Sirius Black was in his second year the first time he heard his brother call someone a mudblood.
He was walking down the corridor to the Great Hall with Lily and Marlene when Lily had accidentally bumped into his little brother.
It was Regulus's first year at Hogwarts, and the young boy got sorted into Slytherin almost immediately the hat touched his head. Sirius as disappointed as he was couldn't form any hatred towards his brother for being in the house he despised so greatly. Regulus on the other hand had no problem avoiding and ignoring his brother as if they didn't know each other at all.
"Watch where you are going you filthy mudblood," Regulus snarled at Lily, his eyes cold and hard.
Lily widened her eyes at his words and her mouth gaped slightly. As she grew older she would grow to hex others who showed her this form of mistreatment, but at the age of twelve, and still being new to the wizarding world had resorted herself to tearing up.
Sirius who watched this encounter immediately felt anger rising in him as he sharply turned towards his brother. "Reg what the fuck!" he bellowed. "Apologize to Lily right now!"
Regulus who seemed to just noticed his brother's presence then had rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me what to do, bloodtraitor." He looked at Sirius with so much distaste that even Sirius felt like he might tear up at that moment.
Without another word, Regulus moved past them, striding away from his brother, a teary eyed Lily, and a consoling Mary.
It was the summer before fifth year Sirius had ran away from home.
Everyone thought he had simply packed without informing anyone about leaving.
No one knew he had an encounter with Regulus before leaving.
"Please Reg," Sirius begged, tears running down his cheeks. "Come with me! We can run away! We'll be happy, and we can be brothers again!"
"I said no," Regulus said coldly. "I will not stop you from running away, but you cannot make me leave."
Sirius let out a sob and shook his head frantically. "I can't leave you here Reg. Not with them. I will protect you. If you come with me, I'll never let them hurt you ever again. Don't be scared-"
"I am not scared!" Regulus said, cutting Sirius off. "This is my choice. I choose to stay here! Someone needs to fulfill the duty of an Heir, and if you don't do it, I will."
"No no no you don't!" exclaimed Sirius. "You don't have to. You can leave-"
"Just stop! I don't wanna hear it. You might not love our parents, but I do, and I will not dissapoint them!"
Sirius was now sobbing uncontrollably, head in his hands as he pleased desperately for his brother to come along.
"Why can't you pick me Reg?" Sirius sobbed. "Why do you have to pick them? I was the one who took care of you when we were young. I was the one who gave you all my love. Not them! It was never them!"
There was the sound of shuffling, making Sirius look up. Regulus had gotten up to get a small plater of floo powder.
"Take this, go to the Potters, and don't come back," Regulus said, ignoring his brother's previous words, and placed the floo powder down in front of him.
Sirius's stayed sobbing for a while until the sobbing slowly decreased until it was nothing but small whimpering as he picked up the floo powder.
"Please," Sirius whispered.
"I can't," Regulus whispered back.
With wobbly knees, Sirius walked into the fire place; the fireplace that Sirius and Regulus would sit by when they young, and Sirius would tell Regulus stories.
"You're so funny Siri," Young Regulus giggled. "Promise me you will always tell me stories?"
Young Sirius smiled, planting a kiss on his baby brother's forehead. "Of course Reggie! I promise I will tell you stories until we both go gray and old."
But they were not young anymore. Sirius locked eyes with Regulus one last time.
Regulus now also had tears in his eyes, but still gave a wobbly smile. "Go live your life."
Sirius sobbed one last time.
"Potter manor!"
Sirius Black was in his sixth year when Regulus got the mark.
"How could you," whispered Sirius, his eyes seemed to be stuck on the mark that almost stared back, taunting him. Mocking him.
haha you lost your brother for good now! it seemed to scream.
Regulus roughly pulled his sleeve back down. "I did what I had to do," Regulus said coldly. "I did it for my family. I did it for my name."
Sirius's eyes snapped back to Regulus's face. "Your family?" he asked in disbelief. "After everything they put us through, you still think of them as your family? What about me, huh? What about me who would console you after mother punished you. When father never gave two shits about you, I always made sure you felt loved! I'm your family!
