I really should just change the day of the week that I upload because I never seem to get it on a Monday XD
Hi everyone! Sorry once again for the delay, but here's a new chapter for you all, and this one is pretty dramatic. Aaaaaaand after this there's only one last chapter that was actually uploaded here before we start seeing new material! :D I can't believe we've made it so far already. When did I even start uploading this? I can't remember XD
Kam, I'm very glad that you enjoyed the chapter. But I think there was a small detail that you and some other readers may have missed about Sirius and Remus's picture not being on the wall. Sirius certainly didn't remember. ;)
I want to thank everyone who has recently favorited and followed the story, because last time I uploaded I got like five new people in two days. That's really awesome! :D You guys make me so happy ^^ I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll see you all in two weeks. Love ya!
~SXS
FOR WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMER, SEE FIRST CHAPTER AN.
After saying goodnight to Lily at the library one evening in late January, Severus made his way down to the dungeons. It had been a long day and his hand was cramping from the two essays they'd been assigned. He was looking forward to a nice long sleep under his green and silver covers.
He hissed the password at the wall and it opened to reveal the passage to the common room. As he made his way down he noticed that the noise level was unusually high for that time of night. When he finally reached the end of the hall he could see a group of his fellow Slytherins surrounding something small and crumpled. They were shouting and laughing and underneath he could hear a faint whimpering. Severus stepped fully into the room and could better hear what they were saying.
"That'll teach you to betray your House!"
"If you wanted to be with your traitor brother you should have begged the Hat not to let you come near us."
"You're a Slytherin. You stay loyal to us, you little sod."
Severus pushed his way through the crowd and found Regulus Black at the center on the floor. He was curled in on himself with tears streaming down his cheeks.
"What's going on?" another voice joined the din high above the others. Everyone turned to see the Head Boy standing with a stern expression by the entrance. The ruckus immediately ceased and the students shuffled their feet. "Well? Don't make me get Slughorn. Disperse!" Not another word was needed as the instigators left and the Head Boy went towards his own room. They didn't miss a chance to shoot one or two more glares at Regulus. Soon Severus was the only one left, staring down at the younger boy as he struggled to sit up.
Regulus wiped furiously at his eyes. He suddenly realized that Sirius was very lucky he had become a Gryffindor. If this was what he got just for sometimes sitting at the Gryffindor table, he could only imagine what would happen if he acted anything like his brother.
Severus continued to stand and stare as Regulus stood himself and sniffed like a young child post-hysteria. Finally he turned to the second year and snapped, "Did you want something?"
Immediately Severus looked down and away. "Sorry."
"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything," he said, the edge completely gone from his voice.
"I just...I meant for when we first met. I was rude." Severus wasn't quite sure why he was apologizing. As soon as he had heard that the brother of Sirius Black was going to be in his House, he had decided that he would have nothing to do with him. But after the scene that he had just witnessed, he couldn't help but empathize as he had gone through the same problem. But though his friendship with Lily had caused him to be ostracized by most of the House, he had never been reduced to tears like this.
"Well…thanks." A ghost of a smile passed over his face, then Regulus started to shuffle towards the dorms. Suddenly a much older girl appeared from the direction of the girls' rooms.
"Oh, Regulus…" she said when she saw him. Severus recognized her to be Andromeda Black. He thought that she must either be a sister or a cousin. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know what was going on." She rushed towards her relative and hugged him tightly before leading him towards the door and they disappeared down the passage to the hallway.
Severus decided that he would save a seat for Regulus at breakfast the next day.
.:~I~S~S~:.
The next morning, when the Slytherin met Lily at their usual spot on the third floor (which was midway between their common rooms) he explained to her what had happened and that he wouldn't be able to sit with her.
"I don't mind one bit. That's actually really sweet of you, Sev," she said and she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. Severus instantly felt his face go as red as her hair and turned away.
"I-I'll see you in class then." Lily nodded and they went their separate ways.
Down in the Great Hall, Regulus was already sitting at the far end of the Slytherin table and eating quietly. Severus took a deep breath and walked over, sitting to his left. Regulus turned to him in surprise as he started loading his plate with food.
