Regency in Diagon Alley [Theodore Nott | Harry Potter AU]

Chapter Eleven

Remus Lupin have not set foot in England for seventeen years. For him to do so now was out of necessity after receiving a letter from Tom about a certain black dog arriving at the Black household. It would have been logical to come to the Goldstein Estate, but he found himself knocking on James Potter's home. His closest friend almost fainted when he saw him. James brought him to a bone crushing embrace and ushered him inside, gave him new clothes and had one of the servants prepare him some food. He must look so pitiful if James did all that, he thought. He did not blame him.

For the past year, he has been living with a colony of werewolves in the mountains of Scotland. Life was hard when they were being hunted and killed. From witches and wizards who despise their kind, Muggles found it to be a sport to hunt the large beasts. He tried to convince the others to not resort to violence by attacking those villages, but werewolves like Greyback found it easier to be the beasts that they were than keep whatever humanity they have left.

What happened that night, seventeen years ago, was something that the three best friends agreed to never speak of again. They sealed that secret, never to be spoken of. But it seems, just like Pandora's box, someone has opened the seal that guarded the danger and let lose the havoc that was to come into their lives now. A havoc of their own making. But the question was who? Neither of the two friends spoken a word about the night of the duel. Maybe it was not them, they realized. Maybe it was the very man who had them agree to the secret that has broken his own vow, regardless of the consequences that would follow all that was involved.

James had him eat in the study to hide him from the other gossiping servants and his children - Merlin knows what Harry and Diana would say or how they would react when they see him. Joining them in the study, who has offered Remus some of James' clothes, was Lily who was pacing around after learning about what he had to say.

"I told you." She whispered. "I told you this would come back to bite us."

James reached for his wife's hand and held it to comfort her. "Who else knows?" he asked Remus.

"Tom never mentioned anything," Remus replied.

"Regulus Black is no fool, he must have suspected it," said James.

As if mentioning the duke's name was some sort of spell to summon him, the fireplace lit with green flames and from it emerged Regulus Black. Fury in his eyes as he charged across the room and grabbing Remus by the collar of his shirt, too quickly for any of them to react, and pinned the man on the wall.

"Black!" James exclaimed.

Regulus ignored him and took out a wand, pressing the end on Remus' scarred cheek. "You lied."

"I-I can explain," said Remus.

"Regulus, please," Lily came to their side, trying to pry Regulus off Remus. "You must listen -"

"To more of your lies, Evans?!" Regulus bellowed whilst he kept his glare at Remus.

The fireplace lit up again, and this time it was Tom and Charity who appeared, both sharing the same anger as Regulus. It was the first time that Lily and James saw the countess in such a state. Charity was someone who rarely showed her anger, she was calmer than her husband. But it seems the calm woman had her limits too, especially when it came to her children and niece.

"Charity -" Lily began. But Charity turned to her with a pointed look and said, "You are Carina's godmother, and you hide this from her? From us? Explain. Now."

It hurt to be addressed as such by Charity, but Lily understood the feeling of betrayal all too well, and said, "Trust me when I tell you we did what we can."