Upside Down Mirror: Free Falling (Harry Potter Fanfic)

Required Teaming

"Why did he have to go and do that?" Regulus wondered regarding why his grandfather decided to get Sirius involved, yet in the back of his mind, he also wondered if Dumbledore, in his great wisdom, came up with the idea of teaming up with Sirius as a stipulation for them going into Hogwarts to search for the Ravenclaw's Diadem.

"Bloody hell, this sucks," Sirius muttered from up ahead, glancing back so he might glare at Regulus which made Regulus adjust his fingers around Lyra's fingers while swallowing, knowing what would come next. "Seriously. Not only am I stuck with you, but the mission I'm stuck on is also here within the safety of the walls of Hogwarts."

"Could you stop walking away from me?"

Sirius stopped in his tracks, sending a rather pointed look Lyra's way, a look he didn't quite understand given the fact Sirius, unlike his parents, didn't have an issue with Muggles and Muggleborn, yet there was no way he could perchance have suspected that Lyra was anything but, given the fact she wasn't from this world and such labels didn't really describe her, particularly if magic didn't exist in her world.

Absentmindedly he reached his right hand over to tug at the left sleeve, his left hand still holding onto Lyra's hand, but he found himself glad the jacket covered so many things—the dark mark, the bandages from the Infiri attack which were still there, let alone how thin he'd become. All of those things bothered him even though Ted said, "Those things will take time."

"What do you want?" Sirius snapped, glaring at him. Regulus looked down at the ground, remembering when that particular look was reserved for the arguments Sirius had with their mother. In the back of his mind, he wondered what kind of argument led to his older brother running away that summer, as he'd heard nothing regarding the matter from his mother.

"You don't even know what we're looking for, let alone where we're supposed to be looking for it."

"Don't care," Sirius started walking away.

"Well, the sooner we find it, the sooner we're out of your hair."

Sirius stopped, not saying anything, but then turned, pointing at the girl. "Who is she?"

Lyra let out a squeak. Regulus glared at his brother. "My responsibility, but leave Lyra alone."

"Responsibility. That's thick, given the fact you did the least responsible thing ever and joined up with his lot!" Sirius snapped.

"As I said. The sooner we find it, the sooner we're out of your hair. I don't like this any more than you do." Which was true. In the back of his mind, Regulus didn't know when things went wrong between him and his older brother, let alone what precisely he'd done wrong for Sirius to treat him that way, particularly when he'd not yet become a Death Eater which Sirius so loathed and despised so much.

"He's not," Lyra muttered from his side.

"What?" Sirius turned his glare on her.

"Not one of them anymore."

A chill ran down Regulus' spine while Sirius continued glaring at her. "Did you tell her?"

"Siri..."

"Did you tell your so-called responsibility all the atrocious things you did in his name?" Sirius snapped. In the back of Regulus' mind, he knew he'd not done any of the atrocious things that Sirius thought he'd done, yet there was no explaining that to his older brother. He then looked at Regulus, but the look this time was different, with a pair of silver-grey eyes shimmering for some reason Regulus couldn't place. "Did you tell your so-called responsibility that there is no getting out of that lot once you joined up?"