▬▬▬ CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT ▬▬▬

I hope you have your therapists on speed dial! 🤗

In the meanwhile, I'm gonna be rewatching the Twilight series since it's in Netflix (and they're all in the top 10 too?!?!?)

Oh and another thing! There's only TWO chapters left after this! The end of book five is near!!! 🥳

REMUS WONDERED WHEN HE STARTED to allow himself to be terrorized by teenagers. Then again, nobody could really blame him. He wasn't a coward by any means, teenagers these days were just much more terrifying than back in his day (Merlin he sounded old).

Esmerelda never terrorized him (except for her baby days), but there were things about her that did concern him—like the fact that she was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and dating her kidnapper. Said kidnapper though, now he was terrifying and he barely spoke more than twenty words to him.

Right now, the current teenager that was terrorizing him was Regulus Black. He wasn't doing anything but standing in the living room, but that alone was enough to get Remus tense. He didn't appear threatening, his wand wasn't out, he was missing an arm, and he looked as if he hadn't slept in days, but there was just something off about him now.

Remus didn't know Regulus personally, but they had gone to school together. In the earlier years, Regulus seemed like a decent kid. Sirius had tried multiple times to talk to him, but he would always try to run away due to orders from their parents. Then the years went by and Regulus' avoidance became purposeful and he became less like a scared child wanting to obey his parents to a teenager who truly hated his brother.

He turned into the perfect example of a Slytherin: sneaky, cunning, and untrustworthy. He'd spit cold insults at the muggle-borns, look down on those who weren't as wealthy as he was, and he'd even go so far as to ruin the reputations of others for his own sadistic enjoyment. Sirius no longer talked about how much he missed his brother, but how much he hated him and his pureblood mania. Regulus became horrible, but Remus never saw him as frightening until now.

Because the eighteen year old Regulus before him was nothing like he schoolboy he met years ago. There was something darker about him, like he wasn't quite right in the head anymore. The once perfect, levelheaded, Black heir actually looked seconds away from losing control.

And well, Remus didn't exactly feel safe standing in front of him.

"Is," he cleared his throat. "Is something the matter, Regulus?"

"Is something the matter?" Regulus snapped. "What sort of stupid question is that, Lupin? What do you think is the matter?! My brother's in jail for something he didn't do and you're telling me just now that Kreacher had something to do with it?!"

It was a bad idea to come downstairs, Remus thought.

"I didn't say it was Kreacher's fault—"

"—You said Potter got the vision from Voldemort telling him that Sirius was in the Department of Mysteries. He tried to contact Grimmauld Place, but found Kreacher who told him that Sirius was gone," he said angrily. "He had been feeding my cousin with information this entire fucking time. None of those kids would've stepped into the Ministry if it hadn't been for him. My brother is in jail and my daughter was killed because of my own house-elf."

Remus watched him warily. If there was one thing he knew about Regulus, it was that he liked to be in control and to stay in control. Hearing that his whole family fell apart thanks to the actions of his own house elf was enough to cause a crack in his calm facade. 

Right now, he was losing it.

"KREACHER!" Regulus suddenly shouted, and Remus flinched.

There was a loud snap! sound as the elf was summoned to his master's side. He made to greet him, but froze when he saw the anger blazing within his grey eyes.

"M-master—?"

"I want you to prepare me some tea. And after that, I want you to punish yourself. I don't care how you do it, but I want it to hurt. That's an order, now get to it." He snapped.

Kreacher bowed his head in acceptance. "Yes, master," he croaked before disappearing.

Remus' jaw dropped. He chased after Regulus, who was already walking for the dining room.

"Regulus! Regulus, that wasn't necessary!" He exclaimed.

"Disobedient house-elves who betray their masters deserve to be punished, Lupin," Regulus said cooly as he took his seat. "It's how things work."

"Well it's wrong." Remus argued.

"Go cry about it elsewhere then," the younger man scoffed.

Remus was about to continue arguing until Kreacher returned with tea.

Regulus had to do a double-take before straightening up because he did not recognize the tea set Kreacher was using.

"What the bloody hell is that?" He asked.

"Chamomile tea, master." Kreacher croaked.

"Not the tea, the set," he hissed. "What is this? What happened to the tea set we had before?"

"It was stolen sir," Kreacher said.

"Stolen?" Grey eyes darted over to Remus.

He sighed. "Some of the things here were cursed artifacts, and Molly didn't want them around the kids so we got rid of them. As for, well... everything else, Mundungus took them to make a profit elsewhere."

Regulus' jaw clenched. "And who gave permission for that? Who allowed you all to defile my house like this?" 

"I tried to keep everything safe, master," Kreacher croaked. "But the mudbloods and blood traitors took over!" 

Regulus redirected his glare back to Remus. 

Remus hesitated. "We only wanted to remove the things that were dangerous—" 

"—Who gave you permission." 

Remus looked away from him. "It was... Sirius. I'm sorry, Regulus."

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"I should go back to my room," Ethan said as he slipped on his shirt. The two had just finished a nice relaxing bath. "If your dad finds out I'm not in the guest room he practically threw me in, he'll kill me."

