The Killing of Regulus Black

Chapter Four

Squatting before the fireplace, James told Chief Moody what Regulus Black had told him: that Regulus, wishing to leave the Death Eaters, sought protection from the Order of the Phoenix. He kept quiet about the McKinnons, though. Let Regulus tell Moody he'd killed Marlene's husband and children. That was his story.

Besides, James didn't feel like putting himself through it again.

Moody heard James out with surprising calm. "Another one, eh?" he muttered cryptically. Then, "Show me."

Regulus must have heard Moody's command, for, coming to squat down beside James, he rolled up his left sleeve and showed Moody the Dark Mark. He did it all with perfect composure, just as if he hadn't been weeping a few minutes before.

Moody eyed him. "You're just like your father, you know that, Black?"

Regulus blinked. "How so?"

"You got the same look he gets when he's defending a Dark wizard in front of the Council of Magical Law." Moody grinned, not entirely pleasantly. "When he knows he's losing the case."

Regulus's face tightened with a touch of defiance. "I'm glad to hear that. I admire my father."

Moody laughed, though not for long. "Let's hope you don't resemble him in every particular," he said. "Your family's in for trouble from me if the lot of you are Death Eaters." Regulus opened his mouth to protest, but Moody cut him off. "First things first. You want the Order's protection, you follow the Order's instructions. And I'm instructing you to go home and stay there until you hear from either Dumbledore or me. You're to talk to nobody, not your friends, not your cousins, not even your Mum and Dad. Tell them you're sick, you're hung over, whatever you want. I don't care. But that's all you tell them. Understand?"

"Yes," Regulus said.

"Good. Run along home, then, before somebody misses you."

James saw Regulus to the door. When he returned, Moody's scarred and frowning face was still looking out from the fireplace.

"He's gone?" Moody said.

"Yes, sir."

"You saw no one else lurking about? And you've put warding spells on the doors and windows?"

"Yes, sir."

"Constant vigilance, Potter. Never forget it. Speaking for myself, I'm not ready to trust young Regulus Black quite yet. So, you're attending the Order meeting tomorrow night?"

"Yes, sir."

"You'll stay after a bit, to speak with Dumbledore and me. I think you'll find it interesting."

"Yes, sir."

"Yes, sir!" Moody laughed. "Old habits die hard, eh, Potter?"

After three years under Moody in the Auror Academy and another two under him in Criminal Investigations, yes, James thought as he watched Moody's head fade from the fireplace. Old habits died hard.

#

"You mean Regulus isn't the only one who's tried to back out?" James asked.

The meeting of the Order had ended. Sirius and Peter had accompanied Lily home. James, seated with Moody and Dumbledore at the kitchen table in the Order's London safe house, had repeated everything Regulus had told him the night before.

Then Professor Dumbledore had told James about another Death Eater who wished to change sides.

James turned to Moody. "That's what you meant!"

"Eh?" Moody said.

"When I told you about Regulus, you said, 'Another one, eh?'"

"Yeah. Regulus Black isn't the first. But, as far as we know, he's only the second."

"Who was first?" James asked.

"That I will not tell you," Dumbledore said. "I can say, however, that he is equipped, as Regulus is not, to serve as my spy in Voldemort's camp. For he is the only wizard I've ever met who could lie to Voldemort."

"Except yourself," Moody put in.

"Except myself, perhaps. But I've never wanted to lie to Tom"

"So Regulus can't go back to Voldemort," James said. "But if he stays away for long, won't Voldemort grow suspicious?"

"He will have to go into magical hiding, " Dumbledore said. "But it takes time to find and ward a hiding-place. To be truly safe, Regulus would have to cast a Fidelius Charm. I think he's powerful enough to do it. But whom would he choose as Secret-Keeper? I doubt he trusts anyone outside the circle of his family and their friends. And whom within that circle can he trust?"

"Sirius, I suppose," James said.

"When he hasn't spoken to Sirius for years?" Dumbledore said.

James looked at him. "There is that," he admitted. He kept forgetting what it was like to be estranged from your family as Sirius was, to loathe them as he did.

But did Regulus still loathe Sirius? James wondered, remembering how Regulus had spoken of Sirius the night before. How he'd pleaded with James not to tell Sirius he'd become a Death Eater.

