One of Us | Jegulus

Five

Potter left him with a Strengthening Potion and some Skele-Gro.
Regulus took the first potion immediately, but stared at the second one, hesitating. He recalled that one Quidditch match which ended so terribly that he ended up in the Hospital Wing with shattered bones in his left hand. Even Madame Pomfrey wasn't able to fix that, so she had to make all the bones vanish and regrow them. Most disgusting feeling, ever.
But this would be different, he told himself. The bones were already there, just very brittle and fragile.
Didn't sound any more pleasant to him, though, if he was being honest.
He emptied the potion before he could think any more about it and screwed his face up in disgust. Horrible stuff.

And what now?
He was looking at the pile of James' clothes. Would he be able to put them on? James told him not to move for the next hours, but thanks to the strengthening potion he already felt so much better. Besides, he could make his own decisions. He tested - and actually managed to strip off his trousers, even though his movements were stiff and slow.
He reached for the sweatpants and discovered some underwear underneath.
Oh this was embarrassing. Wearing Potter's underpants? Well, they were clean... but they hadn't always been.
God, he was such a prude.
He quickly undressed, or at least as quick as he could manage to, and slipped into the fresh outfit.
It was the best feeling. Unfortunately, now he first noticed how dirty he was. Oh, he needed a shower, so badly.

With shaking legs he stood up. After only two steps though, he had to admit that he had overestimated his own strength. It was too late now, because his legs wouldn't support him anymore and he collapsed.
There was a cracking sound and a sharp pain in his hip.
"Fuck", he groaned. He just kept laying on the ground, he didn't really care. He was totally pissed off.
At least the disgusting potion would mend whatever bone he just broke in the process, so James wouldn't notice and couldn't have a laugh at him.
He suddenly wished he had a book. Something to distract himself for a bit. He lifted his head slightly to inspect the room properly for the first time. But there wasn't much to see, except the bed he had already spend too much time in, a dresser with a mirror and a big window on the other side of the room. The colours were plain, except the red rug and curtains. There wasn't much to see, and worse, even less to do.

. . .

It was another day Regulus just spent lying on his back and staring at the ceiling. It made him furious. So much wasted time and he was restless. He couldn't relax with a war going on. Even now, cut off from everything, his mind was constantly on the reality outside these doors.
What was happening? What was he missing? Every second something huge could be happening and he wouldn't know. Is someone winning? Is someone losing? Who died the last couple days? Someone he knew? Someone he cared for?
There was a sinking feeling in his stomach.
Who did he care for?
Well, his family, right? He had parents; but they never really left the house anyway, which was heavily   protected. He had cousins. Yeah, he liked his cousins. And he sometimes still saw some of the guys from school. Would be weird if they were gone, he reckoned.
Oh, why would it matter if he cared about someone's life? He preferred being alone anyway, on his own and without any responsibilities for others. You shouldn't grow close to people in a war, he thought determined. That couldn't possibly end well. So he should be proud of himself for keeping himself safe. Loss, grief and betrayal were everywhere, on both sides of the war. People were doing fatal mistakes because of it.

No, Regulus preferred it his way.
He'd survive the war, while Potter and Sirius and their friends would definitely not, he thought bitterly. But he didn't care. He had lost his brother years ago.

So, that was all he was doing. Thinking about the war, calculating his survival and that of everybody else around him. Trying not to get too depressed about it.
Meanwhile the potion did its work. Regulus could feel it too bloody well. It started with a tingling sensation in his spine and became very uncomfortable very quickly. The feeling was so strange that he wouldn't know how to put it into words. But it certainly didn't feel right. You shouldn't feel your bones and especially not how they tighten their structure and growing together in an unnatural tempo.
After a couple of hours, those feelings wore off and everything felt exactly the same as before, except his hip, which was fully healed.

It was impossible now to tell what state his body was in. God, it felt like a horrid back and forth at this point. He felt chronically exhausted and wondered how long that would remain. Also, there weren't going to be any permanent consequences, would there?
Stop overthinking, he scolded himself and tried to get up for the second time this day. And it actually worked quite alright, given the situation. He was astounded by himself.
Slowly he walked over to the door. His legs were trembling and it wasn't particularly easy to keep balance, but he managed to stay on his feet. And that was an achievement, in his opinion.

He pulled the handle and the door swung open.
They didn't lock him up? Wow, that was another level of stupidity. But good for him.
He stepped out of his room and looked right. There were a couple more doors on the hallway and a flight of stairs at the end. So he headed for the stairs, slowly and cautiously.
Downstairs he found himself in another hallway. He'd been here a couple days ago, but he could really remember anything.
Everything was so bright, there were so many big windows and all the rooms seemed to be connected. There weren't many doors.
It appeared so friendly and inviting. How ironic, he thought grimly. He hated it already.
He preferred the closed, dark atmosphere at Grimmauld Place. It promised safety, privacy. Here he felt so exposed and observed. You probably couldn't go anywhere without being noticed.
He felt a bit lost so he just turned right, walked around a corner - and faced Sirius.

The two brothers stared at each other. No one moved. Regulus had no idea what to do, or what to say, and apparently neither did Sirius.
The older one was sitting on a couch. The couch Regulus woke up two days ago. Or was it three? He couldn't even remember.
Slowly he stumbled backwards. He wasn't ready for a conversation with Sirius yet.

"Where do you think you're going?"
Regulus stopped dead. He looked up again. Sirius glared at him.
"W-what?"
"I won't let you wander around the house", he said sternly.
"I'm not doing anything!" Regulus crossed his arms defensively.
"Oh yeah? James told me you were extremely weak and couldn't leave the bed. And now you're standing here perfectly healthy. Why were you faking, huh?" Sirius stood up, his wand loosely, but clearly visible in his right hand. He wouldn't attack Regulus, would he?!
"I wasn't! And it wasn't that bad!"
"What are you up to?" Sirius inquired with narrowed eyes.
"I- what?! Nothing! I don't even want to be here!"
The older brother snorted. "Yeah, nobody does."
"Fine!", Regulus shouted. "Give me back my wand and you'll never see me again!"

"You're not going anywhere", a calm voice said behind him. Regulus swirled around. James stood there, casually leaning on the wall and twisting his wand in his fingers.
"What? Why?! What's that supposed to mean?!"
Potter shrugged.
"We won't let you wander off to your little Death Eater friends and cause even more trouble. It's safer for everyone if you stay here."
"I- wha- No!"
Who did they think they are they could just lock him up, like some prisoner! Furious, he attempted to escape past James, but of course the older one was faster, he grasped Regulus' wirst and pulled him back.
It was more a reflex than his actual intention when he threw a punch in Potter's face.
It hadn't been very strong, still, his nose started bleeding.
"Oi!", Sirius bellowed and wrapped his arms around Regulus' torso to keep him still.
"You little bastard!"
"Let me go!" Regulus cried and tried to fight. But all the trouble had been to much for his exhausted body and suddenly his legs wouldn't support him anymore, he broke down.

Sirius just dropped him.
He fell to the floor and hissed in pain. Once again, he didn't have the strength to get back up, so he just pulled himself into an upright position and leaned against the wall.
Sirius glared at him. Regulus averted his eyes and watched James instead, who just turned around and left.