HP Midnight Light

- March 1980, 3 - Order of the Phoenix Headquarters in Godric's Hollow

Dorcas repeated his request again: "I promise that I have fully recovered, and you can add me to the reserve list now."

Emmeline disapproved, and before she could speak, Dorcas interrupted her with a shake of his head:

"We are in desperate need of manpower right now."

Emmeline was at a loss for words.

"Our task is getting more and more difficult." Fenwick explained softly.

"I discussed it with my mother, and we agreed that my father should not die in vain." Dorcas blinked, "Other people shouldn't just sacrifice like that."

On her left wrist is a piece of cloth tied into a beautiful bow, like some kind of ornament.But everyone else knew that it was the piece of cloth that Sirius brought back from the castle. Although there was no direct evidence, it seemed to confirm Caradoc's death.

"I support you." Diggle said in a low voice, "If Fabian thinks he can, we should let him come back too - Sirius still didn't come?"

"Er—" Peter had given up on lying, "yes."

"What's the matter with him?" asked Dorcas.Others cast their gazes one after another, and Peter scratched his hair fiercely, hesitating and refusing to speak.

"You didn't hide anything from us, did you?" Emmeline raised her eyebrows, "Remus and James are also always secretive."

"No." Peter said repeatedly, "Sirius has just had some troubles recently."

Emmeline smiled in complete disbelief.

The three Marauders have tried all the excuses that can fool the members of the Order of the Phoenix, from a bad cold to taking toad potion by mistake. When the reason for the illness is no longer valid, they even use the death of Orion and the mysterious disappearance of Regulus Come as a pretense.However, dragged on to this day, Sirius' infinite absence seems to have created negative associations in others.

"I don't want to say this, but..." Fenwick hesitated to speak first, "It may not be a good thing for us if Sirius and the Black family restore contact."

No one voiced their approval, but the rest of the people looked at Peter silently.

"No, no," Peter hurriedly denied, "Sirius didn't reconnect with the Black family, he just...will come back after a while."

Dorcas frowned tightly, and beside her Diggle and Emmeline looked at each other worriedly.None of them spoke, but their hearts were clouded with suspicion.

The announcement of Edmund and Hyacinth's marriage took up very little space in the papers of the day.So James and Remus just took a little pains to hide this rambling gossip from the rest of the Order.But the days to come are long, and Sirius can't hide forever in a corner where no one is licking his wounds.One day he will come out.

- 3 August - 10 Grimmauld Place

"Regu is a good boy." Walburga calmly opened and put aside today's newly arrived letters with a smile on his face, "He will reply to us soon, right, Kreacher? "

Three breakfasts were set on the table according to Walburga's request.Kreacher put the mistress's beloved tea in her hand, and it lowered its head deeply with tears in its eyes: "Yes, mistress."

The clock on the wall swung heavily to strike seven.The thin sunlight crossed the thick curtains and barely reached Walburga's skirt. She smiled and picked up the knife and fork and began to cut the huge, soft bread.

"It was baked for me by Regulus himself, wasn't it?" Slightly burnt bread crumbs fell on the table, of course it was not from Regulus' hand, but Kreacher specially made it to make Walburga happy. baked.

"Yes, Mistress." Kreacher had a heavy secret hidden in his heart, but he couldn't say it, "Master's roasting is not considered a success, but he will improve in the future."

Walburga swung the knife and fork vigorously to cut off a piece of bread. She silently touched the butter and cheese on the bread, and then picked up the knife and fork again inexplicably and cut it into small pieces.Kreacher watched every move of the hostess in horror.Walburga's expression was unwavering, she meticulously placed the bread knife at the right angle and then cut it hard.She mechanically repeated this simple action, stuffing bread into her mouth continuously.She chewed quickly, swallowing the bread with difficulty, ignoring Kreacher's pleading eyes.She used more and more force in her hands, and finally the knife made a harsh sound on the dinner plate. Walburga stood up suddenly and tore off the napkin. The dinner plate, knife and fork, and the remaining bread fell to the ground, and there was a sound of broken porcelain. echoed in the room.