"It's six o'clock in the morning," she pointed out while she dried her hair off with a towel. "I doubt he's awake right now, especially from how tired we've been since escaping the Underworld. How about we eat out for breakfast, hmm?"

"Kreacher's gonna feel betrayed," he snorted in amusement. He had grown somewhat fond of the elf since his stay at Grimmauld. He liked his evil personality and his excellent cooking and baking skills.

"Ohhhh, you're right...! Maybe we should stay and eat instead then..." Esmerelda pondered.

"Yeah, besides, aren't the police still looking for you and your dad?" He mentioned. Esmerelda had sleepily recounted her adventures to him last night, and he couldn't help but find it hilarious that she and her father had been mistaken as mafia kids.

"Ugh, don't remind me," she scowled in reply. "They're probably really desperate to find us after what happened yesterday..."

She took a peek out from behind the curtains and winced at what she saw. The aftermath of their fight against the giants was disastrous. It was so bad the entire neighborhood had to evacuate, save for them because nobody even knew they were around thanks to the magical borders.

She could see rescue workers searching for bodies under the rubble using dogs to sniff them out, ambulances were still being loaded up with survivors and over at the side, she spotted a group of cops talking amongst themselves with serious expressions on their faces. She wouldn't be surprised if she and her father would be blamed for the incident since they were around when it happened.

Before she could speak up again, the door to her room was suddenly blasted open. It flew to the other side of the room with a loud BANG! Esmerelda and Ethan were about to brandish their weapons until they saw who the intruder was.

"Dad," Esmerelda squeaked, the color draining from her face when she saw him redirect his wand at a frozen Ethan.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" He roared, and Ethan luckily ducked his head to avoid the beam of green light.

It was a fucking disaster after that. Regulus was waving his wand around like crazy and spamming the Killing Curse while Ethan ran around the room trying to avoid getting hit. Esmerelda had tried to approach him, but when a stray Killing Curse nearly hit her she immediately dropped to the floor to avoid any more close calls.

And then, Regulus did the worst thing: "CRUCIO!"

It struck his target, and Ethan fell to the floor screaming. Esmerelda voice went dry as she watched his body writhe in pain. She didn't know what happened, but one second she was staring at Ethan's twitching body and in the next second she suddenly had her father's throat in her hands.

She released him and backed away in an instant. Over his shoulder she could see Harry and several other people gathering out in the hallway, their eyes wide with horror. Behind her, she could hear Ethan gasping for air. She would've went to his aid, but she was locked into place by Regulus' glare.

"Get out," he told a heaving Ethan. "Get out now."

Esmerelda didn't see the uncertain look Ethan shot to her, but she motioned with her hand that she would be fine. Hesitantly, he rose to his feet and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"I'm not a very pleasant mood, right now Esmerelda," he began lowly. "This morning, I had a talk with Lupin. I wanted the full story of what happened on February 14th and he kindly explained what happened. Were you aware that Kreacher was the reason that stupid Potter boy came to the Ministry in the first place?"

"No," she answered quietly.

"Well, he was the one. I would've punished Potter but I was smart enough to realize that the lowlives invading my house probably wouldn't like that, so I decided to punish Kreacher instead. He is currently in the kitchens, bludgeoning himself with a frying pan." He said coolly. "And then after that, I discovered that more than half of our family's prized belongings are missing. Some have been thrown out for being dark artifacts while the rest were stolen by some bastard whose name literally translates to shit. Precious heirlooms. All gone. So as you can see, my morning hasn't been that great."

Esmerelda grimaced. She could get why he was so furious. He may have been alive right now, but he spent an entire day on the run from muggle policemen, spent another half of a day getting hunted down by bloodthirsty giants. Even coming back to his home wasn't so great because his house had literally been taken over by—in his opinion—close-minded idiots who had sold or stolen almost everything he owned.

"Do you know who allowed that to happen?" He asked.

Esmerelda fell quiet.

"It was Sirius," he let out a broken, angry laugh. "My own brother. He threw out my things too—in fact, he especially wanted them gone. Like he—like he didn't want any reminders of me. Why would he—? Why would he do that?"

She didn't know what to say. Right now, her father looked like a cross between a broken little boy and a man ready to go on a rampage.

"You—you told me he cared about me! That he loved me!" He continued, his shoulders shaking with rage and his grip on the wand trembling.

"He does," Esmerelda protested. "He cares about you. He was just... It was my fault. I made him mad, so—so he tried to—to—" She struggled to find the right words.

"To what?" His voice rose. "Erase me to punish you? How is that any better, Esmerelda?! How—" He cut himself off. "He hates me, doesn't he? He hates me, but you didn't want to hurt me, so you lied instead and gave me all those pretty words about Sirius caring about me."

"I wasn't lying! He told me all those things! He told me that he cared about you, but then... then he..."

"He what, changed his mind? Decided he hated me instead? So he lied to you, then."

"No!"

Regulus' expression turned scarily empty. "I want to see everything."

"...What do you mean?" She asked quietly.

