Albus Dumbledore gripped Regulus Black's arm so tight that Regulus had no choice but to follow along at a bit of a trot. Students in the Slytherin common room had scattered and were now poking their heads out of dormitory rooms. The other sixth year boys were standing awkwardly at the end of the stairs and as Dumbledore dragged Regulus past, Regulus met eyes with Barty who stared back with admiration.

He thinks I've been at Voldemort's business, Regulus thought. The look of reverence in the boy's eyes was in thinking his mate had been up to some dark work made Regulus sick and for a fleeting moment he thought at kicking Barty - and then thought immediately of kicking Dumbledore and anyone else who stood close enough his feet could reach.

Bastards the lot of them, none of them give a bleeding damn about me, none of them even know me. The only person who ever knew me was Maryrose, and look what they did to her.

He was livid, he was on fire, he wanted to grab the bloody Peverell portrait right out of Dumbledore's robes, or wherever he'd stowed the painting away, and to scream and shout and destroy nearly literally everything. He was so mad about Maryrose and Alabaster, about being misunderstood, about Voldemort and horcruxes and his rubbish purist family name and the people who, for generations untold, had made choices that ultimately led to this moment now, being dragged away out of his common room and into the corridor.

"YOU BLOODY CAN'T GO BURSTING INTO A LAD'S ROOMS LIKE THIS, WHAT OF PRIVACY?" Regulus was shouting, "YOU CAN'T - YOU CAN'T DRAG ME LIKE THIS - UNHAND ME! LET ME GO THIS BLOODY INSTANT YOU CRAZY OLD CRACKPOT!" He twisted and kicked and bellowed and he thought fleetingly that he sounded like a child throwing a temper tantrum when he didn't get his way, and that he didn't care. Let the old fool silence him. So Regulus continued on shouting, even as Dumbledore entirely ignored his verbal pelting. "JUST YOU WAIT TIL MY MOTHER HEARS ABOUT THIS, SHE WILL TEAR THIS SCHOOL APART BRICK FROM BRICK AND CAST IT INTO THE BLOODY LAKE SO IT CAN LIE IN THE MUCK WHERE IT BELONGS!!! YOU PRIDE YOURSELF FOR BEING SO RUDDY OPEN MINDED - YOU DO NOT EVEN KNOW A FRACTION OF THE ROT GOING ON 'ROUND YOU, YOU ARROGANT ---"

The door to Horace Slughorn's office opened suddenly as they approached to pass and the Potions Master stepped out and looked around, drawn out by the screaming. Dumbledore's face red with anger and his countenance burning as he dragged Regulus toward the office door. Slughorn looked startled. "Albus!" he said, his eyes falling first on Regulus's flailing limbs and wagging mouth (as the boy hadn't stopped his insults and curses), and then on Dumbledore's firm grip, fingers biting into Regulus's elbow, and he gasped. "What IS the meaning of this, Albus?!"

"He's trying at ripping my bleedin' arm clean off!" Regulus shouted. "The old nutjob's done cracked his bloody skull right open and poured out what little brains he had left!"

Dumbledore glowered.

"Albus, Albus," chortled the head of Slytherin house, "Come now, relax your grip, it isn't as though he's going to run off anywhere! Are you, my lad?"

"No," Regulus wrenched his arm away from Dumbledore, who stared at him fiercely. He rubbed the redness where the tight grip had been, feeling sick to his stomach because as horrid as Voldemort was, he had never once done that.

"Horace, I do apologize for the racket," Dumbledore's voice was on edge as he said, "But I have a good deal of business to attend to with Mr. Black and I was rather hoping to use your Floo.... and to ask your accompaniment to my office, as this meeting will result in the likely expulsion of this young man, pending a bit of questioning."

Slughorn looked confused, but stepped aside for the pair to enter.

Regulus went in the office quickly, marching away from Dumbledore, his mind racing how he was going to talk his way out of everything. Obviously Dumbledore knew about the portrait now, there was no use denying he'd taken it - although he hadn't actually taken it so much as he had caught it falling off the wall and been told to carry it somewhere - he began weaving out how to speak the words without lying - he was certain before the night was over he would have to do so if he had any hope of not facing expulsion.

