and you're twice as tall
29th October, 1979
Sirius’ kitchen looks like that of a mad detective who’s dedicated his life to uncovering the truth of his wife’s mysterious murder. That’s the only way he can explain it.
Regulus has covered the table in scrawled writing, photographs, sticky notes, and has a similar mess of paper pinned up on the wall. Books on Dark Magic stolen from Grimmauld Place pile high on every surface. Sirius has been powerless to stop him in his mess-making because, up until this morning, he’s been far too nauseous to walk further than the distance between his bed and the rug laid at the foot of it.
The effects of the poison Sirius had consumed are far more rampant than he had expected. On the day of their little excursion, he had spent the rest of his time profusely vomiting into his toilet - with Regulus attempting to help by periodically bringing him cups of cool water and occasionally patting him on the back. The day after that had been more of the same, though he had been able to catch some fleeting naps in between each session of puking. It’s the little things.
Sirius stumbles into the kitchen, shuddering his way through the wave of dizziness that he brought on by leaving his bedside. Despite the clumsy volume of his gait, Regulus still starts at the sound of his brother's voice behind him, “Okay, walk me through this. What the hell are we planning here?”
“Well, right now, I’m trying to work out how to efficiently destroy the Horcruxes. I have a few theories but we’ll have to resort to a little bit of trial and error.” Regulus frowns suddenly, the movement pulling at the healing scratches that sit on his nose and left eyebrows, “I’ve also been trying to figure out what his last few Horcruxes could be. I’ve estimated that he’s made five but I don’t know what the last one could be and I don’t know the location of two of them.”
Sirius lets out a puff of air, eyeing the scrawling writing in front of him. It’s clear that Regulus is becoming quite…frazzled at his own lack of knowledge about all this, “Well, let's focus on what we do know, yeah? What’s your plan for the next one?”
Regulus relaxes slightly, immediately more settled now that he can flaunt his flawless plan to his ignorant brother, “It’s a cup that was once owned by Helga Hufflepuff. I have no idea how he got his hands on it but I do know that he gave it to our lovely cousin for safekeeping.”
“He gave it to Mother? Now, there’s a plot twist!”
“What?! No, don’t make it weird.” Regulus curls his lip, shaking his head as though to dispel the thought. No one likes to be reminded that their mother is their second cousin, “I- what the fuck was I saying? You’ve thrown me off.”
Sirius fights to keep his smile down, lowering his head in apology, “Riddle gave the cup to our cousin. Bellatrix, presumably.”
“I- right. Thank you.” Another quick head shake, “He gave it to Bellatrix, who most likely stored it in her Gringotts Vault. Which we’re going to break into.”
Sirius is stunned into momentary silence, “...And how the shit are we expected to do that?”
“Well, if you’d shut up and let me fucking finish, I’d have told you by now!” Regulus snarls, finally turning away from his mess of notes to glare at his brother, “Merlin. So, the break-in will actually be quite simple because I’ve been preparing for it for weeks. I’ve made-”
“Then why did we do the locket first-”
“Sirius, I swear-”
“Sorry! I’m sorry.”
“Okay. So, we’re going to have to-”
“I’m silent from now on-”
“Sirius! Shut the fuck up!”
“Sorry, I will! For real, this time.” Sirius concedes, if only because Regulus will start resorting to physical violence if he doesn’t stop.
Regulus glares at him for a long moment before warily continuing, “Thank you. Wankstain. We’re going to need to use the Polyjuice Potion that I’ve been brewing for the past few weeks to disguise ourselves as Bellatrix. We can debate who gets to be her later - toss a coin or something. If it all goes to plan, it will really be quite quick and simple.”
Sirius opens his mouth to speak, but snaps it shut again as bile begins to crawl up his throat. After a long, painful swallow that results in a grimace from Regulus, he tries again, “How are you planning on retrieving hair from Bellatrix? I feel like visiting her would basically blow our cover into a billion flaming pieces.”
“First of all, take a seat because your skin is turning slightly green. It's gross, Sirius. Seriously.” Regulus sneers, gesturing to the one dining chair that isn’t piled with books. As Sirius sits, his eyes start to get that enthused glint in them that means he’s going to start gushing about something boring like potions or arithmancy, “Second of all, we don’t need hair, we just need a body part! We’re just taught at school that it should be hair because it’s the least invasive way to make the potion, but in fact you can use almost anything as long as it comes from the person!”
“...I’m a bit worried about the direction this is going, Reg.”
“What? No, it’s nothing weird. We’re just going to be using her baby teeth.”
“EW, WHAT?!”, Sirius exclaims, clutching his already weak stomach, “REGULUS, THAT’S WAY WEIRDER THAN ANYTHING I WAS PICTURING!”
“What the hell are you shouting about, drama queen?” Regulus queries, baffled. As though Sirius is the weird one for reacting this way.
“How in Merlin’s name do we even have her baby teeth?!”
“Mother has them stored in her bedroom somewhere, it’s some weird heirloom from Aunt Druella. I think she has Narcissa’s as well...”
Sirius can’t speak for a moment, feeling utterly disgusted, “What the fuck is wrong with this family?”
“Years of incest? I don’t know, but it's worked out to be quite convenient for us.” Regulus shrugs, turning back to his mad display of planning.
“So, what? We stroll over to Grimmauld, grab the teeth, finish the potion and then we’re good to go?” Sirius asks, feeling slightly suspicious of the ease of this plan.
“We ?” Regulus splutters, “We are not going to Grimmauld, I am.”
Sirius lets out a sharp laugh, “Why not, Reg? The old bat is basically catatonic, right? Why wouldn’t I come with you?”
Regulus takes in a long breath, turning his head so that his face is hidden from view, “I don’t know, I just assumed you wouldn’t want to go back there.”
Regulus is right, of course. Sirius would hate nothing more than to go back to that house. In fact, there has barely been a single day in the past few years of his life where those cold, dark halls haven’t been the setting of his every nightmare. Stepping back into that house is his own personal idea of hell. He laughs, “I’ll be fine, idiot. It's just a house. And I'm not making you go alone.”
Regulus’ sharp grey eyes stare into the side of his head, full of knowing and disbelief. Eventually, he shrugs and drops his gaze, “Okay, well. If you’re sure. I was planning to go tomorrow morning so we’ll go then, if you’re well enough.”
“I better be well enough. If this nausea doesn’t go away soon, I’m going to start screaming.” Sirius seethes, feeling it slowly overtake his body, “Now, I’m just going to quickly puke, and then I’ll join you for breakfast.”
“Okay, well. Enjoy yourself.”
“I mean, I'll try, Reg.”