Regulus aimed his wand at her and her whole body tensed up.

"What are you doing?" Her voice was beginning to waver.

"Do you know what legilimency is?" He asked softly.

She nodded slowly. Harry had told her the general idea of it but he explained it so poorly that she had to go to Hermione for help instead. In easier terms, it was something like mind-reading but apparently more powerful than that since it allowed the user to see anything from their target's mind.

She knew immediately where this was going. Regulus wanted to read her mind. For what reason, she had no idea.

"Why?" She asked instead of answering his question. "You don't need to do this."

"Of course I do. You're clearly confused. You don't know whether my brother lied to you or not," he answered, as if he wasn't about to invade his own daughter's mind. "But I would be able to tell because I know him. I know when he lies. Besides, I've been wanting to do this anyways. I've been so absent from your life and this is the best way to see what I've missed out on."

Esmerelda took a wary step back. "I'm pretty sure there are some laws against doing this."

"There aren't," he smiled thinly. "And even if there were, you and I both know I could care less."

"I-I can tell you everything," she tried to tell him.

"Ah, but you see, I can't trust your judgement, dear," he told her gently. "Using legilimency will allow me to witness everything I need to and unlike you, I don't have those rather lovely rose-colored glasses over my eyes."

She could hear him sneering when he said the last words, like he was mocking her. Esmerelda wanted to cry. Why was her father being so mean all of a sudden? She thought bringing him back to life would give her the family she had yearned for for so long, but this was beginning to turn into a nightmare. Trying to kill Ethan, punishing Kreacher, and now trying to invade her mind—she didn't want any of this to happen.

She remembered all the times Sirius and Remus would tell her about Regulus. Sirius had said some good things, but he had some bad things to say too. Remus was more gentle about it though. They had told her that Regulus was a bad man; he was nasty, mean, cruel, and controlling, but she hadn't believed them. She always thought he was kind and wonderful...

But now she was beginning to realize that perhaps Sirius and Remus had been right about him all along. Alarm bells were ringing in her head as she stared at him. His calculating stare reminded her of the Athena kids, except they were far more darker and detached. It was scary, and she had a feeling that objecting to his 'request' would only anger him further.

"...Okay," she said uneasily. She was only doing this to appease him. Hopefully he wouldn't see anything to make his wrath grow...

Regulus gave her a pleased smile, but for once, she couldn't smile back.

"Legilimens," he said, and her life literally flashed before her eyes.

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Ethan was pacing out the hallway for gods knew how long. The other inhabitants of the house had tried to pry information out of him, but he snapped at them and told them to go back to bed.

He was out of his mind with worry. He knew Esmerelda was just on the other side of the door, but being separated from her for even a minute was making his paranoia go crazy. Regulus wouldn't hurt her, he was too overprotective to do that, but the look on his face reminded him of Hecate's when they were fighting against Phoetus; cold and detached, though he could tell the man was simmering with anger on the inside.

He had already tried eavesdropping, but one of them must have put a charm over the room to prevent anyone on the inside from being overheard.

So he gave up on trying to eavesdrop and went back to pacing. Time kept ticking by and soon enough, an hour nearly passed.

What the fuck was going on in there? He wondered.

A part of him wanted to break the door down. He knew he was able to do it, but he was pretty sure that would only earn him even more of Regulus' ire. He wasn't used to not doing anything.

Suddenly the door started to move and Ethan, naturally, was on high alert when he saw Regulus step out of the room without Esmerelda. He tried to peek behind him but before he could catch a glimpse, the door closed.

He and Regulus were left alone in the hallway now.

He expected something to happen. For Regulus to spit insults at him with his usual venomous voice, or to attack him again, or to even glare but... he did nothing. He didn't even look remotely angry just... deep in thought and even confused.

They stared at each over for several seconds (though Ethan's gaze would occasionally dart to the bronze wand in the other man's grasp). Ethan tried to decipher whatever the hell Regulus was thinking, but he couldn't figure out why Regulus seemed so... calm all of a sudden. Why wasn't he trying to kill him?

Regulus then cleared his throat, schooling his expression back to his usual haughty and uncaring mood. "Esmerelda is alright," he began. "She has a bit of a headache but I cured her. She's still dizzy, however."

"What happened?" He asked immediately.

Regulus actually hesitated for a second. "I looked through her mind."

"What?!"

"She's fine," Regulus said curtly. "Now if you'll excuse me."

He spared him one last considering glance before walking away. Ethan watched him and once he was out of the way, he hurried back into the bedroom.

He found Esmerelda laying on her bed with her head in her hands. She didn't seem hurt, but the faint groans coming from her were a concern.

"Essie?" He called out, gingerly touching her shoulder. "Are you hurt?"

She retracted her hands and slowly turned her head to face him. To his relief, she wasn't hurt. She looked more lost than in pain. Regulus mentioned something about her being dizzy, but he still didn't understand why.

"I'm... okay," she said slowly, like she wasn't so certain of her answer. "My dad... he... he used legilimency on me."

"Legilimency?"

