7Home?
Regulus lay on his bed perfectly still, starring at his ceiling. The only acknowledgment he showed to the yelling happening between his mother and brother floors below was his hands, clenched into fists at his sides.
Suddenly Regulus flinched upwards as he drew in a large breath when floors below his mother yelled "Crucio!" He rolled onto his side, pulling a pillow over his ear to block out his brother's screaming that echoed between the floors, curling into a ball, and trying to fall into oblivion.
Two hours later Regulus got up, trying not to make a noise in the silent House of Black. He grabbed his wand as he creaked open the door, checking the landing. When sure that no one was in sight he slipped across and into his brother's room without a noise.
Sirius laid on his bed, starring up at his ceiling blankly, taking no notice that his brother had entered. As Regulus walked towards him, he couldn't help but draw in a breath. Sirius had never been quite this injured after one of their mothers…attacks.
Regulus kneeled down beside his brother's bed as he pulled out his wand, looking over him. Neither said a word before Regulus grabbed Sirius' hand, pulling out his arm, deciding the gash in his arm was the most serious of his injuries. He quickly began crossing his wand over it as he began muttering under his breath, the gash beginning to knit itself together again.
As soon as Sirius' arm was healed, Regulus looked over him once more and caught sight of his ankle. He didn't need to feel it to know it was sprained and not twisted or broken, he'd seen enough of each to tell by glance. He quickly reached under the bed and pulled out a box of healing potions that only the two knew to be there, and easily picked out the correct potion. He gave it to Sirius, who took it with no objection, before shoving the box back under.
Regulus tugged at Sirius' shirt, who obliged and sat up a bit, lifting his arms a bit so his brother could remove his torn shirt. Regulus couldn't help but flinch at the sight of his brother's chest and torso with the injuries it held. He quickly started muttering the spells to cure them, and the injuries started healing, Sirius only flinching slightly. Regulus was just finishing the last injury on his brother's chest, before moving to the cut on his cheek, when his brother finally spoke.
"I'm leaving," Sirius said quietly, his eyes not leaving the ceiling.
Regulus' wand dropped from his hand as he froze where he kneeled, starring at his brother. Everything was moving and it took a few seconds for him to realize it was actually because he was shaking. His brother had finally taken his eyes from the ceiling and was watching him warily.
"Wh-wh-wh-at?" Regulus finally gasped, feeling his chest constrict on him. "You can't!"
"Reg, I can't stay here, living like this," Sirius said quietly as he slipped off his bed to kneel next to him. "That's the third time mom used that spell on me – plus that attempt that lovely cousin of ours made last summer." Sarcasm coated his voice as he sneered at the thought of his cousin.
"Bella's crazy," Regulus muttered as he remembered when Sirius taunted their cousin Bellatrix the previous summer, infuriating her and making him have to dodge the unforgivable curse she sent his way and quickly leave before she tried another.
Sirius couldn't help but let a small smile cross his face at that comment (because there was no doubt it was true) before he said "Be that as it may, Reg, you know as well as I do that it's not...normal for a mother," He said that word with such sarcasm it was obvious he didn't think of her as one, "to do that."
"I thought you didn't like normal," Regulus whispered under his breath, starring at the floor. Sirius couldn't help but chuckle slightly.
"Reg," He said, shaking his head before sighing. He put his hand under his brother's chin and turned his head towards him. "I've got to go," He whispered quietly.
Regulus bit his lip, finally stopping himself from shaking. To his dislike, though, he was unable to stop his tears from over flowing, and tried to ignore this fact as he looked his brother in the eye.
"But how am I supposed to...without you...I don't know if I can't...stop myself from...from...becoming...one of...them," Regulus' voice broke at the end as he began shaking again. Sirius knew what he was talking about: a Death Eater. Not many people knew that both of the Black brothers didn't exactly support all of their parent's views.
"That's easy," Sirius said flashing his brother a smile. "Whenever you feel like you're about to give into it...to whoever," After all, it was not only Regulus' family but friends that shared those views, and as strong as he may be, the pressure could build up sometimes. "Just think of her."
Regulus looked at Sirius surprised, his eyes wide. Sirius laughed. "I'm not blind Reg; I know you know I watch you. You better be a bit more careful though...Snape can be pretty observant, and I think he might be getting a bit suspicious. But if you like her as much as I think you do then you better make a move soon, she's a pretty one."
"I...I..." Regulus stuttered slightly, surprised. He thought after that one day his brother had just dropped it, he hadn't realized he continued to notice his interest in Anna White. Finally Regulus said, "I can't. It would be too dangerous for her...you know what our families like, if they found out..." Regulus shook his head and even Sirius flinched as he sighed too in agreement.
"Still...she can be your support," Sirius said, and Regulus nodded slowly, as he looked back down at his hands. He picked up his wand he had dropped ages ago, and quietly muttered the spell that would heal the cut on his brother's cheek. Sirius smiled in thanks.
"Where will you go?" Regulus asked quietly as he fiddled with his wand, rolling it in between his fingers.
"To James', probably, then, once I turn of age, I'll get my own place," Sirius said quietly, starring off into space as he thought it through. Regulus nodded solemnly, and Sirius looked back at him with a sigh, and wrapped his arms around him. Regulus leaned into his brother, closing his eyes as he let his tears run down his brother's bare chest. "It's not like we're never going to see each other again," Sirius murmured into his brother's hair.
"How can you be sure? Sure, we'll see each other in passing at school, but we can't talk, and how do we know when we leave school will be any different?" Regulus said his voice muffled slightly.
Sirius' arms tightened around his brother as he said quietly, "We don't." His eyes fluttered shut before he said angrily, "It's all this stupid pureblood stuff! Why we can't talk – why people can't know we get along."
"Why can't people know we get along, Sirius? Why can't they know I don't give a crap about all those stupid beliefs, like you?" Regulus asked as he had done many times over the years since his brother had entered school.
Sirius' grip tightened even more on him as he said quietly, "Because then you'd have to go through what I've gone through all these years...and I don't want that, I'm not going to allow that." Sirius' head was shaking by then as he pushed his brother back and looked him straight in the eye, clearly telling him to not say a word.
"Here," Sirius said as he finally let go of his brother and reached around him. Regulus shifted over slightly as his brother reached under his side table and pulled out a photo album. Regulus looked at it curiously as Sirius moved beside him and flipped it open.
"I thought mum destroyed all those the summer after your first year," Regulus gasped as he greedily grabbed the album from his brother's hand and started looking through the pictures, all of Sirius and Regulus together when they were younger, before Sirius had been christened a 'traitor'.
"She did, but I managed to save a few," Sirius said as he leaned back against his bed, his eyes gliding over the pictures. Most of them were taped together, or burnt at the edges, and only a few were unharmed, but neither brother cared.
"Something to remember the good times by," Sirius said with a slight smile and Regulus smiled back sadly. It was hard to remember that there were ever any good times within the House of Black.