....FOR LACK OF a better term, Regulus was fucking livid. Absolutely blood boiling, steam rising from the ears, teeth clenched, furious. And the thought of what he had to do in a few minutes time did nothing whatsoever to quell his anger.

It was uncharacteristic of him to be so affected by anything. Usually he was cool, calm and collected, so stoic that he seemed to border on emotionless. He enjoyed the icy cold much more than this burning rage.

When he had approached Mad-Eye with the subject of the Dark Lord's horcruxes a little over a week ago, he had expected to be freed from the shackles of this knowledge. A simple pat on the back and an easy "thank you for your services but you're still a filthy Death Eater so we'll take this mission off your untrustworthy hands."

He didn't care which side won, really. He didn't put much thought into blood purity nor stupid Gryffindor sentiments. All he cared about was himself. And so he decided that he didn't have to choose. If he was smart enough he could have loyalties on both sides and there would be no way he could lose.

But no.

He had underestimated how foolish this Order really was. Dumbledore had inserted himself into the situation, preaching about the importance of choosing the light and learning to fight his own battles. But Regulus didn't want to fight his own battles. He wanted for the world to stop expecting him to be anything more than an eighteen year old boy and to take away the responsibility of any battle at all.

And so he didn't get what he wanted. Instead he had gotten, "let me assign you to my team of child soldiers that you can work with on a mission that puts all your lives at risk."

Life had once again dealt him a shitty hand and absolutely nothing to pull him out of the situation he had gotten himself into. If he had been in a better mood he might've even made a terrible metaphor about being stuck in-between a rock and a hard place.

His thoughts taunted him as he paced back and forth before the fireplace in his childhood bedroom. He waited restlessly for the clock to strike midnight and for the Floo into the Order safe-house to open for a few moments.

When the twelve bells of midnight had finished tolling, the fireplace lit up a bright green, casting an eerie glow on his face. He stepped through before the passage was shut again and allowed that awful squeezing sensation to wrack through his body as he was transported to his destination.

As his feet hit the floor of a different fireplace to his own, he heard a jumble of voices muffled by the ringing noise in his ear.

"This better be good if it was worth waking me up for in the middle of the night." He heard a feminine voice say in a sharp tone, obviously unimpressed.

"Just...give me a chance to explain." He could hear Moody say cautiously.

He shuffled over the ledge of the fireplace, ducking before he could hit his head on the mantlepiece.

But what happened next occurred so quickly that he was caught uncharacteristically off-guard.

Before he even had the chance to rub the Floo Powder from his eyes, he was shoved up against the edge of the fireplace, the sharp edge digging into his back painfully. When he finally opened his bleary eyes he found a vicious looking girl with a haunted, dark gaze holding her wand to his throat.

She turned her head with a brisk snap, staring down Moody with those unsettling eyes now instead. "Why would you bring this here?" She demanded and he recognized her voice as the one he had heard before.

Mad-Eye approached her wearily, holding up his hands in surrender. Who the hell was this girl and why was Moody approaching her like he was afraid?

"Put the wand down now Jude, don't do anything stupid." The auror reasoned, giving her a smile that seemed weirdly friendly for the hostile man.

So that was her name. Jude.

"Stupid?" She spat, her voice sounding hoarse, like she didn't use it very much. "Stupid would be inviting Sirius' Death Eater little brother into the only secure safe-house we have left."

"We can trust him." Moody promised, and he sounded sure of himself. "Now just hand over the wand." He pleaded, holding out his hand towards her.

She merely stared at the man challengingly, pressing the tip of her wand harder into Regulus' neck, never deigning to actually look at him.

"Please." Moody finally uttered, looking like it took a serious chip away at his pride.

She pressed her wand into his neck roughly in one last warning and then she backed away. She dropped down from her tiptoes, taking her wand down along with her. He noticed the glint of a silver blade tucked away in her waistband as she turned away from him.

