Sincerely, Sirius

They landed on soft, mossy grass surrounded by massive trees. Bright morning sunlight filtered through the branches above them.

Reluctantly, Sirius unfolded the cloak and threw it over them. It was already quite hot, so being under the cloak was almost unbearable. They were in for a long, sweaty day; it was going to be miserable.

Huddled far too close for comfort, they made their way to the edge of the woods. Before them was a sprawling lawn lined with garden beds, beyond it the massive stone Lestrange Manor loomed.

“Let's go quietly," Regulus whispered as he took the first step towards the lawn and placed his foot down right on Sirius's toe.

He yelped as Regulus's foot came down, making the younger boy quickly raise his foot again. He nearly lost his balance trying to find a safe place to put his foot back down while simultaneously trying to smack a hand over Sirius's mouth and hissing at him to quiet down. All of this was rather unsuccessful as he actually stood there on one foot, flailing to regain his balance. He did, but his toppling over was a near thing. If Sirius hadn't reached over and caught his waving wrist, he would have fallen, and one of them would have been without the cloak.

Regulus heaved a deep breath as he confirmed he was in fact on solid footing again. Closing his eyes for a brief moment, before they opened and turned towards Sirius. Murderous intent clear.

He had to fight every instinct to smirk at the look on his little brother's face. Now wasn't the time to mock his adorable wrath.

“Sirius. Are you trying to get us killed?”

“Me! You're the one who stepped on my foot.”

"Well, if your gigantic feet weren't always in the way. No wonder you were always terrible at a waltz.”

“Oi, I was shit at waltzing on purpose. It didn't fit the image.” He huffed.

"Right, I forget you prefer to have no taste or class.”

“At least it got me out of a fair share of dances with prospective brides.” He shuddered at the memories of all the girls his parents paraded in front of him. Thank Godric he fell in love with Moony and not some simpering heiress.

Regulus scoffed. “Merlin, you're doing it again.”

“Doing what?”

“Thinking about Remus. This isn't the time. Wipe that giddy look off your ugly mug and let's go.”

He let out an indignant squawk, quietly.

Regulus chuckled to himself before making his second attempt at moving forward, this time successfully.

He felt a warmth swell in his chest at the soft sound of his brother's laugh. It felt surreal that he could still do that, make him laugh. There was so much space and time between who they were as kids and now, but not everything had changed. He could still see so much of the little brother he had raised in the man walking beside him.

He smiled to himself at the absurdity of where they found themselves now. It felt right, though. Regulus was there with him, and they'd get through this together, like they had as kids. United against the darkness facing them.

They hobbled their way forward. He could feel them starting to near the wards, the magic humming over his skin. When they reached the edge, Regulus tentatively stretched his hand out. 

It passed through the wards without issue. 

Creeping forward, Regulus pulled him through the wards and they made their way up the steps and through the front door.

It looked the same as when he was last here. The cool, indifferent stone walls and floor were the same, but then the room had been filled with more flowers than were strictly necessary. Candles and fabrics draped around the room in an attempt to put up a happy facade, but it did nothing to change the impermeable coldness of the space. He remembered Bellatrix and Rodolphus wandering the space together, side by side. Matching apathetic looks on their faces. One would have thought a wedding would brighten the ambiance, but it didn't.

Regulus spoke beside him, bringing him back to the present. “Office first, then library. If it's here, my guess it's in one of those places. If not, then it might be in the sitting room or their bedroom.”

“Lead the way”

–

The office was large and dark. Walls lined with ancient portraits and a few shelves with ledgers. A massive oak desk filled the center of the room, with two leather chairs sitting opposite.

He could feel dark magic radiating off several objects in the room, but none looked like a cup.

Once the door clicked shut behind them, Regulus pulled the cloak off and muttered a locking spell on the door. Sirius had never heard the spell before, and it was powerful. He could feel the magic when it was cast. 

When had Reggie gotten so strong? 

He watched his brother turn away from the door and start to scour the shelves for the Horcrux. Meticulously, he took in every inch of the space with cool calculation.

Just as he finished looking over the first shelf of ledgers, he turned to Sirius, who still hadn't moved. “Are you going to stand there and be useless? If you aren't even going to help, then I shouldn't have brought you.” The glare accompanying the words was sharp as knives.

