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One Hour


Regulus dipped his wand into the steel blue water again and they sailed slowly over the now still surface toward the cliffs that made up the base of the castle. Durmstrang Institute was as dark in colouration as the magic it was known for teaching, black stones stacked one upon the other with red roof tiles and a somber, serious look to it that made it seem quite menacing. Sirius shifted on the bench seat of the boat rather uneasily, staring up at the jagged silhouette of the school, looming ever nearer as the boat cut through the waters, silent as a whisper…

Regulus steered them along the edge of the stones, so close that any one of them could have reached out and touched the cliff face, run their hands along the rugged edge as the boat carried them along. They rounded an outcropping of stone that cut into the water and found themselves approaching an underground cavern, not entirely unlike the one beneath Hogwarts - though this was much larger a cavern - the mouth looming nearly as high as the castle itself. Sirius’s head hung back as they went under the mouth of the cave, staring up as the enchanted sky disappeared from view.

They were all very quiet. Nervous energy moved between them. None of them knew what to say to one another.

The closer they got, the more and more Lily thought that her heart might beat it’s way clean out of her chest. It was silly - they would think her crazy if she said anything of it outloud but…. But she could feel James was there somewhere and her muscles were tight, ready to spring up from the stupid little boat to race and rescue him. She ran her palms over her knees, staring about with wide, anticipation-filled eyes.

Last time she had seen him, she had been about to tell him she loved him.

She forced herself to remember the look on his face… dawning realization of what she’d been saying, his eyes wide, nose flared with emotion… He’d stared at her, breathlessly. “Do you care for me? Even a smidge?”

A good deal more than a smidge, James Potter, she thought. A very good deal more than a smidge.

She would tell him, she promised herself, the moment she found him - wherever he was in this gods-forsaken hell hole of a castle - she would tell him.

And suddenly, there was a CRACK and the ship rocked as Sirius jumped in surprise and let out a curse that echoed about the cavern.

“FUCK!”

Maryrose and Lily had both jumped in surprise, too, and Regulus and Remus had drawn their wands and aimed at the source of the sound, which gave out a loud squeal and fell to the bottom of the boat at Regulus’s feet in the space between the bench Lily and Maryrose sat upon and the one Regulus now stood before. He stared down at the lumpy grey body of the house elf, a hex only just caught in his throat. “Wait! Wait - it’s just Kreacher, my elf!” he said quickly, waving for Remus to lower his wand.

Sirius clutched his heart, “Ferfucksakes Kreacher! What the bloody hell are you doing, you idiotic --”

“Don’t call him idiotic! It isn’t his fault, he didn’t mean to scare you, you bloody baby!” Regulus snapped hotly, and he turned to the elf, whose ears trembled as he lay, hands splayed over his head, hiding from the hexes that he was clearly thinking he was about to receive. “Kreacher, it’s alright, get up,” Regulus said, touching the elf’s back gently.

Kreacher shivered as he grovelled at Regulus’s feet. “Master, Master Regulus must come to the Dark Lord or the Dark Lord will repay Master Regulus with death!” Kreacher looked watery-eyed up at his beloved Master. “Please Master Regulus, the Dark Lord grows tired of waiting and the Dark Lord has told Kreacher that Master Regulus’s loved ones will be dead if Master does not go to him. The Dark Lord threatens to kill Kreacher’s Mistress!”

“Mother?” Regulus asked, concern in his voice.

“Yes, Master’s mother, Kreacher’s Mistress!” Kreacher repeated, and he looked up, reaching out for Regulus’s hand. “Kreacher is to bring Master to the Dark Lord!”

Regulus looked at a loss. For that matter, so did the others in the little vessel. Lily Evans stared, wide-eyed at the house elf, her face going paler and paler as he’d spoken his desperate pleas. She looked up at Regulus. Sirius was shaking his head slowly.