"I want him under lock and key." She told Moody, leaving no room for arguments.

Alastor sighed, rubbing his head in frustration. "You know I can't do that." He told her as if it was obvious. "We're not the only cause he's committed to."

Regulus was about to butt in and tell them that he wasn't one bit committed to either cause when Jude spoke again.

She turned to him with those piercing eyes once again, and they were even more jolting in this light. "Make him take the Vow, confiscate his wand, put him in chains and shackles for all I care."

A younger, more immature Regulus might have said something along the lines of "You'd like that, wouldn't you love?" but the present day boy stayed quiet.

This Jude girl turned to Moody now, intent to unleash her annoyance on him too. "I want a promise that he won't be a threat." She said determinedly. "If he hurts anyone in this house, I'll make sure that you're collateral damage when I'm done killing him." She told the auror casually, nodding her head quickly back at Regulus.

"You have my word." Moody told her, nodding his head solemnly.

Jude merely sighed and turned, heading back towards the open doorway. "I'm going back to bed. Don't wake the others."

Moody let her go without another word and Regulus felt slightly unnerved at just who seemed to be calling the shots around this place.

Moody turned to Regulus abruptly, pointing to the hallway that Jude had just disappeared into. "Your room is down there, third door on the left." Moody told him. "I assume you've made excuses for your absence from your own house?"

"I have." Regulus answered tightly.

Just before Moody turned to leave, he gave the boy one last piece of advice. "Don't fumble this opportunity Black. It's the only hope of redemption that you have."

• • • • • • • • •

The Order had scratchy sheets, the pillows were too flat and the shower couldn't seem to reach any temperature higher than lukewarm. Needless to say, Regulus wasn't used to a life devoid of his usual luxuries and he appeared from his room after breakfast-time, grumpy and rearing for some conflict.

He pulled on his shoes as he crossed the doorway, contemplating just forgetting this whole idea and going back to Grimmauld Place, taking back the lie that he had told his mother about rooming with Evan Rosier. He didn't know if he could keep up the charade of the defected Death Eater.

He was abruptly pulled from his thoughts when a figure stepped right in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. Bright red hair and a grinning set of pearly whites. Bloody Prewetts, he thinks, and he doesn't even have to ask to know that he's correct.

"You're our new unit member, aren't you?" The Prewett boy asked, even though the answer is obvious. The Order safe-house wouldn't exactly be very safe if they let random Death Eaters have sleepovers.

"I am." Regulus answered simply. His voice sounded gruff and weary, reminding him that he hadn't said a word since his arrival here. He was too busy being threatened by strange girls.

"Welcome to the team." The boy welcomed, enthusiastically, still sporting that wide grin. "I'm Fabian Prewett, unit leader." He told him, holding out a hand for him to shake.

Regulus offered no words of encouragement and merely gave the outstretched hand a brief shake, moving around him and onwards down the hallway.

Fabian, undeterred, just followed along after him, long legs catching up with the boy easily.

"Not a talker then." Fabian remarked, walking along with his hand behind his back nonchalantly. "Not to worry, Pandora can pry a conversation out of a Flobberworm."

Regulus finally halted, coming to an abrupt stop and turning to face the redhead. "Regulus Black, eighteen, put my mother's name down on my next-of-kin document." He rattled off, trying to cut down on the amount of questions that he would surely be asked. "Will that be all?"

Fabian quirked an eyebrow at him, smiling in amusement. "I'm not here to get information for any files, Regulus, I'm here to extend an olive branch." He told him, pleasantly. "Are you busy right now? I'd like to introduce you to the team."

Regulus studied his face, looking for something sinister lurking below, the hint of a trap in his tone, the sparkle of a betrayal in his eye. But he found nothing other than a sickeningly pure happiness to just be.

And so, he relented.

"I think I'll be able to clear a slot in my packed schedule." He answered dryly, earning himself the pleasure of trotting after Fabian, outside into the garden.

