Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, though I wish Sirius Black was! ;) Everything belongs to JKR, I'm just fiddling around. Only plot is mine...if you can call it a plot.
One of my first works, please R&R...Criticism always welcome...hope you enjoy!

Looking as efficient as ever, Professor McGonagall scanned the the scroll, and called out, "Black, Regulus!"

Regulus took a deep breath, trying to hide his apprehension, and walked to the stool. He lifted the Hat, hands shaking slightly, and placed it on his head. He was staring at the dark inside of the Hat for 2 full seconds, and then, a booming voice filled the Hall, "Slytherin!"

His heart beating fast, he made his way to the Slytherin Table, smiling despite himself at the students clapping ahd the ghosts waving welcome. He felt like he was in a trance, and he hardly noticed where he sat. From where he was sitting, he could see all the four tables in the Hall. But he was interested in only one.

The Gryffindor Table.

Almost immediately, he found the person he was looking for. Sirius Black. Regulus watched, as Sirius was deep in animated conversation with James Potter, and 2 other boys whose names he didn't know. Sirius and James were easily the most popular boys at the Table.

Watching his brother laughing and enjoying himself, Regulus was taken back to his early childhood...

Sirius stealing jam tarts from the kitchen of Grimmauld Place when Regulus woke up hungry in the middle of the night...Sirius teaching him how to mount a broom...Regulus admiring Sirius flying around in their room...Sirius pulling a prank on their muggle neighbour when he had teased Regulus for looking tiny for his age...Sirius imitating random people to cheer him up when he was down...Sirius owning up for the vase he, Regulus, had broken while attempting to fly around the living room...Sirius telling him tales of Hogwarts after he recieved his letter...

But after he came to Hogwarts, it was a different story. He remembered his mother's tantrum after hearing that her son had been sorted into Gryffindor. He had never seen his mother so mad, and he never again wanted to. She had been so angry that her wand had started shooting sparks and almost set the entire living room on fire. When Sirius wrote to say that he would be spending the Christmas holidays at Hogwarts, she had laughed maniacally, screaming,"The insolent Griffindor brat! I wouldn't care if he didn't come back even for summer."

But he had come back for summer, and he was in for a nasty surprise. His father would regard him coldly, and his mother wouldn't even acknowledge his presence in the house. He wasn't called down for meals, and everytime they had visitors (which seldom happened), Sirius's room would mysteriously get locked, and the visitors puzzle over how much time an 11 year-old could spend all by himself al Diagon Alley. Worse still, his parents didn't allow their younger to mingle with Sirius, in case he 'corrupted his mind with ideas he acquired in Gryffindor.'

Regulus was caught in the middle of a cold war. Not knowing what to do, he had listened to his parents about keeping a distance from his elder brother; and out of the fear of being punished, did not sneak up to Sirius's room, as much as he wanted to. Regulus Black was spoilt, drenched in Pure-blood values, and even before his mind had begun to comprehend the choices, he was convinced that no other House but Slytherin would help him on the way to glory. A part of him knew that the treatment Sirius recieved in his house was not what his brother deserved, but if he voiced his opinion on the matter of his brother, all he ended up with was cold stares all evening and no dinner.

Sirius had handled the situation with extreme coolness, never complaining, but always getting back in some way or the other. The first week back, he had left a Gryffindor banner lying on his bed. His father had thrown it away with a warning, "If I see any more of these lying around...", he thundered. He didn't need to finish the sentence. The next day, when his mother opened his room to make sure he had made his bed, she stood open-mouthed at the doorway, silently taking in everything, and then, without warning, the loudest screech ever heard in Grimmauld Place followed. For Sirius Black had not left any more banners 'lying around', he had put it up above his bed with a Permanent sticking Charm. Punishments followed, but the banner remained.

And so it went on for the rest of summer. Sirius would invariably do something that would annoy his parents; and Regulus would have to bear the brunt of whatever havoc Sirius caused. His parents became irritable, annoyed, and jumpy about everything. And Regulus was no longer the pampered prince, but merely an anger outlet. By the end of summer, Regulus realized that having his brother back had been more trouble than it was worth, and was relieved when Sirius returned to Hogwarts for his Second Year.

Sirius seemed to have sensed that his parents did not want him at home unless it was absolutely unavoidable, and so he never came home for any holidays during the School Year. He had written occasionally during First Year, but after he went to Second Year, the only letters from Hogwarts detailing Sirius black's detentions. After every such letter, his mother would go around the house muttering things like; "An absolute disgrace...insolent...arrogant...disobedient prat..." He was made to watch as his father and mother kept up a monotonous conversation about Sirius, who, despite having been brought up by them, had chosen to disgrace the family name in such an obnoxious manner. Regulus, on the other hand, felt happy to be the 'only child' again, and enjoyed the undivided attention.

Time flew, and summer arrived, bringing with it a thouroughly disgruntled Sirius Black. This time, the pranks were new, and punishments were harder. Sirius was locked up in his room for 2 entire days for having put up pictures of muggle girls and a funny looking muggle contraption with two wheels in his room. And after spending two days in his room, he had bounded out joyfully on the third day, only to be locked up again by his mother, for he had spent the two days drawing the Gryffindor banner on about a hundred odd papers, with which he had decorated his ceiling. Sirius had laughed his bark like laugh when his mother screamed, "No food for a day!"

Regulus, however, no longer felt sorry for his brother. He hated his brother, because he was everything Regulus always wanted to be. He would never be able to stand up to his parents like Sirius did; he would never be able to be as popular as Sirius; no one would ever look at him, Regulus Black with half the respect he had for Sirius Black. He was lonely, vulnerable, helpless, all because of Sirius. He hated him.

But deep down, he knew, he would always love his brother. It just was too painful to admit.

That night, when he went to sleep, his last thought was, "The only person I'll be jealous of in my entire life is James Potter. I hope he realizes how lucky he is."