This house is haunted by ghosts.
Sirius hated, no loathed, number tweleve Grimgauld Place. It wasn't so bad when there were the others, to laugh with, to make noise, but when he was alone, it was haunted by ghosts.
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"Hey! Siri, come play with me!" called a nine-year-old Regulus, his black hair in disarray as he launched himself onto his brother's bed. Sirius smiled down at him,
"Hey, why don't you help me pack up for Hogwarts? I'm off tomorrow." The younger boy pouted, fisting the deep blue covers,
"Siri, promise to write to me when you get there? You won't forget about me will you?" Regulus looked up at him earnestly, grey eyes shimmering in the light. Sirius grinned down at his baby brother, pinching the little boy's nose.
"Of course I will write you, what kind of brother would I be if I didn't?" Regs' chubby cheeks turned rosy as he pulled the eleven year old down for a hug.
"I love you Siri, you're the best big brother ever!"
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Sirius shook his head to clear the thoughts as her walked past his old room, the walls now covered in muggle posters and the bed full of dust. The floorboards groaned as he stepped down the stairs to the ballroom. Once painted a beautiful auburn with marble floors, the paint now peeled and the once snow-white marble flooring was ashen.
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"Sirius, I'm telling you this has got to be the most positively idiotic idea you've had," a dismissal Regulus proclaimed to Sirius. At eleven and fourteen respectively, they were on the sidelines of one of their mother's horrendous balls.
"Awe, come on Regs, we'll be fine," grinned the older boy, mischief sparking in his silver eyes.
"What ever you say, but you'll be taking the blame." Sirius clapped the small boy on the back, having won him over.
"Alright, here's what we'll do..."
"I'm sorry miss, but would you care to dance?" Regulus asked suavely. The young woman before him was diminished to a blubbering mass beneath the little boy's smile.
"Well, I suppose it shan't hurt," the pink-clad lady replied. Bingo, he gave Sirius the signal, scratching the back of his head, and lead the lady to the dance floor.
Behind the woman's back, Sirius was levitating a rather large pitcher of water. Now, Regs had honestly no idea why he was doing this, other than, 'She's a horrid old bat, I mean she's been staring at Malfoy all evening... Who would go for him?' from his brother. Whose judgement the youngest Black wasn't very sure of.
Oh well, it wasn't like he cared who the target was, so long as it wasn't him.
Three. The pitcher started tipping over her head.
Two, Walgaburga had noticed the brothers, and opened her mouth to scream.
One, and splash! Regulus leapt out of the way as the woman got soaked and his mother began to scream bloody murder.
"Good work Regs!" Sirius crowed, embracing his brother. "Now, we'd best make a run for it!"
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Sirius chuckled dryly, the rest of the summer had been spent locked in their respective rooms, but boy had it been worth it. The dog-like man tapped the door frame of the ballroom as he walked past, an old habit gained from his brother.
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"Regulus, why are you tapping the door frames? It's getting annoying." The seven year old boy turned to face his elder brother.
"Because Bella said that if I'm bad the bullabagloo will come eat me and Cissy said that if I knock on wood I'll be safe!" he stated proudly. Sirius rolled his eyes,
"I think that you're supposed to knock on wood for good luck."
"Nope!"
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Sirius stalked the halls, coming down to the kitchen.
Oh Merlin, was that burn mark from when Regulus tried cooking?
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Happily tapping the pot, the Black boy smiled down at the furiously bubbling grey liquid within. He stuck his finger in, skimming some of the goop from the surface. Jamming it in his mouth, he made a face,
"Blegh, what is this stuff? SIRI come help me, it tastes funny!"
Upon entering the drank kitchen, the elder brother balked. Covering his mouth, he demanded what in Merlin's name his brother was doing. The ten-year-old grinned and replied,
"Soup! It's for lunch."
"And in what country is that considered soup?" he asked, grimacing as her stirred the slop.
"Why? What's the matter with it?" asked Regs. The older boy smirked, getting an idea.
"Hey how about we spice things up a little, I'm sure mother and father would love a nice hot soup on this cold winter's day." Ignoring the warning bells going off in his head, the slighter brother went along with it.
"Now we just need to add some powdered newt's tongue, and we're done."
"Isn't that part of a potion recipe?"
Sirius raised an eyebrow, "Now what do you take me for?" he asked innocently.
"My crazy older brother who would happily endanger our lives so long as it was amusing." Sirius gave him a false smile,
"Now how about adding that newt's tongue?" Regulus rolled his eyes, knowing that this was a terrible idea, and pulled out the crystal vial. Sirius took one look at it and poured the whole thing in.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
We have lift off.
The kitchen was covered in flames.
Oh shit.
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Right, that one was his fault, remembered Harry's Godfather. Ah well.
His slipper clad feet lead him up a few flights of stairs to the sitting room. He walked through the dark chamber and pulled open the french doors and stepped out onto the balcony.
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"Hey, Reg what are you going to be when you get out of Hogwarts?" a fifteen year old Sirius asked his brother while they were out on the balcony, on their first day back from school.
Regulus blew the smoke from his ciggaret down to the streets below, where a young couple were pushing a tram.
