Chapter 1
Regulus felt some weight settle on his bed, causing him to stir awake.
"what's wrong?" he muttered, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"the conference just ended" Sirius's tone was tired and sad, it wasn't hard to recognize even though he was trying to hide it.
"And what happened?" Regulus was more awake now, sitting up as he looked at his brother. Regulus couldn't make out the expression on his face as it was still dark and neither of them bothered to turn on the lamp.
"Ususal stuff, about what's to come and all that- Can I sleep here tonight? Like we used to?" The question came before Regulus could speak. He nodded first, only after realising Sirius couldn't see it.
"Yeah, ofcourse" He simply agreed as he didn't want to pry, he was sure Sirius would tell him himself what it was once he felt like doing it. He scooted to the side, making more space so they could both fit in the bed. Regulus remembered doing this all the time when they were kids. He would go to Sirius when he was scared of the monsters under his bed and Sirius would come to him when he was sad.
They didn't have many friends growing up, it was hard to make friends as a royal kid especially with parents like theirs so in the end they ended up having a strong bond, even after they were enrolled into boarding school and met new people nothing changed. They were brother's after all, nothing was deared than that.
The next morning when Regulus woke up Sirius was already down at breakfast, so he quickly got dressed and joined him. His parents weren't there but he couldn't bother to ask, he prefered breakfasts without them anyway.
"Good morning"
"Morning Reg, be quick we have to leave in 10."
"Why didn't you wake me up" Regulus spoke, annyoed about getting rushed.
"I wanted all the sauages for myself" Sirius joked causing Regulus to roll his eyes as he put some food on his plate to eat quickly. Regulus could see that Sirius wasn't his usual self, however he blamed it on going back to school. He found himself nervous about going back as well, it was always weird to see everyone after not seeing them for so long.
The breakfast got cut short by their driver, who said it was time to head out. The ride to school wasn't too long either, two hours if they went slowly. Usually during the rides to school they both had their headphones on and in Regulus's opinion it made time go by faster and made the ride more fun in general. Once they reached the school gates and got out of the car they were greeted by James and Peter, who were grinning widely unable to hide their excitment, Regulus didn't need to check to know that Sirius was wearing a similar expression on his face.
Behind them was Fleamont, James's father who was pulling the luggage out of the boot of his car. Despite James's family being rich he had never once seen James not get dropped off by his parents. Unable to help himself Regulus pushed past James and walked over to where Fleamont was offering to help him.
"I am not that old, son" Fleamont always looked at both him and Sirius with a lot of fondness, same as Euphemia and he never knew what to do with himself when it happened. It was always so unlike to how their parents looked at them.
"That's not what I meant" Regulus mumbled, suddenly feeling his cheeks heat up from embarrasment. Fleamont simply smiled and handed him one of the bags, which he gladly took.
"Now now, don't hurt your delicate hands little prince" He heard James speak from behind him before the bag was taken away from his hands.
"How do you manage to get more and more insufferable every year?"
"Character development?" James joked, smiling widely as he said it.
"This is why it's my favourite time of the year, I get to get away from him" Euphemia chimed in as he pulled both Regulus and Sirius into a hug.
"Mum!"
"Yes darling?" She smiled and pinched James's cheek, playing innocent. Regulus felt someone squeez his shoulder, it wasn't hard to guess that it was Fleamont because it was always something he did.
"It's time to go" Regulus didn't miss the hint of sadness in his tone, even if he said it with a smile and his usual warm tone.
"Behave, all of you. And listen to Regulus" Euphemia said as she pulled all of them into a one last hug.
All of this with Potters wasn't unusual to Regulus, they had always been loving and giving with everyone. It took some time for Regulus to get used to it and he would be lying if he said he didn't wish to move with the Potters forever. Going back home after spending time with them was always very hard for both him and Sirius even if they never showed it.
"So how was everyone's break?" It was Sirius who asked the question.
"We went to France together, James forced me to spend hours around the eiffel tower, claiming he needed to see every angle" Peter answered with a hint of teasing in his tone
"You said you loved it!"
"Mate," Peter said with a pause, putting his hand on James's shoulder before he continued "I lied"
"I feel so betrayed" James fake pouted, putting his luggage free hand over his heart as both Sirius and Peter started laughing which made James dramaticize all of it even more. He looked at Regulus and moved to walk by his side instead of between Peter and Sirius.
