Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Brothers...
Sweat beaded on Sirius' forehead, his breathing sounded harsh and too-loud in his ears, as he crept along the wall, inching toward the dimly lit staircase. He strained his ears for footsteps, or possibly, Mrs. Norris creepy little purr, but now sound came.
Cursing himself for not having the guts to ask James to borrow his cloak, Sirius darted from his spot against the wall, to the staircase across the corridor. Letting out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding the moment he reached the other side.
He vaulted the steps two at a time, praying that he wouldn't have to wait very long once he reached the top.
As it turned out, he didn't.
Regulus was already waiting for him. Wringing his hands nervously, his eyebrows pulled together in a frown.
Sirius creeped up beside him, "Hey," he whispered, simultaneously clapping a hand over his little brother's mouth, effectively muffling the frightened scream he knew would come.
Without removing his hand, he hauled his brother into the only broom cupboard in the entire fifth floor corridor.
As soon as the door was closed behind them, Regulus ripped himself from his brother's grasp, "Don't do that!" he hissed, shoving Sirius a little. The push wasn't hard enough to move him anywhere though, and Sirius only grinned down at the younger boy, the white of his teeth barely showing in the dark.
"I can't help it," he whispered in reply, "You're just so easy to scare."
Regulus crossed his arms over his chest with a harrumph, "I am not," he insisted haughtily.
Sirius shrugged, "Alright then," he agreed, feeling as though his brother was a bit more upset by the comment than he let on, "You aren't."
He passed his fingers over Regulus' hair, ruffling it, "You're a regular-"
Regulus pushed his arm away, "A regular what? Gryffindor?" he asked, voice wobbling suspiciously, "I'm not either, Sirius, and you know it. I'm all alone in Slytherin, and you promised-"
"I didn't promise you anything, Reg, don't be stupid."
His brother sniffed, "Well I'm still alone. I haven't got any friends yet," he muttered, adding, "And cousins don't count," before Sirius could reply.
Sirius scuffed the tip of his trainer against the wooden floor of the cupboard, "It's only been a day since the sorting, Reg," he said, his voice pitched between consoling and embarrassment at having left his eleven-year-old brother alone, "I didn't have friends at first."
Regulus sniffed again, this time Sirius could here him wipe his arm across his face, "You told me that you and James Potter were friends on the train," he said, almost accusingly, "And you didn't visit me on the train like you said you would."
Sirius winced, "Sorry, Reg.. forgot," he said weakly.
"I saw you, on my way back from the lavatory, laughing with James Potter and those two other boys."
This time the accusation in his baby brother's voice was painfully apparent.
Sirius cleared his throat a little, pulling at the collar of his pajama shirt, "Sorry," he muttered.
And when Regulus continued to sniff dejectedly, Sirius reached out with both hands, aiming for his brother's shoulders. He gripped them tightly as he pulled Regulus forward, "I'll make it up to you," he said, his brother's face was close enough now that Sirius could make out the whites of his eyes, "We'll meet here, once a week, every-" he mentally calculated which day would be best, "Thursday, at 10:00."
"But that's after curfew," said Regulus, sounding appalled.
Sirius rolled his eyes, "So is this," he said, releasing his brother's shoulders and flapping a hand at the door to the broom cupboard.
"D'you promise?" asked Regulus, looking up at Sirius, dark curls sliding away from his eyes.
Sirius ruffled his hair, "Yeah," he answered, tugging at a particularly curly piece of Regulus' hair, "I do."
00 00
"Why didn't you come?"
The harsh question didn't catch him by surprise. Sirius had already been expecting his brother to corner him after missing their usual 'meet up' last night. All the same, the betrayed look on his little brother's face had shame creeping through him like spiders.
"Shite, Reg. I'm sorry," he shrugged his shoulders apologetically, "I had detention," he offered.
Regulus' arms were crossed over his chest, his lips turned down, and his eyebrows furrowed, "I waited and waited," he said miserably, "I even fell asleep in Charms class from staying up too late. And now Mum will be angry with me for getting bad grades."
Sirius was hard put not to roll his eyes then, honestly, was he this whiny when he were eleven? And who cared what mum thought anyway?
"I said I was sorry. And I told you, I had detention... with Filch," he said impatiently, leaning against the wall of the broom cupboard, he tried not to tap his foot. Instead, he jiggled his wand, casting the light from his Lumos Charm around the enclosed space.
Regulus' bottom lip wobbled, "I bet you were with that James Potter too. You're always with him."
Merlin save him from petulant little brothers.
"Yes, I was. Not that it's any of your ruddy business anyway, We're friends," he snapped, immediately regretting his outburst when his brother's shoulders sagged pitifully.
"You promised," Regulus muttered, ducking his head, taking a sudden interest in the toes of his trainers, but not before Sirius caught sight of the sparkling wetness in his brother's bright blue eyes.
Guilt churned in his belly. He knew he shouldn't have played that prank when McGonagall was around. He knew Regulus had wanted to talk to him, last night especially, he'd passed Sirius a note at breakfast.
