Astronomy

Three: Regulus

    The boy tilted his head. "Yeah, it's me."
    Regulus stared at him with wide eyes. "Y-you look different. Older, I mean."
    Sirius smiled. "You do, too."
    The other boy picked up Sirius' luggage he dropped, and came over and waved at Regulus. "Hello, I'm James."
    Regulus watched the boy. He had a nice smile and eyes, and Regulus remembered him from some of Sirius' letters. "I'm Regulus."
    Mother and father called Sirius, and James smiled and said he should go find his parents. Regulus looked back as James walked away, and then turned back to Sirius. He looked so much older now, and Regulus wondered if he was still the same.
    "Reggie, I can't wait to tell you all about Hogwarts! That boy you just met, that's my best friend, James. We had so much fun this year! And I have a friend named Remus, and another named Peter, and I'm sort of friends with this girl named Lily, and..." Sirius' voice got quite as he got closer to mother and father.
    Regulus watched the reunion between his brother and parents and wondered why no one looked very happy. He knew that if he was gone for a few months, he would be happy to see their parents again, but Sirius had always been a little bit different then him. Regulus couldn't help but think that maybe Sirius was different now that he had gone to Hogwarts, that he had actually gone in to the world and made friends.
    The letters from him over the school year had become short and didn't come as much, but Regulus had thought that maybe Sirius was just busy with friends and school, and when he came back, it would be like how it used to be, before Sirius went to Hogwarts. But now Regulus wasn't so sure.
****
    "What are you doing?" Regulus stepped inside his brothers room and looked around. Sirius had stuck Gryffindor flags, posters, and pictures all over his room. He was standing on a chair, leaning over his bed as Regulus walked in, trying to hang a Gryffindor poster.
    "Putting stuff on my walls."
    "Mother and father aren't going to like this," Regulus said, looking at the stuff with a small bit of disgust. He was still getting used to the idea that his brother was a Gryffindor.
    Sirius shrugged and almost fell of the chair. He climbed down and grabbed tape before jumping up again. "Doesn't matter much to me. They're already mad, so might as well see if they get any madder."
    Regulus frowned, but didn't say anything. He walked over to the desk and looked for the pictures that Sirius used to have, but they weren't there anymore. Instead, there was a Gryffindor flag, along with a picture of Sirius and three other boys.
    "Wait, Sirius... where did our pictures go?"
    Sirius laughed nervously. "Oh, well, I just put them on my desk for now. I need to find somewhere new to put them."
    Regulus looked around the already full walls of the room. "It doesn't look like there's anywhere to put them."
    Sirius paused and changed the subject. "Are you excited to go to Hogwarts?"
    Regulus didn't say anything. Of course he was excited to go to Hogwarts, but things had become awkward between him and Sirius. In the week that Sirius had been back, they had barely talked. Sirius was either writing to James or sitting alone in his room, leaving Regulus alone in his.
    "Yes," he simply said. "I'm excited."
    Sirius glanced over at him, then jumped off the chair. He quickly went over to the door and closed it. "Are you okay?"
    "What?"
    "I was just thinking... look, I know I was gone for a while, and I don't know what happened while I was gone, but you seem... different."
    Regulus looked around the room, and suddenly felt angry. He looked at the wall where his pictures had been with Sirius, which was now covered with photos of Sirius and his new friends, and at the silly Gryffindor stuff Sirius had put all over the room. It was ridiculous, really. Sirius was only gone for a few months, but he had already replaced Regulus with new friends, and was actually proud to be a Gryffindor.
    "Well, maybe it's just that I'm more mature now." He motioned around the room. "Something you could learn about."
    "Come on, Reggie-"
    Regulus turned and went to his own room. He could hear Sirius follow him, but he closed the door before Sirius could come in.
****
    Regulus sat at his desk and picked up a newspaper he had. He looked through it and found an article about Voldemort and his followers. He didn't know that much about Voldemort, but he enjoyed hearing about him. He read the article and ripped it out, putting it up on his wall.
    "Still doing that, are you?"
    Jumping up, he noticed Sirius standing in the doorway.
    "Why do you care?"
    Sirius sighed. "Because your my brother? I don't know, is that a good enough reason for you?"
    "I've always cut articles about him out. I find them interesting."
    There was a long pause before Sirius sighed and walked over to the wall where Regulus had put all the pictures and newspaper articles. "You know... you know he's not good, right?"
    "What are you talking about?"
    "He's not a good person, Reggie. He's actually a very bad person."
    "No, he's not. And you don't even know what your talking about."
    Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I don't?"
    "No, you don't. Just because you went to Hogwarts, you think your so great, and that you know everything-"
    "No, I don't, I'm just saying he's not a good person. He wants to do bad things, and I'm just trying to tell you."
    "Mother and Father were right about you, you know."
    Sirius was about to say something, but Regulus watched as he stopped.
    "W-what do you mean?"
    "Your wild."
    "Well, I know that already."
    "At least I won't disgrace our last name when I go to school this year."
    Sirius tilted his head, and Regulus instantly felt bad for what he said.
    "Look, Sirius, I didn't mean-"
    "No, no, it's fine. I get it. It was only a matter of time before you became like them."
    "Who?"
    "Mother and father." Sirius nodded awkwardly, and Regulus could see his eyes starting to water up. He walked to the door and closed it behind him.
    Regulus thought about what had just happened and decided on two things, the first one being that the fight was Sirius' fault, and the second one being that, even though what happened seemed very dramatic, Sirius was a dramatic person, so it was just Sirius being Sirius.