"Can you believe this? You are my only friend now, little prince" James teased, making his friends laugh even more. Regulus rolled his eyes though he was fighting a smile himself, which he failed to do. "Wait let me help" James's voice was much more quiet now as he attemted to take the suitcase from Regulus's hand "I can do it myself" Regulus was truly not struggling, so he didn't get why James wanted to help him.
"I want to carry more bags. I am a strong man, aren't I pads?" James turned to look at Sirius, who hummed in response as he didn't hear what James said, too engaged in his conversation with Peter.
"See?" James pointed at him before taking the suitcase from Regulus
"He didn't even hear you" Regulus deadpanned, yet allowed James to have it his way. James only smiled as they continued to walk.
Once everyone settled into their rooms there was an assembly every student needed to attend. Regulus found it slightly repetitive, having to sit through the same speech every year and listen to the choir sing. In his opinion the choir singing was more or less bearable, it was the speech part he hated.
Another reason he enjoyed watching the choir was because his close friend, Dorcas was the lead. He could confidently say that her voice was one of his favourite things ever. She sounded like a sirene luring in her prey, or an angel singing. In his opinion both examples were accurate so he never bothered choosing. He watched proudly, with a big smile as in to say "that's my fucking friend". Sirius was sat beside him, awfully quiet which was geniuenly starting to worry Regulus. He knocked his knee against Sirius's to get his attention, which seemed to snap him out of whatever trance he was in.
"what's up with you?" Regulus whispered, brows furrowing in concern.
"what do you mean?" He asked with a tight smile, which only infuriated Regulus even more.
"Something is wrong" Regulus insisted to which Sirius shook his head and ruffled Regulus's hair.
"It's nothing reggie, don't worry" with that he turned his gaze back to the stage and Regulus once again, didn't push.
Once the assembly ended Regulus found himself in the school garden with Dorcas, Marlene and Lily. Sirius had left to spend some time with his James and Peter, saying they needed to catch up on things. Usually they would all be together, huddled up by some tree but Regulus was frustrated because he knew something was up and he felt uneasy. So here he was, his head in Lily's lap as she brushed her fingers through his hair. Marlene and Dorcas were in a similar position, though Marlene appeared to be napping on Dorcas's lap.
"It's so frustrating. I am his brother, he can come to me with quite literally anything"
"Maybe that's the thing, you are his baby brother and he doesn't want to burden you. Petunia is like that too, never tells me the big issues so I won't worry"
"But he can go to Potter" He said it with his childish jealousy. When Sirius and James met they became relly close very quickly. When Sirius had returned back home from Hogwarts James was all he could talk about, which made him feel like he was missing out on a lot of things. To put it simply Regulus felt replaced. That was until he had met James. He could still vividly remember his first ever interaction with James, who beamed at him and pulled him into a tight hug. That was the first time he called Regulus little prince, he didn't stop even after Regulus reminded him he was only one year older.
So yes, Regulus understood why Sirius was so drawn to him. James was like the fucking sun and even if Regulus would never admit it to anyone except himself, he liked James. Loved when his whole attention was just on him, when he would choose to sit with Regulus even though there was plenty of space, when he called him that stupid nickname or when he looked at him with his big brown eyes and even bigger smile. It took him a while to accept that about himself, it was hard to ignore it with James being the way he was so he shoved his boy crush down to his best ability and pretended to be annoyed by James's existence.
"Is this the part where we play along and pretend like Regulus isn't daydreaming about Potter every chance he gets?" Marlene chimed in, eyes still closed.
"Go back to sleep you hag" Regulus muttered, kicking Marlene without moving too much from his spot.
"Alright you liitle shit, so defensive you are just proving my point" Dorcas hummed in agreement and Lily started giggling when he started glaring at them.
The rest of the day was quite calm, the four of them went to eat dinner at the great hall. Sirius, James and Peter were nowhere to be seen. Once they all sat down their table was approached by Lucius who had Severus trailing right behind him.
"Regulus, it's good to see you" Regulus always had mixed feelings about Lucius, he had never done anything to harm Regulus nor has he ever been mean to him but Sirius always had warned him about Lucius. So whenever they interacted he could hear his brother's voice in the back of his head telling him not to trust him.
"Good to see you too, hope your summer was good" Regulus spoke to him in his formal tone. He wanted to keep the conversation short, not really intrested with engaging with him. Just as Lucius was about to respond Sirius came in with James and Peter right by his side.