Regulus's eyes seemed to grow even colder with every word Sirius said. "You're not my family," Regulus said coldly. "You stopped being my family the minute you got into Gryffindor and become everything we are suppose to go against."
"How could you be so foolish! How could you blindly follow everything mommy dearest tells you, huh?"
Regulus rolls his eyes. "Sirius just stop. Go back to playing your silly pranks with Potter, ok? I thought as a former brother, you had the right to know, and now I have told you, there is nothing for us to speak about anymore."
Regulus started to walk away.
"I can turn you in, you know!" Sirius called out, making Regulus to stop in his tracks.
The latter slowly turned around. "Would you though?"
Sirius stayed quiet.
Regulus smiled almost mockingly. "Exactly."
And this time he did leave with no more interruptions.
It was near the end of the sixth year Regulus almost hurt himself badly. It was the last quidditch game of the season: Slytherin vs Gryffindor.
And everyone was excited. There were multiple reasons: the Slytherin vs Gryffindor rivalry, star captain Frank Longbottom's last quidditch team at Hogwarts, and "The Black Brothers Rivalry." Everyone at Hogwarts knew about Sirius running away, and everyone thought that the two brothers hated each other.
But that couldn't be further from the truth; well at least on Sirius's part.
Sirius was sitting in the great hall with the team going over their final game plan.
"Marlene and Sirius I'm counting on you two today," Frank told them, taking a bite of his waffle. Marlene and Sirius were the beaters on the team, and made an excellent team. Both were driven, passionate, and worked well together; they were often being called partners in crime by Frank.
"Why?" Marlene asked, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Regulus Black is the best seeker in this school. As soon as one of you sees him even remotely near the snitch, I expect you to take him out."
"Sorry I can't take him out, I'm not into guys."
"Marlene," Frank said sternly, in no mood for her jokes.
Marlene rolled her eyes. "Yes I got it."
Frank turned to Sirius expectantly.
"Yes captain," Sirius teased, a smirk plastered on his face.
"I hate you two," Frank mumbled, turning to give the rest of the team directions.
As soon as Frank turned away, Sirius's smirk dropped and he looked at his hands. It still hurt each time Regulus was brought up; a pang in the heart as a reminder what was on Regulus's arm now. And also..
He knew he wouldn't be able to listen to Frank's orders.
The score was currently 130-80 with Gryffindor in the lead.
James was on fire today, scoring constantly with no interruptions. Though that was no surprise to Hogwarts; James Potter was Gryffindor team's star chaser. There was no doubt he would get captain once Frank graduated.
"Hell yeah!" James cheered, scoring again, doing a broom trick in celebration.
Sirius saw Regulus roll his eyes, making him snicker to himself silently.
Both Marlene and Sirius had been keeping a close eye on Regulus the game, but for different reasons.
Sirius watched as Regulus's annoyance over James Potter seemed to fade, and another expression grew on his face.
Excitement.
Oh shit.
Regulus was off, his broom zooming through the field, and his eyes only on one thing: the snitch.
Marlene seemed to notice this as well as she suddenly had her bat in hand ready, flying down the pitch towards a bludger that was about to hit Alice.
Quickly both stopping any harm on Alice, and fulfilling Frank wishes, Sirius could feel his world freeze.
Before he could do anything, the bludger hit Regulus's arm that was reaching out for the snitch causing him to fall off his broom.
His little brother falling many many feet from the air seemed to knock Sirius back into the real world, and before he could process it, he was flying down.
Nothing else seemed to matter in the moment except his brother, his Reggie, only moments away from hitting the ground. The sound of the crowd, teammates, opponents faded out, and it was just them two.
And like a miracle: when Regulus was only a few feet away from the ground, Sirius's broom caught him, giving the older boy the ability to breathe again.
A huge sigh of relief escaped Sirius as he flew to the ground. But even if Regulus didn't land on the ground, his arm was still injured.
