Epilogue:

"What's the dark mark doing in the front yard?!" Rae asked as she spotted the light shoot into the sky, a skull forming with a snake leaving it's mouth. "Brad, you said Marty was down there!" Rae gasped as Brad turned to her, worry written on his face. Regulus brushed past them as Severus followed quickly after.

Regulus made it quickly outside and below the mark where Samantha stood, her eyes wide as her wand dropped on the ground in front of her, her breath short and shallow as Regulus got to the scene. He stopped short as he spotted the body lying on the ground, "SAMANTHA!" He yelled turning to her. He went to grab her when Severus grabbed him, stopping him.

"I- I didn't mean too!" Samantha cried, "I didn't know what I was doing!" She fell onto her knees, "Marty!" She yelled crawling over to the dead girl on the ground, "Marty!"

Regulus broke away from Severus and pulled Samantha to her feet, his wand out and at her throat, "Don't you dare say you were under the imperius curse." He hissed at her, venom coming off thickly over every word that spilt out of his mouth..

Samanthas' frown turned into a tight upward smirk as she closed her eyes, "Find deary." She said, "Kill me then, the dark lord won't be to happy, and all the people here will think you're a murderer." She said matter-of-factly, "You've got nothing on me, Black. You should be happy she's dead. She's a mudblood that you should have never got messed up with. I think you owe me a thanks for killing her. A thanks to me so you don't land like your brother Sirius. A thanks for allowing you to still have a chance for life. What do you think the dark lord would say if he knew Regulus Black had fallen for a mudblood." She stepped back from him. "Wouldn't be a death eater much more, would you?"

"You whore." Regulus sneered at Samantha as he made to send an attack, but Severus grabbed him, whispering in his ear, "There are muggles here, Black, watch what you do. We're all ready going to have to wipe out their memories, and you're underaged, you'll be expelled, and have your wand snapped." Regulus lowered his wand as Severus did make a clear point.

Samantha smirked as she looked to Regulus and Severus, her eyes brimming with a laughter she wanted to have at the fact that Regulus was not suspecting Severus to be with her in this plan. "Oh Reggie... hate me." She said with a smile as the dark clouds came and she apparated away.

Regulus was brought back suddenly when Rae let out a scream. He turned to see her hovering over Marty's body, the lifeless mass that lied on the ground, as an Auror had attempted to pull her away from Marty. "MARTY!" Rae yelled, the name falling through the air, hitting Regulus, and echoing into his skull.

Marty was dead, and there was no changing that. He was a Black, and Black's were told to never cry in public, but watching as Rae was pulled from Marty and Brad grabbed her, he knew there was no bringing her back. He lowered his head, the hair that had been slicked back that evening had become a mess with all the rush, and now covered his onyx eyes as he bit his lower lip, attempting to go unnoticed. There was no stopping it as Rae continued to call out to Marty, as if there was some hope that she would return, that she would wake up and tell them it was all a joke.

It was no joke. It was reality.

Weeks passed, and they had come back to Hogwarts. Samantha, of course, did not return, as she was now evading Aurors who were after her, but she was under the protection of her family and the Dark Lord. Regulus had grown numb, and had turned to Rae and Severus, the only two people who knew what Marty was to him, and to their friendship. Severus was growing away from them, and began to study for his N.E.W.T.'s as they neared.

Rae began to smile once more as she became accepted in Beatrice, Carol and Amanda's group, her dormmates, that had grown fond of Marty, and soon took Rae in her place. Regulus found himself alone in the common rooms at night, staring at the fire or off in his own land as he walked aimlessly durring prefect duties.

He wasn't brought back until someone had grabbed him and slammed him into the wall. "What the-?!" He turned to see his older brother staring down at him with the same onyx eyes that he himself held, but there was an emotion in Sirius' that Regulus did not know what to call.

"Why hasn't Marty returned to Hogwarts." Sirius demanded, and Regulus finally got a look to see Sirius' friends, the headboy James Potter, the prefect, Remus Lupin, and the plump blond boy, Peter, all staring at him.

"She's..." Regulus still couldn't bring himself to say, he hadn't admitted it out loud that she was dead. "She's..." He tried again but couldn't manage anything.

