I was almost about to go to sleep one night when a letter arrived from Sirius, with only four words on it:

I'll do it - Sirius

He had no indication of what had made him change his mind, whether it was Remus's soft words of persuasion or his own conscience. It took me a moment to realise that this was by far the most unnecessary thing that Sirius had done for effect: he was still living with us ... he literally could have walked a few meters from his room to our but he had to do it in letter form. Still, it didn't matter how he did it, all that mattered was that he was putting me in touch with Regulus and I was one step close to getting my revenge.

Sadly, that was all I got for a few days, Sirius seeming to purposefully be avoiding the two of us being alone, disappearing with Remus and James an annoying amount. Of course, he decided to talk to me when I was at most exhausted: staggering home from a late night Order mission. The Order used to call me and James out together but as of late, they'd started to call us up separately and somehow I always ended up on the ones at five o'clock in the morning. When I walked in, throwing my coat on a table and falling face down onto the sofa, a light flicked on and I lifted my sleepy head up to see Sirius sitting at a table like a God-damn Bond villain.

"No," I murmured, sinking  back down into the cushions, "I'm tired, let me rest..."

"No," He replied, standing up and bending down so his grey eyes were level with mine, "Because this may be the only time we get to talk..."

I rolled over, lying on my back, "Really?! Because yesterday, I sat around for four hours whilst Remus and James were out with the Order and you chose to stay to go out for a walk! Now that would have been a better time to talk."

"For you," He replied, "But not for me, trust me this is the only time we can talk."

"Fine, why?"

He looked around furtively before lowering his voice, "Over the past week, I've been writing to Regulus under an alias, and yesterday ... yesterday, we met up in person in a park and I revealed it was me."

"Wait, wait, wait," I said, my sleepy brain making me say weird things, "So your brother thought that you were a stranger"

"Yep."

"And he agreed to meet you in a park ... in this political state?" I laughed, "On second thoughts, you brother can't help because he sounds stupid."

Sirius grimaced slightly, "No, he knew it was me under an alias."

"So ... you told him? You couldn't even hold a secret identity for a week over letters?" I gave another laugh, "Wow, you're stupid too."

This visibly annoyed Sirius which only made me laugh even more as he replied, "Okay, I know that you're really tired which is why I will let this slide. But I didn't tell him, actually, he knew it was me from the way I wrote ... anyway, let me finish the story!"

"Sorry," I replied, making a big show of looking solemn, "Go on."

"We met in the park, and he didn't smile but didn't leave, he simply said, 'I knew it was you'," Sirius said, a flicker of a smile on his face, "He said he'd missed me but also didn't trust me ... I won't go into all of it, you're too tired to understand. But he's agreed to meet us, in this small cafe near Kingston. Apparently, it's very secluded, and he can only stay for a bit, we have to be very careful ... Lily, are you 100% sure you want to go through with this?"

After a pause, I nodded, "Yes, I do, I need to do this."

"Okay," He stood back up again, beginning to walk away from me.

"Thank you," I murmured, although it came out slightly muffled due to the fact I'd rolled back over onto my front. 

Still, he managed to hear me, murmuring a soft 'You're welcome' before going upstairs to Remus.

•••

The next day, via fleeting messages from Sirius, we decided to leave separately so as not to arouse suspicion, him going for a walk and then me leaving ten minutes after to 'visit Marlene and Mark'. Secretly, he was lurking in our apparating alleyway, as usual, a cigarette delicately balanced between his fingers, unlit as if there out of habit rather than because he actually wanted it. As I neared him, I noticed that for once, the ever-confident Sirius Black looked nervous.

"Sirius, what's wrong?" I asked, glad I was more awake than I had been a few hours back.

"Huh? Oh nothing," He said quickly but his smile was unconvincing and he knew it, "I'm just ... nervous, seeing my brother and lying to my ... " He lowered his voice slightly, " ... boyfriend. It's a ... lot you know."

"I get it," I replied, "The estranged sibling part I probably can't help on as our relationship is rocky. You know, one time we were scheduled to see Mum on the same day and she cancelled because I was going too ... sorry, not helpful."

"And the lying to your partner part?" Sirius asked with a small smile.

I gave a shrug, a small pit in my stomach, "You get used to it. He wouldn't understand, neither of our boys are vengeful beings."

"True," He replied, "Well, let's do it, worse comes to worse we die in a Deatheater attack - "

"SIRIUS!"

He quickly waved his hands, "Sorry, that was unnecessary, let's just go!"

We apparated behind a grove of trees, sheepishly emerging which earnt us a few confused glances from passersby. The cafe Regulus had chosen genuinely looked like the worst place I'd ever seen, grotty and awful with a greying menu that looked like it hadn't replaced since 1966. Sirius, however, was not as focused on the state of the restaurant, his eyes snapping instantly to the small, dark haired boy sitting alone, his coat collar pulled up around his neck as if that would do a good job of hiding him.

