The Older Brother
because sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.
Or an AU in which both Regulus and Sirius Black are one year older than in canon and the changes that come with it, some expected, some not so much.
This is my entry to the 'Last Man Standing Competition' for the first weeks prompt: 'Marauder era'.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and the subtitle is based on a quote from Marc Brown.
Sirius Orion Black, heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, was sitting at the Slytherin table in the great hall of the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry and waiting for the Sorting of the new first years to begin. The general atmosphere in the Great Hall was expectant and cheerful, and he could not help but wonder if he was the only one who was not glad to be back at school. It wasn't that he wished to be back at home with his parents, it was just that the company in Hogwarts was equally bad as the one at home.
It was the same talk, the same expectations, and far too often even the same people. Sirius gaze wandered to Lucius Malfoy, a good example for the people he could do without, who was sitting at the end of the table. He was a prefect this year, and so it was his responsibility to welcome the new first years.
Sirius didn't even know any more why he had originally looked forward to finally attending Hogwarts. Next to him, Rosier made a comment about some 'mudbloods' he had been forced to interact with on the train. Ah right, he did remember after all.
He had wanted to make friends.
The memories of telling his favourite cousin Andromeda exactly that were still clear in his mind, and clearer still was her response to his declaration of making lots of friends.
"Some people in Slytherin might make friends," she had said, something close to pity in her eyes. "But you are the heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. You will make allies."
Sirius had not believed her then, hadn't even believed her when he had been on the train, had not believed her when the conversations started in the common room, but in the evening when he had been lying in his bed he had understood.
Or maybe he had already begun the process of understanding on the Hogwarts Express, when he had been confronted with the legacy of his name.
Unconsciously his gaze wandered to the Gryffindor table where Frank Longbottom, Andrew Scott and Daniel King where laughing together.
On the train to Hogwarts, before the beginning of his own first year, and more importantly before the Sorting, he had been laughing together with them. If he had sat with them on the train today, it was highly likely, that they would have hexed him, or tried to at least.
Though if Sirius was fair, they hadn't started being bad company for him to keep once he was sorted into Slytherin, that had begun even earlier. The moment he they had learned his full name, to be specific.
Until that moment, he had hoped that he would one day call the three of them friends; they had been sitting in that compartment for a while after all and likely would have sat together even longer if it had not been for Malfoy, dropping by to check on him and admonishing him for the company he was keeping.
Scott had not reacted at all, and while Longbottom had been uneasy, he had at least had the manners to not outright insult him. King had not.
The rest of the journey had been unpleasant at best, and when the sorting had come, Sirius had actually been feeling a little depressed. He had often wondered what he would have done had the train journey been different, maybe he would have accepted the Sorting Hat's first choice and gone to Gryffindor, but at that moment, Sirius had been hurt by the rejection for something he could not change, and had not wanted to spend the rest of his schooling in the same house as King. Looking back, maybe King would have been preferable to the company he was keeping now.
"And can you believe it?"
Rosier made an exaggerated gesture with his arms, to emphasize the next statement.
"The little mudblood had the gall to glare at me and tell me that I was being impolite and that she deserved to be treated with respect. Really, as if she could ever be my equal."
It took a great amount of willpower for Sirius to resist shoving Rosier's head, or Evan's, as the other boy insisted, on the golden plate before them. Thankfully, just moments later Professor McGonagall pushed the doors to the Great Hall wide open and the new first year students stepped in.
Curiously, Sirius let his gaze drift over them, looking for one specific head of black hair. The first one he spotted was one kid with disgustingly greasy hair next to a red haired girl, the next one a boy with hair so messy it could not be natural, a Potter, if his father was to be believed, and for them it apparently was natural, and directly next to the Potter boy was Regulus Black, Sirius' younger brother.
When they had gotten on the train together, they had separated, since it was tradition for the new first years to make the journey with the other new students and hopefully make new friends, Sirius had not wanted to take this opportunity from his brother, even if he had worried that Regulus would find himself in a situation similar to his. The climate in the political arena of Blood Purityhad gotten even more chilly since last year, and everyone knew where the Blacks stood.
Now though, his little brother was no longer frighteningly pale and shaking, instead he was grinning, an expression that Sirius had never seen on Regulus' face in the company of anyone but himself. And the grin was directed at the Potter boy, who was talking, heedless of the fact that most of his peers were too nervous to even open their mouths.
It was interesting. Especially since Sirius knew that Regulus, while capable of presenting himself with confidence, was actually rather shy, for him to be this at ease with the other boy... He just hoped that there would be no repeat of what had happened to him once his name was revealed.
