"See, the rice doubles to hold the stems and also it'll be there for the rice toss at the end."

Alice Prewitt said, pouring white rice grains from a bag into a clear glass jam jar. She took up a small branch of pine, a twig of spruce, some cedar bark, and a sprig of bluebells, slipping them stem-first into the jar of rice, arranging them carefully. She smiled at the result and turned it so Lily could see.

"Oooh it's so pretty!" Lily squealed, barely able to contain herself. She looked around at James, who was reading this month's copy of Quaffle Talk on the couch. "Look, James."

He looked up, "Oh that's spiffing!" He said, grinning, more excited over Lily's pleasure at it than by the arrangement itself. He sat up and looked at it more closely, because it seemed that's what she wanted, and he smiled, letting his fingers gently ring the little bell shaped flowers. "You're really talented for this sort of thing, Ali."

Alice flushed, "Thanks."

Lily and Ali kept on filling jars and James lay back into the cushions again to keep on reading. He was glad for the end of term to have come, and Ali had opted to come home by disapparation rather than the Express, so she'd arrived a day sooner than anyone was expecting. Frank didn't know it yet, and there was dinner in the oven, making the flat smell delicious, which they'd invited him over for as a surprise reveal of the extra time with Alice.

It meant, too, that everyone was home - other than Sirius, who'd had to travel out to some village near to Oxford with Bilius for a degnoming job. James was glad for not having to figure out what to do with another empty day.

Somehow, reading quietly on the couch with Alice and Lily making arrangements for the wedding and Remus in the next chair studying made everything feel better.

He was reading an article about school quidditch teams and how there was murmurings at the Ministry sporting office of some members talking about reinventing the old Triwizard Tournament, which hadn't been played in ages due to potentially dangerous situations.

The article was talking mostly about how lack of proper training at the school levels was leading to weak recruitment seasons and an overload on the coaches and assistant trainers in the International level. This, they said, was being remedied by many students in the schools taking on hiring private coaches to train during the spring and summer months of their sixth and seventh years so that they could impress recruiters and be asked on to teams. This of course was only being done by the most serious students, the ones who showed true potential for eventually going professional.

James imagined himself in another life having begged his parents for a coach. He would've probably been one of those serious students, and he knew Charlus would've been on board the idea. He had always supported James's aspiration to be a quidditch player, much to Dora's horror, and James smirked thinking of Charlus petitioning for a trainer just as hard as he himself was. Probably over breakfast they both would've been begging, "Pleeeeease mum, pleeeeease!"

Suddenly the door burst open and in came Sirius. "HONEY I'M HOME!"

James didn't even look up from the magazine, he just called out, "You're early - we thought we had at least half the day without having to look at your ugly mug!"

"Regulus!" Lily cried, springing up from where she was sitting, running across the room and hugging the younger Black brother. "Oh my goodness, I owe you a thousand thank yous for saving my boys."

Regulus looked most uncertain about how he felt with the hug at first - but the longer she held him, the more he felt the anxiety leave, the fear lifted off him, like a thick black cloud parting to allow a little sun through. He felt his muscles relax tension he didn't even know he'd pent up. It lasted longer than it probably ought to have, but Lily did not let up even once during it, her arms squeezing him just right until he'd sort of melted into the hug. She stepped back and held him at arm's length, looking into his eyes, and he saw tears in her eyes and she brushed the hair off his forehead and planted a gentle kiss there, which he hadn't been expecting, but which comforted him in a way he had never felt before.

"Thanks," he murmured.

Lily nodded.

James had got up, too, and he held out his hand to Regulus once Lily had let go, and they shook for a moment before James pulled him into a more manly version of the hug Lily had given out - their chests bumping and a heavy thump on the back. "Yes, thank you. I meant to send an owl but I wasn't sure if it would be safe to do it at the school, so I was waiting until you were back home for holiday... less eyes to see it arrive." He paused, "And I'm sorry Jaz and I left; it just seemed like the right thing to do... We were both a mess..."

