Disguised by the black of his fur and the dark of the night, Sirius remained in the crouched position, just outside of the Grimmauld Place. His hackles remained upright as his eyes scanned over the area, listening to any of the surrounding noises, but everything appeared quiet, and that wasn't the most reassuring sign. Down the way, he knew James was positioned, just in case anything went wrong. He had begged James not to accompany him, for the sake of his best friend's safety, but James would hear none of it.

Sirius had been at his flat at the time of James' arrival that very evening. He had been in the middle of a debate, trying to decide whether he should head to the Potter home to talk with Éponine and see if Regulus had joined her for the holidays. There was a conflicting feeling waging war inside of him, knowing that if Regulus did show, it meant Sirius had finally got what he wanted all along. For years, he wanted nothing more than Regulus to open his eyes and see the issues with the Black family values.

But he also found himself annoyed with the entire situation as well. Part of him did not believe that Regulus had changed his views for the sake of finally seeing the error of his ways, but rather just saying whatever Éponine wanted to hear so she would take him back. Obviously, there were strong feelings shared between the two, enough that even after over a year's time of not talking to one another, the first chance given they had reconciled their relationship.

And while Sirius wouldn't admit it out loud, he was jealous.

There was a time where Éponine had been selected to be his wife, and back then, Sirius wanted nothing to do with her. Rightfully so since the two of them were being forced into a relationship where they had to uphold the beliefs of Toujours Pur. Sirius did not regret rejecting the marriage at the time because he didn't want that life. He remembered where he had been filled with such anger whenever he saw her, knowing she was part of the values he had come to hate so much. And believing that she was responsible for keeping Regulus from seeing what was right and wrong.

However, Sirius learned as Éponine came to show him, that he had been wrong.

Yes, there was a time where she had believed in prejudice ways but she did what she had to do in order to change herself for the better. And she did so, believing that she would not find support. But even if she did have a strong influence over Regulus, Regulus still had control over his beliefs. And it was Regulus who had made the decision to become a Death Eater, without Éponine by his side offering her support.

So why had she gone back to him so easily?

He had abandoned her just the same, treated her horrible, ignored her existence and yet, being back at the school for such a short period of time, they were together like none of it had ever happened. Sirius knew that Éponine wanted to see the good in people, perhaps out of guilt because people had given her a second chance. But he also feared that giving second chances and being too trusting would lead to her downfall.

And even if she had rejected him at Hogsmeade, shortly after his birthday, Sirius still cared about her greatly. Romantic feelings aside, Éponine had been there for him when he needed her to be, always willing to be a listening ear or a voice of reason. The last thing he wanted was for her to get her.

If she believed that Regulus had changed for the better and something had happened to him when he went back to the Grimmauld Place to retrieve his things, Sirius was willing to help.

He just hoped she was right.

Stepping out of his animagus form, Sirius glanced down the way to James' position and nodded his head, the signal that he was about to head towards his childhood home. There was a small flicker of light that appeared as quickly as it vanished stating that James was on standby. Approaching the steps of Grimmauld Place that appeared before him, Sirius remained on the bottom step for a moment, finding it difficult to approach the front door.

He had promised himself the night he had left that he would never go back and yet, there he was. It had been years since he had laid eyes on the home and obviously, nothing had changed, it still made him feel unwelcome and uneasy.

Of course, many would tell him that it was foolish to just approach the front door, but Sirius didn't have much of an option. His father had placed so many protective spells on the home that it would difficult to conduct any sneak attack. Sirius' best approach would be to get inside and leave from there with hopefully Regulus at his side. And if things got ugly, James was there to back him up.

It seemed like a fairly simple, yet solid plan as Sirius finally found the courage to reach the door. His wand was drawn and he dared himself to knock on the door. He was about to step away, possibly plan to surprise who answered, when a flash of light down the way distracted him. He heard the sound of James' calling out, with the lights of spells going back and forth. Too distracted by the possible ambush, Sirius didn't even hear the front door to 12 Grimmauld Place open.

When he looked back, he found a wand pointed directly at his face and at the other end, there was Regulus standing before him.

"Regu-"

"You shouldn't have come here, Sirius. You should have stayed away."

Euphemia and Fleamont could only watch as Éponine paced back and forth in the Potter home. Every so often, she would pause and look in the direction of the front door, and when no one entered, she would return to walking. Fleamont had attempted to get her to sit down, but even then, Éponine's anxiety grew worse and the only thing that seemed to keep her from losing her mind was to keep moving.

