Smile When You Dive In

Chapter 2

After a week, there still seemed to be no improvement in Lupin's temperament. Regulus had been reading all he could about werewolves in the library, so had at first attributed this to post-moon mood swings. But he had never seen Sirius so isolated from the group, and he couldn't shake the feeling that it was related to what Snape had told him. Even Potter and Pettigrew still weren't speaking to him. That was just the first of Regulus' concerns. Not that he had any attachment to the boorish Gryffindors, but Sirius had run away from home the previous summer, preferring the lodgings of his friend to their own. It was unlikely he would be welcomed back at Grimmauld Place without any screaming matches, let alone with open arms. And as much as Regulus would like to pretend he didn't care what his brother did anymore, he couldn't help but think the worst. Images of Sirius alone on the streets, or finding himself in some sort of danger flooded the youngest Black's mind whenever they crossed paths. Every gory tale they'd been told as children had a new protagonist, and Regulus felt it was his duty to prevent them from coming true.

His second concern was also, unfortunately, for his brother's welfare. Now that Regulus knew he was running about the castle with a werewolf, he couldn't help but wonder the safety of such a set-up. His reading told him that werewolves had to register with the Ministry, that they were taken away at the full moon and locked up for the safety of everybody, magical folk and muggles alike. Snape's story about the Whomping Willow didn't exactly add up with that, and Sirius' involvement made less sense still.

And if Sirius had angered the werewolf, where did that leave him?

No, after a week of his brother's tortured silence, Regulus decided that he had to step in for the sake of Sirius' safety and his own sanity. Only, getting Sirius alone proved far more difficult than one might assume with Sirius isolated from his friends. For a start, Regulus still had his friends. Willa and Carmen would drag him around with their arms linked, giving him no chance to scope their surroundings as they talked about things he used to care about but could no longer afford to. And when he wasn't with the girls, Snape was bothering him. Though his midnight chat with Dumbledore seemed to be keeping him quiet, that didn't stop Snape from complaining to Regulus any chance he got. His only reprieve came when Snape decided he had to warn that muggleborn girl he was always bothering. She was no more interested than Regulus from what he saw, but at least it gave him a break from Snape's broken record.

Regulus almost got his brother alone one night, on his way to the Astronomy tower. Sirius was skulking around the corridors alone, as was the new status quo. Regulus thought perhaps he was leaving a detention, or else avoiding his so-called friends. Either way, the eldest Black brother seemed to disappear when Regulus followed. He checked around all of the corners he had passed, but decided he must have lost track of Sirius somewhere around the moving staircases.

Eventually, he had to concede that talking to Sirius wasn't going to be the solution. It would have to be one of the others. Lupin was a non-starter. Even before finding out that he was a werewolf, Remus scared him. During Sirius' first year, he had written to Regulus and told him all about the friends he'd made. When it came to Remus, he talked about how clever Remus was, and how many great ideas he had, all of the chocolate stashed beneath his bed. What he failed to mention were the great big scars covering Lupin's face and hands. That all made sense now, but when Regulus boarded the Hogwarts express for the first time, he had spent more time than he'd admit wondering how a twelve-year-old had come by so many scars, with only his mother's and Kreacher's stories for reference. It hadn't helped that Lupin seemed just as unsure of Regulus, obviously well-versed in the horror stories Sirius had told about their family.

That just left Regulus with Potter or Pettigrew. From there, his decision came down to convenience. Both he and Potter played quidditch, which meant they crossed paths on a somewhat regular basis. Potter was always out on the pitch when he wasn't with his friends, and Gryffindor's practices often fell just before or after Slytherin's. All Regulus had to do was find some reason to be alone with Potter, that way nobody would overhear them discussing Lupin.