"He trusts Sirius's judgement, though," James said.

"Then let him choose Sirius, if he trusts him as deeply as the wizard who casts the Fidelius Charm must trust his Secret-Keeper. But it's a decision he can't make without long, hard thought. Which will, again, take time," Dumbledore said.

"Sure, it'll take time," Moody said. "But Regulus is fine if he keeps his mouth shut and does as he's told. The Death Eaters won't dare to walk into Grimmauld Place and snatch him out from under the noses of his Mum and Dad."

"Not yet. But that does not mean that he and our Order, if we decide to protect him, will not be in danger. James is right. Before long, Tom will miss Regulus." Dumbledore looked troubled. "The one Death Eater who came to us has already returned to Tom. As a respected member of Tom's Inner Circle, as one of Voldemort's Ten Commanders, as a spy for the Order of the Phoenix. Knowing what I know of this wizard, I am reasonably confident that Tom will never suspect him. Regulus Black is another story. Unless we protect him, he will die. He can't go back to Tom. He can't evade Tom and remain at large. He can't protect himself alone. Trained and powerful Aurors who have tried that have fallen to the Death Eaters. But once Regulus Black disappears, once Tom discovers he can find no trace of him...." Dumbledore's voice trailed off.

"Voldy'll know we've taken Regulus under our wing," Moody concluded. "And he'll come down on us harder than ever. He can't let it look as though any Death Eater with a few second thoughts can escape him by running to the Order of the Phoenix."

Dumbledore was silent for a few moments. "I have no right to decide for this second Death Eater on my own, as I decided for the first. We shall call a special meeting of the Order, Alastor, and put it before them. Let the entire Order vote on whether we ought to offer our protection to Regulus Black. Let the entire Order decide whether Regulus Black is worth the risk."

"Sirius, too?" James asked.

"No." Dumbledore gave him a weary smile. "Even I have not grown so merciless as that, I hope. Didn't I hear you and Sirius talking about a trip abroad he was going to take next week?"

"Yes. He's going to Bonn for ten days, on business for Gringott's."

Sirius was the Muggle liaison for Gringott's. A tricky business, representing the human face of a goblin-owned bank to the Muggles. A large part of Sirius's job was to keep the goblins under wraps: to make the Muggles believe Gringott's was an exclusive private bank, devoted to the protection of its clients' identities. The rest of his job was to court Muggle depositors. That was the lucrative part of the business, since Muggles held most of the world's wealth.

"The Order will meet next week, then," Dumbledore said. "I'll announce the meeting after Sirius leaves for Germany. The vote will be taken and the Order's decision made before he returns."

"I'm not sure he'll like that," James said.

"If he can't cast a vote, it's better if he doesn't know a vote's going to be taken," Moody said. "That way, he won't have to spend the week wondering which way his friends are leaning. Though I expect we'll vote to protect Regulus. I know I will. Maybe I wouldn't trust him with the Order's deepest secrets. And I doubt he's been the perfect little angel since he joined Voldemort's crew." Moody gave James a sharp look, as if he suspected James hadn't told him everything. "But I don't have the heart to leave him to the tender mercies of his Death Eater mates."

Avoiding Moody's eyes, James looked at Dumbledore.

"I cannot believe the Order will abandon Regulus," Dumbledore said, kindly enough. But something in his eyes told James to ask for no promises.

#

"I have several intimate enemies, Severus," the Dark Lord said. His eyes gleamed, flickering at irregular intervals like red fireflies. "The nearest and dearest of them all is Albus Dumbledore. I keep him very close to my heart. And I have learned that he is, above all, a wise man."

Snape was sunk in one of the softer armchairs in the study of Lucius Malfoy's London town house. He was facing the Lord, but saw nothing more than his elongated form and his flickering firefly eyes, for the light of the one candle on the table between them barely pierced the nighttime gloom.

"He summoned the Order and they came to him," the Lord went on. "Somewhere here, in this very city! If only the Headmaster were not his Order's Secret-Keeper! I could put an end to the Order of the Phoenix with one night's work. But never mind. Albus Dumbledore is, as I said, a wise man.

"But not infallible." Teeth flashed in a smile, white below the red of the Lord's eyes. "For I have learned what he would not have me know, that his Order voted to protect Regulus Black from me, to take him under its brave Phoenix wing. Just as Albus Dumbledore calculated they would do. Just as I knew they must do, as soon I heard of this special meeting from one who, in my service, hangs on every word Albus Dumbledore says."

