fatal love

Chapter 28

On Tuesday, when Sirius woke up, he went to the bathroom and did his now daily hair routine, poking at the bags under his eyes in annoyance. He should look into glamour charms, he thought vaguely, to try to cover them up. He'd only managed about four hours sleep last night. Once he found himself presentable, he did not go to the Great Hall, but carried on down the stairs to the dungeons. He got to the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room, and waited outside.

Slytherin students slowly started to filter out. It was still early, but Sirius had noticed that Slytherins and Ravenclaws tended to wake up earlier, while most Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors liked to maximise their time in bed.

He didn't have to wait long until Regulus emerged, flanked by two other boys in his year, Barty Crouch and Eric Greengrass, who all stopped in their tracks when they saw Sirius leaning casually against the wall.

"Sirius..." Regulus said quietly, "what are you doing here?"

"Thought we could have a nice little family chat," Sirius smiled, but he spoke coldly. "Why don't you let your little friends run along without you."

Regulus paused for a moment, but then he nodded. "Go ahead," he murmured to the Slytherins, "I'll see you later."

Crouch and Greengrass glanced from Sirius to Regulus with interest, but they did as Regulus said, walking away dejectedly.

As soon as they turned the corner, Sirius dropped the act. "Was it you?" he hissed. "Did you tell our mother about me and Marlene?"

"I didn't know she'd send a Howler!" Regulus exclaimed.

"I don't care what you thought she'd do, you knew it would get me in trouble! You know what she's like! Why would you do that?"

"Because you've crossed a line! Ever since you were Sorted, Sirius, you've been straying from the family! The friends you have are bad enough, but... dating someone like that. It's - It's immoral, and wrong, and I couldn't just do nothing while my brother did something that awful, and so publicly!"

"So you went to our mother? If you have a problem with something I'm doing, talk to me about it, don't go to her!"

"Right, so you can just remind me that I'm the spare again! Be realistic, Sirius, you wouldn't listen to anything I said to you."

"Not if you told me to be a blood-purist, you're damn right I wouldn't!"

"That's my point! You're acting out at the moment, for some reason, and rebelling! And I don't know why, because you're the Heir, you already have all the power and attention you could ask for. But one day you're going to realise that you're being stupid, and want to come back to us, and I don't want you to have done something you can't take back!"

"Well, your plan failed," Sirius spat. "I'm still dating Marlene, and I don't give a shit what you, or our mother, or any damn pureblood thinks! So if our mother wants me to break up with her, she's going to have to come up to Hogwarts and Imperio me! And when you write her again, you can tell her I said that!"

Regulus stared at him in shock. "Really?" he asked. "You're choosing a half-breed over your own family?"

"Have you met our family?" Sirius laughed. "The choice isn't even hard." He strode away angrily, his brother watching him.

Fucking Regulus. How could he ever have thought his brother was any different to the rest of his family, like he didn't believe in the same sick ideology the rest of them did. Sure, Reg might not like it when their mother Imperioed Sirius for parties, but as soon as he was dating a half-blood, Regulus would throw him under the bus. Some fucking brother he was.