Fight Your Own Battles ~ Jegulus

Chapter Five

It had been a few days since Regulus had last spoken to James in the astronomy tower. The older boy had promised he would try to convince Sirius to talk to him but it may take a while, so Regulus was patient- or at least as patient as possible. He was sitting in the library late in the evening working on an essay for History of Magic when he felt his arm suddenly burn with immense pain. He cringed and rolled up his sleeve to inspect his mark which was seemingly fine, Regulus reached out to touch his skin that now was hot in the place of the ink, but normal all around. He knew it must be something of the spell or maybe just his imagination so he rolled it back down, though his arm was still throbbing with heat. From a distance Regulus saw Sirius walking into the library, he assumed he may be there to speak with him but the boy looked away as if he hadn't seen. Regulus felt the presence of his brother then turned to see him sit down in a chair beside him, Sirius stiffened his body and stared at his younger brother with a look that Regulus couldn't quite read, but he knew his guard was up- he couldn't blame him for this though. They were silent for a few awkward seconds when Sirius broke the silence.

"James said you wanted to speak to me." He said in an annoyed tone.

"Did he say why by chance?" Regulus asked, Sirius shook his head in return. "I... shit what did he say?" Regulus had no idea how he was going to tell his brother he was a death eater, he hadn't really thought it through.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Well, he said that you needed to talk to me and to not be a big twat about it because this was important."  Regulus was silent for a moment, he was trying to figure what he was going to say, he also was attempting to hold back a smile at the thought of James yelling at Sirius for him.

"Sirius, I don't know how I'm supposed to say this really." Regulus admitted, staring down at his feet. He felt Sirius staring at him as if waiting for the younger boy to say more. Regulus sighed and looked up at his brother, he had become different in the months they hadn't seen one another. He was a bit taller and his long black hair had grown down to his shoulders, Sirius' eyes were always the lightest in the family- they were a grayish blue- but in the last days before Sirius had run away his eyes had grown dark with fear and pain, now they were happy again. Like they had been on the train Regulus' first day at Hogwarts, or when they had laughed together in London whilst trying to understand muggle money when Regulus was thirteen. He had missed his brothers eyes and now he knew that the moment the words 'I'm a death eater' came out they would be gone once again. Regulus bit back his lip and felt tears prick the backs of his eyes. "You're going to hate me." He finally said.

"I could never hate you, Reg, you're my brother. I love you." Sirius smiled warmly at him. Regulus nodded, he believed his brother; Sirius could convince anyone of anything, that's just how he was. Regulus reached down towards his sleeve pulling up to reveal the evil permanently inked skull on his wrist, Sirius' mouth fell open a bit and he gasped. A tear escaped Regulus eyes and slowly began down his cheek, he immediately wiped it away. The older boy seemed unable to say a word so Regulus did.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to, I swear it, Sirius." His voice was shaky as well as his body, the older boy shook his head.

"Don't apologise Regulus. Merlin, I should've been there to stop them. I know this isn't what you wanted and I'm sorry." Sirius said.

"It's my own fault. I should've refused, and you don't need to protect me Sirius. I can fight my own battles." Regulus thought back to that night before Sirius left him for the first time as he said this, he was sure his brother had forgotten about that conversation completely by now. Sirius reached out and wrapped his arms around Regulus pulling him close.

"It's not your fault." He whispered, they pulled apart and Sirius smiled once again. "I have an idea on how we can get you out of this, okay?"

"Sure, but Voldemorts powerful. I don't think I can get out of this- at least alive." Regulus said, Sirius flinched when his brother said the Dark Lord's name, he let out a quiet "Sorry."