Black Rose [Regulus Black]

49 - sneaky tunnels & attempted potions

"I can't believe you roped me into this," Lupin grumbled.

"Roped you into what?" Sirius grinned cheekily. "We all wanted to go."

"It's a suicide mission."

"Exactly!"

"Shh," Regulus interjected, heart beating a little too quickly for his liking. "You're sure this Invisibility Cloak works, right?"

Sirius gasped and put his hand over his heart. "You're doubting Gladys? Did you hear that, Moony? How dare-"

"Padfoot, shush," it was Lupin's turn to shut him up.

"-Gladys-?"

"Let's not get into that now. Regulus, you're sure that the Death Eaters didn't shut this tunnel?"

Regulus nodded. "The Lestranges always like to keep their options open, they dug this as a means of escape if needed."

"Hard to imagine our senile cousin wanting to escape her little maze of madness," Sirius grinned, eying the house as though he were contemplating burning it down. Knowing Sirius, it was a very real possibility.

"Oh, I'm fairly certain she doesn't know."

"Really? I thought that Rodolphus was so obsessed with her that he'd tell her anything." Sirius made a face, probably thinking of something unsavoury now.

"He is. That's why they haven't told him either."

Sirius clapped his hand over his mouth, stifling his laughter. "And here I was considering marrying a pureblood to be closer to the family."

"You were?!" Regulus whirled around to gawk at his brother. The thought of Sirius even being married to anyone — much less to a pureblood of his family's choosing — was too absurd for him to even comprehend.

"Let's not get into this now," Lupin groaned, climbing into the tunnel. "It was hard enough talking him out of it in the beginning, and I hate being outdoors this late at night."

Sirius sobered up, following his friend's lead. "You think you can manage it?"

"Yeah, the moon cycle just began, so I'm at my prime right now, if you think about it." Lupin swiveled to eye Regulus, who was climbing into the tunnel. "By the way, Regulus," he said lightly. "You never told me how you got to know about my..."

"His furry little secret," Sirius giggled.

"Yes, that." Regulus could tell Lupin had rolled his eyes.

Regulus was glad he was behind them so they couldn't see his cheeks turn a mortifyingly bright shade of pink. Truth be told, he'd figured it before even the rest of the Marauders did. It may or may not have been the product of hours of him spying on his brother's new friends, trying to find flaws or secrets he could exploit to get Sirius to stop being friends with them.

Yes, he was a bored, lonely first year.

He was never telling anyone about that.

"Regulus?" their voices floated back to him.

"Yeah, I'm here," he grunted as his foot lodged on a rock in the tunnel. "Be quiet for the next two minutes, I think we're nearby. This part is always a pain in the arse, too many rocks."

"Always? How often do you come by this?"

"Whenever we'd came here for the summers. It was agonizing, living in the house with Aunt and Uncle and Bella. Cissy and Andy were still tolerable, but those three were so irritating, I had to escape."

"Wait, is that where you disappeared off to for hours?!" Regulus couldn't see Sirius, but he was fairly certain his brother's jaw had dropped in indignance. "You ran off into your little tunnels while I was sitting in the living room with those morons while they droned on and on about being pure-blooded?"