Several Miles from the Sun

CHAPTER FOUR: CHADWICK

The next time Regulus and Harry met was behind closed doors, and Hermione and Ron were not told about the Unbreakable Vow. It pained Hermione that she couldn't find any reasonable excuse as to why Harry, Regulus and Professor McGonagall of all people had enclosed themselves in a room. And even though the twins tried to use their Extendable Ears, Remus found them and gave them a good telling off--which was unusual for Remus to do in the first place.

The event passed quickly, Hermione found, and soon enough it was Harry's birthday. The Order had worked hard for his present--a better surprise they could not find--but Hermione was worried that Harry would not find it in the best sense. After all, as she muttered to Tonks, the road to hell was, indeed, paved with good intentions.

They had completely remodelled Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Once Mad Eye, Remus and Kingsley had completely rid the house of every single malady, Mrs Weasley stepped in to give it a better, more cheerful look.

And she had succeeded.

Mrs. Weasley had carefully divided up everyone into appropriate groups to tackle each room. They had all worked hard to rid the house of anything that would remind Harry of the horrible Black line--Sirius aside--that had once lived there. It was his house now, and because of his upcoming birthday, it was important he had somewhere proper to live. Somewhere safe.

"Happy birthday!" Ron and Hermione yelled when Harry appeared, looking completely surprised.

"We named it Chadwick!" Ron said.

Ginny gave an indignant cough.

"Ginny came up with the name, actually," supplied Hermione, smiling.

Harry's eyes widened. Remus gave him a soft push into the house, where the brightly lit hallway had been cleared of house-elf heads and, not to mention--

"What happened to Mrs Black?" Harry asked, astounded.

Hermione grinned.

Regulus, sulking behind them, made a noncommittal grunt. "She was moved. She's not happy about it, so I suggest you stay clear of the attic for a bit," he said, and slithered off.

"It's very... bright," said Harry, looking around. Hermione was glad to see he looked happy.

"The windows let in a lot of sun," Mrs. Weasley explained. "And we placed an extra spell so no one can actually look in. Hermione gave us the idea. It's common among Muggles looking for privacy," she said.

Sirius's bedroom had been slightly changed as well to suit Harry's needs. The rat carcasses, for one, had been moved. The bed was large, much larger than any Harry had ever slept in, and he was surprised to find a small gold plaque in the library (Hermione, of course, had put herself in charge of it and had it remodelled to look like the Room of Requirement during the days of the DA), that read:

Sirius Black

The Star That Will Forever Shine

"We didn't want it to seem like we wanted you to forget him," Remus said softly.

"Regulus threw a bit of a fuss over that," Ron added with a small grin.

"Thanks, it's great," Harry said breathless. "I mean... really. Thanks."

"Is that a tear we see?" Fred teased.

"Aw, ikkle Harry is getting a bit sentimental in his old age," said George.

Mrs. Weasley made sounds of disapproval at the twins. "Clearing out some of the rooms, there's quite a bit of space," she continued, moving Harry along. "Five guestrooms! Imagine that! Six, but... we had to make space for Regulus."

"I don't see why," Ron interrupted.

"You don't need to," his mother snapped.

"You'll be staying over, won't you?" Harry asked Hermione.

Hermione beamed. "Of course! Ron and I are spending the entire week." They came to a stop in front of a large wooden door. Gold letters were written across it.

"Dumbledore's Room," Harry read. He opened the door.

It was a very large room with a round table and large, wooden chairs. It looked a bit like Dumbledore's office had, comfortable and with a faint smell of cigar and peppermint.

"For the Order sessions," Remus said. "Assuming, of course, you'll allow us to use Chadwick for the meetings."

"Of course!" Harry said automatically. "This house really is big."

"We wanted to save this room for last," Hermione explained. "Most of the bedrooms are upstairs with the exception of Regulus', which is next to the library and out of your way."

"Yeah," muttered Harry. "Well, then, let me treat everyone to some celebratory tea."

"Tea?" Ron said. "We've got the good stuff!"

*

Hermione woke up early that Saturday to send a letter to her parents. They were expecting to see her on Tuesday, and she was anxious to see them, as well. She lived in the constant fear that Death Eaters would attack her family, and scanning the Daily Prophet was only a little bit of reassurance she could receive.

Hedwig had been quite happy to stretch her wings, and after a bit of burnt toast she set off, giving an agreeable hoot. Hermione took a seat at the kitchen table, noticing how it wasn't very different from the kitchen in the Burrow, and helped herself to some cold ham that had been left over from last night.

The only other person there was Regulus, who was hunched over the morning's issue of the Prophet, pointedly ignoring her "good morning".

Nobody seemed to find him of any threat anymore, which only seemed to re-kindle his fury after the house-elf that had been assigned to him.

"Oh, Dobby is so happy to see Hermione Granger!" Dobby said, suddenly appearing in the kitchen. "Dobby has many of Hermione Granger's hats!" Indeed he was wearing about a dozen of the knitted hats, stacked up on his head that they gave the faint illusion of the leaning tower of Pisa.

"Good morning, Dobby," said Hermione, cheerfully. "How are you?"

"Dobby is fine!" He had been carrying a heavy-looking book with him, and he carefully placed it next to Regulus. "Dobby brought the book Mr Regulus asked for."

Regulus glared at the house-elf, and took the book; discarding his newspaper aside.

Dobby had been the house-elf Remus had given him, something that caused great amusement amongst them all. Dobby, Professor McGonagall had explained to Regulus, was a free house-elf and was only serving him as a favour.

"Oh, go throw yourself off a cliff!" Regulus had yelled at Dobby one afternoon in anger.

