Chapter 7
the door creaked as sirius pushed it open, revealing mcgonagall sat behind her desk, her elbows resting on the surface. she gestured to the two seats on the other side of the desk and watched as the two boys sat down in unison.
“i’m not going to sugarcoat it,” she began, “but you need to tell us how you both ended up with such horrific injuries.”
she peered over the top of her thin-framed glasses, looking between the expressionless faces of the brothers. after a couple of seconds that felt more like hours, sirius started talking. regulus struggled to maintain concentration as the night he let sirius down began to play over and over again in his head.
he stood up suddenly, his knees knocking into the wooden desk, upsetting the tray of biscuits that had been laid out. he rearranged them, all too conscious of both pairs of eyes and watching him closely.
he threw himself down on the sofa at the end of the room, immediately grabbing a cushion and placing it on his lap. his fingers traced the embroidered pattern subconsciously as he closed his eyes. after a minute, regulus became aware of the silence that had filled the room and he opened his eyes, staring back at a similar grey pair.
“is there anything you want to add, mr black?” mcgonagall asked him, her eyes narrow as she looked at the hunched posture of the boy.
“err no, professor. i’m sure sirius covered it all.”
minerva mcgonagall raised an eyebrow as regulus put the cushion back and made his way towards the door.
“well have a good christmas both of you. if you need anything, don’t forget where i am - or where the biscuits are” she added as sirius took one as he also stood up.
as they ducked out of the doorway and sirius immediately grabbed regulus’ wrist, forcing him to look at him.
“you were lying.”
regulus stared at him blankly.
“so? she doesn’t care about me anyway.”
“yes she does” sirius said sharply.
“no!” regulus countered. “she cares about you; no one cares about me.”
regulus laughed softly as sirius remained silent. it was a single laugh, harsh and completely failing to hide the pain that echoed within in.
“do you want to go for a walk in the forest?” sirius asked suddenly.
“the forbidden forest?” regulus questioned. “the one forest probably in the world that literally includes the word ‘forbidden’ in the title?”
“do you want to go or not?”
“i- sure” regulus said with a loose hand gesture. “wait where are you going?”
regulus’ eyebrows furrowed as sirius turned away to walk up the corridor.
“i’ll meet you in the entrance hall in two minutes” sirius shouted over his shoulder as he broke into a run.
regulus watched until sirius disappeared from his view before heading down to the entrance hall. he sat down on the bottom step, audibly gasping when sirius appeared behind him.
“what’s in the bag?” regulus asked, eyeing it suspiciously.
“just wait and see” sirius told him, tapping the side of his nose.
regulus rolled his eyes but followed his brother out into the castle grounds. the snow had stopped, but a thick layer had settled, crunching under the boys’ feet as the wandered down towards the forest. the thick canopy created by the evergreens meant no snow had really entered the forest.
the forest floor was still hard underfoot though, the weak winter sun having been unable to penetrate the canopy meant that the frost that had formed in the morning was still present.
“what are we supposed to talk about?” regulus asked as he trailed about a step behind sirius.
“here we are!” sirius announced, throwing his arms open wide and ignoring regulus’ question.
regulus looked around. the glade sirius was presenting looked identical to the previous two they’d walked through.
“incendio.”
regulus jumped back as a 4 foot flame burst from the end of sirius’ wand and settled itself in the centre. as regulus looked around, he noticed small tree trunks that had been cut low enough to form little seats and he turned to see sirius sat on one, taking blankets and a cardboard box out of the bag.
“what do you think would happen if i threw a dr filibuster into the fire?” sirius asked, having successfully opened the box.
regulus stepped further away from the fire pointedly.
taking his brother’s movements as a go-ahead, sirius lit the tail of the firework before taking aim and launching it into the flames. there were immediate flashes of green as the firework exploded colourfully.
“there must be copper in there” regulus murmured, fascinated by the different shades the fire was spitting out.
“what?”
“there must’ve been copper in that firework” regulus repeated, sitting down next to the fire once it had calmed down.
“yeah still, what?”
“it’s a chemical element” regulus explained. “and when exposed to fire, it turns green.”
“how do you know that?”
“well. .” regulus stopped, suddenly embarrassed. “i really enjoy muggle studies so i did some extra research and they have all these labs and stuff where they do experiments so i thought i’d try some out; just basic ones, you know? nothing more than what they do at their schools at our age.”
regulus spoke quickly and by the time he’d finished, he felt his cheeks burning and he was pretty sure it wasn’t from the fire. he looked up to find sirius staring at him.
“i didn’t know you liked muggle studies.”
“well you wouldn’t.” regulus bit his lip nervously. “sorry that wa-”
“it’s fine. do you want a marshmallow? remus gave them to me and-” sirius dragged his hand lightly across the forest floor. “you just put one on a stick like this and then put it in the fire.”
