Soul Splitting

Second Chances

As he stepped through the door, Harry held a finger up to his lips, more for the benefit of Malfoy than Remus, who already knew perfectly well to be quiet in the hall near Mrs. Black's portrait. Harry could tell Remus was becoming more and more confused by the second, but he conceded to follow Harry to the kitchen all the same. Once downstairs, Harry closed the door and asked, "Remus, you don't know if anyone else from the Order is here right now, do you?"

"No, Harry. No one should be by today. I think most of them are at the wedding, but what's going on? This is all getting very strange."

"Okay. Remus, I'm going to tell you something really important – not even Ron and Hermione know. You're the only one."

"All right," said Remus calmly. "Go on."

"I've seen Draco Malfoy."

"What? Where? Harry, was Snape with him? Was Voldemort? Why didn't you tell someone –"

"No, no, it's not like that – he – I – I mean, he wants to switch sides."

"Harry, how can you – you can't possibly be suggesting we can trust him? Look at what happened with Snape – Dumbledore trusted him for years and just look what happened!"

"It's not the same. Malfoy didn't come to me spouting some nonsense about repentance like Snape did to Dumbledore. Malfoy was completely honest about why he wants to switch. He said that Voldemort wanted to kill him and so he ran away. He had nowhere else to go." Harry could hardly have believed two days ago that he would be arguing a case for Draco Malfoy, yet now it seemed quite important that Remus be convinced.

"But, Harry," said Remus, concern replacing the anger on his face, "why on earth should you, of all people, wish to help someone like Draco Malfoy? After everything he's done to you – to all of us?"

"He says he has information for us. And Remus, there's something I didn't tell anyone about the night Snape murdered Dumbledore, because at the time I didn't really think it was that important. When Malfoy couldn't kill Dumbledore, Dumbledore offered him the chance to switch. I was there and I saw. Malfoy was seconds from agreeing before the Death Eaters showed up. And I know Dumbledore wouldn't want us to let Voldemort kill Malfoy. He might have been wrong about Snape, but he's been right about so many other people who no one else would have taken a chance on – Hagrid, Firenze, Sirius...even you. He would've given Malfoy the benefit of the doubt, even after everything with Snape."

Remus furrowed his brow and ran a hand through his graying hair. "Harry, I'm really not sure it this is a good idea, and if it weren't for what you've just said about Dumbledore, I'd say we should just hand Draco Malfoy over to the Aurors and be done with it." Remus sat down at the table and said sadly, "Harry, I'm the first person to admit the Ministry has problems when it comes to criminal justice. I know if Malfoy goes to Azkaban, he won't have a much better chance of survival than if he returns to Voldemort... but all the same, I just don't know if we can trust him."

"But, Remus," said Harry firmly, looking his old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher squarely in the eyes, "you've just said it yourself. If we don't help him, he'll die. I'm not saying we should go right ahead and make him an Order member, but we can't just sit back and allow him to be murdered."

Remus nodded. Harry knew Remus couldn't stand idly by and allow the murder of someone who might be innocent. He had seen so many people die needlessly already.

"So, you agree that we should help him, then?"

"I agree that we should hear him out. He's very young and the idea of sending a boy to his certain death, regardless of the circumstances, would be cruel. Where's Malfoy now?"

"He's, er, someplace safe."

"Well, nowhere is absolutely secure. First thing tomorrow, I'd like you to take me to him, and if after I've talked to him, I decide that there's a chance he's telling the truth, then we'll see what can be done."

"Remus, the thing is, he actually is somewhere quite safe, and I think it might be better if you talked to him now."

Remus gave Harry a penetrating stare. "Now? Harry, what are you saying?"

Harry didn't answer, but as Remus looked from his eyes to the seemingly empty air behind him where Malfoy stood, comprehension dawned. Harry looked behind himself as well and Malfoy took off the Invisibility Cloak. "I've been with Potter since last night. I went to find him at the Muggle house."

