Rewriting destiny

Chapter two

Hello my loves!
Yes I'm still alive (tragic I know, please respect my grieving during this difficult time 😞🎻) I've just been literally going through it and my mental illnesses have been going batshit 😃💅🏽
How are you all?
I apologize for this chapter I wrote most of it whilst lying in bed sick asf so I expect it to be even worse than usual 😭😭😭
Anyways, I love you all and I'm so proud of you.
Always keep fighting 🖤

Sirius rematerialised in a small, dimly lit room he'd only entered twice in all the years he'd spent in this godforsaken house.
Both times had been in search of Regulus, desperate to apologize when his brother ran off after a fight.

The room- if you could even call it a room, Sirius thought as he wrinkled his nose in distaste- was exactly as he'd remembered it.
Dark and cramped and buzzing with magic (some dark and familiar, that of his parents or the house itself, some much older and more powerful).
Kreacher's lair.

The old house elf had always hated him but Regulus would've done anything for Kreacher and oddly enough it returned the sentiment.
His little brother had often spun marvelous stories about the adventures he and the elf were planning, or gushed over the new spell it had helped him perfect. 

Memories swirled through the air at random, Regulus' wide smile featuring prominently in most of them.
Sirius tried to catch his breath and registered a familiar scent.
The smell of lilacs was oddly out of place in the dismal little hovel.

Lilacs.
Sirius' heart clenched unexpectedly.
Regulus had gifted Kreacher a sprig of the purple blooms the Christmas before Sirius left.
He'd always loved their gentle aroma and color while Sirius preferred bold red roses, bright poppies and large, stark white daisies.

Reg used to say the scent of lilac was like taking a deep breath and realizing everything would be okay.
He always had been ridiculously sentimental, always treating life like it was one of the philosophy classes Orion had insisted they attend as children.
At the time Sirius had teased him mercilessly for the pretty words.
Now Sirius heaved another long sigh, mentally claiming his little brother's mantra and prayed the lilacs were good luck.

"Terrible master is being inviting himself into Kreacher's hovel unexpectedly."
The elf's tone, coming from somewhere behind him, was dangerously low.
Sirius flinched and turned to face the old thing. The years since he'd seen it had not been particularly kind to him but the elf looked as though it had aged centuries.

Grief, perhaps, house elves were allegedly very emotional beings.
Not that Sirius had much faith in that particular bit of knowledge Reg had shared so long ago. Kreacher's ears were sagging and it's weathered face was drawn tight with distaste as it continued.

"Is there anything Kreacher can be doing for the blood traitor master?
Something so important foul master is coming uninvited into Kreacher's abode?"

Sirius felt his own face settling into a sneer but decided for once to be the bigger man, not rise to the bait.
It wasn't that he'd matured to where the nasty things words didn't infuriate him, merely that he currently had something much bigger on his mind.
Regulus.
The anger faded as immediately as it had come.

"Kreacher-"
The elf's beady eyes widened and Sirius realized almost guiltily that he hadn't said it's name since he was forced back into this terrible house.

He'd been too caught up downing copious amounts of alcohol, looking after the hippogriff, pointedly staying away from any reminders of Reg or the rest of his life here and writing letters to Harry so he didn't go completely mental to bother with the elf much.
The few occasions they had interacted usually ended in Sirius yelling and throwing something as Kreacher disapperated, always just too late to hit the little monster.