The Marauders: Year Six Part 2 #Wattys2017

Do You Know The Way?

Do You Know the Way?

Regulus Black's arm burned.

The Mark upon his wrist, usually so pitch black against his pale skin, now stood out scalet on his flesh. He balled his fist against the agony of its ache and he bit his lower lip so hard it bled as he sat in the chair before the fire place, his arm shaking as he resisted answering the summoning of the Dark Lord.

He was sweating with the agony of it.

Maryrose sat on the arm of the chair and held against his forehead, trying to comfort him as much as she could as tears filled his eyes. "It's going to be okay," Maryrose whispered, dragging the cloth over his her skin.

"He can't win, Maryrose," Regulus choked the words out. "He can't. What if he does? What if he rules all the world like this? With secret and lies and deceit? What would happen?"

She sighed, not even wanting to imagine such a thing as Voldemort winning for how terrible the wizarding world - and the world in general too actually.

Suddenly there came frantic knocking upon the door and Regulus and Maryrose both looked up at it in shock and fear and Regulus stood up quickly, careful not to knock Maryrose off the arm of the chair, and he hissed, "Bloody hell, he's found us." He drew his wand, wincing at the bending of the dark mark as he moved.

"They can't of found us," breathed Maryrose, "He would never dream of knocking."

Regulus didn't know if he would put anything past the Dark Lord. If there was one thing he knew for sure it was that Voldemort certainly loved putting on a good show and the creepy knocking upon the door was increasing their anxiety levels...

"Hey, open up in there, it's me!" called a voice. Sirius.

Maryrose looked at Regulus warily. "What if it's polyjuice?" she whispered.

Regulus gripped his wand tighter. He went to the door and he took a deep breath - as deep a one as the pain he felt would allow him to - and he made his move quickly. He tore open the door, reached through, grabbed hold of the knocker's throat, shoving them back across the hall as hard and fast as he could so as to maintain the shock factor, and pressed his wand directly to the heart of him. "Prove it's you."

Sirius stared at him in surprise.

"PROVE IT'S YOU, SIRIUS, AND NOT SOME DEATH EATER IN DISGUISE!"

"Once upon a time, there was a dog name Snuffles," Sirius began. The instant the words were out of his mouth, Regulus began to ease up. "He was a shaggy dog, with the darkest black fur you've ever seen..." Sirius's eyes burned into Regulus's, and he finished, "And he needs your help to save his best mate, Reg."

Regulus dropped the grip he had on Sirius - it hadn't been much of one anyway. He fact that Sirius hadn't just thrown him off in the exchange showed that Sirius hadn't believed Regulus would actually hex him. A million flashbacks of duels in which the brothers had faced off as kids, always threatening each other with hexes and curses and never actually doing it, flooded both their minds for a flash of a moment, as Regulus stepped back and lowered his wand.

"You're back even sooner than I thought," he commented.

Sirius paused for a long moment, then looked into Regulus's eyes with a solemn expression. "I never should have left in the first place."

Maryrose hovered nervously in the door frame behind them, biting her lower lip, her eyes travelling from the two Black Brothers to the nervous expression upon Remus Lupin's face as he stood watching, too, his eyes trained on Sirius.