Chapter 1
“Go, go, go. Sirius, come on, you have to go.” Sirius stumbled, disorientated. Hands were pushing him towards the little elf door in the kitchen with an intense desperation. He tried to keep up, at least to simply stay on his feet, but his head pounded with every movement and his vision spun as he began falling, falling, falling.
“Sirius, for fucks sake.” He was pushed up against something hard, the side of a kitchen cupboard perhaps. The kitchen? Why was he in the kitchen? Oh! Food for Regulus, that’s why he was here!
He struggled to break free from the person pinning him still, squirming to the side and sluggishly batting their hands away.
“Sirius sit still.”
“No, gotta… gotta find food. Gotta get food for Reg. Can’t- can’t- leave him. I gotta…” His head really did hurt. Just stringing a sentence together proved an impossible task. He noticed, belatedly, that the hands had stilled.
Sirius tried a last ditch effort to escape, and was immediately thwarted by hands coming up to his face. He flinched for a moment; perhaps Mother had come in and found him?
“Look it’s me. It’s Reg, see? Sirius, look at me please.”
Sirius leaned into the hands on his face. There was someone hovering in front of him, but it certainly wasn’t Mother. He blinked up through his eyelashes, trying desperately to sort through the whirlwind of incoherent thoughts in his mind. It certainly looked like Reg, and it smelled like him, and it sounded like him. But that’s impossible, how could Regulus be…?
“Reggie? How- how are you…?” There were tears welling in Reg’s eyes. He was doing that thing with his lips in an attempt to not cry. “What- What’s wrong?”
That seemed to startle a wet laugh out of Regulus, who simply shook his head. “Sirius listen to me, you have to get out of here. There’s no time to explain. Just- just trust me, okay?”
“Okay.” Sirius tried to nod, but it made the room spin. “Where are we going?”
“We are not going anywhere. You are going to leave through this door and go to the Potters’, clear?”
“What- no, Reg. I’m not just- I can’t leave you here.”
“Yes you can, Sirius.”
“No, I can’t.” Sirius reached out to bat him away, but Regulus simply grabbed his wrists.
“She was going to kill you.” He whispered, his lip bobbing. “She’s still going to kill you if you don’t get out. Please, Sirius, you can’t-“
“I’m not leaving you behind, Regulus.” Sirius insisted, it was the most clearheaded he had felt since waking up on the kitchen floor.
“Look, if we both go we won’t even make it out the garden. If you run now, I can distract her until you’re far enough away. But you have to go now, Sirius. It’s not too long until Hogwarts starts back up again. Just- just have some faith in me until then and we can talk more at school.”
“Please, Reg-“
“Sirius. Listen to me. I’ll be okay. I can keep out of her way until September. But if you don’t leave now, she’ll kill you. Do you understand me, Sirius? And I won’t be able to survive here if you’re dead. So you need to get up, right now. And go.” He hadn’t been able to hold back his tears. They streamed down his face despite the way his voice stayed steady. Sirius realised this would be the last time he sees Regulus in their childhood house. “Please, Sirius.”
His voice did break then. Sirius was abruptly thrown back in time to when he was seven years old, and his little brother used to under hide under the covers with Sirius to cry. In that moment, he would of done anything to stop his tears. In this moment, he finds that he still would.
“Okay.” Sirius murmured. Regulus’ entire body crumpled with relief.
As a pair, they managed to drag Sirius to the door where he stood, swaying slightly. Regulus frantically turned around and scrambled under the kitchen table. When he reappeared, he shoved Sirius’ wand against his chest. “Don’t send any letters, it’ll just make her angry. Make sure Euphemia looks after you. Don’t eat your breakfast so fast in the morning that you choke. Tell James whenever you get nightmares. And please, Sirius, for the first time in your life have patience. We’ll talk at school.”
“Where will I find you?” Sirius felt so small, so much smaller than his little brother.
“The last carriage of the train. Now go.” Regulus pushed him gently outside and began to close the door.
“Wait!” Sirius surged forward, grasping his brother in his arms. There was too much left to say.
Both of the Black brothers heard as the footsteps began approaching down the hall. It was a shared instinct, to tense and hold onto each other a little tighter. Step, step, step.
“Sirius.” Regulus mumbled against his chest. Step, step, step.
“I’ll miss you.” Sirius whispered and pressed a firm kiss to the crown of Reg’s hair. Step, step, step.
“Me too.” Regulus whispered.
Suddenly, Sirius was being thrown backwards. He landed hard on his butt on the ground outside. The door slammed shut, extinguishing the last of the light on the lawn. Step, step, step.
He picked up his wand. The door to the kitchen creaked.
He ran.