Dobby looked thoughtful about it. "Dobby wouldn't like that, sir," he said, still sounding polite. "So Dobby won't be doing it, but may Dobby bring you a cup of tea or coffee?"

Regulus has stood there, unbelieving, his jaw practically touching the floor. It had been a good day for Harry.

"Thank you Dobby," Hermione said, when Regulus offered none for the book.

"Can Dobby offer Miss Hermione anything?" the house-elf asked. His eyes were twitching as if he were possessed, and Hermione knew it was because he was slightly wary of Kreacher, who had been told he was in no way to obey orders from Regulus and was incredibly grumpy over the entire thing.

"Yes, I want you to deliver this letter," Regulus said, passing a small envelope to Dobby. "Please try to keep it private."

"You aren't allowed to send letters," Hermione said immediately, and felt like a six-year-old telling someone off. "Someone from the Order must see them first."

"This letter was already approved by Lupin, thank you," Regulus sneered. Dobby carefully took the envelope, and Hermione saw there was no address, but a simple 'Confidential. Signed, R.B.,' in a cramped, not-so-elegant handwriting.

R.B., thought Hermione as she finished her breakfast and the faint sound of people coming down the stairs brought upon Harry's arrival, R.B. would obviously mean Regulus Black, but why did it seem so important?

"Is that the letter for Gringotts?" Harry asked after Dobby had disappeared.

"Yes," Regulus said.

Hermione found that he and Harry had some sort of understanding. If of course, by understanding it meant that Harry began all the conversations with questions or demands and Regulus answered in monotones.

"You could have sent it with Bill. He works for Gringotts," Harry continued. "Hermione, pass me the sugar, please."

She complied while Regulus muttered something about having more trust in Dobby.

Harry, Hermione found, had truly matured in a man now, not so much physically as psychologically. Tonks said it was because he had finally come to accept what was, unfortunately, expected of him, and he was willing to fulfil Dumbledore's shoes.

It pained everyone to know that.

"What's that book?" Harry asked, eyeing the volume Regulus was reading.

Regulus scowled. "Just some modern history, Mother."

"I think it's good that Regulus is catching up with... er," Hermione faltered as Harry directed a dark stare at her.

"Do you?" he demanded.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Well, yes." She noticed that Regulus was looking at her, possibly for the first time, too. "Even though he is in a way disabled, he is still trying to know what has happened since his death. It's very..."

"Yes?" insisted Harry.

Ron had woken up during Hermione's comments, and he was standing in the doorway, leaning in a way that indicated he was just as pleased as Harry was.

"Very..."

"Please don't stop," Ron said.

Even Regulus seemed to be waiting for her to finish. His pale brown eyes met hers.

"Admirable," she finished sheepishly.

Regulus rewarded her with a wicked grin.

"Admirable?" Ron echoed. "Because instead of killing us, he's reading up on what his old master had been doing in the past decade or so?"

Hermione bit her lip and stared at her empty plate. She wasn't going to fight over something like this. Ron scoffed and left. Harry followed shortly after, giving Hermione an uneasy smile.

"You think I'm admirable, do you?" Regulus asked after a strangling silence.

"No, I think your mechanism of coping is admirable," Hermione said, blushing slightly. "But then, I suppose you expected to be brought back at some point, so you might not have a lot to cope with."

"I didn't," said Regulus.

"Sorry?"

"I didn't expect to be brought back," he said and left before Hermione could ask him why.

*

The following day Regulus was interrupted from his reading by a soft knocking on his door. Hermione came in, not waiting for his permission, knowing that he would never give it. His room was kept clean, whether of his own accord or Dobby's she didn't know. Regulus looked up at her suspiciously, and she noticed a broken wand lying on the floor. She briefly wondered what it would be like if she had been stripped of her magic.

"I, er, brought you something," she said.

"I can see that," Regulus responded, eyeing the newspaper. "But I already received today's issue."

"No, it's not," Hermione faltered, feeling herself blush. "I thought--I thought Dumbledore would do this, but since he's not here." She handed him the newspaper; three of them, actually.

Regulus looked at them carefully. On the front page of one was a gigantic photo of a thin-looking man with unruly long hair in Azkaban robes. He looked, he looked an awfully lot like--

"Sirius?" he asked, staring in slight surprise at Hermione.

"I know you're trying to understand what has happened since you died, so I thought you might like to know what your brother went through. The first issue is the same year you died, when Harry's parents died as well. There's a good article on it, of course, and a bit on Sirius. The second one, that's the one you're looking at, is when he escaped from Azkaban. It's not a complete story, but I thought it was better than nothing. And the third... the third is when he died and was cleared by the Ministry."

Regulus stared at the newspapers. He really didn't know what to say. "Thank you," he settled for.

Hermione beamed.

"You can leave now," Regulus added when she didn't move.

"I was wondering if you'd tell me how you accomplished the spell," she said, looking nervous. "I've never heard of anything similar."

"Sometimes words are just a fancy disguise, Miss. Granger," Regulus said evasively. "I overheard that you're one of the brightest witches Hogwarts has ever seen. I don't doubt you'll figure it out."

A puzzle, Hermione thought. He was giving her a puzzle. She liked those.

"Would you like anything, then?" she asked before leaving.

Regulus stared at her, causing her to flinch, but shook his head and resumed reading.

Hermione immediately went to the library, ignoring Ron's petition for a chess match.

*

Regulus looked at his reflection in the mirror, ignoring the delighted coos it made. His scrawny body was so white--corpse-white, he mused--that he looked ghostly pale. On his left breast there was a printed outline that seemed almost carved into his skin, much like Harry's "I will not tell lies" had been. Within the figure the skin was raw, a bright shade of red.

It was a phoenix.

A cruel reminder of his loyalties.