Tempus Fugit

I don't usually put stuff up here before the fic, like I notice most people doing. Maybe I'll start one day, but for now, here are the warnings.

This story will contain incest, slash, het-sex, time travel, assholes, and some major plot holes. If you don't like those things, don't read!!

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"What the hell?"

The dark grey stone of the dungeon wall had lit up like a hundred lumos' had hit it all at once. Regulus Black was startled into stillness, watching the peculiar light play across the wall. It cast interesting shadows, he noted, and was leaning in for a closer look when someone burst out of it.

Crashing into him, the person from the light tripped, felling them both. Regulus twisted midair so that he landed above his would-be attacker, growling down at him. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" he demanded.

A pair of brilliant green eyes stared up at him, startled. "Sirius?" came an incredulous voice. Regulus was startled yet again into stillness, before shaking his head.

"Wrong Black," he said, and the light was moving oddly again.

"FUCK," the green-eyed boy swore, and Regulus found himself unceremoniously dumped off to the side. The boy was on his feet and running almost before he was able to look up, and another body burst from the light. Regulus was safely tucked away from him this time, and managed to see that it was an elf impersonating Lucius Malfoy before he too turned and ran after the first one.

"POTTER! I'll KILL you!" The elf shouted down the hallway. Regulus was on his feet instantly. He knew James Potter. Sirius' best friend, and the one he'd run to when he left home. Regulus knew at some level that it wasn't James' fault that his brother had left home, but he helped, and was an easy place to pin blame. But that couldn't have been James; he wouldn't be in the dungeons for anything other than a prank, and he certainly wouldn't have mistaken Regulus for his brother. Besides, those green eyes would haunt Regulus, and he knew for a fact that James' eyes were blue.

"Petrificus Totalis!" Regulus shouted, his spell stopping the blonde elf in his tracks. He went down hard, grunting, but Regulus knelt over him, turning him. Not an elf after all, but a boy about his own age. "Who are you? What are you doing here? Why are you chasing him?" Sparkling grey eyes glittered at him angrily, and he focused his thoughts through his wand, releasing only his prisoner's mouth.

"Answer me." He waves the prefect badge dangerously, and those furious eyes are drawn to his Slytherin tie. They widen, and then snap up to his face again.

"My name is Draco Malfoy. I'm here because of Scarhead, and I'm chasing him because I'm going to kill him." After all that rage, Regulus was expecting him to hiss and spit like a cat.

"Malfoy?" Regulus is truly startled by his name. "Scarhead? That can't be his name. You called him Potter earlier. You're not Lucius. You're much too young."

"Lucius is my father." The words were terse, clipped, and Regulus' eyes widened.

"He can't be that old, he just left Hogwarts a few years ago. How old are you?"

"Let me up, and tell me who YOU are, and I'll tell you more," Malfoy says, and Regulus' eyes are drawn to his own Slytherin tie. It's shaped differently, and the colours are different shades, but it's definitely grey and green stripes. Releasing the spell, Regulus backed up, and helped his fellow Slytherin to his feet.

"My name is Regulus Black," Regulus introduced himself, and watched as the light from the wall faded back into darkness. "Lumos," he whispered, and light returned to the darkened hallway.

"Black? Are you related to the mass murderer, then?" He looked almost gleeful, his elfin features twisted into a horrific smirk.

Regulus was completely speechless. "Murderer? I should think not."

"Sirius Black? No relation, then? Must be a cousin. Probably a relation of Tonks'." Malfoy's chatter died down slowly as he watched Regulus' face drain of all colour. He swayed slightly on his feet, and sat down hard, leaning against the damp dungeon wall.

"Sirius Black? A murderer?" His voice was weak, and barely more than an exhalation.

"Are you alright there, Black?" Malfoy asked, kneeling beside him. He wrinkled his nose in disgust at the dirty floor.

"You're deluded or insane," Regulus accused. "Sirius is no murderer! He's a bloody Gryffindor!"

Malfoy looked thoughtful for a moment. "Gryffindor's are capable of murder, Black. Potter nearly killed me in Myrtle's loo."

