Come back (Prologue)
Regulus
There was a huge storm outside. Thunder shook the house and lightning flashed across the night sky. Walburga had locked herself in her room when the storm started. Regulus pretended not to have seen the bottle of wine she had taken with her.
He had crawled under his blanket, hugging his legs close to his chest. Maybe if he made himself small enough, the images wouldn't come back. Maybe he could stop them from entering his skull. A sharp swing with the staff. Blood. Their mother's shrill voice. Nails scraping against skin. Since then, he couldn't stand thunderstorms. How ironic. Regululus Black, son of Zeus, was afraid of the storm.
Just as he was trying to fall asleep, he heard footsteps in the hallway. The Blacks lived in an old house. Their family was old, older than most. They had a long relationship with the gods. Half-bloods were not uncommon. The whole house had been passed down through generations. It was known in the town as Grimmauld Place. The old wooden floorboards made it a lot harder to sneak around, though. But that had never stopped Sirius before.
Regulus slowly gets up and opens his door to take a peek at the corridor. Sirius had never been afraid of thunderstorms. He was the firstborn, the heir to the Noble and most Ancient house of Black and his older brother. Regulus always thought that it felt like looking into a mirror. A mirror that shows you everything you could be, everything you should be. But Regulus knew that he could never live up to that reflection.
Regulus' eyes scanned the hallway as he saw a shadow dart into their mother's office. Normally they weren't allowed to enter this room, but Sirius and he both knew that Walburga wouldn't leave her bedroom until the storm was over. She still had hope.
Regulus crept down the corridor, always careful which floorboards he would step on. He had always been the more timid brother. He entered the room.
Their mother's office was an ornate room. Full of carvings and paintings. But what made the room so special was the position of the window. There was a forest behind the house and the trees were very close to the windowsill. Sirius wanted to build a tree house, because then you could climb right in from the office window. Mother hadn't allowed it.
But that evening, when Regulus' eyes wandered to the window, his older brother was there, kneeling on the windowsill. Sirius turned his head towards him when he heard the door close. The storm was still raging outside and Sirius' hair was wild in front of his face.
‘Regulus.’
Regulus realised that the window was open. And Sirius had a knife strapped around his calf. Suddenly, the pieces in his head came together. His eyes widened and he looked at his brother. ‘No. No. You can't leave me!’
Sirius looked at him with a pained expression. ‘I have to, Reggie. I have to do this.’
He turned round and leant out of the window. But before he jumped, he turned his head once more. ‘I'm going to come back. I'll come back and get you. I'll take you with me.’
And then he jumped. Regulus froze. When he finally came to his senses, he ran to the window, trying to catch one last glimpse of his brother, his perfect reflection. But outside there was only rain. Rain and thunder.
So all he could do was wait. Sirius will come back. He will come for him. Regulus waited and waited and waited. Waited for Sirius.
He never came back.