Sirius scuffed his trainers against the floor of the cupboard, shoving his hands deep in his pockets, "I am sorry, Reg," he muttered to his belt buckle, fisting his hands in their fabric confines.
He peeked up at his brother sheepishly, smiling weakly, and watching as Regulus swiped his wrist across his nose, sniffing heartily.
"Just don't do it again, alright?"
Sirius nodded.
0000
"You absolute prat!"
Well... no need to wonder whether he'd be angry or not.
"Don't be an arse, Reg," said Sirius warningly, shoving passed his brother and dropping bag against the wall. He hoisted himself up to sit in the window sill, drawing his knees up to his chest and circling them with his arms, gripping one wrist with the opposite hand to hold them there.
He glared out over the grounds, feeling even angrier that it was such a bright and sunny day outside. It was almost as though the perfect weather was mocking him. As mad as that sounded. But Sirius didn't feel much like being reasonable.
Not today.
"What's got you in a strop?" asked Regulus, though he sounded a lot less irritated then he had when Sirius had first stomped through the corridor toward him.
Sirius ignored him, continuing his visual assault on the Hogwarts grounds and all those enjoying themselves on it.
Regulus came closer, leaning against the wall beside the window, far enough a way that Sirius couldn't reach out and cuff him over the head.
"Is it that girl? The one you went with instead of meeting me?" There was no mistaking the bitterness in his brother's voice.
Merlin, was that all the wanker cared about? Their stupid meetings?
Sirius grit his teeth, tightening his hold on his wrist, "Grow up, idiot. You don't need me to meet up with you every week anymore." Then, as if his tone wasn't vicious enough, he added, "You can wiipe your own damn nose," feeling a perverse sense of pleasure when his brother's cheeks colored.
Regulus crossed his arms over his chest defensively, glaring at his brother, "Fifteen isn't much older than fourteen, you berk, and I didn't want you to wipe my nose," Regulus jammed his back against the wall again, "We used to be friends," he said, barely audible.
Sirius ignored the guilty twinge in his gut, "You skipped that last meeting," he said, flicking his hair behind his ear with a quick shake of his head. He turned his glare on his brother.
Regulus' cheeks went even pinker, "I told you I couldn't come."
"Yeah, and it wasn't because of a girl was it?" asked Sirius, his eyes narrowing, "You lied. You told me you were going to meet up with that bird from Ravenclaw, but you know what," Sirius slipped off the sill, breathing harshly and thoroughly incensed, "I saw her last night, when James, Remus, and I were sneaking to the kitchens. You weren't with her at all, in fact, she was with that little shite from Slytherin, the one you're always following around... Mulciber."
Almost involuntarily, Sirius had inched forward until he was towering over his younger brother, his fists clenched and his eyes glittering with anger.
He shook his head, letting out a small, humorless laugh, "You think I don't see what kind of sick bastards you've been hanging around?" The question was rhetoric but Regulus answered anyway.
"How would I know if you noticed anything?" he demanded, kicking off the wall with his heel, he stepped closer to Sirius, barely noticing that they were both puffing out their chests. He had to tilt his head up a bit to see his brother's face, but that didn't bother him, Sirius had always been a head taller than he.
"You're always roaming about with your precious friends! All of your heads are shoved so far up each others arses, I'd be surprised if you noticed anything!" Using both of his hands, he shoved Sirius, causing his brother to step back quickly to keep from falling, "You don't care about anyone but them," he said, his brow furrowed so deeply his eyes were squinting, "I bet you wished you never had to come home or see me at all!"
Some of the fury left Sirius at that. Truly, he felt sorry for his brother, at least he, Sirius, got to spend Christmas and most of summer hols with the Potters. But Regulus, he didn't have anyway to get away from their overbearing mother... or their drunkard of a father.
But then again, Walburga Black adored Regulus. Her perfect son.
She'd said more often than not, that she wished Sirius had never been born.
Sirius let out a heavy sigh and scrubbed both hands over his face. He was tired. The upcoming OWLs were more stressful than he had let on to James, Remus, and Peter, not to mention that he'd spent the last hour listening to Mariah Ringwald screech at him for forgetting their 2-week-aversay... the last twenty minutes of that hour -when he should have been in the corridor with Regulus- had involved shaking her off as she sobbed when Sirius broke it off.
"Listen, Reg... you know why I don't come home," he muttered the last bit, feeling almost ashamed of his mother's hatred for him.
All at once his brother's tone turned beseeching, "But Sirius, maybe if you just tried-"
Sirius slashed his hand through the air between them, effectively cutting his brother off, "I'm done trying, Reg, I'm not going to be their perfect little pawn." Then, in an accusing tone, "Like you are."
Regulus stiffened, "Is that what you think?" he bit out, "That I'm doing what they want to make them love me?"
Sirius didn't nod, but Regulus knew the answer already.
"Not all of us can be as brave as are, brother," he said softly, regretfully, before brushing passed his brother and leaving the corridor, somehow knowing that he and Sirius wouldn't be meeting there... or perhaps anywhere, again.
A/N: I wrote this while trying to get my muse up for the next chapter of Just For Now... I always thought there weren't enough stories about Sirius and Regulus... :)