“yeah the americans call them s’mores. i think you’re supposed to sandwich it between two biscuits.”
“but i don’t have biscuits” sirius began.
“you can eat it without them” regulus assured him, picking his own stick up off the floor.
by the time the packet of marshmallows had been finished, the size of the fire had decreased substantially. wrapping one of the blankets sirius had brought with him around his shoulders, regulus tucked his knees up under his chin, watching the orange glow illuminate the surrounding forest, casting long, far-reaching shadows that became merged with the darkness beyond.
when he woke up, the fire had died, leaving behind only a pile of grey ash and charred sticks that hadn’t quite caught alight properly. regulus brushed his curls away from his eyes and stretched, unfolding his limbs slowly. sirius was sat on the floor, leant against one of the stumps, the blanket that was originally draped over his body now slipping off and barely covering his chest.
picking up a nearby stick, regulus poked his older brother until he woke up with a groan, looking around confusedly.
“you want to go get breakfast?” regulus asked.
“sure - but i’m not sitting at the slytherin table though.”
when they arrived in the great hall, the slytherin table was the emptiest of the four so sirius conceded, complaining as he sat down and helped himself to a plate of beans on toast.
“what are your plans for today?” sirius asked, watching as his brother carefully poured a cup of black coffee.
regulus shrugged: “homework probably.”
“how dull; it’s christmas!” sirius said, picking up his wand and twirling it to produce a personal snow-cloud above his brother.
“stop it!” regulus said, brushing the snow off his shoulders.
charming his unused cutlery, regulus’ knife and fork marched across the wooden table, and flung a baked bean at sirius.
“hey!” sirius protested, and grabbed a napkin to wipe the orange sauce off his face.
“see you by the main doors in a minute then.”
sirius watched as regulus left him to finish his breakfast before heading out into the entrance hall. he was surprised to find it empty and he let out a loud shout when a snowball hit him hard on the back of his head.
sirius spun around on the spot, his eyes eventually landing on regulus who was peeking out from behind the double doors with a smug smile on his face. sirius immediately started after him, picking up handfuls of snow as he chased his younger brother. as the intensity of the attack increased, regulus stopped running and turned to face his brother, whose final snowball was thrown with such force that regulus toppled backwards, exhausted.
he propped himself up on his elbows as sirius stood over him, holding another snowball threateningly.
“you want to build a snowman?”
“a what?”
“it’s a muggle thing” regulus said quickly. “we don’t have to.”
“no, let’s do it.”
less than five minutes later, the two boys were panting as the pushed the balls of snow across the grounds.
“how come i have to do the really big one?” sirius complained when he saw that regulus had already completed the medium sized ball.
“because you’re the oldest” regulus replied simply. “that looks big enough anyway.”
“that’s a relief” sirius said with a smile, flopping down onto the floor.
regulus carefully picked up the balls he’d made and placed them on top of each other. he stepped back, looking at their work. his eyes narrowed.
“what?”
“i’ll be back in a minute.”
sirius watched as regulus ran back up to the castle and returned shortly with a bucket. sirius stared at his brother blankly as regulus pulled out a handful of coal from the metal bucket.
“can i eat that?” sirius asked, nodding in the direction of the carrot regulus had just revealed.
“no” regulus said, aggressively inserting the carrot into the face of the snowman. “you can’t.”
sirius stood up to look at their work properly. he smiled softly when he saw the way the tip of regulus’ nose was bright red.
“do you want to go inside and warm up? there’s always a fire in the common room.”
“i don’t think i can go in your common room though” regulus said uncertainly.
“sure you can” sirius said confidently. “it’ll be fine.”
traipsing through the corridors and leaving a small trail of snowy footprints, the pair of them
arrived at gryffindor tower. stepping through the portrait hole, the gryffindor common room wasn’t really what regulus had expected. sure, sirius had been right about there being a fire, but the chaotic decor style of the room took the younger black brother by surprise.
while regulus took in the abandoned books and unscrewed bottles of ink left on the desks by students who had left for the holidays, sirius moved to near the fireplace and set up a chessboard. regulus perched on the edge of the faded red sofa, his pale hand shaking slightly as went to move his first pawn.
after a dedicated silence, sirius shouted out as he moved his queen.
“CHECK!”
regulus rolled his eyes and quickly moved his king before whispering “checkmate.”
“no!” sirius stood up, upsetting the board. “i had you cornered.”
regulus shrugged nonchalantly and sirius grabbed a handful of the fallen pieces. he threw them at regulus who held a cushion over his face as protection.
“i’m clearly just better than you.”
sirius looked up at him, raising an eyebrow challengingly.
“i don’t fucking think so.”