when regulus survived in the cave when he was nineteen, he thought he'd just spend the rest of his life as a recluse. his brother hated him, barty was falling apart and pandora was pregnant, and as well as that, his mother and father were going to live in scotland for the last few years of his father's life.

turns out, being an animagus really helps when faking your death.

how wrong he was.

he often visits azkaban, where sirius is now held, in his bird form, just to make sure his brother's sanity remains intact. that's important to him, and he knows it would be important to remus.

if remus thought that it wasn't sirius who sold his best friend's location and got them killed.

he also visits little harry j potter in his bird form, who lives with his uncle and aunt, who, by the way, regulus despises. if he could curse them and their brat of a child, he would.

for now, though, he's figuring out a plan to free sirius, save harry and pull remus out of his depressive spiral. lily and james's death had impacted a lot of people.

case in point: you, lily's best friend, were lonely. very lonely. so when regulus came knocking on your door, full of explanations, you let him in.

he was an old friend from hogwarts, and he looked dishevelled when he came to find you. desperate, almost, and you'd never seen regulus arcturus black look desperate in his life.

that was a year ago, now. only dumbledore and you know that regulus is actually alive. reg, now twenty five, has fallen into his little routine with you. check on sirius, remus, harry, barty, and come back home to you. more domestic than anything he'd expected when he was younger. afterall, he thought he'd die at nineteen. was ready for it, even.

he sips on his coffee as he watches you walk into the main part of the flat. “morning.” he says, even smiling a little. “i do have a question to ask.”

you yawn but nod, popping on the kettle. “shoot.”

“what would you think about asking dumbledore if we could have harry instead of the dursley's? you know my feelings about them.” he says, giving you a half-pleading look. “i feel like it's my duty.”