Warning: Language

MaH chapter 8 of year 4: The not so strong bond of blood

It had been a productive morning already. His fight with James was over and done with. Their Hogsmeade plans were set in stone. Eilidh had seen him in his underpants and he nearly died of embarrassment. Now Sirius stood not two feet from the Slytherin table, utterly alone, antsily tapping his fingers of his left hand on his thigh, his right he kept in his pocket clutched on his wand. His eyes scanned the faces of the sea of people moving into the Great Hall.

Sirius wasn't looking forward to talking to his brother. He felt a little guilty about it. He wasn't really involved in Regulus's life anymore, even at home. He didn't know what classes he took, or who his best friend was, or even if he was any good at magic. He had overheard a conversation between two Hufflepuffs that Regulus had tried out for his Quidditch team. Merlin knew if he made it or not.

He saw Regulus just as he was walking through the door. He was talking with a boy around his age that Sirius had never seen before. He was a Slytherin and Regulus was usually seen with Ravenclaws (at first he thought it was his form of rebellion but then he found out that they were the only purebloods in his age group.)

"Regulus!" he called, waving his arm to be sure he caught his attention. He lurched forward, not wanting to catch any more Slytherin vibes than was necessary. Regulus's face had fallen when he realised who had called his name. "Who's this?" he asked, smiling brightly at the pair of them.

"Barty," Regulus answered stiffly.

"Barty Crouch Jr," said the kid, sticking out his hand. Sirius took it and, for courtesy's sake, withheld an eye roll. "And you are?"

"Sirius Black," he answered wondering if Slughorn's special guest might be Crouch Sr.

"My brother," Regulus muttered. "Barty, why don't you go sit with Avery over there, he's nice and this won't take long." Sirius choked back a laugh. Avery! Nice!

"Okay," Crouch smiled. "Nice to meet you."

They watched as Crouch made his way over to where Regulus had pointed.

"So what? The kid can't make his own friends?" Sirius asked, trying to make a joke.

"He's terrified of making friends," Regulus said, turning to face him with a look of pure loathing. "He's only a first year and people like you and your friends made his life a living hell because he's in Slytherin and he's a pure blood."

"Hey, I've never even seen him," Sirius defended.

"Like that would have made a difference! In fact, it probably would have made it worse," he said, venomously.

"Come on, he seems like a nice kid," Sirius laughed trying to cover how much his words actually hurt him.

"He is. It's a pity anyone would treat him like that," he responded, dryly. Sirius fell silent not really knowing what to say. It's not like he did anything to him. Regulus sighed, deeply and seemed to relax a bit. "Look, I'm not gonna lie for you but I won't tell her anything she doesn't ask about, Potter included. You're only invited to the Slug Club but that's the first step. She'll be fine with that for now."

"Thanks, Reg. And I promise that won't happen again, not from any of my friends. If anyone else gives you any trouble, I'll take care of it," Sirius said, sincerely. Regulus was still his brother even though he was a prat.

"I can take care of myself! How bout you tell your friends to back off the rest of us?" Regulus asked, with an accusatory glare.

"Because some of them deserve it," Sirius said, his irritation growing at an alarming rate.

"You're so fucking full of it," Regulus scoffed, turning to leave.

"Okay, wait. Maybe you're right, maybe they are nice," Sirius said, but only to keep the peace between them. Regulus rolled his eyes and looked extremely inconvenienced but stayed. "So how is Mum anyway? Still worried about granddad?"

"Of course she is," Regulus answered bitterly, probably remembering last year when he had made a joke about it in front of everyone. "I think he might be getting worse," he said with a sigh. "She hasn't actually said it, but she tells me less and less whenever I ask so it's kind of obvious."

Sirius nodded, not really sure what to say. He hated his grandfather. He remembered being deathly afraid of him whenever he came to visit. He was relieved when he found out he was too ill to travel and would be spending the rest of his days with Aunt Elladora.

"You're going to Slughorn's party, right? With the 'special guest?'" Sirius asked, trying to fill the awkward silence that fell.

"Of course, yeah. It'd be weird if I didn't, considering…." Regulus stopped and looked at him awkwardly. A sudden feeling of dread fell over him.

"Considering what?" Sirius asked.

"Er- the guest. Mum told me. It's er… Amoriel Lestrange. You know, Mum's cousin Araminta's daughter?" Regulus said.

"Yeah, I know who she is."

He had only met her once when he was 10. His parents threw a party to send him off to Hogwarts. She came and killed his cat. It was a memorable experience, he wasn't likely to forget her anytime soon.

"Brilliant. Thanks, Reg. Tell Mum I said hi," Sirius said, striding quickly away before he could ruin a relatively peaceful exchange.

***Djinns78, thank you for your review. :D I'm glad you've liked what you've seen so far and hope you continue to. XO

***I got a bunch of new people who have favourited/followed and I just wanted to say a quick thank you and you're awesome and welcome to my insane version of the Marauders era. XO

***Hello again, you're probably annoyed with me by now because this is my third time posting in a week, but this chapter's short, like really short. And it reminds everyone that Regulus is more than just a pompous, racist prick. I mean he killed himself tortuously for a house elf (yes, I'm sure he had other reasons but it's what put him over the edge.)

Isn't J.K. Rowling brilliant? I mean she made us fall in love with these incredibly minor characters. UGH, Queen, my hat's off to you! (as if she reading this, HA!) You'll have to excuse me I'm kind of obsessed with idioms right now.

Did anyone get my reference to chapter 11?

Btw (and a quick cannon reminder,) Amoriel Lestrange is an OC but her "mother" - Araminta Meliflua, was legit Sirius's mother's cousin. Apparently, she tried to make muggle hunting legal. Sounds fun right?

Kay, I'm done.

Thanks for reading.

Until next time (maybe I'll actually wait a week this time,)

XO