Granger Yet
Brother Bother

In and out.

Regulus wasn't sure when he'd become aware of the presence of individuals other than family—biological family. Sirius' friend Remus, a somewhat gravelly voice, said, "You're supposed to wake him up every couple hours, not every fifteen minutes, Black."

Right hand on the right eye, left hand dangling uselessly by his side, Regulus opened up his eye, having been poked awake by one Sirius Orion Black to see his brother moving away. A man with an eye—Regulus wanted to touch that strange eye that rolled around in the man's head, yet he recognised the person. He frowned, wondering if Sirius had contacted the Auror, but then he knew this person had been a part of the Order, so perhaps not. "Moody."

"Not afraid of me?"

Regulus stopped covering his right eye with his right hand, his head throbbing as the urge to touch that eye—Mad-Eye Moody's eye, no matter how gross that would actually be remained steadfast in his head. He also contemplated that he should have known others were coming and going, with how Walburga screamed from somewhere in the house yet didn't present herself, remembering the portrait downstairs well. And without hesitation, he said, "No."

"Damn it, Regulus!" Sirius hissed from somewhere nearby, not that Regulus was paying his older brother any mind, although Sirius had called him by his name—that name he'd tried to distance himself from. "You're a Death Eater for crying out, and you're not afraid of Moody?"

"I'm not Bella, so why should I be?" Regulus said.

And that had Moody laughing. "You're referring to Bellatrix Lestrange?"

"Who else would I be talking about?" Regulus said, realising he couldn't reach out far enough to touch Moody's eye and decided he might as well give up.

"Moody was the one who caught her," Sirius said, sounding all too irritated with him, but then—when was Sirius not ever irritated with him?

"Good," Regulus said, watching the man. "I bet she put up quite the fight, though."

"Regulus, could you take this seriously?" Sirius sighed.

"I am," Regulus narrowed his eyes, wondering if Sirius would still argue that it wasn't him or if Sirius was simply trying to soothe him. "You're here to interrogate me?"

"You've defected from the Death Eaters?"

There came a sound of irritation from Sirius. However, Regulus wasn't sure the reason for it beyond the fact that Sirius hated him as he did in the Black family, excluding perhaps of those alive, their cousin Andromeda. Regulus lay there. "Yes."

"Liar!" Sirius snapped. "And why don't you have him under Veritaserum?"

Moody sent Sirius a glare.

"Well! He came back here because he's running back to him," Sirius said.

Regulus remained silent, not bothering to dignify that with a response.

"And see! He doesn't deny what I said?"

"He'd already said he'd defected," Moody said.

And Regulus laughed when both of Moody's eyes rolled, and Sirius let out another sound of irritation. Regulus pushed his mouth together, trying not to let his amusement show. "Sorry."

Moody was now glaring at him, not that Regulus cared. He watched a young woman with bubblegum pink hair tilt her head to the side, peering at him. "So this is your brother, Sirius?"

"He is not my brother!" Sirius snapped.

"Don't I know that already," Regulus muttered, now focusing in on the couch, no longer feeling like smiling?

"See! He admits…"

"If you think that's an admittance that I am not who I am, think again, Sirius Black!" Regulus snapped, not yet at the point of using his brother's full name. "Because we both know you've not thought of me as a brother in a long time!" And there he was looking at his brother, with Sirius looking at him, obviously taken aback by what he said. Regulus looked away.

"You! You little!"

"Black," Moody barked. "Well, I've asked what I've wanted to, for now. It isn't as if he can go anywhere at this point, and he doesn't have a wand."

"I can do wandless magic, you know," Regulus muttered.

"Not that you plan on doing anything," Moody said.

"And how do you know that!" Sirius snapped.

"Because, Black, your brother's precise reason," Moody started to say.

"He's not my brother!"

"Yeah. We know that" Regulus snapped.

"See. He…"

"Already refuted that claim, Black. But he'd also said he wasn't Bella, which was why he wasn't afraid of me."

"He's a Black. So, of course, he'd brag about being stronger than her even though he isn't."

Regulus returned to glaring at the couch, wondering how thickheaded Sirius could get, which led to a mental reminder that it was Sirius, who could get as thickheaded as he wanted at times. Moody remained calm. "He meant he didn't fear me for the precise reason he wouldn't be putting up a fight if he encountered me. It seems he's a bit brighter than you are, this brother of yours."

"He's not my brother! That is not Regulus!"

"Yeah. You know you called him Regulus just a few minutes ago," the young woman said. "And what will we do when the kids get here?"

"Close the door!" Sirius snapped. "And stop butting in, Tonks!"

"What, kids?" Regulus asked, wondering why the name Tonks sounded familiar as well as who the kids were, particularly since they were likely attending school with Hermione, meaning word might get back to her—which wasn't the most pleasant thought, her starting the school year with rumours about him, should anyone recognise that it was him and that she was his father. "But what's the chance of them making that connection? The only kids who would be her friends? They'd have to be rather lousy friends to do that."

"None of your business," Sirius snapped. "And you're not…"

"Bloody hell! I am Regulus Arcturus Black, so could you stop already denying that I am who you know I am?" Regulus muttered. "I get you hate me, but taking it to that level, that you deny it's me? You're embarrassing yourself."

"Isn't he?" Tonks said.

What she said made Regulus pull himself up so he was in a sitting position using only his right arm to get a better look at that Tonks person, thinking there was something familiar he couldn't place. "We haven't been properly introduced."

Tonks looked over at Sirius, a smirk on her face. "Are you sure the two of you are related?"

"I told you. That isn't him," Sirius said.

"So," Tonks said, completely ignoring Sirius, still denying Regulus was who he was. "What kind of brother was he?"

"What?" Regulus swallowed, at first thinking, the question might be posed to Sirius rather than him, yet the deafening silence and the glare from Sirius he caught out of the corner of his eye said otherwise. He attempted rubbing his neck, only to wince when his fingers brushed across the spot where his chocker had broken the day before.

"Oh, come on!" Sirius snapped. "If you're really Regulus, that answer should be easy, right?"

In some ways, Regulus felt Sirius was attempting to mock him, for Sirius, out of everybody should know, yet as Sirius pressed for an answer to Tonk's question, Regulus blurted out. "He was a lousy older brother who was never there for me when I needed him!"

"Oh! And when did you ever need me! What would you need me for, brat?"

Regulus let his fingers tighten around the top of the couch. "Well, you certainly could have taught me how to use a condom, of all things!"

"What the bloody Merlin just came out of your mouth!" Sirius said as Tonks laughed, bending over as she did so. "What the fuck, Regulus! Do you want me to wash your mouth out with soap?"

"We're adults," Regulus said, knowing full well he'd randomly blurted out the first thing to pop into his head, yet he still remembered how he felt when such an important thing was explained to him by certain in-laws who didn't hold back in showing him what an older brother should be like. The portrait was yelling again, meaning someone new had entered the house.

"No way in bloody hell is my baby brother having sex with anybody!" Sirius snapped. "And why the bloody hell should I teach you how to use one?"

"Because you know full well Orion Black wouldn't have, you moron!"

"As if you'd ever be in a situation where you'd need to know how to use a condom!"

Regulus opened his mouth, only for something to suddenly launch itself at his chest, his right hand reaching up for whatever it was. Vaguely, his mind made out the streak of orange fur just outside of his point of view, and then the orange fur took shape as a familiar rumbling purr erupted from the furry thing. "Crookshanks?"