"...Do you mean what I am going to become or what I wish to be?"
Sirius thought for a moment tapping his finger against his chin,
"What you want to be." The lanky twelve-year-old almost smiled before taking a drag.
"A healer... I wish to help people. But that is clearly not an option." Sirius twisted to face him.
"Why not, we could run away together. Go live in America or something." Regulus smiled ruefully,
"Yes two underaged wizards without a penny to spare. That would go down well Siri."
"Hey, it was just a dream." Sirius muttered. Regs looked at him dolefully breathing in the smoke,
"And I supposes that you shall become the greatest auror this world has ever seen?" Sirius grinned,
"Naturally."
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Stepping down from the balcony the man let out a slight laugh, and collapsed into an over stuffed armchair beside the empty fire-place. Yes he had gotten his baby brother hooked on ciggarets. They had been Regs' guilty pleasure.
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"Hey, Siri, what is this?" asked Regulus holding up a pack of Dunhills. Sirius started, where had Regs found those?
"Well those are fags, you light them on fire and the breathe through them, it's a muggle thing," he explained. Regulus looked horrified.
"Why the hell would anyone do that? Stupid Muds." he said tossing them down onto the bed. Sirius sighed, opened the package and held one out to his brother,
"Try one, consider it an early Christmas present."
After several hours of coughing and burnt fingers, Regulus decided he quite liked them and Sirius realized that he just got his eleven year old brother hooked on nicotine. Very expensive nicotine.
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Getting up from the chair, Sirius walked down to his brother's room and threw himself on the bed. Everything in the room was green or silver or had something to do with Voldemort, Sirius wrinkled his nose at his brother's taste. The man flipped over so he could study the head-board, gazing at few words etched into the wood. He was shocked that Regs hadn't scratched them out.
R.A.B and S.O.B, Righteous And Brilliant Sons Of Bitch.
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"Goddamnit Regs, I'm gonna kill that woman one day," ranted Sirius, furiously pacing his brother's room. Regulus looked up from his book and blew a smoke ring, watching it spiral up towards the emerald hangings over his bed.
"Don't," he said lazily, "It would be much more fun to torture her first." Sirius collapsed beside him, fisting his hands in his hair.
"No, Regs, I really can't live with her." He stared at his brother. "I wanna just get away," Sirius whispered.
Regulus tensed.
"No, don't leave me here alone with her. Besides," said Regs, thinking fast, "I have something that might make you feel better. Here, lend me your wand."
Sirius complied and watched as the smaller boy stumped out his ciggaret on the bedpost and muttered some thing under his breath, pressing the wand to the mahogany headboard. After a moment, Regulus grinned and let Sirius come closer to inspect his handiwork.
"R.A.B and S.O.B, Righteous And Brilliant Sons Of Bitch. Reg! This is bloody brilliant!" Sirius leapt on top of his brother and pushed him down into the covers.
"Love ya little bro! Absolutely love you!"
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Sirius sighed, tracing the letters. Regs' room still smelled slightly of sweat and smoke. Damn, he wished that the last time he had been with his brother in this house it had been like that.
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Regulus stood pale-faced in the doorway to his own room. He had heard the screaming. His brother had had another fight with their mother. This sort of thing wasn't uncommon and had gotten so much worse over the course of this summer.
Tears were pouring down his cheeks as he watched his brother pack.
"You are... leaving?" Sirius turned to face him, furiously stuffing his things in his trunk, blood dribbling down his cheek.
Spell books, clothes and photographs were all shoved ruthlessly into the oak box.
"I can't bloody well stay here can I now?!" Regulus froze, he was really going, oh Merlin no, Sirius couldn't leave, he was Regs' he belonged to Regulus. Sirius was the last thing stopping him from going crazy.
The older brother slammed his trunk shut and picked up his broom and turned to face the window as Regulus lunged and grabbed his arm, eyes wild.
"No! You can't leave! I-I I forbid you!" Sirius shoved off the twelve-year-old and knelt before him, grasping his hands, "Can't you see Regulus, if I stay here, I'll do something bad, I'll hurt you, I can't do that."
"But I'll be left alone, they'll kill me! You know I've got to get the mark." Sirius clenched his jaw, "Regs, I'm a bloody coward can't you see? But just look at the sky, Sirius and Regulus, the dog-star and Leo. We are always together."
The moment was ruined by their mother bursting into the room and sending curses flying.
"Sirius Orion Black, What in Merlin's name are you doing!?" she screamed. Regulus tackled her to the ground with sheer adrenaline and yelled at Sirius to run. As the elder brother jumped on his broom and out the window, their father appeared.
"Sirius," he called softly, "When you come to regret this, just remember, you betrayed Regulus, not the other way around."
Sirius left without looking back
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Hot tears poured down the tired man's face,
"You know what, you were right old man. I broke Regs... no one else, just me."
He wiped his eyes furiously and let his head fall back onto the pillows and dreamt about two boys, one with a ciggaret in his mouth and the other with a tell-tale grin, laughing as they sat on the balcony.
Looking out onto the streets below.
Hope you enjoyed it, feed back is much appreciated.