"He looked through my head, basically," she tried to explain. "He was angry about Sirius. He didn't trust me enough to tell him how Sirius really felt about him, so he looked through my head instead to make his own judgement. It was scary... It was like living through my life again. I kept getting flashbacks but everything was moving so fast that it was overwhelming."

"He made you," Ethan's voice grew shaky with anger. "Live through every horrible moment in your life?"

"Basically," she mumbled. "But he didn't mean to do that. He said I wasn't supposed to even notice him going through my head, but it's been years since he last did any legilimency so he was kinda sloppy. He got really worried when I collapsed and healed me, at least."

"Babe, no offense, but your dad's fucked up," he said bluntly.

She grimaced, but didn't say anything to deny it. "Were you waiting outside? Did he... say anything to you?"

He pursed his lips. "Strangely enough, no. I thought he would but when he left the room all he did was stare at me for a couple seconds. It was weird. He didn't try to kill me or anything. Not even an insult. He just told me that you were okay, but a little dizzy and that was it. Then he just... walked away."

Now he was even more curious about what Regulus saw in her head. A part of him—the hopeful, rarely optimistic side of him—thought that he probably didn't see anything bad, because he was pretty sure that if Regulus did see something he disapproved of, then he wouldn't be breathing right now. It was the only explanation he could think of for why her father reacted the way he did back in the hallway, but he knew better than to focus on wishful thinking.

He snapped back to reality when Esmerelda started to sit up.

"What are you doing? Are you sure you're okay?" He asked worriedly.

"M'fine," she mumbled tiredly. "My head's clearer now. Do you know where he went?"

"I think he left to go torture Peter again."

Ah, of course. Ever since he found out Ethan brought Peter in, he had been visiting him in the basement to use him as a punching bag—or a hexing bag, to be more specific. She was pretty sure he spent the whole night torturing him with the Cruciatus Curse much to the disapproval of many. She couldn't blame him though. She understood his anger. Peter had literally ruined Sirius' life and betrayed him in the worst way possible. A few hours of torture would never be enough to make up for it.

Ethan watched her quietly, concern bubbling within him. He had a shit dad, but he was pretty sure invading your child's privacy by looking through their head was wrong. He half expected Esmerelda to burst into tears but... right now, she was acting like everything was perfectly fine. She was either pretending, or she genuinely didn't see anything wrong with what Regulus had done.

They went downstairs to the dining room soon after. Everyone else, save for Regulus and Kreacher were already there and eating breakfast.

Quiet 'good morning's were sent their way as they sat down. Life in Grimmauld Place had become more miserably tense than ever and it didn't help that the Weasley twins were gone too. Ethan's presence had surrounded the house in a menacing air, but the revival of Regulus had made the atmosphere ten times more oppressive than usual. Even Esmerelda's bright and cheery personality wasn't enough to stifle it, though that was mostly because she was oblivious to the darkness her boyfriend and father had poured over the other inhabitants.

"So, Essie," Harry began, sending nervous glancing over at a broody Ethan as if he was afraid he'd snap at him for trying to talk to her. "What are you going to do now?"

She blinked at him. "Um... eat breakfast?"

"No, I mean, now that you're alive," he clarified. "How are you going to tell everyone that you're alive? I mean, the whole wizarding world thinks you and your dad are dead."

"Dad and I think it's better to keep it that way," she said, grabbing her utensils to cut through an omelette. "I mean, we'd have to explain how we're back alive. Plus my dad still looks eighteen! Can you imagine how the Daily Prophet would react to that? They'd probably accuse us of using 'dArK mAgIc' and whatnot."

Beside her, Ethan snorted in derision at the stupidity of the Daily Prophet. "Knowing how dumb the wizards here are, they'd probably believe it too." He added with a jab, and none of the wizards in the room felt brave enough to even say anything.

Esmerelda pinched his side. "Don't be so mean," she scolded.

He grumbled in protest.

"But how are you going to go back to Hogwarts?" Hermione asked.

"Easy, I won't," she said with a smile.

The whole table went quiet. Remus dropped a fork on the floor on accident as he turned to her, his eyes wide.

"Not—not go back?" He spluttered. "Esmerelda, what about your education?"

"I'm still gonna go to school, of course, it just won't be Hogwarts. I'll be attending a mor—muggle school instead back in New York," she explained.

"Esmerelda," Mrs. Weasley looked at her worriedly. "You haven't finished your magical education. You can't just go to a muggle school, it won't teach you what you need to know!"

"I only went to Hogwarts so I could learn spells to protect myself," she explained patiently. "I don't care for astronomy, herbology, history or classes like that. I only cared about learning combative spells, which, unfortunately, isn't even properly taught at school. I learned them on my own, and I'm done with that. Plus, I want to go to college and I can't do that with a Hogwarts education."

"You are waaaay behind in math," Ethan teased her.

"Shut up," she grumbled. "I know up to geometry so I'm not that behind."

Ron whispered to Hermione, "What the heck is geometry?"

"But Sirius would never allow it," Remus pointed. "Or—or your father."

