The Comeback
The cave, 1979
To the dark lord
(It hurts)
You are pathetic Regulus
I know I will be dead long before you read this,
(Please make it stop)
You deserve this, you coward
But I want you to know it was I who discovered your secret.
(No, no please help me)
I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.
Why would I help you, you never helped me, you just stood there and watched!
(NO, no I tried, I tried so hard please!)
I face death in hope that when you meet your match,
You are just like them , you choose them over me!
(I didn't want to! Please you have to believe me!)
You will be mortal once more.
You are a disgusting death eater Regulus! You are not my brother
R.A.B
(Sirius…)
Fate watches on as the Inferi drags the young Black Heir deeper and deeper into the cold, murky water. A plan begins to form with the boy, who has by now stopped moving, in its center.
“Do not fear Regulus Black, for your time on this earth is not yet over.”
Grimmauld place, 1995
“He's not James, Sirius!” Molly Weasley finally screams, “He is just a boy!”
“I know very well that he isn't Molly.” Sirius replied with a firm voice, his gray eyes hard and unforgiving as he stared at Molly.
“I'm not sure you do! Harry should not be involved in any of this, he is fifteen for merlin's sake!”
That's what makes Sirius snap, the fact that she seems to be under the impression that he wants his godson to be in any more danger than what he already is. When Harry was born he swore to always protect him and he has failed spectacularly with that for the last 14 years, this is something that he will never forgive himself for.
Sirius slams his hand against the table and rises from his chair, “I know damn well that he is only fifteen, I was there when he was born! I know that he shouldn't be involved in any of this but that fucking psychopath is going to come for him whether or not we want to! So it would be better to have Harry involved so he knows what the fuck is going on so that he doesn't go of and do something himself!”
The room was quiet after Sirius outburst, the order member around the table looking at him with varying expressions. Sirius signs and sits down in his chair once again, placing his head in in hands and softly says,
“I just want him to be safe…”
Molly looks at the man in front of her and her chest tighten, Sirius looks much older than what he is, with dark circles under his eyes and dull skin, it's been three years and azkaban is still haunting him. Molly suddenly feels bad for blowing up at him, she knows that Sirius loves Harry and would do anything to protect him. This, however, does not change the fact that she thinks that Harry should have no knowledge of what the order is doing. He should get to be a child for once in his life and not the ´Savior of the Wizarding world´.
“Sirius, I know you want him to be safe but trust me, involving him further is not the answer.” She said with a soft sigh, rubbing her forehead with one hand as if the conversation is giving her a headache.
“Neither is it keeping him in the dark, he should have a say.” Sirius says hotly, to his right Remus politely coughs and places a soothing hand on his arm, “How about we table this conversation for now hm? It's late, we can pick it back up in the morning.”
“Merlin thank you Lupin, I couldn't take anymore off that!” Tonks burst out, her hair quickly changing from her normal purple to a bright orange and back again. Sirius huffs out a strained laugh at his cousin's reaction but nods his head in agreement.
“I suppose you're right Remus, we could all do with a good night's sleep, at what time tomorrow are you going to collect Harry, Alastor?”
Mad-Eye Moody stands up with a grunt and on his way to the door says, “Around eleven at night, Black.” In a gruff voice.
Before he can cross the threshold a bright light appears over the table, in seconds all the order members jump up and away from the table with their wands all drawn. For a few seconds the light is so bright that it blinds all the members in the room, its light could rival a dying star, a supernova. As the light slowly starts to diminish a voice is heard. The voice sounds like it's both coming from all around them and inside their own head, like it's using Legilimens. The voice is neither a man's nor a woman´s, it's neither deep or high pitch but at the same time it is. The voice sounds unnatural, as does it feel like it. The magic in the air is so thick you could choke on it but it also doesn't feel like any magic they have ever felt before, it's so potent and wild. It feels like touching a high voltage wire, there are practically sparks flying all over the room.
“A soul that was never supposed to be taken so early shall return, for only he has the power to save all, for only he has the desired knowledge.”
As the voice speaks a body starts to appear in the light, from where the order is standing they can only make out the person back, the body appears to be rather small and thin but not sickly so. The person's hair is short with soft curls and as dark as the night sky. The person is clothed with simple white clothes that are just a tad too big on them, making them flow softly in a breeze that does not exist. When the voice is finished the body starts to descend, slowly sinking down to the table, as it does the blinding light starts to dissipate and the order can see how the body starts to change.
Before their eyes deep gashes appear all over the person's body, blood immediately starting to swell and drip down onto the dark wooden table. The wounds seem to always come in groups of five, like someone or something tried to claw the person to death, and by the sheer number of wounds it seems like they nearly succeeded.
The person's clothes also start to change, going from the soft white shirt and pants to black dress trousers and curiously enough, a gryffindor quidditch jumper with the name Black in big bold letters across the back that is obviously too big on the person's small frame. This causes the Order to throw glances at Sirius who is staring at the body with a small glimpse of fear in his eyes because he recognizes that shirt, he had been looking for just that shirt his whole sixth year only to give up and assume he left it when he ran away. When the body was a few inches above the table it was suddenly soaked, dripping dark murky water everywhere, the person's curly fluffy hair that had previously been flowing in the nonexistent breeze is now sticking to their face and neck.
