A/N: I'm back seven years later to finish this fic, lolol. My writing style has changed a lot since then, so sorry if the new chapters aren't as good! I've finished writing and will be posting a chapter a day until the fic is complete.

xx

Patches

Everyone who knows anything knows better than to think that Bellatrix married Rodolphus for love. Maybe they'll grow to love each other—Regulus can't say for sure, though he doubts it—but the only reason this wedding is happening tonight is that Andromeda was supposed to marry Rabastan until she eloped with that Mudblood and shattered the carefully constructed union of their two families, at least until Aunt Druella worked it out with the Lestranges' mum and fixed Bellatrix up with Rabastan's brother instead.

That's why it's so egregious that Andromeda came here tonight—because this was supposed to be her wedding, because Bellatrix wouldn't even be marrying Rodolphus if it weren't for Andromeda getting herself estranged. That Andromeda would have the guts, the nerve, to show up here tonight—

Regulus wishes Sirius were here to gossip with him about it, but Andromeda's not the only one estranged from the family. He's only been gone for a couple of weeks, but Regulus already has never felt lonelier, not even when Regulus was ten and Sirius went to Hogwarts and left Regulus at Grimmauld Place all by himself for a whole year.

He wants to go up to Andromeda and demand to know how she could abandon the Blacks like she did—how she can look herself in the face in the mirror without fracturing the glass. Narcissa was still in school at the time; Narcissa needed her; and what about Rabastan, anyway? They were engaged for two years, and Regulus saw them together when they were—saw the glint that Rabastan put in Andromeda's eyes. Is Regulus really supposed to believe that she loves Tonks more than she loved her fiancé?

He doesn't ask any of this, of course. That wouldn't be proper, and Regulus can't risk doing anything that might get him in trouble with Mum.

He wonders what Sirius is up to right now—where he's sleeping, where he's spending his days, what he's telling god knows whom about the family he left behind. Does he remember that tonight is Bellatrix's wedding night? Does Sirius try to picture Regulus's life the way Regulus pictures Sirius's? Or is Sirius more than content to move on with his life as if Regulus never mattered in it?

Sirius isn't worth his energy, Regulus tries to tell himself. If he were, he would have stayed—or at least would have made any kind of effort to reach out to Regulus after he left. Instead, there's just been silence in all the crevices, holes chewed through like rats in the tattered quilt Sirius left behind. If Regulus knows what's good for him, he'll put down the needle and stop trying to stitch it back up.

But when has Regulus ever known what's good for him? He always had Sirius to look out for him. Now…