Written for The Houses Competition
House Hufflepuff
Category: Themed (Family)
Prompt: Starlight
Word count: 709
Beta'd by Dark Angel of Sorrow Returns
You are the sentinels
Silent and sure
Keeping watch in the night
~Stars, Les Miserables
The Black family had the tradition of naming their children after the stars and their constellations. Sons of Orion and Walburga Black were called Regulus and Sirius, both named after the stars in the sky. The two boys were good friends in their youth; they were all they had due to their father being Lord Black and their mother focused on drilling etiquette into their heads.
When Sirius was eleven and Regulus was ten, the two of them snuck out to their favourite place, the roof. The roof was where they went to get peace from their family and the pressure that family created. They would stare up at the stars and make up stories about what their stars were doing. Every so often they would imagine that they were the stars instead of simply being named after them.
Tonight they were saying goodbye; Sirius was going to Hogwarts the next day and the brothers would be apart from each other for longer than they had ever been. Even when Regulus joined Sirius at Hogwarts they would probably be in separate houses, Sirius was determined to be in Gryffindor, but Regulus was happy to follow the family and go into Slytherin.
"You reckon the stars are like guardian angels?" Regulus asked Sirius under the starlight.
"You mean, are they watching over us because we share names with them?"
"Yeah."
Sirius shrugged, "I dunno, maybe. Muggles think magic isn't real, who's to say that stars aren't watching us and we just don't know it yet."
"I'm going to talk to your star when you're gone and maybe you'll hear me."
"I'll talk to yours as well," the two brothers grinned at each other, their shoulders touching as they lay back and stared upwards at the night sky.
Sirius Orion Black laid back on his bed in the Gryffindor dorm room that he shared with three other boys who had been sorted in the same house. It had only been one day since he had seen his brother, but he was already missing Regulus. He didn't know how he was going to manage the three months until the Yule break.
The dorm room was filled with unfamiliar noises, the shuffling and sniffling originating from three other people sounding strange after having his own room all his life. Sighing, Sirius turned on his side and looked out the window by his bedside. The stars were shining bright, surrounding the moon in all its glory. He smiled up at it weakly; was his brother looking at the stars right now?
Locating the Regulus star and sending it a small wave, he whispered, "Hey, Reg."
He was silent for a while, simply laying there with a small smile on his face imagining what his little brother was doing at that moment.
Regulus Arcturus Black was on the roof of the Black house and looking up at the stars. The Sirius star was shining brightly down upon him. Downstairs his mother and father were arguing over Sirius' sorting, though they might have known that Sirius wanted to go into Gryffindor they didn't expect him to actually get into that house.
He grinned up at the star and waved, "Hey, Siri. You've certainly caused a ruckus here today; they are not happy with you. Congrats on getting into Gryffindor, I know that's where you really wanted to be. I don't quite understand why; it's a bit brash, but I won't hold it against you.
"How's Hogwarts so far? I mean, I know you've only been here for a night but how was it? Is the castle as awesome as people say? Was the food good? Have you made any friends yet? Of course you have, what am I saying? You'll be friends with everyone at Hogwarts, well, except for the Slytherins." Regulus laughed and then threatened, "But you better still be friends with me or else!"
Both Black brothers smiled up at the night sky and were comforted by the thought of their brother doing the same thing. Though one was in Scotland and the other in England, it was the same starlight that shone down on the both of them.
