The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

Regulus and Sirius Black's Clubhouse

Regulus and Sirius Black's Clubhouse

"Regulus and Sirius Black's Clubhouse - No house elves or adults allowed." Sirius grinned at the parchment Regulus had just handed him, then looked up at his brother. "Brilliant, Reg. It's exactly the sort of sign we need. Let's go." Sirius grabbed his brother's hand and pulled him along up the steep steps of the Black family home, up-up-up into the attic, where Sirius and Regulus had spent the morning assembling their clubhouse - a blanket fort, built using several old duvets stored away by Walburga months ago, and several drapes they'd found in the myriad of steamers. They'd tucked the end of the duvet into a drawer in a dresser and draped it over onto a few high-backed chairs from an old dining set, propped several old portraits against the sides to create walls, and covered the bottom with an oriental rug, loads of blankets and pillows, and stacks of comics and Quidditch magazines and a large bar of chocolate that Sirius had gotten for his birthday.

Regulus stood, squirming with excitement, watching as Sirius spello-taped the parchment he'd made onto the front side of one of the walls, and there it hung - labelling their private space.

"Good one Reg! Now it's official." Sirius smiled and patted his brother on the head, like he was a dog.

They crawled into the clubhouse together, excited to get in there and they lit a lantern they had knicked from Walburga's library and Regulus quickly wrapped himself in one of the blankets. The attic was cold. Sirius grinned, "One day, when I get my wand from Mr. Ollivander's, I'll magic heat in here so we'll be warm." He dug 'round in his pockets and handed a pair of mittens to Regulus. "For now, put these on before you catch your death of cold." He said it in a very proper manner - the tone Mother would've used. Regulus tugged the mittens on and watched as Sirius unwrapped the chocolate bar and split it in half roughly. He gave Regulus the bigger half.

They'd sat in that clubhouse all day, reading their comics and magazines, biting into the chocolate happily, and telling each other silly jokes. ("Why did the goose cross the road?" Sirius asked. "Dunno, why?" asked Regulus. "Because the chicken was on holiday!" Sirius answered - and Regulus laughed so hard he honked and Sirius said, "Well you should've known the answer, seeing as it sounds like you were the goose!") Sirius did impressions of Kreacher the House Elf and they wrestled and when Sirius mussed up Regulus's hair, Regulus did it back and Sirius let him without putting up any real fight (though he made a show of pretending to fight it). He always let Regulus win at gobstones and he'd tell Regulus how great he was and when it was getting late and Regulus started to fall asleep, Sirius told him a bedtime story about a dog named Snuffles that went on grand adventures. Snuffles was Regulus's favorite and he fell asleep leaning against Sirius's shoulder, tired from a long day of fun with his big brother and feeling altogether warm as Sirius pulled blankets up around them, rubbing Regulus's shoulder...

That was the memory Regulus had used when he'd produced the patronus. He'd conjured it to mind so vividly that he could almost feel the touch of Sirius's palm to his shoulder and the rise and fall of Sirius's chest as he breathed and hear the beat of Sirius's heart in his ear... He'd lingered on that feeling - that safe, warm feeling - and the expecto patronum had worked as simply as any charm he'd learned in first year. Regulus stared, stunned, as the dog bound about the Defense Against the Dark Arts room, his body in such shock that he could practically feel the blood moving through his veins...

He looked up as Snuffles the dog laid at his feet and his eyes met Sirius's.

A charge ran through them such as what Regulus had not felt in years. Sirius stared at him in shock, his jaw hanging open. Everything seemed to have fallen away besides the two of them. He swallowed nervously. "Sirius --" he started.