Remus carefully reread James's hastily scrawled letter, hoping for some hint as to how things had gone. It was written on a bit of torn parchment on which only two sentences had been messily printed.
'We've finished, be home tomorrow. Meet us at Sirius's as soon as you can. –James'
Nothing. It told him nothing. Remus shook his head to clear it and then stood. It was 10:00 and Remus supposed he'd best get a move on. There was nothing saying it hadn't gone perfectly fine. Most likely it had been just a routine search. They had only been gone two days, after all.
If everything was fine, Sirius was certain to go straight to Remus's if Remus didn't arrive by 10:30 at the very latest. And Remus definitely did not want Sirius coming to visit him. He had barely finished a quarter of the food.
Remus felt for his wand in his pocket and quickly apparated into Sirius's dark living room, throwing aside the courtesy that required he apparate outside and then ask to be let in.
James sat alone on the couch, eating a cauldron cake and staring at the ceiling. "Remus!" he exclaimed. "Thank Merlin you're here! I don't think I could've coped on my own much longer!"
"What's wrong?" Remus asked, "Where's Sirius?"
"He said he was going to unpack, but he's been gone nearly fifteen minutes now and all he had was his backpack! How long could it take?"
"Well, why don't we go and get him then?" Remus asked, feeling he was missing something.
"I think he wants to be alone. He's been acting funny all day. Thought he hated that little prat! I would've guessed they were best mates by the way he's been going on!"
"What are you talking about?" Remus asked.
James sighed, "That death eater whose home we were searching, turns out he tried to leave Voldemort."
"Oh. He was killed then?"
"It's worse…"
"Worse than being dead?" Remus asked, "What are you getting at?"
"Oh no, he was dead all right. It wasn't pretty," James grimaced at the memory, "but… well, the death eater… It was Regulus. Sirius's brother."
"Oh… Oh no…" Remus breathed, "that's awful!"
"What do you mean? It's not like Sirius liked the poor blighter! He was his brother, for Merlin's sake!"
"Exactly! James, you're about as understanding as a-"
"But Sirius hated the guy! Why's he gone all brotherly now that he's dead?"
"Well, they're still family! And this is probably making him think back over his childhood. I mean imagine how his parents will be now. For once, Regulus went and did something against them! And it's always been Sirius! Sirius has always been the rebel, the, er, white sheep, so to speak. Just try and consider how he-"
But at this point Sirius came thumping loudly down the stairs. Remus and James both froze and tried to pretend they hadn't just been talking about him.
Sirius glared around darkly, he was obviously in a foul mood, but Remus thought he might have seen gratefulness flash across Sirius's face when his eyes met Remus's.
"Hello," Remus said hopefully. Sirius only grunted and sat back in an armchair. It was deadly silent for a minute or so.
At last Sirius said quietly, "I never liked him."
Remus and James looked up, surprised to hear Sirius. "I always knew he was a no good, brainwashed, stuck up little coward." Sirius sat in silence for another moment, as if contemplating what else he could say about Regulus.
"Filth," he spat, "Think of what my mother will do. Ha! She'll probably die! Poor little Regulus! Forgoing the family honor? Oh, I'd give anything to see her face! What she'll do to him!" Sirius's faced clouded, "but of course… he's already dead. Not much else she can do, is there?"
"But I don't care," Sirius laughed bitterly, "Got what was coming to him, didn't he? Serves him right!"
"He wasn't like this before…" James said in an undertone to Remus, looking quite alarmed at Sirius's behavior.
Sirius was on his feet now, "I hated him. Rotten little pureblood!" Sirius spoke with the same resentful contempt he always used when he talked about his family. Tension was building rapidly in the room; James and Remus exchanged worried glances.
"I hated him! The coward! The bastard!" A mug on the table glowed red and then smashed into a million tiny pieces. James jumped. Sirius took no notice. "He thought he was so great! Well, I hated him! I hated him!"
Remus stood up, walking slowly toward Sirius, who didn't seem to remember anyone else was there. "The idiot! Coward!" He kicked the tea table furiously and sent it crashing to the ground, "Good riddance! I hate him!" Sirius dissolved, collapsing into the chair behind him.
"Good riddance," he said again. Remus placed a comforting hand on his back. James sat awkwardly on the couch, unsure what to do. "Good riddance," Sirius whispered.
"I'm sorry," Remus said quietly, "Really, I am."
Sirius just shook his head, unable to say anymore. Memory after memory of his lonely childhood flooded him. Year after year of his parents always taking Regulus's side in every argument. Night after night of his drunk father coming home and sending every curse and hex he could think of at his favorite target, his eldest son, Sirius. Day after day of his insane mother, wandering about the house, shrieking awful curse words about her favorite subjects, muggles, muggle borns, and Sirius. Christmas days where Regulus always seemed to get just the present Sirius had been hoping for. Family gatherings where everyone marveled over adorable Regulus, while Sirius was pushed to the side. Forced to spend afternoons playing with his awful cousins whose favorite form of entertainment was coming up with new ways to torture Sirius. Feeling alone and different, like he'd never fit in. At last Sirius arrived on his very first days at Hogwarts.
It was then that he looked up to find Remus kneeling by him, peering worriedly into his eyes, and James standing uncertainly to the side, looking concerned and wondering whether to reach out or not. Sirius finally managed a smile.
"It's alright. You're my family, now. You're my brothers, not him."
A/N: And thus I've proved (I hope) that I cannot only write light, happy, fluffy, stuff, but also more 'gasp Voldemort! Dah dah daaaah!' stuff as well. Although, on the whole, I'd have to say I prefer cheerier things. lol, anyway, moving on, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter more than I enjoyed writing it, but we are at war here after all. It can't all be happy. Please review! Whether or not you enjoyed it!