Sweet innocence ~ Jegulus

18.

"Hale, we need to talk." Sirius grabbed the older boy's arm, not letting him walk away as he dragged him into an empty hallway. "What the fuck, Sirius. Let go of me." Enzo pushed him off, glaring at him angrily.

"Shut up and listen." Sirius snapped, pushing Enzo's chest. "You need to stop talking to my brother." Sirius said sternly. "And if I don't?" Enzo took a step towards Sirius, a cocky tone in his voice. Sirius drew his wand and pointed it at Enzo. "You're going to, if you want to keep your fucking legs. You're no good for him."

"Regulus likes me." Enzo drew his own wand, not pointing it, just holding it. "And I like him and I don't think that he'd appreciate you threatening me." Enzo gave Sirius a knowing look. "Not while you two are still trying to fix the mess in your relationship that you caused." Enzo poked Sirius's chest and that was all he needed to go off.

Sirius clenched his hand in a fist and swung it at Enzo's face. The older boy stumbled back from the impact, holding his jaw where Sirius had punched him. Sirius braced himself for Enzo to fight him, but the older boy only let out a dry laugh as he spat blood onto the floor.

"I'm not even going to give you the satisfaction of fighting you." Enzo said calmly. He put his wand away and grabbed his bag that had been dropped onto the floor nearby.

"Stay away from Regulus." Sirius called after him before Enzo could walk away fully. Enzo scoffed and stuck his middle finger up defiantly.

***

"What happened to your hand?" Regulus asked, his tone laced with concern as Sirius sat down across from him. Sirius looked down at his bruised knuckles and sighed.

"Pads what happened? Was it Snape, I'll kill him." Remus stood up to go to the Slytherin table and Regulus stood up as well to follow him as back up, but Sirius grabbed both of their hands before they could get far.

"It had nothing to do with Snivellus. Leave it."

"So what happened?" Regulus asked again, taking Sirius's hand in his own, running his fingers over his brother's knuckles. Sirius hissed out in pain, but didn't pull away. Regulus pulled out his wand and pointed it at Sirius's hand mumbling a quiet spell.

"Better?" Regulus asked, putting his wand back into his pocket. Sirius felt the pain in his knuckles subside and he smiled softly. "Yeah, thanks."

"Shit, Pads! What happened to your hand?" Peter squeaked as he and James came to sit at the table. James looked at Sirius curiously, but not concerned or confused. He already had an idea of what might have  happened.

"If you're alright, I have to go." Regulus said, placing his hand on Sirius's forearm affectionately. "Where are you going?" Sirius asked, grabbing for Regulus's wrist. Regulus looked around and lowered his voice. "I'm supposed to meet Enzo in the Astronomy tower later. I want to change out of my school robes first." He said, cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

"Yeah... about that." Sirius released Regulus's wrist and scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I have to tell you something, but you have to promise not to get upset." Sirius muttered, looking at Regulus nervously. Regulus sat down, frowning at his brother's sudden change in behaviour. He looked over at James, but James was making an effort not to look at him.

Regulus's eyes wandered the great hall, his breath catching in his throat.

"What did you do?" Regulus demanded, looking at Sirius angrily. James looked over to the Ravenclaw table and sure enough, Enzo was sitting next to his friends with a huge purple bruise lining his jaw and cheek.

"Promise you won't be mad?" Sirius stuck out his pinky for Regulus to take but the younger boy pushed it away aggressively. "Are fucking mental?" Regulus hissed angrily. "Did you do that to his face?" Regulus asked, though he was sure that he already knew the answer. Sirius gave him a sheepish look.

"I thought that we were okay again." Regulus mumbled, shaking his head. "We are, Reg. We're okay." Sirius said reaching out to Regulus. "No we're not. He's going to break up with me now because my brother is a fucking idiot." Regulus stood up and looked down at Sirius angrily.

"Regulus please. Just listen to what I have to say and I promise you'll understand." Sirius stood up too. "No." Regulus stepped away from the Gryffindor table and walked over to where the Ravenclaws were eating. He stood in front of Enzo and said something that Sirius couldn't hear and then the two left the great hall together. As they walked out, Enzo turned to the Gryffindor table and smirked at Sirius.

"He's seriously starting to get under my skin." James mumbled as they watched them leave. "Yeah, tell me about it." Sirius frowned.

***

"I'm sorry about Sirius." Regulus said as he and Enzo walked up the stairs to the Astronomy tower. "Why are you apologizing for something that your brother did?" Enzo laughed, but his expression held genuine confusion. "I don't know. I guess it's just what I'm used to. I used to do it when we were kids." Regulus shrugged.

"That's awful, Reg. He's the older brother, he shouldn't have you apologizing for him." Enzo sighed, wrapping Regulus in a hug. "You don't have to put up with that anymore, you know." Enzo pulled away slightly to look down at Regulus. Regulus sighed and stepped back. "What do you mean?" Regulus asked, sounding thoroughly worn out.

"I mean that you should be able to live without worrying about Sirius every second of the day. He's made his decision-"

"Why do I feel like we aren't talking about the fight anymore?" Regulus interrupted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Im just saying that he left you, so you shouldn't feel obligated to defend him all the time." Enzo spoke cautiously watching as Regulus clenched his jaw.

"Don't talk about my brother as if you know anything about him. Sirius may not be perfect but he doesn't just go around punching people either. You must have done something to provoke him." Regulus snapped, stepping closer to Enzo. If there wasn't such a huge height difference between them, Enzo might have been intimidated.

"Does it really matter if I said anything? He punched me, Regulus. Violence shouldn't be justified for any reason." Enzo brought a hand up to his hair and pushed it back.

"Depends..." Regulus muttered, raising a brow. "What did you say?"

Enzo scoffed and stepped back, looking at Regulus with a disappointed frown. "So you do think that it was my fault." It wasn't a question, but Regulus nodded nonetheless. "I can't believe that you'd think I would say anything to ruin your relationship with your brother." Enzo said sounding offended. "I never said that." Regulus stated. "You insinuated it though." Enzo looked at Regulus sadly and walked away without another word.