Regulus took a deep breath, then, eyes meeting Sirius’s, “If you land the ship just over there and you take the corridor to the right there, you’ll come to a hall. Cross the hall you’ll go up a spiraling stairwell ---”

“The fuck do you think you’re doing?” Sirius demanded.

“Giving you directions to the library,” Regulus answered, “So you can get there without me. Now listen - at the top of the stairwell you’re going to turn left and ---”

“You’re fucking mad you think I’m going to let you leave!” Sirius declared.

Regulus shook his head, “Sirius, I have to go.”

“No!” Maryrose said, her voice sharp. Even through the dark of the cave, they could all see the protectiveness flashing in her eyes. “Sirius is right. You can’t just go to him!”

“I have to,” Regulus answered, “Or else he’ll come here and then we’re all in trouble! If I go to him, I have the upper hand at least a bit in that I can distract him. I can - I can tell him I wasn’t able to come because… I don’t know, I’ll think of something. But if I put off, he’s going to kill Mother and then come after me anyway and I may not have a chance to try and talk myself out of it if that happens.”

“You can’t go, I won’t let you!” Sirius started to stand up, but the boat rocked violently and Remus clutched the sides of it weakly to keep from spilling over and Sirius quickly sat back down again. “We need your help to find and rescue James.”

Regulus said, “I’ve just told you how to get to the library, you can get the map of Durmstrang there and then my usefulness is ended anyway and ---”

“YOU CAN’T BLOODY GO RUNNING OFF AND GETTING KILLED!” Sirius bellowed, “I’M NOT LETTING YOU GO AND GET YOURSELF KILLED! IT IS NOT AN OPTION!” His face was red.

“Listen to you.” Regulus stared at him. “As though you give a damn.”

Sirius stared back. “What sort of big brother would I be if I let you go off like that and get yourself killed?”

“The worst sort,” Regulus answered, his voice heavy and full of meaning.

Sirius felt his heart break at the weight of the words. They weren’t just words, it wasn’t just an answer to a question. It was an admission of feeling.

You already are the worst sort of brother, the words were saying.

Sirius felt his throat grow very tight and his breath went rather shallow and he whispered, “Reg, please. Don’t go to him. Don’t go to Voldemort. Stay here. Stay here with me.”

And Sirius’s words weren’t just a plea for now, either. It was the same plea Sirius had had for Regulus since he’d gone to Hogwarts for the first time, years ago, when he’d come down the stairs from his bedroom that first summer, when he was 12, when Regulus was 10, and he’d begged Regulus to reconsider his way of thinking, to see that the muggles weren’t so bad, that the darkness that had infested itself in the Black house was the badness… if Regulus had only listened to him then…

As though accentuating the moment, Regulus’s Dark Mark burned hot against his skin again and he bit his lip to keep from yelling out with the pain of it. He winced, squeezing his eyes shut tight.

“Is Kreacher’s Master in pain? Kreacher does not like it that his Master is in pain.” He turned, misunderstanding what had hurt Regulus, and glared at Sirius. “Master Sirius is needing to be nicer to his brother! Master Regulus is a good master and Master Sirius is a very bad, filthy boy. Mistress says so.”

“Your Mistress needs to shut her mouth about things she doesn’t understand,” Remus snapped at exactly the same time as Lily said, “Your Mistress can shut it!” And they both looked at one another in surprise - as did Maryrose and Sirius.

Regulus was panting when the pain eased up from his arm. He’d missed the entire exchange as he’d been too focused on the white-hot ache lacing through his veins to hear it. Now he looked up, a sheen of fresh sweat on his brow, and he stammered, “Kreacher.”

Kreacher slowly peeled his seething eyes away from Sirius and the other two that had leaped to the filthy boy’s defense and looked up at Regulus. “Yes, Master Regulus?”

“Go to Voldemort and tell him I will come in one hour.”

“NO!” Sirius shouted, “YOU WON’T THOUGH.”