It wasn't until both of them on the ground, Sirius noticed his surroundings. Both the Gryffindor and Slytherin team looked at Sirius with shock and confusion, clearly not expecting him to save Regulus. Sirius also noticed his boyfriend, Remus Lupin, in the crowd with a sort of knowing smile on his face, but Sirius ignored that too. He knew they would talk about it later. His only concern right now was to make sure his baby brother was ok.
"Someone get Madam Pomfrey!" exclaimed Sirius, focusing his attention back on his little brother who was groaning in pain.
The sight brought Sirius so much pain as he ran a hand through his little brother's curls. "It's ok Reg," whispered Sirius. "Madam Pomfrey is coming and she will heal you."
Even in immense pain, Regulus rolled his eyes at his brother. "I'm not a baby Sirius." Regulus stopped to groan again before continuing. "Stop treating me like one."
Sirius let himself smile a little. "You'll always be a baby," mumbled Sirius.
Madam Pomfrey was quick to come as she ushered everyone out of the way. "Out of my way!" she exclaimed, approaching Regulus.
"Oh dear," the older witch mumbled, taking sight of Regulus. Quickly examining him and his arm, she told him, "You will need to be under rest at the Hospital Wing for the next few days."
Regulus was about to protest, but Madam Pomfrey put a finger up. "No ifs or buts Regulus Black!"
Regulus let out a sigh of defeat.
It was only then Madam Pomfrey took notice of Sirius who was next to Regulus. She furrowed her eyebrows, but didn't comment.
It was a good thing because Sirius wouldn't know how to reply.
"You know everyone is going to think differently," Regulus said, laying on the Hospital Wing bed. It was Regulus's third day at the Hospital Wing, and he was already bored out of his mind. Luckily -or unluckily- Sirius was there almost all day to keep him company, worried out of his mind for his baby brother.
A cast was wrapped around his arm-thankfully not the arm with a mark- and Sirius shouldn't be thankful for that, but he was.
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, half of his attention on what Regulus was saying and the other half on trying to urge chicken soup into his mouth. Sirius insisted on feeding Regulus since Regulus's dominant hand was in a cast, which Regulus would refuse, but slowly obliged since it was hard to use his other hand.
"They're all going to think you care about me now," Regulus said simply.
Sirius furrowed his eyebrows. "But I do care about you."
Regulus's eyes hardened, looking elsewhere. "No you just feel guilty."
"What? What are you talking about?"
There was a tense silence following afterward. Sirius was waiting for an answer, but an answer never came.
Instead Regulus said, "You should go."
Sirius's eyes widened. "Why?" Just a few minutes ago the brothers were at peace, and now Regulus just wanted him to leave? Just like that?
"Because."
"Because what?"
"Just because."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "That hardly is a good answer."
Regulus scowled. "Isn't it just a good enough reason that I just don't want you to be here."
Sirius scowled back. "You didn't have a problem with me being here a few minutes before!" Sirius protested, not understanding what was wrong.
Regulus groaned, throwing his head back in exasperation. "Just leave Sirius!"
"Fine!" Sirius exclaimed, getting up, roughly putting the bowl of soup on the nightstand, causing a loud clash.
Madam Pomfrey suddenly came in. "What is with the noise?" She scowled, crossing her arms, narrowing her eyes at the two new boys.
"Nothing," Sirius said harshly. "I was just leaving."
Sirius was still angry when he came back into the common room. Why did Regulus suddenly change moods?
The whole group was sitting on the couches in common room, laughing among themselves.
"Hey Sirius!" Mary called out, an arm wrapped around Marlene.
Sirius, too angry to talk, ignored his friend, and stomped up to his dorm instead.
He could briefly hear Peter mumbling, "what was that all about?"
As soon as he got in the dorm, he flopped onto his bed and screamed into his pillow. There was the sound of a door creak, and Sirius was ready to scream at whoever it was to go away. But when he turned around with the words on the tip on his tongue, the words dissolved, shocked to see who it was.
Lily.