"She's what?!" Sirius said hitting the wall next to Regulus with an open palm. Regulus eyed it for a moment, not wanting to give away the pain that he was feeling. "She's at St. Mungo's for some stupid thing you Slytheirn's did to her?" Regulus couldn't speak, so he merely shook his head no, he hair once more falling into his eyes, as the memories flooded back to him. "Regulus Arcturus Black-" Sirius said grabbing Regulus' should to make him look up at his brother, "You tell me now before I send you to St Mungo's."

Regulus found himself, and calmed down before meeting his brothers eyes, "I would love to see you try." He sneered at his brother, "She's not coming back, ever." Regulus said before his voice got choked up in his throat.

"What do you mean by that." Sirius demanded.

"Sirius, maybe you should back off him a little and then he'll tell you." Remus commented as James rested a hand on his shoulder.

Sirius looked to his friend for a moment before releasing Regulus who slid back onto his feet from the wall that Sirius had had him pinned too. He stepped back half a foot and looked to Regulus to continue, "She's dead." He said flatly, unable to meet his brothers' eyes. "New Year's her friend killed her." He could feel his throat tightening quickly once more.

Sirius took a couple steps back in shock as James grabbed Sirius' shoulder to stop him from trampling Peter. "Regulus." James said, speaking to Regulus directly for the first time since they were younger. "Who killed her?"

Another thing Regulus hadn't been able to talk about, Samantha. The woman that killed Marty, the woman that had befriended Marty, he couldn't bring himself to say it. He shook his head while James' narrowed his eyes slightly on Regulus. A Black was not to cry, but this made him weak, Marty's death affected him so greatly that he would break down like a little muggle girl who scrapped her knee.

"Who did it, Reg." Sirius said, regaining his composer of Marty's death. Regulus shook his head, the swirling memories filling him with sarrow.

"Four against one doesn't look that fair, James." Lilly Evans shot as she spotted Regulus against the wall and Sirius had gained feet towards him since he had stepped back, "Sirius, Peter, back to the common room with you, Remus, I'm ashamed to see you like this. And James... you're headboy! Don't agtangonize them on."

"Lilly..." Sirius said taking his attention off of Regulus for the first time since he was cornered, "Marty's dead."

"I know." Lilly told him, "I read it in the muggle paper, and it was in the daily prophet."

"What?" The two Black brothers said in unison.

"Did it say who killed her?" Sirius pressed.

"Do you notice that one of Marty's friends hasn't returned back to school yet? Red head, seventh year girl." Lilly hinted towards them as she showed her hair as an example.

"Samantha Frygance?" Remus pondered and Regulus looked downwards to the tiles on the floor. He hated that name more than losing the Quidditch Cup to Gryffindor. Sirius saw the motion and knew it was true, apparently everyone else had caught the same drift.

"How do you know?" Regulus asked lowly towards Lilly.

"It's not that hard to put together." Lilly said, "The day vacation started, on the train, I had ran into Severus and Samantha and they were talking is hush whispers... I didn't catch much of the conversation, and I didn't think anything of it that the person that was Samantha's target to get into the Death Eaters was Marty, or else I would have warned her."

"Severus was apart of it?!" Regulus said louder than what he wished for. Severus had listen to Regulus rant, he watched Regulus cry with Rae, and he was Samantha's partner the whole time, all the way through it. His blood was now slowly boiling, he had to find the seventh year prefect.

"Regulus- calm down!" Sirius yelled as he caught his brother before he had stalked off to find the prefect. "Don't go and hurt him... That's no fun." Sirius told Regulus, and it reminded the two of before the Hogwarts days, when they were brothers living under the same roof, and Sirius would protect Regulus, "You need to strike a good revenge. Something that has planning in it."

"Sirius, you're not implying that Regulus joins us on one of our Make-Snivellous-mad plans are you?!" James said catching on quick.

"Oh I am." Sirius said with a dark smirk that only a Black could pull. He looked at Regulus who had a look of anger and confusion mixed on his face, and in his mind, he was willing to team up with his brother to get revenge on Severus Snape for helping in the murder of Marty Mayhem.

*

Rae was walking out of the dungeons with Carol, Beatrice, and Amanda when Carol pointed out Regulus and Sirius walking together and talking in hush whispers. "That's a sight to see." Rae hummed as she watched the two. She watched Regulus even laugh a bit before the two clasped hands and departed their ways, Sirius entering the Great Hall for dinner, and Regulus turning to go to the dungeons to the common room. "I'll meet up with you in the Great Hall." Rae said as she fell back, "I forgot something in the dormitory." She lied, and they believed it.

