Regulus Black sat in a booth at the curry shop downstairs of the flat in East London, his face buried in the menu, but also peeking over it now and again, watching through the window for any signs of the upstairs occupants coming home. It was about time that Sirius ought to be, but Regulus hadn't seen him yet. He sighed in frustration. All he wanted was to see if Sirius was looking like he was getting on okay.

He hadn't looked so grand at the funeral two days before - he'd been pale and hidden his eyes behind sunglasses. His hair, while not Severus Snape levels of greasy by any means, had been unkempt and dirty, and he'd been leaning nearly completely on James and Remus when the group of them all had left the cemetery, passing right by him on their way. While James Potter had seemed uneasy about the strange young man leaving flowers (at a random grave whose occupant he didn't know), there was no reason to believe he'd been detected. 

He couldn't stop thinking about Sirius. It was positively destroying him to keep from going to see his brother - but he knew that wouldn't be safe for anyone involved, and he knew it was better if he kept a distance.

Freddie Jenkins, however, was a different story.

Freddie Jenkins wasn't going to be noticed.

He leaned forward, thinking he heard a motorbike in the road but it drove past the turn to the alleyway between buildings that went back to the stair up to the flat. Regulus leaned back in his seat again.

"Are you ready to order?"

"Not yet," Regulus answered without looking up, and then, realizing that was rude, he looked up and he nearly choked. The waitress was Oni Lamm. He stared at her, wide eyed, as she, oblivious, folded back the top sheet on an order pad in her hand and held a pen, angled to write. "Sorry." He stammered, this time remembering to lower his voice and a bit of inflection as though it were an accent. 

Oni barely looked up from the pad. "Can I recommend the tandoori? Really good, if you've not been here before. My uncle makes it just spicy enough without overdoing the flavor."

"Your - your uncle?" Regulus glanced around the restaurant, his eyes falling on the man at the counter who Sirius said was always there and supposedly made the best of something called laddu, which Sirius had said he wished to be married to and which he was going to get Regulus some of for the birthday that was cut short. But how could that man be Oni Lamm's uncle? She'd said her Uncle was killed by Voldemort in Egypt.

Oni stared at him, one eyebrow raised. "I'll give you a few more minutes with the menu," she said, and she turned away.

Regulus watched her go, nervous, twiddling with the pendant around his neck.

Idiot, he thought. If you acted that idiotic around Sirius he would know you're suspicious in a second and probably blast you right out of your socks thinking he was offing a death eater spy or something! He shook his head at his stupidity - then realized he'd stopped watching the window for a minute - what if Sirius had come home in that short time and he'd missed it? He couldn't be hanging about the curry shop anymore.

Suddenly there was something pressing against the back of his neck, right into the spot where his spine and skull met. "You get up, very peaceful and quiet, and you come with me. Not a word out of your mouth until I say otherwise." The voice as Oni's; the tone was murderous, yet level and calm, and the wand jabbing into his spinal cord meant he had no real option.. So he slid out of the seat he was in and stood slowly.

Regulus walked slowly, nearly tripping over his own two feet as he went, the wand never once letting up pressure against his spine. Oni reached quickly into his jacket and withdrew his wand from his belt where'd tucked it, and she held it in her fist as she escorted him. She kept one fist closed around his elbow, guiding him through the empty curry shop, down a short corridor and through a door. It was the kitchen and it was hot and there were pots and pans steaming and bubbling, and huge jars of spices and big tub of chicken soaking in cumin and turmeric. She magicked the giant vat to one side and there beneath it was a trap door.

"Down," she commanded.

He glanced down and it was pitch dark, all he could see was the top of a ladder and maybe three more rungs beneath that. He nervously sat down, though, took hold of the rungs and started down into the dark. She followed a moment later, and they climbed down probably fifteen or twenty feet before he felt solid ground beneath him.

Instinctively, he turned and offered her his hand in dismounting the ladder. She look it, but then immediately twisted him back into the same grip she'd had on him before. "Over here." She pulled him down the corridor and there was a door, which she unlocked with a muggle key, and she showed him inside, closing it behind her and carefully locking it again.

