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Regulus internally grimaced as he walked down the deserted halls, holding a hand to his side to prevent it from bleeding all over the place.
No messes mother said No messes mother said No messes mother said mother said mother said mother said-
Ugh.
He didn’t even know how it happened.
… Well.
He should clarify,
He didn’t know what choices had led him to this moment, walking down a random hallway, praying he didn’t run into someone, and trying to stop himself from bleeding out on the stupidly cold and stony floor.
Regulus’s inner optimist pops out of the tiny box Regulus had shoved him in and supplies unhelpfully,
It can’t get any worse-
ATTENTION STUDENTS. WE ARE UNDER LOCKDOWN. DURMSTRANG HAS BEEN ATTACKED. ATTENTION STUDENTS………….
The booming voice repeated itself, but Regulus was too busy yelling at his inner optimist to care. He spun around, looking for a classroom to hide in, as was told to every first year in the event this situation occurred.
(Most first years scoffed at the warning, and that was the last thought they would ever give it.)
Suddenly, the stone under his feet shifted, pushing him towards a broom closet he hadn’t noticed before.
The movement jostled his wound, and he ground his teeth together to keep from groaning.
The door to the broom closet closed behind him, and he leaned against one of the shelves, trying to catch his breath, then remembering that breathing hurt right now and focused on breathing calmly.
The door to the broom closet flung open, and someone frantically spilled into the room. The door shut with one final SLAM, and he could see the person's face.
Shit.
The Universe was hellbent on making him suffer, wasn’t it?
Because getting to his feet in front of Regulus was Sirius Orion Black.
“For god's sake.” Regulus hadn’t even meant to speak out loud, but maybe, just this once, he had the right to have no filter.
Sirius looked up, then groaned.
“Seriously? You? The universe hates me.” Sirous said, running a hand through his hair.
“I don’t want to be here either, I assure you.” Regulus slid down the shelf he was leaning on, staring at his knees as he mentally recited all the healing spells and potions he knew.
“You're not even going to talk to me? Prick.”
Ah. Never a moment of peace with Sirius, was there?
“No. I’m not.” If Regulus wasn’t careful, his words might come out strained, and there was no way in hell he was going to let Sirius, of all people, help him-
“Of course you won’t. Is Heir Black too above blood traitors to talk to me?” Sirius spat.
Regulus ignored the way his brothers- not his brother, not anymore, not after - words cut into him, a pain different from the stinging of cursed blades against flesh.
He sat down.
He registered his-his-
He knew Sirius was talking, but he was much too focused on trying not to bleed out.
“-and really, I don’t know what I did to warrant being locked in a room with you - are you even listening to me?”
“No.” Regulus managed. It was mercifully dark in the broom closet, so he was trying to quietly assess the wound.
What wasn’t merciful, however, was that his voice came out strained and cracked.
Sirius looked at him, squinting.
“That hard to talk to me, huh? By the way, your blazer's stained- what is that, fancy pureblood wine?” Teasing. Always teasing.
Regulus pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation, dropping his hand shortly after.
“Why the hell is there blood on your hands.” Sirius’s question was more of a statement.
…shit.
“Finally kill some unsuspecting first year?” Sirius spat.
Obviously not, you stupid moron.
“Excuse me?!”
Regulus pressed a hand against his stomach and tried to hold back a groan of pain.
Based on Sirius’s reaction, he hadn’t succeeded.
“The shits wrong with you?” Sirius stepped forward and sat down in front of him.
“Nothing. None- god - none of your concern.”
Sirius had tugged his hands away from his stomach and was currently staring at the various cuts on his stomach.
- She made me count them. 32.
“What. The.”
THE LOCKDOWN IS COMPLETED. STUDENTS MAY RETURN TO THEIR DORMS. THE LOCKDOWN IS COMPLETED…
“Go away, Sirius.”
“Don’t think I will. What happened? We only just got back from spring break so-” Sirius stopped in the middle of his sentence and stared at Regulus.
“...We only just got back from spring break. We…god, Reggie, did they…?”
“What does it look like, Sirius?” Regulus should have lied, should have spun a wild tale of getting in a fight with some Gryffindor, but he didn’t care anymore. The pain clouded his senses, and right now, he just wanted to be a kid.
He just wanted his brother.
“Reggie...I– I thought they would leave you alone, I-. Let me help you.” Sirius looked heartbroken, and Regulus cursed himself for being the one to put that look on his face.
“No, Siri, just- just go.”
“...Siri?” Sirius asked.
Regulus hadn’t called him that since he was 10.
“Forget it. I’m fine, Sirius.” Even as Regulus spoke, Sirius crouched down and murmured a few healing spells under his breath.
Regulus breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at Sirius.
“Reg. You…come with me this break. Or- or stay here with your stuck-up snake friends, anything, just- don’t go- don't go there.” Sirius was, for once, serious.
Regulus laughed inwardly at the little, stupid joke.
“Siri, She’d never let me stay.” Regulus had tried, once. Back in the third year. It hadn’t gone over well, and the summer had been brutal.
“You can’t go back ther-” Sirius started.
Regulus cut him off.
“No, Siri.”
“Yes, Reggie.”
Regulus could tell his brother would never back down on this. A plan formed in his head.
“What if I went back, let me finish, but if she did anything, I wrote you and you came and got me?” He proposed.
Sirius considered for a moment.
“You promise you’d tell me?”
“I promise, Siri.”
“...I love you, Reggie,” Sirius spoke softly
“..I love you, Siri.” Regulus returned the sweetness.
In the end, Regulus did not end up writing his brother that summer.
Not for a lack of incident, no.
Regulus had to keep Sirius away from the Manor.
This meant that if he wrote him, Sirius would come in guns blazing and be killed on the spot.
So no letters ever arrived at the Potter Manor.
But they should have.
And next year, when Sirius asked about the lack of incident, Regulus told him the Walburga and Orion had been busy with politics and parties and had forgotten about him, mostly.
In truth, they both had plenty of time in between Wizengamont meetings and pureblood parties for their son.
They had all the time in the world.
And Regulus made sure it stayed that way. That Sirius never returned to the cursed soil of the Noble and Ancient House of Black, because the Sirius at the Black Manor was different from the one at Potter Manor, different from the one at Hogwarts.
Regulus never wanted to see his brother as the person he pretended to be before he left.
So Regulus stayed away and cut off contact. And it only took about two months before Siri hated him again. It only took two months before Siri was safe again.
Regulus Arcturus Black would make sure he was never in danger again.
Until the day he died.
(Which, admittedly, was not a very long measurement of time.)