sirius rules, james drools

Regulus listened, his heart tight in his chest. This was his brother. His big brother. This was Sirius, who coaxed him out from under his bed when he’d hidden, scared and frightened. Sirius, who blew on his fingers to stop them from burning when he’d grabbed at something and had his hands smacked. Sirius, who was loud and funny and clever and who drew out smiles from Reg even when he knew his disobedience would only lead to pain. Sirius, who packed his bag and walked out, leaving Regulus to deal with everything on his own. To deal with the fallout. 

“This wasn’t them, Sirius! Use your fucking head! Why would they want this? Rodolphus was there, Mulciber was near, they’d never put them at risk. It wasn’t them. They’re going to pay, Sirius, they’re going to suffer for what they’ve done.” He insisted, clenching his jaw. He’d known the voice. He’d held the wand in hand, nearly taken the blame for it all before Mulciber came to his rescue. 

He shook his head, “They’re our family, Sirius! Our parents. I can’t abandon them.” He insisted. “You know it’s not–” He shook his head again. He didn’t have to justify himself for staying loyal to the family. He was in the right. It was Sirius who was the traitor, not Regulus. But in truth, there was so much more. It wasn’t as simple as walking out, especially with Sirius gone. Walburga and Orion had tightened their grip on Regulus. Things had changed for him since the day he’d walked out. 

“No, I don’t remember Uncle Alphard.” He answered, trying to ignore the part of him that wanted to go with Sirius, the part of him that wanted to solely because he wanted to be with Sirius. He didn’t want to abandon the family, to be disloyal, he just wanted his brother back. “Why should I go with you? Huh? You left me there! You abandoned me! You chose them over me. Do you know what mother did when I–” He stopped, his breath quickening as he turned away, fighting desperately to maintain control. 

Reg telling him to use his head was a joke.  He knew what he was seeing, he knew it.  After all the words they’d used at home and all the things they’d said, he knew for sure that this was what his family was involved in - it was what all of those families were involved in.  It was awful and shit and just pure and utter horror that this was what they were doing, but Reg couldn’t keep hiding from it.  Sirius knew that at least.

“They’d put everyone at risk if it’s to get what they want.”  Sirius replied.

“How do you know realise that?  How do you not realise that they’ll stop at bloody nothing to get what they want.”  he shook his head.

“You’re kidding yourself if you think this is going to end well.”

Sirius looked at him incredulously, and crossed his arms.  He cared more than he would admit for Regulus but his brother was thick.  Absolutely, thick.  He couldn’t believe that he was apologising for them…again.  Sirius couldn’t do it.  He just couldn’t do it.

“It’s easier than you think.  You just go.”  

“They burnt him off the tree when I was ten.  You didn’t want to watch, I remember.”  Sirius replied quietly.

“He’s good, we could go and stay with him, we don’t have to be apart.”  He said.  They could still be brothers.

“You don’t get it.  They hurt me, I wasn’t standing for it anymore.  You fucking punched me.”

“Wait - what, what did she do?”

Sirius. Regulus opened his eyes, meeting those of his brother’s. He stood up straight, moving away from the wall as Sirius threw words like daggers toward him. Fury boiled through his veins, combined with genuine hurt. You’re one of them now, aren’t you? He wasn’t. Not yet. He’d still been deemed too young, and he was too hesitant about it still. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. It hurt like hell, and Regulus wanted to hurt Sirius back for it. 

At the same time, relief had flooded over him at the sight of Sirius very much away from the flames, away from the chaos, currently unharmed. He clenched his jaw, his eyes revealing hurt. It was the same look he’d give his mother or father when they did something particularly hurtful. “You think I did this?” He asked in disbelief. How could Sirius possibly think he was responsible? Did he truly think so low of Regulus that he’d resort to hurting his own friends? He was loyal to them, his friends meant the world to him.

“I didn’t fucking do this. Have you lost your god damn mind?” He hissed, meeting Sirius with the same cutting edge. “I was looking for Barty and Cissa, I was looking for my friends. I didn’t have anything to do with this!” He insisted. “My friends could have been in there.” He reminded, unable to mask how much Sirius’ words upset him. 