Regulus stood still on the inside of the room.

Suddenly the lamps all lit up and the room was a glow - a living room, near identical to the one upstairs in the flat. He still didn't dare to move. She aimed her spell around the room and muttered an incantation he hadn't heard before, but nothing seemed to have happened.

Oni turned to face him. "Tell me your name right now." 

"Freddie Jenkins."

Oni stared at him. "Where did you get that pendant from?"

Regulus's hand went to the necklace around his throat.

"That pendent does not belong to you and I want to know where you got it and how." Oni's eyes were dead cold as she glared at him.

"You recognize the pendent?" Regulus asked, incredulous.

"The boy it belongs to is --" Oni paused, then corrected, "The boy it belonged to was my best friend and it doesn't belong on your neck. He's dead and now you have it and it's not yours to wear. Give it to me, it doesn't belong to you."

"Oni..."

"How do you know my name?"

"I --" 

"HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?" Oni screamed and red sparks shot from her wand, stinging Regulus in the shoulder.

"AH! What the HELL?" Regulus snapped, "I only bloody said your name!" 

"WHO ARE YOU?"

"I TOLD YOU I'M FREDDIE JENKINS!"

"THEN WHY DO YOU HAVE REGULUS BLACK'S PENDENT?!"

"I dunno, I found it."

She flicked her wand and with a snap the chain broke from his neck, and she caught it as it flew across the room to her, her hand closing 'round it. "No!" he shouted and he lunged forward. She had him flat on his back in a second with a quick jab of her wand and he lay there, his back smarting from the impact. He screwed up his face. 

Oni crossed the room, stepped on his chest with one foot and aimed her wand at his face, the chain of the necklace hanging over her balled fist. "Did you murder him or did some other sick bastard follower of the Dark Lord do it? Were you there to watch him die? Did he teach you bloody pricks what it is to have dignity before he died? Will you show as much when I avenge him?" her hand shook.

Regulus stared at the wand tip, his eyes crossing a second as he did, then refocused on Oni. He had no choice for it. He had to trust her. 

"Is this place safe?" he asked. 

Oni's wand lowered slightly. "Y - yes..."

"Oni, it's me. It's Regulus Black."

She stared, shaking her head in disbelief, but her wand lowered slightly more.

"It looks like we've both kept some secrets from each other and somehow we've ended up here."

Oni still hadn't taken her foot away from his chest and though her wand wasn't aimed at his face, it was still aimed at his body. "Tell me something nobody else would know."

"The pendant was given me by Maryrose Jenkins... who I've borrowed a last name from..."

"Any number of people could know that." But Oni's face paled.

He searched his mind for a moment, then, "Kelpie eggs," he said.

"What?"

"I never got to see the kelpie eggs. Professor Kettleburn's kelpie eggs. They were in the black lake. You got to help Kettleburn with them. I didn't get to see them on account of all the detentions from McGonagall - all term long. You were so annoyed because I wasn't about as much. You kissed me in the library."

Oni moved her foot from his chest and he got up. She handed him his wand, which he stowed away, and he held out his hand for the pendant, and she handed that to him too. He inspected the chain and she flicked her wand to fix what she'd broken and he put the necklace back on, relieved to feel it there again, his fingers twitching to play with it, as was his subconscious habit.

They stood facing each other for a moment, then she sprang forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You aren't dead! Oh Regulus, you're not dead, I've been so scared! I've been so worried for you, ever since you disappeared from Hogwarts, I've been driving the staff mental and everyone else, just I was looking for you for so long and nobody would listen at first, then Slughorn had a right fit and he got the aurors looking for you -- then, then your body at the Ministry... was that a lie? Are the aurors on Voldemort's side now?"

Regulus cringed when she said the name, bracing himself, half expecting them both to disappear -- but apparently his work with burning away the dark mark had done the trick that needed doing for speaking the name did not make them disappear and his hands shook as he relaxed the tension that had gone through him.

"What? What is it?" she asked, having felt it rise up and go. She backed up to look at him.

"Don't say the name, alright?"

