Chapter 2
November 3rd 1981
‘BLACK!’ Regulus heard the mildly familiar voice but decided to ignore it. He just wanted to get out of this place and get home to Harry before he started crying again and Kreacher forgot the instructions he had been given. Anyway, they may not have been talking to him anyway. The voice persisted.
‘Black! Hey, Regulus!’ Great. It appeared Regulux was the victim of this person. He turned around and looked for a familiar face. It didn’t take long for them to spot who it was. Remus bloody Lupin was looking at him over the heads of about 15 miserable people. It was quite difficult to avoid noticing all those scars on somebody’s face, he couldn’t lie. He saw the weak smile as the man waved halfheartedly and made his way closer to Regulus through the crowd so they didn’t have to yell over people. After he had managed to slip through the narrow stream of people, Regulus could see him a little better and noticed rather a lot about him that was different to how he had remembered him from Hogwarts. His hair was greasy and uncared for, he had massive bags under his eyes and he was ever so slightly slouched over, like he didn’t have the energy to keep his body perfectly upright. He looked terrible.
‘Lupin.’ He nodded towards him and got a small smile in turn. He gestured up the road and Lupin nodded, the two of them then walking together towards the park, it was a shortcut back home but if they wanted to, they could walk around it to give Lupin time to say whatever he had hunted Regulus down for.
‘Oh erm, call me Remus. Please.’ They both stayed silent for a few minutes before Remus decided to speak again.
‘So ah, what…what are you doing in London?’
‘I live in London.’
‘Oh erm yeah of course…well, what are you doing in muggle London?’
‘I..live in muggle London, Lupin.’
‘Remus…ah yeah, that’s, yeah, stupid question. Sorry. I just wondered why you were wandering around a muggle town and…stuff…’
‘Am I not allowed to go shopping anymore Remus?’
They went quiet once more, both looking at the ground awkwardly. This was almost excruciating.
‘Why did you come to speak to me? I find it difficult to believe that you saw me and were just dying to come and have a friendly chat.’
Remus nodded and hesitated before answering. ‘I uhhh, well I wasn’t originally planning to..speak to you. I would have probably ignored you any other day. We never…well we never really talked and we didn’t see eye to eye on…a lot of things. But um, I guess I was, well it’s a stupid idea and I was just wonde- well I wanted to check- I um, I wanted to know if you were okay? Not because I think you’re not and I um I well yeah I know, well, it’s a silly idea and I’m sorry for ruining your day and everything. It’s just um, I just thought…- yeah no I know you weren’t exactly close and all and I um, yeah well I know you don’t care and it’s probably, well, almost definitely just another day for you, you’ve got a lot of stress over like everything and stuff but I thought maybe you might- well it’s just that today- well it’s because-‘
‘Today is Sirius’ birthday.’ He cut Remus off to reduce the amount of time he had to listen to the futile blabbering.
‘…yeah.’ Remus shoved his hands into his pockets, still staring at the floor.
‘Thank you, Remus. For checking I was okay…you are wrong, you know? I do care, I remembered what today was and the fact I thought about him being alone in…in Azkaban. It reminds me of how he described it all feeling when he was at home. So yes I did remember and yes I do care so thank you for coming to talk to me, I know it’s…just as, if not more…difficult for you today given…circumstances.’ He saw Remus turn slightly red before the melancholic air took his face in its hands once again.
‘Did you…were you headed anywhere? Do you need to get back home soon or are you okay for now? Because if you’re free I think it might be nice to sit and talk about…everything together so we aren’t just being miserable sods by ourselves. And you could say hello to Harry too, he hasn’t stopped crying for more than 2 hours the last few days so it would be nice if he could see a familiar face, that’s all…If you can and want to, of course.’
Remus looked up and smiled, though it was easy to see it was at least partially forced. ‘Nono, I haven’t really got anything to do these days so, well, are you asking if I could go to your house for a chat about your locked up brother?’
Regulus shrugged. ‘Couldn’t hurt could it?’
‘In that case, of course. And uh, where is Harry? Is it really…wise…to leave him alone?’
‘He’s not alone. Kreacher is with him. I promised him I’d be back in 3 hours so we should probably get going back now if you’re coming…’
‘Oh, oh yeah, of course. Well, lead the way.’
-
‘Tea?’ Remus looked up from where he was staring at his hands.
‘Sorry?’
‘Would you like any tea?’ Regulus pointed to a tin on the counter.
‘Oh, oh yeah, sure, thanks. Milk and no sugar please.’
Regulus nodded and sat down opposite Remus. ‘Kreacher!’ He tried to keep his voice firm as much as he could whilst still making sure the elf could hear him. There was a loud crack as he appeared in front of them.
‘Yes master regulus?’ He croaked, making Remus cringe slightly.
‘Could you please make sons tea for Mr Lupin and I? He’ll take it with milk.’ The elf nodded and rushed to get the tea ready. ‘Thank you Kreacher. How was Harry?’
‘Very well master, the little thing slept rather a lot master and did not cry once.’
‘That’s wonderful up, thank you Kreacher.’
‘Please forgive Kreacher for Kreacher’s comment master, but I think it is not wise to leave too much this week, your mother may come back soon, master regulus.’
‘I know Kreacher, you know I’ve been trying my best, I should be fine by Saturday.’
‘Of course master, thank you master.’ Regulus smiled and nodded to Kreacher as he placed two mugs of tea on the table and scarpered off.
Remus took a sip from his mug and held it in both hands. ‘Where is your mother Regulus?’
‘She’s uh, away. The second she found out the war was lost she went to visit some of our family. She won’t be back until next week and has no clue I’m here. I’m getting a small house on the other side of London so she shouldn’t find out.’
Remus nodded.
Silence filled the room and dragged on for no less than 10 minutes.
‘So,’ Regulus finally spoke up. ‘Sirius.’