Remus stared at Malfoy, dumbfounded. "I... I'm pleased that you've made the right choice. Please excuse my doubting you; I'm sure you understand why, and I'm certain you'll be able to put my anxieties regarding the matter to rest."

Malfoy nodded. "Like Potter said, he would've killed me. He's already killed my mother."

"What?" asked Harry. "You never told me... Malfoy, I... I'm sorry. Why didn't you say something?"

Malfoy shrugged. "It didn't come up. And I didn't want you to think we shared some bond or anything – both having parents killed by the Dark Lord."

Normally Harry would have been hard-pressed not to hit Malfoy for even mentioning his parents' murders, but this was different. There was no contempt in Malfoy's voice. He was simply stating a fact.

"Well," said Lupin glancing around the kitchen awkwardly, at an apparent loss as to what he ought to say, "I suppose we ought to have some dinner. Draco, you must be hungry. I can't imagine you got much to eat at the wedding."

"No," said Malfoy, "I didn't. Thanks to you," he added, looking pointedly at Harry.

"I don't know what you expected me to do – ask for extra for my invisible friend? And to be fair, I didn't say anything when you took the icing off my cake."

"You saw that?" Malfoy feigned shock. "And I thought I had done it so covertly."

* * *

After the three of them had eaten and Remus and Harry had cleaned the dishes, they all decided it might be a good idea to start getting settled for bed, even though it was still relatively early. "But tomorrow, I think all three of us need to sit down and discuss exactly what is going on. Draco, I know this may be difficult for you after what you've been through recently, but you're going to have to tell Harry and me everything – all about Voldemort, and Snape, and the rest of the Death Eaters."

Malfoy had flinched when Remus said the name, but all the same his resolve seemed strong, and he said, "I know. That's been my intent all along."

"Er, Remus, are you going to tell the rest of the Order about Malfoy?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea just yet, Harry. I may have been relatively easy to win over. Like you said, I know what it's like to not be given a chance, but not everyone else in the Order does. None of them are going to forget what Snape did to Dumbledore, and I'm afraid they'll be hard-pressed to see the difference between Snape's situation sixteen years ago and Draco's now. Though there is a difference, of course," Remus added hastily to Malfoy.

"Right," said Harry. "I agree."

"Draco?" asked Remus. "Does this sound all right to you? It means you'll have to keep hidden when there are other people in the house, which can be quite often, since this is Order headquarters."

"That's fine. I'd rather not overly involve myself, anyway. I'm only here because I want the Dark Lord and Snape to be defeated, not because I want to help your cause."

"Malfoy, it's when you say things like that that I wonder whether or not I'm doing the right thing," said Harry heatedly.

"Don't be an idiot, Potter. That's why you trusted me in the first place – because I'm not pretending to be some Muggle-loving blood traitor. There are simply some things we're going to have to agree to disagree on."

The fact that Malfoy had actually used the term "agree to disagree" placated Harry some and he said, "Fine, but remember that you're in my house and you're not dead yet because of me. I won't try to change your mind about things you believe, since I know it would just be a losing battle, but you can't act like we're back at school and you can just say things to rile me up."

"Potter, since I came to you yesterday, have I once insulted you or any of your friends?"

"No. Not quite outwardly, but you've come close. I know there have been times you've wanted to."

"Well, I'm only human. I'll hold my tongue, but you can't attack me for what I think. I'm serious about surviving, Potter, and I'm not about to fuck it up because I enjoy making you angry too much." Malfoy stared pointedly at Harry for a moment, until he suddenly remembered they were not alone. "Er, sorry, Professor."

"I am no longer your teacher, Draco, and as long as it's not particularly offensive, you can say what you must in front of me."

"Right," said Harry, "let's find you a room. I don't want that one with Phineas Nigellus's portrait in it, and I don't think you should take it either, as the other one is in McGonagall's office. Remus, which room have you been sleeping in?"

"Oh, I've taken Sirius's room."

"You wouldn't rather the room you had when you stayed here last time?" Harry asked.

"I think the room Fred and George stayed in has remained clean of anything dangerous, and so has the room Hermione and Ginny slept in, so why don't you two take those. I'll see you both tomorrow."