He snapped out of it then, the words landing like a slap, “Sorry.”

Regulus's lip curled slightly at the word, “I don't want your apology. You forced my hand to be here with promises of doing this together. So fucking help.” He turned back to the next shelf and started the search again.

So, that was still the same then. The same bitter and quick temper that had stung him so often when they were growing up. It still stung. 

He shook himself lightly and wandered to the other side of the room to file through the books and objects there. 

After about fifteen minutes, he had looked at everything on that side of the room. Regulus had finished his side and was looking through the desk. “Anything?”

“Not in here. The magic in the objects here is dark, but not Horcrux dark.”

Regulus turned back to the door. Picking up the cloak and throwing it back over them before unlocking the door and leading the way through the halls towards the library.

–

This room was going to be far more challenging to search on account of the large glass doors. They'd need to stay under the cloak to remain hidden from anyone who might pass by.

Regulus directed them towards the left side of the room and started to sweep the shelves. “You search the lower shelves and I'll search the upper ones.”

“I should be searching the upper shelves, I'm taller.”

His brother's head snapped toward him, “By half an inch!” He whisper-yelled. “Just shut up and look, will you?”

“Godric's balls your are so fucking stubborn.”

“Me! I'm stubborn? Take a look in the mirror, Sirius! You are the most stubborn person I've ever met, with the exception of our parents.”

“Don't use my name in the same sentence as those fucking people.” He said, jamming his finger at his brother's shoulder.

Regulus rolled his eyes and turned back to searching the upper shelves. Completely ignoring Sirius' discontented grumbling as he bent over to search the lower ones.

They made the rest of their sweep of the room in tense silence. It was something unfortunately familiar to them both. Long hours in the library at Grimmauld Place, sat in silence over the holiday breaks. Back when they rarely spoke anymore, both believing the other hated them. 

So much time wasted.

By the time they had searched the whole library, Sirius was feeling raw from the grating silence. He hated this part of their relationship, especially since it was so easy to fall back into.

Finding nothing in the library, they wandered down more lengthy corridors to the sitting room. 

As they drew closer, Sirius could feel Regulus growing more and more tense with each step. When they stood in front of the door, it was clear he was moving on autopilot, his consciousness receded deep into his mind.

Thankfully, the sitting room had a solid, lockable door. Sirius clicked the door shut behind them and cast the best locking spell he knew. It was probably only a fraction the strength of Regulus's, but it would have to do. 

He pulled the cloak off them and laid it over the back of the settee, turning back to his brother.

Reggie was standing in front of the door, his eyes blank and face filled with tension.

“Reggie?” He reached out and touched his brother's shoulder.

Regulus flinched and Sirius pulled his hand back like the reaction had burned him. 

Keeping a small distance, he softened his voice and tried again, “Hey. Are you still with me?”

Regulus blinked at him, taking a slow breath in as the fog of dark thoughts cleared from his eyes, “Sorry.”

“What was that?”

“Uh– nothing, don't worry about it.” He looked away, his eyes sweeping the room as if something was going to jump out and grab him.

Sirius sighed, "Please, Reggie, let me help you. Clearly, that was something. Tell me, and maybe I–” He didn't want to say he could fix it, he knew Regulus would shut him out. Preferring to handle it on his own rather than let Sirius take that control. He’s not the scared little boy wanting his big brother to protect him anymore. 

Still, he wanted to help. He knew that this was not the best time for a heart-to-heart, but he wanted to start taking down the walls that had been built between them over the years. 

Once he and Regulus had been so close they could practically read each other's mind. Their parents took that bond and bent it, twisting until it snapped. Causing each brother to withdraw from the other. If they were going to survive this, they needed to reforge that bond. 

He took a step closer to Regulus “I want to be here for you. Please let me.” He felt his eyes start to sting, and Effie's singsong voice drifted through his mind. Merlin, he missed her, “Effie always told me that a weight shared is a weight halved. I don't have to fix it, but I can still help you carry it.”