"I'm pretty sure Regulus would be okay with it," Ethan said thoughtfully. If he thoroughly looked through Esmerelda's mind then he would've seen how terribly she had been treated. There would've been no way he would've allowed her to step foot back in that hellhole.

"But Essie—" Hermione tried to argue, but fell silent when Regulus stepped into the room.

He looked pristine as ever. Not a hair was out of place, his clothes weren't wrinkled or ruffled, and there wasn't even any blood on him. Nevertheless, more than half of the people in the room shrunk at the sight of him.

"Oh," he plastered on a chilling smile. "If it isn't my daughter, her war-criminal of a boyfriend... and Dumbledore's ragtag team of insignificant wannabe soldiers who defiled my house."

"Morning, dad," Esmerelda was the only one to greet him, but her smile was weak and almost nervous looking. She was probably remembering what happened an hour ago.

"Good morning," he greeted her back with a more genuine smile before taking a seat at the head of the table where Dumbledore usually sat when he was over. He looked down at the table and made a hum of disappointment. "Oh, you didn't prepare any breakfast for me? I'm insulted."

"Nonsense," Andromeda rolled her eyes. "We just weren't expecting you. Here." She swished her wand in the air and a plate flew in front of him, and some food followed suit.

"Thank you," he said. "So what were you all talking about before I came?"

"They want me to keep attending Hogwarts," Esmerelda said (though she cringed at how much of a tattletale she sounded like).

"Oh did they?" He said in a low voice, eyeing everyone else with scorn. "And you don't want to, is that correct?"

She nodded.

"Then you won't have to," he stated firmly.

She lit up, but Mrs. Weasley just couldn't allow that. "Regulus, she wants to go to a muggle school—"

"—That sounds very discriminating of you, Molly, I thought you didn't have anything against muggles?" He said coolly.

"Of course I don't!" She was aghast. "But Esmerelda can't just cut her magical education short! She's only in fifth year!"

"Esmerelda's very adept at magic. I think she'll be fine."

"Regulus—"

"—Are you trying to tell me how to raise my daughter?" He said in a challenging voice, the glare in his eyes cutting through her.

"Dad...!" Esmerelda quietly whined, and he forced himself to relax.

"Fine. I apologize." He said with a heavy sigh.

Breakfast resumed after that. Regulus and Esmerelda were eating as if nothing had happened, whereas everyone else had fallen into an uncomfortable silence. Ethan was trying to pretend he didn't notice Regulus' intense glare.

He didn't look angry per se, but more like he was trying to figure him out, and somehow that was more nerve-wracking than any murderous look Regulus could ever give him. Unable to come to a conclusion, he just kept his mouth shut and kept eating.

Maybe he was just judging his table manners or whatever...

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"I think your dad's planning to kill me." Ethan said seriously.

The two of them were at the library, sitting on a supremely plushy couch. Ethan was sitting up properly while Esmerelda was sprawled over the couch, her legs thrown over his lap while a piece of paper and pen levitated in front of her, the pen magically writing the words she wanted to convey.

Esmerelda gave him a weird look. "Are you just realizing that now? He's literally shot the Killing Curse at you, like, ten times just within this hour."

"Yeah but he's not even being serious about it anymore," he really wasn't. Regulus' murder attempts were more casual since breakfast. He wasn't even screaming nor did he look angry. He would just point his wand at him and say 'avada kedavra' as if he was greeting him. "I think he's got something worse planned."

"That's... understandable." She said slowly. "But I'm sure you'll be fine. You've survived worse than an angry father. Come on, help me out with my letter that I'm writing to Nico. Do you wanna add anything?"

The letter levitated towards him and luckily, they were written in Ancient Greek so he was able to understand it. It was... heart-wrenchingly sweet if he had to admit. He was pretty sure Esmerelda had never sent even him such a loving letter like this before, and she even added a bunch of hearts and smiley faces too.

"Um, you should probably tell him that we'll be seeing each other soon at Camp Jupiter," he advised.

"Ohhh you're right," she whispered, the paper and pen whisking back to her and quickly writing her thoughts down. "Okay, I'm done! We should probably contact Camp Half-Blood next."

Right. They couldn't just let the camp continue on mourning when Esmerelda was clearly alive again. Ethan, since he was the only one with drachmas between them, had to make the IM after they cleared out the table. They contacted Chiron first who, after several seconds of shocked staring, finally gathered up the rest of the war council.

Naturally, everyone blew up the second they saw Esmerelda's face.

"Aren't you dead?!" Sherman, the second-in-command of the Ares cabin since Clarisse was out at school, sputtered in disbelief.

"Well yes, but no," Esmerelda explained terribly. "I took advantage of the Doors of Death and got out. I managed to get my dad out too."

"Oh my gods," Drew's jaw dropped. "Hold on a second, so I wasn't hallucinating when I saw you on the news for being suspected of mafia activity?"

"I'm not part of the mafia," she sighed heavily. "And aren't you supposed to be at Boston?"

Drew ignored her question. "Essie you are literally in soooo much trouble. You know my dad, the FBI agent? According to him there's a chance you and your dad could be put on the Most Wanted list!"

