Regulus at 11
Eleven year old Regulus danced merrily in front of his brother's bedroom.
Do you wanna play some Quidditch?
We need the practice too
Cause next year we'll be trying out
When school restarts
And I go back with you!
Regulus was so excited. In a few months , he would get to go back to Hogwarts with Sirius and finally see what everybody was talking about. Not that he had any idea. Not that he hadn't asked had sent him endless owls asking him about life at Hogwarts. The only time they ever returned with anything was three months into the year. One of the owls was carrying the friendship bracelet he had given him. Regulus had assumed it had been for safekeeping.
Sirius had barely spoken to him at all in the week he had come home for Easter. When he had arrived on the train, he seemed incredibly surly faced and grumpy, as though he would have rather stayed in school. He replied all of Regulus's questions about Hogwarts, on the way home, with one word answers and he shut himself up in his room the moment he came back. Regulus hardly ever saw him come out.
He couldn't wait to go back. He and Sirius were going to be so cool in school together. They were going to be best friends, make the highest marks, and play pranks on the teachers like they did on their spiffy relatives who were always dropping in, claiming that their blood was as pure as the driven snow (whatever that meant)
Sirius opened the door without any warning. Regulus narrowly avoided getting his nose broken by it by falling on his backside. Sirius seemed six feet tall, looking down at him, as well as livid with rage. His eyes were filled with so much anger that Regulus scuttled backwards.
"Listen. Regulus. Firstly, I'm not going to be trying out for the team, there are no Gryffindor positions open, regardless of what Mum and Dad bribed last year's Slytherin Seeker to fall off his broom and break his wrist in order to create an opening for yourself when you come to Hogwarts" He said acidly.
"Secondly, I don't want to have anything to do with you when you come to Hogwarts. You will not talk to me. You will not talk about me to any of your filthy little Slytherin pure-blood manic worshipers. You will not so much as tell anybody that I am your brother. You will not come near me in school. You will not sit on the train with me and my friends. You will not so much as look at me. If you come within ten feet of me in Hogwarts, I will make you wish that you never got your Hogwarts letter." Regulus felt as though he had been hit with seven knock-back jinxes.
"Besides," He added, his voice dripping with sarcasm and bitterness.
"You'll be too busy hanging out with your band of muggle-hating, pureblood-arse kissing followers who will probably worship the ruddy ground you walk on because your a dutiful pureblood Slytherin who comes from a rich family who hates anything non-magic and swallows the crap they shove down their throat like a chocolate frog card!" This was said with so much rage and anger that the sentences was barely coherent by the time Sirius was spitting them out like they were poison. Even if he had taken better time to even out the spacing between them, Regulus had no idea what he was talking about. What was Sirius talking about?
. "...everything a Slytherin should be and much more. You won't have time for your blood traitor Gryffindor brother now will you? Now if you'll excuse me, I need to write to my friends so bugger the bloody hell off!"
With that, he slammed the door shut with such force that several of the portraits down the hall were heard yammering indignantly.
For a moment Regulus stood there dumbfounded, unsure of what just happened. Then he began to replay Regulus's spontaneous tirade over and over. By the fifth time he had done so, his eyes were filled with tears. What did he do?
"I thought I was your best mate" He whimpered softly.
"But I guess I'm not"
"But...I don't understand why!"
In a voice that was barely qualifiable for a whimper, he said, terrified his brother would hear "Do you wanna play some Quidditch?"