A question stirred in Snape's sluggish brain: should he ask who that one was? Wasn't that something he should try to find out for Albus Dumbledore?

No, how could he? When he was sated with his generous Lord's power, when his head swam with it, when his left arm still burned from his Lord's touch?

Power. He had drunk it in through the Dark Mark. It had surged like a flood tide in his veins and pounded in his head behind his eyes. He had felt as though he must burst from it, as though mere human flesh could not contain it.

Now he felt--how did he feel now? Back in control? Himself again? He could think, at least. More or less.

He could also feel the other of the two Gifts, the one he'd drunk in along with the power. The one that shifted in his stomach like a sickness about to come up, that unraveled his thoughts. He groped after their shredded ends, like a wandering and forgetful old man. An old man nearing death.

Death. Yes, that was it. That was what Dumbledore had called the Dark Lord's second Gift.

Nonsense, Snape thought. And if it wasn't, so what? All men died.

All but the Dark Lord. He didn't intend to die. Then again, he was, well--not quite a man.

Snape looked away from the eyes. But he still heard his Lord speaking.

"What Regulus doesn't understand, Severus, is that I don't wish to punish him. I've known since Travers returned alone that something was wrong. And I know what that something is. I understand."

Of course he did. Snape could tell, just by the soothing sound of the Lord's voice.

"Regulus is young," the Dark Lord said. "The McKinnons were his first kill. Now, for the first time, he feels the heavy duty I place upon the shoulders of my Death Eaters. He wishes to drop his burden and flee. I quite understand."

So did Snape. Especially now that his head was clearing. The Lord wasn't looking. But nevertheless he made sure that a thick shroud of Occlumency was tucked around his magical heart, shielding Mother and Headmaster Dumbledore.

He couldn't quite think why Dumbledore was there. Mother was, though. That was what mattered.

"I don't want to hurt Regulus. I want to talk to him, to tell him I know what he's going through. How many of my Death Eaters have experienced their moments of doubt? You know what I mean, Severus."

Snape's heart leapt to his throat. The last wisps of cloud in his mind abruptly disappeared. Quickly he cleared away the fear, too, before one of the two best Legilimentes in the world looked his way.

"Some call it a dark night of the soul," the Lord went on. "I call it the last, highest rung of the ladder. If you can step over it--if you can step beyond it--you are free." The Lord looked at him suddenly, the moment after Snape had banished the last of his fear. "It is a pity that you cannot experience that liberation, Severus. That even Regulus Black has attained the pinnacle of my service ahead of you." He sighed. "But you will insist on working at St. Mungo's, won't you?"

"It's a very good job, my Lord."

"It's not good for me." The Lord sounded a bit peevish. "Having you surrounded by all those strong Healers. To say nothing of those golden-powered, highly-sensitive, Legilimency-trained Magical Examiners. Why, if you'd killed--if you had another's death sitting in your magical heart--someone like Constance Meed would pick it up in a moment."

"True. Unfortunately, I have my living to make."

"Yes, and where could you make it better than at St. Mungo's? I know. Besides, I'm sure some tidbits of information might fall your way there." The teeth appeared again in a brief smile. "After all, don't you work alongside James Potter's wife?

"But to return to Regulus," the Lord went on, sparing Snape the necessity of answering him. "Tomorrow morning, I'd like you to go to Grimmauld Place and speak to him for me. Tell him I understand. Ask him to come talk to me. I want to hear what's troubling him, I want to assuage his doubts. I want to do what I can to make this difficult time easier for him. I know how persuasive you can be--look how many witches and wizards you've recruited to my side! And I know Regulus respects you."

"Perhaps," Snape said. "But will his parents? It's been some time since the Snapes were socially equal to the Blacks."

"Ah, but that's why I'm sending Lucius along with you. He'll get you across the threshold of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. And once you're there, simply extend my invitation to Regulus Black. Then, you and Lucius will escort him here. I'll be waiting."

"And if he says no?"

"Unfortunately, Severus, I'm afraid I can't take no for an answer."

The Dark Lord's smile was gone. Snape saw nothing of him in the light of the guttering candle but two red eyes.