The Order didn't seem to have the finances for decent bedding but they definitely could afford land by the acres. The back garden was huge, strewn with targets, practice dummies, anything that you might need to train up killers. An orchard laid beyond this, stretched as far as Regulus' eye could see, the shimmer of protective wards glinting in the sunlight.

There on the grass, he spotted a very concentrated blonde, grounding up some sort of leaves with a pestle and mortar and then transferring it onto a bandage. There was another girl, lounging underneath the shade of a tree in pair of bright yellow overalls, pouring over a book.

And finally the one from last night. Jude. She was sitting on the porch, muttering incantations under her breath and flicking her wand in the according motions. She didn't look up at him and he felt slightly relieved that he didn't have to meet those eyes that had been plaguing him all night.

Fabian pointed to the girl underneath the tree first, who's long braids were flipped over one shoulder.

"That's Dorcas Meadowes. She's the brains of the operation." Fabian told him, coming to stand beside Regulus. "Really, she's incredibly smart. Dorcas remembers every little detail she sees and she'll use it to track your every move."

"Maybe so." Regulus agreed, with a shrug. "But the Dark Lord doesn't leave a trail of footprints along behind him."

A proud grin appeared on Fabian's face at that. "Dorcas doesn't need a trail. She can make her own." He informed him. "And, word of advice mate, don't call him a Lord around us."

Fabian barely had time to nod before Pandora had sidled up alongside him, her footsteps so featherlight that both boys jumped at the sound of her voice.

"Hello Regulus Black." the girl greeted, her tone even and airy, sounding wise without even meaning to.

"Er- hello?" Regulus replied, feeling like she was peering inside his head and dissecting his every thought under the scrutiny of her unfailing stare.

"And this," Fabian announced, giving the girl a fond smile. "is Pandora Lestrange. You might have already met her, y'know from all those pureblood society events."

"Oh no." Pandora interjected brightly . "I was disowned long before I was invited to any parties."

Pandora seemed to be very pleased with this fact and Regulus deciphered that being disowned was an event of her own creation.

"Well, Pandora here is our unit healer. She's regrown my entire arm in under five minutes so I can vouch for her mediwitch skills." Fabian introduced, happily. "Most importantly though, Pand balances us all out. Without her we would've killed each other ages ago."

Regulus glanced up at the two with a look of disinterest. "Don't count all your chickens before they've hatched." He muttered under his breath.

Pandora, however heard him loud and clear and gazed at him sharply once more. "I'm sensing such a nasty negative aura around you, Regulus Black. I would so hate for it to jeopardize our mission, don't you agree?"

Regulus glowered and Pandora's radiant smile was instantly put back in it's rightful place after that comment. She made her way back down the porch stairs and off to sort out her medical supplies.

"You're missing a member." Regulus told the boy across from him.

"Hm?" Fabian answered, an eyebrow raised in question.

"This team has four other members." Regulus told him cooly, his face already taking on a sly smirk at the thought of the conflict he could cause. "I've only been introduced to three of them."

Fabian's mouth pulled downwards in a slight frown and he shook his head. "Oh, I really think last night's introduction was enough-" He tried to pass off the request before he was interrupted.

"No, I don't think so." Regulus cut in, smoothly. "I'm not nearly satisfied yet."

Fabian looked very nervous to carry out his request and Regulus desperately wanted to see what was so special about this girl that had everyone around her walking on eggshells.

Fabian gestured over to where Jude was sitting quietly and spoke under his breath in the hopes that she wouldn't hear them.

"From what I've heard you've already had a first hand encounter with Jude Devereaux's wrath and lived to tell the tale." The redhead pointed out. "Congratulations on that, by the way."

Regulus scoffed slightly, giving Fabian a dubious glance. "I think you're all seriously overestimating this girl."

Fabian looked at Regulus as if he had just said something ridiculously stupid and he hated it.