Regulus' natural curiousity nearly overwhelmed him, but he held it back, climbing to his feet. "You never answered my question. How old are you? You're obviously in Slytherin, and that's the only thing keeping me from hexing you."

"You didn't hex Potter, and he bloody fell on you," Malfoy snapped at him, irritably. "I'm seventeen! But that stupid mudblood and the Weasel worked a spell over so badly that we're bloody fourth years again! Three years of my life, lost, because they finally decided to muck up a spell!"

Confused, the youngest Black moved away from him. He couldn't get the image of those startled green eyes out of his head. "You talk in riddles, Malfoy," he said, wishing Lucius was back. "Severus!" He exclaimed, remembering Lucius' right-hand man, and Sirius' worst enemy.

"Yes?" Drawled an amused voice from behind him. Regulus spun around, blushing slightly. "Hello, Reg," Severus Snape said quietly. He was often quiet, and Regulus wished he were older, or Severus younger. Three years wasn't much of a gap, but enough that Regulus was surprised Severus could remember his name, much less the face the name belonged to.

"Professor Snape?" Malfoy asked, his voice finally showing something other than anger. Both Regulus and Severus started snickering.

"Professor?" Severus asked, cocking an eyebrow at him. "You look familiar. What's your name?"

"Draco Malfoy," Malfoy said, looking confused. "You're.... Severus Snape?"

"The only," Severus said, drawing himself up importantly. "Malfoy, hm? In Slytherin. I'm sure I'd have known about you before. Lucius wouldn't have let it get past us that his brother was at Hogwarts."

"He's not my brother, he's my father," Malfoy said, looking as though he needed to sit down for a while. Severus's face became pinched, and he glanced around the deserted hall quickly.

"What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here. How did you get here?" The questions were rapidfire, and Malfoy blinked against the onslaught.

"I think we need to get somewhere more private. Is the common room safe? What about the come-and-go room?"

Both Slytherins looked at him oddly. "Come and go room?" Regulus asked, and was rewarded with a scowl.

"Bloody Hufflepuffs in green ties," he muttered, and Severus cuffed him.

"None of that, Malfoy," he said, and awe returned to Malfoy's gaze. This boy had a serious crush. That only made him think about Sirius again, and he scowled back.

"What was that about Sirius Black earlier?" He asked, but Malfoy shook his head.

"Follow me," he said, and dusted himself off. "Hopefully nothing in this damned castle has changed too much." He continued to mutter to himself, not even bothering to look back and see if Regulus or Severus had followed.

"Should we go?" Regulus asked, and Severus nodded.

"He claims to be related to Lucius. Looks like him, too. I say we at least check it out." Severus followed after the youngish blond, not waiting for Regulus, who hurried to catch up.

Malfoy lead them to a blank stretch of wall on the seventh floor, and Regulus was drawing in a breath to ask him if they were about to be whisked away on puffs of smoke to this come and go room of his. Severus was studying the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, and Malfoy was pacing. Suddenly, a door appeared where before there had been nothing, and Malfoy slipped inside, beckoning the other two.

"Well," Severus said. "This seems useful." Again, Regulus was left behind as he hurried to catch up. Inside, he found a roaring fireplace. It looked much like the Slytherin common room, except the furniture was better - leather, it looked like - and more nicely arranged.

"What's all this?" he asked, looking around.

"The common room, where I come from," Malfoy replied promptly. Severus looked impressed, and even Regulus was awed.

"Now," the seventh year said. "Tell us everything. You're a Slytherin, so I won't dose you with veritaserum, but I do have some - we brewed it in class yesterday - and I won't hesitate to use it if I think you're lying to us."

Regulus glowed at the 'us' Severus used, realizing that he was being included, and seated himself close to the other two, leaning in to listen.

"Alright. I won't lie, on my honour as a Slytherin. But I warn you, some of this may be hard to accept. It's a little bizarre.

"My name is Draco Malfoy, I'm the seventeen year old son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy-"

"Narcissa?" Regulus interrupted. "Not Cissy Black?" Malfoy nodded.

