionably loving, loyal and compassionate person. When he has Kreacher take him to the cave he drinks the potion, he sacrifices himself. This is not something someone who is not at their core compassionate, empathetic and loving does. He saw the effects the potion had on Kreacher, he heard what he had gone through, and when the time came he refused to make the elf go through that again.

“And he order– Kreacher to leave– without him. And he told Kreacher – to go home– and never to tell my Mistress– what he had done– but to destroy– the first locket. And he drank– all the potion– and Kreacher swapped the lockets– and watched … as Master Regulus … was dragged beneath the water … and …”

“[…] that Regulus changed his mind … but he doesn’t seem to have explained that to Kreacher, does he? And I think I know why. Kreacher and Regulus’s family were all safest if they kept to the old pure-blood line. Regulus was trying to protect them all.” “[…]  I’ve said all along that wizards would pay for how they treat house-elves. Well, Voldemort did … and so did Sirius.” […] I do not think Sirius ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a human’s …

This core of kindness and empathy is both what ended up causing him to defect and also what keeps him tied to what family and friends he has left. It’s hard, especially when you are so loyal and loving to cut out people who you’ve known your whole life, who you love and love you back. Bellatrix is a monster she’s easy to cut out but Narcissa? How could he really cut ties with one of his only living relatives, who’s likely his favorite cousin? Who is herself a fiercely loving and loyal woman? It would take a lot for him to finally cut ties with his loved ones still in the purist community and it’s frankly one of his greatest failings.

5. No One likes a Former Death Eater

The cruel fact of the matter is that regardless of your reformation most people will not accept or acknowledge it and treat you like you are still a monster. Regulus could try – and does try– to integrate more with the mainstream, but it’ll always be met with mixed success at best because he was a Death Eater. Unless he moved to a different country, it’d be difficult to really start over again completely with any real solid success. The majority of the wizarding world socially ostracizes him while still engaging with him on a business and political level because of his status. The only people who still want to have a cuppa with him are all in the same boat as him, bigots or purist sympathizers.

He’s human, and however much he’d like to gripe about people and wanting to be left alone forever to become a hermit he craves interaction, especially since he himself is an intensely social extroverted person. If he cuts these people out of his life he basically has no one to talk to anymore and he’s left totally isolated, which would frankly lead to much worse and dangerous places for him.

6. Someone here has to be the Voice of Reason

Having literally no one in that community who isn’t a total nightmare is asking for trouble. Not only because it allows the toxicity to stew and intensify unchecked but it also means no one is there to try and help the younger generations break free of the cycle. If he just left like Andromeda and Sirius he’s just making it worse by removing a more moderate voice from the communal discussion. It’s not even about trying to show them the error of their ways, that’s in fact a terrible way to go about things with people like this. It’s about diluting the toxic ideology, providing the less dangerous paths and laying out the framework that can act as the basis for someone else’s journey out of the quagmire.

For example, when looking at cults and hate groups, the worst way to reach those people is by trying to point out everything wrong and arguing with them, it only entrenches them more. You make more progress by staying close and quietly slipping in the information and tools they need to work things out themselves. Telling someone they’re in a destructive cult will get you nothing, but telling them about this book you read about some terrible cult and all the signs of one you learned from it and isn’t that just wild? These people are bad news huh? Here give it a read yourself– Is far more effective in the long run.

By being there he acts as a moderate, neutral adult figure who the children can both model and look to for support. He’s much safer than most of their families and willing to be the sounding board for their own debates and give advice from a place of having literally been right where they are now. He can act as a mid-point between the extremely insular and toxic pureblood community, the mainstream wizarding world, and thanks to his time in hiding, the muggle world for purebloods looking to escape or just broaden themselves.