m&mwp.

It's not as if Gideon has a hero complex. Sure, he's a good guy. If some Slytherin is poking fun at one of the first years, he'll step in. But he doesn't possess an undying desire to rescue the lost and fix the broken. So when he sees Regulus Black crying in a hidden cove, he's surprised when instead of turning on his heel, he actually sits next to him.

"Hello."

It's painfully obvious that he's not built for this comforting people thing and he physically flinches when Regulus removes his head from his hands to glare at him.

"Piss off."

"Just trying to be nice."

Regulus rolls his eyes, but doesn't reach for his wand, so Gideon figures he must be doing something right. Except he doesn't what to do next and he falls silent, the inevitable awkwardness that follows stretches over them almost immediately.

The thing is, Gideon hasn't the faintest idea what he's doing. Whenever Molly had been upset, it had been Fabian who'd come the rescue. Gideon had always just sat back and watched, always feeling somewhat inadequate as brother. It'd never been a problem until now, when he kind of wishes that he'd paid attention so that he might have an inkling of how to handle this sort of situation.

He settles for the cliché: "Is something wrong?"

"No. Everything's as it's meant to be."

The reply, short and sharp, takes Gideon back. He furrows his brows and then says, "If everything's as it's meant to be then why are you...uh. Yeah."

Unlike before, the reply isn't immediate and for a fleeting moment, Gideon wonders if he's overstepped the line. Perhaps when doing this mysterious comforting thing, you're not meant to talk about the tears. Maybe the directly mentioning that the subject is crying is taboo. Gideon sighs inwardly. He really hasn't got a clue.

"Because I don't think that what's meant to be is right," Regulus says eventually. It's said so quietly that Gideon wonders if he's misheard or if he wasn't supposed to hear. But then Regulus stands up and looks down at Gideon. "I shouldn't be talking to you. Goodbye."

They don't talk again. Sometimes Gideon catches a glimpse of the Slytherin in the corridors or on the moving stairs, but Regulus never acknowledges him and Gideon returns the favour by not staring for too long. But he hasn't forgotten. He could never forget seeing someone like Regulus Black so out of sorts that he was driven to speaking to someone like Gideon Prewett about something that's so obviously important.

In short: Gideon's bloody curious.

And that's why that even when he knows he shouldn't, he takes the empty seat in the library next to Regulus, ignoring the baffled look on his twin's face. But even that's nothing compared to the look of complete horror and shock on Regulus' when he notices that it's Gideon that's sat beside him.

"I just wanted to talk to you," Gideon whispers, well aware of Fabian staring, shell-shocked, at the back of his head. "About last week, I mean."

When Regulus doesn't reply Gideon continues with, "I just...I don't understand what you meant."

"You wouldn't," Regulus says, curt as ever. "Why can't you just piss off?"

Apparently Gideon doesn't know when to give up because he ploughs on. "I thought it might have something to do with Sirius being disowned."

Wrong thing to say.

Regulus gathers his books, stands and leaves without a word.

"I don't want to know," Fabian says when Gideon rejoins him. "But as your twin, I feel like I ought to remind that that's Regulus Black you were talking to, Sirius' brother who's promised to take the Mark."

"I know."

And he does know. He knows that talking to someone like Regulus is a stupid thing to do. He's well aware of his last name and all that comes with it. But he can't help but remember Regulus as the boy he'd seen the cove...crying over the fact that his brother has been disowned and dubbed a blood traitor. Gideon figures that if someone so completely Slytherin and supposedly cold-hearted can still cry over the brother he barely speaks to, he can't really be a future Death Eater. Death Eaters, as far as Gideon knows, just aren't wired that way.

He thinks, rather reluctantly, that maybe Regulus can still be saved from the clutches of his family name. He also thinks, not so reluctantly, that maybe he'll be the one to save him.

Okay. So maybe he does have a little bit of a hero complex.