"No greetings for me Malfoy?" Sirius spoke with mock offense in his tone as he put his hand out so Lucius would shake it, which he did before quickly saying goodbye and walking away. From what Regulus noticed that's how Lucius reacted every time he interacted with Sirius, he always kept it short and walked away as soon as he could.
"I can't stand him and did you see? Snape's following him aorund now?" It was Peter who spoke up, brows knitted together as he sat down.
"Yeah we stopped being friends, he turned into an asshole as soon as he started hanging out with him" Lily had both sadness and disappointment in her tone. Regulus knew that the two of them were close up until last year and he still remembers just how sad Lily was about losing a close friend.
"I genuenly don't care as long as they don't bother us" Sirius muttered as he sat down between Marlene and Peter "what did he want anyway?" he added.
Regulus simply shrugged, suddenly extremly aware of James who decided to sit by his side. Regulus didn't know what would be more embarrasing, if he started blushing or if James could hear his heart racing in his chest.
"He just came to say hi" Regulus forced himself to speak, wanting to get in control of himself. For the rest of the dinner the group kept talking, Regulus was mostly quiet as he moved his food around the plate. He would occasionally chime in or make a joke though no one really noticed that he wasn't very interactive.
Or so he thought, until his phone buzzed at least.
What's wrong?
The text was from James. He looked up to see if anyone noticed before looking at him.
It's nothing, I am tired.
Are you sure?
Yes James, I am sure.
Regulus decided to excuse himself after that, saying he needed to unpack and get some rest after. Everyone seemed to believe him and even if they didn't, no one questioned him on it.
It wasn't until after he was done unpacking his thing, which took him roughly two hours that Sirius showed up knocking on his door. At first he thought it might be James coming to check on him but he didn't entertain that thought for more than five seconds. He pulled the door open and found his brother standing there, holding a messily wrapped box in his hand.
"Can I come in?"
Regulus rolled his eyes as he moved to the side, allowing Sirius to walk in. Regulus sat down on his bed, while Sirius pulled the chair from the desk and pulled it closer to where regulus was sitting.
"This is for you" Sirius handed him the box, which he carefully took before placing it in his lap. The box was small and very obviously wrapped by Sirius. He carefully tore away the paper, which Sirius took away and threw it in the small bin by Regulus's desk. "go on, see what's in it"
Regulus slowly opened the box, not really knowing what to expect. Inside was a simple silver ring with the Canis Major emboidered on it. Sirius showed Regulus his own, which had The leo constellation instead.
"This is so you remember that no matter what happens, I am always here. Always your big brother" Regulus stayed silent, running his thumb over the ingraved constellation before putting it on. "When things get difficult, remember that the universe split us into each other's halves, remember that we have the same blood rushing through our veins"
"Sirius, what is this about?" Regulus couldn't explain it, normally he would be warmed by his brother's words but there was this twisting feeling in his stomach. He felt like someone tied a tight knot around his throat and he felt like he was going to puke. He tried to brush it off, not wanting to make Sirius worry. He did his best to believe that this was his brother doing something nice.
"Nothing Reggie, just-" Sirius paused, smiling fondly at him before ruffling Regulus's hair once again. "I love you and I am thankful that the universe made me your big brother" that did absolutely nothing to ease the blooming anxiety in Regulus's chest.
"I love you too" Regulus responded, because he was afraid that Sirius didn't know and if he didn't tell him he would never actually know. He knew it was stupid to think that because Sirius knew him better than he knew himself. Sirius had practically raised him, always comforted him, sat by his side when he cried, he would scare the monsters away and still sleep by his side in case they retuned. Even though he knew they weren't real, even though he was a child himself he had given him the comfort both of their parents combined never could and Regulus had always done the same for him, the best he could.
Sirius stood up a little later, pressing a kiss to Regulus's forehead.
"Go sleep now, we've got lessons tomorrow"
"Can you stay tonight?" Regulus quiestioned. He knew he would feel better if Sirius stayed. He seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding. Regulus noticed that there was some hesitancy in the way he did but he didn't say anything. Instead they both pulled their shoes off before getting in bed.
Regulus fell asleep fairly quickly, what he didn't know was that Sirius didn't sleep.
He watched over him for some time, making sure Regulus was really asleep before he quietly got up and tucked him in the same way he used to when they were kids.
The only difference was that this time, when Regulus woke up Sirius was really gone and not just to get breakfast.
And this time there was a letter left for him right on his desk.