"Niiiiice," Travis grinned as he and Conner gave her a round of applause.

"Damn, did Percy ever accomplish that?" Sherman wondered aloud.

"Wasn't he suspected of being a terrorist?" Someone asked.

Jason turned to them with wide eyes. "What?"

"Enough!" Annabeth, who had a separate IM, snapped. "We need to go back to the topic. Essie, Ethan, Hera's sending you on a quest?"

"It's not a quest," Ethan corrected. "It's more like... a mission. In about a week, she'll be sending us to Percy in order to... help him, I guess."

"Help him with what?" Annabeth asked, but before any of them could answer, the door to the library opened and Ethan immediately tensed up when Regulus stepped into the room.

"Dad?" Esmerelda turned.

"Tha—that's your dad?!" Drew's jaw dropped. She looked stunned, like a treasure hunter who just discovered a huge chest of priceless jewels. Esmerelda was pretty sure there were even hearts in her eyes.

"Um... yes...?" She answered unsurely.

"Oh my gods..." Drew whispered under her breath before sitting up straight and flipping, her dark eyes darting between the two Blacks. "Hey, uh, Essie, are you by any chance looking for a stepmom?"

Regulus' eyes flew wide and Esmerelda looked like she had been sucker-punched. Ethan just couldn't believe how shamelessly bold she was.

"Excuse me?" Regulus blinked.

"I'm really good friends with your daughter, sir, we already have a great mother-daughter bond and—"

"—Drew!" Esmerelda exclaimed, red in the face. "You can't date my dad!"

"Didn't you say he was eighteen when he died? He's only a year older than me! Come on, Essie, help a girl out!" She complained.

"Absolutely not! I'll talk to you all later, goodbye!" Esmerelda hastily swiped a hand through the Iris Messages, desperate for the conversation to just end. "I, uh, I'm sorry about her dad, she's just um..."

He raised a hand to stop her, not wanting to talk about it anymore. "Forget about it. I came here with a request."

Ethan and Esmerelda looked at each other. "What is it?"

"I want to visit Sirius."

Ethan stilled. "What?"

"You heard me. I want to visit my brother. He deserves to know that we're alive," Regulus said firmly before turning to his daughter. "Esmerelda, can you use the Mist to make sure nobody recognizes us?"

"Yeah, of course!" Esmerelda said all too eagerly. It hadn't even dawned on her how suspicious the request was. Earlier in the morning he had been furious with Sirius and all of a sudden he wanted to give him a nice, friendly visit in prison?

Ethan was left to stare at her in astonishment. "What? No! Essie, why would you want to visit him?"

She gave him a weird look. "Because I miss him?"

His jaw was clenched. "He's the reason you died in the first place."

At this moment, he nearly forgot that Regulus was in the room but for once, he didn't give a shit. He was vaguely aware that Regulus was staring at him again, with his calculating steely grey eyes, but he ignored that to address Esmerelda.

Why, he wanted to scream at her. Why was he the only one who saw who was at fault for this? Why did Esmerelda have to keep forgiving Sirius for every fucking thing he had done to her? She died for him. Pasiphaë and Clytius may have killed her, but Esmerelda wouldn't have been in that situation if it weren't for Sirius.

"Don't say that," Esmerelda pleaded, knowing how much he hated her uncle. "Ethan, please, he's still my uncle."

"He's a piece of shit," he hissed, and her face fell.

Regulus cleared his throat and both kids turned to her. "I would appreciate it if you stop insulting my brother in my presence, Ethan."

Ethan gritted his teeth, but said nothing. His anger cooled down albeit slowly, and it was soon replaced with suspicion. Regulus' reaction was... strangely calm even though he had badmouthed Sirius. He would've expected him to throw another Killing Curse at him or maybe a Cruciatus Curse.

"We can go to him now," Esmerelda said, desperate to change the subject. "Ethan, um... you can stay here if you want."

"I need to talk about the case with him," he said bitterly. "So I guess I need to come..."

Regulus didn't say anything about that, and she nodded in acceptance, though he could see in her eyes that she was begging him not to cause any arguments.

Regulus ended up apparating them to Azkaban. At first, Esmerelda wasn't so sure about that method, but he had been practicing his apparation and felt he was good enough to take them there.

Azkaban was still as shitty as the last time he had been there. Same dirty walls, same tortured screaming, the usual package. Regulus' face was blank, like he wasn't bothered at all by the horrible state of the prison. Esmerelda, however, was clearly disturbed, but mostly because of how filthy the place was. She didn't seem to care much about the screams either.

There were guards stationed around the levels, but thanks to the Mist, nobody noticed them. Ethan continued to lead them up the stairs and paused once they finally reached Sirius' floor.

"He's over here," he mumbled, taking them to his cell.

Sirius was at the far back, laying down on his side in fetal position. His hair was all matted now, his visible hand was all skin and bones, and a foul stench radiated from his body. Judging by how fast and loud he was breathing, he was still wide awake.

"Oh brother, I've never seen you look so pathetic," Regulus drawled, and Esmerelda gawked at him in disbelief. He hadn't seen him in years and these were his first words?!