"Galloping goblins, what is all the fuss about?" Slughorn waddled into the office after Regulus and Dumbledore, shaking his head as he closed the heavy wood door. The office smelled of firewood burning and expensive brandy. The Head of Slytherin house had an extensive library of leatherbound books lining heavy shelves along one wall and a large collection of framed, enchanted photographs displayed on the mantle. On a large work bench in one corner there was a rather intricate-looking potions set with glass beakers that dripped and bubbled menacingly, putting off a neon-gold glow that vibrated and made funny whistling noises whenever a drop would drip from the bottle on top into the bottle on bottom.

If it had been under any other circumstance, Regulus would've been terribly interested to know what it was, actually - it looked quite cool and rather drew his attention in, making his head feel peaceful and heady, the way one might feel after a long nap in the summer sun.

"Trying to break my bleedin' arm clean off, going to break my Quidditch arm!" Regulus said, his voice pitchy and accusatory, "And hasn't even said why or what I've done. He broke into the Slytherin Common Room! Right into my dormitory!"

Slughorn looked from the frantic fear Regulus was purposefully putting off to the keen anger of Albus Dumbledore. "Broke into their dormitories, Albus?" Slughorn asked, his eyebrows pinched together.

Dumbledore's mouth was droll, "A violation of school policy has been identified as Mr. Black's handiwork --"

"Oh yes because I'm so horrible that while I was alseep I was able to go about violating sch--"

"You were not asleep, Mr. Black!" Dumbledore's voice was low and ferocious as a lion growling and Reguuls actually felt a bit of fear rustle within him and stopped talking immediately.

Slughorn looked surprised, but recuperated and clucked his tongue, "School policy violation! Why, that doesn't sound like my Regulus!" He patted Regulus's shoulder comfortingly. "Surely there's been some sort of misunderstanding. Albus, are you certain you've the right boy?"

Dumbledore's face did not particularly look angry, but there were subtle features that Reguuls noticed which told him that the Headmaster was livid just under the surface. Dumbledore's jaw had tightened and flexed ever so slightly, the muscles in his neck quavered and his nostrils set themselves a bit wider than they would naturally be. When Regulus was small, he would've seen Orion make these type of movements when Sirius would say or do something displeasing, and there would always be a terrible night of fighting later on as Sirius got throttled badly.

Regulus could almost hear the wailing and shouting and it made him seethe all the more.

Everyone thinks Dumbledore is so good, Regulus thought, but it was there, just under the surface... The possibility of evil, like the flame of goodness was only a flicker away from going out.

"I am absolutely positive that the boy has done the crime and is now up for expulsion, Professor," Dumbledore said coolly.

"Expulsion?" Slughorn's eyes flashed and he seemed, for the first time, to be riled up. "Now see here, Albus... as head of house, isn't the first line of punishment up to my jurisdiction before moving forward to something such the like as expulsion? It's poor form enough that McGonagall's gone and had the boy in detention nearly every day this year -" he turned to Regulus as an aside and added, "We've missed you at the Slug Club, my boy," and back to Dumbledore, "-- but now for me to be so uninvolved in such a major decision about one of my top students...!"

And for the first time being in the Slug Club was about to pay off for Regulus's advantage. He quieted and watched in awe as Horace Slughorn proceeded to debate with Albus Dumbledore in a match of wits and words that seemed a bit like the graceful movements of chees pieces. Dumbledore explained to Slughorn that the Peverell portrait had been stolen from the wall and that Regulus had been at fault of defacing the walls by removing it, that he had indeed spent so much time in McGonagall's detention for disrespecting her, and Slughorn countered that after the second detention it was him that McGonagall ought to have brought the trouble to, not Albus.

"Speaking of breaking school policy, I do believe that the Head of House is the second line of disciplinary action, not the Headmaster," Slughorn said, "Not that I am accusing Minerva of anything underhanded, don't get me wrong, I just think she has been very comfortable with you, having worked with you so long, and perhaps being so close to the elder Black boy perhaps she forgot the protocol? This hasn't been escalated properly! And furthermore, what proof have you that the portrait was stolen by Regulus. It might have been any student in the castle."