She slid back so when Regulus turned and walked past the girls towards the dungeons, Rae grabbed him and pulled him into an empty classroom, "Whoa-" Regulus said as he was caught off guard, "What's going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know. You and your brother were walking and talking together without beating the shit out of each other." Rae frowned, "Have you offcially lost it?"

"No I haven't." Regulus said as he looked around quickly, "Sirius is going to help me." He said in a lower voice, "Severus Snape was apart of her death."

"Impossible." Rae huffed, "Severus is our friend, and he was Marty's friend too."

"Evans said she heard the two talking on the train, but didn't know it was about Marty or else she would have warned her." Rae bit her lip, it did make sense, "Severus was only to keep us on the roof as long as it took to kill Marty."

"So how is Sirius going to help you?" Rae asked Regulus, slightly confused.

"Revenge." Regulus seethed with a dark smirk, his eyes falling into the shadows of his hair. Rae looked at him like he had lost it, and Regulus took note. He placed his hands on Rae's shoulders and shook her slightly, "Rae, he helped kill her and then he acts like he had no part in it!"

"You don't have any proof." Rae argued, defending her friend. "You're letting it get into your head to deep, Regulus." Regulus looked at her defiantly but she still continued, "Are you really going to ruin a friendship because a couple of Gryffindors, who prank Severus all the time, put in your head that he assisted in her murder?"

"Yes." Regulus frowned at Rae. She was defending Severus, and not siding with him. "Rae, I know he did it. I know he helped her."

"And I'm telling you I know he didn't." Rae huffed, displeased by her other friends intentions. "Regulus, don't do this. Don't hurt Severus."

He turned from her and stepped into the dark classroom more before turning back to her, "Rae, just believe me on this. I don't lie to you, and I believe that Headgirl."

"I would like to believe you, Regulus, but I can't." Rae sighed stepping up, "Marty's gone, Reg, there's not bringing her back, and if you're going to strike a revenge on someone that has nothing to do with her death, then you've lost it. Move on, Regulus. The rest of us have."

"You don't know what it's like." Regulus turned on her, his blood beginning to boil, "She's not coming back, Rae!" He shot at her, he tried to keep his temper in check, but it wasn't working, this was making him angry, she was making him angry. "You just expect me to move on like Marty never exsisted, but I can't."

"You liked her, Regulus. Just a crush that you need to get over." Rae argued back, her temper rising too, "This is a reality check, Regulus, she's dead, and you didn't love her. It. Was. A. Crush." Regulus stared at Rae in disbelief as she turned and headed to the door, "Move on, Regulus. The rest of us have." And with that, she left the room, the door giving a small click as it closed behind her.

*

PHASE 1: Planning

Regulus slid into the library and found his brother sitting at a table with two girls, his flirtatious face on that disgusted Regulus. When Sirius spotted Regulus, he stood and looked at the two girls, "I'm sorry ladies, but our study session is over for today." Sirius told the two girls softly as they both frowned, "I'm sorry I'm sorry. Forgive me please." He said as he smiled at them, "Tomorrow we can continue." The two girls smiled, and collected their things as Sirius left with Regulus to another part of the library.

"Lupin and Pettigrew are suppose to be in here." Sirius' friends, Regulus remembered. "And what about Potter?"

"Once he's off duty, he's going to be meeting with us." Sirius explained as they went to the lower level of the library where they found Remus Lupin assisting Peter Pettigrew on a Defense Against the Dark Arts essay. "There they are." The two brothers sat down at the table as the other two cleared room on the table.

Remus Lupin pulled out a large parchment that had many notes and scribbles on it. "I have Severus' class list, and where he mostly is at what time of day." Remus explained, "Regulus, you need to continue to act like you know nothing. You haven't told anyone, have you?"

"Just Rae." Regulus told him honestly, "But she didn't believe me." Sirius and Remus gave him a look, and he continued, "She caught us-" he referred to Sirius and himself- "-talking the other day."

"Hopefully she will tell Severus about it." Remus sighed as he pulled his wand out and used it as a pointer, "So Severus should suspect anything."

Peter looked up, "James is on his way here."

"How do you know?" Regulus questioned. Sirius and Remus looked at each other before both nodding.