"Yes?" Severus said, with a little more of a sneer than he had meant.
"I was just wondering why you sat here." Regulus looked wary of him.
"This is my House table."
"I meant next to me." Severus hadn't remembered it being this hard to make friends. Though the only person he'd really ever made friends with was Lily and she was naturally a friendly person.
"I can sit where I want, can't I?"
Regulus looked the greasy-haired boy up and down in confusion before he felt a smile tug at his lips. He didn't want to get his hopes up but he had a feeling that Severus was trying to be nice. It was an unconventional way of doing so but the fact that he was trying made him feel a lot better than he had the night before.
.:~I~S~S~:.
Sirius scanned the Great Hall from his spot at the Gryffindor table, surprised that his brother hadn't made it down for breakfast yet. Usually he was there long before he and his friends, and saved their spots on the bench. But as he looked across the room to the Slytherin table, he found that his assumptions were wrong, seeing that he was sitting at his own House table for once.
"What's Reg doing over there?" he asked aloud, though it was more to himself than the others.
"I don't know," Peter answered. "But do you see who he's sitting with?" Sirius took a closer look at the person beside his brother and recognized the hooked nose and greasy hair.
"Snivellus?!" He jumped up and ran across the Hall to the Slytherin table, coming up behind Regulus. As soon as he was there he plastered on an overly cheery smile. "Hey, little brother! Why don't you come sit with us?"
Regulus nearly jumped out of his skin, and he turned to Sirius with a nervous expression. "Um...I would, Sirius, but...I can't."
"Why? Because Snivelly would be alone otherwise? It's okay, he's used to it." Severus glared at him and shifted away.
Regulus's hands wrung together. He took a breath and then looked directly into his brother's eyes. "I need to talk to you." He stood and walked to the door, Sirius following him with his brows furrowed in confusion. The younger Black brought them into the boy's loo. Once they were inside, and Regulus had checked all the stalls to make sure no one was listening, he turned back to Sirius.
"Siri...I can't sit with you anymore," he said quietly, hands still fidgeting anxiously.
Sirius's eyes immediately tinted gray with hurt, causing a pang of guilt in Regulus's heart. "But why?"
"Because they told me not to..."
"Who's they?"
"The other Slytherins."
Sirius's expression morphed to anger. "What do they matter? You can do whatever you want."
"No, I can't," Regulus said, finding more of his voice. "They attacked me last night, screamed at me! Just because I've been sitting with you in the Great Hall. I'm surprised it even took them this long to do anything, and I know it isn't going to stop." Telling Sirius this only succeeded in making him furious, his hands balling into fists.
"Who was it? I'll kick their arses!" But when he looked more closely at his brother and saw haunted look in his eyes he let his hands uncurl. Regulus was used to hearing verbal abuses when Sirius was yelled at but they had never been directed at him. He didn't know how to deal with it like Sirius did. "Rem, James, Peter, and I will defend you," he said more gently.
Regulus turned away. "It won't make a difference, we both know that. Please just…let it go. You owe me that much. I did your dirty work all summer so the least you can do is not make things worse by insisting on hanging around with me."
"This is ridiculous!" Sirius cried, throwing his hands in the air. "You can't be expected to only be friends with them!"
"It's not a matter of being friends with them," Regulus said, looking back at him. "I don't want to be alone in my own House. It isn't even about House loyalty; it's because they hate you."
Sirius scoffed. "Because I don't believe that life isn't all about being superior to everyone else and being pure and all that rubbish? I'm glad they don't like me then. I thought you felt the same way."
Regulus sighed, feeling a lump growing in his throat. "Don't you get it, Sirius? I'm not like you." He couldn't meet Sirius's eyes anymore and looked at his shoes. "I can't defend myself, and I don't want to be attacked anymore. So if I can find a way to stop it I will…I'm sorry." He left without another word, pushing past Sirius on his way out. He hated that it had to be this way, but he needed to protect himself. Grimly, he thought that this was exactly why he belonged in Slytherin.