When the body's back meets the hard wood the order can for the first time properly see the face of a young boy, his skin is as gray as a corpse, the murky water not helping the deathly aura that surrounds the boy. He has high cheekbones and a sharp jaw, full lips and a beauty spot under his left eye. This boy, even looking like death warmed over, has an eternal beauty to him. Even with big bloody gashes all over that´s staining the wooden table a bright red.
A choked sound is heard in the quiet room and Sirius takes a wobbly step forward with a hand outstretched as if to touch the boy.
“Regulus?” Sirius says in a quiet whisper, pain and terror evident in his voice, his outstretched hand shaking as he places it on the boy's cheek, his skin is cold, just like a corpse. His thumb softly creasing over his cheekbone, a broken sound spilling from his trembling lips.
"Reggie? Please-” Just then the boy's body convulsed and Remus yanks Sirius away as the boy clumsily pushes himself to the side and starts to cough up an insane amount of the murky water right onto the floor.
“Oh merlin, that just…ugh” Tonks whisper of disgust goes ignored as they all continue to stare at the heaving boy that is struggling to catch his breath.
In a moment Moody has his wand out and is pointing it at the prone figure on the table, this causes Sirius to startle and rip his way out of the hold that Remus still had on him. He takes two quick steps that puts him between the tip of Moody's glowing wand and his little brother, the overprotecting big brother instincts kicking in immediately, even after such a long time. He and his brother started falling apart when he was eleven and it was something that has been haunting Sirius ever since. If he could just go back and slap himself for the way he started to ignore Regulus, for how he gave up on him when he was sorted into Slytherin and assumed that he was just like the rest of their family. Then maybe, maybe he never would have joined the death eaters, maybe his little brother wouldn't have died.
He has a second chance and he is not gonna let anyone screw it up.
“Black get out of my way!” Moody barked, pressing his wand into Sirius' chest, hard. Sirius stood his ground and bared his teeth.
“Don´t point your fucking wand at my brother.” He growled, looking remarkably similar to his animagus form.
“We don't even know if that is your brother, boy! Regulus Black has been dead for 16 years! People don't come back from the dead!” And Sirius could admit that Moody has a point, people don't come back from the dead but all of Sirius logic went out the window when he laid his eyes on Regulus, looking so small and young.
“We don't know that.” Sirius said fiercely, “We don't know anything, so until we do I'm not gonna let you touch him.” Sirius stood his ground even when Moody leveled him with a glare that would have lesser men whimpering in fear.
Behind him it seems as if the boy has managed to regain his breath, Sirius hears shifting and assumes that Regulus is trying to sit up, he always hated being in a vulnerable position and laying down surrounded by unknown threats is something Regulus would´ve hated. A glance over his shoulder confirmed Sirius´thought.
A grunt from Moody brought back his attention, “Then it's up to you to figure out if this actually is Regulus Black, and when it's proven he's not I´ll throw the bastard in Azkaban, understood?” Moody barked in a gruff and unpleasant voice.
Sirius clenched his jaw and prays to whatever was out there that this actually is his little brother, that he has another chance. He turned around and for the first time got a good look at his brother. He was sitting up on the table with his legs thrown over the edge, his feet not even touching the floor because of his slight frame. Regulus has always been small because of his premature birth due to their mothers drinking when she was pregnant with him, it was something that their parents hated and made the boy aware of. His brother is shaking like a leaf and looks like a drowned kitten, his hair still wet but starting to curl at the ends. His head is hanging between his shoulders as he takes deep breaths, his hands holding on to the edge of the table like he might fall otherwise.
“Regulus?” Sirius asks cautiously, taking a slow step forward so as not to startle the smaller man, it's in vain as Regulus head snaps up at his voice and Sirius finds himself staring into a mirror image of his own eyes. When they were young Sirius loved that he and his brother had the same eyes, feeling like it was something that really bonded them to each other. That feeling gradually went away as they grew apart but in this moment, the sight of his own eyes in another face leaves him feeling lost. He spent 11 years staring at these eyes, lit up with happiness, widened with fear, clouded with pain, rolled in exasperation and flowing with sadness. Then he spent 16 years wishing, begging that he could see them again, it wouldn't matter if they were full of contempt, fury or hatred as long as they were filled with life.
And here they are, cloudy in confusion and not really there but alive. So fucking alive.
Sirius suddenly realizes that while Regulus looks like when he last saw him, minus the absolute horrid looking gashes, he ,decidedly, does not. Sure, he knows that he is still attractive but now he looks like a middle aged man and he starts to panic because, what if his little brother doesn't recognize him?
His worries are immediately soothed when Regulus, in a hoarse, confused voice says, “Sirius…?”
Sirius feels like he could jump in joy, he remembers him, he remembers him!
“Yeah Reggie, it's me.”
“...Why do you look so old?”