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When Sirius was small he was the favorite first born son.
Regulus had to ruin that the day he learned how to speak. Regulus was always going to be an intelligent boy. He Learned how to say ‘mamma’ at the ripe age of 9 ½ months old, Sirius was 12 months old when he said ‘papa’ for the first time.
When Sirius was 7, on a storming October night, Regulus came into his room crying because he was scared of storms. It gave Sirius some weird feeling of superiority to comfort his younger brother, that he was somehow braver and more mature because Sirius was in fact not scared of thunderstorms.
When Regulus finally learned how to read he was officially the golden child, because he was 5 and ¾, Sirius had just turned 6 when he could finally read. That's when mother decided it was time to institute harsher punishments for Sirius.
When Sirius was 10 he was numb from the yelling, Regulus was not. He would come into Sirius’ room late at night just like that stormy night not that long ago, and see if Sirius was okay through the dried tears he tried to hide while in the family library reading trying to cancel out the shouting of mother, asking Sirius if he was okay while trying to push down the fresh tears that were bubbling up his throat. But he had no right to cry according to Sirius, he wasn't the one being yelled at day in and day out, Sirius was! It was then that Sirius officially recognized the resentment he felt towards Regulus.
When Sirius was 11 he finally got his Hogwarts letter. Maybe, just maybe he might win back his parents favor.
‘GRYFFINDOR’ the color had drained from his face there was no redemption now he was the least favorite. As he looked around the great hall he heard whispers ‘A Black in Gryffindor’ ‘Can’t be’ ‘Impossible’. He saw the horror on Cissa, Bella, and Andy’s face. He was forever tainted. Then someone stood and cheered, a bespectacled boy with hazel eyes and rowdy black hair, the nice boy from the train, and he smiled. Maybe it won't be so bad, he could have a friend and maybe Regulus might not even be sorted into Slytherin next year.
One could only dream, as the sorting hat screamed Slytherin Sirius realized he was past the point of no return and decided to just embrace it.
The yelling continued at home after that. In 3rd year Sirius started sporting a leather jacket. And Regulus was still scared of storms, so there was one thing Sirius had over Regulus, he was cooler than him.
4th year he started smoking, what he did not expect was the backlash he would get from his father no less, father had always liked Sirius slightly more than Regulus because Regulus was second born, Sirius was not, Sirius was still the heir, along with father being the heir apparent. So when he lost the approval of father he lost everything. That's when the Cruciatus Curse started.
Summer of 5th year is when he had decided it leave, it was again a storming night so when Regulus walked into his room late that night expecting to find a ‘comforting’ brother he was surprised to see the room empty of said brother so he went to find mother, also shocked to see that she wasn’t in her room but the room with the family tree, liquor bottle and (ironically) a cigarette in hand, tears streaming down her face but she didn't look like she was crying and Sirius’ face burned off the tapestry his life as he knew it fell apart.
Seeing each other at school was agonizing for Regulus but so, so freeing for Sirius, he loved the hurt look on his face whenever he saw him with James and Remus. He loved how Regulus finally knew the pain that he's been through all of these years.
–
Sirius is in his 7th year when he caught a glimpse of the death eater mark on Regulus’ forearm he decided it was time to talk to him after 2 years of ignoring him. He cornered him in a dark corridor late one stormy evening. He didn't even need to say anything when he lifted up Regulus’ sleeve and looked into his eyes, and I mean finally all his life really looked at him. He looked tired and vacant, his usually vibrant grey-blue eyes had lost most of their blue and were now a monotonous grey. ‘What happened to you?’ it had come out of Sirius’ mouth in a choked out whisper.
‘You.’ it was simple, Regulus was never a man of many words but this one, this one held thousands of underlying messages and Sirius could pick out every single one
‘You’re the reason I’ve been forced into this’
‘You’re the reason i have to be picture perfect no matter what’
‘You’re the reason father doesn’t love me and never did’
‘You’re the reason mother doesn’t love me anymore’
‘You’re the reason i don’t have a brother anymore’
A loud clap of thunder startles Sirius but Regulus' intense yet void eyes never leave his, Regulus is no longer scared of thunderstorms.
—
It’s a cold morning when he gets an owl pecking on his flat window, it’s from Kreacher. The old house elf never liked him and vice versa so he wonders if he's getting this letter.
Dear master Sirius,
Regulus is dead.