Remus almost missed what happened, because everyone in the crowd immediately stood up, jostling to see the disaster unfold - fortunately, when Remus stood up he was a good deal taller than those around him.
Sirius tried - no one could deny that. The moment he saw the bludger hit Regulus, he bent flat on his broom and shot forward as if the devil was at his heels, faster than Remus had ever seen anyone - even James - fly. In fact, Sirius gathered such a speed, and at such a terrifying vertical angle, that Remus felt sure he was going to crash to the ground too, and his stomach lurched with fear. Sirius was too late, but Madam Hooch was not.
She stood on the grass, wand raised, and managed to slow Regulus’s descent, so that his body appeared to be falling through water, not air. By the time Sirius hit the ground, dropping his broom and pelting towards his brother, Regulus was lying so peacefully he could have been sleeping.
Sirius was on his knees, the rest of the team were landing around him, McGonagall was shouting something over the megaphone and a crowd quickly surrounded the two Black brothers, so that no one could see anything. Remus began to hobble down the wooden steps as quickly as his wonky hip would allow. Peter scurried along behind him,
“Where are you going?” He panted,
“Sirius.” Was all Remus could think to say.
But once they reached ground level they couldn’t get onto the pitch; the heads of houses were shepherding students back into the castle, and wouldn’t let them past.
“They’ll have taken Regulus to the hospital wing,” Peter said, “Maybe Sirius is in the changing rooms?”
“No,” Remus shook his head, “No, he’d want to go with Reg… he probably thinks it’s all his fault.”
“Well,” Peter looked up at him, “He did hit the bludger, didn’t he?”
Remus clenched his fists and fought the urge to hit Peter.
“I’m going to the hospital wing, then.” He turned and began to stride awkwardly towards the castle, trying to get ahead of everyone else.
“What about James?” Peter had to jog to keep up.
“He’ll be there too.” Remus replied.
And of course he was. When Peter and Remus arrived outside the hospital wing, having battled their way through the throngs of gossiping students, they found James sitting on the floor outside, elbows resting on his knees, staring into space. He was still in his quidditch robes, his cheeks were still flushed from flying, and his hair was a mess.
“Is he ok?!” Remus asked, at once - and he wasn’t sure who he meant.
“Yeah, think so,” James looked up at them in dazed surprise, “Knocked out cold, though. Pomfrey wont let me in.”
“Sirius?”
“Yeah, he’s in there. Thought I’d better wait… Slughorn’s contacting their parents, so.” He shrugged. “Thought I’d better be here.”
“We’re all here.” Remus said, firmly, sitting down next to James with some difficulty. His hip was really sore, now; the pain shot all the way down from pelvis to ankle. Peter eventually squatted down too, and they waited.
“Did you see what happened?” James asked, finally. “I was on the other end of the pitch, I didn’t…”
“A bludger,” Remus said, “Mulciber hit one right at Sirius, it had to be a foul. Sirius hit it back at him, but Mulciber got out of the way, and Regulus was right behind him. Sirius can’t have seen him; it was an accident. It was… it was horrible.”