He didn’t mean it.  What he said.  He didn’t really.  He was lashing out for no real reason, but he’d seen and heard his parents talking of this such thing, and he knew that was where it had all been leading, but he didn’t want any such part of it.  He knew it wasn’t Regulus’ fault, but Reg was involved, he was still in the family and in doing so he was on the opposite side to Sirius.  He was against him and not with him, and Sirius couldn’t abide by that.

“I, no.”  Sirius replied, looking at Reg, frowning,

“No I don’t think you fucking did this, but you know that they’re involved.”  Sirius spat.

“And you’re still bloody living there, you’re still living there when you know they could have hurt you or hurt your friends, or hurt anyone!”  

“Why do you want to be a part of that absolute shit show Regulus?”  He replied.

He knew he was overreacting to it, and he knew that he didn’t understand and that it was impossible to get out, he’d seen that.  Reg would never manage it, but he wanted to try.

“You can still do it.  You can still come with me - we can go live with Uncle Alphard, remember him?”

Young Regulus, come. Make your father proud. The words rang through his head, combined with the ringing of his ears from being so close to the explosion. He couldn’t get the man’s voice out of his head, urging him to take the fall for what he’d done. It didn’t make sense. His father couldn’t have wanted that, the man couldn’t have been acting under orders. They didn’t do this. They wouldn’t hurt their own kind. Right? Regulus frowned, leaning up against the wall. He just needed two seconds to breathe, to collect his thoughts. Everything would be fine. Students were being helped. The man was gone, unlikely to return. But Evan.. he swallowed. Evan had made that decision, Regulus hadn’t asked him to do it. 

He exhaled, wishing none of it had happened, that he’d gone somewhere else, anywhere else, than toward the Hogs Head when he had. He’d searched for those that mattered most, a mental list in his head: Narcissa, Barty, Rabastan, the list went on and on, but always settled at one name: Sirius. He tensed, shaking the name away. He closed his eyes a moment, willing the voice in his head to stop. 

There was absolute panic and side to side Sirius could see people running from the blast, but instead he’d run straight towards it.  Ever the fierce, brave lion, Sirius wanted to fucking do something.  He wanted to destroy them, he wanted to be a part of the fight against them.  He wasn’t going to sit by and be scared.  But sure as hell he was scared.  

As he ran right into the thick of it, he stopped as soon as he saw the one person he’d been avoiding.

Reg.

What the hell was Reg doing right in the middle of it?

“Merlin.”  Sirius spoke.

“Not fucking surprised.”  He said, his words cutting.

“You’re one of them now, aren’t you?”

Stepping through the floo powder Sirius found himself in Grimmauld place.  The cold dark house echoed and he saw the shuffling form of Kreacher.  He darted past the house elf to where he knew his father would be.  The drawing room, his standard place.

“Fath-”  

He was cut off instantly.

“I am not your father, you are not a Black.”  His father instantly crucioed him, and Sirius writhed on the floor in pain.  

“Get out.”

It was hard to imagine your whole family hating you and you hating them back. Remus wasn’t one to hate anyone but he was starting to feel that towards the Black family. Seeing Sirius not as confident or grinning like usual lately was causing Remus to feel bothered. It annoyed him that someone was doing this to his friend and it was his damn family. That family. At least Andromeda didn’t seem to have a part. She was the Black sister Remus felt the most comfortable around even though he was warming to Narcissa. At the mention of the orgin of the black eye Remus only nodded. “I assumed-I didn’t want to ask…,” he said, frowning at his friend. He didn’t know if it was okay to ask in the first place. “You both need time.”

Remus wasn’t expecting the attention to turn to him and he suddenly became more silent. “’s nothing, okay?” Remus said, trying to avoid saying anything about the fight with Amycus. Sirius’ fingers grazed his face and he could see the concerned expression on the other’s face. “I didn’t-I didn’t want any of you to worry. It was just a fight with a student who gave me a hard time-don’t worry.”

Sirius took a step back, and folded his arms across his chest as he looked up and down Remus.  

“Merlin’s fucking beard, Moony.  It’s not bloody nothing is it?  Look at this.”  He reached out, gesturing to his injuries.

“It’s worse than your furry little problem can be.”  Fiercely protective, Sirius couldn’t quite help his voice from raising.  It hurt to see his friend like this, to see him in pain and he couldn’t believe that anyone else would do that to his normally calm and collected friend.