Regulus was silent, staring for a moment as emotions flicked across his face. Clearly, he found the same wisdom in those words that Sirius always had, since it was mere moments before words started to tumble from him. “It was this room, where I took the mark.” He shuddered and closed his eyes tightly, his hand coming to rest over the mark hidden beneath his sleeve. “You have to accept it, take it willingly. Sort of. I gave my consent, agreed to let myself be marked. I knew it was what they expected of me.” His breath shuttered out of him as he opened his eyes again to look at Sirius. “I was 16. Did you know that? It was the summer after you left. I think they wanted to make sure I couldn't leave too, that they would have their precious heir even if it had to be me.”

Sirius couldn't breathe. He knew Regulus had taken the mark, but he had no idea it had been while they were both still in school. Reggie would have been in his sixth year, far too young to be forced to make that kind of choice. 

Regulus drew another shaky breath, “It hurt, so fucking bad. I knew it would, Bella had been thrilled to inform me how much pain it would cause me. I thought I could take it. It couldn't be worse than the cruciatus curse, and it wasn't, but it was still excruciating. I tried not to scream, but that was impossible. I could hardly think past the blinding pain. I tried to pull away.” His eyes flicked down to the carpet in the middle of the room. “Father had to hold me down so he could finish. I could hear Bella laughing, and Mother scolding. Apparently, my inability to take the pain was a disgrace to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Though when he finished, Voldemort said I took it better than most. That he was impressed with me. That wasn't good enough for Mother, though. When we got home, I could barely stand. She still decided I needed to be punished, because more pain was clearly the answer. 10 minutes under the cruciatus curse, until I stopped screaming.”

Sirius sucked in a breath through his teeth, fists clenching at his sides. “That fucking bitch.”

A surprised chuckle escaped Regulus at his expletive, “I was bedridden for a week, and couldn't eat or drink anything. Kreacher was beside himself with worry; he thought I was going to die.—I think that's when I accepted that I wouldn't survive this war. If mother didn't kill me then Voldemort or someone else would.”

His brother flinched when he spoke the name. He glanced nervously at the carpet again before squaring his shoulders and facing Sirius. 

Regulus’s expression cleared as their eyes met, a soft smile on his face. Standing before his brother like he was waiting for judgment. Like telling Sirius what happened was some kind of balm to his soul, and now that Sirius knew, he could let it go. Regulus could let his big brother either save him or damn him.

Sirius had already told him what he thought, and none of what he just said changed that. Not that it didn't change some things, because it did. He was beyond the point of incandescent rage over what their parents had done. He would talk later with Regulus about how they would both get their vengeance. But right now—

He threw himself forward, tugging Reggie into a hug to end all hugs. Doing his best to emulate the solace that James and Remus's hugs always were to him. 

It seemed to work. His brother melted into the embrace, despite his normal distaste for being touched. Sirius squeezed, pushing every thought of love, hope, and forgiveness he could into it. Maybe he could osmosis the feelings into Regulus, because there was no way he was going to be able to speak around the sobs crawling up his throat.

They stood there for a while just holding each other. It was nice, knowing that Regulus was willing to let his guard down and allow Sirius to see bits of the damage he had fought so hard to hide.

As expected, Regulus eventually grew uncomfortable with showing his vulnerable underbelly. Pushing lightly on Sirius' chest as he put distance between them.

“Reggie?”

“Mhm?”

“I love you. You know that? Do you believe me?”

He was quiet for a moment before answering, “Yeah, Siri, I believe you.”

He nodded to himself before turning back to their mission. “Do you feel what you're looking for here?”

Regulus’s eyebrows pulled together. "Ironically, I don't feel any dark objects in here. Definitely no Horcrux."

“Well, shit. I could have gone my whole life without seeing the inside of Bella's bedroom, but if we must.”

A laugh burst out of Regulus before he clasped a hand over his mouth to stifle it, “You and me both, but it must be done.”

They sighed in unison, looking at one another and chuckling. Sirius picked up the cloak, and once again they were hidden beneath it.

—

They did quick scans of each room they passed on the way to the master bedroom without any luck. 

They were just about to turn the last corner when Sirius saw a small shape ahead of them. He yanked Regulus back around the corner with him, a hand automatically going over his mouth to stifle his yelp of surprise.