"He didn't go back to Hogwarts after," Sirius interjected.

"What?" James looked at Regulus, concerned.

"Tell him what's on, little brother," Sirius said, shrugging off his jacket and kicking off his boots. Remus had put aside his studying by then, sitting forward in the chair, looking over with concern in his eyes. Sirius crossed the room and kissed Remus's head in greeting, sitting on the arm of his chair as James and Lily led Regulus into the living room.

"Greyback saw Mother and I helping you and Jasper," Regulus said, talking to James. "That's why he followed us home. He was down in the library. He threatened us - threatened to kill me - and Mother... oh Mother went off the rails. She actually told Greyback she wasn't following You Know Who anymore."

James's eyes were wide and he looked at the others. Remus was even pale and the others expressions were equally horrified.

"Mother said that?" Sirius said.

"Yeah she was really mad when he threatened me; she totally lost it. She cursed him and screamed at him. She crucioed him so hard, I reckon he's probably still wetting himself."

At this, Sirius steeled, turned his face away, and bit his lip. Remus put his hand on Sirius's leg and looked up at him. "It's okay," Remus murmured quiet enough only Sirius really heard him, and he squeezed Sirius's knee knowingly.

"That's how we had time to get away... We had to leave Kreacher at Grimmauld Place, and we took Father's Safe House, and we've been moving constantly to stay ahead of - of him." Regulus felt exhausted, even as he said the words.

"You must be so frightened," Lily said quietly. She could feel it still lingering in her, the intensity of his fear. There had been heartbreak and loneliness and confusion and regret, too, all jumbling about.

Regulus nodded, then glancing at Sirius, he said quickly, "I know you lot have been under attack by him before and I know it's not new for you... that he's trying to kill all of you, too... but --" Regulus was cut off by James.

"It's different."

Regulus looked at James.

"It's different when he's targeted you." James glanced at Sirius, too, because Regulus had, and he saw Sirius look down with a guilty purse to his lips, his eyes trained on the top of Remus's head to avoid making eye contact. James looked back to Regulus. "Has Volde--"

"Don't say his name!!!" Regulus said quickly, panicked. "Don't say his name."

James and the others all looked at him in surprise at the outburst.

Regulus held up his arm, showing the mark. "Mother's afraid he might be able to... to sort of sense it... if we speak the name around the mark." Regulus shook his head, "I dunno how that would work. Sort of like a trace, I suppose..." he shrugged. "But don't say the name. Just in case."

"Alright. Not saying the name, then," James said. The others nodded their agreement as he glanced around at them. He turned back to Regulus. "Has You Know Who made any advancements? Any attacks yet toward you? Do you know for certain he's already started... searching for you?"

Regulus said, "Not expressly, but we know Greyback wouldn't have kept it quiet what happened and the Dark Mark has burned every day since the night at the theater. He's calling the Death Eaters to him and Mother and I aren't responding. That alone is enough to tip him off, without any information from Greyback. He knows. He definitely knows by now."

James nodded, "Alright. And you mentioned a Safe House?"

"Yes, my --" he looked at Sirius, "-- our Father built it."

Sirius grumbled, "You can keep him for yourself."

James gave Sirius a look, then turned again to Regulus. "Is it actually safe?"

"Yes," Regulus answered, "Well, Mother says it is anyway. It's safer than Grimmauld is, at any rate. We can move the house."

"My family has one of those, too," Alice spoke up. "It's pretty cool. We used to use it like a vacation house, before the war started getting crazy. I remember summers moving it all over the place. There's so many charms and protections on it, though, it's sort of a pain to move it about... and my Dad always had to do side-along with me and it was extra complicated to get into with a side-along, right?" She looked at Regulus, "As that's part of the security - that it keeps hangers-on from following?"