"Jude had a nasty run-in with a few Death Eaters last year. Now she kills them for sport." Fabian told him. "And from the looks of things, you're her newest target."

"Anyone can kill anyone." Regulus replied nonchalantly. "All it takes is the right mindset. It's not a skill."

Fabian rolled his eyes to the heavens at that. Regulus was wondering when he was going to get to the point and tell him what was so special about her.

"Sure, anyone can kill anyone." Fabian replied, impatiently. "But can just anyone kill six Death Eaters with nothing more than a pocket knife and make it out without a scratch? I don't think so."

Now, that was a more interesting development. If the Dark Lord found out that The Order were harboring the killing machines that were depleting his followers, he would not he pleased.

"Jude is a saint towards the people she loves." Fabian told him, a warning tone in his voice. "But it when it comes to the people she hates, she doesn't show a scrap of mercy. You need to be careful, Black."

Regulus merely raised an eyebrow at that.

Both of the boys were so entrenched in their discussion that they didn't even notice the dark haired girl who was standing right behind them until she cleared her throat and caught their attention.

"Singing my praises again, Fab?" Jude spoke up, smirking when both of the boys heads snapped around to face her. "Maybe you should join a choir."

Fabian let out a chuckle and threw his arm around the girl, apparently not as wary of her as he had cautioned Regulus to be.

"Regulus wanted to hear all about you." Fabian told her, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "I was just giving him his preliminary warnings."

Regulus bristled at that. He couldn't have cared less about the girl or any of her empty threats. He had just been making conversation. Obviously.

"You needn't have bothered." Jude said, before turning her icy glare onto Regulus. "I don't give special treatment to any of Voldemort's puppets. He'll meet their same match."

Regulus was sure that his match in her eyes would be an Unforgivable Curse or even a knife to the throat. He'd like to see her try it.

Regulus sported a smug smile when he said his first words to the girl. "That's a shame." He told her. "I give very special treatment to each and every one of Dumbledore's puppets."

He drew out the word, pointedly looking at her, grey eyes focused in on pitch-black ones.

"I think you'll find that those two comparisons are very different." Jude tilted her head slightly in a mannerism that seemed to spell out trouble.

Regulus smiled. A genuine real smile. If anything about the boy could ever be described as genuine.

"You think that because you kill for a different cause than me, it gives you some level of superiority?" He asked and he enjoyed the spark of indignation that it brought to her face.

"You're vile." Jude spat, her eyes narrowing in anger.

"I know what I am, Devereaux." Regulus smirked, and now he was really enjoying himself. "Do you?"

Jude flicked her wand out from inside her sleeve and clutched it in a shaking hand. She muttered something under her breath and Regulus was sure that this was the moment that she would make good on her promise to kill him.

Fabian tried to shout, attempted to lunge for the girl's wand but he was too far away to do any good.

But before she could finish her wand movement, a strong arm shot out from behind her and grabbed her wrist, pointing her wand away from Regulus in a sharp movement. The spell collided with the swaying branches of an elm tree and blasted it to dust.

"Christ Judy, what did I tell you about using Blasting Curses on real people?" The boy who had just saved Regulus' life scolded. "Always leaves behind such a mess."

Jude shrugged off his grip on her wrist half-heartedly. He had shaggy, dark hair that fell into his eyes and he ran a hand through it as he stared down on the girl, his bright eyes full of an odd expression of longing.

"I don't need a babysitter, Teddy." Jude told him, but her voice held none of the contempt that she shown earlier on.

"No, apparently not." This Teddy character replied, nodding his head to where the leaves of that elm tree she had hit were still smoldering.

Then, much to Regulus' displeasure, the boy turned to him and held out a hand, intending for them to shake.

"Teddy Marsham, nice to meet you." He greeted brightly. His smile stretched from ear to ear and something about it just rubbed Regulus the wrong way.

He ignored Teddy's offer of a handshake and turned to Jude again, determined to see how far he could push before she snapped again. A test of her tolerance.