"Alright..." she murmured. Then, staring in his eyes, hers suddenly got quite angry and she swatted his chest with her hands frantically in that silly way girls sometimes do. "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU WERE OKAY, YOU DIDN'T THINK I WAS WORRIED? DID YOU THINK I WOULDN'T NOTICE YOU WERE GONE? ME? WITH MY FAMILY IN HIDING AND EVERYTHING THAT I'VE TOLD YOU MY FAMILY'S GONE THROUGH WITH HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED?"

"I'm sorry alright! I didn't tell anyone! Even my brother thinks I'm dead!" Regulus said, grabbing her hands to stop her slapping at him. 

She was breathless, his hands gripping her wrists.

"You Know Who thinks I'm dead and that's -- safest for me."

"Is that why you look like a total idiot? What did you DO to yourself? Look at your face! Look at your HAIR! You've - you've ruined your face, what did you do?"

"I told you, everyone thinks I'm dead... I can't very well go parading about all easy to recognize..."

"Can it be undone?"

"The face can," he said, "But the hair I've used magic to cut off, so it would need to grow back... I s'pose it does grow back, though. Sirius's did." He paused, "Hang on, speaking of... Your uncle lives under my brother's flat? I thought your uncle was dead?"

"I have more than one uncle, Regulus, don't you?"

"Yeah," he hadn't even thought of that.

"My whole immediate family left Cairo when my other uncle and aunt were killed and we needed a safe place to go and my uncle here in London took us in since he was established here and he has a safe house that we stay at."

"What is this?"

"An emergency hide away, in case Death Eaters come to the shop. It's completely safe down here. Disapparation isn't possible, there's a silencing spell, and only one of us can move that simmering pot to find the trap door. The whole building has special magic set on it, protective magic... My uncle said he knew your brother and his mates were magic when they came applying for the flat. He recognized James Potter, knew he was of good blood, and he rented the flat out to them for that. He's been keeping an eye on them, he said."

"Why didn't you mention all this before?"

"Regulus, I swear, I didn't know any of this until holiday. I mean I knew they owned a curry shop, but I didn't know about the flat, and I didn't know your brother lived up there. I barely had time to get used to living in London before I left for Hogwarts, honestly... My uncle's been here for years and years, but my family had just come at the end of the summer... so I didn't know anything about this when I met you at Hogwarts..."

Regulus remembered her telling him about their leaving Egypt to come to England to hide after her other aunt and uncle had been killed in Egypt.

"I asked my family if they'd heard anything about you and my uncle told me that your brother stayed in the flat upstairs... I asked if I could work here for the holiday, just until it was time to go back to Hogwarts, to help keep an eye on Sirius, because I was hoping to get to talk to him, to get to ask about you... But I hadn't gotten a chance. Then a couple nights ago, I talked to Peter when he came to pick up their take out order, and I asked him about you and he got very cross with me, said it was none of my business where you were or what was going on. He must've felt bad because later on he sent me an owl to apologize, he's been sending me owls... He said that you were staying with them, that you were well but he couldn't tell me anything more, and then he told me that you were -- that you were dead. And then the Daily Prophet said your body was left at the Ministry --" she cut off, looking up at him.

"It wasn't me, as you can see," he murmured. 

"I see that now."

Regulus's fingers brushed over the pendant a moment, thinking of Maryrose.

"If you don't want people to recognize you - you'd best hide that better," she said suddenly.

"What?"

"The pendent. What you're doing right now. That's what made me notice you today. I didn't give you a second thought until you did that and I noticed the pendent."

Regulus's hand dropped from the pendant quickly. 

"The second you did it at the booth... I thought of you and I saw the pendant was the same and that's why I brought you down here. I thought you might be a Death Eater after your brother and his friends and -- Well, obviously you're not, but if I notice that habit of yours and I've only known you a short time, then anyone who knows you better would know it was you instantly. That's one of the most important things about being in hiding that my family had to learn. We had to train ourselves not to do the things we normally might do. I mean, you took a grand first step, changing your appearance... We all did that, too, you know."

"You did?"

Oni nodded. "Takes some getting used to, doesn't it? Looking completely different?"