"I've just taken the portrait from the dormitory," Dumbledore said. "It was in his very room! I do apologize the protocol was not followed properly but Minerva was very concerned --"

"Well perhaps if I'd had a chance to speak to the boy about his mischief, I could have reasoned with him! You Gryffindors don't understand we Slytherins, always quick with the charge and never taking a moment to get right into the thick of it and understand the full story. Surely the boy has a perfectly good answer for it. And since when is it policy to expel a student for standing in hallways, Albus?" Slughorn chortled. Then, "Surely, the very least you can do is give the boy a moment to explain himself," Slughorn said.

Dumbledore's mouth was a fine line.

Slughorn held up a palm to Regus, encouraging him to speak. "Mr. Black," he said, "Please explain your side of the story."

Regulus spoke evenly, without a hint of a quaver or stutter. "I didn't steal the portrait off the wall."

"Ah, you see, Albus."

"It came off and I caught it," Regulus said. "I had been caught so many times up in that corridor, I didn't want Professor McGonagall to be angry and serve another detention to me... You know there are Kelpie Eggs in the Magizology stables? I had a date with my girlfriend, we were going to go and help Professor Kettleburn with the eggs. I didn't want to get caught with the portrait, I knew there would be trouble if I did. I caught the portrait when it fell from the wall, and I took it with me. It was foolish, I ought not to have done it, but I didn't want to be in trouble and I rather thought hiding the evidence was the better choice; rather than being blamed for having taken it down, which I assure you I did not do."

Every sentence had been a complete truth. Perhaps together they presented an omission or a half truth or a persuasion, but each line alone could have been uttered in truth.

Even, Regulus thought with butterflies erupting in his belly, the bit about Oni being his girlfriend.

Slughorn nodded and turned to Dumbledore. "Now that is hardly something worthy of expulsion! Now I understand, Albus, mind you, that you are a passionate man with a keen hunger at justice - most Gryffindors are, of course - but justice can only be had with patience and full understanding of a situation. Accuracy, not swiftness, is the key to it." He cleared his throat. "Now, seeing as this is no longer a matter for expulsion, any further disciplinary action ought fall to me, as Head of Slytherin House. You needn't trouble yourself anymore," Slughorn's voice was thick with indulgence, "You've such a lot to do and you've gotten your portrait back, you say?"

Dumbledore nodded curtly.

"Well then! Alls well that ends well, I always say, and as for Regulus here, I'll have a talking with him and I shall take it personally upon myself to see to it that the boy doesn't step over the line again. If he does, I will be to your door step in a flash, Albus, with Mr. Black in tow! But you go and relax, have Filch go and rehang the portrait, and we'll toss out this whole misunderstanding as a poor deal."

Regulus couldn't believe it, could barely breathe with the thrill that had gone through his chest. Horace Slughorn smiled and ushered Dumbledore off to the floo, a snuffbox placed in his hand, and the Headmaster went - just like that.

As the floo's color dulled and the silence settled in after all the shouting, Regulus watched as Slughorn pulled a small vial and sprinkled little kelp flakes into a round fish bowl on the side table by his over stuffed easy chair. It was a funny juxtaposition - a man who had just talked down the most powerful wizard of all time perhaps from an absolute frenzy of anger, calmly feeding an ickle goldfish.

Slughorn closed the vial, put it down, wiped clean his hands, and drew a deep breath. "Now, my boy, you heard what I've just done, promising you won't step toe and that I will personally vouch for you and look after you."

Regulus nodded, "Thank you, sir."

Slughorn's eyes flickered slightly to the place where Regulus discreetly held his oxford shirt sleeve over the cuff of his wrist. They travelled up to meet Regulus's eyes. "My boy, I don't require thanks, only that - should ever there come a time when I need to be protected in much the same way, that you should consider returning the favor."

Regulus wanted to tell Slughorn that there was no way that he, Regulus, could help to protect him against the Dark Lord. After all, the very reason he stood there at that moment was due to being unable to protect Alabaster Jackson or even he, himself, from the whims of Voldemort.

But he simply said, "I won't forget what you've done, sir."

"Very good, then," Slughorn said with a small, sad smile, "Just don't make me regret it."