The Love That Started On Your Living Room Floor

01.

"Do you remember the plan, Regulus?" Sirius asked, breaking through to him despite his formerly spacey state. Ah yes, the plan. He was nervous. They had been extremely discreet - only discussing by whispered patronuses with silencing charms in place on the closed draperies of their beds, far to late in the night for either of their likings - but he couldn't help but overthink.

"You are to go to dinner in the formal dining hall then retire to Father's study at approximately nine o'clock tonight." Regulus supplied, letting the plan replay in his head again. Sirius was to go to dinner. All of the established Slytherin pureblood families were to be there, the reason completely unknown to the both of them. His brother was to dress formally and be downstairs by six thirty while he, Regulus, stayed tucked away in his room being served by the families house elf. They had already told Kreacher of their plans to leave, to which he agreed to turn a blind eye assuring Regulus that he would have time to pack.

"Did you manage to successfully cast the expansion charm on your trunks?" Sirius continued. His demeanor could be easily read therefore showing Regulus that his current state of mind was not one sided. They didn't know what to expect but were prepared for as many results as they could possibly think of.

"Of course I did." He reassured. It had been a fairly simple incantation and the wand movement closely resembled that of accio, a spell which he had learned in his third year. Regulus had failed to unpack his school trunk this year upon coming home, so it was only his more personal items he had to collect. This included his collection of books, more casual clothing that was hardly casual at all, and a few items of sentiment he had acquired from his younger years. It wouldn't take him long at all to collect and evenly layout the items in his three piece traveling set, used when they went to Venice one year, before Sirius began at hogwarts.

"Good, good." His brother began to mumble as he looked down at his feet, not yet tamed, long, black locks falling in front of his cool blue eyes.

"How did your packing situation go?" Regulus asked, refocusing Sirius on the task at hand. Kreacher most definitely helped him with the portion where he needed to fold clothing and such but that was far less important than getting it to it's second location.

"In the corner of the study next to the floo connection under repellent and concealment charms, just as we discussed."

"On the right?" Regulus questioned, not wanting to stumble around looking for an invisible, shrunken pile of luggage in case it came to them rushing away.

"When facing the fireplace, yes, to the right." Sirius replied, looking at him thankfully, the nerves were still present if the crease in his eyebrows was any indication, but it was mixed about with what Regulus could only interpret as hope.

A ghost of a smile graced Sirius's lips as he looked to his brother with glassy eyes. They were standing in his bedroom in silence at six o'seven, looking each other up and down, Regulus examining the almost fully faded bruises that patched along Sirius's jaw and one of his eyes while Sirius watched as a singular tear streaked down the younger of the twos cheek.

All at once the usual distance between them of five feet turned to nothing as one of them pulled the other into a tight embrace, who moved first was both irrelevant and undistinguishable. Through the thin material of the button downs they were required to wear while at home they could feel the others tears fall down their jawline and into the fabric where the opposite's chin rested comfortably. Choked sniffles echoed around the empty room.

The grasp they had on each other's back and neck did not loosen when they attempted to talk the other down. "If something goes wrong you can't hesitate to floo, Reg." Sirius whispered into his right ear from where he had pulled himself tightly into the small of his brothers neck.

"Is it safe to transport you in the event you get injured?" He asked, the pained look on his face at the thought hidden by replicating his brother's position on the opposite side. They would be away soon enough but the process of getting there had frayed both of their nerves.

"I really don't know, Regulus." Sirius replied honestly and without hesitation. "The Potter's will all be waiting on the other side. Mrs. Potter is a healer. It's safer than staying here so I'm willing to take that chance."

Regulus swallowed. The air around him suddenly seemed too thick. The two of them knew that if he didn't cooperate and do whatever their parents asked of him something would happen, possibly worse than a raging black eye. But Sirius couldn't cooperate for this plan to work, and they both knew that too. It was all coming so fast and Regulus felt like he couldn't breath. It would be bad. Over the past month of planning they shunned the thought of something potentially fatal and treated it as though their parents were above it. They really weren't.

"You can't hesitate." Sirius reiterated, more firm than before, as he pulled away. Regulus could only meekly shake his head. They fell back into silence again.

"You have ten minutes, you must get dressed." Regulus spoke out, prying his eyes away from the nail in the wall he was staring at. It was an inefficient distraction. "If they have to come and retrieve you not only will their tempers shorten but they will see you've packed." He continued, a few more stray tears seeping out of the corners of his stormy grey eyes.

"Yeah." Sirius breathed, quivering a bit on the last half of the syllable. "You should go." He reminded, bringing up his volume slightly but not making an effort to correct the cracks in his voice.

"Good luck." Regulus whispered as he ventured back into the hall, shutting the door and making his way down it and to his room. He didn't give Sirius the chance to respond out of fear that he wouldn't be able to pry himself again. He wished dearly that had he could accompany him, keep him out of trouble and attempt to minimize his punishment. But no. It was all up to Sirius.

Regulus started with his books, stacking neat piles and dropping them into the expanded interior of his largest trunk. Then clothes, emptying drawer after drawer of his dresser and taking down hanger after hanger from his wardrobe. He finished quicker than he would have liked.

Months of planning all for today. It was relatively simple. Sirius was already at dinner. They would be there for a while. At eight thirty Regulus was supposed to go to the top of the staircase that had a direct view to his fathers study. They would finish dinner soon after that and would go into Orion's study to get to the real purpose of this dinner. He would write down the names of all who entered. Sirius would cast a spell that would allow Regulus to hear all that went on. Sirius would refuse what they had planned for him, he would take as much punishment as he needed for them to leave and then Regulus would come in, shrunken luggage in his pocket. He would disable the charms hiding Sirius's luggage, put it in his other pocket and drag Sirius through the floo and into the Potter's home. It was only six fifty.