A/N: I'm very excited about this new fic. I have been looking so much forward to writing one with Regulus as a main character.

Betaed by REwrites24 from chapter 22 and onwards.

Disclaimer: Characters and world belong to J. K. Rowling

Chapter 1 - An Honest Mistake

Remus Lupin's eyes eagerly searched the platform. He hadn't seen his three best friends for ten whole weeks, and he had missed them terribly. All the other years, the four young wizards had found ways of meeting during the summer, but for different reasons it just had not been possible this time. It was going to be great seeing them again. If only he could find them...

Well, Pete probably wasn't here yet - he always managed to turn up at the last possible minute, out of breath, his plump face crimson with stress and exertion. But James and Sirius should be here somewhere...

Oh! Right there, thought Remus as he spotted a slender, well-dressed, black haired teen standing with his back turned just a few yards away. Remus almost lunged himself at him. "Padfoot!" he cried as he grabbed onto his shoulders.

The boy flinched and whipped around to stare at him. "What the -" he uttered and gave Remus a quick, disapproving once-over. His gaze lingered briefly on his shabby jumper before returning to his face. For a split second Remus wondered why on earth Sirius' grey eyes were looking at him with such hostility. Then he realised that, despite the striking similarity, they weren't Sirius' eyes at all.

He stumbled backwards a few steps and felt his face starting to burn with shame. "S-sorry..." he stammered, "so sorry, R-Regulus... I thought you were -"

Regulus narrowed his eyes as if daring him to finish that sentence. His lip curled into a sneer as he brushed off his shoulders where he had been touched, as if Remus' hands had been dirty.

Remus turned on his heal and hurried off, away from the embarrassing situation. To his great relief he quickly spotted a familiar bespectacled face grinning at him a little further down the platform.

"Moony, old mate!" cried James Potter as he padded him hard on the back and ruffled his hair.

Remus caught a quick glimpse of the smiling and lit up face of - the real - Sirius Black before he was enveloped in a crushing bear hug. "Hey! Missed you! It's been way too long." He pulled back and took a good look at Remus. "What's with the red ears, Moony?"

"Oh," said Remus, scratching his neck absentmindedly, "I'll tell you on the train."

o0o0o

"Guess who's been made Head Boy!" sang Sirius as they dropped on to the seats in their compartment. "PRONGS!" he finished dramatically, not giving anybody time to guess.

Both Remus' and Peter's jaws dropped. "REALLY?"

"Yeah, really. Padfoot hasn't given me a moment's peace since I got the letter..." James sighed.

"Why didn't you owl me, Prongs?" asked Remus, feeling a little hurt that he hadn't been informed about something so relevant.

"Sorry," said James, looking a bit shameful. "I should have. I just feel kind of bad that I got the position. It should have been you..."

"Oh, don't feel bad. I'm not much of a leader, anyway. Don't like ordering people around... You have much more authority than I - people will actually listen to you. You'll be a great Head Boy."

"Still..." said James.

Remus didn't want James to feel guilty, so he thought he'd lift the mood. "You'll be pleased to learn who the new Head Girl is, then..." he said nonchalantly.

James' head whipped up. "You KNOW? Is it... it's Evans, isn't it?"

Remus nodded and James shot his fist into the air, emitting an ear shattering war cry. Sirius, Peter and Remus all rolled their eyes.

Remus had been good friends with Lily Evans since they were both appointed prefects in 5th year, so he knew her rather well. He was aware that her apparent loathing of James was merely a facade she insisted on keeping up, mostly out of habit and, Remus thought, sheer stubbornness. In fact, she was softening up, and Remus was fairly sure the she was in the process of falling for her persistent adorer. However, he knew better than to meddle - it would only cause Lily to dig her heels in. So - James would just have to be patient for a little while longer. Maybe this was just the opportunity he needed to finally win her over.

"By the way, Moony - what was up with you back on the platform?" asked Sirius curiously.

"Oh, that. ...I um... basically hugged your brother..." said Remus, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"WHAT?" chorused all three.

"Why on EARTH would you do that?" asked Sirius incredulously.

"Well, I thought he was you, of course!" Remus defended himself.

"You thought he was ME?" exclaimed a baffled Sirius. "How the fuck could you mistake him for me, Moony - are you fucking BLIND?" he continued angrily.

"Easy now, Padfoot," said James, "you can't blame Moony. You two do look a lot like each other; I can see how someone could make that mistake."

"WHAT? Prongs, we look NOTHING alike!" stated an increasingly agitated and offended Sirius.

"Come on, Sirius - who's blind now?" said James. "You have the same eyes, facial features, build, hair - except yours is a bit longer -"

"SHUT UP!" screamed Sirius while childishly pressing his hands to his ears, showing that he didn't want to hear any more of their horrid lies.

"Calm down," said Remus, pulling one of the other boy's hands away from his ear. "We're only saying that you look alike - not that your behaviour or personalities are similar. You can take comfort in the fact that when it comes to that, you two couldn't be more different. And that's what really matters, isn't it?"

Sirius loosened up a bit, but kept sulking and didn't join in on the conversation for a while. Remus could see that his feelings had been more than just a little hurt. He regretted telling him about the incident, because he knew how Sirius felt about his family and all they stood for, and how he hated being reminded of his connections to them. So no wonder he didn't like to be compared to his brother - even if it was just their appearances. Of course, vain as he was, Sirius loved his own good looks, but he preferred to suppress the fact that he had his Black genes to thank for that.

"I'm sorry, Padfoot," said Remus when he, a little while later, leaned in so only Sirius could hear him. "Please don't be upset. Of course I can tell you apart. I just saw a black haired bloke of your stature and automatically assumed it was you. I didn't take the time to actually look. I was just so eager to find you. I swear - the second I touched him I realised my mistake!"

Sirius forced a weak smile. "T's okay, Moony. How did he react, anyway?"

Remus leaned back in his seat and snorted. "Well, he didn't say anything, but he basically looked at me like I was a piece of trash..."

"That's it! I'm gonna kill him!" announced Sirius as he sprang to his feet, clenching his hands into fists.

Remus quickly pulled him back down. "It's all right. You don't have to defend my honour, Padfoot - I don't care what he thinks about me."

"But he's a condescending bastard! I won't have him treat my friends like that!" Sirius protested, but sat back down anyway.

"It's okay, really," Remus assured him. "Anyway, you can't exactly blame him, can you? I mean, he must have been quite startled. How would you have reacted if one of his friends had thrown himself at you from behind?"

James let out a loud laughter. "HA! He would have hexed him far into next week!"

"That's different!" Sirius growled between his teeth.

"If you say so..." said James.

"No, really - Regulus is always like that. He's so damned stuck-up. Views everybody not pureblood as scum not fit to walk this earth. He's a spoiled brat, is what he is."

Remus was mentally kicking himself. How could he have been so daft? Even with his back turned, he should have known it wasn't Sirius. Hadn't he spent enough hours secretly studying every single detail of him? He really should be able to recognise him in any situation. Remus had spent all of 5th and most of 6th year dealing with a desperate crush on his friend. Knowing that nothing could ever happen, he had finally managed to get over it. He still cared very much about him, of course, but in the normal friendly way.

Remus leaned back and relaxed. He was looking very much forward to this school year. It was going to be so much easier and less stressful than the precious two, now that everything was back to normal with his feelings and his friends.

A/N: A short chapter just to get started. Next chapter will be up soon (and longer, I promise). Please let me know what you think and expect of the fic.