It had been more than a few months since Regulus had last spoken to Sirius. Because he was gone. She had left him behind, suffering the consequences of his action, and hadn't even bothered to check on him that he was okay.
And at Hogwarts it was worse, Sirius wouldn't even look his way, as if Regulus had abandoned him, not the other way around. So for Sirius to appear in front of him with Potter behind him was unusual.
But Regulus knows why Sirius wants to talk to him, he's heard the rumors about him around the school, and of course Sirius wants to confirm those rumors.
-What do you want?- Regulus asks after an annoying silence in the hall where he was doing his perfect laps, where Sirius had appeared with Potter out of nowhere with angry looks.
"Is that true?" is all Sirius asks, his voice calm but sharp reminding him too much of their mother before a long punishment session. Regulus knows what he is asking and honestly has nothing to lose, he had lost Sirius years ago. Before Regulus even knew about dark magic.
- I don't see how that would be your job. - he answers sharply, not wanting to give the two the satisfaction of making this interrogation too easy for them.
-It's my business. You're my little brother.- Sirius answers angrily as if these statements were obvious. Potter still standing silently behind Sirius.
- You didn't have me as your brother from the moment you chose him instead of me.- Regulus gestured to Potter who had confusion in his eyes but didn't change his cold face.
- I didn't choose him, I chose to leave that house.
-I don't mean when you left, Sirius, I mean on my first day of school, when you shouted throughout the school that Potter is your brother, and you didn't even tell me the time of day. And you chose him again when you left because you didn't give a damn about me. You wouldn't be here if you didn't hear those rumors. - shouted Regulus angrily with each word, because he no longer cares. He is a child, he is only 15 years old. He needs someone to understand him but there is no one who will.
- When did you get it? When did you take the dark mark?” Sirius had assumed the answer, looking at Regulus who flinched at the mention of the mark, instinctively grabbing his hand, ignoring that Potter was still there.
-Do you want me to be honest? Do you really want me to do it? - Regulus looks into the cold eyes of his brother, and he knows that there is no more, there is only Sirius. Nothing to do with it.
-Yes.- she whispers alone.
-The day you left. Christmas Eve. My 15th birthday. When in the morning you just left without talking to me. Without looking back.- says Regulus with a tear falling on his cheek raising his tone and being hurt and angry.
- Mother was planning to introduce him to you that evening at the table. But you left and the reserve was there. Do you know what was the worst part about this process?- Regulus asks without waiting for an answer.- That mark feels like you sold your soul. And at the end of that evening I no longer existed. I am no longer my own person. I was sold the hell out of my own parents on my birthday. The day my brother left me. To wait for a sign from him, to go back to school to see that he doesn't even care about me. And it comes after almost a year just because his brother is a bastard of criminal. There was no pity, no sympathy, no anger, just shock.
- Do you know what I did all summer, Sirius? While you were living your life?- Regulus asks seriously now, wiping away his tears and looking at Sirius' indescribable expression.- They forced me to torture people, to kill them so that I wouldn't be in their place. But I was. Every day, the whole vacation, I had been tortured because I wasn't strong enough. I'm 15, and those people are horrified when they look at me. And I would like to tell them that I suffer the same thing as them, that I have no choice but I can't.- says Regulus wiping his tears that don't stop and he gets angry that he is so pathetic.
-Do you want to see the price of your freedom, big brother?- Regulus asks, mocking the last word, raising his wand turning his pants into shorts and his shirt disappearing, and draining the elusion spell that hid the scars on his face and fingers.
Now standing there half naked. Stripped of secrets. Showing off the white and red cuts running across his body. His face has a scar on his right eye and the left side of his lip. The neck is crossed as if claws were on it, and the rest of the body was various degrees of cuts.
Regulus could feel their eyes on him, and he had transformed his original robes and spells. Being stiffer now, because he no longer cares what Sirius thinks, he just hopes he hurt him as much as he did.
- So I answered what you wanted to know. You are free to continue to hate me, or to send me to the hands of the Aurors. I really don't care. Because at the end of the day I'm just a kid and you guys are the real monsters. Because I'm dead inside and you're just as guilty as they are for it,” Regulus says, watching Sirius' guilty expression settle on his face. Waiting for him to say something. Anything. Because Regulus hurt him now, he knows he did it and he feels guilty but he won't back down now.
-I…. I..- Sirius starts to stammer but Regulus stops him.
-Whatever you say now will not change the reality I live in, so live your life and forget about me. Because that's what I want to do. Goodbye, Black, Potter.- says Regulus and leaves, leaving no time for Sirius to say anything else.
And Regulus did that, Sirius no longer existed for him. And it wasn't really hard, because Regulus hadn't been back to school since his 16th birthday.
* ∼ *
Sirius knows that his brother won't be returning to Hogwarts, somehow he had known since the last night they spoke. All the things he had said and all the scars he had seen. It has been imprinted on his mind ever since. Which is a lot when you think about how it's been a year. A year since he had seen your brother.
Now on this day he should be 17 years old. He should be of age celebrating but Sirius knows he isn't, and his train of thought is interrupted when James groans in pain to his right. Looking over he sees your friend holding his head like he's in a daze.
-James, are you okay? James?- Sirius asks in a continuous rambling trying to calm James down, but after a good few minutes he seemed to recover, but when he looked up at Sirius, he saw tears in his eyes.
-He died. He's dead, Sirius.- James says crying but Sirius is confused. He doesn't understand what his friend is talking about. What just happened?
-James, who died?-Sirius asked worriedly.
- Reggie. He died. I feel it in my whole body. - James explains, and Sirius remains motionless in shock. - MY memories of him came back, the ones he erased, and if the spell is repeated then... - James explained without finishing the sentence , but Sirius knows. Understand now. He understands everything. Why was James always disappearing somewhere throughout 6th year, then coming back as he was in 5th year when 7th year started. Why Reggie's eyes were always on them. Why Regulus had looked at James more before he left, the last night they had spoken. It all made sense, but the truth had now dawned on Sirius. Regulus is dead. His little brother died. And it's all his fault.