Chapter Text
Sirius ran through the dark gloomy house, silently crying while holding His bag. His torso was bleeding and his face was bruised, blood streamed from his nose and his legs had shards of glass stuck through them.
Sirius’s faced gleamed with worry and his palms sweat bullets, he was terrified his mother would wake up and hear him before he could escape the house. He was going to James’, he knew they would take him in, Euphemia already treated him like her own son. He had nearly made it to the staircase before a voice whispered, “Sirius.”
He turned around and came face to face with his younger brother Regulus. His eyes glistened with unshed tears and despite being 14, he looked more like a child than he had seen in years in his juvenile snake pajamas and his raw demeanor.
Sirius had been looking after Reg since they were toddlers, despite only being a year older, growing up in a house like theirs had made him into the protector, the caregiver, Reggie was his everything and he so desperately wanted him to come but he knew, fundamentally, that Regulus and Sirius were very different.
In their home their mother always had extremely high, unattainable standards for them, and when they inevitably didn’t make those standards she would be there with “punishment” lined up. Sirius became a rebel, he knew the beliefs his parents stood for were WRONG so he stood up and took the punishment. Regulus however, was… quiet. He didn’t speak up, and he tried to live up to mother’s standards even now, Sirius was over emotional and Regulus was under emotional, Sirius was fight and Regulus was flight. He resented Reg for that, Sirius would constantly take his punishment and protect him, and Reg never fought, never stood up to their mother. But he still wanted his brother to come with him, he was still Sirius’s everything and he needed him. Regulus also knew his brother better than anyone, and knew exactly what he was doing.
“Reggie I have to go,” Sirius said after a few moments of silence.
“But-,” He started.
“She will kill me if I stay here any longer, you know she will.”
“No, you just have to stop acting out-,” Regulus said with tears starting to build up in his eyes.
“Acting out! Regulus, She. Is. Hurting. Us. We will die if we stay in this house! It doesn’t matter what we do, we will never be good enough for her!”
“You have nowhere to go,”
“The Potter’s will take me in,” Sirius said hopefully.
His face turned sour, “of course, your best mate James Potter,” He closed off, hiding an emotion Sirius couldn’t figure out.
I opened my mouth but before I could get a word out he grabbed my hand and looked at me with desperation in his eyes.
“Don’t stay for her, stay for me, please, just stay for me,” He looked broken and Sirius once again saw how small he looked, only a child.
Sirius pulled Regulus towards him and looked him dead in the eye.
“ Reggie come with me, we can get out together, we can go to the Potter’s, I know they’ll take care of you too. Please, i’m asking you to leave”.
For a split second Sirius thought Regulus would say yes, he looked ecstatic at that idea, that they could escape the plan written for them. Hope flooded through him. But as quickly as it came, it was gone and all that was left was a broken, trampled, Regulus. He just shook his head and in that moment his heart shattered, his soul broke and Sirius shook his head back.
“I can’t stay.”
“I can’t leave.”
As fresh tears fell his eyes he ran down the stairs and out the door. he was out, he should be happy, but all Sirius could think about was his baby brother.