Black Stag

Unicorns, Lips & Prison

For the first three nights of Sirius' absence, Regulus had slept in his bed, clutching one of his pillows, but he became aware that if he continued this habit for long, the smell would slowly start to wear off, and he'd wanted to keep it as long as he could, so he resorted to going in there only every so often during the day, avoiding the room at all costs at night.

Since he'd gone, there had been a few anomalous phenomena: it felt as if everything was moving slower, then faster all at once; the trees had a strange appearance— considerably more pixelated than normal; it was nearly a nightmare, but far crueler than something out of fiction. Every movement cost him more energy than it needed to.

When he stepped off the train, all he could see were shadows of light and dark; people weren't so much people anymore, moving in blobs or splats of paint. Regulus believed he was being dramatic or making it up, but he'd waited for it to pass and it hadn't, and it hadn't gotten any better either; people were only blurring more or time was moving faster and slower in smaller increments.

He made his way to his brother's carriage, hoping that Sirius hadn't planned ahead and changed their customary placement in order to truly evade Regulus ever speaking to him again. He wouldn't put it past him.

When he arrived, he heard loud cackling and yelling from within, as well as the distinct voice of James Potter, so he was grateful his brother hadn't prepared too much. The door was shut; it typically stayed open, so perhaps they felt it would be enough to discourage Regulus.

He knocked nevertheless. The noise from within instantaneously died down. There were a few hushed murmurs between the boys until he heard someone rising up and going closer to the door, footsteps fading into stomping as the door flung open, James leant on the door frame, glaring harshly at him.

Despite the fact that James was tall enough to nearly entirely obscure any view of the inside of the carriage, Regulus made an attempt to see inside. Peter sat biting on his nails but still hit Regulus with a hard glare. Sirius sat next to Remus, Remus' arm slung over his shoulder, Sirius' gaze fixed on the unchanging window.

"Some bloody nerve you have," James started first, clicking his tongue to the roof of his mouth.

"I am not here to speak with you." Regulus grimaced, tilting his chin up to meet James' eyeline. James was tall. Far too tall . He had to be at least a head taller than most people, and even then, he wasn't lanky like Remus or Marlene, there was muscle and athleticism discernible beneath whatever he was wearing. It was fairly clear James knew that, each time he won a match, he'd simply have to remove his shirt and use it as a towel to wipe the thick line of perspiration from his forehead; it was aggravating, to say the least, and if his entire personality wasn't arrogant enough, that would make a relatively easy case and point. "Now move so I can speak to my brother. Thank you."

"No." James shrugged.

"Please tell your Pitbull to stop guarding you, Sirius. Come out here and talk to me." He attempted to push past James but was struck in the chest by James' shoulder.

"You're not coming in, and I'm not moving." James looked down at him, jaw clenched, "So run along to your friends and fuck off, thank you." He changed his voice on the last part, making his voice slightly higher and more eloquent.

"I don't sound-- Right, can you just move? This is really childish." Regulus sighed. He was exhausted enough as it was, and he wasn't expecting to navigate past a guy with an unwavering desire to get Regulus at least 20 feet away from Sirius at all costs, "He's my brother, and I want to speak to him."

"No, he isn't." James said, his words terse and venomous, "You don't get to use that label anymore. None of you are his family. "

"Oh, piss off, Potter. You wouldn't know the half of it. You weren't there, were you? You've never actually been there. I'll tell you where you were. Sat at home opening presents with your wonderful little family who probably got you everything and more. " Regulus didn't know what story Sirius had told, how he'd warped it, or what information he'd left out to make James act so aggressively, but he was beginning to think he shouldn't have tried to speak to him in the first place, and that perhaps it was best that his brother leave him alone if this is how he'd allowed his friends to act.