regret and nostalgia
“So what do you know about everything after you left?” Harry asked. “Well I know that you went to live with Petunia and Vernon and we heard Sirius was proved innocent and then we heard about the war. But that's about it.” James told him.
“Alright, well I can explain what happened. So before Hogwarts i was living with petunia and Vernon who treated me like shit. First year we found the stone and I destroyed Voldemort from the back of a teacher's head and I also found the mirror of Erised that year. Second year tom riddle trapped Ginny in the chamber of secrets where we went through different things to get to her and i destroyed Tom Riddle's diary which was a Horcrux but i didn't know it yet. Third year I was basically told that Sirius escaped and was out to kill me which wasn't true and I also listened in a meeting that Mcgonagall had with Madam Rosmerta and the minister and that when i found out Sirius is my godfather. Then when we saw Sirius in the shack Snape showed up and Peter ran away that night. Fourth year I was in the tournament where I defeated Voldemort again in the graveyard where Cedric died. That year was also when Barty was trying to kill me. Fifth year order meetings were happening at Grimmauld and I was staying there after I escaped the Dursleys. That was also when Sirius was proved innocent. Sixth year is when I found out Snape was the half blood prince and also when we were trying to escape death eaters most of the time. In seventh year we went Horcrux hunting and then fought the war and now we're here." Harry explained to them.
“That a lot more than I expected, it must've been terrible going through all of that.” Regulus said to harry. “What did they do to you? Did they hurt you? Because I've been looking for a reason to kill them for years.” James asked. “Ill tell you what they did but promise me you wont try to kill them because you're just back from the ‘dead’ so i'd rather you don't go to Azkaban.” Harry told him “alright I wont kill them but tell me what happened.” James agreed “well…it was mainly cooking and cleaning that i had to do while Dudley sat and watched TV all the time. If I burnt food or cooked something wrong they would hit me. I also lived in a cupboard under the stairs for a while which only changed because they realised people knew after my Hogwarts letter was to the cupboard under the stairs." Harry explained “I knew they would treat you amazing but I never thought it would be that bad.” James said
“Did you ever meet aunt marge?” Harry asked “I did once or twice and both times I wanted to throw something at her. Why?” “because i got angry and made her kind of inflate then fly away.” “oh my god what happened?” James asked
“She was asking where i went to school then started asking what you worked as and petunia said you were unemployed which was bad enough but then marge said that it isn't the father that's the problem it's always the mother because its like dogs her words were ‘if somethings wrong with the bitch somethings wrong with the pup’ so i kind of lost it and started shouting and i guess anger cause her to inflate then fly out the window.” Harry explained to them all. James laughed saying “that is amazing.”
When the laughing stopped, Sirius asked “do you want to come back to Grimmauld with us or do you have somewhere else you'd rather stay?” James looked at Regulus with a smile when Regulus answered “um we can come yo Grimmauld but what is like now? Is it similar to before?” “Your room is the exact same as you left, I think because I haven't been in it and I told Kreature he wasn't allowed in when I came back. Anything that was a trigger for me is gone except her portrait because she refused to leave so she is still there. If you don't want to sleep in your room you can take one of the spare rooms instead.” Sirius told him “alright that's fine but when we get there don't go in my room until i say because I think I need to move some things.” After that they got up and apparated to Grimmauld.
When they arrived, Regulus froze at the gate. James stepped next to him and whispered “take your time you don't have to rush i know its a lot.” Regulus slowly walked towards the door stepping inside. After taking a few steps in and looking around, Regulus saw Kreacher cleaning Walburga's portrait. Walburga looked at him, eyes wide with shock and Kreacher turned to see him. “Master Regulus.” Kreacher said “hello Kreacher.” “Kreacher thought master Regulus was dead that's why kreacher left the cave.” “I know I wanted you to think I was dead so that I could hide out.” Regulus said before stepping towards the portrait. “Regulus” “mother” “why would you do that you betrayed the dark lord.” Walburga spoke. Regulus turned to Sirius “do you ever just argue with her over things?” “All the time because she can't hurt us now.” Sirius told him Regulus turned to Walburga portrait saying “did you really believe that i was a loyal follower to him because the only reason i didn't run away was because i knew that i could become a death eater and it would be believable that it was my choice but i only did it to get information on plans and it helped me save James when i found out peter was a death eater. You should have seen his face when he walked in and saw me at that table. He looked terrified and he couldn't tell anyone because they would find out that he was there as well. It was really funny actually.” with that he walked away going up the stairs to his room saying “ill let you know when to come up.” on his way.
He walked towards the room and reached for the handle. His hand was shaky as he opened the door, stepping into the room it was just like he remembered it. Some clothes scattered around and papers all over his desk and a few letters. He spotted a diary, picking it up and reading the opened page it read…
Dear diary,
Its 14th September 1977
I was sitting in the library when my brother and his friends came in and sat at my table. Remus sat down doing homework which was fine and then made Sirius and James do their own homework. After a while when they were finished Sirius started planning a prank with James while Remus and I each read a book. Every so often I would look up and see James talking to Sirius and I would stare because his eyes are gorgeous and he's just amazing. I can't stop thinking about him, it's like he takes over my entire life.
R.A.B
Regulus laughed reading it because he remembered that, he remembered when the only thing on his mind was James and his day got a little better every time he saw James or James would just say hello and Regulus would panic. He continued scanning over his desk when he spotted something else, another paper he picked up to look at it and it read…
Dear whoever read this,
If you are reading this I will likely be dead. I went to the cave in search of a Horcrux to help the fight against the dark lord and there was a very low chance I would survive. If you see this you need to know that there are more Horcruxes to find than just this one but I don't know exactly how many there are so please go searching for them as I think it will help in the fight against him.
R.A.B
Regulus picked up anything he didn't want the others to see and put them in a drawer before calling down “you can come up now.” to the others. A minute later he heard footsteps coming up to his room before hearing the door opening. The first person to come in was James then Remus and then Sirius walked in slowly. They looked around for a while before leaving and going back down stairs to Harry and Draco who were just sitting talking.
They all sat down and started talking about other things like what James and Regulus did while in hiding, the answer is not much because they couldn't be seen without glamours on. While they were talking Regulus asked “if you don't want to talk about it, it's fine but did you ever end up going to meetings with your father?” “I did end up going to meetings with him and my mother but mum never got the mark. My father got the mark and then he forced me to get it as well but I was never a loyal follower and I lived here most of the time before and after it." Draco answered. “If you don't mind what age you were when you got the mark?” Regulus asked, “I was sixteen.” “So they're still making children take the mark.” Regulus answered bitterly. Just as he finished talking there was a noise at the window they turned to see an owl with a letter attached to its leg. Sirius stood up and got the letter opening it, it read…