when we were young and still innocent, I
“Sirius?” Regulus wavered at the doorway, clutching a book to his chest. Spread out across the tables, heavy tomes lay open on theoretical pages. “...Ursa?”
His cousin turned the page, absently pointing to something in front of his brother. He watched as Sirius observed with keen eyes, flickering across the words with rising anticipation. “Yeah?”
“What’re you doing?” It wasn’t unusual for him to find his cousin bent over a book, curls pulled back with one of Bellatrix’s stolen hair ties and a stray hairband. Sirius was a less frequent visitor and only ever came, of his own volition, when it included something for him. They were planning something if the look on their faces were any indication.
“Nothing, little brother.” Sirius dismissed him, flicking a few pages onto a new subject and pointing at one page. “Does this-?”
Ursa squinted. “Ah- do you still have the-?”
His brother deflated. “No. Kreacher found it under my floorboard and tattled.”
“What a rat.” His cousin tsked , twirling the quill in her fingers. It was a skill that both he was envious of. “Anyway, I think I’ve got the basic idea down. If we had enough ink we could just dye it instead?”
Sirius shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe? If we used the one Father uses - the magic-infused type - then Kreacher might have to wash and dry it by hand.”
Father’s office is always locked, when he’s not in it , Regulus corrected him. The last time Father had left it unlocked, an egg had been cracked into his drawer containing recently sent correspondence. There hadn’t been any proof that it had been them, but considering Ursa had been there that day and Regulus had been shunted out of their conversations at random intervals, he knew who he’d place his money on if asked.
“Then it’ll ruin it for an entire day.” Ursa sighed, resting on her hand. “Is that worth it, though? I just wanted Mother to shut up about ‘ Walburga’s new sea green dress’ .”
Regulus knew that dress; Mother had tailored to her specifically with edits to the sea green and gold that even Aunt Druella considered garish. Kreacher had let the hem drift across the floor, just for a second, and she had nearly exploded into a fit of rage.
“And I just wanted to make her miserable.”
“Yeah, I mean, I can’t stand her normally. Imagine- oh, hey, Reg, how long have you been there?”
Regulus liked to think his cousin liked him but he knew that he was on the quieter side of the Black family, like Father and Uncle Cygnus and Andromeda. Ursa wasn’t as… rambunctious, for a lack of a better word, like her eldest sister but she certainly wasn’t quiet . The shoddily fixed drawer on the second floor with the handle attached by sheer-will-power and a rune that needed joint efforts of all three of them to draw up was proof of that.
That had been a hard cover-up compared to the usual shove-underneath-a-floorboard-or-painting and Regulus had been forced to help since he had technically broken it in the first place. If by broken, you meant ‘thrown into by accident.
But being ignored was hurtful.
He frowned. “Did you… not notice me?”
“Nah,” She waved him over, but not before slamming shut the tomes in front of them and turning them upside down so he couldn’t read the titles. Ursa was much better at damage control than Sirius. “Come on, why are you here?”
Regulus hesitated, the tome in his arms feeling like a stone. “I was just… I found this really interesting book in one of the side libraries. I think one of our ancestors owned it.”
“What’s it about?”
“I don’t know.” He tried not to shift underneath the heavy gaze of the two older children, matching his cousin’s curious gaze head-on. “I think it’s history related but I can’t figure out where. Maybe it’s a memoir?”
A chair was pulled over and a frown dug its way into the grooves of Sirius’ face, as he scoffed and leaned back in his own, equally uncomfortable, chair. Ursa had snagged the only good one. “Really, you’re going to read that stuff?”
Regulus scowled. “I-”
“If you’re not interested,” She sounded out the last word, syllables sharp and teasing. There was a glimmer of amusement in her brown eyes. “You can always go and sit with your Mother. I’m sure she’d enjoy your company.”
Sirius' face contorted this time, leaning forward as he dropped his posture and slumped across closed books. He waved his hand, patting the hard wooden bottom on the chair. “Sit, Reggie. Haven’t got all day.”