The Back-to-School Bash
Regulus
As I pulled on my leather jacket I heard Barty calling out, “Oi Reg, you almost done mate?” I shook my head and walked into the common room smiling slightly when I met his eyes.
“Yes Barty, yes I am.” I smirked as he looked me up and down. It wasn’t much but I hadn’t put much effort into my look in a while.
“Damn Reg, you got a Gryffindor you’re trying to impress or something? I haven’t seen you all dolled up like this since, well, since you were going after that Marlene chick. What ever happened with her anyway, you just stopped talking about her one day.” I rolled my eyes, he’s never gonna give that up.
“For the last time Barty! Not everyone is like you, I wasn’t going after her, Lily introduced us and we hung out a few times, that was it! Besides she’s not interested, never was, She’s gay ya git.”
“Can’t help but notice you only said she wasn’t interested.” He winked at me and I suppressed the urge to smack him. “She doesn’t seem what I’d expect of your type Reg, figured she’d be too much like your brother but maybe I was wrong. Like a bit of a trouble-maker do ya Reggie?” He stuck out his tongue at me and I laughed.
“Oh shove it would ya? Can we just get going already, Remus’ll be waiting, I told him we’d be on the early side. He’s probably having a hell of a time keeping Siri sober-ish already, we don’t need to add time to how long he’s gotta do it.” As I finished I started to walk towards the door trying to prompt Barty to follow me. “See ya later Evan!” I called across the room to where he was sitting in an armchair reading, getting a wave in return. At this Barty finally began to follow me towards the door.
As we got closer and closer to Gryffindor tower my heart began to race. It had been a month at this point since I’d seen my brother, longer since I’d really interacted with him. My head was swimming, tidal waves of thought crashing all around. I shook my head slightly, recentering myself, it's just Siri, I can do this. I focused on that thought and allowed it to take up all the free space in my head I can do this.
We finally reached the Gryffindor tower and were met by a smirking Potter. “Password Baby Black?” He taunted knowing how much that nickname bugged me, especially from him.
“Oh shove it Potter let me go see my brother, or else.” I waited for him to open the door so I could shove past him.
“Touchy, touchy. Fine. Not that you scare me, Black.” I tapped my foot impatiently as he opened the door with the Gryffindor password.
As I passed him I whispered low enough that Barty wouldn’t overhear “I may not scare you Potter but I know who does.” I winked at him as I slipped into the common room. I noticed Remus and my brother in the corner and called out looking back as I did so. “Remus! Hey!” I smirked as the door closed on a nervous-looking James before heading over to my brother. “Rem, can you do me a favour pleaseeee?” I asked mischievously. “James was being a git, mind giving him a little spook later?” I laughed as Remus nodded before turning to my brother.
Remus was right, Sirius looked like he was face-to-face with some kind of celebrity. My face softened as I looked my brother in the eyes and I nodded slightly, giving him the permission I knew he was searching for. At my nod, he reached out, grabbed my arms and pulled me into a tight hug which I returned happily. “Reggie..!” He mumbled softly, refusing to let go. “Oh, Reggie, I-I’m so so sorry.” At that, I broke from the hug and put my finger to his lips. He looked away, not meeting my eyes.
“No. Not another word Siri. You have nothing, and I mean nothing to apologize for. You couldn’t help me from the inside anymore, you think you could have but you couldn’t and Remus and James knew it. They were tearing you apart, and there was nothing I could do about it, you had to help me from the outside.” I cupped his cheek and pulled his gaze toward mine. “You saved us both. Don’t ever forget that.”
He pulled away from me and looked away again. “But, Reg, I- I didn’t, Remus saved you… He saved you for me…” I shook my head.
“You’re wrong, Rem said the words, yes, but you saved me, you told Remus about them, you showed me that it was possible… you saved me Sirius, not me, not Remus, you.” I hugged him again. “Thank you, Siri.” For a brief moment, I was back in the family home, just 10 or so curled into Sirius, dabbing at my eyes with my sleeve, drowning out the shouts with silly little songs we made up on the spot, as safe as we could be. Then I was back and this time Sirius was the one dabbing at his eyes.
“Thank you, Reg, that… that means a lot.” I noticed Remus smiling at us in the corner of my eye and reached out to grab him.
“Oh get over here Rem, I know you want in.” I chuckled as I pulled him into the hug. I felt Sirius lean closer into him but at that moment I didn’t care, I had the two most important people in my life right there and that was all that mattered.
As we broke from the hug Remus offered me a glass of punch from the nearby table. “Don’t worry Reg, it hasn’t been spiked, at least not yet.” He rolled his eyes. I took the glass gratefully, Remus was always in charge of the punch, his parents had an amazing recipe and everyone adored it. I noticed Sirius hesitantly reaching for his drink, knowing him I knew it was mixed strong. I nodded to which he let out a relieved sigh.
“You know, it's not the drinking I avoid Siri, it's the handsy behaviour with my best friend that comes after the drinking. Just because I don’t doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop you from drinking if you want to just don’t expect me to hang around once you get started on him.” I laughed gesturing to Remus. Sirius chuckled softly.
“Sorry, my Moony’s just so hard to resist.” He gave Remus a quick kiss on the cheek. I pretended to gag getting a laugh out of both boys. Sirius reached for his cup and the three of us sat chatting and drinking for a while. Eventually, Sirius started to get flirty so I said my goodbyes and went to find Barty.