Reunited Brothers (Daddy Issues by the Neighborhood and Family line by Conan Gray and Happier Then Ever by Billie Eilish)
“Soooo Where do you want to start?” Sirius asks his little brother with awkward and stiff shoulders.
“Why did you never send me any letters in your first year?” Regulus replies coldly with his back turned to Sirius unable to see his confused face. “What do you mean I didn’t send you any letters? I sent you letters every day up until Yule, I spent the whole day in bed crying because I didn’t so much as receive a letter from YOU?!”
Regulus stares startled before a dark look of understanding settles onto his face as he quietly whispers “Mother…” “Regulus what do you mean Mother?” “It’s just that every day I would see Mother Burning a bunch of letters sometimes it was scattered across the day others it was all at night.” “Well, it’s a good thing I always knew Mother Dearest was a cunt…” Sirius raises his wand and whispers “Accio my letters to Reggie.” Sirius then walked over to the door and went downstairs to the entrance of the common room as his brother waited in the dorm for his brother to return.
Once Sirius returned he grabbed his brother by the hand and they sat on the bed reading all of Sirius' letters to Regulus in his first year.
The first few were rants about the ceremony and how great Gryffindor was and as time went on Sirius found out that the stuff their parents did was wrong, how the Cruciatous and Imperious were both Illegal spells that were deemed as bad as killing someone. This alone caused Regulus to break down, reminding Regulus exactly how alone he felt when he found out how highly condemnable both spells were. Regulus broke down even more and lay crying in his brother’s embrace as he realized that they were both victims of their Mother’s lies and manipulations.
It’s also then that he found out that Marriage Contracts are Public Records. It’s also how Sirius discovered that their father has been protecting them by staying away. This was because Orion and Walburga’s Contract had a claused that stated that when it came to raising and disciplining the children Orion could not contradict Walburga even if it meant abusing their children. So by staying away, Orion would not confuse his abuse for his love and not associate it with normal. Sadly their mother fixed that in his absence so that they would always associate her love with pain.
Sirius also had unsent letters he had never sent because he thought his brother wouldn’t respond so what was the point? They described his friends, his newest crush, his inexplicable HATE for Severus Snape, and the most recent ones were the ones of his discovery of his crush on Remus. Regulus felt crushed by the guilt that he carried for having ignored his brother for so long without ever giving him a chance to explain why he didn’t reach out.
It was in that moment Regulus decide he is going to try his hardest to tell Sirius everything that happened that year during his absence in their childhood home. The same home that Regulus is starting to realize was more of a prison then anything, they were the prisoners and their Mother was the warden. So Regulus spilled everything that happened and what was constantly going through his mind concerning their mother and her actions.
It ended with Regulus crying into his brother’s shoulders pouring out “I'm sorry” like a flowing river, his nose, mouth, and Sirius’ shoulder all covered in sont and tears. Either way, neither brother could care less and just continued to hold on tightly to the other, neither wanting to let go of the other in fear that the other would disappear if they didn’t hold on tight enough.
Once they both finally calmed down they were able to hear their friends knocking on the door looking for them and arguing amongst each other, so they turned to the door and strained to hear what their friends were saying> “WHAT IF THEY KILLED EACH OTHER?” “NONONONO IT’S MORE LIKELY THAT REGULUS KILLED SIRIUS AND IS HIDING THE BODY” “NO EVAN HE WOULD’VE COME OUT TO GET ME DON’T BE DENSE” “OK AND WE’VE TRIED–” “EVERYTHING YES” they all collectively screamed at Severus, causing the two brothers to turn to each other and break into giggles.
Neither brother heard Severus present the idea of unlocking it the Muggle way and surprising to everyone, including Severus, it worked. The friends all stumbled into the room and stared in awe at the brothers hugging each other and laying down together. ‘The Skittles’ took the initiative and all ran to lay down with the two brothers, while Severus and Bruce took their time closing their door and using Leviosa to push another bed closer so they could all comfortably fit and talk. They spend the entire night discussing the happenings of the past month.
Meanwhile, on the seventh floor of the Grand Staircase tower, Remus lays on his bed thinking about everything that’s happened that day. From Snape claiming to be his dead twin brother to the betrayal and yet sense of longing he held for Sirius, whom he has been trying to call Black in his head. He thinks that his love for Sirius is what has been clouding his judgment but after this morning he is not too sure. Snape claiming to be Romulus left him stunned but what bothered him most was that feeling of completeness that followed, as if everything in the world was suddenly right at the idea that Snape was his brother.
He keeps thinking about what Snape would look like if he had a similar hair color or if he had just a bit more color to his skin. But it would be impossible for Snape to be his brother without it meaning that his parents lied to him. He lays there thinking his entire childhood over, about all the times his mother changed the story to his friends none of them even slightly matching the story she first told him, and his father always saying he didn’t remember a thing about the entire night.
It all makes no sense to him so he decides to go to James, “James James wake up,” he says as he roughly shakes James awake. “I’m up I’m up what do you need moony?” James hastily says as he roughly shoves his glasses onto his face nearly bending the frame the wrong way.
“It’s just that I was wondering something, but never mind go back to sleep.” James quickly grabs Remus’ hand and pulls him back down “No no now you’ve got me intrigued” “I’m surprised you even know how to say the word James,” Remus says with a chuckle, for the first time since the chaos that started that morning. James gasps incredulously and says “Huhh you wound me Moony,” he then straightens himself out and becomes serious and goes “Ok now what did you want to ask?”
“Am I selfish for actually wishing that Snape is Romulus?” James sits there in a stunned silence before he finally answers, still holding onto Remus’ hand, and says “No one deserves to be more selfish than you. So what if it’s selfish, You should really be asking yourself why you want Snivellus as your brother when there are so many better options.”
“I honestly don’t understand it either it just feels right like I'm not just a half of myself that nobody will ever understand the way he did, I mean you’ve heard how the Prewett Twins were when separated for long periods, and then met back up.”
James brushes his hair out of his face and with a pained expression says “If you feel so strongly about it we can talk to THEM tomorrow and see if Snape felt the same about it.” Remus stares at him dumbfounded knowing just how much that must’ve pained James Potter, the Number One Slytherin Hater, to so much as think of saying. Remus brings James in for a tight hug forgetting that the Full moon is coming soon and that he is much stronger than normally nearly strangling James to death. The only reason due to the tapping, basically punching, that helped him realize.
James looks at Remus with all the seriousness he could muster and says “That still doesn’t make what Sirius did right.” Remus sits there looking a little embarrassed and says “I know but I wanna know why he did it, what pushed him to betray me like this, and thankfully tomorrow is Sunday so I won’t have to see him for a whole day if the answer just makes me madder.” James looks at Remus intently before answering with a hum of agreement never having understood Sirius’ reasoning through all the sobs and the Chaos. In that moment Remus gets up and goes to sit on his bed just as he is about to go back to bed he looks back over at an already sleeping James and whispers goodnight into the eerily quiet room.
Once he lays down and has shut the curtains he fondly says” Goodnight Pads.”
In the dungeons of the castle,
there is a Gryffindor among Slytherins who care and whispers “Goodnight My Moons”