Black was one of the first names to be called, and Regulus stepped forward surprisingly steady, sitting down on the chair and letting the hat fall on his head. Sirius gazed back at Potter, still waiting with the others, but the younger boy's face showed no traces of surprise; he was still smiling slightly instead. Then he let his gaze wander back to his brother. Even from the distance, Sirius could see that his brother's fingers were clenched tightly, and he was pretty sure that had they been in a less public setting, the younger Black would have been chewing on his bottom lip as well.
The Sorting Hat took surprisingly long to decide, but when it finally did, it sounded almost smug.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Now that, Sirius thought, wide eyed and with his mouth slightly open, was unexpected. Still his eyes followed his brother and noticed how Regulus glanced back to the first years that still had to be sorted, the Potter boy looked surprised but was grinning brightly. Regulus returned it, and Sirius closed his mouth and took a deep breath, gaze still locked on his brother. He only removed it when the clapping started and he wanted to know which Gryffindor had been the one to start. Judging by the looks, it had likely been the Prewett twins, two fifth years who were currently gaining quite a number of strange glances.
The sorting continued, but Sirius wasn't all that interested anymore, the one person whom he had held any interest in was Regulus after all. Regulus, who had finally gathered enough courage to look at him again. He looked unsure, yet defiant and Sirius could not help himself, he smiled at his brother and gave him a slight nod of encouragement.
–
In the whole of the Slytherin House, the person least disturbed by Regulus' sorting was probably Sirius himself, and given that no one in the house of Black, and that included himself, had ever doubted that Regulus would make it into Slytherin, that was saying something. Truthfully, the one their parents had worried about had always been him, and Sirius did not want to know his mother's reaction to the fact that her 'good' son got himself sorted into Gryffindor.
Still, it was him that the whole house was watching warily. Maybe he was a little bit shocked, maybe a tad outraged or even worried, and perhaps, not that anyone would guess, even a bit jealous, but mostly, he was relieved. Relieved that Regulus had that sliver of a chance at finding happiness in Hogwarts.
After a couple of days, most of the school had settled down again, and it helped of course that neither had Sirius himself made a big deal out of it, nor had their mother sent a howler. Sirius was quite sure though that that could mostly be attributed to his father's influence rather than their mother's state of mind.
But despite this, tracking down his younger brother turned out to be unusually difficult, so Sirius was quite sure that Regulus was avoiding him. In the end, he solved that problem by skipping potions class, Professor Slughorn would understand, and waited for his brother in the entrance hall.
Regulus froze as he saw him, making the Potter boy and the two other Gryffindor boys stop and look at him in confusion.
"Sirius."
Sirius nodded in greeting.
"Hey Reg."
Regulus squirmed and gave Potter a pleading look. Their gazes locked for a momen,t and then Potter nodded and addressed the other boys: "Come on, Remus, Peter, we'll give them a moment."
They walked off and Regulus gazed at him, as if expecting him to blow up any moment.
"So how is Gryffindor?"
His younger brother startled and gazed at him, looking nothing like a brave lion and more like some shy animal that would run of as soon as it was startled.
"Ah... well..."
The younger Black trailed off, looked down to his shoes and then peeked up and Sirius through his fringe.
"You're not angry?"
His voice sounded very small and a lot younger than any eleven year old boy had any right to sound. Sirius sighed.
"That you were avoiding me? Yes. That you got sorted into Gryffindor? No."
Regulus stared, it was clear that he had not expected these answers. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"What did you expect, Reg? For me to act like mother dearest?"
Regulus actually blushed, making Sirius wonder if maybe breaking out into a triad was appropriate after all. Luckily, his younger brother caught himself before he could come to a decision.
"No, it's just... You're Slytherin... and no one ever thought..."
Regulus trailed off, and Sirius finished the sentence for him, his voice dry.
"That you would not be Slytherin when even I managed."
Regulus grimaced at the wording.
"Yeah..."
Sirius shrugged.
"Well, the hat considered Gryffindor for me as well, but it decided on Slytherin in the end, so it doesn't really matter, at least not to me."
The two brothers gazed at each other for a moment, neither breaking the eye contact nor the silence until Regulus cleared his throat.
"So... we're okay?"
Sirius huffed and reached out to mess up his younger brothers hair. It said a lot about Regulus' state of mind that the younger one did not even try to half-heartedly push away his hand.
"Of course we are okay. We're brothers, but you better come up with a good explanation, I don't think mum will be all that happy."
Regulus simply nodded, a wide smile on his face.
That's it, the first piece in the Gryffindor!Regulus verse that has been on my mind for a while now. Please tell me if you liked it. Constructive criticism is always welcome. There is more to come, so for those interested there will be one from Regulus' POV that covers his journey to Hogwarts.