black coffee | remus lupin [2]

91. emergency meeting

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

REGULUS BOLTED TOWARDS Nicolas' house, dragging a bloodied up Kreacher with him. The house elf most certainly didn't want any help since all he could do on the way towards the door was complain, only shutting up once Regulus told him to.

Before Regulus even made it onto the porch, the door opened.

"What the hell happened?!" Nicolas asked in a shout, looking between all the people who were making their way towards his home.

"Claudia can explain," said Regulus. "Do you still have Rosamund's healing serums?"

"Yeah," Nicolas nodded, wincing slightly at the sight of blood seeping through the thin fabric that Kreacher wore on his body. "You know where to find them."

Regulus disappeared right through the door as all the others stepped onto the porch, tired yet shocked looks on their faces.

"Is anybody hurt?" Asked Nicolas, sounding awfully worried, which surprised Claudia a whole lot. He was usually quite good at hiding his real feelings, disguising them under the same flat voice his brother and all their friends had grown up speaking in.

"No," said Claudia, looking at all the others. "But I think some of us need to sit down."

"You don't say," mumbled Cora, who had been wakened from her slumber just seconds before Claudia came into the room and told them that Death Eaters were intruding their home and were planning to murder her cousin's daughter.

"Come in," Nicolas said quickly, letting them all inside with a perplexed look on his face. "Does anyone need anything?"

"It's fine," said Claudia.

He nodded, shutting the door behind them and leading the way into the living room. Claudia had been there a few times before, but never had she ever stepped foot inside that room. She was surprised to find that Nicolas even had a living room in the first place. This house he lived in wasn't exactly cozy, although it appeared to be something the boy had improved by placing piles of books and photos of Rosamund and him all over the place.

Claudia felt a pit form in her stomach at the thought of his late wife and best friend. She didn't get much of a look into their friendship; but since Nicolas had been so strange ever since her passing, she knew the girl meant a lot to him.

"What happened?" Nicolas asked, propping his elbows on his knees as he looked at Claudia who just like him had sat down on one of the couches.

"They know," she said. "The Dark Lord knows about me and Regulus."

"What?"

"He knows that we're traitors, and that we're searching for his Horcruxes."

Nicolas grew silent for a moment, staring at her with an unreadable expression etched on his face.