Sirius shot up immediately, his head whipping towards them.

Esmerelda let out a pained noise when she saw his face. He looked hollow... literally and figuratively. The skin on his face was stretched out thin over his skull, his eyes were red like he had been crying, and his lips were severely dry. It reminded her of the state he was in when they first met.

His dead, empty eyes were wide with horror when he saw the two supposedly dead Blacks. Rather than looking happy, he was terrified.

"No," he rasped, his voice rough and scratchy. "You're... b-both dead."

A smile crawled over Regulus' face, but in Ethan's opinion, it didn't look kind nor reassuring at all. "Oh my, you don't sound very welcoming. I expected a better reaction than this. I'm quite hurt, Sirius. Did you want us to be dead?"

He clenched his eyes shut and shook his head furiously. "No, no, no, NO! You're not real!"

"We are. Do I need to go in there and smack some brain cells into that head of yours, brother? I see Azkaban has made you more foolish than you already were."

"Dad!" Esmerelda scolded, looking appalled. She shot him a glare before turning back to her uncle and speaking in a kinder voice, "Uncle Sirius? It's me, Essie. It really is me, okay? We're real, I swear. Dad and I... we escaped the Underworld. The Doors of Death were chained so we were able to come back to life. We came here to see you again!"

Sirius looked at them painfully before crawling forward. He tried reaching out for them through the bars, his bony hand just barely slipping through.

Esmerelda grasped it and that was when he burst into tears.

Esmerelda conjured a tissue and handed it to him, but he was too busy crying to notice so she awkwardly disintegrated it and allowed him to cry it all out.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed into his skeletal hands, his chest heaving up and down erratically. "I'm sorry, Essie, I'm so sorry! And Regulus... I missed you both so much. Please, please don't let this be a drea—where the bloody hell is your arm?!" He gasped. 

"That's irrelevant," Regulus dismissed before his voice turned into an uncharacteristically soft tone. "This is real. I'm sorry that this had to happen to you, Sirius. Esmerelda told me all about what's been going on."

"The dementors are gone at least," Sirius said, sniffling. "But it's the memories of this place that haunt me... I don't think I can stay in here any longer..."

"You won't have to," Ethan told him, finally joining the conversation. "Your trial is in less than a week. And I even managed to get my hands on a special someone who increases our chances of winning."

"Who?"

"He found Peter Pettigrew!" Esmerelda said excitedly. "He's, uh, staying over at the basement!"

Sirius' eyes grew impossibly large. "You found him? How?!"

"I asked Lucius Malfoy before knocking him out," Ethan shrugged like it was no biggie. "I just went to the location he gave me and found Peter there. Then I kidnapped him and took him to Grimmauld Place."

"If people saw him alive," Sirius breathed. "They'll know I'm innocent."

"It'll plant the seed of doubt in their heads," Ethan corrected. "They won't outright believe your innocence, but they'll heavily lean towards it."

"But what if they don't?" He asked fearfully.

Ethan snorted. "Trust me, you'll be fine. We got a 100% chance of winning regardless of what I do, so don't worry too much about it."

"Ethan's the son of Nemesis remember?" Esmerelda said brightly. "Justice will happen with him around."

For the next hour or so, they spent the time talking about the case and what Ethan wanted him to say or do during the trial. Sirius was nodding along to what he was saying, but they doubted he was even paying attention. The prospect of freedom being so close was the only thing in his mind.

"It would—it would be much quicker, Essie, if you were to just break me out instead," Sirius suggested with barely hidden desperation. "Don't get me wrong, Ethan, I-I'm grateful for what you're doing for me, but—but now that Essie's back she—she can just break me out instead, can't you, Essie?"

Before any of the kids could answer, Regulus suddenly stood up. "Esmerelda, Ethan, I'd like to speak with my brother for a moment."

Immediately, Ethan could sense that something was amiss. He shot Regulus a suspicious look before carefully tugging a confused Esmerelda away.

When the two were finally gone, Regulus turned back to his brother to give him a wry smile.

"You want her to break you out, is that it?" He asked in amusement. "And then what happens next? When the entire wizarding world goes on a manhunt for you?"

"She can use the Mist!" He exclaimed.

"Oh, but I thought you didn't want her to abuse her powers?" He asked innocently. "Or is it only okay if she uses it to your benefit?"

Sirius' throat went dry. "How did you... how did you know about that?"

"I used legilimency on Esmerelda," he said casually, as if he was discussing the weather and not about him invading someone's privacy.

"You WHAT?!"

"I had her permission," he shrugged. "Sort of."

"You can't just do that, Regulus!" Sirius was understandably horrified.

"I'm her father, I have every right." Regulus genuinely didn't see a problem in his parenting methods. "You're making a bloody big deal out of this."

"A big—?! Because it's WRONG! Do you know what people would say if they found out what you did? What they'd call it—"

Regulus rolled his eyes.

"You've always been such a controlling, manipulative bastard," Sirius seethed. "Even when we were kids you would always treat everyone like they were your little toys."

