Chapter Text
“Reg?” Sirius knocked on his little brother’s door, “Can I come in?”
Sirius heard a sniff come from the room, “Yeah, sure.” Sirius quietly opened the door to not bother their parents. When he closed the door and faced Regulus he saw that the younger boy had been crying.
He went and sat next to Regulus, “Hey, what’s wrong? Why are you crying.”
Regulus wiped his eyes before looking up at Sirius, “I missed you all year and the moment you get back she gets angry at you for being in Gryffindor.”
“It’ll be okay Reg. Do you want me to tell you a story like I did when you were little.” Sirius asked
Regulus gave him a small smile, “Can you tell me about your friends? I assume you have friends, you seem to make them no matter what.”
“Yeah! Well first you need to know they’re names, James, Remus, and Peter. Those are my main friends there are some others but I hang out with those three.” Sirius and Regulus both shifted into a more comfortable position, “Well Peter, he’s pretty shy, and he’s not the smartest kid, but we love him! He’s fantastic at coming up with prank ideas, especially ones that have no magic involved. James, he’s really cool. We have been best friends since the moment we met. His parents are really nice too, they sent me a letter congratulating me on Gryffindor because somehow they knew my own parents wouldn’t.”
Regulus rested his head on Sirius’ shoulder, “What about Remus?”
Sirius' eyes brightened a bit, “Remus, he doesn’t talk about himself much but I think he’s pretty amazing. He seems like the type of person where he could be in the hospital wing, but he would still be more concerned that you have a cut on your face. Though there’s something about him, something he’s hiding, but he’ll tell us eventually, he’s like you. You both take a little time to warm up to people.”
“Do you think I’ll get to meet them when I go to school next year?” Regulus asked, lifting his head to look at Sirius.
Sirius gave his brother a mischievous glance, “Of course! You’ll get to play pranks with us and everything!”
“Even if I’m in Slytherin?” Regulus questioned.
“We’ll make it work. We’ll be best friends until the stars stop shining okay? Remember that for me.”
*****
“Slytherin!” The hat called out after a minute of deciding. Sirius quietly sat back down in his seat. He had been hoping that Regulus would be in his own house but deep down he knew he would never stop loving his brother even if their houses divided them.
“What if he gets hurt.” Sirius whispered to James, who was sitting next to him.
James titled his head, “If he’s anything like you at all he’ll be okay.”
*****
“Please stay.” Regulus begged Sirius, tears falling from his eyes.
It broke Sirius’ heart to see his brother like this, “We both know I can’t, you could come with me you know.”
Regulus shook his head, “You know I can’t. Will you do me one favor?” Sirius nodded, their parents were sleeping, so he had until they woke up to run, “Look at the stars one last time with me? Tell me a story like you did when you got back from school in your first year.”
“You remember that?” Sirius asked softly, looking at his brother.
“Of course, you’re my brother. You’ll be my brother until the stars stop shining” Regulus answered giving Sirius a weak smile.
Sirius could feel the tears sitting in his eyes, “Yeah let’s go see the stars. Share one last moment.”
*****
Sirius spotted Regulus in the halls alone, “Reg!” He called hoping he sounded more confident than he felt.
“Yes Sirius?” Regulus responded coldly stopping where he was.
“You don’t have to do it. You don’t need to join them. Come with me, you can stay with the Potter’s they would love to have you.” Sirius said trying not to cry, he couldn’t watch Regulus turn into exactly what he himself was going to fight.
“No. I’m going my way, you’re going to go yours. Let me live my life, you have your own to live.” Regulus spoke without hesitation, as if he had been practicing.
“Fine. I’ll never give up on you. You're always welcome to come find me.”
“Goodbye Sirius.”
*****
“Now think of a happy memory okay Pads?” James instructed moving Sirius’ arm a bit to the left.
“Okay, I have my memory.” Sirius whispered trying to concentrate.
“Think hard, concentrate, then when you’re ready cast the spell.” James said backing up to give Sirius a bit of room.
Sirius thought hard, ultimately deciding on one of the times he and Regulus had sat in the room of Grimmauld Place looking at the stars.
“Sirius! Look, that one’s me!” Regulus said proudly, it was the first time he had ever been able to identify the Regulus star on his own.
“Nice job! You have the heart of a lion you know, brave.” Sirius responded watching his little brother enjoy looking at the stars.
“Look it’s you.” Regulus pointed to a star. Sirius turned to look at the star Regulus was pointing at, “Can we still do this when you get back from school?” Regulus asked.
Sirius felt like someone had just personally shattered his heart, he would miss his brother, “Of course! I’ll tell you what, I’ll look at the stars every night okay? Promise me that you’ll look at them when you can okay? Just think about me sitting here next to you, I’ll still be doing it just in a different place.”
That seemed like a good enough answer for Regulus, “Okay but you need to promise me one thing, we start at the moon, or where it would be and then go right all the way around until we get back to where the moon would be. It’ll feel like you’re here with me then. Like you said when we were little, ‘till the stars stop shining’.”
“Deal.” Sirius agreed with his brother.
“Expecto patronum.” Sirius said with a wave of his wand. Something silver came out of the tip, as it made its way around the room it formed into an animal that Sirius identified as a mutt of some sort. It had fox-like markings but it was a dog nonetheless.
As the dog disappeared James came up to Sirius to give him a pat on the back, “Nice job mate! What were you thinking of.”
Sirius decided that he wanted to keep his patronus memory between him and Regulus, “Oh just the first time Moony and I kissed.”
*****
Regulus’ last thought before being dragged under the water by the inferi was that his brother would never get to know that he loved him. That Regulus never stopped looking up to him. He had written a letter to Sirius and left it in his room. One that Sirius would never get the chance to read.
Dear Sirius,
If you are reading this I am gone. I love you very much and I hope you never gave up on me. I never stopped looking up to you, I wish you and Remus luck and I hope you live a happy life. We both made mistakes but I won’t hold them against you, let them go. Like you said “Till the stars stop shining”
-Regulus Arcturus Black
*****
When Sirius read of Regulus’ death in the paper he sat in the dark crying. He missed his brother, he regretted not trying harder to get him to stay. “I miss you Reg, I’ll always miss you. Like we said, Till the stars stop shining.”
*****
Years later after Sirius had escaped from Azkaban and was about to go to the Department of Mysteries Remus stopped him, “Stay here, for Harry.”
“No, I need to do this, they’re the reason they’re gone. Let me do this, for Regulus, James and Lily, for Marlene, and Dorcas. Please, Frank and Alice never got to watch they’re son grow up because of them.” Sirius pleaded.
“I’m not going to try, I know you're going to go anyways. I love you.” Remus whispered the last words.
“I love you too.” Sirius responded.
He had the lower hand here, Bellatrix had always been better at dueling. Before he could think Bellatrix shot a spell at him knocking him back into the veil. His last words were whispered so only he could hear, “I hope I made you proud Reg. Till the stars stop shining.” Then everything was gone. He was gone, the stars had closed on his time.