Magpies
Seeker
A/N: This is the Seeker from the Montrose Magpies writing for QLFC Round 11.
Prompt: SEEKER: Write about a second chance on a rainy day(s) OR a missed opportunity on a snowy night(s). (I chose to use the second option.)
The frost-covered ground crunched underfoot as Regulus walked through Diagon Alley. Antonin had wanted to distract him — after all, today was Sirius' first birthday away from family. Although he knew that Antonin only had his best interests at heart, the offer of a night out was a painful reminder that his brother was gone. An attempt was better than nothing, Regulus thought with a sigh, a little cloud puffing from his lips like he was a dragon. He and Sirius used to play at being them when they were little… until their mother had told them off for acting like magical creatures when they had the purest of blood.
Nobody at home had even acknowledged his absence, although Regulus suspected Cissy was feeling it more than she let on. She hadn't surfaced for the family dinner they'd had earlier in the day. Bella had told everyone she was ill, but it wasn't a convincing argument, largely due to the aggression in her voice when she'd said it. It was some strange, mild comfort to him that it wasn't only him who cared about his brother's absence — that he wasn't a blood traitor to everyone in their family.
As he rounded a corner into Knockturn Alley, robes flowing behind him, he felt a sharp tug in his stomach and a hand on his shoulder. Just before the sensation of being pulled through a vacuum engulfed him, he realised that he was being Disapparated.
His feet hit the floor, slipping and sliding on ice, and he felt the pressure on his body suddenly give, forcing a gasp from him.
"Reggie…"
The voice, that painfully familiar, smooth voice, caused the calculations running through his mind to halt abruptly. He turned around slowly, and all he could think of was how he was going to be late to see Dolohov if he didn't hurry. He almost didn't care.
He came face to face with the face he had been yearning to see for so long. Since they had returned to Hogwarts, Regulus had done his best to keep his eyes down, to not look at his brother for fear of crying or of one of his relatives noticing. He wasn't supposed to miss his brother. It didn't change the fact that he did. And now, looking into his older, and only, brother's face, he felt his heart jump to his throat, causing an almost painful lump to form there. He swallowed past it, forcing the feeling into the pits of his stomach.
He took a deep breath in a vain attempt to steady his heartbeat. "We're in Scotland, aren't we?"
Sirius only nodded, his hair following the movement, brushing the cloth covering his shoulders as it had always done. It was… nice to see that his brother hadn't changed his aristocratic hair. The way he dressed, however, was a completely different story.
His legs were clad in a stiff material Regulus didn't recognise, and the short-sleeved shirt he wore clung to his arms, which had become noticeably more muscular, and had the words 'Black Sabbath' emblazoned across the front.
"We are," said Sirius, shifting his feet across a patch of ice. "Reggie, it's denim," he added with a chuckle.
Regulus looked up at his brother with a quizzical frown. "A Muggle material, isn't it?" he responded, switching his confused expression for a sneer. It was the only way he knew how to deal with his changed brother, and he wished he knew another way when he saw Sirius flinch ever so slightly at the barb.
"That it is, Reggie," said Sirius, arching an eyebrow — it seemed like he was almost daring his little brother to say something else blood-related — the thing that had split them apart in the first place.
The wind picked up, and the Scottish late autumn nights were not forgiving. The breeze felt like knives down his throat when Regulus breathed it in, and speaking was out of the question for a few moments whilst he adjusted to the change.
"How are you not freezing?" asked Regulus through gritted teeth as he ran his hands up and down his arms, trying to warm himself up.
Sirius only laughed. "I've been up here for ages; I only popped down south to pick you up. I'm used to it."
Regulus shook his head, ignoring the ache he felt at the fact that his brother had taken the time and effort to see him in particular.
"If you think this is cold, then you're going to want to wrap up. It's going to snow, according to the weather forecast," said Sirius with a smirk.
He was painfully the same as ever, and Regulus felt his eyes begin to blur. He could not, and would not, cry — not here; not in front of Sirius. He would think that Regulus wanted to go home with him, wherever that was at the moment, and as tempting as it was, Regulus couldn't deal that second blow to his parents.
"Who said I was going to stay long enough to see it snow?" said Regulus; his tone was deliberately monotonous, and he could see the hurt on Sirius' face, icing it over.
"Reggie," said his brother softly, "you love the snow."
Never had Regulus been the victim of any Unforgivable Curse, but in that moment, he could have been certain that this awful twisting feeling within him was what it felt like.
"Sirius, I don't think you understand. Just because you got to go off and live in your dream world..." Here, he had to pause, the lump in his throat returning with a vengeance.
"Reggie — "
"Stop," said Regulus through gritted teeth, "calling me that."
"Listen to me — "
"Why? So you can tell me how I can leave Mother and Father like you did? Run away from my responsibilities like you did? I'm sorry, but Sirius, not all of us have the luxury of playing in the snow all of our lives."
He saw Sirius' arms reaching out for him, and as desperately as he wanted to jump into his brother's embrace, he knew it would dissolve any resolve he had in him.
"Happy birthday, brother," he whispered, Disapparating just as Sirius' arms were about to close around him, and he felt the first drops of snow fall onto his face.