Diptych

Chapter 27

After handing out small morsels to eat, they continued along the path they had decided on. It wasn't really much of a path, more of an area clearly struck by storm after storm, with several trees downed by lightning. But they could walk easily there, didn't have to keep their eyes on the ground immediately in front of them, lest they fall into rogue warrens or over unearthed roots. Not much was said as they walked, only the occasional muttering of agreement when Sirius indicated they ought to take a turn, or a request to pause when somebody's shoes were beginning to rub and they cast a spell to counteract it, or else to allow one of the others to do it, in his and Willa's case, still too young to use magic unaided out in the world.

Somewhere along the way, it became apparent that they were walking in circles. They first suspected it when their surroundings became more familiar than a forest ought to be, even with the same trees and stones and streams. Edwin pointed up towards a vine they'd earlier ducked beneath twice.

"Isn't that..." he murmured, but cut himself off. Sirius' face was harsh enough to put off somebody who didn't know him well, and he apparently wasn't committed enough to his belief to voice it. No more than half an hour later, Willa pointed down to the ground ahead of them, ordered them all to halt so they didn't interfere with it. There, ahead of any of their paces, were five pairs of footsteps trudged through the mud. That did it. Sirius blamed the Slytherins for talking behind him, distracting him. Willa blamed Sirius and the spell he was using to guide them. It was a spell devised by McGonagall, in fact, one she gave out to her first year students 'so that they didn't have to bother her every time they got lost'. Though she was a powerful and formidable witch, Sirius had always claimed she had a soft spot for him, that she wouldn't have minded if he bothered her every day. That's what he'd said when he began using it, and they had all believed it meant he would competently lead them. He might not've been very good at that spell, but Regulus didn't think he had any problems with his ego.

"Didn't you notice we were going back the same way?" He asked, wondering how his brother could have possibly been led the same way three times and not noticed. Never mind the fact that they had all followed, not noticing either. Sirius had put himself in charge, and thus could shoulder the blame as far as he was concerned.

"Didn't you?"

"You were leading the way!"

"Yeah well, forgive me if I'm a bit distracted!" Sirius threw his arms to the side, face red, and Regulus thought that back when they were children, this would have been the point in the argument that he started crying. Not now, though. Now, Sirius just walked away, leaving the rest of the group unsure whether they should be following him or not.

"He's just worried about Moony— about Remus, I mean." Potter said, in his defence.

"What's with the nicknames?" Edwin asked, eyes still on Sirius as he stormed off.

"It's uh— sort of an inside joke." Potter said, and rubbed at the back of his neck. If it was an inside joke he thought the Slytherins might find funny, he didn't bother to share it. Instead, he hurried ahead to join Sirius. Not that Sirius seemed to want his company in that moment.

"Wait there!" His brother barked back to them, and then cut off to the side, ushering Potter behind him. They climbed through thicker trees, knees high and hands holding onto branches for balance until they were quite out of sight. Even at a distance, Regulus could still hear the faint sounds of their bickering, and rolled his eyes. If he'd known they'd be getting him lost and pausing along the way to have a domestic, Regulus might have put up more of a resistance to their coming along in the first place. Only snippets of their words reached Regulus' ears, 'should've backed me up', and 'not my fault you're so tense', 'just let me help you by' something, and then, the thing that caused an involuntary twisting of Regulus' stomach, forced him to open his own mouth to drown out the sound, "went too far using that curse on your brother!"