the life and death of regulus black

prologue

 On the tenth of June in 1961, when his namesake was at one of its highest points in the sky, Regulus Black was brought into the world by Walburga and Orion Black. Almost immediately, he was the favorite son, despite his older brother, Sirius, already being in the family nearly a year.

Sirius was a troublesome child - always giving problems to Walburga and Orion. He cried every night, around the same time he was born, wailing for some warm milk or some comfort he often sought but seldom received from his mother and father. He rummaged through the drawers of chests and dressers he was forbidden to touch, and tore a few skirts of his mothers, laughing all the while. Walburga and Orion never found any humor in his actions, whether or not he was just being curious or if he meant to do so. Sadly, it took almost all of their willpower not to take their anger out on the infant.

Regulus was a quiet child. He hardly ever cried (he only grabbed at the air towards the object that he wanted), and didn't seem too mobile as a child. He barely even moved around his own crib, shocking everyone when he took his first steps so early in his life. No one expected him to excel the way he did. He spoke his first words months before his brother had, he picked up on both French and English fairly quickly in their house, and he overall was the perfect child to Walburga and Orion.

He still looked up to his older brother, though.

Sirius was the most amazing person to him. He admired how boisterous he could be and how he was so unapologetically himself, even from a young age. By the time Sirius and Regulus were five and four, Regulus looked to Sirius like he was Merlin himself. He marveled the way that he would blatantly disobey their parents, even over small things. He would stand up in his seat at dinner, no matter if it were just the four of them or any extended family. Regulus always looked at him like he held the stars in his eyes, the world in his hands.

Regulus never held enough courage to do the things his brother could. He grew up from a young age knowing his mother looked to him to keep the family high on a pedestal, to keep their family legacy going along, knowing that Sirius one day wouldn't. She found it inevitable. So, Regulus felt like he always needed to make his mother proud. If you saw him at any given moment, his posture was perfect, his hair was neatly kept, and you would be lucky to see a single wrinkle in his clothes. He found himself to be uncomfortable in most of these situations, but it all felt like it was worth it to him when his mother told her how proud she was of him at the end of the night before he was shooed off to bed, Kreacher following behind him to make sure he got the laundry.

Kreacher was the only other person Regulus got close to. Yes, Sirius was practically his idol, but he had a temperament matching their parents from time to time. He would sneer at Regulus for doing exactly what their parents asked of them, saying that he was better than that. Kreacher understood him, though. He listened to his qualms when he couldn't fall asleep late at night, worrying his brother and family hated him for small little things he did, though he probably was the only one who noticed.

Kreacher reassured him time and time again he was the perfect son of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. He did just what Walburga (or, His Mistress) asked of him, and if he ever did make mistakes, it wasn't on purpose, like his older brother. While he hated to admit it, Kreacher was right, and these reassurances are what kept Kreacher so close to him. He would confide in him night after night, after every bout of anxiety that he messed up and his mother would do what she did to Sirius almost every evening.

He still knew in the pit of his stomach that no matter what, no matter what he did to appease his mother, he'd eventually meet the same fate that his brother had.

Kreacher was always there to tell him that he would be fine, and if not, he could always blame Sirius - they were bound to believe his older brother messed up more than Regulus did. While he never did blame him, the thought lingered from time to time, like when he accidentally broke the vase in the living room when he tried magic for the first time.