Can he hear us?
Over the next few days, Regulus was visited by the people from his life. Pandora cried to him, Barty yelled at him, Remus talked to him, Evan and Dorcas sat by him, even James spent some time with him. Sirius visited a couple more times, but sometimes Regulus had to leave the room.
He'd spent the time mostly eavesdropping on other peoples conversations and testing what he could do. He'd discovered someone had been taking a jog near the lake and happened to be passing by as Regulus threw himself in. Who even runs at night? How could Regulus be so stupid as to not check?
He had also discovered he could not pick things up unless they were given directly to him. So, the teddy bear and some flowers. However, he seemed to slowly be gaining the ability to pick other things up. Only very small things, and everything felt like trying to hold onto a wet bar of soap, but he was getting there.
In addition, he could not throw himself out the window. He was able to get through the wall, but he just fell softly to the ground.
Regulus had still not died, no matter how many times he tried. And he had. School would be starting back up the next day.
"I suppose we should go back to Hogwarts. We could all use a distraction. " Evan said. Regulus was sitting with everyone in the waiting room. They were all here for visiting hours.
"We should probably leave, then. I haven't packed anything. " Sirius added, forcing the words out. Only Sirius would be able to get himself to leave Regulus. His eyes were still red and tired looking. Regulus wished his face would stop looking like that.
As everyone was leaving, Regulus realized they won't be coming back to visit him anymore. Not as often, at least. If he didn't die anytime soon, he would eventually get bored. He decided to follow them out this time.
He followed Sirius, and he and James flooed to his house. He grabs onto Sirius at the last second, praying he could still floo, even as a ghost. And, just his luck, he found himself stumbling as Sirius vanished. He attempted this again with anyone else who flooed, but to no avail.
Great. What was he supposed to do now? sit around until he died? Why was he even a ghost in the first place? He hadn't seen any others, and he wasn't even actually dead yet.
Huffing, he stood back up. He glanced up and saw a playground at the end of the street. As a sort of last attempt, he closed his eyes and thought about the playground really hard, basically just hoping he could magically teleport over there. It probably wouldn't work, but what else can he do?
To Regulus' delight, it did work. He opened his eyes and found himself standing just outside the gate to the playground.
He wasn't exactly sure where James lived, so he decided to try just willing himself to be wherever Sirius was. after a few attemps, it worked. He was standing in James' living room, a few steps behind his brother.
James house was nice. It looked fancy, but not like Grimmauld place. It looked more like a home. There were lots of comfortable looking seats and couches in the living room. James mum, Regulus knows from admiring her from the train every year, was in the kitchen cooking something. It smelled amazing.
"We're home, mum." Sirius said.
Regulus wondered when he'd started calling Euphemia mum.
"Oh, lovely. Your just in time for dinner." She said, going to set the table. James and Sirius walked over to help her. "How was it?"
"Good. The doctors don't know anything new, they said they don't know when he'll wake up."
For some reason, Regulus didn't like the idea that he was a common topic in James' house now. He's also fairly certain the doctors said they weren't sure he would wake up, but if Jame's new this, he didn't say anything.
"That's a shame. I really hope he's okay, Sirius. I know how much he means to you, even if you never wanted to talk about him before. He's your brother, after all."
She sounded so sincere as she said it. It made Regulus want to cry and scream at the same time. He'd never had the chance to experience a mother's warmth. He'd wanted to meet Euphemia before he died. He didn't care how, he had just wanted to see her and her see him and maybe say something to him. That would've been fine. He would never get the chance too now.
Sirius gave her a sad smile, though he didn't actually look at her.
James' father walked out of a hallway and gave Euphemia a quick kiss before going to help bring the dishes to the table. It was a simple gesture. He probably hadn't even thought about it, but Regulus noticed it.
Regulus envied James. He had parents who loved him and each other. He had a nice house. He was polite and respectful, but he was allowed to talk like he would with a friend to his parents. And most importantly, he had Sirius.
Regulus watched as they ate. He watched as they laughed and talked about school. Euphemia and Fleamont didn't even get mad when Sirius only ate a small portion of his meal.
Regulus ached badly for a family. And Regulus ached to give Sirius a hug. He would never get to do that now.
As everyone finished their dinner, Sirius and James decided to go up stairs and pack their things.
Regulus followed them up the stairs. He found out he could slightly hover above them, so he was sort of floating up the stairs. That was cool.
Sirius and James packed silently, grabbing there clothes and school items and placing them- well, James was placing them and Sirius was shoving them- into their bags. The silence stretched on until finally, Sirius spoke.
"D'you think Regulus can hear us when we talk to him? "
"I'd like to think so." James replied.
"I guess we'll have to ask when he wakes up. "
James didn't reply. Sirius didn't seem to realize he'd said it as if it was a given that Regulus would wake up. Regulus noticed the slight change on Sirius' face when he realized what he said. His eyes looked a little sadder and he frowned a bit.
"I guess we will."
Why did they think he would survive? He was going to die. That's what's supposed to happen.
"I always liked Regulus. He's nice. Well, he's actually a bit mean, but I like it. " James said after a couple moments of silence.
"Being mean is his thing, isn't it?" Sirius replied.
Regulus noticed how they kept using present tense. He knew he wasn't dead, but it still bothered him for some reason. The way they talked about him as if he was just napping in the other room.
As they finished packing, Sirius announced he was going to shower. James called out to him before he left.
"Hey, Pads? "
"What's up?"
"I'm sure he hears what you say. I don't know why, but i'm sure of it."
Sirius doesn't say anything for a moment, before giving James a small smile.
"I know. "