Remus left the kitchen rather quickly and as Harry heard his footsteps die away he said, "That was strange."

Malfoy smirked.

"What?" asked Harry.

Malfoy raised a questioning eyebrow. When Harry only stared back in confusion, Malfoy said, "All right then, Potter, escort me to my apartments. I'm beginning to feel a bit wilted."

The two of them went upstairs and retrieved their luggage from the foyer, then proceeded to the third floor. Once Harry had shown Malfoy the room where he would stay (Hermione and Ginny's old bedroom), Malfoy turned to Harry and said, "So, this was Sirius Black's house?" Harry nodded. "I came here for a family reunion once, I think, when I small. Of course, Aunt Bellatrix was in Azkaban and Aunt Andromeda wasn't invited, so it was a rather small reunion..."

"I forgot it was your family that used to live here."

Malfoy shrugged. "My mother's aunt and uncle. We didn't see much of them. I think my parents were ashamed of Regulus and Sirius. And now, what would they think of me?"

Harry thought Malfoy was probably speaking more to himself than to Harry, so, bidding the other boy a hasty goodnight, he retreated to the room next door, where Fred and George had once stayed. Unsurprisingly, it smelled slightly as if things had been burned in there – perhaps hair – and somehow Harry found this rather comforting. Knowing there was a good chance he would be there for some time, he unpacked most of his trunk. He had let Hedwig out that morning to spare her the journey and she had not yet turned up at Grimmauld Place.

Unpacking didn't take very long – only fifteen minutes, since Harry didn't have much to unpack – so even though it was only 8:30 when he finished, he had nothing better to do than go to sleep. He didn't fancy the idea of wandering around the house at night by himself.

* * * * *

Draco didn't go right to bed when he left Potter and went into his assigned room. He didn't have any clothes to unpack, other than the Muggle suit he had been carrying in his rucksack, nor did he have any pajamas to change into, so he simply sat on the single bed in the corner and stared at the wall. The room was drab and colorless. There were no windows and aside from the sagging bed, the only furniture was an armoire, in which Draco hung his suit, and a small square table next to the bed with a smoky oil-lamp on it that had ignited when he entered.

When Draco had come here as a child, he remembered more decoration than he saw now. He supposed that when Sirius Black had moved in, he had purged the house of much of its character in a desire to forget his past. The walls now showed the unmistakable signs of having once been covered by pictures or mirrors where the wallpaper was lighter and less discolored. Although the room was dull, in a way Draco, too, was glad for the absence of things that might remind him too much of his own childhood.

Draco had purposely omitted his aunt's involvement in Narcissa's death when he told Lupin and Potter about it. Even though he knew there was no way she could find him at Grimmauld Place, she still terrified him. During those weeks spent learning Occlumency, the mere thought of which now made him shudder, he had felt as if he was in the company of someone who had received a Dementor's Kiss, yet retained the ability to fully function even without a soul.

And now the fact that it had actually been his own flesh and blood that had obliterated his mother's life made Draco's chest seize up and his stomach lurch violently. The thought of Bellatrix made him feel five years old... made him feel that he ought to apologize to her for Narcissa's death. Somehow Bellatrix held a power over him. Once she had fascinated Draco; he had wished to emulate her and had been eager for what she could to teach him. But now everything was different. Now she haunted him like a specter that whispered frightening thoughts to him – telling him how all the things that had gone wrong in the past few months were his own fault – not Snape's fault or even hers, but Draco's fault alone. And try as might to keep the blame pinned on Snape, Draco knew it really was his action, or lack of action, that had caused Bellatrix to kill his mother.

* * * * *

As Harry hadn't been particularly tired when he turned in, he woke up only four hours later, at half past midnight. He stretched and turned on the lamp next to his bed. The light was dim and didn't hurt his eyes. He stretched again and got up, intending to use the washroom. As he passed by Malfoy's room, he paused. Putting his ear up to the door, he heard the unmistakable sounds of muffled sobs. This was the second time he had unintentionally heard Malfoy cry (not counting the sniffle he's heard earlier at the wedding, which he couldn't be sure had been the result of tears or not), and this time didn't feel any less awkward. But remembering what had happened the last time when Malfoy caught him, Harry hurried on to the washroom and tried to forget about what he had just heard.

