Confronting Regulus

"Sirius told you?" he whispered back, his face shocked. She shook her head.

"No, but he was incapable of flooing himself, and your family would have just tossed him into the street. Only someone who cared about him would have flooed him to us," she whispered firmly. He nodded.

"This is all true," he murmured, watching her carefully. Hermione was not the kind of girl who would wander in and make observations like this. She must have an ulterior motive. He waited.

"Remember what I said? About choices?" Hermione said softly, watching him. He nodded, his face bleak.

"I must do what he would not," Regulus said so softly she almost couldn't hear him. His lips were barely moving. "They will make me do it early—this summer."

"Just because you must do this for your family, doesn't mean that you are trapped forever," Hermione whispered passionately. "It doesn't mean that you can't make different choices, better choices, in the future."

"You knew this would happen, didn't you," he said thoughtfully, remembering other conversations. "You watched the two of us, and you knew that he would refuse to bow to the Dark Lord."

"Regulus, an idiot could have looked at Sirius as a first year, and know that he would never bow to anyone," Hermione said evasively.

"I suppose that's true," Regulus said stiffly. "I don't care for it, myself. It goes against the grain."

"You are trying to protect your family," Hermione said awkwardly. She would have happily throttled Walburga Black after witnessing her treatment of her eldest son, but she knew it was not as simple as that for Regulus. Family was a delicate, tricky thing. One could hate them and at the same time love them.

"I am," he whispered.

"But the desire to protect your family should not come at the cost of your honor," she said with determination. He nodded imperceptibly. Good. He was listening. "You will see things…terrible things. He is not as he has portrayed himself. It is so much worse than you could ever imagine."

"What would you have me do?" He asked plaintively, his grey eyes tortured in his face. She shook her head at him.

"I want to help you," she whispered. "I want you to be able to make the right choices at the right time."

"Hermione, you want to fight him. You told me that yourself. You want me, on the inside…helping you?" Regulus was staring at her as though he'd never seen her before. "You're insane. You're barking mad."

"No, I'm really not. I already have some help. I just…I don't want to see you fall to him. He's taken too many of our finest, he doesn't deserve anymore of them," she hissed angrily. Regulus blinked at her.

"You've convinced others? It must be Lucius and Severus. Ah. I can see by your face that I am right. You must work on that, Hermione. You'll never survive if you allow your face to give you away," Regulus chided her gently. Hermione scowled at him.

"Well?" she asked him tartly. He frowned and stared at his homework, then he looked at her.

"Do you love my brother?" Regulus asked suddenly. Hermione blushed and bit her lip.

"Regulus," she said softly, reaching out and touching his hand with the tips of her fingers. "I-,"

"I had a crush on you, a while ago, but it was just a silly school boy sort of crush. I think I loved the idea of you—the smart, beautiful pureblood witch—but I think perhaps you would be difficult to love. I'd much rather be your friend," Regulus said firmly, with thinly pressed lips.

"You think I'm too headstrong? I should sit demurely and fold my hands like a lady? I should let all the intelligent, brave wizards make decisions for me, and have them all piss away our world—handing it over to darkness and evil?" Hermione demanded, a scowl forming on her face.

"Perhaps not," he said dryly. "However, I think it would be too hard for me, to love you. You are a little too wild for me, which brings me back to the original question. Do you love my brother?"

"I have loved your brother since first year," she said softly, slowly. "I'm not in love with him, yet, but I think I'm getting there rather quickly."

"Don't hurt him," Regulus said softly. Hermione sighed, and looked up at Regulus.

"I might, you know," she said softly. He nodded, and then looked at his hands.

"I'll help you. What do you want me to do?" Regulus asked after a moment. Hermione held all of her excitement within her. She gave him only a cool nod, but he could have told her that the gleam in her hazel eyes gave her away.

"I will arrange everything through Severus. He'll tell you what to do," Hermione whispered urgently, and then she slipped away.

HP/HG/HP

The room of requirement was the only place that Severus, Lily and Hermione could meet anymore. He was officially a Death Eater now, and he had to keep up appearances. Severus and Hermione had argued and argued about this, but they'd both come to the conclusion that they couldn't keep Lily out—it wasn't fair to her, or to their relationship with her. It would mean Severus and Hermione sneaking around keeping secrets from their blood-sister, and that wasn't right. They'd already made her swear an Unbreakable Vow, and it would cover this as well because Hermione had been very careful in how she'd worded Lily's oath.

"So why was it so important that we meet tonight? I think James is starting to wonder if I've got a secret boyfriend," Lily muttered to Hermione.

"Shush. Let's wait until we get to the room, then we can talk about your lack of a relationship with my brother," Hermione muttered back. Lily sighed.

Severus was pacing back and forth, his school robes billowing as he stalked the room. Hermione quirked a brow at the mental image of a great swooping bat, which Old Hermione supplied. He was nervous, she knew. He was afraid that Lily wouldn't quite understand, that she might hate him, and he wasn't sure if he could deal with her hatred. He hadn't said that out loud in so many words, but Hermione knew.

"What's this all about, Hermione?" Lily asked curiously. Hermione looked at her hands for a moment.

"I…because of…what I am…I'm in terrible danger," she said slowly, cautiously. Lily nodded, she understood all of this, Lucius and Severus had explained it to her. "I don't want to just sit around and wait for him to come get me. I'm going to fight him."

"Fight him?" Lily said blankly, looking from Severus to Hermione who both looked solemn. "You mean…you're going to stand against him? How? Are you going to join the Order? I thought you weren't sure about them."

"I'm not, not completely. It's difficult for me to trust a lot of people," Hermione said slowly. "But I've got a couple other ideas as well."

"Like what? Is it something I could help with? I want to help you, Hermione," Lily said urgently. She hadn't really discussed her fears for Hermione's safety with anyone because there wasn't anyone to discuss them with, but it didn't mean that she hadn't lain awake at night worrying about what might happen. Hermione smiled at her, a warm, genuine smile.

"You have been helping. Remember? You're the one who went to Dumbledore for me. It's going to be things like that, Lily, sneaky things, subtle things that happen behind the scenes. Severus has made a very difficult choice for me, and for all of us really. I need you to understand that, Lily. He's done this for us. Sev?" Hermione looked to her blood-brother, and he pulled up his sleeve and bared his arm to Lily's gaze. She gasped, her eyes wide, staring at his arm for several long moments.

"I'm supposed to cut off all ties with you both," Severus said in his low voice, avoiding Lily's eyes. "We're going to have to stage a public falling out. I'm going to have to say terrible things to the both of you."

"I understand," Hermione said softly, her eyes shining with love and understanding for Severus. Lily looked at Hermione and then turned to Severus.

"You're okay with this? You're willing to…to do this thing for Hermione?" Lily murmured. Severus raised his dark eyes and looked at her.

"Not just for her," he said with a shake of his long black hair. "It's for me, for you, for our world."

"Okay, then," Lily said, and shivered. She moved forward to hug Severus, and he looked startled before he accepted her display of affection. Hermione smiled encouragingly at him, and he released the breath that he'd been holding. They still loved him, even after this. He knew that Hermione would, her love was unconditional, but Lily could be volatile, unpredictable. His arms tightened around her, and he pressed his cheek to the top of her head. Hermione pulled his head down so that she could kiss his cheek, and whisper in his ear.

"You should have faith in me, Sev." Her hazel eyes glinted with humor at him, and he scowled at her.