"Hey Sev" he said as he stood up and shook the wrinkles out of his robes.

"Hello Reggie, what is it exactly that you asked me here to talk about?""Did anyone ever tell you that you have less tact than my house elf Kreacher, Severus?"

"You" he said with a small smile.

"Well since you asked I'll try to tell you" Regulus shifted his gaze from Severus' face to the gravel walkway and back to Severus. "I'm going to do something, something rather important, and it might take my life, I just want you to look after my mother for me if something does happen to me, and Kreacher too. You know I cant count on my brother anymore, and well I consider you a brother more than anyone else. Barty is a little too insane for me to ask, and if it ever came out what I'd done then he would probably kill my family just for spite."

Severus eyed his best friend and then nodded, he knew it would do no good to ask him what this thing he was going to do was. If Regulus hadn't volunteered the information, then he wasn't going to get it.

"So will you? Will you look after my family? I know mother can be difficult, and she doesn't trust you because you're a half-blood, but Severus, please, I need to know that they'll be looked after."

"Of course Regulus, I would be honored to look after them for you, its just…"

"Just what, Severus?"

"I'm not keen on the idea of you dying!"

"Don't worry Sev, if I die it will be worth it, I'm not throwing my life away if I can help it."

"Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better about this Reg."

Severus woke up in a cold sweat. It was the third time that night that he had been plagued by dreams of his last meeting with his best friend Regulus. The dreams had started earlier that week and they just became more persistent. He sat up in his bed, feeling much older than his meager thirty-five years.

What was the meaning of these dreams? Or was there any?

He set these thoughts aside, the Order had things for him to do. He put on one of his many sets of black robes. He apparated to Grimmauld Place.

It was terribly foggy when he got there. He discerned a man in the distance of the same build as Sirius.

"Sirius! Just what in Merlin's name are you at? Are you trying to get your soul fed to dementors, because I'm sure they'd be only too happy to oblige. You're risking the entire Order being out like thi-"

He stopped mid-word. It wasn't Sirius at all. The somber dark clad man turned to reveal a young, untarnished face, there were no traces of Azkaban on this man's visage.

"Hello, would you mind telling me why I cannot enter my own house."

Severus gaped.

"R-Re-Regulus?:

"Yes, who are you?"

"Its… its me, its Severus. How in the name of all the founders did you get here? You're supposed to be dead!"

"Severus, you look terrible! How could you look so terrible when just yesterday you looked, well, less terrible and a great deal younger?"

"Yesterday, just what day do you think today is?"

"October 23rd, 1979"

"You have the date right, but Regulus, its 1995!"

"What… but just yesterday I asked you to take care of my mum."

"Your mother is dead Regulus, been dead for ten years. I am sorry, I-… Regulus! Your time-turner! The one your grandfather gave you… where is it?"

"With me, as always" Regulus reached to get the contraband device from inside his robes but it wasn't there. "Its gone! Severus its gone!" Regulus was severely distressed, not because he had crash landed into a different time but because he had sentimental feelings attached to his time turner, it had helped him in a couple tight spots, and it had been his grandfather's coming of age gift to him. Only Severus, Lucius, and his mother had known about it, and it was gone now. "I must have lost it in the lake" he said to himself.

"I am sure I can check one out from the ministry, take you back in time and then return myself" Severus said reassuringly.

"NO! I cant let you do that!"

"Why not?"

"I-I was dying when the time turner sent me to this time."

"That is a problem, everyone currently thinks you are dead, if you're brave enough to face death again… but no."

"Its not a question of bravery Severus, if you took me back to when I was dying, you'd die too."

"Just how did you die? Even I couldn't figure it out, nobody could!"

"Inferi, so I guess you might say I never really did die, I became an undead, its not pleasant, but I would face it again if it would put things right, but I wont make you die with me just to get me back where I belong."

"But how did you end up here if the time turner isn't actually with you?"

"It must have fell into the lake when I swam away from the Inferi."

"You have made things quite complicated for yourself, haven't you?" Snape was silent for a minute or two "I'll go talk to Dumbledore about this, I wont mention names, he should be able to come up with a good answer to our quandary. So just stay out of sight for now, I should be able to let you into Grimmauld Place when I get back."

"But why cant I get in now?" the 18 year old protested, but it was too late, Severus had already apparated.

Regulus paced around the green space that was across from Grimmauld Place, then he leaned sulkily on a light pole and watched the people for any more of his kind. All he found were muggle girls who could do nothing but gawk as they passed and do their best to try and capture his attention. He smiled at an exceptionally pretty one and then commenced pacing the park once more. About an hour later Severus returned.

"Here, lets get inside Regulus, your brother should be upstairs with his Hippogriff, that's where he usually is when no one else is here."

"Wait, what is Sirius doing here? And why does he have a hippogriff?"

Severus sighed, Regulus was beginning to remind him of an overzealous student… then he thought about it, technically Regulus had only been out of school for a little more than three months. He blinked, it didn't seem possible, he felt so old as he realized that he had once been just as young and inquisitive as the young Regulus before him.