A few minutes later, when he was back in bed, Harry unsurprisingly found sleep hard to come by. This meant that his thoughts were free to wander, and before long they settled on the subject of the crying boy next door. Although Harry had now only encountered Malfoy crying twice that he could be sure of, that number somehow seemed like a lot, and he wondered if, in fact, Malfoy wasn't just as weepy as Cho Chang, only a bit better at hiding it. But then, Harry supposed, Malfoy had good reason to cry. Although he hadn't seemed particularly bothered by it, his mother was dead – murdered by Voldemort. Harry had never actually cried over his parents' murders, but that was probably because he was very distanced from them. It wasn't that he didn't feel anything in regards to what had happened to them sixteen years earlier – anyone who knew him in the slightest knew that he was deeply affected by it – but he had come to terms with the murders a long time ago. Malfoy hadn't. And Harry then felt something he had become rather familiar over the past week – a slight twinge of pity for his old rival.

* * *

Harry went down to the kitchen the next morning to find a fire crackling in the hearth and both Remus and Malfoy already awake. Remus was seated at the table, sipping a mug of tea and reading the Prophet; Malfoy was seated across from him, eating a piece of toast. Despite Malfoy's late night, Harry thought he looked relatively well rested. In fact, Remus looked far worse, though this was not unusual. "'Morning," Harry said sleepily.

Malfoy nodded at Harry in acknowledgement of his presence and Remus folded the paper, saying, "Good morning, Harry. Tea?"

Harry nodded and went to the cupboard to get a mug. "Please." Remus took the cup and conjured him some tea before handing it back. "Thanks."

"Well, now that we're all here," said Remus, "I think we ought to start considering this meeting we've got to have. Do you want to change first and meet back here in a few minutes?"

"Why change?" asked Malfoy. "We're not going out... not that I have anything to change into, anyway." Harry then realized that Malfoy was still wearing the clothes he had loaned him two days ago. He must have slept in them as well, Harry assumed.

Remus glanced at Harry, at an obvious loss for what to say. "Well, I don't have to change. Pajamas are fine," said Harry. "Let's just start now." Malfoy nodded and chewed the remaining bite of his toast.

"All right then, let's begin," said Remus. "Well, I suppose my first question is, Draco, what happened after you and Snape Disapparated the night Dumbledore died?"

* * * * *

Draco took a deep breath and launched into his story – how Snape had hid him because of the Unbreakable Vow and how once it had been broken (really, "unbreakable" was a bit of a misnomer), Snape had made him leave.

"Wait, Bellatrix Lestrange murdered her own sister?" Potter asked, shocked.

"She'd do anything for the Dark Lord, Potter. It's not the first time she's killed family." Draco noticed anger flicker over both of his listeners' faces and suddenly he remembered that Potter had been Sirius Black's godson. Draco hadn't known they were close, but now that he thought about it, Black had left Potter the house, hadn't he? And Draco was beginning to have suspicions regarding Lupin's apparent hatred of Bellatrix, as well, but of course, there was no way to be sure, and Draco wasn't particularly interested anyway.

"Well, then what?" Potter asked.

"I left," Draco continued, and then recounted his visit to the Lake District in more detail than he had on the night he had turned up at Potter's doorstep.

"Draco," Lupin asked once he had reached the part about Apparating to Privet Drive, "how did you know where Harry lived?"

"Before I left Snape's, Wormtail gave me some sort of master list of contact information for Hogwarts students. I'm not really sure why." Draco didn't mention the letters or memories Wormtail had given him yet. He needed to be careful not to play all his cards at once. He had to be sure Lupin and Potter wouldn't decide he had served his purpose and kick him out, like Snape had. Draco had looked through some of the letters and there wasn't anything glaringly important in them – it wouldn't hurt anyone if he kept these things secret a bit longer.

