Chapter 9
Now that James knew what he was looking for, it was almost painfully obvious that Barty and Regulus and their...whatever they wanted to call it...was not healthy. Not only was it not healthy, but he was also beginning to realize that Sirius and Regulus' relationship was almost just as toxic as Regulus and Barty's! He did not want to admit it, would rather die than be forced to accept that his brother in all but blood had been really lying, or at the very least not telling them the whole truth, about Regulus and their homelife, but it was obvious. Something had been off, with how Sirius seemed to be so in awe about simple things, like being able to choose what you wanted for dinner at a buffet, and not having to wait for all the elders to leave the table before he could leave. It had taken James a solid week to convince Sirius of that. He was quite proud that he had managed it truthfully.
Then he had introduced Regulus, and Regulus had been so beautiful, and adorable. With big eyes, but those eyes seemed to be cutting daggers into his soul. James had thought perhaps he had done something wrong, but Sirius just laughed off his concerns, and he had no idea what happened. It was not until Regulus got sorted into Slytherin that James said it made sense, and Sirius had sagely agreed. Now, now he was forced to reconcile what he knew, and he hated it. He hated all of it. He had to admit that perhaps Slytherins were not all bad and perhaps Gryffindor was not all good. Things he had thought, from the beginning, and now he was being forced to rethink how he saw things. He regretted a lot. Having to rethink his own prejudices, he realized he truly did regret a lot, and had a lot to apologize for. He just did not know if he was ever going to be given the chance. Not with how he had screwed up so royally.
He shook the feelings off, not really sure what to do about them, and focused on what he knew now that Remus had brought it up to his attention, and now that Barty had also forced him to really think about what had been going on with Sirius. Barty was right, Sirius should have never taken Regulus' wand, and now that he really thought about it, if Regulus was so desperate to get back to the house, whether it was because he wanted to avoid punishment or not, that meant that Sirius had forcibly taken him from that place, and whether James truly thought that it was a good thing that neither Black brother was in that toxic environment to deal with the heaps of abuse, it did not matter, because Sirius had kidnapped his brother and dragged him, unwillingly, through the floo to his house. While they were lucky that Mr. and Mrs. Black had not gone to the ministry yet, he had a feeling it was due to them not wanting the abuse to be made public, which was definitely something his parents would do if they needed to. They were probably holding back and planning. They needed at least one heir, after all, and he had a sinking feeling he knew which brother they would choose after Sriius' little storm out.
He still had no idea what led to Sirius leaving the house like that. His friend had been tightlipped about it, and Regulus had not even looked at them a total of five times, avoiding them more often then not, and Barty now was in between Regulus and the entire house so they rarely had a chance to speak, or even be in the same room as the moment Sirius would enter, Barty would snatch Regulus by the wrist and yank him out of the room. James would have thought with the number of times people yanked on Regulus' arm he would have developed bruises, but no. the only bruising that he still had came from when Sirius had been dragging him around, so it was obvious that Barty was at the very least doing it far gentler.
The wand was something James just could not understand. He had tried to talk to Sirius about it but the other had just shrugged and said something about Regulus being too wiley, which he thought was weird, because Regulus was the exact opposite of willful. In fact, if anything, he was obedient to a fault, and polite beyond what was necessary. Sirius had always said Regulus was too naive and obedient to their parents whims, but what if that obedience followed with Sirius too? Regulus had listened to Sirius and Barty since he got here, and nobody else. It made a bad taste rule James' mouth.
It was beyond that though, because he saw how angry Sirius would get every time that Barty would intervene, but he never truly lashed out. Regulus, though, when Sirius would get angry, seemed to clock it faster than even James. James would say this was due to the environment but he really had no idea now. He wondered how often Sirius had gotten angry before he or anyone else noticed, just for Regulus to be the only one who truly knew? He did not like the idea that he was not able to pick up on his friend's anger quickly enough. Particularly since he had prided himself on it before. Still, there was no mistaking the tensing of Regulus' body, and the immediate removal of his person by Barty the moment Sirius' aura changed just a breadth. James did not noticed Sirius' anger so quickly, but these two did.
Barty was a whole different issue. While he did come around the common areas with Regulus often enough, it was not a regular sight. Still, James had seen him drag Regulus around, talk over him, order him around as well (no, silence, enough, shut up, be quiet, sit down, come here, we're leaving) never really giving Regulus the chance to clap back, not that he ever did. Regulus' submission probably had something to do with how much Barty seemed to control him. He wondered if Sirius had been that person before, and seeing Sirius take the place of Barty regarding controlling his little brother was concerningly not as difficult as James had hoped. Especially when they had all seen how much control Sirius liked in everyday things, but that had never bothered them. That control being over a person though? That was far more concerning.
Honestly, James should have figured that things had been going too smoothly-if that was what one could call this impasse. Things were bound to skyrocket to an unbelievable tension soon enough, and James was just shocked that neither he, nor Remus, or even Peter seemed to notice before it was too late. One could only have two strong headed personalities, and one obedient one mediating, for so long before things boiled over. James supposed he should just count his lucky stars both of his parents were at the ministry talking to Barty's dad about some funding projects when it happened, as he doubted that they would have been pleased with the ensuing argument.
Not that they could really stop anything even if they wanted to. Sirius and Regulus had always gotten into these large clandestine fights. It was inevitable when one had two Blacks in the same place, no matter how large that place may be. it was basically a given, and while those fights had been getting lesser and lesser over the years, they still happened. With the two brothers cooped up in the same house, same environment, he should have known things would get slightly out of hand, and it was honestly the most surprising day for it to happen, because everything had gone so well that day. Barty had been polite (something which had been a new thing for him and should have put them all on edge from the get go) Regulus had actually eaten an entire plate of food for once, and Sirius was not throwing scathing glares at Barty, jealousy wringing and boiling over.