Summary: What if you were given the chance to say the unsaid? What if you were given the chance to tell the truth and what you have waited to say for a lifetime? Do you think it would make a difference, or would it just simply be salt in the wound? Could it possibly change the future, or just ruin the ties you desperately wanted to mend?
Disclaimer: No, I am not the owner of Harry Potter, I just have a huge amount of time to play around with the characters!
Key: ' ' = thought, flashback ; " " = verbal
Characters: Sirius Black and Regulus Black
Categories: Drama and Angst
Rated: T for language
Sirius Black sat quietly at a muggle coffee shop, softly twirling around his straw in his white chocolate mocha and munching on a banana muffin, whilst reading an entertainment magazine about the latest buzz in this place called 'Hollywood'. Well, he had to hand it to the muggles, their food wasn't all that bad. The night before he had made a trip to the movie store to pick up a few action movies and then make his way to the neighborhood pizza shop, helping himself to a full box of cheese, pepperoni, and sausage pizza with a side of jumbo Coca-Cola. Yes, it had been a very good meal, yet he woke up with a killer stomach-ache and a stain of sauce from the pizza on his white undershirt. Okay, so maybe it wasn't healthy or clean, but it was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted. He looked around. Where in Merlin's name was his brother? He had somewhere to be after all, he didn't have time to sit around for him to show up. He was going to go to Godric's Hollow to visit his best friend James and play some quidditch, maybe even play with baby Harry a bit before he had to leave, and the time was getting later and later.
At last, he saw Regulus walk in, a smaller and younger version of Sirius himself, stare around uncomfortably before recognizing Sirius and making his way between the large mass of muggles and sitting on the seat opposite of him. "Morning, Reggie," said Sirius, making a point to take a long drink of his hot mocha and setting it down before making eye contact with his younger sibling. "How's Mum?"
Regulus rolled his eyes and took off his jacket. "Mum's peachy. Bellatrix graduated a few days back, and Mum wouldn't shut up about it for about three days at the feast in the Black estate out in France. I just got back a few hours ago, which is why I was late."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I've never heard you talk about Mum so. You being the suck-up and all, I would've figured you'd still be worshipping the ground she treaded on even after the feasts were done with."
Regulus glared at his older brother for the longest time, and then looked down. "I've never been a suck-up," he said in a quiet voice. Sirius scoffed, and took a bite out of his muffin. "Right. And all those times you wrote back to Mummy and Daddy about every possible sin their oldest could have commited, how I sunk out of the house in the middle of the night to visit my friends, and during Christmas break you always took a point to show off your 'skills' in front of them, when really it was kindergarten work compared to what I could but chose not to do. Now tell me, tattletale Reggie, is that not a kiss-ass for ya?"
"My God, Sirius! Why can't you just let it go?" Regulus voice raised above all other conversation, and for a moment everyone became quieter to listen in. The older brother smirked and took another swig of his hot drink, slightly burning his tongue. He cleared his throat and kept his voice dangerously low, squaring his brother a dark look that the Black family was very familiar for. "Because you always, always turned me in. You never once backed me up, no matter what."
Now it was Regulus' turn to laugh. "My God. Okay you may be right on many points, Sirius. I did turn you in many times, and I did suck up at times while we grew up. But you never, ever took up for me. There had been times, one especially when Mum disowned you, that I did take up for you. Granted it was not a complete out there sort of thing, but I basically got on my hands and knees for her to at least keep your name on your door and your things in their proper place. I could've helped her take your things out, but I didn't. Why? Because I always secretly took hope that one day you might return! But have you once ever taken up for me, your own younger brother? No, never."
He paused, taking in a fierce breath and putting up a hand when Sirius was about to interrupt. "No. Shut it, okay? For once can you not be the big mouth Gryffindor that you always were during school? See, that's another thing! You always pushed my friends and I around during the year. Unrelentless, haughty, and just plain mean at times you were and that Potter! With Lupin I could have at least a civilized conversation with when in the library and the rest of the group was not present, but Pettigrew was so dense that he could not ever make any other friends other than the ones he worshipped. He was and still is, the creepist human I have ever laid my eyes on. Now, moving on from your little gang, the fact that you always picked on my friends, Severus Snape especially, pissed me off to no avail and one of the biggest reasons why I disliked you so intently!"
