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“Hey, Padfoot!” James called into the house as he threw a letter at his brother, the letter missing Sirius and hitting Remus’ forehead.
“Ow! Seriously?!”
“Sorry, Moony, I meant to hit Sirius.”
“You couldn’t have just put the letter down nicely? Saved me the pain and Sirius the embarrassment of having you as a brother?”
“My heart…”
“What, did it get hit by a letter too?”
“I’m sorry, Remus! I didn’t mean to!”
“I’m going to leave you two to argue,” Sirius laughed, standing up from the couch and ruffling his best friends’ hair. “I’ll be in my room, I’ll be back in a bit.”
After making his way down the stairs, Sirius closed his bedroom door behind him and examined the envelope in his hands. There was no return address to tell him who it was from or give him an idea of what he was going to read. Opening the letter and falling onto his bed, Sirius felt the room grow cold.
Sirius,
I know you never thought you’d hear from me again and I know that’s how you’d prefer it, but I needed to try. I don’t even know if you’ll read this, you may realize it’s me and you’ll burn this letter before finishing it but please, please Sirius, let me explain.
Our… the Black family is a nightmare, I know you know but there are things you don’t know. Things that have happened in the past few years of you being gone but also things that were happening before you ran away. I had to tell them so you would leave… I needed you to leave because I would rather you hate me than you be dead.
I heard them talking a couple of days before the night you ran away, the night I told them that you are bisexual, and I knew that I needed to act fast. That was the only thing I could think of that would make you leave without worrying about me being left alone in that house. If you didn’t hate me, you would have wanted me to go with you, but someone had to stay behind.
Our father and uncle talked about you and how you were no good, they talked about how they were going to fix the family and you weren’t part of the solution. Uncle planned to take you to the mountains that weekend and you weren’t going to come back… he and father were going to kill you because you didn’t follow the Black family and their beliefs. I couldn’t let that happen, so I made sure you would leave.
I’m sorry for never telling you, but I wanted my brother alive even if you refused to think of me as your brother. I am glad to see you doing well and I hope you stay with the family you created as they are good for you and you deserve them. I have watched you grow to make sure you were okay, but that will stop now, I promise.
You may be wondering about the timing of this letter and why I am telling you all of this now after years have passed, or you may not care at all. The reason is that now it is my turn, I overheard father and uncle say that it was my turn and since I am refusing to follow their beliefs, it’s my turn to be brought to the mountains. I have to leave, I don’t want to die that way so I need to leave but I wanted you to know the truth first.
I need to leave soon before it’s too late, so I will end this letter. Stay away from the family, no matter what happens, stay away. Goodbye, Sirius. You were the best brother I could have asked for and I’m sorry for betraying you but I hope you see why.
Sincerely,
Regulus A. Black
Without a word, Sirius folded the letter back up and placed it under his pillow to look at again when his mind had cleared. Letting out a sigh and composing himself just as he was taught to do when he was a child, he made his way back to his friends and vowed to never tell anyone about the letter.
And he never did for years… not even when another letter arrived the next day telling him that his brother had died and to not attend the funeral. Even then, he composed himself and whispered a goodbye, refusing to think about how Regulus died Sirius’ death.