Memento Mori - Sirius Black

Chapter 17

October 30th, 1975.

It was Sunday, and Sirius was bored out of his mind, completely alone and, believe it or not, in the library. The boys had been avoiding him like the plague all day long, claiming they all had stuff to do. Sirius was very aware that the stuff in question was probably organizing his birthday. Which he was thankful for, sure. But it's not like they were subtle about it. They had even asked him what his favorite cake flavor was for Merlin's sake. So what was the point of leaving him alone all day if he already knew what they were doing? He could even help, you know?

He thought about going to Hogsmeade, but he had gone yesterday already. Flying around for a bit was also a choice, but he had practice later on anyway. He even thought about looking for Meredith, his date from the day before, to hang out. But apparently, she wasn't his biggest fan right now. Weird. He hadn't done anything wrong this time. He was pretty damn sure.

So weirdly enough, he ended up in the library catching up on some homework. He owed James at least two papers for a bet he had lost, and McGonagall was onto him with things he needed to hand in soon. He felt productive. It was nice. Also, he had done enough already, right? He looked up to check on the clock that was hanging in the middle of the library and scoffed. It had only been twenty minutes since he got there. Only ten since he had actually written something down on the parchment. Being productive was hard. How did people do it? Remus would totally give him a hard time if he could hear his thoughts right now.

Also, why were there so many people at a library on a Sunday? Sunday was for rest. He didn't say it, but apparently, God did, so it should be respected. He looked around and saw the table that Morgan usually used. No one was sitting there even though the place was full. He could bet all his money she had probably kicked people out of that same table many times and thus now was always empty.

After promising Morgan he would do some research on the Voldemort matter while she did the same back home. He had been ransacking his brain to come up with ideas of how to do exactly that. And he had actually thought of something. He was just waiting for the right moment.

He shook his head and chuckled. He was good at distracting himself from work. Someone should give him an award. Or teach him some discipline. The OWL's of that year were going to be the death of him.

He kept writing down answer after answer, but about an hour later, his eyes kept wandering off even though he was really trying to focus. He saw Reggie sitting alone at a table a few rows down from his. He looked concentrated on his books, a bit pale as always and with his clothes absolutely perfectly ironed out. How did he do that? Sirius had to learn that spell at some point.

He must have been staring at his brother far too long and intensely because Regulus looked up and their gazes clashed. Sirius bit the inside of his cheek for a second before breathing in and out and getting up from his seat.

He saw Regulus sigh and close his book with a thud, a bored look on his face as Sirius approached him and sat down in front of him, "Hey, Reg. You alright?"

They hadn't talked much since classes started. It was always like that. Sirius tried to always keep an eye on him, though. He looked fine.

"Yeah, you?" He replied politely, and Sirius only nodded.

"So, um.." The older brother smiled a little, "What are you up to?"

"Nothing. Just doing some homework,"

"Yeah, me too," answered Sirius, and Reg raised a brow at him in question, not believing his words. Sirius rolled his eyes and kicked him under table, "I do shit, you know? I finished like two papers, for your information,"