royal_venant | (no subject)

Who: Regulus and Sirius (letoileduchien)
What: Miraculously, Regulus survived the cave, now he needs help
When: Fall 1979
Where: Number 12 Grimmauld Place
Rating/Warnings: We’ll see how this goes

Regulus had not anticipated this: surviving. He’d told Kreacher to take the locket and go as the inferi started tearing at him dragging him into the water. And in that moment, wracked with pain from the potion, Regulus accepted his fate.

But then suddenly the world had spun around him, squeezing him on all sides and stretching him at the same time and he landed hard on his hands and knees, on the carpet of his bedroom. The jolt made his stomach lurch and the potion and a good deal of lake water came rushing up to meet the carpet as well.

And a great shock of pain in his right hand signaled that maybe the inferi had already broken a bone or two.

Regulus coughed and sputtered and it wasn’t until he could breathe again that he realized Kreacher was throwing his head into the wood of Regulus’ bed in penance, crying, “I could not leave Master. I could not!”

It took all of Regulus’ remaining strength to reach out a hand to pull Kreacher from his self-flagellations.

“Kreacher stop,” Regulus choaked and fell into a fit of coughing again in which Kreacher did not stop.

It was a minute before Regulus could try again. “Kreacher, stop. I’m not mad.” Regulus had to try a third time, “Kreacher, you didn’t disobey me.”

And finally, Kreacher’s wailing became something more of a pathetic whimper. But blessedly, the house elf stopped making a racket and Regulus could finally think.

He self-assessed. The locket was thankfully in Kreacher’s hand and the house elf gently handed it over when Regulus asked for it.

Other than that, Regulus was in shambles: soaking wet, choking on air, a probably broken hand amid other injuries – bruises and deep scratches from the inferi at least one of which was a gash on his forehead, the lingering effects of the potion.

He tried to focus on what he needed first: finding help to destroy the horcrux.

Regulus felt a small pang of guilt for the next command he gave the grief-wracked elf.

He didn’t know what else to do.

“Kreacher, I need you to find Sirius,” he took a deep breath. “Bring him here, to my room.”

The elf was stricken silent, stock still. This of all things dried up the elf’s tears. Regulus wanted to take back the command the moment he saw Kreacher’s face fall, but he could think of no one else he could turn to.

“But- but, Master-” Kreacher’s voice was small, imploring.

“Kreacher,” Regulus said, pouring an apology into his tone. “Do it, I need you to get him.”

The elf didn’t put up any other fight but was gone with a snap of his fingers.

Regulus tried to breathe normally, calmly, but shivering there next to his bed, wet and bleeding, peace was far from reach. He did the best next thing. He reached up to his bed and tugged on the blanket. It didn’t come at first, it was a struggle to grip both the locket and the blanket at the same time, and he had recovered only minimally from his ordeal. But the blanket eventually came and he pulled it as close around him as he could, then settled in to wait.

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There was a loud crack of apparation and...

"--what the fuck?"

There was one Sirius Black standing in Regulus' bedroom. He was dressed casually, like it had been a day in his flat with Remus. His hair was up in a messy bun and he wasn't wearing shoes.

Any other words fell from him as he took in the sight of his brother, huddled on the floor in a blanket. Sirius took a step and then dropped to his knees next to Regulus. He put his hands on his brother's face and made him look up.

"Did Mother do this to you?"

All his anger at Kreacher and whomever summoned him had vanished. If Walburga did this to Regulus, no matter what his brother had done, he would duel her. He didn't care, he would duel her and he would win.

"Reggie..." Sirius swallowed the lump in his throat.

Regulus had started to slip into unconsciousness while waiting for Kreacher to bring Sirius back.

He only half heard what Sirius was asking.

He came to with a sudden start, a sharp intake of breath, a blink of confusion before his mind remembered what this night had been.

He shook his head despite the pain it caused. "No- no," he said slowly. "She didn't-"

And a thought came to him, a need. That potion he drank still lingered.

"A bezor," he said. "I think I need..." and he started to unwrap himself though his body resisted every move. He was sure there was a bezor in the family medicine cabinet. Always a chance in this family that someone might try to poison them.

"Stay." Sirius urges Regulus to sit, to remain wrapped up. He swallows, afraid to leave his brother. Something happened and it hadn't been good. But he would worry about that later. Once he was sure that Regulus was okay.

He looked to Kreacher and swallowed. "Would you please get a bezor for Regulus? I don't want to leave him alone."

Kreacher recoiled as if slapped, and Regulus knew it was because Sirius had been burned off the tapestry and disowned. And the House elves of Grimmauld place only took orders from their masters.

Regulus could see the insults building up in Kreachers mind, ready to spew out and cause a fight Regulus most certainly did not need right now.

"Kreacher, go," Regulus said and coughed. "Get the bezor."

And the House elf, with a twisted look on his face, left the room.

And a tortured silence filled the space between Regulus and Sirius.

"Mother and Father are out," he said. Maybe that would put his brother at ease.

Knowing his parents were out did help. He wasn't the same person he was when he left home, he was stronger, but there was still a lingering fear of them, of the abuse that they inflicted. But for now, all of his focus was on Regulus.

He pulled his wand from the wrist harness it always kept it in, these times required it, and muttered a diagnostic spell under his breath. Sirius was quiet as he read the results. He tucked his wand back into the wrist harness and sighed.

"The bezor will help with the effects of the potion you took. Why? Why would you take that potion?"

If Regulus had even a bit more of his wits about him, he would be quite suspicious of all this care his brother was showing him - a product of growing up in a family that did not show kindness in any kind of form.

But things being as they were, all Regulus managed to say was: "I had to get this." And he weakly opened his left hand holding the locket chain.

This caused him to lose grip on both the locket and the blanket. And the locket slipped to the floor to land with an unnatural thud.

Sirius picked up the locket and dropped it almost immediately. He hissed and clenched the hand that had been holding into a fist. "What is that?"

He knew what the locket was, it had been in their family for so long. But, there was something else to it, something more. It was dark. Sirius had been studying cursebreaking between Order missions, and he just... He knew there was more to the locket.

He looked at Regulus and then tucked the blanket back around his brother. His time living with the Potter's and his relationship with Remus had helped him unlearn things their parents had thought, had started to learn how to have a healthy relationship.

"It's a-" Oh this would be so much easier if his head wasn't filled with the effects of the potion.

He tried again. "It's a horcrux." And because he knew that was not a widely known thing, even among the most informed wizards, he added, "It's a piece of - of Him, You Know Who."

Sirius was quiet for a moment before sitting back against the wall. He let out a soft sigh and ran his hand over his face.

"Fuck."

On the list of things he was going to have to deal with.

"I can consult my cursebreaking books." He said after a moment.