"Yes, Narcissa Malfoy now. Well.. then." Severus looked intrigued.

"Lucius and Narcissa finally get married, then, do they?" He asked. Malfoy nodded, looking tense.

"Do you want me to tell you my story, or my parents'?" he asked, and Severus glowered at him. Regulus was amused to see Malfoy cower a bit.

"Sorry, Professor," he said, and continued. "I'm seventeen, but a botched spell by Granger, Weasley, and Potter turned us all back into fourth years - in appearance, of course. The sad part is I no longer have my Dark Mark." He was momentarily interrupted by two loud, indrawn breaths. He ignored them, continuing on. "I don't know what they were trying to do, but somehow, the four of us now appear to be fourteen again. I was trying to hex Potter, since he was the reason I'm fourteen again, but he ran away from me. He fell into a portrait and I didn't stop in time. When I came through, he pushed Black off of him in the hallway, and ran away like the dirty coward he is. He's probably gone to the Gryffindor common room. I've already guessed that we went back in time, so he's probably sobbing over his darling parents." The last was spoken with a ridiculing tone.

"So you came through a portrait?" Severus asked, and Malfoy nodded. "Do you know what it was of?"

"No," Malfoy said. "I didn't look. I just wanted to catch Potter and kill him. The Dark Lord will be very happy with me if I do, since I failed the last mission he gave me."

Regulus couldn't help but feel awed. This boy had stood in the presence of the Dark Lord himself! Had taken his Mark! "Tell me about the future," he said. "What was that you said about Sirius being a murderer?" Severus laughed, an uninspired sound, at the thought of his nemesis being a killer.

"He killed thirteen people in the middle of a Muggle street with an enourmous explosion, and was sent to Azkaban for twelve years. He escaped, my father tells me, by becoming an illegal animagus and transforming himself into a big black dog, where he came to Hogwarts to kill Potter. Pity he didn't succeed. Lupin was our DADA teacher that year, and he left afterwards - the position's cursed, you know - but Black escaped again, and went on the run until my fifth year. That's the year my dad was sent to Azkaban, too, ALSO because of Potter -" He spat the name like it was something foul tasting that he didn't want in his mouth any longer than it needed to be. "But my aunt Bellatrix killed him- Black, I mean. I mean --" Malfoy paused, trailing off at the nauseated look on Regulus' face.

"excuse me." He said quietly, rising. A door appeared off to the side, revealing a toilet, and Regulus strode into it, closing the door before breaking down and losing his composure. He vomited into the bowl, pushing his hair back off his face, until there was nothing left in his stomach. He didn't move until he'd stopped heaving, and flushed the toilet before resting his head on his arms and letting himself cry.

Sirius was in Gryffindor, three years older than him, had run away from home last year, but he was still Regulus' brother, and he loved him. Hearing Malfoy talk about his incarceration and death as though he were as important as -as a puffskein, or a kneazle! It was sickening! Killed by Bellatrix, no less! His cousin! Regulus felt the bile rising in his throat again, and choked it back.

A soft knock at the door made him rise and wash his face, rinsing his mouth out before opening it. Severus stood there looking uncharacteristically nervous. "Reg, are you alright?"

"You're happy he'll die," Regulus said accusingly, but Severus didn't deny it. After a few tense moments, they returned to their seats.

"Potter is the sworn enemy of the Dark Lord," Malfoy picked up the thread of story, pretending like the last fifteen minutes hadn't happened. "There's a prophecy about them, but no one knows what it says. My father was put in prison trying to rescue it." There was a pause as the three of them remembered what he said happened that night that Lucius was imprisoned. Regulus stood, and began pacing.

"Potter is the son of James, that much is obvious," he said. "The resemblance is uncanny. Except for the green eyes, I'd say he was James."

"They tell me he has his mothers' eyes," Malfoy supplied. "Some mudblood. Lily, I think her name is." He said the name so off-handedly that it took a moment to sink in.

"Do you mean to tell me that that arrogant, over-bearing pompous horses ass marries Lily Evans?" Severus roared, and Regulus practically jumped him. Severus' crush on the red-head was legend in Slytherin house.

