"She's mine."
Sirius looked up from the notebook he was using to communicate with James, grin turning into a snarl as he looked up at his brother.
"What the hell are you on about, Regulus?" 'Regulus' is said as a curse, and Regulus doesn't flinch. Over two years he's learned to get used to it.
The sixth year crossed his arms at the seventh and Sirius slammed his book shut. "Marlene, you arse. Stay away from her. She's mine."
Sirius shook his head. "She's not yours."
"She's going to Hogsmeade with me next week." The tone was almost bragging - he damn well knew his brother loved her as much as he did, that bastard - but Regulus didn't get it.
Sirius would've laughed - maybe. But this wasn't funny. "I dated her first."
"So? She's mine now. Not yours."
"You git," Sirius shook his head, fingers grasping his wand. "She was never mine. She will never be yours."
Because Regulus didn't understand, he could never understand. Because, while Regulus loved her smile and her talent and her eyes and her laugh, he would never get what attracted - what trapped - what snared - his womanizer brother. He would never understand how Sirius loved her temper, her insults, her fire. Regulus would never know why he loved her hexes and her threats - how they'd bicker and yell and curse for hours, but in the end they'd laugh like hell because they don't even remember what in Merlin's name they were fighting for. Regulus would never get that he loved how free she was - how she never belonged to anyone - {how just like Sirius she was} - how alive she was.
Regulus couldn't understand.
"You're jealous," Regulus accuses. "Because you lost her, and now she's mine."
"Everything is in one ear and out the other with you, isn't it?" Sirius laughs sarcastically. "I couldn't have lost her because she was never mine, and she'll never be yours either."
{Because Marlene was free - flawed and crazy, but for the love of Merlin, she was free. Like Sirius had longed to be and became, like Regulus wanted to be - she would never be anyone's but Marlene bloody McKinnon's.}
"I'm dating her."
"That doesn't make her yours!"
"Who's is she, then?"
"Marlene's! She isn't anyone's!"
"I'll make her mine!"
"She'll break it off with you before you try to hold her down," Sirius' tone is harsh, nothing like the carefree tone he'd almost always used, but it's bitter because he speaks only the truth in this picture and he speaks from hard core experience. "But you knew it had a time limit, didn't you? Marlene is graduating this year and we both know she is joining the Light side and you can't join with her because of the mark on your left arm!" His tone isn't so loud, even if they're alone, barely a whisper, but it's rough and cold and oh so true that it's louder than thunder could ever be, louder than if Sirius screamed lies at him.
Regulus glares and turns away, walking off. He know Sirius is right.