"Your brother lives here, and as for the Hippogriff that is a long and unpleasant tale" Severus said as he showed Regulus a piece of paper with his address on it and then promptly burnt it. As Regulus stared in confusion Snape opened the door and ushered him into the entryway.

"Snape!" Regulus said suddenly paling as he grabbed hold of his friend's robes "Kreacher, is he alright?"

"Yes, he's become eccentric and cranky, but he's alive and well."

"Good, I was beginning to wonder, the house looks like no one has tended to it for ages."

"That's part of his eccentricity, that and a final attempt to rebel against your older brother, who he regards as unfit to even live on the same planet as his forbearers."

"He isn't far off" Regulus said with a laugh. "So… Severus, what have you been at while I was dead?"

"I teach."

"Let me get this straight, do I have the honor of addressing 'Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master'" Regulus said with mock pomp. "Or is it Defense that you teach?"

"No, its Potions."

"At Hogwarts."

"Yes"

"Is that old coot Dumbledore still headmaster?"

"Yes he is."

Regulus thought about these details while Snape simply wondered at how badly his sense of humor had been damaged by life. Regulus and he used to laugh together, now he couldn't bring himself to laugh at his younger friend in his older age.

"Why is it that you had to show me that piece of paper, Sev?" he asked as the thought reoccurred to him.

"Dumbledore, he's the secret keeper for 12 Grimmauld Place."

"How is that?"

"Your house is now the headquarters for the Order."

"You mean… THE order, as in the Order of the Phoenix."

"The same."

"Then what are you doing here? As a matter of fact how is it that you teach at Hogwarts? I would think that that old codger Albus Dumbledore would know enough to know which side you serve."

"He does, that's why I'm here, I'm his spy."

"Who's, Dumbledore's or the Dark Lord's?"

"Both, trust me, its not pleasant, I know how you feel about the Dark Lord so I will tell you the truth, I am opposed to the Dark Lord now."

"Why?"

"Why did you leave?"

"Several reasons, I discovered things, things that frankly, frightened me out of my wits. Then there was the way he treated my elf. Do you know what he did Severus?"

"No"

"He made a cursed potion and forced Kreacher to drink it. A cursed potion that… oh whats the point of beating around the bush, the Dark Lord created a Horcrux and used the potion as one of his defenses to make sure no one got to it, but I did, and Kreacher has no doubt destroyed it by now. Which makes me wonder why no one has been able to kill the Dark Lord yet?"

"H-he had made a horcrux?" Severus questioned in shock. "And as for the Dark Lord he disappeared for ten years and was only able to resume human form last year."

"Really? What happened to make him go into hiding?"

"A killing curse rebounded off of Potter's son and after that he just disappeared."

Regulus was contemplative, such a thing was unheard of. Perhaps there had been more than one horcrux, but who could be so inhuman as to make more than one?

"But what of you? What made you leave?" He asked breaking the silence that had ensued.

"He killed someone, someone I cared about."

"Lily" Regulus said, it wasn't a question, he knew.

"Yes, b-but…"

"How did I know? Severus you forget that 15 years ago I was your best friend and as such I pick up on things. Me and Lucius had known for a long time that you fancied that muggle-born Evans girl. We figured every man has his weaknesses and she was yours."

"Was I really that easy to read?"

"Well you did sulk for a whole month after she married that git Potter."

Severus sighed and looked at his old friend, it was beginning to feel a little like old times again, he felt his sense of humor returning as he smiled at the folly of overconfidence that had been his youth. He could have sworn that no one but Albus knew about his love for Lily.

"Regulus, there are a few things I need to tell you. First of all, it would be highly dangerous if anyone in contact with the Dark Lord found out that you are still alive, other than me of course" he said with a smile. "Sadly this includes all of your family that you can actually stand, like Narcissa and her husband, and Bellatrix of course."

"So that leaves me with my older brother and my mudblood loving cousin, correct?"

"and her daughter Tonks."

"Oh, right, Nymphadora must be grown up by now. But what about our other friends, did any of the other Death Eaters defect besides you and me?"

"She is, and I suggest that if the two of you meet that you don't call her by her first name, she just might curse you for it. After the Dark Lord's fall several Death Eaters repented, some were in earnest, but earnest or not they are all dead now."

"How is it that you manage to escape the Dark Lord's wrath, you'd think he would be suspicious of you most of all seeing as you teach at Hogwarts."

"He is, but I have my defenses against him" Severus said tapping his forehead meaningfully.

"Ah! My fine Occlumen, I see what you mean." Regulus hung up his cloak and then turned to Snape. "So my brother is here?"

"Yes"

"Well I think I should pay him a little visit, don't you?"

The hint of mischief in Regulus' voice made Severus smile, he knew that Regulus was up to no good, and if that no good meant causing Sirius a little trouble then he was in too!