"It's gone!" she screamed, with tears welling up in her eyes, Walburga grabbed the nearest teacup and threw it against the opposite wall, splashing hot tea onto her hand, but She didn't care, "There's nothing!"

"Mistress!" Kreacher yelled mournfully.Walburga laughed loudly and violently pulled the tablecloth. The vases, silver cups, teapots, dinner plates, tableware, and food fell down one after another with her movements. Heraldry riches fell to the ground:

"Nothing! My grandfather, my grandmother, my father, my mother are all dead! They're all gone! Orion is dead too! Regulus is gone now - he's either dead or mad , or ran away from home after learning from that scoundrel!" Walburga laughed and cried, grabbed the letter paper that had just been put aside and threw it into the air, "It's all his fault! The freak I gave birth to , bastard, a rebellious son who insults the glory of my ancestors!"

"I don't understand what you're talking about." At some point Phineas returned to his picture frame, and he frowned at Walburga with disapproval on his face, "And please pay attention to your manners, After all, you are also the direct descendant of our family."

"He's gone." Walburga sobbed, and she turned to look at the person in the frame with a half-smile on her face, "He's gone."

Phineas stared at her for a while, and then he spoke slowly: "Then, can I understand your words as: Regulus, the last favored son of the Black family, is dead?"

"He's not dead!" Walburga caught off guard and grabbed the table knife and stabbed it at the portrait. Phineas let out a short cry. Walburga leaned over and approached the person in the painting, laughing loudly, " Regulus is only temporarily away, you raving old lunatic!"

Phineas looked at her in astonishment, and Walburga had dropped the knife and sang an off-key lullaby and was running up the stairs.Kreacher knelt down in the mess and hurriedly cleaned up the mess.This dejected picture is far from the glorious scene in Phineas' memory.

Orion rotting in the soil, Regulus icy at the bottom of the lake, and Walburga gradually going mad.

Paranoia is hidden in the blood, madness is buried in the family name.

-June 3th - Parkinson Manor

After signing the agreement, the relationship between Edmund and Hyacinth changed subtly. He was more tolerant to her. Although he still refused to return the wand, she was now free to enter and leave any room in the Parkinson Manor. .In a sense, Hyacinth no longer plays the role of a "prisoner", but she would rather stay in the room all day than have any contact with this manor.Of course Edmund complained about this, but since signing the contract, Hyacinth's temper became more and more irritable. When she was alone, she would either cry or be in a daze. Once Edmund appeared, she would immediately lose her temper for a long time. After that, even he didn't dare to provoke her easily.

But on this day, Edmund rarely stepped into her room and brought a piece of news.

"Regulus is missing." He put the "Daily Prophet" on her bedside. "He left Grimmauld Place on the last day of February. No word came out until today that the Black family officially Admit it."

Hyacinth temporarily forgot about her entanglement with Edmund. She grabbed the newspaper beside her in disbelief. On the cover was a large photo of Regulus, under which was written in bold bold letters: Missing!

Comes with a string of high rewards.

"How could this be..."

"There is no further news yet, what is certain is that he was not captured by the Order of the Phoenix or the Aurors."

"That's what the Death Eaters did."

"Death Eaters have never liked to hide their handiwork."

Hyacinth turned to the page where there was a missing person notice. As Edmund said, there was no useful information except a brief statement from the Black family.The disappearance of Regulus was also mentioned on other pages, but they were all speculations by unreliable reporters. Hyacinth saw the now famous Rita Skeeter at a glance, and she swears that Regulus The disappearance of the Black family is inseparable from the infighting.

"Nonsense." Hyacinth continued to read Rita's article with a sneer.

"It's really nonsense."

She stared at the smiling Regulus in the newspaper: "You won't let me connect with anyone else, will you?"

"If you want to ask about Olivia Bird's recent situation, unfortunately, I don't know." Edmund replied, "The Bird's family has not responded to this matter—"

"Your news has been delayed a lot." Hyacinth interrupted him and deliberately sarcastically said, "Because you dare not go out, you are afraid that he will come to you, and you are afraid that he will kill you. After all, you If you dare to act but dare not act, you are not a man at all!"

"It's not good for you to provoke me." Edmund didn't mind her attitude at all. "After all, your source of information is only me."

He's confident that he'll have enough time to slowly subdue her, even if it might cost him something.

- 3 March - 14 Susshull Street, Glasgow

"He's been missing for two weeks." Remus said as he put the newspaper on the dining table, with a large photo of Regulus and a huge reward from the Black family printed on it.

Sirius silently picked up the newspaper and read it at a very slow speed - ten thousand galleons were exchanged for any clues about Regulus, Walburga really paid for it - seeing his attitude, Remus had to Reluctantly bringing the coffee to the table, "You can't keep doing this, Padfoot." He started the endless loop of rhetoric that he had been saying for the past few weeks, nothing more than motivating Sirius to cheer up or something.That's always been the case with Remus, who's been the best lobbyist ever since his Hogwarts days.

"He's not going back."

Remus' persuasion came to an abrupt end: "What?"

"Regulus will not go back, he is probably dead."

Remus carefully observed Sirius' expression, but couldn't find too many traces of sadness.

"Our relationship has been broken for several years." The other party reminded him expressionlessly.

"I know," Remus said, "I just thought you might..."

Sirius stared intently at the photo of Regulus in the newspaper: "Maybe I once had a chance to save him."

Remus raised an eyebrow for him to continue.

"I regret it." Sirius' voice suddenly dropped, "Maybe I should help her... Now there is another sad person in the world..."

"You can also make one less sad person in the world." Remus said meaningfully.He didn't care about Regulus and his gossip, and since Sirius was determined not to move into Potter's old house and bother them, Remus was now taking care of him and being responsible for him.

"You mean asking me to find Regulus's whereabouts?" Sirius said sarcastically, "and earn a Galleon by the way?"

Remus picked up the coffee spoon and tapped the wall of the cup in protest: "The focus of our conversation is not Regulus, and you know that very well, Sirius. Regulus is not the person who makes you so depressed!"

"What do you expect me to say? I—" Sirius said suddenly and suddenly stopped.

"Even Filch can see that things are not that simple." Remus carefully put the newspaper with the wedding announcement back on the table, "We are all too familiar with this kind of concealment, concealment, and deception. , Only a person with a dark heart would put his wedding notice in a bunch of advertisements. Parkinson is obviously not a low-key person."

Sirius' eyelashes fluttered, and he mustered up the courage to quickly reread the notice. For the first time, he was so eager for the existence of a person with the same name and surname in the world.He would never have dreamed that what they joked in the past would actually come true—she was alive, but married to someone else.

"Parkinson must have used some method to coerce her." Remus witnessed Sirius' silence, and he continued vigorously, "But James and I have another question—how did he find you?"

Sirius closed his eyes in pain, and squeezed out a few words from his lips: "It's my fault, I didn't put a defensive spell. Parkinson got our address when he was working at the Ministry of Magic..."

"But how did Parkinson kill Lily and take away Hyacinth at the same time? Even if the two of them drank a bottle of champagne, they wouldn't be completely unaware of the intruder's existence. You must know that there was no trace of a struggle in the room, as Lily remembered." The last thing was a red light," Remus said, "Parkinson was too strong for an intruder."

"I've thought about this." Sirius habitually wanted to get a cigarette but found nothing. He supported his head wearily, "Either he has become an extremely powerful wizard, or—" His throat He made a strange sound, as if he was trying to force himself to continue, "He has stepped on it more than once beforehand..." He took a light breath, thinking of worse things.

"Listen, Padfoot," Remus said sternly. "So, that kind of overlaps with what James and I were thinking, and we guessed that Parkinson used something about you to push her into submission: maybe he Threatening her to sell your address and whereabouts to the Death Eaters—"

"It's easy for the Death Eaters to know about my actions, she knows that." Sirius pinched his arm punitively to hold back tears, "she willingly took risks for me when she lived with me— —”

"Then, what if Hyacinth thought you were going to die? Would she sign it?" Remus met Sirius' blank gaze, and he continued cruelly, "For example, your missing cufflink... ..."

