Mastermind

Epiphany

Warnings:
Death of family members
Mention of pregnancies
Death/murder
referenced/mentioned miscarriage and hinted abortion.
Knife kink? - I did not read Crimson Rivers (I read the first 10 chapters) but as far as I'm concerned James having a knife kink is canon now. Zeppazariel has spoken.
Misogyny ... I think I really don't like Moody and I don't even know why tbh I don't even remember what he was like in canon I just remember he died.

___

Keep your helmet, keep your life, son
Just a flesh wound, here's your rifle
Crawling up the beaches now
"Sir, I think he's bleeding out"
And some things you just can't speak about
With you, I serve
With you, I fall down,
Watch you breathe in
Watch you breathing out,
Epiphany by Taylor Swift

January 1979

Regulus sits in the living room with Dorcas, Pandora, and Lily. Sirius, James, McKinnon, and Mary are out on a mission.

Regulus is supposed to study old family trees, tracing up the different lines, and reading historic texts to figure out how they are related and who the people fallen off the trees used to be. The Hogwarts teachers keep sending books and research materials to the house for him. It is tedious and boring – and sometimes genuinely horrifying. There is so much relation between pureblood families. Turns out, Regulus' maternal grandfather's sister married Charlus Potter, who is the older brother of Fleamont Potter, James' father (who turned out to be much older than Regulus thought.) Also, Regulus' great-grandparents were brothers to each other. Of course, this didn't go unnoticed by anyone in this house – mainly because Dorcas is dating McKinnon, and once a piece of information enters the Gryffindor herd, it goes round and round forever in there.

All in all, it is rather boring and when it isn't boring Regulus wishes it to be boring again. It also demands a lot of concentration, trying to map the people that left the families and might have, years later, spawned a maniac half-blood ophidiophile.

While Sirius and James are out risking their lives, Regulus cannot concentrate.

He is kind of disappointed in himself if he is honest. It's been over five months since he came here. Yet, whenever James and Sirius leave, Regulus can't bring his mind to focus on anything but the front door.

Pandora huffs and shuts her book loudly, "That's enough of that," she says and then takes Regulus' book. "Let's take a break."

"We just took a break."

"Let's take another. I'll make tea." Pandora skips out of the room. She wears little bells on her socks today, chiming while she walks.

"These family histories are depressing," Lily says and puts her book away as well. "They disown their own children for the smallest digression. I always thought your family was just evil – but really, as far as purebloods go the Potters seem to be the odd one out."

"Hey, I'm pureblood, too," Pandora says, coming back from the kitchen, "And your friends, the Prewetts and their sister's husband, Weasley, all pureblood."

"Still, the sane ones are in the minority."

"Years of incest will do that," Dorcas shrugs, clearing the table for the tea set. "Good that you and Sirius will break that tradition in your family."

Regulus rolls his eyes. "It's not like my parents were siblings. They were second cousins."

"Who knows what happened further up in that family tree, though."

"I believe in free love," Pandora says, distributing the tea, "Anyone can love whoever they want to."

Lily frowns, "Yes, but family members?"