Sirius stayed rooted to the spot, his brother's words burning a hole through his heart. Just like that he was going to give up? They were supposed to be family, something he didn't have a lot of.
Subconsciously he had known that once Regulus was in Slytherin that something like this was going to happen. He just hadn't realized that it would be this soon. Now the reality of it slapped him hard in the face; he and Regulus weren't the same, and they never would be. It was only a matter of time before they drifted apart completely.
Sirius pulled the locket out from under his shirt and opened it. The younger versions of himself and Regulus smiled up at him. They looked so similar, almost like twins. So why were they such different people?
He wasn't sure how long he had been standing there but suddenly the door opened. He wiped his eyes off quickly not wanting to be seen that way (when had he started crying?). When he realized it was Remus, however, he relaxed a little. "Siri, are you okay? You never came back to...Are you crying?" Sirius shook his head with a watery smile.
"Don't worry about it, Rem. Let's go before we're late to class." Remus gave him a worried look but said no more. Though he had an idea of what was going on when he noticed Sirius stuffing his locket back under his clothes.
.:~I~S~S~:.
Severus had started to share every meal with Regulus at the Slytherin table, thereby cutting his time with Lily down to studying in the library and spending breaks outside. She didn't mind at all as she felt he was doing a good thing by being friends with someone who really needed one. Regulus thought that his greasy-haired Housemate wasn't particularly good for a conversation at first. But as they settled into their friendship better, they began having more decent chats. For the youngest Black, that was better than nothing.
At first he had thought it would be awkward with Anjanette in Potions since she was Sirius's friend, but she didn't mention anything about the dispute going on between them. Either Sirius hadn't told her or she just didn't want to get involved. He thought it was probably the second reason, as she seemed more the type to stick to her own business.
That was, however, until about a week later. They had been quietly brewing a simple pain potion when she said, "He really cares about you." It was a simple statement, not requiring an answer, but he gave one anyway.
"I care about him too, but I've got to look out for myself. He doesn't understand."
"His natural instinct is to fight back. Yours isn't. Nothing wrong there."
"Then why are you saying anything?" In response, she shrugged. Regulus studied her for a moment before returning to the ingredients he was chopping. She was absolutely right about the differences in his and his brothers' reactions to confrontation. He just couldn't fight, though. He wasn't brave or proud of who he was. He didn't know how to stand up for himself, even though he knew that the Slytherins were wrong. It really wasn't fair that they were trying to stop him from being close to his own brother but he was too scared to do anything about it.
Suddenly something clicked in his mind. He wasn't just choosing to not stand up for himself; he wasn't even trying to fight for his and Sirius's relationship. He had a right to be with his brother no matter what House either of them was in and not fighting for that right was almost like forsaking everything they had as brothers. He was sure that Sirius was thinking the same thing, and that must have been hurting him more than anything else.
"Oh no…" Anjanette looked at him sideways, expression blank save for the slightest hint of a grin. It gave him the impression that she knew exactly what she had been doing by talking to him.
Regulus had only known the Ravenclaw a few months, but he had learned a few things about her in that time: she was mysterious, intuitive, and had sparked in him a decision. He turned to her fully.
"I hear you're good with Charms."
.:~I~S~S~:.
For a week afterward, Anjanette met secretly with Regulus in the library during the last hour it was open. There were barely any students there at that point, and so it was the perfect time to teach him all the charms that she knew could be used against his Slytherin bullies. He in turn promised that he would guarantee that she pass Potions, though he had no intentions of ever doing otherwise.
"Let's try this again," Anjanette coached as he practiced the balloon charm that she had used on James. "Capitis Volubilis. No wand movement. Very simple."
The only thing that Regulus didn't like about these practices was that there wasn't anyone to test the spells on so he wasn't entirely sure he would be able to use them when the time came. But Anjanette kept assuring him that he would be alright and somehow he believed it.
"Capitis Volubilis," he repeated. "And that's it?"
"That's it. So what do you know now?"
"Well, there's that one, the Jelly-legs Jinx, the Bat Bogie Hex, Petrificus Totalus, and Stupefy." With each spell that he named he practiced the wand movement.
