… And Brotherhood
Pairing: Narcissa Black/Sirius Black
Rating: R
The last time Regulus Black sees his brother naked is at a Christmas party. An hour before his aunt and uncle kick everyone out.
Regulus is about to turn fifteen and has been sipping mulled wine with his parents' permission all night. He is wandering around the manor when he hears noises from a bedroom. His heart beats faster. He doesn't recognize the voices yet, and quietly creeps to the door. It's locked but a quick quiet "Alohomora!" fixes that, and he's inside in the shadows, and on the bed his brother's arse rises and falls, rises and falls. It's a bit too dark to make out the other person; all he can see is Sirius' right hand holding both her wrists. Definitely her, those short slim fingers couldn't belong to a man.
Her moans become louder, confirming his suspicions. Then she whispers, "Sirius!" and Regulus nearly drops his wineglass, but his Seeker's reflexes kick in and he catches it while he still is agape.
Narcissa.
Now that he knows, he finds confirmation. Her blonde hair was up earlier but now wisps out, almost to the floor. Her voice – how could he have not recognized it? The Black sisters visited – or vice versa – every summer and every holiday for as long as he could remember. He wants to get a better look at her but it's impossible, his stupid brother's pale pasty bum and legs are all in the way. So he sighs, quietly, and goes back out. But he leaves the door open to listen.
Narcissa is quiet but becomes increasingly louder, no actual words ever crossing her lips. Sirius has been murmuring "yes, yes, fuck, yes" the whole time. It seems like no time has passed – but actually twenty minutes – before he wails aloud "Oh FUCK!" and then it is all quiet. Regulus charms the door locked again and scoots back downstairs. He has an erection but it will go away soon enough.
Sirius is first to reappear at the party. His hair is smoothed back and his face is flushed and his robes look awful. Regulus is tempted to ask him but can't think of anything biting enough. On the opposite side of the room, Narcissa enters, and Sirius is very careful not to watch for her or even look at her. Regulus of course has no such compunctions; he notes the contrast to Narcissa's careful coiffure, her perfectly arranged dress robes, only her face gives anything away. But that could be the flush from the wine as well.
Inspecting her so gets him hard again, so he decides to go to talk to his brother after all. He joins him by the mulled wine, and refills his glass. "Enjoying the party?" he asks.
Sirius snorts. "These things get worse every year, I swear."
"And yet you don't look very bored."
He flushes a bit more. "I know how to entertain myself."
"Indeed," replies Regulus, and sips his wine.
"Does Mother know you're drinking?"
"She and Father agreed I could have one glass per hour. It's not as bad as the punch, anyway."
Sirius wrinkles his nose and takes a huge gulp of the punch. "You're right. How did you know?"
He says nothing but smiles and takes another sip. It is always better to stay silent and be thought clever. Regulus learned this sooner than most, thanks to his dear brother, who can't take silence and always tries to fill it up.
"Your first alcohol at a party. Reggie's growing up."
"It appears to be a night of firsts," he replies in what he hopes is a cold voice. Puberty tends to not help, alas.
But Sirius has a guilty conscience – or something of that nature; Regulus rather doubts his brother has a proper conscience – and slowly puts his drink down. "What's that supposed to mean?"
No wonder he was put into Gryffindor. "Oh… nothing." He slowly grins, at first just a pleasant grin, then a full-on rictus of madness. That grin has frightened Severus Snape, and it does no less now.
Sirius is clearly nervous, but then decides, "You don't know anything."
"True." He keeps that grin on, though. "I know nothing. So I won't say anything."
They've played this game so often in the past that Sirius is still convinced he's bluffing. "Of course."
Regulus drops the smile; it tends to make his face ache, but it's worth it, as usual. "Well. Two more weeks till Hogwarts."
Sirius brightens, and they talk about their classes for a bit. Sirius has put his guard down, and one would almost think these brothers got along like they did five years ago, before the Sorting Hat murdered their relationship. But Regulus is planning a deft blow, and when Lucius Malfoy comes to pick up two glasses of punch, it is time.
He watches Sirius watch Lucius smugly. Sirius is so classy, he starts sniffing his fingers. Malfoy doesn't seem to notice, but Sirius doesn't care. If Malfoy did notice, Sirius would have a broken nose, and that's if he just thought it was a crass joke.
"Was that really wise, dear brother?" he asks.
Sirius starts. "What?"
"Flaunting? In front of Malfoy?"
Sirius goes white before remembering that he doesn't think Regulus knows. "What on Earth are you talking about?"
"If he even thought you'd so much as kissed the hand of his fiancée, he'd break your arms." There.
"Well then, it's a good thing I didn't touch her," he says slowly. "If someone were so crass as to tell him otherwise, they'd be in trouble themselves." He isn't as good at this as Regulus, but he is still a Black. Old habits and all. All the better, it's a lot more fun when the other person plays too.
"Yes. Well. I would certainly be upset if anything happened to my favorite brother."
Sirius raises his eyebrows and finishes his drink. "I'm your only brother."
"That's rather the point."
:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:
They don't talk much during the rest of the break. Regulus plays a few games of pickup Quidditch with him, but that's about it. Nothing new. Regulus showers after these games with images of himself in Sirius' place, holding her small wrists both in one of his hands, a few blond tendrils worked loose out of her perfect hair. He uses soap on his prick as he pretends he's fucking Narcissa. After their last game, he showers and wanks and realizes he can't afford to do this again. What a man wants, a man imagines, as his father says, and the reverse must be true, and he can't afford to want Narcissa the way Sirius seems to. Especially as she is going to marry Lucius over the summer.
That summer is the one where Sirius leaves home. He attends the wedding, Narcissa is beautiful, but Regulus even feels sorry for himself, that he'll never get to see her perfect nude body, so he can only imagine how the Black Prince must be feeling. Except he doesn't need to, the silly Gryffindor doesn't hide his emotions anymore, he sulks throughout the wedding and leaves halfway through the reception.
When Regulus and his parents return home, Sirius has torn apart his bedroom, and broken Kreacher's nose. His mother quickly heals him then sends him to Regulus, who gladly holds the house-elf till he calms down. His parents are holding a note but they shred it before Regulus can see it.
Regulus sends an owl to the Potters, asking if his brother is all right. James sends one back with the words, "Yes, don't write again," on it. He does so anyway, a much shorter note than the one he first attempts: "I'm glad."
:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:·:‾:
"Your brother is a foul bent pervert, Black," says Snape coolly.
Regulus is trying to finish his Divination homework in the Slytherin common room. "Tell me something I don't know," he answers shortly.
He takes this as an invitation and sits next to him. "Fine, then. I saw him leaving a broom closet with Peter Pettigrew."
At this Regulus starts. He can't help it and silently curses his lack of control in front of another Slytherin. "I know he likes girls," he says.
"The whole school knows he likes girls," Snape snorts. "But apparently he likes boys as well. Such a fine specimen of manhood as Pettigrew is…"
Regulus sighs. "He probably knew you were watching and just wanted to shock you."
Snape wrinkles his nose. "Possible." Potter has hexed him out of nowhere the night before, and after breakfast as well.
"I thought you said you weren't going to go haring off alone after them anymore, after this morning."
"Well. Yes. But."
Regulus cuts him off. "I don't like my brother and his friends anymore than you do, so do try to stop making their lives so easy by going off alone? Now, if you don't mind, I have another foot of homework that needs my attention." He squeezes the other boy's shoulder to show no hard feelings, but he really is tired of Snape needing rescuing so much, even now in his sixth year.
After Snape goes downstairs, he sighs and grits his teeth and wonders what the hell to do about Sirius.