“I will. One hour.” Regulus repeated. Kreacher bowed and with a crack had gone. Regulus looked at Sirius, who was about to stand up again until Remus grabbed onto his arm to pull him back down. Regulus said, “One hour will be enough to get the lot of you to the library, to get the map, and hopefully get the spell set. We can see then where Voldemort is, where James Potter is, and me going to the Dark Lord will be a distraction so that the rest of you can rescue James. He’ll be too busy… dealing with me… to be noticing the lot of you are there.”

Lily said, “There has to be another way…”

“I don’t have a choice, eventually I have to go to him,” Regulus said, “And if we move fast enough at least me going will be… beneficial.”

Silence fell over them.

Maryrose stood and carefully sat down on the bench beside Regulus, taking up the hand that sat between them and lacing her fingers through his carefully, folding them together.

“We haven’t got any time to waste,” Regulus said and he turned and put his wand into the water again, and the boat moved on… ‘round the last bend of the cavern and into a wide opened space. A large black ship rocked gently in the water, docked, long gangplanks leading up to it’s decks, it’s sails limp without the wind of the bay. Regulus steered the boat quietly past it, lingering in the shadows of the edge of the cavern, his eyes taking in the ship, wary of any that may be aboard it that might see them…

Sirius stared at his knees.

Maryrose’s fingers tightened ‘round Regulus’s.

They reached a shore - dark grey sand, marked with pebbles scraped the bottom of the little boat, and Regulus got out, his shoes and trouser ankles getting wet, and he held out a hand for Maryrose and she stood up and he took her by the waist and put her onto the dry land without her having to get wet. Lily jumped out, only getting her shoes a little wet, and when Remus hesitated, his knees hurting too much to jump, Sirius grabbed hold of him quickly, making Remus gasp in surprise, as Sirius sloshed through the ankle-deep water to the shore, carrying Remus across his arms. Remus flushed as Sirius put him down on the other side, diverting his eyes from Lily who stared at them with something between admiration and jealousy.

Regulus tapped the boat with his wand and it sank quietly, invisible, back beneath the water, just as they’d found it before. He felt out for the chain and he nodded when he felt it, “There we are. It’ll be here. Don’t forget.” And he marked the sand so they could easily find it again for their escape later… so that Sirius could find it when they left, after he himself was gone to the Dark Lord.

They turned and walked, climbing the underground shore until they reached long wooden planks that ran through the sand - a walking path that lead a jagged trail through an ever-darkening tunnel, dripping with moisture, gradually going upward… until they reached a hall, just as Regulus had described, with narrow walls lined with portraits of thick, dark-looking men, the name plates giving names and dates… the Hall of Honorable Headmasters, this was called, and as they walked, eyes moved to follow them, watching them, wondering on them… until they came to a great spiraling staircase, of which they could only see a few stone steps ahead of them ‘til it curved ‘round in the corkscrew and out of sight.

Regulus paused at the foot of this stairwell and turned to look at the lot of them. “What do we do if we run into somebody?” he asked, his voice a whisper.

“Then we fight,” Sirius replied.

“We try to blend in is more like,” Remus said.

“I’ve a feeling that none of us blend in even slightly here,” Lily murmured.

“So we fight,” Sirius repeated.

“Fighting isn’t the answer,” said Maryrose.

Regulus hesitated. “I was… I was thinking of something a bit more like…” he sighed, then turned to the last portrait in the hall… a thick framed monstrosity of a thing, like all the others, but most recent… The portrait inside glowered down at the lot of them. The nameplate read Igor Karkaroff. Regulus pointed at the portrait.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, “A bit more like what?”

But Maryrose understood.

And Lily let out a gasp - she’d never seen Maryrose transform more than her hair colour before - and the others turned about to see… Maryrose Jenkins had been replaced by Igor Karkaroff.

“Oh my,” Lily murmured.

Maryrose looked down at herself, “It’s odd, being this tall,” she murmured. And it was even odder, thought the others, hearing Maryrose Jenkin’s voice come out of such a body as Igor Karkaroff’s! She ran her hand over the beard. “Oh this is really odd indeed.”