A Second Chance

This was a spur of the moment story, I hope you like it.

DISCLAIMER: All the universe of Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling

Chapter 1

15 November, 1979

Regulus struggled weakly against the inferi, praying to some unknown deity that his death wouldn't be in vain, that somehow Kreacher would be able to destroy the horcrux. He lost consciousness slowly, knowing he had come prepared for this. Taking the dark mark had doomed him and even if he had come out alive, there would be nothing left to live for. He flailed his arms desperately trying to push the inferi off him. A piercing desire to atone for his mistakes, to make a positive difference in someone's life, enveloped him, even stronger than the desire not to go to hell. He had tortured and killed for the Dark Lord, even if each time he felt sick. He wasn't proud of his choices.

'You will get your second chance' he heard a whispered voice before he lost consciousness. He wondered what the voice meant vaguely before his world faded to black.

22 November 1979

'Don't use that!' he heard a shrill voice, waking him abruptly. He wondered vaguely who it was, it didn't sound at all like the whispered voice he had heard. What had been that voice anyway? Probably just his desire talking. He wondered what the afterlife would be like.

'Maybe it will help him' he heard a vaguely familiar voice, and felt rather than saw the warm glow of a healing spell over his head. Wait what? What kind of afterlife would need a healing spell? Did that mean he wasn't dead? He struggled to open his eyes. They felt heavy, like there was a glueing spell on his lids. He could hear now shuffling and footsteps and the distinct sound of an argument between two women, so he had to be alive, didn't he? If he was dead wouldn't he be able to see and find a ghostly being welcome him to hell or something similar?

He opened his eyes slightly, making out a blurry figure with long blond hair. Was it Narcissa? The voice didn't sound like hers. Regulus felt himself go white with fear. If he had survived somehow, what would happen to him? He had been stupid enough to leave a note defying the dark lord because he was sure he was going to die. But if he found it he would torture and kill him, and probably make another horcrux to make up for the one he had stolen. Or even worse, order him to bring it back and hide it even better than before. Everything he had done would be for nothing. If Regulus was lucky the dark lord wouldn't check on his treasure, and Regulus would have to go back to his death eater days like nothing had happened, killing and torturing people who had done nothing to him, feeling sick with the look of each person seeing their loved ones be murdered. He wasn't sure he could live any longer that way. And he couldn't get away...he had tried searching for a way to sever the connection between his dark mark and the rest, in the most obscure texts he could find (which knowing the Black family library, were a lot) to no avail. They would be able to track him anywhere in the world as long as he had that mark. The only way to get out of the service was death. He could keep searching, hoping he wouldn't get killed before he achieved it.

'Willy, you are awake!' said the shrill voice again, and Regulus suddenly noticed he could see better than before and struggled to focus. A woman in a blond low ponytail was looking at him with clear tear-tracks on her face. She had sallow skin and a pinched face, with small blue eyes. She wasn't too ugly, but she wasn't anything special either. He wondered who he was and why his condition mattered so much to her. And had she called him Willy? Had she mistaken him for someone else?

'Where am I?' he managed through his dry throat, looking around slowly. He felt like he had been trampled by a hippogriff, though knowing he had just been drowned by inferi, he shouldn't have been surprised.

'Oh Willy!' she cried, her eyes feeling with tears. Regulus would have felt uncomfortable if he wasn't so confused and nearly dead. 'You and mom and dad had a car accident' she managed through her sniffles 'they...they didn't make it' she managed, her voice breaking. Regulus felt an unexpected compassion at that moment for the blond stranger. Her parents had just died. A year ago, he wouldn't have cared, but now he had seen too many children meet that same fate due to him. They had all looked the same. Like they couldn't process what was happening, their world ending so suddenly that it couldn't be real.