"Right. And you can use Leviosa if you really need to. Gets them out of the way." Regulus nodded. He had learned so much and yet he knew that there was a good chance that he wouldn't be able to take on his Housemates. Certainly not the older ones and not when they gathered in large groups, but he had to try. It was the least he could do for Sirius.
"Start with Petrificus if you can. Especially on bigger ones," Anjanette suggested.
"Right...Do you really think any of these will work?" Regulus asked. "I haven't even tried them out for real."
Anjanette leaned forward, arms at her sides. "Try it on me."
"No, I couldn't. What if I do them wrong and hurt you?"
She shook her head. "I'm sure you're fine. You do the moves and say the words perfectly. Just try it." Regulus hesitated. It was hard enough to think of casting these spells on people he didn't like, let alone on someone whom he had started to consider a good friend. But she just stood waiting, trusting in him and her own abilities to teach him.
Regulus took a deep breath and then swished and flicked his wand, starting more on the harmless side. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Anjanette started to levitate off the ground and he could move her side to side and front and back with more flicks of his wand. "Good. But too easy. Try another." The dark-haired boy let her down and took a deep breath.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Anjanette's body suddenly went rigid and she fell back against the bookcase. Her eyes, the only part she could still move, looked up and down as if to simulate nodding. He smiled and spoke the counterspell (she had taught him these as well, just in case).
"Keep going," she encouraged when she was able to move again.
Thus, Regulus spent the next few minutes testing all of his arsenal on Anjanette, who didn't flinch or seem fazed at all, though she looked a little tired by the end. All of the spells miraculously worked and he suddenly felt much better about the idea of defending himself. While he still hoped that he wouldn't have to use them, he would need quite a bit of luck for the Slytherins not to notice him sitting down with Sirius and his friends the next day.
.:~I~S~S~:.
It seemed strange to be nervous about going to breakfast, but nevertheless Regulus felt butterflies in his stomach whenever he thought about it. He thought maybe that if he talked to someone about it he might feel a bit better. Since he was now back in his common room, he decided that Severus was the best ear he had at the moment.
"Are you sure?" the older boy said when he'd heard the whole story. "It doesn't seem like a good idea."
Regulus fidgeted a little but sighed. "I have to try. It's not fair that I can't be with my brother just because of our stupid Houses. To not try at all is like choosing Slytherin over family."
"Slytherins are your family," he pointed out.
"Well, yeah, most of my family has been in Slytherin. But Sirius is my family too. He's the person I'm the closest to and giving up would be like saying that our relationship doesn't matter to me." Severus just nodded. "Besides, I would have thought you would understand. I know you fancy that Lily Evans girl from Gryffindor. Don't you want to be able to spend time with her without getting dirty looks?"
Severus's face had gone Gryffindor scarlet and he quickly sneered to try and cover it up. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I do not fancy that Mudblood." Then he put a hand to his mouth. Regulus's eyebrows shot up into his fringe. He was surprised that the other boy would say something like that when it seemed that he and Lily were such good friends. But before he could say any more about it, Severus had run off to the dorms.
Not really feeling much better, Regulus decided he should go to bed too. He wanted to be well-rested so his mind was sharp in case he had to use his new spells. Settling into his bed he thought about how proud Sirius would be of him for standing up for himself, and it was that comforting thought that helped him get to sleep.
.:~I~S~S~:.
The Marauders were leisurely enjoying their breakfast that morning when they heard the bench creak as someone else sat down next to them. All four looked over to the newcomer with various degrees of surprise in their expressions. He just stared back at them and asked, "Is this seat taken?"
Sirius was the first to answer. "Get out of here, Regulus. You're going to get hurt." He tried to sound snippy but his concern for his brother came through. He didn't want Regulus to be bullied by the Slytherins just for him, as much as it pained him to be separated.
Regulus looked at his brother, and could still read the hurt in his face. He wanted to tell him how sorry he was and that he felt terrible for giving up so easily, but before he could speak, someone called out-
"You just don't learn, do you?" A sixth year Slytherin girl made her way to the Gryffindor table. Here it goes... Regulus thought. He took a deep breath and puffed out his chest, trying hard to channel Sirius's bravery.