"Sev, calm down! It hasn't happened yet!" he shouted, and the older student fumed for a few moments before settling. Regulus put himself between Severus and Malfoy, however, just in case.

"So, I followed Potter here for revenge, and I'll have it," Malfoy said, picking up an inner dialogue that only he'd been privy to. Regulus blinked at him, unable to rid himself of those eyes staring up at him.

Sirius?

Wrong Black.

"We have to find him. We'll probably be obliviated," Severus was saying when Regulus came back to himself. "because you've gone and told us so much about what happens in the future. I'll really become a Potions Master, though, and Head of Slytherin house?" He looked gleeful, and Regulus spared a thought of gratitude to Malfoy for putting those expressions on the taciturn Slytherin's face.

"I hope you know that I have every intention of killing him when I find him. I'm perfectly capable of performing the killing curse." He really was a Death Eater. Awe warred with disgust inside Regulus, and he stood.

"Do what you will. I'm leaving." Severus stood, following him.

"I'll come with you. Malfoy, you'll be staying with me if that's alright, at least until we can get to the library and find out how to get you back to your own time."

Malfoy looked positively ecstatic that he'd be spending more time with Severus. If only he'd stop calling him 'professor,' they might even pass him off as Lucius' visiting little brother or cousin, possibly from Durmstrang.

Severus left the room first, looking around to make sure he wasn't sighted coming from it. Malfoy tugged Regulus' sleeve, slowing him. Regulus turned, surprised by the sight of Malfoy looking awkward. He wasn't meeting Regulus' eyes, and looked uncomfortable.

"I'm... sorry," he said quickly. "For upsetting you earlier." It was all he said before he roughly pushed past the Black, and out of the room, chasing after Severus with a "Professor, wait for me!"

Regulus sighed, accepting the apology. If he was anything like his father, apologies did not come easily to him, and the fact that Regulus had gotten anything out of him at all was surprising.

He and his brother didn't get along any more, but they'd spent their entire lives before Hogwarts together, and had fully expected to be spending their school years together, too, in Slytherin. When Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor, his parents suddenly found his name to be an insult, and last year, when he'd gone to live with James Potter, Regulus had been horrified to find that his mother had blasted his name from the family tree.

He didn't feel up to going back to Slytherin at that moment, and headed instead towards Gryffindor tower, which was closer. He was distracted by the sounds of crying, and peeked behind an errant suit of armour.

Wild black hair reminiscent of James' was buried against his arms, hiding his face, but not the obvious shaking of his shoulders, or the soft sobs that wracked him.

"Potter, wasn't it?" Regulus said softly, kneeling beside him. Wild green eyes, bright with tears, stared at him in shock.

"Regulus, isn't it?" He asked, and wiped his face on his sleeve. Regulus wrinkled his nose, and handed him a handkerchief. Potter daintily wiped his eyes with it, and then looked at it, unsure of what to do with it.

"Yes. Regulus," he answered. "Keep it. You look like you'll need it again before long." Potter smiled, embarrassed.

"I don't cry often," he said. "But... I saw my parents. They're alive, and together, and it was just... too much. I couldn't even talk to them. And Remus, and ... and Sirius!" He clutched at Regulus' handkerchief like a life-line, fresh tears welling up in his eyes.

Having just come from the discussion with Malfoy about his brother's demise, Regulus was inclined to sit there with him and cry, but he saw an opportunity. Opportunity was something that, as a Slytherin, he wasn't about to turn away when it presented itself so nicely wrapped.

"Harry, right? Can we talk? I know some things that you should be aware of." Harry nodded, in true Gryffindor fashion, trusting him immediately because he'd shown a kind word. Harry followed him back to the come and go room, and Regulus realized that he hadn't asked Malfoy how to get it to work.

"The Room of Requirement," Harry said, surprised. "Well, I suppose not much has changed. He passed three times in front of the blank wall, and a door appeared.

"How does it work?" Regulus asked, trying to keep his mouth shut.