'I'm sorry' he said softly to the girl. He felt himself get slightly choked up at her obvious anguish, and looked at his hands, not able to hold her gaze. How many people, how many children, had he made feel like that? He had a paper around his wrist, and squinted to read it. It read William A. Evans. which sent his brain reeling, struggling to analyze everything he knew so far. The woman had called him Willy, so obviously she, and the other people in this place, thought he was this person. Why had they mistaken him? And where was this? The most similar place he had ever seen to this was St. Mungo's, so this had to be another hospital, which made sense considering that she was worried about losing him. It was the strangest hospital he had ever seen, and he was hooked up to at least three tubes for some reason. He had felt a healing spell earlier, so it must be some specialized centre in whatever his wounds had been, but that didn't explain why his identity was mistaken for this William person. What else had she said? Something about a car accident, and her parents dying. He had no idea what a car was, but mulling over the words he suddenly realized that the girl had said 'mom and dad' not something like 'my parents' that would indicate they had different parents. Did this girl think he was her brother? How could anyone confuse their own brother? Had she been in the accident with her parents too? Maybe she had gone crazy.

'You've been in a comma for a week, I was so worried we were going to lose you too' the girl told him seemingly calmer even though she was still crying. 'We had to have the funeral without you, but I'll take you to see them when the doctors say it's all right. You will live with Vernon and I now of course, so you won't be alone, don't worry' she told him compassionately. He barely had time to process her words when the door opened, and Regulus felt a flood of relief at seeing someone he knew, even if it was Evans, a mudblood Gryffindor who he had barely talked to at school. Would she be able to explain how he was alive and why this girl thought he was someone else? Was this the headquarters of the infamous Order of the Phoenix?

'William! You're awake!' Evans cried in relief, and Regulus felt his confusion mounting. How could it be possible that someone who had already known him didn't recognize him? 'I'm so relieved it worked, I know you don't like magic but you weren't getting better and I didn't know what else to do, I mean we already lost our parents and to lose you too…' she rambled, not making anything clearer for him. He scrambled to pick up anything useful. If he understood correctly, Evans had said 'our' parents which made it clearer that the other girl was her sister, and that they thought he was their brother for some reason, which was consistent with his bracelet, since it said his last name was Evans. At least the people who died had been muggles, though that wasn't much of a comfort. Even if muggles were inferior, Regulus had seen in the raids that they were still people.

'Good to know your freakishness can be good for something for a change' the other girl answered her snottily, acting extremely different from when she had been alone with him. There was outright hostility between the two. His brain tried to process what they were saying. Apparently Evans had used magic to cure him, though she seemed to think this William person didn't like magic, so he was probably a muggle, and this must be a muggle hospital, which explained the funny machines. And clearly the other girl didn't like magic either, since she had referred to it as freakishness. He wondered if Evans had always been treated like this by her family. It had to suck, being seen as a freak in both the muggle and magical world. For some reason he would have never thought muggles could have looked at magic with anything other than childish wonder, even having read about the witches' burnings in history class. Anyway, this still didn't make it clear why Evans didn't recognize him and thought he was her brother instead.

'Can you pass me a mirror?' he said to the girls, suddenly dreading it. The blonde took a small mirror from her purse and gave it to him with a puzzled look, and he struggled not to faint at his reflection. He had blond hair like the unknown girl, and his eyes were Evans' bright emerald green, his features also quite similar to hers. He was in someone else's body. He vaguely remembered the voice when he had been slipping into unconsciousness, talking about a second chance. Did that mean he was alive but now he was someone else? Had this William guy's soul died with his parents, and that was why Regulus had inhabited his body instead? Suddenly he felt his blood drain. If he was this boy, was he a muggle? How would he live without his magic?

'I know the scar looks bad' the blonde said soothingly taking the mirror back and running her hand through his hair 'but the important thing is that you are alive'. He suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable having a stranger doing such an intimate gesture. The last person who had done something similar was Sirius when they were about nine and ten years old.

'Honestly Petunia, the scar is probably the last thing on his mind' Evans scoffed, and Regulus grimaced, knowing it was 100% true. What did he care about a stupid scar when there was a possibility that he didn't have magic anymore? At least he now knew the blonde's name was Petunia.

'How would you know Lily?' Petunia replied scathingly 'it's not like you know either of us'. Regulus looked between the girls, filing Lily's name in the back of his mind. If by some magical fluke he was now their brother, it would be good to remember them.

'And who's fault is that?' Lily replied bitterly to her 'you two are the ones who avoid me and treat me like crap!' Regulus could see the hurt underneath the anger at the comment. It was a look he had often sported when talking to his own brother, though he had said far worse things.