"Did he?" Lupin asked. "I suppose it's no wonder Snape had such a list, as all Hogwarts teachers do, but I can't think of why Wormtail thought it important for you to have it... or Snape to lose it."

"So, what's Snape doing now?"

"Potter, I told you when I came to you my information was correct but limited. Why would Snape tell me what he was doing?"

"Well, I just thought you'd be able to tell me a bit more than that he has a dusty house."

"I may not be able to tell you what he's doing, but as you may have noticed, I was able to tell you exactly where he lives and I know his house contains at least one secret passageway."

Potter looked aggravated and Lupin said, "Actually, Harry, that is quite important. I don't think anyone knew Snape had a house, much less in a mostly Muggle area. Most Hogwarts professors live at the school year-round. Now, when the time comes, we'll know just where to find Snape and Pettigrew."

"So, let's just go get him now, then! What're we waiting for?"

"Harry, if it were that simple, not many Death Eaters would be able to avoid capture for long. The skilled ones, like Snape, are quite adept at staying hidden and I guarantee you he has plenty of protection on that house... plenty of spells for the purpose of keeping out unwanted visitors. I'll present this information at the next Order meeting – say I got an anonymous tip – and I'm sure we'll think of a way to use it to our advantage."

Potter didn't seem entirely satisfied, but he mumbled, "Fine."

Draco wanted to catch Snape, too, but he had to agree with Lupin. That house had more to it than met the eye, and just barging in there would be stupid and probably impossible.

"And what about Voldemort?" Potter asked. "Do you know where he is?"

"Yes," Draco replied, shuddering. He wished Potter and Lupin would stop throwing the Dark Lord's name about. "But I can't tell you where he is any more than I can tell him where you are."

"What do you mean?"

Draco shook his head and looked down at the table. "What I mean, Potter, is that his headquarters is protected by the Fidelius Charm, just like your house is. I can't tell you where it is." Draco turned to Lupin. "I suppose you knew this?"

"Well, yes. Snape had always said he couldn't tell us where to find Voldemort because of the Fidelius Charm, but after his betrayal I had wondered whether or not he had just been lying the whole time."

"He wasn't," Draco said.

"Who's the Secret Keeper?" Potter asked. "Maybe we can find them."

"There's only one person Voldemort would trust with a secret like that," Lupin said.

"Himself," Potter muttered, realization dawning on his face. "Well, that's useless. Remus, you're quite sure there's no way the Fidelius Charm can be broken, other than killing the Secret Keeper?"

"Not that anyone knows of, Harry. That doesn't mean it's impossible, but if the charm can be broken, then the way to do so is either very well hidden or has not yet been discovered. Dumbledore didn't know of a way, and if Voldemort did, things may have turned out very differently thus far."

Lupin and Potter seemed to lose themselves in some sort of meaningful silence, and after a few moments Draco asked awkwardly, "Is there anything else you'd like to know right now?"

Lupin looked up. "No, Draco. Not just yet. I'm sure we haven't yet heard everything you can tell us, but I have a feeling your most useful information may be things that you haven't even thought of.

"My, we've been at this for sometime." Lupin looked at the clock on the wall next to the oven. "Why don't we –"

But Lupin didn't say what they ought to do; rather, he held up a hand to signal silence, and then Draco heard the unmistakable sound of someone coming down the stairs. Quite suddenly, Potter put his hand on Draco's head and shoved him under the large wooden kitchen table just as the door opened and Draco saw a pair of feet wearing Muggle trainers step into the kitchen. "Hope I'm not interrupting. I didn't want to make too much noise around that awful portrait."

"No, Hermione, you're not interrupting anything. Harry and I were just having some breakfast. Harry, why don't you take Hermione upstairs and I'll clean up down here."

Draco was pleased to hear that at least Lupin didn't seem to fluster easily.

"Actually, Professor, when you're done down here, maybe you could join us? Harry and I discussed it yesterday and we decided that with Dumbledore, er, gone, it might be a good idea to let you in on some of what he and Harry were doing this year."