There was a sort of understanding in her eyes as she came and sat next to Sirius.
"I know how it feels," Lily whispered.
At her words, Sirius suddenly burst into sobs, the overwhelming feeling of emotions coming quickly, and he couldn't hold it back anymore.
He felt the redhead's arms wrap around him, running her fingers through his hair, making him cry harder.
He use to do that for Regulus when he was upset.
"Let it out," Lily whispered. "It hurts and I don't think that pain will ever leave. But there are so so many other people out there in your life who care and will be there. And while it won't ever be the same, you're not alone."
Sirius didn't answer.
It was in seventh year when Sirius had his last conversation with his little brother.
It was the last day of school and the marauders had just finished their final prank.
"I'm going to miss this," James said, a bright smile on the face.
James Potter truly was the sun.
Peter nodded. "How is it we grew up so fast?"
Sirius let out a sigh, dropping his head on Remus's shoulder. "Now we are going to have to be adults, and actually be responsible."
Remus let out a laugh, wrapping an around Sirius's shoulder. "The horror."
Sirius was about to reply until he saw Regulus walking down the parallel empty corridor, reading a book.
Sirius cleared his throat. "Hey I'll catch up with you lads later," he told them, dropping a kiss on Remus's cheek before rushing off, ignoring James's protest.
He could hear Remus scolding James in the background, telling him to let Sirius go. A chuckle escaped Sirius, and Sirius had a feeling that Remus knew where he was going.
"Regulus!" Sirius called, running up to the younger boy.
Regulus seemed to freeze at his brother's voice before walking again, his pace slightly faster.
This only made Sirius run faster. "Hey! Don't ignore me you little shit!"
Regulus seemed to realize that he wouldn't be able to get out of this, and turned around to face his brother, a bored expression on his face.
"What?" the younger boy asked quite harshly.
Sirius put a hand on his chest in false hurt. "What? I can't say goodbye to my baby brother?"
Regulus rolled his eyes. "Not your brother and not a baby."
"Regulus."
"Fine," Regulus huffed. "Bye." He turned around and started walking again.
Sirius scowled. "Regulus i'm being serious!"
Regulus let out an exasperated sigh and turned around. "Yes I'm aware of your name," he said cooly.
Sirius cracked a smile. "Ahh the little swot can make a joke, hm?"
"Sirius I can't talk to you."
Sirius's smile dropped, the atmosphere suddenly becoming more tense. "Why not?"
"You know why."
"No I don't actually, so why don't you inform me."
Regulus glared at his brother. "Don't be a fool, it doesn't suit you," Regulus said sharply. "The war is here, and I think we both know which side we each will take."
"It doesn't have to be like this," Sirius reasoned.
"Well it is, and neither of us can change it."
"Yes you can! You can change it! You can choose my side! You can choose me!"
Though Regulus had his mind made. "Goodbye Sirius. I'll see you on the battle field."
This time Sirius didn't stop Regulus when he left.
"I wish I didn't love you," Sirius whispered after his brother disappeared down the corridor.
It was a rainy day when Sirius found out his worst fear come true.
He was sitting in his flat, the kettle was on, and the Daily Prophet in his hand. He was waiting for Remus to come back from his mission, so bored out of his mind, he decide to read it.
He had been reading about a muggle attack when something else caught his eye.
Something that haunt would haunt him forever.
Regulus Black, Heir of The Ancient and Noble House of Black, presumed dead.
The news didn't hit for a moment. It was as if the world froze, and Sirius felt this feeling blackness just wash over him.
How could this be true? Regulus, little Regulus, who would always be Sirius's baby brother in his eyes was not here anymore.
It was not believable. Incomprehensible. He would never be able to see his brother's smile again. Hear his brother's laugh again.
How could life be so cruel . It should be him. Not Regulus. Never Regulus. Regulus was still so young, so smart, and was suppose to live far longer than Sirius.
Except he didn't. Regulus wasn't here anymore, but Sirius was.
Regulus wasn't here anymore.
But Sirius was.
The kettle suddenly went off.