'And why would we want to associate with a freak like you?' Petunia told her furiously 'our parents may have fallen for it but we are not fooled by your magic tricks! At least now we won't have to see you anymore!' Regulus looked at Petunia, shocked. She looked so different from when she was talking to him. He had never thought or cared at all about what Evans' home life was like, having barely known her, but if he had, he would never have imagined something like this. Apparently the boy he was now, William, also hated magic. How ironic. He would have to try and see if he still had it the second he was alone.

'Fine. I had thought you would look past it now that we are orphans, but I see that is not possible. I hope you have a good life, and I'm happy you are alive William'. She was holding back tears. 'I won't bother you in the future'. She disapparated instantly, leaving Regulus feeling hollow at her desperate last look, too reminded of the last time he had talked to Sirius.

'Honestly, the nerve of her, leaving like that!' Petunia exclaimed 'I'm glad we're rid of her' she said scathingly. He looked at her, wondering if she really felt that or if there was a part of her, like him when Sirius had left, that felt sad about parting from her sibling in such a way.

He wondered what would happen now, and what he would do. He had to see if he still had his magic as soon as possible. Now that he thought about it, ever since he had woken up, he had felt something intangible about him missing. What if that wasn't his old body, but his magic? He wondered if Kreacher would still answer to him. He needed to get rid of the horcrux as soon as possible. If he still had magic he would be able to do anything he wanted after he destroyed it. He would finally be free.

'Could you ask the healer when I can get out of here?' he asked Petunia, searching for an excuse to make her leave the room. She gave him a strange look, and he paled. Probably the muggle world didn't have healers, or if they did, they didn't call them that. Had Petunia realized he had used a wizarding word?

'Sure, I'll go figure out what we will need to do' she said amicably enough. She had probably thought he was just a bit confused. Would he be able to pass not remembering some things as a side effect of his accident?

'Kreacher' he called in the commanding tone he always used as soon as she left. Nothing happened. He tried to apparate to the other side of the room. He didn't need a wand for that, so this would definitely tell him if he still had his magic. He didn't. Not only he didn't move an inch, but he couldn't blame it on this body's inexperience with apparating. He would have at least felt the pull of his magic when attempting to do it if he still had it. He wondered if he could still do simple spells, and tried a wandless lumos. His father had taught that to him after his first year, telling him he would at least be able to see his surroundings if he found himself in a dangerous situation without his wand. Nothing happened. He didn't feel his magic flowing through his body. Now he knew what he was missing.

He put his head in his hands. What would he do now? He would have to live with this Petunia girl and adapt to the muggle world somehow, and pretend he was this William Evans person. She clearly hated magic with everything she had, and if she even suspected that he was actually a wizard or that he had somehow supplanted her brother she would leave him on the street. He could always go to Lily, he supposed, but if he was a muggle then living with a member of the order was the least safe thing he could think of. Also, she would be suspicious of him. Dumbledore or someone would probably do legilimency on him, and they would find out he was actually Regulus Black. They would never trust an ex death eater, even if he told them about the horcrux. He had been a slave and prisoner since he was sixteen. He didn't want to go through that again, and who could guarantee that the order would be better than the death eaters? From what he had seen of his brother and his friends, they weren't the most tolerant of different people, and they had an insane grudge against Slytherin.

He had had fantasies about suddenly waking up and having the solution to get rid of his dark mark, escape the death eaters and live as someone else completely, not hunted by anyone. Somehow, these fantasies had never included finding his soul in someone else's body, and much less having no magic. How could he even survive as Evans' muggle brother? The girl was part of the order, there was a good chance the death eaters would attack them to get to her. If they did, he would just die like he had planned to, Regulus decided trying to calm himself. He had been prepared for it after all.

Except, now that he was alive, he wanted to keep being that way. If he had survived it had to have been for something right? Even if it was just to atone for his sins by living like a muggle. While being a muggle had been among his worst nightmares when he was younger, now he didn't think it could possibly be worse than having to kill at someone else's beck and call. Still, it was pretty bad. What was he without his magic? It had been the only unquestionable fact about himself that he had ever known. What did muggles even do with their time?