Something was wrong. Deeply wrong. The only problem? For the life of him Regulus couldn't figure out what.
He'd felt nauseous all day, unable to keep food down for more than half an hour. His mind had run faster than he thought possible the entire day, bouncing from miniscule detail to barely audible noise and back again so fast that paying attention in any of his classes was hopeless. Now it was nearly midnight and he felt so... on edge. After an hour of pacing the dorm like a caged animal he'd finally left to wander the halls. Maybe he'd figure out why he was so anxious but if not at least he might be able to tire himself out.
Fresh air. Fresh air might help. He headed towards the astronomy tower, jumping at every flickering shadow. He nearly sprinted up the stairs, desprate to get to... something. There was something wrong. Why did he feel like something was wrong? He made it to the top and saw that the door was already ajar slightly. Frowning he pushed it open and quickly looked around, eyes landing on a figure sitting on the ledge.
His heart plumetted and he couldn't breathe. He could recognize his brother from a mile away so even through his back was turned he knew it was Sirius. Sirius who was leaning forward precariously, so engrossed in the long drop in front of him he hadn't noticed Regulus behind him.
Without a second thought Regulus ran forward, wrapping one arm around his stomach and grabbing his upper arm with the other, yanking him off the railing before he had a chance to react. Sirius let out a little yelp as the two of them toppled to the ground but Regulus ignored it, latching onto his shirt tightly and climbing on top of him so he was pinning him to the ground.
"Don't you dare." Regulus glared at him and Sirius started crying, heartbroken sobs that Regulus had never imagined could come from him.
"Please, please just let me jump. I can't do this anymore just let me do it, please." Horror nearly knocked the breath out of him. Here was Sirius, his big brother, sobbing and begging Regulus to let him kill himself. "It'll be better, I promise, I just can't do it. I can't live like this!"
"Siri-" He continued his pleading, not seeming to register Regulus trying to speak.
"Please, please, let me go I want to jump. Just let me do it, please." Sirius stared up at him, eyes glistening with tears and a kind of fractured desperation. "Please, it'll be better once I'm gone just let me jump. I promise it'll be better." Regulus opened his mouth but nothing came out. What could he even say to that?
"I promise you won't even miss me, just let me go, please. Please let me jump, I want it to be over." Regulus leaned forward until his forehead rested on Sirius's chest, letting out a little heartbroken cry.
"I won't let you, I won't." Regulus tightened his grip on Sirius who just started crying harder.
"It'll be better. Promise!" Regulus just shook his head silently, feeling his heart break at how much pure desperation was in his tone. "Please, let me go, let me jump. It'll be okay, I promise it will. Just let me jump, please." Seemingly realizing Regulus wasn't going to listen Sirius stopped pleading, just looked up at the sky and cried.
Every second Regulus stayed there felt like years of torture. The knowledge that him clinging stubbornly to Sirius was the only thing keeping him from jumping to his death was physically shattering his heart.
He wasn't sure how long the two of them stayed there like that before Sirius finally wore himself out enough for Regulus to feel confident that he could handle him if he tried to jump again. It might've been half an hour, maybe even a full hour, he wasn't sure and frankly it didn't matter all too much.
"Sirius?" His brother just sniffled but he continued anyways, keeping his voice as soothing and calm as possible. "How about we get you off the tower?" He looked at Regulus, broken hope in his eyes.
"You'll let me jump?" Regulus shook his head and the hope vanished again. He almost cursed himself for killing that little hopeful light, even if it was just Sirius wanting to die.
"No, we're not jumping off the tower. We can go back to the Slytherin dorms and get you to bed though. How does that sound?" Sirius's lip quivered.
"I don't want to go to bed, I want it to be over." Regulus had to take a deep breath to keep himself from crying again.
"I know, that's not an option though. I'm going to get off of you now but you can't try anything, alright?" Sirius nodded and Regulus carefully climbed off of him. Predictably, Sirius tried something.
"Nope, none of that." Regulus grabbed his arm and pulled him back away from the ledge. He came easily, too tired out to put up much of a fight. Regulus wrapped an arm around his waist to keep him steady and close before gently leading him to the door. Sirius gave him one last pair of puppy eyes.
"Please? I promise it'll be okay if you let me do it. You can just go, it'll be okay, promise." Regulus just shook his head and guided him inside. He sniffled quietly but otherwise remained quiet on their way to the Slytherin dorms.
Once they got back and Regulus opened the door he was quickly greeted by Evan and Barty, awake and waiting for him.
"Where have you- Oh shit, what happened?" Barty jumped to his feet, shutting the door behind them. Regulus waved Evan away, helping Sirius to his bunk.
"Tell you later." Sirius however seemed to have a very skewed sense of justice as he burst into tears again and looked at Barty pleadingly.
"He wouldn't let me jump. I told him it'll be okay but he won't listen, you've got to make him listen. Please." Both of the boy's jaws dropped in horror and Regulus just sighed.
"Come on Sirius, we're going to get you to bed, remember?" He let out a sob.
"I don't want to go to bed."
"I know." Regulus pushed him gently into bed, helping him with his shoes before tucking him in. Sitting down next to him he started carding a hand through his hair. "Can you close your eyes and try to go to sleep for me?"
"I don't want-"
"I'll make you a deal." Evan spoke, walking over and kneeling next to the bed so he was eye level with Sirius. "If you close your eyes and go to bed right now and you still want to jump in the morning I'll let you." Sirius stared at him for a long moment before he curled up and closed his eyes. It only took a few minutes for him to fall asleep but even after he did Regulus didn't stop combing his hand through his hair. Barty was the one to break the silence.
"Are you okay?" Regulus let out something between a laugh and a sob.
"No. I'm not." There was another pause. "He... he begged me to let him jump Barty, he was sobbing and he looked at me like I was shattering his heart to pieces when I said no." He didn't realize he was shaking until Barty pulled him into a hug.
"It's okay, he's safe now. And you did such a good job, you saved him. Right now we just wait until morning when he wakes up. Hopefully we can figure out whats going on then. How about Ev sits with him and we get you cleaned up and ready for bed?" Regulus nodded and let Barty lead him into the bathroom. When he returned Ev stood, letting him lay with his brother.
Pointing his wand at the door he muttered a collection of spells before setting it on the bedside table and wrapping his arms around Sirius.
"Reg?" He glanced up at Evan. "He's going to be alright, you did good, let yourself rest now." He nodded and closed his eyes, letting himself drift off to sleep.