Frank Longbottom led the way across the atrium to the security station, where they both weighed their wands. Frank took the badge that printed out for James when they got to the elevator. 

"What're you doing?"

"You said it's top secret, yeah?" Frank aimed his wand at the badge. The letters rearranged themselves. "There."

"Steje Portam?" James read it, looking up.

"I dunno, maybe it's French?"

James shrugged and stuck the badge back on.

Down through the Ministry the elevator travelled and Frank glanced at his watch, then over at Steje and he muttered, "They're going to wonder what the hell we're up to at this hour anyway. What am I to tell the Prewetts tomorrow when they ask?"

"I dunno."

The elevator reached the bottom floor and they stepped out into the corridor. Frank waved for James to follow and he looked about uneasily. Everything was so secure on this floor, doors of iron with tiny barred windows, and he recognized the green tiled walls from the backgrounds of wizarding photographs in the Daily Prophet that showed booking photos of witches and wizards headed for Azkaban.

"Right down here," Frank directed, and they turned down a short hallway and came to the morgue. 

It was locked, but Frank touched the knob and his fingerprints must've passed some security detection of some sort - James was very glad he'd enlisted an actual auror instead of just donning his suit and trying to do this himself now - and they stepped inside. The desk was empty, the mortician gone home for the night hours ago. 

James paused at the desk. "They'd have personal artifacts here if he'd taken them from the bodies, yeah?"

"Probably. Maybe in one of the drawers?" Frank answered. They both turned to the desk and started pulling open drawers and James started digging through one that was cluttered with miscellaneous things while Frank turned to a large filing cabinet and rifled through large manila envelopes. "Here's the file," Frank said, pulling one out that was labelled "BLACK, REGULUS A."

James went over and they opened the envelope, dumping the contents onto the desktop. Several photographs fell out, along with a couple of slips of paper. No watch, no pendent. James picked up the photographs and his stomach dropped so that he had to push them away quickly - they were of Regulus, laying on the floor of the bathroom entrance of the Ministry. His body lay on the tile floor, unmoving so that James couldn't even tell if it was a magical photograph or a muggle one that had taken it. 

"Oh." He covered his mouth and turned away from the photos. He hadn't expected the amount of emotion that struck him in that moment. 

Frank picked them up and put them back into the envelope. "Are you okay?"

James nodded.

Frank hesitated. "James, are you sure you want to look at the body?"

He couldn't bring himself to nod. He wanted to nod, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He closed his eyes.

"It's OK if you don't."

"I have to know if it's him."

"I'll look."

"Alright."

James felt like a coward.  But it wasn't death itself that was making him sick like this, it was that it was Regulus. Regulus who saved his life multiple times, who had been so brave and stood up against Voldemort so many times, who had snuck information to James at his own peril...

Frank pushed open the door to the morgue and stepped inside. James could hear Frank's feet on the tile and heard him moving about. James stood, arms crossed over his chest, staring at his trainers. It went quiet in the room.

"Frank?"

Silence.

"Frank, is it him? Does the body have the Dark Mark?"

Instead of an answer, suddenly Frank was at his side again. 

"Potter?"

"Longbottom?"

"You, uh... You need to see this."

James hesitated, then turned and followed Frank into the room. There was a bank of drawers - body sized drawers - along one wall and Frank had one pulled open and Jame could see a black shrouding body bag that had been unzipped and could just see the curve of a nose from where he stood, and he steeled himself, prepared as much as he possibly could for what he was about to see.

But nothing could've prepared him for what he found.

There was a boy laying in the bag - a boy with plain brown hair but long, beautiful eyelashes. The boy's cheeks were full and he had a perfect button nose and narrow, pale pink painted lips, slightly parted. There was matching pale pink eyeshadow over his eyes... He could've been Maryrose's twin brother.

James looked up.

Frank shrugged.

James felt rather like he was looking at something he ought not to, like it was a violation of something, and he quickly reached for the zipper of the bag, pulling it up and covering the body. His hands shook. "Frank?"

"The drawer's labelled for Regulus," Frank said, answering James's unspoken question.

Silence fell over them again, and finally after sevaral long moments, Frank pushed the drawer closed gently.

"Did you know?" Frank asked suddenly.

"Know?"

"She was a metamorphmagus, wasn't she?"

"Who?"

"Maryrose, James. That was Maryrose."

"What? No. That was -- that was a boy. I - I mean he looked like her, but --"

"James. Metamorphmagi return to their natural state when they die. Biologically, I mean, rather. Any changes they've made to themselves revert."

James stared at Frank, confused.

"Oi, stop having porridge for brains and think about it a second."

"M-Maryrose was --" James couldn't wrap his mind around it.

"I mean it's natural, she just used her ability to match her body to who she was on the inside is all," Frank said. "It doesn't make her any less of a girl, it's - it's quite sad, really." He stared at the drawer.

"I'm not confused about that," James said, shaking his head, "No I'm confused about how she got confused for Regulus? I mean, even in a boy's form she didn't look even slightly like Regulus, and - and she's been gone for... for so long..." 

He'd almost said years.

It's only been months in this timeline, he reminded himself.