"Oh," said Lupin, sounding rather taken aback, yet touched. "Yes, I'd be happy to know. Just give me a few minutes to put some proper clothes on after I tidy up down here." Draco, who was kneeling by Lupin's feet, looked up and saw him gesture at his frayed dressing gown. "Hardly appropriate for company."

Once Potter and Granger had left the room, Draco crawled out from under the table. "That was unexpected."

"Well, you may want to learn to expect it. As I told you last night, staying here means at times being in close proximity with people who consider you to be the enemy. Usually you'll have some warning, but on occasion guests do turn up unannounced."

Draco nodded and watched as Lupin used his wand to clean the few dishes they had used for breakfast and return them to the cupboard.

"So, Draco, while Harry, Hermione, and I catch up, what would you like to do?"

"Pardon?"

"It's an interesting house, Draco. You don't have to sit in the kitchen watching dust collect."

"Then I'll go exploring."

Lupin thought about this for a second. "Perhaps not just yet. It's an interesting house, but dangerous, too. I'd rather if you didn't wander around by yourself. But there's an extensive library in Sirius's room I could show you before I join Harry and Hermione."

* * * * *

Harry and Hermione made their way upstairs, careful to make as little noise as possible near Mrs. Black, and sat in the drawing room that they had rid of doxies together almost two years earlier. "How are you?" Hermione asked, sitting on a sofa. "We didn't really have time to get into much yesterday."

"I'm all right." Harry came close to saying, "other than the fact that I'm in complete shock after hearing what Draco Malfoy has been up to for the past week," but decided it would be best to hear Hermione's news first and sat down opposite her in an armchair.

"That's good. Listen, Harry, before we start on about everything else, about Ron –"

"Oh no, he's not still furious, is he?"

"Well, we talked a lot last night. He wasn't happy that you confronted Ginny yesterday."

Harry raised his hands and dropped them into his lap in frustration. "I was apologizing!"

"Yes, well, your apology upset her," said Hermione, with the look on her face that she reserved specially for girls whose seemingly silly behavior she understood, but did not condone. "Anyway, Harry, Ron was really angry, but I think I calmed him down some. I couldn't get him to come with me today, but I think he might be persuaded next time."

"That's good, at least. Hermione, do you think I should owl him or something, try and explain everything myself?"

"Apologizing is hard for both of you. Trust me, I've had to see you both do it enough, and I think in this situation you should wait for him to come to you and then explain. Of course, he'll already have heard it all because I'll've told him, but I think he should hear it from you as well, just not 'til he's ready."

"You're right, of course. I just don't like him being cross with me. Especially now, of all times."

"I know," said Hermione, "but now we need to get down to business. Harry, I think I know who R.A.B is."

"Right! That's what you yesterday – what'd you find out?"

"Well, it just sort of came to me the other night as I was falling asleep. I was thinking about all sorts of things and it all just came together," she said excitedly. "I was thinking about Malfoy and how Voldemort must be mad at him for not being able to stomach killing Dumbledore. And then I was thinking about all the other people we've lost, and so I thought of Sirius."

"Hermione, get on with it!"

"I'm getting there. Anyway, once I started thinking about Sirius it hit me."

"Hermione, I don't understand –"

"Harry, look!" Hermione took his hand and dragged him over the tapestry with the Black family tree on it. "Look, there." Hermione pointed not at Sirius, but at the name next to his: Regulus Black. "It all makes sense, Harry. That note – R.A.B knew Voldemort was going to kill him, and we know that Voldemort killed Regulus. Maybe before Voldemort killed him, Regulus somehow found out about the Horcruxes."

"I dunno, Hermione... Sirius said Regulus was a real coward and –"

"Ahem." Harry and Hermione turned from the tapestry to the door, where Remus stood wearing a set of robes just as shabby as the dressing gown he had swapped for them.

"Okay, Hermione, we can finish talking about this later. For now, let's fill Remus in on what's been happening and then we can see what he thinks."

