Chapter Text
Regulus knew he wasn't an easy person.
He knew it must have been difficult trying to reason with him, to get him away from his parents' mistaken beliefs.
Fighting to make him a better person.
Fight for him, to make him avoid a dark fate.
To make him avoid suffering.
Because they felt he was worth saving.
Andromeda hadn't.
Sirius hadn't.
His uncle hadn't.
But Aedus had.
Aedus had met him on the train, the day of their first year, and Regulus had understood that this would be a friendship for life.
That Aedus would never give up on him.
Who, even at the cost of dragging him by weight, would have led him to the right path.
And they had achieved great things together.
Regulus knew that many of the things they had achieved would not even have been possible without Aedus.
Without his kindness, his loyalty, his ambition.
A one of a kind Slytherin who had brought a new luster to the whole house.
Which had allowed Regulus to avoid the fate he would have suffered without Aedus.
Regulus had hated Sirius for choosing James Potter over him.
But, having had his own Potter, Regulus understood his older brother's choice.
If a Potter became your friend, you would never again suffer loneliness, never have to fear judgment or blame, or face any danger or difficulty alone.
You would always have a Potter with you.
Regulus smiled, seeing his friend doing a victory dance.
They'd had a rough start, a Black and a Potter sorted into Slytherin.
But Regulus wouldn't have exchanged his friend for anything in the world.
His brother.
Their friendship was strange, understandable to few, but it was theirs.
It was something that surpassed all odds and could not be stopped.
Not from enemies, not from envious, not from family, not from friends.
Because Aedus would never abandon him.
He didn't care what other people thought.
And, following his example, Regulus did the same.
He just had to be proud that he became friends with the most loyal, stubborn, brave, unpredictable and ambitious person he had ever met and would ever meet.
Regulus was very proud of that achievement.