"Right," Regulus said. "You have to know where it is to disapparate to it, and even then you appear quite a ways off from it, you have to walk to it, and there are protective shield charms and incantations that must be spoken in order to pass through to get to the house... It's quite complicated magic, really... And we've moved thrice in a single week, too. So we're not staying in one place."

"The initial disapparation has to be from Grimmauld Place, too, doesn't it? In order to get in the first time?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah," Regulus said. "When we move, we have to go to Grimmauld and disapparate away from there. You appear with the house, inside of the protective charms the first time."

"So it's got a four-stop protective system going, then," James murmured.

Regulus nodded.

"That sounds about as safe as it gets... Who knows about the house?"

"Only the Black family," Regulus answered.

"Not counting the cousins," Sirius intoned from his chair. "It's just the four of us that ever knew about it. Even Kreacher doesn't know about it, specifically."

"Which is why we left him at Grimmauld," Regulus nodded.

James drew a deep breath, "Okay. Well. Your mum sounds like she's done a good job keeping you lot safe."

"Yeah, I suppose," Regulus said. He paused, staring down at his hands.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" Lily asked.

Regulus hesitated, then, "Well it's just that... It doesn't... I mean I know in my head it's safe, but --"

"It doesn't feel safe?" James asked.

"Yeah." Regulus frowned, "I dunno. And Mother's been acting so strange. She's really nervous and she keeps trying to make me feel better but she just makes me feel more unsettled. She's been sort of... unhinged a little, I guess. Or maybe she's just let go a bit, rather. She hasn't been herself at anyrate." He paused. "She was singing yesterday morning. And doing the cleaning."

"Mother?" Sirius scoffed. "Yeah, right."

"She was!" Regulus said, "It freaked me right out. She's never... cheerful. I mean, at best she's stoic. She's never... like this."

"Relieved, I bet," Alice said, "From having to act like she does around You Know Who. Dropped the act. Maybe she's finally being herself."

Sirius shook his head, "No, Mother isn't cheerful. She's a right old bitch and nothing would change that."

Regulus looked at Sirius with a flash in his eyes, "Don't talk about her like that. She's not a bitch. She's just --" Regulus paused. "She isn't one anymore at any rate."

"Yes well I'm not giving that a chance to be proved wrong," Sirius said, shaking his head. "Sorry Regulus, but you can keep her for yourself, too."

Regulus sighed. "Anyway. I don't know what I was thinking when I disapparated this morning. I just left the house - I left a note for Mother that I'd be back, but I just needed to get out of there. I was having a -- a bad night, I guess, and I felt so unsafe... Not really because of the house, I guess, mostly just worry, I guess. It's been a really terrible year..." He looked at James. "How did you deal with it? When you came back from Havmork?"

James ran a hand through his hair. "One day at a time."

"It's just that whenveer I close my eyes, I have these... these nightmares, I guess, and it's like... I can't sleep, I can't stop thinking about these horrible things I've seen." He thought fleetingly about telling them about the visions of the cave, about the talks with Cadmus Peverell and the horcruxes. Maybe one of them knew more about the dark magic that it took to create one? But when he looked about at their faces, he couldn't picture a single one of them having any more knowledge of dark magic than he did. Perhaps Remus Lupin, but only on an academic level, and something deep inside of him tingled in warning not to mention it.

"I'm sorry, Regulus," James said sincerely. "It's horrid having something like that on your shoulders. You don't deserve that sort of pain."

Regulus hung his head.

James drew a deep breath, "I dunno what more we can do to help you - it sounds like the Safe House is solid." James stood up, "Hang on a second, I'll be right back." He left the room. He came back a moment later and held out his hand to Regulus. "Here." In it, was a golden snitch, wings barely flapping, the magic nearly spent from it.

"What's this for?" Regulus asked.

"I've just made it a port key."

"A port key?"

"Yes. Keep it in your pocket and if you ever need to get here quickly... wherever you are, you can grab onto that. Discreet as can be. And --" James waved his arms. "You'll be here. Anytime you need us. Just hold it in your hand and tell it to take you home."