Chapter Text
Sirius
The man lying in front of Sirius didn’t look like the boy Sirius remembered. Or maybe, he did. He was pale and looked like the face Sirius saw every day in the mirror with just a few differences. His hair was shorter and Sirius knew that if his eyes had been open he would have seen golden freckles in the grey eyes that he didn’t have.
He felt how a hand was placed on his shoulder. When he looked up, he saw Dumbledore. “I’m sorry. I wish I could do more for him, Sirius. All we can do is hope.”
Sirius let out a humourless laugh. “Hope for what? His recovery?” Why exactly did they think he would hope for Regulus to be alright? For a Death Eater to recover? He didn’t know why Regulus had been brought here in the first place. Who would let the enemy inside their house?
“This must be difficult for you. Seeing your brother like this. I understand it.” Why did he sound so calm? It made Sirius only mad.
“Understand it? You have no fucking clue what you’re talking about!” he snapped. “He. Is. Not. My. Brother.” He hadn’t been for a very long time. Not since Sirius had been kicked out, or maybe even before that.
Dumbledore merely nodded and left the room, leaving Sirius once again alone with Regulus. Regulus’ breathing was even, and if it hadn’t been for the bruises on his face and the bandages around his chest and arms it would have looked like he was sleeping.
Sirius didn’t understand why James had taken Regulus here. Regulus had been fighting for the other side, the one they were trying to defeat. The less Death Eaters were alive, the better. Why save one?
If he had had the strength, he would have killed Regulus himself.
Three days passed by before Regulus woke up. Sirius hadn’t been visiting Regulus after that first day. Of course he had been visiting James, Lily and little Harry, but every time he had ignored the door behind which Regulus lay. And he had ignored James’ looks. He didn’t need pity. Regulus didn’t mean anything more for him than for anybody else, maybe even less.
So he didn’t understand why Lily had forced him to go to Regulus while he was slowly waking up. Her argument that she ‘needed someone to help her with the bandages and the medicines, and you know how clumsy James is’ was a big lie.
“Really Sirius, could you lighten up a bit?” Lily asked him teasingly. He saw worry in her eyes. No, he fucking could not. Not in this room that felt way too suffocating. It smelled like hospital, something Sirius was way too familiar with. As Regulus knew. He was the one who had always only watched as Walburga Black had used once again some curse against her eldest son. Who could watch his brother be tortured like that without doing anything?
“Can’t you at least pretend to be happy? And hand me that green bottle?”
Sirius sighed and forced a smile on his face. It was more like a grimace and definitely not convincing. He gave Lily the bottle and watched as she dripped some of its content on Regulus’ chest. Regulus wasn’t awake yet, but no longer in a comatose state. His body cramped a little and his eyes fluttered open. Wait, open?
“Where am I?” he croaked. Lily hang right above Regulus. “Who are you?” Really, that bigot could not even now hold his mouth and act like Lily was not worth knowing? She saved his life, for Merlin’s sake!
Regulus
The black emptiness was comforting. Nothing could hurt him there, so when the light and the noises pulled at him, he held onto it for as long as was possible. It was safe.
The first thing he noticed was the hurting of his chest. It made him wish he had held more tightly onto the emptiness. There was no pain there. The second thing he noticed was a redhaired woman right in front of him. Or rather, above him, as he was lying down.
“Where am I?” he asked. “Who are you?” Even though he knew it must have been his voice, he didn’t recognise the sound.
“Regulus, shut up!” a harsh voice sounded. It sounded angry. Danger. He must flee. His heart beat too loud.
“Who is Regulus?” The name didn’t ring a bell. He felt so tired and now these people were shouting and his head hurt and all he wanted was to go back to the emptiness. He could almost hear its call.
The redhaired woman looked… pitiful? when he asked that question. She strokes his hair before answering it. It didn’t feel right. He didn’t want t be touched by unfamiliar people.
“You are.”
No, he couldn’t be! He didn’t remember his name to be Regulus! Why wouldn’t he remember his own name? He wasn’t Regulus, he was… Nothing came up, no matter how hard he tried. He couldn’t recall a single thing.
“Oh please, just stop this act!” The blackhaired man snapped. Regulus – as he apparantly was called – felt attacked by it. The man clearly hated him, but what for? He didn’t even know his own name, let along that of the other. How could he know what he had done wrong?
“Sirius, get out!” The redhead told him. ‘Sirius’ looked like he wanted to protest, but a firm glance made him leave. Regulus thought he heard him mutter something like ‘first you wanted me to come, and now I need to leave?’
He was relieved when the tension dropped after Sirius left. His whole body hurt, he didn’t know where he was, who he was, and he was scared.
“Sorry about that. Sirius is… a bit tense at the moment,” the redhead told him. “I’m Lily. Can you tell me what you remember?”
Regulus shook his head. He nearly fainted because of it. He was so weak. He hated it. What if Lily wanted to hurt him? When looking into those green eyes, he couldn’t imagine it (who would patch up someone and then hurt him?) but he didn’t know it for sure.
“I’ll leave you then. Try to get some sleep. I’ll be back later.” It wasn’t very difficult to let the unconsciousness take him.