Hi folks! I apologize for the long period of absence. This one's for Regulus. He's one of the characters that I feel was given far less than what he deserved. He was only eighteen when he died to stop Voldemort. He went to such extent to protect his family. No one knew the truth of his death until the trio finally got the story out of Kreacher. Sirius died never knowing how much alike they were, in aspects of bravery and selflessness. It hurts to think about his tragedy. Please read it and tell me what you think!
-Amber
Silver
A burst of stinging cold wind pushed past him into the house, bringing along an unwanted gift of snow. Sirius slammed the door shut behind him and shook the snow and icicles in his hair out like a dog.
"Sirius! What did I tell you about getting snow and slush all over the rug?" A reproachful voice said. Lily leaned against the counter, one hand tenderly caressing the baby yet to meet the world. Sirius grinned and cleared the mess with a swipe of his wand: "Sorry, Lils. So where's James? What's so important that he actually made me go through a snow storm in the middle of the night to come here? As far as I see…" He squinted his silvery grey eyes, "unless you suddenly turned into a glutton and grew a ton of fat, you're still pregnant and …"
He stopped short as Lily threw a pillow in his face. "I'm not due until July and you know that!"
Sirius pulled the pillow off his face and moved to sit down front of the toasty fire. "Seriously, what's happening? And I'm not asking that to myself." He winked at Lily. But Lily didn't return his smile. She started playing with the ends of her dark red braid.
No one ever failed to spot his name jokes. Lily would always roll her eyes and smile. Sirius felt a flutter of dread. "Did something happen? Where is James?"
"James is fine. He'll be here in a minute. It's better if he explain it." Lily smiled as if to reassure him. Or herself.
What happened afterwards—James coming home with a grim, sad look, breaking the news with his fingers crossed tightly, and Lily turning her back to the men to wipe away tears—Sirius watched all of it calmly. When James was done, Sirius tilted his head and said: "That's it?"
James' warm brown eyes met his cold grey ones cautiously: "Yes. That's all I know."
Sirius picked himself up from the floor and stretched: "And here I was thinking someone in the Order died. If there's nothing else, I have to get going."
The couple exchanged looks but remained silent as they stood in the hallway to see Sirius off.
Sirius trudged through the snow towards his beloved motorbike and suddenly wondered if his god-damned mother had heard of the news or not—her favorite, precious little Slytherin son was dead. Not that he cared. But that thought brought, in a very untimely fashion, the face of a young boy into his mind. The boy was thin, with silvery grey eyes and silky raven hair. A smile that gave away the boy's admiration and happiness completed the picture. For one moment, Sirius struggled to remember who that was.
When the name finally found his way to his lips, Sirius stopped in his tracks.
"Regulus." He whispered. The name carried through the air like a vague sigh, vanishing into the darkness.
Sirius wanted to laugh at how long it took for him to recognize his little brother's childhood face. But the muscles around the corners of his mouth was tight. The two brothers had fallen apart a long time ago, barely after the younger one started at Hogwarts. That admiration in Regulus' eyes when he looked up at his big brother, along with the innocent smile, had disappeared so long ago Sirius always doubted if it ever existed. Now memories of that young face came flooding out of their dusty, forgotten hiding place.
"Promise you will write?" Regulus clung to his older brother's arm, blinking hard to hide the tears threatening to fall. Sirius was too excited about finally boarding the train to start his journey at Hogwarts to really pay attention. But he bent down and whispered solemnly in his ear: "I swear I will write every week."
"Really?" Regulus looked up, doubtful. Hogwarts Express let out a shrill whistle and groaned as clouds of white smoke started puffing.
Sirius cracked a grin: "Of course. Siriusly. Get it?"
Regulus laughed at last, forgetting the dread of the coming months without his big brother around.
But Sirius wrote only one letter. What he got in response was a letter of awkward rigid words of disappointment about Sirius being sorted into Gryffindor as if Regulus was writing down words of others. At the end of the letter a message from their mother appeared by magic. She forbade Sirius to talk to his younger brother again unless he somehow gets transferred to Slytherin. Regulus had apparently believed everything their parents said and when Sirius came home for Christmas, stood uncomfortably at the door while Sirius argued with their hysterical mother. When Sirius finally caught Regulus' eyes, he realized things would never be the same anymore—the spark had vanished. That was the first crack. Soon the little gap split and expanded wider and wider until there was a fathomless strait between the brothers.
He was too soft. Sirius shook his head in distaste, forcing himself off the memory lane. Too soft and too stupid. He didn't understand what Voldemort was doing. When he finally did, he couldn't handle it. And now he's dead.
The snow storm had stopped. Everything was so still Sirius thought he might as well be frozen in time. Silver moonlight spilled over the snow, making it almost too bright to look at. No matter how hard Sirius tried to forget, the memory of young Regulus' silver eyes bright with admiration and joy was seared in his mind. Sirius struggled to move. When he finally lifted his foot he broke into a sprint. Snow crunched under his boots and the moon wept silver tears.
Regulus was dead, just like the spark in his silver eyes that had vanished so many years ago.
So how was it? I don't feel that confident with this one but I hope I did Regulus justice. We should never forget his intelligence, his bravery as well as his love and sacrifice.
-Amber