Harry told Remus about the Horcruxes, which ones had been found and his suspicions about the others (which were few and vague at best), but decided to leave out everything about Dumbledore and the Pensieve, as well as the finer details regarding their trip to Voldemort's cave, which felt somehow very personal to Harry. Remus listened in complete silence with rapt attention, hardly even blinking, it seemed, for fear of missing any small piece of information, but didn't question Harry for more than he seemed willing to give.

"Well, that all makes perfect sense. It explains everything, doesn't it? Now what was it you wanted my opinion on?"

"Well, like Harry said. That one Horcrux – the locket he and Dumbledore found that didn't really end up being a Horcrux at all – there was a note in it from someone with the initials R.A.B. saying they had taken the real Horcrux and planned on destroying it."

"It sounded like they had nothing to lose because they said they knew they'd be dead by the time Voldemort discovered the real Horcrux was gone." Harry took the locket out of his pocket – he still always kept it with him – and took out the note to show to Remus.

Remus did not just read the note, but seemed to study it for about a minute, then asked, "So, you want to know if I have any idea who this person is?"

"I have an idea, actually," said Hermione. "That's what we wanted your opinion on.

Harry's not sure he agrees with me, but I'm convinced it was Sirius's brother Regulus."

Remus furrowed his brow and, like Hermione, went to examine the tapestry. Fairly quickly, he turned to them and said, "Harry, I think Hermione could be right. This person could very well have been a Death Eater if he discovered such personal information regarding Voldemort, and off the top of my head, Regulus is the only one I can think of with those initials. His middle name was Arcturus."

"I've checked it out already, and Regulus is the only Death Eater on record with those initials. Harry, I'd been going about it all wrong before when I was looking for someone who fought against Voldemort. It never occurred to me that it could have been a disgruntled follower. Not one of the names I found before we left school made any sense," Hermione said. "Obviously there are some holes in this theory, but it's much more probable than anything else we've tossed about."

"But Sirius told me Regulus probably wasn't actually killed by Voldemort because he was just a deserter. Sirius made him out to be a real coward and whoever took that Horcrux must've been really brave." Harry remembered crossing the Inferni filled lake and Dumbledore's screams as Harry forced him to drink the liquid covering the locket. "It's not the kind of thing a really cowardly person could have handled."

"But Harry, do you really know exactly why Voldemort wanted Regulus dead?" Remus asked, sitting back down on the sofa next to Hermione. Harry glanced at her, but she seemed lost in thought. "For all we know, it was because Voldemort suspected Regulus was too clever for his own good. And Sirius wouldn't have been exactly objective when it came to a family member like Regulus. If we're right about this and Regulus had some reason to turn against Voldemort other than pure cowardice, Sirius wouldn't have known, because by then he wasn't in contact with any of the other Blacks."

Harry considered this. All of the pieces seemed to fall together quite nicely. It was just that... "I suppose. I just feel a bit bad that Sirius would've died without knowing his brother was an all right person after all. I mean, here he was alone in this house for a year, and he hated it because he thought his whole family had worshipped the ground Voldemort walked on... and... and, well, maybe it wouldn't've been so bad for him if he had known that at least one of them hadn't been completely mad."

Remus looked back at the tapestry again and a faint hint of something Harry couldn't place passed over Remus's face before he answered. "I see your point, Harry, but just because Regulus may have gotten his hands on that Horcrux, and, God willing, destroyed it, doesn't mean that he was, as his mother would have called him, a blood traitor. Just because people make good choices, Harry, does not always mean that they make them with noble intentions."

The three of them sat there in silence for several minutes, each with their own thoughts running helter-skelter through their minds, whizzing over the new information they had received. Harry had completely forgotten about everything other than the locket Horcrux and everything surrounding it until Remus asked, "Well, Harry, do you think it's time Hermione met our house guest?"

"What?" she asked.

"Oh, I almost forgot," said Harry. "Why don't you explain and I'll go fetch him. Where is he?"

"He's in my – er, Sirius's room. I thought he might enjoy the library there."

"Right," said Harry standing and heading for the door. "I'll be right down, then."