too young, too thoughtless: a marauder's era fanfiction

chapter six

Regulus stared at Remus as he cleanched his fists. They were in the courtyard and Severus and Sirius were yelling at each other, but Remus nor anyone else were stepping in. Remus had been quick in the past to hurry Sirius away, but he had stopped doing that in the past week since the last time Sirius had tried to shove Severus.

If no one else was going to step up, then it had better be Regulus. 

"Sirius, quit it!" Regulus called, "Mother would hate to see how childish you are being."

"Oh?" Sirius said mockingly, turning away from Severus to face Regulus fully. He put on a fake smile, saying, "I couldn't possibly upset Mother, could I? I would truly hate to hurt that poor, defenseless woman. Or wait, that's you, isn't it? Too terrified of an old woman to do more than say yes Mother, yes Mother!"

"Shut it."

"Or what? You'll cry? Poor little Regulus Black, too scared of everything he needs a dog to defend him. And when he's not there, what do you do, hm? You take whatever you're given, like a child begging for scraps."

Regulus swallowed the lump in his throat. 

"You're a terrible brother, Sirius."

"I'm better than you, going off and doing everyone else's bidding. Do you even like yourself, Reg? Because I love you, but I don't like you one bit."

Regulus stepped back from Sirius, running right into Remus, who had stepped up to be behind him. He was always there, ready to catch Regulus when he fell. Remus' hand slipped into his, still rough from the burns his mother had inflicted. 

Remus leaned down to say into Regulus' ear, "Come on, it's alright."

Regulus glanced at Sirius, who was already glaring right at him. He turned back round and squeezed Remus' hand, following him away from the courtyard and into the castle again. Regulus didn't resist the urge to lean into Remus' side when it came. Remus let go of his hand to full wrap an arm around him and Remus melted into him as much as he could while still walking. 

It had been three weeks of this, with Regulus and Sirius arguing every other day. It seemed no matter how Regulus reacted or what he said in return, Sirius was never satisfied. All he wanted to do was hurt Regulus and it was working. 

Remus continued walking, with Severus having disappeared at some point in their journey. Remus only stopped to look at Regulus again when they had found the firs empty room with a lock. He tried to let go of Regulus' hand, but Regulus squeezed him tighter. 

"Reg," Remus said in surprise as he finally looked at Regulus and noticed the tears he was holding back.

"Don't even, I'm fine. He doesn't even bother me." Regulus let himself sink to the floor, not wanting to bother finding a place to sit. He sighed as Remus sunk right down beside him, ignoring the painful noises his knees made as he did. Regulus begged in a choke up voice, "I don't want you fighting him anymore, it only makes it worse."

"Whatever you want," He agreed hesitantly. Regulus was clearly surprised at his easy acceptance, so Remus added, "I won't make it worse. As long as he doesn't hit you I won't hit back. That doesn't mean I can't talk to him, though, does it?"

"It does," Regulus said immediately, "I'm being serious, Remus. I'm tired of all the fighting."

Remus swallowed, but eventually nodded. He didn't speak, but he made a mental promise to make things as easy as he could for Regulus. Still, he needed to apologize.

"I'm sorry, I think he's doing this because of me."

"Oh please-"

"I screwed up with him. He hates me now and I can't blame him. He knows how close we've always been, so he's trying to get back at me by hurting you. I'm really sorry, Reg."