"Walk back and forth three times, thinking about what you need." He stepped into the antithesis of the Slytherin room he'd just left not long before, and looked around. "I'm feeling nostalgic," Harry explained, and Regulus was privately amused.

"I've got some information for you," he said. "But I want some from you, as well." Harry nodded; he'd been expecting something like this.

"I'll start," Regulus said, seating himself on a large plush chair that nearly swallowed him. "Draco Malfoy has followed you here, as you know, from the future, and is out to kill you."

Harry didn't look too surprised. "I know. We've been at each others throats from before first year, but it's gotten really bad since last year. He let Death Eaters into Hogwarts, and Dumbledore-" Harry cut himself off, clutching at the kerchief again. A haunted look entered his eyes, and Regulus feigned sympathy.

"Harry, how many people have died?" he asked softly, interjecting enough interest and caring into his voice to make Harry burst into fresh tears.

"My mum and dad. Cedric. Sirius. Dumbledore. Sir..Shit!" Harry was looking at him, having just remembered who he was, apparantly. "I'm sorry!"

"It's alright," Regulus said tightly. "Malfoy told me." Harry's nose wrinkled, and he looked about ready to hug Regulus before he saw the green tie, and stopped himself.

"Alright. I'm on a quest to defeat Voldemort." Regulus flinched away from the name, and Harry rolled his eyes. "Malfoy and I are on opposite sides of the war, as I'm sure you've guessed."

"What's on your forehead?" Regulus asked, interrupting him and not caring. Harry looked surprised, his fingers brushing over the oddly shaped scar as though he'd forgotten it was there.

"Voldemort tried to kill me when I was a bab..." He realized something very suddenly, and clammed up.

"Harry?" Regulus asked, and Harry blinked at him.

"If I stayed here until nineteen eighty one, I could stop their deaths," he whispered. "I could go to Godric's Hollow and warn them, or tell them not to make Pettigrew the Secret-Keeper. I could end the entire war before it even gets started. I could wait until Voldemort showed up to kill them and kill him first."

"You might not survive an encounter like that," Regulus warned. "If your childhood isn't YOUR childhood, you won't be you. What if you killed him before he killed your family, and as a result, you got sorted into Hufflepuff or something?" Harry laughed, and smoothed out the handkerchief on his lap.

"There are worse things," he said, and then blinked at the monogrammed letters at the corner. "Regulus..." His voice was soft, and almost dangerous. "what's your middle name?"

"Arcturus, why?" Regulus was honestly confused. R.A.B. were stenciled onto the cloth in neat, sweeping letters, and it was this stitching that had suddenly transfixed Harry's entire world.

"Regulus Arcturus Black." He laughed mirthlessly. "R. A. B."

"Harry?" The Gryffindor fished around in his pocket for a moment, looking confused and then happy when he pulled out two pieces of parchment. One had writing on it, and one was large, but blank. Harry mumbled something under his breath, and tapped the large one, and lines appeared. He opened it, and scowled when he saw the Dungeons. Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy were in the same room, Snape's dot moving around violently. Harry refolded it so that he could see Gryffindor tower, and was transfixed by the sights of his parents names in the common room. After a moment, he whispered something else, the lines vanished, and he returned it to his pocket. Regulus watched as he looked at the smaller parchment.

Finally, Harry pushed it at him. "Does this hand-writing look familiar to you?" he asked.

Regulus frowned. "I wrote this, but I don't remember..." He finished reading it, and paled. "I wrote this?"

"You will," Harry said quietly.

--
I wasn't intending to write this. I wasn't intending to POST this. XDD But that was such a perfect spot to leave off, I had to. I'm going to continue it, and I'll name it as soon as a decent song comes on my playlist or inspiration strikes, whichever happens first. There will be random pairings, and incest, and it will be eventually H/D. I was very much saddened that there are no Sirius/Regulus sections on AFF. There are no pairings with Regulus, period, which is very much sad-making, because Regulus is, despite all odds, one of my favourite characters. Please review and tell me what you think so far! Is it worth continuing? (and it will get better, I promise. Or at least, if not better, then less confusing. ^_~)

EDIT: Now entitled "Time Flies" in latin XDD