Disclaimer: Don't own a thing.
Hello, all. This is dedicated to my readers and especially those who reviewed my Regulus one-shot I wrote eons ago. You are all too wonderful and I thank you.
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Something invisible glided through the dark, long halls of the Black's Manor. A shimmering streak of something darted from the shadowed corners and up the stairs. Moonlight played tricks on his disguise and filtered through him as if he wasn't there.
Sirius breathed hard underneath James' invisibility cloak. The thick summer air made his clothes stick uncomfortably close to his skin. His wand was clenched tightly in his sweaty palm. A trickle of sweat slipped down his flushed cheeks. He licked his lips nervously. It's been a month since he's seen this house –
CLATTER.
Sirius hovered in front of an old mahogany door. His eyes darted back and forth, wondering where the noise had come from. After a moment of silence, he faced his room again. He would have to keep himself afloat and apparate to the other side of the door. If he failed, the enchanted floor would detect his presence and he'd never be able to leave alive.
Air was tight in his chest. SNAP. A cool breeze rushed across his face. He was in. Sirius' window was opened and his curtains fluttered in the night. Shadows crept from their corners and flitted around him. His eyes scanned the room, looking for his Gringotts key and identification papers.
His gaze drifted to his bed and he almost dropped his cloak in alarm. Someone was there. On closer inspection, he realized it was Regulus. He calmed his heart and went closer. The same black hair was sprawled over his pillow and the almost identical handsome face was half covered by his arm.
Sirius sighed when he noticed tear tracks on the younger face. What did mother make him do now? He thought to himself. He drifted soundless until his feet grazed the covers. Regulus shifted at the sudden dip in the bed and the hand that stroked his hair. Suddenly, he snapped to attention.
"W-who's there?" he whispered. The younger Black frantically looked around as if expecting something horrible.
"Oh, Merlin, please. Who's there?" His hand tightened around his forearm and he curled into a tighter ball. Sirius stared at his brother, confused by such a reaction. Slowly, he allowed the cloak to slip off, revealing himself.
Regulus gasped, oxygen trapped in his tattered chest. Their eyes met and he sprang at once into his brother's body at full force.
"Why have you returned?" the voice asked with masked anguish and distaste. Sirius gazed back and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Why were you crying?" he asked gently. Sirius' heart clenched as Regulus averted his eyes and sullenly allowed his face to crumble. The little Black curled into his brother and shook. Tears flooded his ducts and Sirius was sure he was trying hard not to let him see them.
"I c-can't do this," Regulus whimpered. He clung to Sirius and shook him hard. A wild fear shone in his eyes. "Brother, come back. You have to come back. Please, you're the oldest. I can't do this by myself. I can't, I can't, I – "
"What are – "
"Look!" Regulus tore his shirt off. Sirius bit his tongue and felt bile crawl up his throat. Horrible welts and several unhealed scars marred Regulus' beautiful youth. A terribly charred and bloody mess on his forearm told him his brother had tried to remove something there by force and failed.
"What is this?" Sirius asked, incredulous. Then louder and angrier, "what did they do to you?!"
Regulus grasped him again. He shoved the key hanging around his neck into Sirius' face. "This is what you came for, isn't it? I've kept it safe for you. Sirius, help me. Come home o-or take me with you and I'll give this to you."
Sirius was silent. He watched Regulus fling him himself across the bed and dig out something from Sirius' dresser. His papers. Sirius made a move for them.
"No! You have to promise. Promise me. Don't leave again. Stay here."
"Regulus...I can't," Sirius sighed. His large hand closed over his brother's smaller one, fingers weaved in trying to undo his bank key from its viper snare. The little fist never yielded. Instead of pursuing, Sirius took out his wand and began to perform healing charms over the welts. There was an impregnate silence as Regulus sat there and let him do it.
"Give me those, Reggie." There was a sniff and his possessions were pushed in his open hand. Sirius pulled him into a hug. "I have to go."
Regulus tightened his hold with a stubborn grip. Sirius pushed him away. Pushes became shoves and pulls became hard tugs. Unequally matched, the older broke free of the struggle. Regulus threw the first punch. Sirius flew off the bed and tumbled to the floor. Both froze.
Then it came, blaring and deafening. All surrounding candles burst to life. A huge screeching siren belted out its cry. House elves apparated. They crowded the room. Sirius grabbed a fistful of papers and turned to flee.
"Sirius!" Regulus screamed. His arms stretched forward to their maximum. He shook his head, hysterical and desperate. House elves held him back as they fired spells, aiming to take down the intruder.
"They'll hurt me! Come back! Sirius, I'm asking you, I'm begging you! SIRIUS!" he shrieked.
Regulus' voice died in his throat as a frighteningly powerful Orion Black stormed into the room and backhanded his son. Sirius threw a last glace back from the window ledge, giving his brother's form a most pained and heartbroken expression, before he disappeared.
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The summer of 1974 would pass with Sirius waking up several times a night, drowning in his brother's screams that warped into his own when he woke. He constantly wondered if something worse had happened.
Regulus arrived at Hogwarts three weeks late that September. His visage had drastically changed. Shadows rimmed his eyes and he held an air of superiority that he never had before. He walked poised and controlled, but Sirius had accidentally caught him several times, doubled over and hacking.
On occasion, Sirius had tried to get his key back. The younger Black would always regard him with his chin tilted and eyes half-lidded, speaking in an insulting manner that always made Sirius irritated enough to forget why they were conversing in the first place.
A week into December, an invisible someone ran across the stone halls of Hogwarts and down into the nest of Slytherins. He slipped into the four-post bed that belonged to a boy he once knew very well. Sirius shifted his eyes in the dark until he saw the glint of his Gringotts key. It was halfway off Regulus' head when a hand shot out and gripped his wrist.
"Again?" Regulus hissed, fingernails digging into his brother's soft skin.
"It wouldn't be if I'd ripped it off your little neck the last time!" Sirius growled. His hand shot out for it. Regulus sat up and threw it in his face. "Take it then, you bastard!"
"You brat!" Sirius lunged forward and Regulus met him head on. He forced their foreheads together and barred his teeth.
"I hate you," he seethed. He pushed forward harder and Sirius pushed back, sinking his fingers like claws down Sirius' chest with enough pressure to draw blood. "Let me remind you that you left your only brother at the venomous fangs of Voldemort. You killed me, Sirius and I scorn you for it."
Sirius wrenched away. Nothing reflected in his cool eyes. "It wasn't my fault. You shouldn't have stayed either."
"You know I wouldn't have run." Regulus jerked back and settled under his covers again. He rolled away and faced the darkness.
"Leave, Sirius. You never came and I never saw you. You don't have to look after me anymore."
Regulus listened as Sirius cloaked himself and retreated without a word. Unexpectedly, a pain like scorching fire slithered up his arm. He quickly muffled his cry against his pillow. Fighting back the heat behind his eyelids, he gritted his teeth and prayed for his life.
He could do this. It would pass. Regulus took a shaky breath.
He'd show them all.
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Thank you all for reading! I know it must have gotten anti-climatic after Sirius left poor Regulus at the house. I debated separating this into two chapters, but it ended up being too short for that. Congratulations on making it to the end! I'd love to hear some feedback.
February 20th, 2007