Regulus lifted the Hat from his head with shaking hands and placed it on the stool behind him, stepping off the podium to make way for Davies, Bridget! The Slytherin table felt very far away.
He looked across the Hall at the table draped in red and gold, searching for his brother. Sirius was concentrating very hard on staring at his empty plate. Regulus could see his white knuckles, his fists tightly clenched on the tabletop. His knee was probably jerking up and down under the table the way it always did when he was annoyed or anxious and trying not to lash out. Sirius always seemed to be trying not to lash out these days. A boy with dark hair and glasses was whispering something to him, while another boy sitting across from him filled a goblet with water and pushed it towards him. His brother's friends, no doubt.
Regulus sighed. He hoped Sirius would understand.
He had done it for him. If Regulus was a serpent then maybe mother wouldn't mind so much that Sirius was a lion. Maybe she wouldn't get so angry and maybe she wouldn't shout and maybe she'd stop throwing things. If he did everything that she wanted, then maybe she would leave his brother alone.
With a deep breath, he tore his eyes from the Gryffindor table and looked to the Slytherins. Cissy's long white-blonde hair stood out immediately. She was beckoning him to her, smiling indulgently, and he forced his feet to carry him forwards though it felt like his was wading through sludge.
She'd made a space for him beside her on the bench, and despite thinking that he was probably supposed to sit at the end of the table and wait for the other first years he clambered in beside her anyway.
"Well done, Reggie!" she whispered over the applause as the Davies girl was sent to Hufflepuff. "We're all so proud of you! You must write to your mother as soon as you get to your dorm. She'll be delighted!"
And she kissed him on the side of his head and he probably should have pushed her away or looked disgruntled at her babying him in front of his new housemates but it felt nice, and comforting, and almost like someone was looking out for him.