James had promised that if Regulus did not appear at the Leaky Cauldron, he would talk to Sirius about investigating the Grimmauld Place. She suspected after a couple of hours that Regulus had run into some trouble, more than likely his parents not being away as he suspected. But she was feeling even more guilt settling in as time passed and James had not returned with any sort of news.

She had been picking so much at her hands out of nerves, that her skin was raw. Initially, her thoughts revolved around Regulus running into trouble, but the more time passed, she couldn't help but think something else had happened. Sirius' words from Hogsmeade were haunting her and she couldn't help but think of the worse.

"Maybe I should go there myself," Éponine said at one point and before she could say anything else, Euphemia pushed Fleamont to say something to her.

"Nin," Fleamont walked over slowly, already noting that Éponine had her wand drawn, " I'll be the first to tell you that rushing out there is not a wise decision. I know you're upset and you're scared, believe me, this isn't easy for any of us just waiting here. But rushing out there is dangerous."

"But this is all my fault," she told him. "I shouldn't have let Regulus go back there and I shouldn't have let James wait and then go-"

It was Euphemia who decided to interject, gently grabbing Éponine's wrist and lowering her arm that carried her wand.

"What I think you fail to understand, dear is that you cannot control people's actions, only your own. Even if you did not wish for any of them to do what they did this evening, voicing that doesn't mean that wouldn't have. Just as you make your own decisions, they make their own. I don't care for James and Sirius putting themselves in dangerous situations, but I cannot stop them. I can only express that it makes me worry and hope they don't do anything too dangerous."

Éponine looked over at her with a frown as she kept her hand down as Euphemia gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I can't stop you from leaving either," Euphemia continued, " if you choose to go after them. But we will worry if you do and we're already worried enough about James and Sirius. I think it would be best to wait here just a little longer."

As she nodded her head to tell Euphemia that she would wait a little longer, Éponine started to cry, leaving Euphemia to wrap her arms around her and bring her into a tight hug.

"I don't know what to believe right now, "Éponine whispered to her, " I want to believe that Regulus was doing the right thing and then something bad happened. It's not like I want something bad to happen but I rather believe that than believe that he was lying to me the entire time. He said he wanted to change, he told me that he took the bludger for Gian, and he...he..."

There was little that the Potter couple could say, mainly because they had no idea what to believe. They could hope that Regulus had made the right decision because they remembered how long Sirius had wished for the same thing. And yet, before Éponine had arrived for the holidays, Sirius had expressed that he didn't believe Regulus had miraculously come to his senses. But more than likely attempting to manipulate Éponine. It was a tough call as they wanted to support both Sirius and Éponine.

When they agreed to let Regulus come to their home over the holidays, Euphemia and Fleamont were well aware that Sirius was upset with their decision, but they couldn't stand the idea of pushing away a person that was asking for help.

Just as Euphemia had managed to get Éponine to calm down enough to sit down with her on the nearest sofa. There was a knocking sound at the door and suddenly, all three of them, were up on their feet. Toulouse, who had been settled on the sofa, jumped up as well, his fur puffed before he ran out of the room. Fleamont withdrew his wand and motioned for Euphemia and Éponine to remain quiet as he approached the door. With a silent wave of his wand, the door opened and two bodies fell inside onto the floor.

It only took a few seconds to realise that it was James and Sirius.

The calm demeanour of the room vanished within seconds as Euphemia let out a horrified scream to see her sons on the floor, covered in blood. She and Fleamont hurried over to tend to them immediately, while Éponine remained frozen in place for a few lingering seconds.

The first thing she had noticed after recognising Sirius and James, that Regulus wasn't with them. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her chest that she could no longer hear Euphemia's screams. Shakily, she took one step towards the scene and then another until she knelt down by Fleamont's side. Euphemia and Fleamont were already tending to James and Sirius, healing any obvious wounds.

Sirius was unconscious, his eyes closed as Euphemia tended to him, but James appeared to be awake. His glasses were broken, his face bloodied and bruised, very similar to Sirius' state.

"James," she whispered to him, " what happened? Who did this to you? What...what..."

James peered over at her, reaching out one of his hands towards her. She quickly took it and as his lips moved, his voice was faint. But leaning in Éponine was sure she had heard him correctly.

"It was a setup. It was Regulus, he set us up."

A/N: