Sirius felt Regulus grip his hand as they stood side by side on the platform. They arrived early, tradition, much unlike James family who always arrived almost as the train was leaving. Their parents turned to Regulus and double checked that he had everything and that he wasn't going to disappoint the family, blah blah blah. Sirius turned away and spotted Remus entering with a man he assumed was his father. He squeezed Regulus' hand before moving over to great his friend. Remus' eyes lit up when he spotted Sirius coming over and he said something to his father who simply shrugged as Remus turned to hug Sirius. They talked excitedly for a few minutes and Remus' father left.
Peter arrived on the platform a few minutes later with a woman he introduced as his mother. She had brown hair slightly tinted red and the same electric blue eyes as her son. It was getting close to 11 at this point so they decide to find a carriage. They said goodbye to Miss. Pettigrew and got on the train. The only carriage left was the last one, the one Sirius had met James in. They sat down and started to talk. The train pulled away and James entered their carriage, grinning with delight at seeing his friends again. Regulus appeared in the doorway and was ushered in and introduced. He was shy at first but quickly got friendly with them all, especially Peter, whom Regulus seemed to take an instant liking in. They only remembered to get changed because Remus kicked them all out of the carriage so he could get into his robes. They each took a turn changing before they could all go into the carriage at the same time again.
Sirius hugged Regulus before getting into the carriage with the others, waving as his brother made his way down to the boats on the lake. Remus gasped about the beautiful creatures pulling the carriages, confusing everyone else. Remus described the creatures to them, big black skeletal horses with wings. Sirius wracked his brain but couldn't remember any magical creature with that description. Peter gasped and then rummaged in his trunk until he pulled out Fantastic beasts and where to find them.
"I remember reading about a creature like that!" He exclaimed as he flicked through the book. "There!" He pointed at a page labelled 'Thestrals'. They were general seen as bad omens as they were invisible to everyone except those who had witnessed death. They all looked at Remus who frowned. Sirius hesitantly asked who he had seen die. Remus stared out of the carriage before sighing and answering.
"My mother." James frowned, confused. "But… you said… last year, you were going to see your mother who was sick?" Remus stared at him, before explaining that was the excuse his father had made him use for his full moon trips. They sat in silence for a while before leaning out of the carriage to marvel at the beauty of Hogwarts, the excitement for second year filling up the space once occupied by silence.
When they sat down at the Gryffindor table, Remus couldn't help noticing that Sirius was being uncharacteristically quiet and kept glancing towards the doors. He nudged James, who stopped talking and they all looked at Sirius until he looked up. Sirius jumped and nearly fell of the bench. He glowered at them, hoisting himself back onto the seat and told Remus it wasn't funny as the other two proceeded to fall off their benches laughing.
The doors to the hall opened and McGonagall strode in with the first years, shooting a look at the Gryffindor table as Peter and James scrambled to get back on the benches. They all waved as Regulus walked past and he gave them a small grin before quickly turning his attention to the sorting hat as the first person was called up.
"Black, Regulus"
The call came to soon, as was the curse of having a surname beginning with B. Regulus took a deep breath and strode up to the stall with the purpose that his parents had installed in him. He looked up and his sky grey eyes locked with his brothers dark grey, then the hat slid over his eyes.
"Ah ha." He didn't even flinch when the hat spoke suddenly in his ear. "The next Black, you are like your brother. Ah, but your much more cunning and, if I do say so, intelligent. You will fit quite nicely into the house of: SLYTHERIN" The hall erupted in cheers as the hat was plucked from Regulus' head. He stood up and made his way to the Slytherin table, trying to ignore the gaze he knew Sirius was giving him from the other side of the hall. He sat down next to his cousins, Narcissa, Bella and Andromeda. Bella congratulated him coldly as Donna gave him a squeeze.
He talked with them for a few minutes before gathering up the courage to glance over to the Gryffindor table. Finding the Marauders, he stared at the back of his brother's head for a few minutes before realising someone had spotted him looking. Switching his gaze to Peter, he was startled at the intensity of his electric blue eyes. Regulus thought that Peter was going to tell Sirius and then Regulus would be embarrassed. But instead Peter just softly smiled at him, filling Regulus with warmth. He gently smiled back before breaking the eye contact and joining the conversation on his table again.
Sirius spotted Peter smiling over his shoulder and glance back to see Regulus laughing at something Narcissa had said. He took a deep breath in and focused on his food. This wouldn't change anything between them, he swore to himself, they would still be the brothers they always where. Deep down, he knew things had already started to shift.