"It sounds like you've always seen me as a threat," Regulus scoffed. "That's funny, I thought I was... what was it that you told the Potter boy that Esmerelda overheard? I was 'foolish'? Soft enough to fall for any lies and manipulation? Huh, how peculiar... What you said then doesn't seem to match what you're claiming now..."

Sirius stiffened. He was talking about that moment he shared with Harry when they were discussing the family tapestry. A moment that Esmerelda had overheard. A moment that he was now aware of.

"I didn't... mean that..." He said weakly.

"Oh? And I take it you didn't mean it when you told the boy that you hated your whole family?" Regulus' once calm exterior started to crack as boiling rage fueled his body. "Or that you didn't mean to tell that piece of shit Mundungus to sell away all of my belongings like they didn't matter to you? You didn't mean to see me as a monster? To see my own daughter as one too just because she was my child? You didn't mean ANY of that?! Is that what you're saying?!"

Sirius' whole body began to tremble from the onslaught of emotions swelling within him. He remembered, all those years ago, when Regulus tried to kill him with the Killing Curse. His younger brother had looked wild back then, but he had managed to contain his wrath to give him a warning.

But now... Now it looked like Regulus was really about to lose it. He looked genuinely deranged, as if the Black Family Madness had finally taken over him at last.

"All Esmerelda ever told me was about how much you loved me," Regulus said quietly, shaking with rage and pain. "But I understand it now. Esmerelda has a naive way of seeing things, but I saw the truth. You're afraid of me."

"I was afraid for you," Sirius tried to say. "Of what you would become. You were always getting so involved with the dark arts and it didn't help how our parents have been raising you! You were using people, hurting them even before you became a Death Eater! I wanted so badly to protect you from it all, to stop you before you really lost it, but you just wouldn't listen to me!"

"Protect me?" He chuckled. "I hardly see how abandoning me to rot in that house was protecting me, Sirius."

"I—"

"—Forget it," he cut him off. "I care for you, brother but... your words hurt. You think I'm a monster. I mean, I definitely am, but it hurt to hear my own brother say that. Which is why... I think it would be a suitable punishment to make you wait here until your trial comes."

"...What?" Sirius whispered.

"Do you know who it was that helped Esmerelda discover your innocence? That helped her realize that Peter Pettigrew was the traitor and not you?" Regulus asked quietly. "Me. It was all me. And this is how you repay me. By insulting me, besmirching my name, and mistreating my daughter who I entrusted you with."

"Regulus," he began to beg. "Don't. Please don't..."

"Esmerelda could easily break you out of here and hide you away again, but you did tell her not to abuse her powers. Besides, I find it fitting to make you wait here a few more days. I know it's torture, dear brother, but at least in the end you'll have the freedom you so desperately crave for and your name will be cleared." Regulus' smile was sickly sweet.

Sirius began to sob. "Please don't do this, Regulus, I can't... I can't stand it here any longer...! Please, just—just—"

"—Just wait a little longer," he said soothingly. "In the meanwhile, I'll see you when the trial comes."

Sirius allowed his head to hang as his sobs grew in volume.

Regulus reached out to pat his hand. "Look on the bright side. Once Ethan's proven your innocence—and I have no doubt that he will succeed—you can come home and we can finally be a proper family again."

— author's note —

Did ya'll seriously think that there would be a cute and sweet family reunion??? LOOOOOOOL, you must be new to this series then because that's not happening here. 

I straight up made a whole mini analysis about Regulus and heavily hinted that he wasn't going to be a good person since book fucking three. If you took notice of those hints and pieced things together, then good for you. If you didn't (and you either ignored/didn't read the analysis), then this chapter must have been a shock. I'm sorry, but there is absolutely no way Regulus would EVER be a healthy, good man in here. He is very toxic. I've hinted that A LOT.

Yes he realized he was wrong and tried to leave the Death Eaters and best Voldemort, but then he failed, and died, and ended up getting tortured in the Fields of Punishment for... what? Nearly twenty years? Nobody's gonna come out of that being all sunshine and rainbows. It completely fucked him up all over again. 

The Black Family is full of horrible toxic people, Essie and Sirius included so this is the sort of thing you should've been expecting if you're a sharp reader😊 😊 😊

But look on the bright side! Essie's finally got her perfect little family yay! Aren't you just happy for her???

And yes, it's perfect in her eyes. She's got her pretty lil rose-colored glasses on and refuses to see her family as anything less than perfect. Regulus invaded her privacy and looked through her head??? That's okay he was just doing it for her own good :) Sirius is being mean to her??? Well he apologized so it's all good now :) Ethan's... well, being Ethan??? He knows what he's doing so it's best to leave him be :) And etc. etc.

Writing about the Black Family + Ethan, Nico, and... a few other characters is gonna be soooo fun for me 😊

Ethan and Regulus: *being yanderes*

Sirius: *locked up and being psychologically tortured*

Her family: *a fucking toxic mess* (except for Lou Ellen, she's perfect)

Her life: *in shambles*

Essie:

Drew when she sees Regulus:

From NerdyandQu1rky: