'How's it going?' Lupin asked as he opened Sirius's cigarettes and stuck one in his mouth and one behind his ear.

'Fine,' Sirius replied. 'How's it going with you?'

'Fine,' Lupin replied.

'That's fine then.'

'Is he still here?' Lupin asked.

'Nope,' Sirius replied.

'Oh.' Lupin seemed disappointed. 'I thought ... well never mind what I thought.'

'He's gone to Diagon Alley.'

'You're an arse, Sirius, you know that?' Lupin replied. 'Do I take it that he's staying on here?'

'Yup, for now at any rate.'

'What did Lucius say to that?'

'We didn't ask his opinion or his permission,' Sirius replied, and made a face. 'In fact I'm not sure he quite knows yet.'

'Funny,' Lupin said. 'I always thought you'd end up with Lucius, not Snape.'

'Lucius?' Sirius frowned. 'What made you think that?'

'Come on, Sirius. You've always carried a little candle for Malfoy; everyone knows that.'

Sirius gave him a pained look. 'Yeah, everyone except me,' he replied, omitting to add Lucius to the equation. He turned to the door as his mother announced Snape's return in less than complimentary terms.

*****

Lupin watched him come in. He really couldn't see what Sirius, or Lucius for that matter, saw in the dark Slytherin; not that he could understand what any man saw in another man, but Severus Snape just seemed to him to be the epitome of where not to go. He was harshly-featured with high cheekbones and a long nose and a thin mouth, which tended to be either twisted in cynicism or scorn. The irises of his eyes were almost totally black, and, from what Lupin could tell, were devoid of anything but contempt. Instead of it all making him rugged and manly, to Lupin's way of thinking it just made him ugly. He was slim, but not athletic looking in any way, as though his physique weren't the result of any desire but more of self-denial. He was sullen and bad-tempered and spiteful and pedantic, and he had a vicious tongue, Lupin thought, as he summed up Severus's good points. In fact as far as he could see, apart from being probably almost as clever as Dumbledore and, if what he were led to believe was true, very nearly as powerful, Snape didn't have one redeeming feature. He wondered why he seemed to have a queue at his door. And then Lupin remembered why he liked Severus, as the words that really mattered came to mind, like trust and loyalty and honour; words that put petty descriptions like ugly and sullen to shame.

'What's wrong?' he asked as Severus dropped his Charms and scowled at the two of them, slamming the kitchen door before Mrs Black could begin verse two.

'I just saw someone I didn't expect to see in Knockturn Alley,' Snape said uneasily as he sat down. 'Igor Karkaroff. He was with a witch who was heavily charmed. She was very tall for a woman.'

'Regulus?' Lupin whispered.

'I don't know,' Snape admitted. 'I didn't want to get too near. They were on their own and the alley was quiet; it would have looked suspicious. They were going into a shop that I happen to know specialises in some very dark artefacts, much darker than anything Borgin and Burke's would dare keep in stock. It's just a pity I didn't have Lucius with me; it would have been a perfect excuse to go in after them and browse.'

'Why didn't you just go to the manor and get him?' Sirius asked, as though he were resisting the urge to ask just what Snape was doing so far into Knockturn Alley. 'You could have Apparated there and back in minutes.'

'Have you ever seen Lucius do anything in minutes, Black? By the time he'd brushed his hair it would have been tomorrow,' Snape replied. 'Anyway, I hung about for a while and they came out after about fifteen minutes. They had a large package with them. I don't know what it was, but it was heavy and they were sharing the load between them until they charmed its weight away.'

'How large?'

Snape shrugged. 'About half the size of man.'

'What's wrong, Severus? What do you think it was?' Lupin asked, watching him carefully; he thought there was something very troubled about him. 'That's a funny way to describe something, even for you. Why couldn't you say about three feet long?'

'This is going to sound absurd,' Snape replied, 'but I think it was alive. I wish you or Black had been there; you might have been able to tell.'

'I can't send him out on his own at all,' Sirius said, grinning at Lupin and shaking his head. 'First he needs Lucius before he's away for half an hour, and then he needs us.' He looked at Snape at last. 'Did you remember the cigarettes at least?'

'You may go back and get them; the fresh air will do you good,' Snape replied. 'Tell me, Black, does a person smell the same if they have cast Charms to disguise themselves?'

'You want me to put on my doggy suit and sniff around for Regulus?'

'Not the way I would have put it, but you have grasped the idea.'

Lupin wondered why they were looking for trouble; he would have thought they had had quite enough of that to last them a few years. He hauled himself to his feet. He might as well go along for the ride; that way he could keep Sirius's cigarettes company.

*****

It was the run up to the start of September, the start of the Hogwarts new school session, and all the tables inside had been taken by pre-school shoppers, an alarming and noisy medley of grandmas and mothers and small children who seemed intent on setting fire to table covers with newly procured wands.

Quite a few of the women had several children, probably orphaned cousins or even strangers. The war had decimated the adult population whilst the children hid like so many little mice, under floorboards and in drawers and cupboards, protected by hasty Concealment Charms that could only be broken by a blood relative. And yet life went on, even when it had been forced back to almost the brink; it waited until it was safe, and crept back out into the light with renewed vigour, looking for whatever crumbs had been left behind. One only had to look at the baby boom of the post-Grindelwald years; the Hogwarts classes of Sirius's generation were almost double the generation before, until Voldemort had culled them again.

Lupin and Snape sat at the outside table at Florian Fortescue's, the werewolf tucking into a large chocolate sundae, seemingly oblivious to the inclement weather, as Snape sipped a glass of clear brown bitter tea and bravely ignored the fact that the rain that was diluting it almost as quickly as he could drink it; the alternative of trying to get a table amongst a hoard of screaming children wasn't one he intended to consider. He had cast his Charms about him. He still felt it wise to maintain some sort of mystery as to his affiliations for as long as he could. He didn't know what sort of backtracking he was going to have to do in the future; it was best to keep any damage to a minimum.

They had walked once past the shop in Knockturn Alley and left Sirius at the corner to change to Padfoot, before walking slowly back to where they had agreed to meet up with him; they had longer to wait than they had expected.

'It was him,' Sirius said flatly as he sat at the table. 'No mistake about it; it was definitely him. Even with the rain it's still as fresh as a daisy.'

'What kept you so long then?' Snape asked.

'I don't know,' Sirius said with a shudder that surprised him. 'It wasn't just him ... and I don't mean he was with someone; I recognised Karkaroff anyway. It was as though the scent were overlaid with something else. The other scent was only at each footfall, as though whoever had left it had followed exactly in their footsteps ... like they had been marked out.'

'Or were in the same shoes at the same time?' Snape murmured as much to himself as the other two.

'Yeah, something like that.' Sirius nodded uneasily. 'What do we do now?'

'I am going to pay Lucius a visit,' Snape replied.

*****

Lucius pulled back the sleeve of his silk shirt. The Dark Mark was only slightly less faded than Sirius remembered from the last time he'd seen it in the restaurant. 'I've shown you mine,' he said archly as he gave Snape a look, 'now show me yours.'

It suddenly struck Sirius that it hadn't even occurred to him to look for the Dark Mark on Severus's arm, but then he'd been more interested in other things. He watched Snape pull back his own sleeve with some reluctance; the Mark was harder to see on his arm, masked as it was by black hair, but for all that it seemed to burn more clearly.

'It only means he is not dead. We suspected that already.' Snape pulled his black sleeve down quickly, as though Voldemort's Mark were an affront to his dignity. 'We need to move forward, Lucius. I need your help to know how safe we are at this point in time.'

'You seem to be quite safe,' Lucius replied coolly, failing to hide the fact that he was very nervous about something. 'I am sure you'll pardon my self-centeredness but my anxiety right now is my own and my son's safety. No one seems much concerned about that.'

'That's not true,' Sirius replied defensively. He could see Malfoy's apprehension stemmed from more than the fact that he had been excluded from the protection of Grimmauld Place. He wished he could get him alone, but there was no reasonable excuse for asking Lupin and Snape to leave the room. He knew Lucius had his own losses to come to terms with, and he'd be feeling cast adrift from everything, neither the Order's meat nor the Death Eaters' poison.

Sirius felt a stab of guilt that he hadn't even asked Lucius how he was coping with Narcissa's death, even though he knew as well as anyone that it had been a marriage of convenience, that Abraxus had picked his cousin years ago, when she was little more than a baby, from an array of hopefuls, to be the Mistress of Malfoy Manor. It was a title that expected her to produce an heir to the Malfoy name and then behave with such dignity for the rest of her life so as not to bring disgrace to the family name; Lucius had managed that bit all by himself.

He was surprised and just a little put out when Snape announced that he wasn't going back to Grimmauld Place that night; he was also disappointed and just a little concerned when Snape made it clear that he expected Sirius and Lupin to make themselves scarce. He decided not to resist; perhaps Severus wanted to see if Malfoy had information he had not wanted to admit to in front of anyone else. The nature of the war had made the peace very complicated, for quite a few people, Lucius Malfoy in particular.

*****

Severus stroked the long blond hair thoughtfully; Lucius was asleep now. He closed his eyes for a moment as he let his hand rest on the pale shoulder, rebuking himself for having been so wrapped up in his own concerns that he hadn't noticed what was happening to Lucius. How easy it would have been for Malfoy's indecisions and vulnerabilities to take comfort in the lies Regulus Black and his followers would have fed him; they would offer him the glory Lucius needed like a drug and gloss over the price of the addiction.

It had shocked Snape when Lucius had told him that Regulus had been to the manor that very morning while Severus and Sirius and Lupin had been at Diagon Alley looking for his trail. He had debated with himself as to whether he should send for Sirius to see if he could recognise the same scents he had found in Knockturn Alley, but he wanted the time to think about things.

He tried to sort out the jumble of information Lucius had bombarded him with, hardly waiting until the door had closed on Black and Lupin. Regulus had come alone to the manor to issue what sounded like a list of ultimatums, and when Snape had questioned Lucius as to why he had not simply shown him the door, he seemed at a loss to explain himself. Severus didn't feel like pushing him on that; he would think about it once he heard Malfoy out. He listened with mounting concern, barely interrupting, as Lucius told him that Regulus seemed to expect him to become the stepping-stone between him and the rest of the wizarding world, becoming a bastion of impenetrable respectability over the coming years, harbouring a nest of vipers that would one day make Voldemort look like a fairy godmother... and Regulus seemed to have no doubts that Malfoy would drink from this poisoned chalice.

His first task was to court Dumbledore, buying his way into a position of power by becoming a governor of the school. Regulus suggested that next year, or perhaps even the year after, Lucius should provide an endowment, in the name of Salazar Slytherin of course, for a number of handpicked mature foreign students wishing to study at Hogwarts. He stressed that nothing had to be done with unseemly haste. It showed the depth of his forward planning that Regulus Black appeared to have his eyes on much more than Voldemort ever had. He wanted the wizarding world, and he didn't just mean the part of it that dwelt in Britain.

Regulus had intimated to Lucius to use whatever means he had at his disposal to gain entry to the Wizengamot, and the upper echelons of power in the Ministry, and the board of directors of Gringotts. Everything he demanded was fuel for Lucius's own vanity. The only thing Lucius had to do was manoeuvre himself into positions of influence, most of which could be done using the one tool Malfoy always had to hand, the one he was never likely to run out of, the Malfoy millions.

To a degree his plans suited Severus. At least Lucius would not have the pressure of meetings with Dumbledore coming to Regulus's ears; in fact he could pass off connections with any of the Order without suspicion, at least they had time on their side for now. The openness with which Lucius had told him all of this tended to make Severus accept that Malfoy had not originally known that Regulus himself had written to inform of the lie of his death; he only admitted to himself now that he had suspected some sort of collusion between them.

Regulus Black was a young man, and the dazzling career he had set out for himself had been somewhat kick-started by the unexpected bonus of the only man who had ever really been in his way having been stripped so ignominiously of his power by a baby. His plans were for the long term. He would not rush; he had planted his seeds and did not seem to intend to pluck his harvest until it had ripened properly. Severus had to admire him in that. Regulus had covered everything in his initial plans; there was nothing contentious that could be traced to anyone but Lucius, and even then Malfoy's legendary thirst for power would allay any suspicions. In fact he had made only one tiny mistake when he had gauged Lucius. He had been right about Malfoy's craving for fame and glory and the trappings of power; it was just a pity for Regulus Black that he didn't understand that not everything was black or white, and that there were shades of grey too. He could not conceive of the fact that just because a man had money and greed and weaknesses and vanities, that he did not also have a conscience. Severus found himself pulling Malfoy closer as though in some sort of protection.

Severus had his own ambitions too, his own hidden agenda. He knew now that Regulus Black was the one man who could get him where he needed to be. He would play the waiting game too. The more he mulled it all over, the more he realised that something was missing. Regulus was only twenty-five, not much more than a boy; for him to have ambitions was one thing, for him to have such long-term plans didn't add up to what should have been the reckless impatience of youth, once freed from the shackles of a tyrannical master. Snape went back to wondering just what it had been that Sirius had scented. His first temptation had been to think that Regulus had been under the influence of some Concealment Charm or potion, perhaps even just a simple variant of Polyjuice; but that would still only have given a visual appearance of another. This was something deeper. He admitted to himself that he wasn't very keen on the possibilities he was coming up with.

*****

Sirius waited three days before he came to terms with the fact that Snape wasn't coming back. He pulled his leather jacket from the peg next to his mother's portrait, he only ever bothered to hang it up there as a Muggle affront to her dubious sensibilities, and Apparated from the front doorstep.

'He is not here, Black,' Lucius said with a frown. 'Have you fought with him?'

'Yes, all the time. Why?'

'He went to Godric's Hollow when he left here,' Lucius said.

'Why?'

'Oh, not on some morbid pilgrimage,' Lucius replied and seemed to hesitate. 'Why did you take him in, Black?' he asked. 'I confess, of the three of us, I did not expect to be the one who was alone.'

Sirius felt a stab of guilt. 'You didn't want me, Lucius. I can't wait forever, you know.'

Malfoy nodded slowly with what could have been regret, but he didn't say anything; he didn't need to.

'And he doesn't want either of us as it turns out,' Sirius said. 'Anyway, why did he go to Godric's Hollow?'

Lucius looked away and Sirius saw it again: the fear, the holding back on what he knew would expose him and his vulnerabilities. He moved behind the chaise and let his hands rest on Malfoy's shoulders, feeling the tension begin to relax as he rubbed his thumbs on the knotted muscles. 'What's wrong, Lucius?' he asked, dropping his head to the white-blond hair he always loved waking up next to. 'What's happening? You can trust me. Surely you know that much.'

'That's where Regulus took what was left of Voldemort.'

Sirius felt himself stand up straight in shock. 'He what?'

'You heard me correctly. Pettigrew must have lifted the Fidelius Charm, Black. Surely you haven't forgotten already that he was the Secret Keeper. He either left it open when he allowed Voldemort to get to the Potters, or went back and lifted it again after Lily and James's bodies were taken away. Whatever it was, Severus didn't light the fire quickly enough.'

'That has to be the sickest thing I've heard yet.'

'Suffice it to say, Severus didn't care much for it either,' Malfoy said uneasily. 'I just hope he didn't do anything stupid when he was there.'

'You let him go alone?' Sirius gave him a look of disgust. 'Sometimes I wonder what kind of man you are.'

'I had no option,' Malfoy replied with some heat. 'He took Polyjuice and went disguised as me. Even I think one Lucius Malfoy is quite enough.'

Sirius tried to find something wrong with that, but he didn't manage. 'I want you to stay here, and do not move from here, Lucius,' he said. 'In fact I'm going to get Lupin to come and stay with you.'

Lucius surprised him by not putting up an objection to the werewolf's presence in the hallowed halls of the seat of the Malfoys; maybe he just didn't want to be alone. 'Where are you going?' he asked instead, failing to mask the flash of anxiety.

'I'm going to don the doggy suit and find Snape.'

'I doubt he's there any more,' Malfoy replied. 'He only had about four hours' worth of Polyjuice. It's not something I keep a great quantity of.'

Sirius resisted asking why he kept any at all; there were some things he didn't want to know. 'Lucius, how did you know all this?' he asked instead.

'He was going back to you,' Lucius said with something that sounded like mild accusation, drifting away from the question in a way that only emphasized his vulnerability.

'I need to know,' Sirius persisted. 'How did you know about Godric's Hollow?'

Malfoy stood up and crossed the drawing room to his desk. 'This was delivered just as he was about to leave for Grimmauld Place three days ago.' He lifted a piece of parchment; it looked as though it was written once again in Regulus's hand. 'Unlike you, Black, I still get invited to the best parties in town.'

*****