"Get out of here," Sirius said, jumping up. "This isn't any of your business."
"You shut up, blood traitor!" she snapped at him, then turned to the other dark-haired boy. "Come now, Regulus. If you just sit at our table without resisting anymore, we won't have to...punish you." She turned to leave expecting the smaller Black brother to follow but he stood and planted his feet next to Sirius's.
"No, Marta. I'm not coming over there." Sirius's eyes widened marginally and his lips twitched up hopefully.
Marta spun back around and leaned in close to Regulus, an inch from his face. He swallowed hard but stood his ground. "Well, well. When did you grow a pair?"
"Probably the same time he realized what a dirty, rotten bunch of gits he had been Sorted with," James said, standing now too. Remus and Peter did the same, but Marta didn't look the least bit worried. Not even a moment later, three more Slyhterins had joined her, standing menacingly with their wands at the ready.
"You little brats think you can take on almost fully-fledged witches and wizards? You make me laugh!" Marta raised her wand and pointed it diagonally down at Regulus. He found himself freezing up, not able to remember even one spell that Anjanette had taught him. He couldn't even get out his wand. Before he knew it a curse was forming on her lips. "Cru-"
"Expelliarmus!" came a chorus of five voices. All four of the Marauders had cast the spell on the girl, as well as Anjanette who was standing in the doorway to the Great Hall. The result of their combined spell propelled her up into the air and she fell back down to the ground with a thud. The three other Slytherins' wands flew out of their hands one by one and went toward the Slytherin table, though Regulus couldn't see who had cast the spell on them.
"What is going on here?!" Professor McGonagall cried as she and several other teachers flew toward the disturbance. "Someone explain yourself this instant!" Marta sat up and made a big show of struggling to do so.
"She was trying to hurt Regulus," Sirius quickly volunteered before Marta could open her mouth to say anything.
"And why would she want to do that?"
"He's been sitting at the Gryffindor table, ma'am," Marta said, her voice much sweeter than it had been a moment ago. "I wasn't going to hurt him. I just wanted him to come back."
McGonagall looked from the Marauders to Marta and then to Regulus who was shivering in fear. Her eyes were slits behind her square spectacles and her lips a thin line. "Is this true, Mr. Black?"
"W-well...It is true that I-I was sitting here. But it was only this morning. And she d-did raise her wand."
McGonagall nodded a little then turned back to Marta. "Miss Malenable, as I know your track record and I highly doubt that this boy would be shaking if you were asking him nicely to return to your table, I must take fifty points from Slytherin." The Marauders grinned and Sirius stuck his tongue out at the older girl. "However, that also goes for Gryffindor, as the four of you attacked first."
"Aw man!" Peter whined and the others frowned and muttered.
"Also, Miss Malenable," Professor Slughorn added, as he drew closer to the group. "If Mr. Black wishes to sit with his brother then that is perfectly acceptable. This is his first year and he needs to adjust. You do not need to take matters into your own hands." With that, the teachers returned to the staff table, Marta sneering at their backs. Then she turned the expression on the boys in warning before stalking back to the Slytherin table, her three cronies following behind.
The Gryffindor boys relaxed, knowing the confrontation was over. Sirius turned towards his brother. "Are you okay, Reg?" he asked, looking him over.
"Y-yeah...Just a little shaken up." He plopped back onto the bench.
Sirius finally let a smile spread on his lips and he sat down next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders. "I don't think she'll be bothering you again any time soon. Didn't I tell you that Rem, James, and Pete would back me up?" Anjanette chose that moment to join her friends, sitting down next to Peter. "And Anjanette too."
"How did you disarm the other three?" Remus asked her. "I didn't even see you move or speak."
"I didn't." She looked over at the Slytherin table where the three cronies were searching for their wands to no avail. She and the Marauders all wondered who their mysterious helper was but Regulus had a feeling he knew, and sent a small smile of thanks his way.
