Chapter 1
Regulus had not truly seen his brother since he was ten. When Sirius went off to Hogwarts and left him with their parents for the first time. It was painful. Sirius did not come back for any of the breaks, did not send almost any letters, and the pitiful few that he deigned to remember to send were all about a friend of his...this James Potter. Later on in the year one Remus Lupin was almost equally as mentioned as James Potter. Regulus hated both of them. There was no asking Regulus how he was, no wondering what he was doing, or if he was okay. In fact, Regulus hated every single letter that had been given to him, and as the year drained on with Sirius gone and after Sirius did not return for either Halloween nor the Winter Solstace, Regulus knew that he was no longer on Sirius' radar. Not truly. So he stopped writing him weekly, because why should he if Sirius could not be bothered to even respond to any of his letters?
Sirius came back, and perhaps that was when things truly started to go downhill, or perhaps they were just doomed to do so when he left in the first place. Regulus did not know, and nor did he care. For some reason, when Sirius returned, he had taken up issues with everyone and everything. All of a sudden, Regulus was not supposed to do certain things or say certain things. Sirius never bothered explaning either, considering the other did not seem to think Regulus would dare disobey him. Just like Walburga on the regular. She gave orders carelessly and expected they be obeyed. Sirius was similar, but then again, Sirius was the heir, so of course Regulus was supposed to obey him. It just made Regulus horribly confused, and Sirius was not bothering to entertain their midnight conversations either, so Regulus was left struggling to figure out what he was expected to do. Walburga and Orion had drilled it into Regulus-whenver they bothered to notice him-that he was to obey them, and Sirius, in all things, but now Sirius was stating things that their parents did not agree with. It was horrifically confusing to him.
It was also the summer that Regulus realized things would get worse. Sirius had never gone out of his way to antagonize their parents before, but that seemed to change, as practically every night Sirius would do or say something, and smirk as their paretns would get more and more angry. It drove Regulus insane. He was almost always begging Sirius to be quiet, or to let it go, and yet Sirius more often than not would glare at him and tell him it was not his place to question what he was doing-which was correct...technically...because Sirius was the Heir and Regulus was expected to obey him.
Second year came along for Sirius, and it was Regulus' first year. Regulus had hoped, though he was not entirely sure anymore, that they would be sitting together, but outside of an extremely brief introduction to Sirius' newfound family, Regulus was entirely forgotten. Not to mention that there was simply not enough room for all of them, so Regulus was sequestered elsewhere. Luckily for him, Barty and Evan were willing to sit with him. While he knew Evan Rosier-their mothers were friends-he had only heard about Barty Jr. After all, the MInister was never one to attend balls or house functions despite being a pureblood. Barty was slightly chaotic, and Regulus was quiet, while Evan was a good inbetween. Regulus found he enjoyed the two's company, which was interesting because he had never truly cared for Evan's mother, and had never really met Barty.
Regulus' first year he got sorted into Slytherin along with Evan, though Barty ended up in Ravenclaw...and things truly took a dive down, at least in terms of his relationship with his brother. Sirius was furious. He did not make a great commotion in the great hall that night, of course how could he? He would definitely get into trouble, but the next morning Regulus found his robes scruffed as he was yanked out of the great hall and subjected to Sirius' verbal tyrant of anger and filth. Regulus could not help but feel shamed. He knew that Sirius had wanted him to become a Gryffindor, and he knew that his parents said he was to obey Sirius in all things, but he wasn't exactly able to control his sorting. Despite trying to explain, Sirius merely raged over him.
Regulus' second, third, and fourth years were very similar, with the exception that Sirius would always go to the Potters' house for breaks, and had even taken to daring mother and father by leaving with them on summer break. Walburga and Orion were furious each time, and Regulus was doomed to punishment for not stopping him each time. It was entirely unfair, because wasn't he supposed to be obeying Sirius? When had that changed? Sirius would pick fights with their parents through owl, or the few moments that they managed to snatch him each time, Regulus would be punished afterwards for not fixing Sirius (which had never been a requirement last time Regulus checked). Regulus would avoid Sirius at school and yet ever so often they would run into each other.
Each meeting at school ended with Evan and him holding Barty back as the boy unleashed vitriol upon Regulus' brother, and Regulus intervening the moment Sirius attempted to curse them. Regulus never got cursed, because if there was one thing that he was good at, it was duelling, and despite Sirius' older age, Sirius was never forced into duelling with Bellatrix or Lucius for sport because they had asked and Walburga and Orion promptly gifted him up to them. Pranks at Slytherin ended with pretty much everyone but Regulus and his small duo of friends affected, considering Regulus was contrary to his brother's opinion, actually intelligent and knew how to do counter curses. It was not really complicated, and most of Sirius' ragtag group's tricks were pitifully simplistic. After each prank Sirius would once again vilify Regulus, while Regulus would simply dissasociate until the inevitable attempt at cursing happened, and he was forced to once again step in.
It was normal. It was simple. The end of fifth year showed Sirius stripped from heirship, not that he gave much of a shit about that, and Regulus thrust into the limelight. While Regulus was not necessarily pleased, he excelled in the art of the heirship. Almost too well, as one Tom Riddle took interest in him. Regulus had yet to meet him, but knew their parents were eager for it to happen. Regulus, however, was very much not. While he definitely admired the man-and his ideals were something that Regulus agreed with to an extent-he did not trust his motivations. After all, he was rumored to be a halfblood, in spite of being the heir of slytherin.
While that was a big change, Regulus' sudden heir title, everything else remained normal.
Until Barty opened his big fat mouth and hissed at Sirius that the only reason the Slytherin's never retaliated was because Regulus had set them in their place the moment upon walking through the Slytherin common room doors.