CHERRY // marlene mckinnon

-thirty six

Regulus Black wasn't usually one to act too rashly or show his shock for something. But seeing a black cat climb inside his sisters room surely raised his suspicion and then seeing that same cat turn into his older sister made him question a lot of things.

"What the fuck?!"

"Reg?! Why are you in my room?" Aurora jumped at the sudden voice of her younger brother.

"Why are you— why are you a cat?!" Regulus questioned his sister once again. "And where the hell were you?"

"Look, it's complicated alright? But I'll explain everything, just close the door. I don't need them hearing anything." Aurora was willing to tell Regulus the truth. It wasn't that big of a deal to her that she was an animagi, but to Regulus, it wasn't that simple.

So after Regulus carefully closed her door, the two sat on her bed as she explained it all. "Sirius was gone. I was fucking lonely. And on top of that he didn't respond to any of my letters. Not to mention our household was a mess. I really needed an escape. And this was the closest I got to one."

Regulus looked down and scoffed. "Of course."

"What?"

"Of course it has something to do with Sirius. It always does." Regulus had always felt kind of left out when it came to Aurora and Sirius, despite them all being siblings. To him, it had always been Aurora and Sirius. They were twins so they were always kind of closer to each other than Regulus. And he envied them. "Even after I took your letters, you still didn't stop. You still didn't even notice."

It was always Aurora and Sirius, even after he left. Aurora always sent him letters, always waited for him to come back, and almost always had hope that he would. But she never noticed the one who was there. Regulus.

"You what?!" It felt as if a huge bomb was dropped. Aurora was absolute stunned to speak. She never would have thought that out of everyone, it was her to her brother who made sure that her and Sirius didn't stay in contact with each other. "It was you? After all this time? I thought he refused to talk to me! But no, it was Regulus fucking Black who made sure we didn't talk!"

"Yes, I took your damn letters! But you don't even care to know why. He left but you never once stopped writing to him, or even just noticing him. But me on the other hand? I was there. I was there when he wasn't, alright?" Regulus couldn't help but have a shaky voice when saying all of this. "You were too busy worrying about what he was doing, where he was, or if he would come back but you failed notice that I was right here the whole time! Me! Your brother— I'm your brother too!"

"Oh Reg— I'm so, so sorry I didn't know. I didn't realize." Aurora faced softened and she instantly regretted what she had said before. How could I be this stupid.

"Yeah, well how could you? You were too busy chasing after a ghost." This was the first time Regulus had shown any type of emotion towards Sirius leaving. To Aurora at least. He was always so closed off and refused to show any type of feelings or emotions when it came to the topic of his brother.

"Reg-"

"Just— just forget it. It wasn't that big of a deal then, and it sure as hell isn't that big of a deal now." Regulus muttered. "Goodnight."

And before Aurora could stop him, Regulus had already left her room, leaving her all alone in the darkness. Like she had once done to him.