Chapter 22: Regulus

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Selene's bar and records and the pavilion on the hill were short lived, as Remus and his parents had to return to Wales in time for the full moon, and since they didn't want to travel anymore, nor did they think it was necessary, they decided on the last few weeks being spent at home in Wales.

Their usual schedule was resumed, and Lyall returned to London after a few days, with Remus visiting on weekends. Remus had been under the rather naive impression that perhaps the trip to Blackpool would solve all his parents' problems. They hadn't argued much, granted they hadn't really talked much in general, but they had been alone together a number of times which hadn't appeared to have ended in disaster. But it seemed that the different setting had only been a temporary fix, and once they were back home, their relationship settled into its usual broken state. Tensions ran thin, and most interactions between Hope and Lyall were just a series of passive aggressive comments, until they decided to ignore each other instead of start an argument. It was a development at least, but hardly a better one. Especially when the ignoring turned into the silent treatment which Remus hated. He hated the pettiness and the stubbornness, despite being guilty of using it himself sometimes. But he was a child; he was allowed to. His parents were adults, and they should be acting like it.

Remus spent most of his time in his room while his father was around, reading letters from his friends. James must have succeeded in sending on Remus's letter to Sirius, because he received a reply back from Sirius a few days after leaving Blackpool. Sirius's letter wasn't as long as his, but in his defence, he didn't have much to say. His family wasn't doing anything special, and all he had to talk about was the constant parade of pureblood wizards in and out of his home, having meetings that Sirius tried desperately to avoid, but his parents wouldn't allow it, and Sirius was subjected to sit there for hours listening to blood purist discussions.

"I tried to convince my parents not to let Reg join in as well, but they let him now he's eleven," Sirius wrote, going on about how Regulus was nowhere near as reluctant as he was, thinking he was all grown up and special now. Remus didn't like the sound of that at all, nor did he like the thought of Sirius spending two months listening to pureblood bullshit that Remus had tried so hard to keep him away from. Sirius had said time and again now how much he was against all that stuff, but Remus had never actually heard him say that he rejected his family as a whole, which Remus supposed was quite a lot to ask from a kid who hadn't known anything else, but still... what if all these meetings would start to change Sirius's views, no matter how much he tried to ignore them? It was sort of impossible to sit through all that without being even slightly convinced, especially if it was coming from your own family.

Remus wanted to write to him, all the time, and send him books and other things to keep him preoccupied, to forget about everything his family were saying, but he was risking a lot just with the one letter. Was a detailed description of a Lewis Carroll inspired fairground ride enough to keep Sirius away from his family? And what about his brother, who'd be arriving at Hogwarts in a few weeks, a mini-version of his parents. A new heir to the Black family who apparently had no intention of being anything other than the golden boy. When Sirius first arrived at Hogwarts, even he had questionable views regarding intermarriage between purebloods and non-purebloods, so Merlin knew what his brother was going to be like. Remus knew that Sirius wanted Regulus to be in Gryffindor, so he could keep him away from the blood purist poison that spread through the Slytherin house like wildfire, and where all the future death eaters seemed to reside. While Remus agreed that adding fuel to the fire— or in this case, adding Slytherin to the pureblood— was almost guaranteed to check off another follower on You-Know-Who's list, a much more selfish part of him didn't want someone like Regulus anywhere near him, who could potentially be a danger to his entire livelihood if he knew who Remus really was. Sirius wanted to protect his brother, but Remus felt that it may have already been too late, and if that were the case, the only solution left was to stay as far away from him as possible. It was only a question of whether Sirius would be strong enough to do so as well.

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