“Don’t worry, come on, you know what Prongs is gonna say, and Wormy.”  Sirius replied, shaking his head.

“Who was it?”

“And you won’t tell me? Some friend,” he said jokingly, pretending to be offended by the comment. The touch was subtle but Remus didn’t shove the other off him but instead found himself feeling comfortable. Binnes was the only professor Remus could tolerate that also tolerated him this term. Everything had been more demanding but History of Magic proved to be the only subject Remus seemed to be managing ironically.

Whenever his friends were playing quidditch Remus watched intently, cheering them on the stands. That game Remus had been anxious, worried something might happen and it did. “Yes,” Remus said softly, giving the other a reassuring touch. “Things are still heated. For both of you. Have you er-talked to him? Any of them?”

“Not even Prongs knows, my dear Moony.”  Sirius gave him a dazzling grin and chuckled.  

It was a sore subject, of that there was no doubt.  Remus was right, things were massively still heated.  His arm didn’t release from around Remus as they spoke, and Sirius found himself stiffening at the thought of his brother and family.

“No, I mean...I spoke to Andromeda, things are okay there I guess.”  Sirius replied, unsure in general.  His fragile sense of self was cracking, and it was hard for him to know how and where he fit in in a world that he no longer had family.

“You know Reg is the reason I had a black eye right?  It wasn’t...”  He paused and sighed.

“It wasn’t them, it was Regulus.”  He would honestly never forget it, that moment, his own brother punching him as he left, that feeling of guilt, and losing everything.  

He looked up at the last, and it was only then that he noticed Remus’ own wounds.  They weren’t from a full moon, in fact it had been some time since they’d been out for that.  Anything to distract from his own bullshit, and besides, Remus was important to him.

“Anyway, what the hell is this?”  His finger traced a bruise.  

“When were you planning on telling us?  Getting us involved?  You know we have your back.”

Peter grinned turning between Sirius and the bartender, waiting for the impending beat down. He jumped out of his seat when Sirius grabbed him and they quickly made their way out of the Hogs Head.

He burst out laughing when they were out of the bar, bending over with his arms wrapped around his stomach. “Merlin, that was probably the greatest thing I’ve ever seen! He was so ready to kick your arse, I-” He cut himself off as he continued to laugh at his friend. “Nice try Padfoot, maybe Rosmerta will take pity on you and butterbeer will be on the house.”

Sirius gave him a gentle shove and kicked at the ground, hands rifling through his pockets to find another cigarette.  He quickly lit it and took a drag.

“Agrippa, you arsehole.  I’ll kick your arse.”  He grumbled.

“Rosemerta would love a piece of this.”

❝Wait…what?❞ Her eyes widened in fear at his sudden proclamation. Sure they didn’t talk too much since the first few weeks but they told the other how much they missed them and they came to some type of agreement, now he was saying he was done? ❝Okay, look I’m sorry I snapped at you but you don’t need to go that far Sirius…❞ she told him, trying to sound much more calm than her initial greeting.

She took a step closer to him and could now very clearly smell the alcohol on him. ❝Sirius you’ve been drinking…come on don’t-don’t make decisions like that while you’re drunk.❞

Sirius leant against the nearest bookcase, and pulled out a book.  He flipped through, looking down as he heard Cissa dealing with what he’d said.  It was only for her own good - he had her best interests at heart.  Sirius knew that any interaction with him could come back to bite her in the arse, and he wasn’t going to wish that upon her.

“I made this decision a long time ago.”  He turned away, unwilling to look her in the eye.

“You’re one of them.”

Emma wrinkled her nose. “Gross, Sirius.” She huffed, not wanting to think about women doing him favors. “How’d you manage that one? The Imperius curse is unforgivable, you know.” 

“Honestly Vanity, surprised you know that it’s unforgivable.”  He raised an eyebrow, and gave a laugh.

“She found me irresistible.”

After what was probably the worst date experience in her life, Narcissa sought refuge in Tomes and Scrolls. Being surrounded by books in a quiet place where nobody would bother her was what she needed after that train wreck. She was upset, angry, jealous and knew that she needed to relax before she did something insanely stupid that she’d regret like cry.

