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Regulus kind of hated living at Grimmauld Place alone.
Well, sort of alone. Alone as the only sibling. Not alone his parents’ yelling and the painting’s shrieking and the elf’s muttering. Regulus liked Kreature, sure, but he could have done without Kreature bad mouthing Sirius every chance he got.
Salazar, Sirius. Regulus missed him; was that a bad thing? He knew he shouldn’t miss his brother, he had been disowned and cast out and badmouthed for a reason, and Regulus would do well to remember that.
But what if the reason was stupid, unjust, predictable of the Black family? Sirius had practically raised Regulus, in all the ways that counted that was, and now just like that he was supposed to ostracize him? Regulus couldn’t even find himself to do that in his head, let alone out loud.
A small whimper broke him out of his thoughts. Regulus looked up, and there he was: the black dog that had been showing up with increasing frequency. Regulus called him Abyss because it was close enough to the Black theme of stars that Regulus felt connected to him, but not close enough that the poor dog would be subjected to the curse that was his family.
“Hey, Boy,” he whispered, offering his hand out for Abyss to sniff. He did so, then flinched back when Regulus tried to pet him.
Unusual and definitely worrying.
“Hey, no, it’s okay, Buddy,” he said softly. “Are you hurt? Here, let me see your paw.”
The poor mutt definitely made a habit of stepping where he shouldn’t be. Regulus didn’t know how far and where he walked everyday, just that it usually resulted in him either cutting his paw or walking on it until it was raw.
“You’re lucky healing spells are a special talent of mine,” Regulus told Abyss as he looked over his scraped paw. Abyss whimpered in either pain or sympathy, though Regulus couldn’t discern which one. “It will only take a second.”
But when he pulled out his wand, Abyss flinched away again.
A valid reaction; Regulus had spent years expecting pain when wands were involved, even when he was taught how to use a wand himself.
Especially then.
“I’m not going to hurt you. See?” He asked, letting Abyss sniff at the wand. The dog scrunched up his face and promptly trotted right over to Regulus, plopping down on his feet so that the dog’s head was practically in his lap.
Right, sure. Why not?
The paw really was an easy fix once Abyss let him look over it. After that, the two of them sat together even after it got dark, Regulus gently carding his fingers through the dog’s surprisingly smooth fur.
“It’s nice to have a friend,” he whispered quietly. Abyss was practically fully on top of him at this point, but Regulus couldn’t find it in himself to care. The weight was nice, comforting even. “I know you’ll never leave me.”
The dog hummed contently.
“You get it,” he smiled. “It’s okay, you can rest. I feel like we can be safe with each other.”
Regulus knew that he was safe. There weren’t many people that he felt safe with, but right now? He might as well have been the safest person in the world.
“I know it’s you, Sirius. But if this is the only way you feel comfortable seeing me, then that’s okay,” he whispered, but the animagus was already fast asleep, dozing on Regulus’s lap like the older brother he was.