ⅱ. The Brothers That Care Forgot
Little rows that brother and sisters have, the occasional little spats about how the other had done something and them getting blamed for it. These were very usual cases, seen in almost every family. But that did not happen in the black family. Everyone who despised the way that the family worked (pure-blood equals royalty), were rivals against the other members of the family. The most prominent amongst them was Sirius Black, and he constantly fights with his younger brother, Regulus.
First it was the fight about how Sirius didn't uphold the family honor and been sorted into Gryffindor. Regulus was only ten.
The fight shook the whole house, mostly it was Regulus who did the shouting. Sirius only watched him and scoffed. But whenever he did this, it only fired his little brother up more than usual.
"You are a disgrace to the name of Black! You shouldn't even be allowed to step in the house! Nevertheless own a room here! Our parents has given everything for us to grow up better, do you have any idea the amount of time and money given to us? And you don't even care, see, you don't even give a damn about our parents and what they've done for you! You only care about yourself!" shouted Regulus the day after he walked into his and Sirius' joined bedroom to see Sirius' half looking like someone puked scarlet all over it. (He had decorated it all in Gryffindor banners and the Gryffindor colours - red and gold.)
"You should just go and tell mummy if you don't want to room with me, since I'm such a disappointment. You know, maybe, it's an infectious decease! You should really stay away from me if you don't want to be just as selfish, and ignoring of other peoples efforts and such. There's plenty of empty rooms in the house, go and find one then!" Sirius had taunted back at him, using his baby voice. Regulus had groaned, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation and stormed out of the room, down the stairs and roaring to his parents, "Mum! I'm going to need a room change! I can't stay with this bastard any longer!"
Sirius didn't know what his parents had said to this sudden outburst from their younger son, only that by the end of the night, Regulus had moved to the downstairs bedroom, all huffy and unwilling to talk to him for until the start of the new term at Hogwarts.
And only then it was "See you, brother, or probably not." Met with Sirius' retaliation, "What, not going to give your big bro a hug? You're not going to see me much after the beginning of school, you know."
Regulus only gave him a snarl and sauntered onto the Hogwarts express without even a backwards glance. And whenever Sirius came strolling through the compartments, he fairly much ignored the Slytherin's but when he approached the compartment with his little brother in it, he made sure to give him a big wink.
The only thing that Regulus could do was to pretend that his brother didn't exist and continued to talk with the other kids in the compartment.
Every single time when they had a holiday, except for the summer holidays, Sirius would always choose to stay at school. For there was no reason to go back, he hated the very lot of them, even his dimwitted little brother, stupid enough to stand by the family's beliefs.
And sometimes, when he went home for the summer holidays, he got tired. He got exceptionally tired of the arguments that he and his family had, especially with his brother.
Needless to say, he loved taunting his brother, but it was tiring too. He just wanted to get out of this mess and be the person he wanted to be, with no one else telling him that this is the wrong path that he was taking. Hell, they weren't even telling him, more like yapping at his ears every minute of the day. He just wanted them to stop, or to get away from them once and for all.
And so he did, he went to his uncle for help, one of the only adults in the family who had shown kindness to him, and he give Sirius enough money to get a place of his own. Of course, he had spent one summer at the Potters of course, with his best friend, and where he had been treated as a son.
After the war fully broke out, he entered the Order of the Phoenix.
And just when he thought he was away from the horrible business of his family, he had been dragged in by the news of his brother joining the Death Eaters.
"You know, I was pretty surprised when I saw that none of you had managed to destroy my room. Why not demolish it? The good memories?" He asked, looking around his little brothers room. He had decorated for it to look the exact opposite of Sirius' room, the Slytherin banner hung from the bedpost. Acid Green everywhere.
There was also a place on the wall with newspaper clippings, a lot of them. He stepped towards it, not bothering to look around at his dumbfounded brother who had just stepped into his own room to find his older brother waiting for him. Sirius squinted his eyes, reading the clippings on the wall. "So, you're quite the fanboy, eh, Reg? I didn't think that you'd be like this."
"Why are you here? What are you doing back in London?" Regulus' voice was stiff, like he was controlling himself not to punch Sirius in the face or throw him out of the house.
Finally, Sirius turned around to look at him. "I thought you'd know, Reggy. What are you thinking? Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? Have you ever thought that maybe you're not powerful enough to survive this? One false step and Voldemort will kill you, Regulus!"
Regulus had flinched at the sound of the Dark Lord's name. But he replied, his voice calm and peaceful. "I think, therefore I am."
"You am what? An asshole?" Sirius roared. His brother's calmness and his readiness to do something so stupid, fueled his fury. Not to his brother, but to the family and what they believed in. How much did they have to corrupt? How much still? And he let all the emotions run through him, letting them free, for the first time. A single tear slid down his left cheek. "Don't do this, please, Regulus. You don't have to go through this."
The younger Black closed his eyes and looked down. "I'm sorry Sirius, but I do have to."
They never saw each other again. Not, until the end.
A/N: Written for -
Hogwarts (C&A):
Muggle Studies - Assignment #1 / extra prompts: Black Family, (word) Family
Writing Club - 71. Black (tee hee) & 410. house
Diagon Alley:
Challenge Your Versality - Drama
Fairy Tales Challenge - Emperor's New Clothes / optional prompts: (dialogue) "I think, therefore I am." / "You am what? An a**hole?" (word) Fury
Gringotts:
Colours: Acid Green, Scarlet
HP Locations: London
Family & Friends: Brother
Instead of Said: shouted, roared, taunted, asked
Descriptors: sauntered, strolled, asked, shouted