A flash of lightning flashed before Sirius' eyes. He vaguely remembered that Parkinson used to be with Signus, and Signus was at odds with Cornelia.But Cornelia and Hyacinth have also parted ways, maybe Rozier has been secretly colluding with Parkinson... He suddenly woke up, as if a sharp sword pierced his heart: "That is My fault!" He didn't yell, but repeated to himself in a trembling whisper, "It's all my fault..." He recalled with horror that he had left more than one loophole—he had Changing from Animagus back to human on the Muggle streets, and letting Parkinson hear him talking to Orion in the Ministry of Magic, as long as someone with a heart takes advantage of it, all of these can become threats to people arms.There are also cufflinks, the most important cufflinks, if Parkinson has reached an alliance with Rozier in private, then he can easily get that cufflink...

"I was the one who threw her into hell." Sirius said his sentence without emotion.Remus pushed the coffee cup away, and a few drops of coffee spilled onto the table:

"It's all speculation, Padfoot!"

"This is no different from the truth." Sirius felt the anger and sadness quickly sucked out of his body, replaced by despair and hatred for himself, "He came and stepped on some places near our residence, so he Knows what's the fastest way to hit an unsuspecting person. Then he threatens Hyacinth to go with him, or just knocks her out... He must've been pushing her into submission over and over again during the months I wasted my time , Then, then—" He couldn't continue, Sirius looked around the room, and Remus jumped up and held him down in time:

"Don't be stupid! Don't punish yourself! It's no use!"

"You don't understand, of course you don't understand! I sent her to Parkinson's, you don't understand this feeling at all! Remus, I am the one who should go to hell!" Sirius just wanted to do something To let yourself feel the pain, the more pain the better.What was Hyacins doing while he hid in his room whining and pouring his own drink?There was an unknown sharp pain deep in his heart, which was different from the Cruciatus Curse, it swallowed him slowly but completely.Sirius staggered, he saw clearly what he wanted to do, he didn't want anything other than killing Parkinson—

"Enough!" Remus growled like a wolf. "Don't go crazy, Sirius! You hear me out!"

James reminded him that the current Sirius is often hovering on the verge of losing his mind, and what destroys him is not spirits, cigarettes and marijuana, but the unspeakable pain from the bottom of his heart.However, it was not until today that Remus caught a glimpse of the Black family madness in Sirius for the first time.

"Your self-punishment is useless." Remus hugged Sirius' shoulders tightly and said reassuringly, he heard heavy, intermittent breathing in his ear, and he knew that Sirius was probably crying, "Assuming our thoughts That's right, if you want to find Parkinson, you must first find the Death Eaters who are in contact with him. Whether it's Burst or Rozier." He could feel that Sirius was gradually calming down, anyway, now he has A positive thought to brace him up.

"I hate myself now, Moonface." Sirius pushed Remus away and staggered into the kitchen with his back turned to him to get himself a glass of ice water. He could have conjured the kettle by magic, but he didn't, Leah. James knew he really needed a little time this time around, the buffer that every man who hits rock bottom and then struggles to get back up needs.

"Stop wasting time saying these pretentious words." Remus blinked hard, "Just come back."

The author has something to say:

Note:

1. [Bread]: After losing her husband and son one after another, Walburga must have experienced a low period of not eating or drinking, so Kreacher wanted to use a lie to cheer up the mistress who had lost her mind.

2. Phineas' words refer to what he said to Dumbledore after Sirius died in "Order of the Phoenix".

3. The reason why Edmund came to deliver the news was that he hoped to take this opportunity to ease the relationship with Hyacinth.

4. Although it is stated in the original book that Remus often lives in an indeterminate life, a detailed address is still arranged for him here.

5. Remus and James just guessed the truth by mistake.

----------