Regulus nodded, and he wondered what Oni used to look like, what changes they'd made to her face and her hair to hide away.

"Do you have a safe place to stay?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered, "It's very safe. I made sure of it."

"Okay, good."

"So your family's keeping an eye on Sirius?"

Oni nodded. "Now they know they're... sort of... friends of mine, they'll keep one extra close, too." She bit her lip. "Are you okay, Regulus?"

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Is there anything I can do to help you?"

He shook his head, "I don't need anything... I'm fine, I'm working on some stuff and hopefully once I get it worked out everything can just -- go back to normal. Maybe I'll even be able to come back to school soon." 

Oni didn't look like she believed that. "I can help you if you need anything, if you think of anything."

"Yeah. I'll let you know if I do."

"Okay." She paused, then, "How will I know if you're safe? Can't we keep in touch?"

"I can't risk accepting owls."

"I understand." She looked down, then, "Could you maybe send me one once in awhile?"

Regulus hesitated, then, "Yeah, I s'pose that I could do. At Hogwarts, though."

Oni nodded. "I leave to go back in a few days. Term starts again." 

"Look, I'm really sorry you were upset about me being dead."

Oni couldn't help it, she laughed just a tiny bit at this sentence and looked up at him, "That sounds so ridiculous of a statement."

"I know," Regulus laughed, too. He shook his head, "I don't know how else to say it."

"I'm just glad you're alive. You're too good to be dead."

"That's a pretty ridiculous statement, too."

"Well, it's true. You deserve better than all this. I know how awful it is hiding and it isn't fun and I'm sorry that you have to do it. Just... just know you're not alone, okay? And if you need to talk or you need advice or you need anything at all, I know my family will help you."

"Thanks, Oni. But I - I can't trust anyone right now. Not wholly."

"I understand." Her eyes met his, "I couldn't either."

Regulus knew then by her eyes that there was loads more she wasn't telling him, just like there was loads more he wasn't telling her, but that they'd reached a middle ground where each of them had told each other a lot more than they'd told anyone else and they were both vulnerable to the other fairly equally - in fact, he, Regulus, had the upper hand because she'd shown him the shop and the trap door.

"I have to go," he said.

Back at Number 12, Regulus sat at the table while Kreacher cooked. Regulus stared absently across the room, not truly focused on anything, but thinking about everything he'd found out at the curry shop. 

Kreacher put a plate before him. "Master Regulus must be very hungry, Master should eat." He'd made a stew and it smelled very good, one of Regulus's favorites. But Regulus stayed staring off, still lost in thought. Kreacher tilted his head, ears flat, looking into Regulus's face. "Master?"

"Sorry," Regulus looked at Kreacher, "What?"

"Master is very thoughtful," Kreacher observed, "Very deep in thought in deed. Is Kreacher's Master alright?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, I'm all right, Kreacher."

"Its only when Master is upset that Kreacher's Master is playing with his pendant."

Regulus looked down, realizing that once again he'd been absent mindedly playing with the necklace again, and Oni Lamm's words went through his head about him needing to be careful about it. He did it without even thinking, he realized. 

With shaking hands, he took the necklace off, unclasping it from the back of his neck. He held it in his palm and looked at the pendant for a long moment. "Kreacher?"

"Yes, Master Regulus?"

Regulus held out the necklace. "Kreacher, take this." 

"Master's pendant?" Kreacher asked, his face full of concern. He kept his hands back, afraid to touch it. "But it is Master's most precious object!" 

"Keep it safe for me, Kreacher." Regulus reached out and took Kreacher's hand and put the locket into the house elf's palm. "Keep it very safe for me until I ask for it back, alright?"

Kreacher nodded. He held it a moment, then looked at Regulus and crawled off the bench seat of the table, disappearing into his little nest in the pantry. Regulus listened closely and he heard the elf scuffing about in there for a few minutes and then the sound of the grate going out to the garden popping. 

In the garden, Kreacher carefully hung the necklace around the pile of stones that marked his mother's grave. He scrambled back through the grate, leaving the pendant there, glimmering in the moonlight.

You are so brave.