Written For:
- Day 3 of 366 Days of Writing challenge: Spell
- The 2016 Monthly Prompt List Challenge (January): [Quote] "Whenever I'm sad, I stop being sad, and be awesome instead." ~ How I Met Your Mother
- Gringotts Prompt Bank/Genre Prompts: (word) Bummer, (word) Understand, (title) Shattered, (plot point) Character has their heart broken
- Gringotts Prompt Bank/Feelings & Emotions: Bitter, Miserable, Confused
Pairing/Characters: Sirius, Regulus
Word Count: 695
Shattered
"For a little piece of heaven, I am ready, I am willing to drown."
oOo
The sun was only just rising over the busy London skyline outside, when Sirius woke up to the sound of soft, gentle snuffles. He and his brother were spending a week of the summer holidays at the Malfoy Manor, something which Sirius abhorred, as he did not get on with Lucius Malfoy at all - but his mother had insisted.
The sobbing was coming from the bed across from him, where Regulus was sleeping. "Reg?" Sirius whispered into the dimly-lit room, trying to keep his voice down so as to not wake up anyone else in the Manor. "Reg, what's up?"
"Leave me alone," grumbled Regulus thickly; he sounded utterly miserable. Sirius had a strange sense of deja vu - when Sirius and Regulus were much younger, they used to share a bedroom. Regulus was always a sensitive child, and would often spend hours at night in fits of tears.
There had only ever been one way to calm him down.
Sirius slipped out of his bed carefully and tip-toed over to his brother, sliding into bed behind him. Regulus was curled up in a tight, protective ball, facing the wall, but Sirius made room in the single bed and pulled the covers over their heads. "Tell me what's up, Reg."
Regulus sighed. "Bella found out about Barty. She told Mum."
Sirius raised his eyebrows in the darkness. He had suspected of Regulus's relationship with his fellow Slytherin, Barty Crouch Jr, but he had never said anything. Sirius and Regulus weren't really that close, and he didn't think it was his business. Regulus never made anything public, so Sirius never asked. That was all there was to it.
As Sirius had spent most of the summer pretending he was at Hogwarts, when he was in fact staying with the Potters, he hadn't heard about the news—something that he was sure he would do, living with Walburga Black. "Wh...what did she say?" Sirius asked quietly.
"Went crazy, obviously," Regulus said bitterly. "She doesn't want to believe it—you know what she's like. She didn't tell Dad, though, because he would go mental—I guess she just doesn't want the embarrassment. But she's banned me from even speaking to him, ever again. She's never going to let me go over to the Crouches now."
"Bummer, bro," Sirius replied, though he was furrowing his brow together. Regulus was a lot different to him, in the sense that he felt he definitely needed to do what their parents said. Sirius always had a penchant for breaking any rules that were set. "You'll still see him at school. It's not like Mum is going to be there - she'll never know."
Regulus elbowed Sirius roughly in the stomach, causing the older brother to groan. "Idiot," he snapped. "Mum will probably do some weird spell to make me tell the truth. And anyway, Bella knows."
"Bella isn't at school anymore either," Sirius answered, confused.
"Yeah, but Cissy is. And so are loads of Bellatrix's weird friends—Rabastan is in his seventh year and in Slytherin. It's alright for you—you don't have to be around them all the time!"
Sirius sighed, feeling unsure as to what to say to him. It was a situation that he didn't really understand—Regulus was so different to him in so many ways. "Well...how do you feel? I know, that's a stupid question."
"My heart is broken obviously," Regulus muttered into his pillow. "Barty is my only friend at school, and...and..." his voice cracked. "I love him."
"Don't be sad, Reg," Sirius said, feeling even more awkward. "I mean—whenever I'm sad, I stop being said, and be awesome instead."
When Sirius finished talking, a silence filled the bedroom, which was eventually broken by a small snigger, which Regulus tried to mask by burying his face further into the pillow. "I heard you," Sirius chuckled.
"You're an idiot," Regulus giggled, letting out his laughter. It passed quickly though, and he soon melted back into the mattress and sighed. Sirius reflected his sigh, and threw an arm over his brother, pulling him in to a hug.
"You'll be okay, bro," he told his little brother softly. "Everything will work out fine."