"Does your little lapdog always follow you around like this?" He asked, watching in his peripheral vision as Teddy's hand lowered and went back into his pocket.

"He just saved your life, Black." Jude answered. "Try showing a little bit of respect."

"Did he?" Regulus raised an unconvinced eyebrow. "Or maybe the shot was never meant to land."

Fabian abruptly broke up the fight before anymore spells could be fired. Regulus wondered if he ever got tired of playing mother hen to a group of unstable idiots.

"I haven't introduced Teddy properly yet." The redhead scrabbled for a topic change. "You'll find that he's as cuddly as the name suggests but he can handle muggle weaponry better than any of us."

"I thought this team only had five members?" Regulus asked, staring down Teddy dubiously.

"Officially, yes." Fabian answered, running a hand through his mussed red curls. "Teddy doesn't practice magic so he can't be counted. But he accompanies us on all of our missions."

"And you think it's safe to have muggles caught up in a Wizarding War?" Regulus asked, because what kind of wizard willingly suppresses their magic?

Fabian tried to answer that in what would surely be a very diplomatic response but Teddy beat him to it.

"I'm not a muggle, Black." Teddy interrupted, looking the epitome of patience. "I'm a Squib. But I can promise you that I'm perfectly capable of holding my own."

Well, Regulus certain hadn't been expecting that. Squibs in the pureblood world were shunned as soon as they failed to produce magical ability and Regulus hadn't ever come across them after that. But if the Marsham boy thought that his inadequacy with a wand was going to buy him sympathy, he was sorely mistaken.

"Congratulations." Regulus answered simply, giving him absolutely nothing. He still didn't like him and he couldn't really place a finger on the exact reasoning for it.

Jude, on the other hand, had a plethora of reasons why she was unlikeable. From what he had seen of her so far, she was hot-headed, reckless and borderline insane. His exact opposite. Even now as she glared at him for his unenthusiastic response, he felt the urge to push her buttons and see how long it would take for her to strike at him again.

He decided to save that bit of fun for another day.

"Well, as lovely as this welcoming committee has been," He announced, looking pointedly at Jude. "I'm going to see myself out. Don't bother me unless it's urgent."

He turned to go and smirked slightly when he heard a light set of footsteps break away from the group and follow after him. He already knew who it would be.

"We're not done here, Black." Jude demanded, jogging to catch up with him. "We need the locations of the horcruxes."

"I'm suddenly exhausted." Regulus remarked, coming to a halt and turning to face her. "Maybe another time love, yeah?"

Jude looked about ready to throttle him when he finally met her eyes. "We don't have anymore time. We need it done. Now."

"Do you really think that demands will get you what you want?" Regulus asked, and his tone never strayed from perfectly calm.

"I have other means of persuasion if you'd like to see them?" She offered, and he could practically see the malice glinting in her dark eyes.

Regulus just raised the corner of his mouth in a smug grin. "Tempting offer but I think I'll pass."

He turned again and set off back down the empty corridor, almost letting annoyance worm it's way in when she followed him still.

"Moody has assigned you to shadow me." Jude called out to his retreating back. "Apparently he has no regard for your life but I'll be at your door tomorrow morning at seven. Be ready."

Regulus turned back to look at her before he could turn the handle of his bedroom door. "I can barely contain my excitement." He answered in a tone that might be used to describe paint drying or the color beige. "I'll make sure to lay my outfit out on the foot of bed before I go to sleep."

Jude was already letting out a derisive scoff and turning away from him. She could practically feel the smugness radiating from him and it annoyed her more than she thought possible. She wasn't sure if she would even have the patience to last a whole day trailing after this boy. She knew one thing for certain though:

She was going to give him hell.

author's note
chapter one down of my new favorite couple dynamic. i live solely for sarcastic regulus and i'm going make it allll of you lot's problem. i hope you all enjoyed this and as always, feedback is so greatly appreciated <3