"Peter, go ahead and show him." Sirius said as Peter pulled up the parchment he was looking at. "This is a-"

"..Map of Hogwarts?" Regulus said exaiming it. "How?"

"We're not as stupid as we look, Reg." Sirius smirked, his brother was amused with it. "It shows where everyone is."

"What their doing." Remus continued.

"And who they are with." Sirius finished. "Where's James now, Peter?"

"The floor below. Lilly and him are talking."

"They're progressing." Sirus remarked, "That's good."

"We've come up with a couple of ideas to do." Remus explained, bringing their attentions back to the parchment on the table as Peter went back to watch the map. "There is a Giant Squid in the black lake as I'm sure you know." Regulus nodded, "Well, we've had Severus thrown in there before, but no Giant Squid followed up."

"So what do you suppose we do?" Regulus asked.

"Create our own Giant Squid, a replica if you would like to call it." Remus explained, "It'll take two people to control the replica. James and Sirius will more than likely be in charge over that." Sirius nodded as Remus continued, "Peter will be on watch to make sure nothing goes wrong, or if he must, he will help you, Regulus, get Severus close enough to the Black Lake."

"How would I do that?" Regulus asked.

"If he knows that something is going to happen, you must make it seem like you came to your senses." Remus explained, "You will take Severus out by the lake, away from everyone else, explain how you wrongfully accused him of doing such treachry, and ask if you two could still be friends." Regulus nodded, "Just think of something to get him by the Black Lake. You're smart, Regulus, you can think of something." Regulus nodded, understanding.

"What about yourself?" He asked the mastermind behind it all.

"I'll be sitting under a tree nearby to watch it all unfold. If anything should go wrong, I will be there to make sure it doesn't. If any students are headed the way, I'll send a spell to confuse them and send them back. Nobody else will see what happens." Remus explained with a darkness in his voice that made Regulus give a slight fear to the group.

"Hey, what did I miss?" James said as he appeared by the table. Remus explained the plan once more and James understood it.

"So Prongs, did you get some?" Sirius said jokingly as James laughed, "We saw you were with Lilly."

"Next Hogsmeade trip, we're going to go on a date." James grinned with a small blush. Regulus could feel a pit fall in his stomach at the thought of dates, and girls, and Marty.

"Isn't that on Valentines day?" Remus pressed, a slight tease in his voice.

"Maybe..." James grinned, his excitement showing clearly.

"I'm sorry to burst the happy bubble, but when are we going to put the plan in motion?" Regulus pressed, bringing everyone back to the plan.

PHASE 2: Termination

It was only a week later when the plan was to take affect. Regulus caught Severus on one of the free periods that they all had, right after lunch. "Severus, do you think we can talk?" Regulus said catching Severus before he left to the dungeons. Rae eyed Regulus and Severus, knowing something was up.

"Sure?" Severus said curtly. Rae had warned him earlier that week about some plan that Regulus was teaming up with Potters' group.

"Outside if we could? I don't want to be around people." Regulus offered, "And it's a great day outside for winter." Severus nodded, unsure of what Regulus was planning. They began they're decend out of the castle and onto the ground.

"What is it, Regulus?" Severus said, holding his tongue on his difiance of suspicioun.

"Last week, I sort of lost it." Regulus said, running a hand through his hair. Remus had said that Severus knew legilimency, and so once they had completed the planning, Remus did a simple memory charm, modifying the memory, if Severus was to use his abilities. In his memory, he had stood up difiantly against Remus and Sirius, calling them crazy on a plan that would hurt Severus. In his memory, he was going to go and apologize to Severus for ever doubting him. He couldn't remember that he was part of the plan, until the minute it happened, his memory would become fresh once more. "I let it get to my head that you had helped Samantha kill Marty." Severus eyed Regulus suspiciously, "But when I went with that blood traitor to try and do something about it, I realized that you were my friend, and were no where near Marty when she died."

Regulus was telling the truth, as far as Severus could tell. "Rae told me you had lost it... but she never said you had came back."

"I'm sorry." Regulus grimaced, "We're still good mates though, right?"

"I suppose so." Severus said, still unsure.

Regulus stopped by the Black Lake and looked out, "Do you ever wonder if there's really a giant squid out there? Or if it's just a tale..."

Severus walked towards the lake as well and looked out, "I thought that there was once, but then there wasn't."