Even from far away, the resemblance between the two brothers was uncanny, both of them with the same thick dark hair and scarily similar faces to the point where after a few glasses, I could easily get them confused.

"You alright?" I asked again but Sirius simply nodded, pushing the door open and stepping inside. A small bell rung as we walked and Regulus looked around, his eyes widening as if he hadn't truly expected us to come.

I made a beeline for his table but as I prepared to take a seat, he softly shook his head and I followed Sirius's lead and sat at a table next to him, the two brothers sitting next to each other but still so divided.

"Sirius," He murmured, barely acknowledging my presence.

Sirius was looking directly forwards although his eyes seemed to pass right through me, "Regulus."

I was tempted to say a name too but the only thing left was my name and that was just weird so instead, I said, "Thank you so much for meeting with us."

Regulus looked down at his menu, his lips barely moving as he spoke, "I can't stay for long."

"Thank you anyway," I said, looking over at him which seemed to make him even more nervous.

"Stop," Sirius hissed and I mouthed back 'What?', unaware I was doing anything wrong. Sirius tilted his head to Regulus, "Don't look at him when you speak. As far as anyone knows, we're not together, me and you are simply going out for brunch."

Although I felt that this would make little difference, to anyone who knew us, it would be pretty clear what was going on but Regulus did indeed seem calmer when I turned away from, "Okay. I'm sorry."

Regulus held up his menu in front of his mouth as he spoke, "I understand you're looking for Glenn Fletcher."

I nodded slowly as Regulus continued, "I was close to him in the Order, we were friends - "

"He's a monster," I cut in suddenly, which led to Regulus lowering his menu slightly, giving me the same haughty look I had seen on Sirius's face time and time again.

"To you, maybe," Regulus replied, "He did bad things but he was just as trapped as your friend."

"He manipulated and tricked her," I replied, "Glenn Fletcher is a monster."

Regulus looked mildly angered by this, slowly standing up, "Then I can't help you, I won't help you find him if you're just going to accuse him - "

"Stay," Sirius said, forgetting his composure and turning around in his chair. Quickly, I stood up, realising that if we were going to gain Regulus's cooperation, I would need to hold my tongue.

"I'm sorry," I replied, holding out my hand towards him, "I'm sorry, I'm just upset. Dorcas was my best friend, I'm upset but I genuinely want to ... talk to Glenn, I need closure. Please stay, Regulus?"

There were a few moments silence between us as Regulus stood there, looking between the two of us, his expression hard and unreadable. After a few moments, he sat back down again, sitting up straighter than before. One of the waitresses came over, her dark lined eyes heavy and tired as she stood by us, "What can I get you, love?"

"Um ... just a water, thank you," Regulus replied.

"I'll have a ... " I rapidly scanned over the menu, "... scrambled egg please."

She gave me an odd look and I quickly remembered that we weren't on Regulus's table, we were meant to be separate even though it was pretty damn obvious that we weren't. I looked down, quickly murmuring, "Sorry, thought you were talking to me."

"I might order more later but for now that's all I'm in the mood for, I do apologise," Regulus replied curtly, putting the menu back into her hands.

"Aw, don't be sorry, love," She replied, "Take your time."

With that, she walked away, for some reason deciding to ignore us but I decided to let that slide.

Regulus looked down at his clasped hands on the table, "Glenn disappeared the night Dorcas Meadowes was murdered, even the Dark Lord doesn't know where he is. He didn't even tell me, his friend."

Sirius's lip seemed to curl at this and I suddenly remembered why: his personal grudge with Glenn. From what I could remember, it heavily involved Regulus too, this was bound to be a sore spot.

"He is my friend, and I don't want to cause him harm, so I will let you talk to him and nothing else. If I help you find him, then I want to be there as you talk, Glenn Fletcher won't be hurt," Regulus replied, as the waitress placed his water on the table, "Thank you."

Although my intent was not exactly talking, I needed to find him so I gave a small nod, "Alright, I can agree to that."

"I was there when Dorcas died," Regulus said, looking up as he spoke for the first time, "It was very upsetting, he was under the impression that the Dark Lord would spare her. It was..."

He suddenly trailed off as his eyes drifted over to something in the window. Without warning, he stood up, leaving his half-drunken water on the table, "I have to go, I'm sorry. Do some research on him, many of the old families have big libraries with big books on genealogy and things, the Fletchers are bound to be in there. You're a Potter, you should have access - "

"But it's an Order safehouse," I complained, "We can't go snooping around in there, it will be weird."

I reached out for Regulus but he jumped away slightly, shaking his head, "I can only do so much, you need to look out for him too. I'm sorry, but I really need to go," He looked down at his brother, "I'll be in touch."

With that, he grabbed his jacket from the chair, concluding our very shift meeting and disappearing around the corner. I glanced over at Sirius, who was looking down at the table, his face completely devoid of emotion.

"Sirius, are you okay?"

He nodded, "I guess we have some snooping to do in Potter Manor. This should be fun."