"How --"

"Dunno."

"But wait. If hers is the body that's in Regulus's place here --"

"Then the actual Regulus isn't here," Frank whispered. "Was never here."

"So Sirius was right."

"Looks like it."

"Boy Remus is going to eat crow on this one," muttered James. "Poor lad." But he felt an intense weight of guilt lift from his body. He paused. "So where is the real Regulus, then?"

"Could be anywhere," Frank said.

They stared at each other.

James was still staring at the handle of the drawer. "Frank?"

"Yeah?"

"You reckon they open those bags again before the burial?"

Frank said, "Not unless there's some reason to, I don't reckon."

"So... so unless you or I say something... there's a possibility that nobody else would know what we saw just now?"

Frank shook his head.

"It stays between us," James said. "You, me, Alice, Lily, Remus, and Sirius. That's it. Nobody else."

"Peter?"

"No. Nobody else. As far as the world knows, Regulus Black is dead."

"Alright."

Regulus had pulled back as the wand burned and the result had been the burning riding up his forearm, over his elbow and onto his bicep, leaving a nasty trail of scorched skin that burned brilliant blood red, cooking into instant scars. It was the most painful thing that he had ever felt in his entire life. The process of removing the thing was eons worse than when Voldemort had initially put it on him, and he'd watched grown men cry and pass out while getting branded. Now, he could barely breathe and his arm was stiff to unfold as the scars that were already forming crated a stitched line from his wrist all the way to the far outer side of his bicep, deep and terrible.

"Kreacher is so, so sorry Master! Kreacher is sorry!" the elf had wailed this between gulps for air about three times every twenty seconds as he'd been performing the spell at Regulus's command. Now he was in actual tears.

"It's okay, calm down," Regulus murmured, trying to regain his stomach to allow Kreacher to do it again.

The worst part was that Regulus could tell the way the firs few patches they'd used the spell on were healing that the Mark was not obliterated enough yet and he was going to have to endure this entire process at least once or twice more.

It would be worth it, he promised himself. Worth it to never have to feel that bleeding Mark burn again, worth it to not have to cover up his arm.

Not that he would be seeing anyone anymore.

He had to stay dead at all costs, at least in the eyes of You Know Who.

"Let's take a break from that, huh, Kreacher?" he asked and the elf held up the wand. "Thanks." Regulus could still feel the heat that had generated in the wood. He was honestly surprised the wand hadn't backfired or combusted it was so warm.

Kreacher was staring at Regulus's head. 

Their eyes met.

"Master Regulus has cut his hair so short, why has he done this, Kreacher doesn't know?"

Regulus said, "I - I need a change, Kreacher."

"But it doesn't look like Master Regulus," Kreacher said sadly. "And Master's jaw --"

"It's from a bad punch," Regulus answered. "The same which broke my tooth and caused all that bloodiness you cleaned up earlier."

Kreacher looked so sad at this. "Kreacher is hoping that Master Regulus does not change everything about Kreacher's Master... Master is good to Kreacher and Kreacher would miss his Master if his Master Regulus became cruel like most Masters are."

"I wouldn't ever change that part of me, Kreacher. I promise."

Lily was still shaking and sweeping up a shattered tea cup from the floor when James and Frank came in.

Frank's jaw was dropped as he looked around the place. "Blimey, Potter - don't let Alice come in here... You've already raised the bar higher than I could ever place with that bleedin' wedding! Now you've done this --- bloody hell."

Lily threw teacup shards into the bin as Frank went on about the house, but James had come up to her, ignoring Frank's awe at the house, and James gave her a kiss. "Evans," he said, urgently, holding her, "It wasn't Regulus."

Lily looked up at him, eyes wide. 

"It was Maryrose."

"Maryrose?" Lily sounded shocked. 

"Yes," James answered.

"How..."

"All I can think of is --"

"Mopsus," they both said at the same time.

Lily  shook her head, "But - but why?"

"Dunno. But if Mopsus wanted there to be an illusion of Regulus Black dead, bad enough that he went and took Maryrose clear out of another timeline and put her here, then... Then something's very important about this."

Lily nodded. "What could it be?"

"Dunno," James answered, "But..." he hesitated.

"What?"

James glanced at Frank, then back at Lily. He lowered his voice. "Until we figure it out, I don't think it's exactly... something... anyone should know about."

Lily stared into James's eyes for a long moment, then she, too, glanced over at Frank, who was marveling at their new living room.

They went out into the living room together and Frank turned around, "I can't believe you, Potter... No man will ever live up to this..."

James chuckled, "I don't think Alice will hold it against you."

"Precisely my point, she won't hold anything against me once she sees this compared to what I'm going to have to offer."

"She loves you, Frank. It doesn't matter what else you have to offer, she only wants you."

Frank smiled.

Lily's spell was nearly undetectable, aside from the way Frank's eyes glossed over. 

Frank looked confused for a moment, a bit lost, and he looked at James for a moment in his confusion.

"Thanks Frank, for stopping by... Bit unconventional of a time for it, though, huh?"

"Unconventional... yeah."

"Yeah... most unconventional," James muttered, shaking his head.