Sirius and James took that as the cue, and both flicked their wands, a huge replica of a giant squid bursting from the water. Sirius moved his wand one way while James moved it the other, the tentacles flying around. Remus sprang to his feet, closing his book, "What is that?!" He yelled, distracting Severus and Regulus from the squid.

"It's the giant squid!" Regulus shot stepping back.

Severus pulled his wand out, about to send the squid back under water when a large tentacle shot from behind the replica squid, larger than what the giant squid was that James and Sirius were controlling, and pulled the replica down under the water as it bubbled, James and Sirius looked at each other with slight fear and excitement. A couple more tentacles shot out, grabbing onto the trees as the real giant squid pulled itself out of the water.

One tree snapped, Sirius caught amongst the branches as it began to fall into the water. "Holy shit!" Sirius yelled as he looked down at the squids tentacles that came at him. He climbed quickly to the opposing side of the tree, looking for a way to escape.

"Padfoot!" James yelled, sending a robe from the tip of his wand to his friend. He tied the other onto the tree he was on, the squid had not grabbed his tree. Sirius held on tight and swung across the lake to the other side, the squids tenatcles grabbing at Sirius. He yelled but made it to James' tree and climbed up to his best mate. "It's the actual squid." James nudged Sirius in awe.

"I know, mate." Sirius replied watching. Then reality hit, "Moony and Wormtail!" The two looked to see Remus, Regulus and Severus with their wands drawn, Peter Pettigrew nowhere to be seen. The Giant Squid tentacle grabbed Severus Snape around the waist, causing him to drop his wand as he was raised into the sky.

"Deprimo!" Someone yelled, a huge gust of wind shot, the Giant Squid let go of everything, Severus dropping to the ground, as the squid vanguished into the dark depts of the water. "Severus, are you all right?" Rae yelled as she ran over. Severus grabbed his wand and turned on Regulus, digging the wand into his neck as he let out a mount of curse words stringing together.

James and Sirius jumped out of the tree and ran over, Sirius drawing his wand towards Severus, "Don't you ever dare think about hexing my brother, Snivelius." Sirius growled as Severus turned, his eyes landing on Sirius.

Severus turned to Regulus and shoved him backwards, knocking him off his feet and onto the ground. Rae glared at Regulus who looked at her difiantly before she looked back to Severus, who had his wand raised at Sirius. "Potter, Black, Snape, Lupin, Barton, and Black!" A professor yelled coming out of the grounds to them. "Detention a week for all of you."

*

Regulus found himself alone once more as the year went on. Rae only spoke to him once more that year before breaking the tie that held them together. "Regulus, I found something that you should have." She said meekly as she handed him a letter. "It's from Marty's grandfather, Pollux Mayhem."

"That's a pureblood name." Regulus commented at the name that his family had in used so many times in his family.

"Read the letter." Rae said pushing it, "And you can keep it."

Regulus looked down at the lean, cursive writing that looked so delicate:

Ms Barton,

I am sorry to hear of my granddaughters departure, but I must tell you this; I was not once allowed to see her in her years of life, for her parents wished that she would have become a squib like so many more in both sides of her family. My son, Shane Mayhem, had gone to Durmstrang, and his wife, Kristen Watson, another pureblood, had gone to the girls academy, Beauxbaton. They had not wanted Marty to be messed up with the wizarding world that had taken so many lives from their families, and had wished her to be a normal muggle girl. They gave up their magical abilities and stayed hidden in the muggle world. The Death Eaters, and Lord Voldemort do not know of her blood lineage, as it had been fifty years since a Mayhem last stepped foot on the grounds of Hogwarts, and all records of my years there have been modified. Please forgive me for telling you this, but I feel that someone should know the truth of Marty Mayhem, a pureblood that was always mistaken as a muggleborn. May she rest in piece as her parents do so well.

Pollux Mayhem

Regulus scrunched the paper up as he looked at it, "She was..."

"A Pureblood..." Rae sighed, "I'm sorry Reg." She stepped back, "I need to go though." He nodded and she made her way, leaving him like everyone else had. He had grown pale and thin, his mind on other things as he arrived home over holiday. He found the elf that six months before he had let the Dark Lord borrow for his own reasons, to drink a potion and to let him suffer.

"Kreacher..." Regulus began, the house elf looking up at his young master. "Take me to the cave where the Dark Lord took you before." And with that, they were off.