Once out of the occupied hallway, he removed his hands and met the glare Regulus was leveling at him. “House elf.” He whispered.

His brother nodded and they listened for a moment before peeking back around the corner. “The hallway is empty now, they must have left. Let's go.”

They hurried the last few steps down the hallway. Creaking open the door, they peered into the dark bedchamber before stepping over the threshold and making their way into the room. Once the door was sealed behind them, they removed the cloak and hesitantly started to wander the space.

They only found more disappointment. There was no Horcrux here.

Regulus sighed in defeat. He slunk into the adjoining bathroom and quickly found two hairbrushes. He placed strands from each into separate pouches and walked back to Sirius's side, “let's go. We've got a bank to break into.” He whispered as he pulled the cloak back over them.

—

Again, they made their way through the manor, silent steps stuttering for only a moment as they heard a voice drifting from the open office door. The voice was soft, with a slight lilt to it, as if whoever it was was singing to themselves.

Sirius strained to listen. They kept waking and he didn't notice he was turning towards the sound. Then, the side of his foot collided with Regulus's, who swore softly as he lost his balance – again.

The arm his brother swung out to stabilize himself hit Sirius squarely in the chest, promptly knocking the wind out of him. It then also had the spectacular effect of not allowing Regulus to rebalance. Resulting in him toppling over onto his hands and knees in the middle of the hall. 

Sirius, now gasping for breath like a fish out of water, suddenly found his lungs filling with a cool breeze that hadn't been there a moment before. Not under the stuffy cloak. Oh.

The cloak had tangled in Regulus' flailing arms and now he was standing out in the open. Right in the middle of Lestrange Manor—the home of Voldemort's right-hand. The manor Voldemort often resides in. Shit.

He looked down to see that Regulus's fall was just as much of a disaster as his own current predicament. Regulus's bottom half was visible, his legs kicking in a rather undignified manner as his upper half was still hidden beneath the cloak. 

Apparently, he was struggling to free himself from the bunched cloth, if his cursing was anything to go by.

If Sirius wasn't about to shit bricks, the scene in front of him would have been enough to make him laugh himself to death. Unfortunately, at the moment he was far more likely to die of fright, —or a good old-fashioned killing curse to the back if they didn't get the fuck out of there now.

He started to move forward, reaching out with his shaking hands to pull his brother to his feet. Intending to push him out of the front door before things could get any worse. — But because things absolutely could get worse, Sirius heard a small gasp come from behind him.

Turning, he saw a small house elf holding a tray. The creature was shaking and staring with wide blue eyes at the intruders.

It was then that Regulus freed himself from the cloak. Pulling himself up and dusting off his shirt, he looked up to see their audience.

“Oh! Hello, Pell.” Regulus said cheerfully, a big smile spreading across his face.

The small elves' eyes grew impossibly wider. “Mm- Mister R-Regulus?” 

In the most confusing act Sirius has ever seen, the house elf dropped the tray it was holding and launched itself at Regulus. Sobbing.

Regulus must have hit him in the head too; he had to be hallucinating. The elf had itself wrapped around Regulus's calves as it cried into his trousers. Full, heaving breaths echoed through the hallway.

“Pell thought, 'Mister Regulus was dead!”

“Shhh, it's okay, Pell. Clearly, I'm not dead, but I don't want anyone to know that.” He bent over slightly, patting the small elf on its back. “Can you keep it a secret for me?”

The elf looked up at his brother, big, wet eyes filled with adoration. It took a moment for it to slow its breath enough that it could manage a response, “Anything f- for Mister Re- Regulus.”

“Wonderful, I am very grateful to you, Pell. I would love to stay and talk, but we need to leave now. I'll come visit again when I can.” 

Sirius watched as his brother gently started to remove the elf from around his legs.

“Of course, Sir. Pell won't tell a soul he saw you.” It replied as it used its rag shirt as a tissue.

“Thank you.” Regulus smiled fondly as he turned back to Sirius, walking over to throw the cloak back over them.

“Reg–”

“Later.”

Sirius snapped his mouth shut as Reggie pushed him to move again.

Finding their way out of the manor was easy after that. Passing through the wards and back into the woods before removing the cloak and apparating away.