Disclaimer: I don't own anything that belongs to J.K. Rowling.
A man of his early thirties sat uneasily on his seat. He glanced nervously out of the window of the plane. Below, workers in bright orange vests prepared the plane for flight. This was only the man's second trip on a plane. The last time had been nearly seventeen years ago. He thought it was unnatural that a large hunk of metal could stay up in the air without magical aid. It was something that he could never understand.
The flight attendants came out and demonstrated the safety precautions. The man's mind was somewhere else. He was just now learning the disadvantages of having the middle seat in coach. On one side of him was a portly man. His head was leaned against the window and his eyes were already closed. On the other side was a little boy of about ten. He was very concentrated on a hand-held game.
"Please turn off all electronic devices until we are in the air." The voice of the flight attendant was monotonous.
The little boy continued with his game. The young man leaned over. "I think she means you too," he said in the authoritative voice of that all adults have which makes kids mad.
The boy glared at him. "Who are you to tell me what to do?"
The young man paused for a moment. "I'm Mr. Black." He sounded somewhat surprised that this name came out of his mouth. For years he had been going by the surname Smith. The little boy shut off the game and stared grumpily across the aisle. The rest of the flight was spent in silence. The man called Black found that he could not fall asleep even though the flight was very long. Instead he just tried to relax and not think about what was going to happen when he got off the plane. The boy had fallen asleep. His head laid against Black. A woman who must have been the boy's mother shot him an apologetic look.
"We have now landed in London, England. The temperature is currently 21 degrees Celsius. We hope you enjoyed your flight."
Black grabbed the only suitcase he had packed from the overhead compartment. He wanted to get off the plane right away but he was toward the back. The passengers in the front had already swarmed into the aisle, forming a wall. Black was too anxious. He suddenly felt very claustrophobic. The line moved slowly. When he exited the plane, it just like a car that finally got out of traffic. The man hurried up the ramp and out of the airport. The dank fumes of London had never smelt so good to him. He took a full breath of air before flagging down a taxi.
"Number twelve, Grimmauld Place," Black barked at the driver. Without a word, the car flew down the streets of London. After only a few minutes the taxi stopped at an old house. Black handed the driver a few coins. He, however was entranced by his old home. He had no idea what to expect.
Black uneasily made his way to the wooden door. His eyes traveled over the complex patterns that he knew so well. He tried to open it but the door would not budge. He rang the bell. His stomach was swimming. A mixture of nervousness and plane peanuts threatened to spill out on the doorstep. Was that his mother he heard screaming? It was a voice he would have recognized anywhere. The door swung open. To Black, it seemed to take forever.
The man behind the door looked stunned. "Sirius?" he asked. The man had thinning brown hair. Premature age lines gave him an older appearance.
Black knew who this was. He had often seen him at school and his own house. It struck him as odd though that this man was standing in his old house. "No Remus," Black said. "It's me. Regulus."
Remus Lupin stared, dumbfounded. Regulus Black cleared his throat. Lupin said nothing. "Ummm . . . is my brother here?"
Lupin's face grew dark. The age lines on his face deepened. To Lupin, the sight of Sirius's brother was like looking at his old friend himself. "Why don't you come in?" Lupin led Black to the kitchen. It was different from the last time Regulus had seen it. It was much simpler. The family heirlooms had been removed. It looked cheerier than he had ever seen it. "Butterbeer?" asked Remus.
Regulus shook his head. "If Sirius isn't here, I can come back later or if you know where he is I'll-" He was cut off
"Sirius is dead. Bellatrix killed him," Remus's throat tightened. He couldn't meet the man's eyes. "It happened almost a year ago."
A million thoughts ran through Regulus's mind. His own brother was dead. The brother that he had never gotten to apologize to for his childhood behavior. His cousin had killed his brother. His favorite cousin. The one he used to share everything with. She was the murderer of his brother. "My," his voice faltered. "My mother. Where is she? I heard her yelling."
Lupin gestured to a portrait nearby. "She's been dead for years," he said apologetically.
Regulus put his head in his hands. He began to sob. Everything that had happened while he was gone overwhelmed him. He wanted to run away. There was nowhere to run. He had to face it this time. When Black stopped crying, Lupin was still there, a slightly confused look on his face. "What?" Regulus spat at the man.
Remus must have realized the expression he had on his face. "I'm sorry," he paused. "It's just that the whole world believed that you had died seventeen years ago."
For a moment, Regulus said nothing. He was trying to gather his thoughts. "I never died." It may seem like a silly thing to state but he needed to and Lupin needed to hear it. "I never wanted to kill anyone. I wanted to make Mother happy but I never wanted to hurt anyone. When it came the time to kill a mudblood I couldn't do it. I was supposed to die but the man who was ordered to do it was my friend. He let me go. I ran away. I escaped to Ireland and then took a plane to America. I've been living there ever since. I thought," his voice faltered, "I just thought that come see everyone. I was going to tell Sirius I was sorry for being such a prat. I was going to tell Bella I was sorry that I ran away. I was going to tell Mother I was sorry that I let her down." Silence followed. Remus didn't know what to say. "I would do anything to change the choices I made. Anything."
Finally Lupin spoke. "Do you have any idea what has been going on in England the past seventeen years?"
Regulus shook his head. "No, I had to cut myself off from the wizarding world. I couldn't take the chance of being discovered."
"Regulus, have you truly changed?" Lupin had seen first hand the kind of teenager the Sirius's brother had been. There was something in him though, something that Sirius had. It made it hard to doubt whatever he said was anything but the truth.
He nodded.
Lupin summarized what had happened in the past seventeen years. "Sixteen years ago there was a prophecy made that a baby boy was born who would either kill or be killed by Voldemort. He attacked the boy he thought he might share the prophecy with. That was Harry Potter, James' and Lily's little boy. In doing so, Harry survived and the attack somehow connected Harry to Voldemort. Voldemort became very weak until two years ago when he came back. Since then he's gained more power. Last year he sent Harry visions. One of them was a trick. Harry thought Sirius was being tortured and fell into Voldemort's trap. Sirius was killed by Bellatrix trying to save Harry." Remus paused to let this sink in. He was also fighting with his conscience about whether to tell Regulus this next bit of information. "A year ago, Dumbledore also reinstated the Order of the Phoenix. We fight against Voldemort. Sirius gave us this house to use as head quarters. I'm sure Dumbledore would be very pleased to have you join us. Would you like that?"
Regulus nodded. "I would."He was shocked by all this news. It meant one thing for him though. This job would give him a small consolation for his unsaid words.
A/N: I just reread the Order of the Phoenix and I thought about what would happen if Sirius's brother Regulus never died. For now, this is one-shot but I may take it further. I hope you found it interesting.