Here's chapter two. I think three will be a bit of an epilogue...

Letting the Prodigal Return:

They stared in silence for a long moment. All the things Regulus had wanted to say – the things he had meticulously planned out as he lay on Sirius's bed in a silent and lonely Grimmauld place – did not come. The Sirius standing in front of him was tired and angry and so much older than he had been. Regulus realized that Sirius had suffered… all the things that Regulus had been afraid of, Sirius had lived them. In a way Sirius had taken up Regulus punishment without even realizing it.

Sirius gazed at his brother for another minute. He couldn't think of anything to say. The only thing running through his mind was that he wanted to see James. He didn't want to face his past, his family. He'd suffered months in the place he hated most and all he wanted now was his best friend in the world.

Without a word he turned around and yanked on the door. It didn't budge. He tried unlocking it. Nothing happened. "It's locked." Regulus murmured.

"I can bloody well tell it's locked! Would you mind telling me why?" Sirius turned to face his brother and glared menacingly. Regulus was giving him an odd look, but he was too angry to interpret it.

Regulus gazed at his brother sadly and silently willed him to understand that he wanted to talk, wanted to fix everything that had gone wrong between them. He couldn't stand up under his brother's wrath for long though and looked away. "I, I think I've been keeping it locked." As he said it he realized it was true. "I haven't wanted to see anyone, especially Mother or Father. I – er, I've been waiting for you. I want to talk Sirius, I wanted to say - "

"I don't want to talk to you." Sirius voice was flat and he walked past Regulus without looking at him. He went upstairs into his room and shut the door. Regulus stared at the locked door for a long time, his heart sinking in his chest.

Sirius was so angry. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to face this. Though he rarely admitted it the rejection of his family had hurt: especially the rejection of Regulus. It did not occur to him that his younger brother had been just as hurt over the years.

Regulus wandered the house aimlessly until his restless feet brought him to his brother's door. He was reminded of his first day here, in his personal purgatory, when he had been so afraid to enter this empty room. But it wasn't empty now. The thing he feared was waiting behind it. And the possibility of rejection was even more real now than it had been fifteen years ago. Regulus had had fifteen lonely years to think and hope and look at his past mistakes with slight detachment. Sirius had had fifteen lonely years to hate and resent and suffer for his family's many mistakes.

Regulus closed his eyes. What he wanted most was an apology from Sirius; for leaving him alone, for hating him. But Regulus knew that it wasn't entirely Sirius fault. Regulus had hated and resented too. And if he didn't go in there and make the first move, nothing would be fixed. Eventually Sirius would realize that he could unlock the front door himself and, and…

He took a deep a deep breath, steeled his nerve, and pushed the door open. Sirius ignored him. He lay on his bed facing the wall and tried to pretend that his brother didn't exist. Regulus stared at his back and thought it ironic that the only place in the house that brought either of them comfort had been abandoned twenty years ago.

"Sirus look at me." Sirius ignored him. Regulus hadn't expected anything less, Sirius was as stubborn as a pig. He waited a few minutes and then marched purposefully to the bed. With more strength than he had ever had in life he pulled his brother out of the bed and to his feet. Sirius let out a yell and took a swing at him, but Regulus had been expecting that and retreated quickly.

Sirius was glaring at him again and gasping like and animal about to spring, but at least he was facing him. Before Sirius could do anything Regulus took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry."

Sirius's mouth fell open and he stared at his brother in shock. "What?! Sorry for what? For keeping the damned door locked…"

"I'm sorry for hating you for all those years. I'm sorry I barely spoke to you after you left. I'm sorry I took the Dark Mark. I'm sorry for disappointing you Sirius."

Sirius stared at his younger brother in shock. He had thought there was no hope for his brother years ago, had thought that Regulus was black to the core, just like their parents. His parents had never and never would apologize for the way he had been treated. His brother had disappeared just before he was sent to Azkaban and he had assumed that he had been killed by Aurors, but… He looked at his brothers exposed forearm and started.

"What happened to the Mark?" he watched Regulus look down at his unblemished forearm and smiled ruefully.

"It started fading the minute I woke up here."

Sirius nodded faintly; still not sure he was ready to forgive, but willing to listen. "Was that all you wanted to say?"

Regulus shook his head. "No. I wanted to tell you how I died. I made sure that if I didn't make it no one would know what I had done until it was the end of Him." Sirius stared at his brother in confusion and then sat down on the bed gesturing for Regulus to do likewise. Regulus chose to sit in the desk chair.

"Go ahead." Regulus took a deep breath and continued.

"One day Voldemort asked me for the use of Kreacher." He ignored Sirius growl of distaste. "I, of course, obliged him. You didn't say 'No' to the Dark Lord. Voldemort returned, but I didn't see a sign of Kreacher for days. Finally I commanded him to return to me, and he did, half dead. He told me that Voldemort had taken him to an island in an underground lake where he made him drink a vile potion. Then he placed a locket in a bowl and refilled the potion. He left Kreacher to the inferi in the lake. I was appalled. I'd already been having doubts about making the wrong decision, but I couldn't just leave, I'd be dead for sure then.

'I decided to make my death count for something. I made Kreacher take me to the underground cavern. It was an incredibly eerie place, not entirely natural. There were bodies floating beneath the surface, the inferi that Kreacher had described to me. I knew that if I disturbed the water I was dead so I turned to the potion. At the bottom of the bowl was the locket, and I realized that it was more than that, it was a horcrux. Voldemort was making them to insure his immortality. I knew that if he were eventually to be defeated that this would have to be destroyed first. I had to get it off that island. So I drank the potion down. I ordered Kreacher not to let me stop, no matter what.

'It was hell… terrible… but I didn't stop. Once it was gone I took the locket out and replaced it with another, one with a note in it to Voldemort, or the next person to realize what he was doing I guess. I gave the horcrux to Kreacher and told him to go home, to destroy it… I don't know if he managed… but at least now it's hidden from Voldemort. I made him leave me on the island and the inferi pulled me down and… I woke up here."

There was silence between them for a long moment. Sirius looked pale and maybe a little guilty. "I almost feel bad for how I treated Kreacher these last months." He muttered. Regulus gave a watery chuckle and Sirius looked at him, really looked at him, and for the first time in twenty years saw his little brother. The boy who had idolized him. The boy who had looked to him for support and comfort, and realized that Regulus had suffered too. Regulus had missed him just as Sirius had refused to miss his little brother.

"I'm sorry too." Sirius said seriously. "I'm sorry for abandoning you… for leaving you with Mother and Father."

Suddenly Regulus was embracing him. All the love that they had denied each other for years was in that hug. And if there were tears in his brother's eyes, Sirius chose not to tease him, because he found that his own cheeks were wet as well.