As much as Sirius hated to admit it, his brother was right. They'd been careless. To make matters worse, Regulus had appealed to his sense of honor, which, as a Gryffindor and as a man, affected him more than he cared to admit. Being reckless was one thing. Putting the lives of those he loved at risk was quite another.

Regulus stared at his brother with a mixture of pity and disbelief, "Far be it from me to question your feelings Sirius but you might want to reconsider."

"It doesn't quite work that way idiot. You're more naïve than I remembered you know that?"

"I'm not naïve I'm a realist. You have feelings of…love,' he cringed, 'so shut them off. If you really love her it'll be easier than you realize. Because it's for her own good."

"Yeah? Says who? You? In your infinite wisdom?"

Regulus' jaw clenched and he leered at him, "You don't have to listen to me. But her blood won't be on my hands if it all goes to pieces. It'll be on yours. If she becomes one of them, and she gets the mark, he'll be able to summon her whenever he wants. He'll have an unbreakable connection with her at all times. If he finds out she's got loyalties that lie elsewhere what do you think he'll do? And don't say kill her, because that would be too easy and quite frankly too kind. He's done far worse to others for much less."

Sirius's brows were furrowed as he absentmindedly touched his chin, "She would never do that…become a Death Eater. She's strong. She can resist him."

"I know she's strong Sirius, that's exactly why he wants her. Breaking her down will be half the fun. You forget I've spent more time with her than you have these past few years. She's got two brothers, one of whom is closer to the Dark Lord than anyone else right now, and the other is just chomping at the bit to follow in his footsteps. And her father? Do you really think he'd let his own daughter taint the family honor by refusing to join their ranks?"

Sirius stayed quiet, a grave frown on his face as he thought about everything his brother was saying. Her allegiances were concealable for now, but for how long they could stay that way was another matter entirely. What they were doing was dangerous. Insane even. They had successfully compartmentalized their lives for almost a year now but it was all starting to bleed together and fall apart. No matter how much they pretended otherwise.

His voice sounded less confident than usual when he finally spoke, "I understand your concern. I'm still smarter than you. But, thank you. For telling me this."

"What was that?"

"You heard me."

Regulus surveyed him, wondering if he'd taken seriously all that he'd said. "Yeah well…thanks for letting me punch you in the face."

Sirius half smirked in response as he watched his brother walk towards the door.

"Hey wait."

Regulus stopped and turned around.

"…Has Mother asked about me?"

Regulus, surprised, shook his head, "No brother. You're dead to her."

With that last scathing remark he slammed the door shut behind him.

Ж

After white knuckling her way through lunch, Mira found herself sitting in her Potions class, alone, because class didn't start for another 20 minutes. An overwhelming feeling of foreboding was causing her to question her sanity for the second time that day.

Brushing away a strand of hair she looked down at her hands. One was clinging tightly to her wand, the other was resting on the table, still balled in a fist, her knuckles red from squeezing so hard. She stretched her fingers out to release the tension and closed her eyes tightly.

She kept turning over and over in her mind all the possible things Regulus could've said to Sirius. She remembered too the look that Evan Rosier had given her when Regulus stared at her from across the room.

Her brothers hadn't spoken to her in quite some time either. This was very welcome but also highly unusual. In fact, perhaps exactly their intent, it had thrown her off her guard, and made her lazy.

How painfully naïve of her to think she'd just be left alone….that this temporary lull in activity could possibly be anything other than just that…temporary.

Ж

A/N: Once again, a long break in between chapters, life drama as usual. It meant so much to me every time I got a review in my email inbox in the meantime, thank you SO SO much. We are getting closer and closer to the prologue in the life cycle of this story that I started almost 8 years ago and it's awesome and surreal at the same time. That does not mean this is anywhere close to being even NEAR over. So don't worry. Love you ALL.