As she sulked around the back of the book store, she heard a familiar voice and looked up to see her cousin. ❝I could ask you the same thing. Not like you have ever taken a liking to books, surprised you even knew this place existed.❞ she snapped but immediately feeling bad knowing that she didn’t need to take her frustrations out on him.

He raised an eyebrow and frowned as he looked Narcissa up and down.  She was angry too, that would make this easier.

“I can read Narcissa.”  He returned, coldly.

“I’ve got some bad news.”  Sirus began.  Whilst not angry or upset with her, feigning it (aided by the alcohol), would make this far easier.

“I’m no longer a Black.  So this, whatever this friendship is, it’s over.  I won’t be talking to you, everything you and your family does disgusts me.”

Emma raised a brow, watching Sirius for a moment before rolling her eyes. “I’m sure you do. And where is this oh-so-special place you know?”

“Hogs Head.”  Sirius returned.

“There’s a woman in there who’ll do anything for me.”

It didn’t even register for Alice what Sirius said right away, only about ten seconds afterward. And then she stopped dead and stared at him. Blinked one, and stared. And stared some more because she couldn’t have possibly heard him right. Ignoring his other question about whether she wanted butter beer or something stronger, she tried to figure out how to even reply to a question like that. “You’re kidding me, right?” she finally managed to find the words to say something. “Like, you can’t possibly be serious with a question like this. Please tell me you weren’t serious. Like, come on, you can’t possibly believe that something like that line would ever in a million years work, so obviously, it could only have been a joke, right? Like, seriously, please tell me it was just a joke. I really don’t wanna slap you but if you meant that question, I would certainly strongly consider it, even though I am really not a big fan of physical violence.”

Sirius gave her a look but decided instantly to make a joke.

“I can possibly be Sirius, I’ve been Sirius for my whole life.”  Unsure of it falling flat, Sirius decided to actually be serious for a moment.

“Look Alice, it was a joke.  Just a small joke, don’t get your knickers in a twist.”

“You mean you haven’t told me all your secrets yet?” He said jokingly before he tensed at Sirius’ touch  but relaxed against it, not questioning it too much. All of the marauders hugged each other from time to time so being handsy was nothing new.

“You think you know more than me,” he corrected with a grin. “You’re not thick. That class isn’t useful anyway.” Remus was the one of the four who went to almost all his classes. The only time he would be absent is if he was suffering from a severe hangover or the next day or two after the full moon. Sometimes with minor hangovers he went to class still. 

“You’ll be fine,” he said, nudging his friend. “Who does that? Almost every other game someone gets knocked off their broom. It’s a very aggressive sport you found yourself in.”

“There are some things reserved for only the very special few.”  He teased gently, giving his friend a squeeze.

“Agreed, might as well bunk it when we all know that Binns will give us an O with no real effort.”  Sirius shrugged.  He was fairly lazy when it came to schooling but a lot of it came reasonably naturally.  

He shrugged but looked down and nodded.

“You know it was Reg’s fault right?”

“Yeah it’s weird, it’s almost as if it’s cold outside,” Mary teased, gently nudging Sirius’ shoulder with her own. She loved  this weather, always had - but she had long ago accepted that not many other people felt the same way. “All right, come on whiny. Let’s go get something to warm you up.”

He nudged her back and rolled his eyes, before giving her a grin.

“Oh you’re buying.”

“You flatter yourself, Black.”

“Traitors aren’t really my type.”

“And dicks aren’t really mine.”  Sirius spat, shoving Amycus’ shoulder.

“Alright then, deal.” He told him, shoving his hands into his pockets as he followed close behind Sirius over to the Hogs Head. “Hogs Head mate? Really?” Peter was already prepared for an unsuccessful outcome.

He snorted at Sirius using the word ‘neat’ as if that was going to convince anyone he should be served. “Oh yes, very neat. That firewhisky sure is the bees knees.” Peter joked, in an attempt to make it harder for them to be taken seriously.

Sirius gave Peter a look and a roll of the eyes.  

“Shut up.”  He hissed, nudging his friend away.  The man behind the bar raised his eyebrows and asked Sirius for ID.  Sirius gave an attempt of persuading against needing to before the scary dude started to make motions at him.  Sirius grabbed Peter and pushed his way through the bar to the door once more.

“Arsehole.”  He pushed his friend gently.

“Why are you here?”