"Oh but brother you always picked the slimiest comrades. Lucius, Rabastan and Rodolphus, our cousins Bellatrix and Narcissa, Snape, Crouch, and Rosier, all the most evil people I've ever seen. And on the subject of Snivellus, he was a greasy git and would always creepily follow Lily Evans. What Potter and I did was in thought of protecting her, not just picking on him, although he was a very easy target. And what I saw was my little brother being turned into the same people my mother and father were...supporters of Voldemort!"
"I was not a supporter of Voldemort! I may have at one point, yes, but once I saw what he was like, and how misguided my friends were, I quit accompanying them to the Death Eater meetings! But I could and still cannot just come out and say it! I'm too far in, I would either be tortured into insanity or murdered as an example!" Regulus voice lowered, and he looked deep into his brothers eyes, begging him silently to believe him. "I can't get out, Sirius. I'll never be as brave as you are. I'm going to either die or be thrown in Azkaban, I can't turn back."
Sirius stared back, and he started to slowly believe his little brother. The more he did, the more he felt like an awful, good-for-nothing git who had no soul. How could he have let his brother do this? Wasn't it an older brother's job to protect his younger sibling from this shit that the world could conjure up? "But.." he began, unsure of exactly what to say next, "isn't there a way? Surely it's not all...hopeless..."
"Oh, but it is, brother," said Regulus sadly, "I should've listened to you. I should have rebelled as you did. But it's too late for me. Look," he gripped his brother's arm tightly, "I have been, how shall I put it, protecting you, from what could happen. I lead them away from where I know you and your friends will be, as best as I can. But sometimes, I am not successful, and I know in the future, I won't be successful always. But please, if I never see you again, I want you to know that I always wanted to be like you, and no matter what happens, I did it for the cause that you firmly believe in. The Dark Lord will be brought down, and I will die for that to become true if need be."
Sirius blinked away tears and grabbed onto his brothers shoulder. "You are not going to die, Reg...'' he choked out, "not if I have a say in the matter." Regulus sighed and shrugged. "Well, we don't know what the future will bring, do we Sirius?" He shook his head and looked down and cleared his throat. "I must be on my way now. Mum's expecting me to pick up a few things in Knockturn Alley, and she never likes me to be late." He stood and put on his jacket, moving a lock of his hair out of his face before looking back to Sirius, who was still teary-eyed and solemn. "Don't despair, brother. This will end sooner or later. Have fun at the Potter's." With one final nod, he turned on his heel and left the coffee shop, out of his brother's sight within just a few seconds. 'Well, I am done with my coffee,' thought Sirius, and he too stood up, threw away his mocha and muffin, left the shop and apparated to Godric's Hollow, set on seeing his best friend for what darkly felt would be his last time.
Now, it is known that on June 18th, 1996 in the Death Chamber, Level 9 of the Headquarters of the Ministry of Magic, Sirius Orion Black was killed by his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, and taken into the Veil not long thereafter, leaving his friends and his god-son Harry Potter behind to fight the war against Lord Voldemort and his loyal Death Eaters. He was known very well to be a strong fighter and someone who was loyal to the Order and his colleagues. His brother, Regulus Arcturus Black, a few years before although the time is not clear, died to for the cause to bring down the Dark Lord. He traveled to a seaside cave to switch Salazar Slytherin's Locket, but was dragged underneath the water by the Inferi and never to be seen of again. Before he had set out with his house-elf Kreacher, he specifically ordered the elf to switch the lockets at all costs, and to leave no matter what happened. Below is the note he left for Lord Voldemort enclosed in the locket:
"To the Dark Lord - I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more. -R.A.B."
When Sirius Black heard of his brother's disappearance, he knew, deep inside from his memory of his last meeting with his brother, that Regulus had indeed given up his life so that Voldemort could be brought down. When he heard, he was sitting, alone, in his cell in Azkaban, and he knew that now Regulus had done something for the cause, he must get out as soon as possible. He turned his mess of matted hair and with crazed eyes, whispered the name of the boy he knew he must find, and of the traitor he must kill. "He is at Hogwarts, with Harry Potter, he is there..."
THE END
A/N: Soooo...what do you think? Good, bad, indifferent? Read & Review, constructive criticism, etc., just please no flaming! Love you! -underamyth3
