Upside Down Mirror: Saving Regulus (Harry Potter Fanfic)

Fears

"Bloody hell! I don't want to say goodbye!" Sirius watched Regulus look at him, finding himself unable to read the look on his brother's face, not to mention the fact there was the small inkling that his brother's words about saying goodbye were empty. "Throwing your life away isn't an act of courage Regulus."

"And what? You're going to..."

"Yeah. I could take it."

"I didn't want to say goodbye so you could throw your life away."

"Regulus..." Sirius sucked in his breath.

His brother turned back to the basin. "And don't try arguing that my life is more important than yours. I'm a dead man walking Sirius. I mean, you should know that nobody leaves the Death Eaters alive."

"I could..."

"Not if you're dead, so if we can stop joking," Regulus summoned an object so he could drink from it, dipping the cup into the basin. Sirius opened his mouth, only for his younger brother to say, "Remember what I said about obliviating your memory and sending you away?"

"Yes, but..." Sirius looked at his brother, wondering if he should try wrestling the goblet out of his younger brother's hands. He'd always been able to take his younger brother, yet his memory of such events made the idea of Regulus becoming a Death Eater sound even more like a joke, one created by his brother's need to please their parents.

"And anyway, it's not the potion I'm afraid of killing me."

"Not the potion?" Sirius let his eyebrows raise up, wishing his younger brother would actually give him some kind of details regarding what was going on.

"I told you that you don't want to touch the lake." Taking a deep breath, Regulus dipped the cup into the basin while Sirius watched his younger brother, almost believing for a brief moment his brother's facial features showed just a hint of trepidation.

There was still the thought of wrestling the goblet from his brother's hands, yet in the back of his mind, he knew what Regulus said actually made sense. There was no way his soft-headed younger brother would survive on the own, which only made the whole thing even more puzzling. "That said, if he thinks I'm going to just let him die here, he has another thing coming, the little twat."

"Kreacher, no matter what happens..." Regulus looked down at the object for drinking, possibly a goblet not that Sirius really cared. "No matter how bad things get, make sure the potion gets down my throat so you and Sirius can take the locket. Get Sirius to his safe place, but follow his orders."

"Master Regulus?"

"Don't worry about me." Regulus scooped up some of the potion into the goblet, then chugged it down before Sirius could even make another attempt to protest.

"It's useless, isn't it? When he gets a stubborn idea into that thick skull of his..." He took a deep breath, watching his brother cringe at the taste of the liquid going down his throat. "Regulus, are you sure. Perhaps I should drink..."

"No. Once someone starts, they've got to finish," Regulus chocked, an obvious shudder running through his body, dipping the goblet in, drinking some more.

Sirius swallowed, placing a hand on Regulus' shoulder only for his younger brother to pull away, flinching. He lifted his hands up. "Sorry, sorry, I just wanted to ask what the point of having a potion where the person has to drink it all?"

"It's to hide something, but there is the expectation that they can't drink it all on their own. Which is why Kreacher..."

"Kreacher's not going to force that down your throat." Sirius watched Regulus turn towards him, wanting to protest. "I'll do it because I didn't come along to have bloody nothing to do."